Month: September 2020

FELIX EVER AFTER Will Be Adapted Into TV Series: Today In Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date September 1, 2020

Sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

FELIX EVER AFTER Will Be Adapted Into TV Series

Amazon Studios and Field Trip Productions will be adapting Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After novel into a TV series! We’ll get to see Felix Love, a Black transgender teen, navigate his identity and marginalizations while falling in love for the first time on the big screen–of your TV. Bonus: while we wait for the adaptation, Callender has a bunch of backlist titles: Hurricane Child; King and the Dragonflies; This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story; Queen of the Conquered.

Channing Tatum Wrote A Children’s Book

Actor and director Channing Tatum (Magic Mike; 21 Jump Street; Dog) has written a children’s book: The One and Only Sparkella. The book, set to publish May 4, 2021, encourages kids to embrace their individuality after a young girl is teased for her love of all things that sparkle. Tatum has already started the ad campaign, which is a delightful picture of him in fairy wings reading his book to a unicorn.

Dictionary.com Has Biggest Update Ever

2020 definitely feels like the year that would break a dictionary’s record. And it has. Between the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests against police violence and racism, there have been a lot of searches, new terms, and change in language. Dictionary.com is here with the resulting updates which is huge: 650 new entries; 2,100 new definitions; 1,200 new etymologies; 1,700 new pronunciations; more than 11,000 revised definitions; more than 7,000 revised etymologies.

The Wide World of JEOPARDY! Contestant Authors

We’re taking a look at the link between Jeopardy! and authorship, examining books by Jeopardy! contestants and this phenomenon.

What's Up in YA

YA Book News and New YA Book Releases

Post author By Kelly Jensen
Post date September 1, 2020

YA Book News

Again, as tends to be the case this time of year, there’s not a whole lot of news to share. . . but it’s all great news.

Felix Ever After has been optioned for a TV adaptation (!!).
I’m also super excited to see Bonnie Pipkin’s Aftercare Instructions has been tapped for a TV adaptation.
This fall we have so many awesome queer and feminist books hitting shelves. Check out both YA and adult titles in this roundup.
Here’s the trailer for the adaptation of Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer.
I’m hoping next week to highlight the recently-added YA film adaptations to streaming services in the newsletter, but in the mean time, here’s a great list of YA-friendly films to enjoy on Netflix — most of them are not adaptations but rather scratch that itch for something YA-esque.
Becky Albertalli’s piece on coming out, on assumptions about sexuality, and about #OwnVoices queer stories is such a vital read.

This Week’s New YA Books

So! Many! New! Books! Do note: because of printer capacity issues, there are a few more delays in book releases. Those have been so challenging to keep on top of, so it’s possible a title or two below might not be hitting shelves today but later on in the month or season. If it sounds good, preorder it and enjoy the surprise when it arrives.

1789: Twelve Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change edited by Marc Aronson

American Royals II: Majesty by Katharine McGee (series)

As The Shadow Rises by Katy Rose Pool (series)

Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin (series)

Blood Moon by Lucy Cuthew

The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

Caster by Elsie Chapman (series, paperback)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford (paperback)

Dark Blade by Steve Feasey (series)

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He (paperback)

Eclipse The Skies by Maura Milan (paperback, series)

Fable by Adrienne Young (series)

Flamer by Mike Curato

Frankly In Love by David Yoon (paperback)

Fright Night by Maren Stoffels (paperback)

The Grey Sisters by Jo Treggiari (paperback)

Greythorne by Crystal Smith (series)

Gold Wings Rising by Alex London (series)

The Insomniacs by Marit Weisenberg

Keep This To Yourself by Tom Ryan (paperback)

Flyy Girls: Lux, The New Girl by Ashley Woodfolk (paperback, series)

My Secret To Tell by Natalie D. Richards (paperback)

Flyy Girls: Mica, The Good Girl by Ashley Woodfolk (paperback, series)

None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney

Not Your #LoveStory by Sonia Hartl

October Mourning by Leslea Newman (paperback)

Of Ice and Shadows by Audrey Coulthurst (paperback, series)

Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao (paperback)

The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsberg (paperback)

Pretend She’s Here by Luanne Rice (paperback)

Punching The Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody (series)

Recommended For You by Laura Silverman

Red Skies Falling by Alex London (series, paperback)

Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher

Save Steve by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan

There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool (paperback, series)

Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos

Unbirthday by Liz Braswell

Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova (series)

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

Where We Are by Alison McGhee

This Week on Book Riot…

How the Hunger Games prequel showed me I’ve changed.
A handy glossary of manga terms.
How young adult librarians helped create the YA category of books.
Add these British YA authors of color to your TBR.
YA books that explore schizophrenia.
These YA books got new looks in paperback. Which version do you prefer?
Excellent #OwnVoices books about disability.

Check out this gorgeous print featuring a stack of incredible YA books by Black authors! $7.

Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you on Saturday for some YA ebook deals.

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram and editor of Body Talk, (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, and Here We Are.

Psst: if you’re free tonight at 7 pm Eastern, you can catch Eric Smith, Kati Gardner, Junauda Petrus-Nasah, and I for a virtual event with Oblong Books. It’ll be a blast. Sign up for the link to the free event here.

The Stack

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Post author By Natalia Heroux
Post date September 1, 2020

Sponsored by Flamer by Mike Curato, with Fierce Reads

Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in Flamer, his stunning debut graphic novel.

It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone’s going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.

Riot Rundown

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Post author By Natalia Heroux
Post date September 1, 2020

Sponsored by The Age of Darkness Series by Katy Rose Pool with Fierce Reads

Kingdoms have begun to fall to a doomsday cult, the magical Graced are being persecuted, and an ancient power threatens to break free. But with the world hurtling toward its prophesized end, one man’s haunting vision reveals the dangerous beginnings of a plan to stop the Age of Darkness.

Six of Crows meets Graceling with a dash of ‘Winter is Coming’ in Katy Rose Pool’s Age of Darkness series, which Hypable calls “the kind of epic fantasy you just can’t wait to dig into.”