ALAN Online

The ALAN Book Chat is pleased to feature Cynthia Leitich Smith and her novel Tantalize (Candlewick 2007) in the July book chat. Tantalize is Cynthia’s YA Gothic Fantasy debut.  You can view the official teaser for the novel by clicking here.

Tantalize is available in print at Amazon.com and in audiobook form on iTunes.

The live chat to discuss Tantalize will be held Wednesday, July 23rd at 9:00 PM (EDT). The live chat with Cynthia Leitich Smith will be held one week later, Wednesday, July 30th at 9:00 PM (EDT).

You do not have to be a member of ALAN to participate in the Book Chat. To join the conversation, click on this link. See you there!

As you may recall, the ALAN Book Chats for the month of June featured Alma Fullerton and her novel, Walking on Glass.

If you missed the Book Chat featuring our conversation with Alma Fullerton, you can now access the transcript of the chat by clicking on the link below.  

Alma Fullerton Book Chat Transcript

ALAN would like to thank Alma Fullerton for participating in the Chat.  I am sure we all look forward to reading more from her in the near future.  

And, I would also like to thank Librarian Barb Dean for moderating the June BookChats.  Her expertise was greatly appreciated by all who participated.

“ALAN’s Picks” is a recurring post on ALAN Online featuring book reviews of the newest titles in Young Adult Literature.  Reviews are compiled and posted monthly.  Please visit often to read about the latest titles from the best authors in the business.

Reviewed this month:

Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab
Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: The New Girl by Meg Cabot
Along Came Spider by James Preller
Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
Carlos Is Gonna Get It by Kevin Emerson
Crossing to Paradise by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Cyberia by Chris Lynch
Escape the Mask (The Grassland Trilogy, Book One) by David Ward
Everything Beautiful in the World by Lisa Levchuk
Girl, Hero by Carrie Jones
The Gypsy Crown by Kate Forsyth
The Humming of Numbers by Joni Sensel
The Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw
Jack: Secret Histories by F. Paul Wilson
The Kingdom Keepers: The Rise of Chernabog by Ridley Pearson
The Lab by Jack Heath
The Lucky Ones by Stephanie Greene
The Possibilities of Sainthood by Donna Freitas
The Smell of Old Lady Perfume by Claudia Guadalupe Martinez
Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
Things That Are by Andrew Clements
Time Bomb by Nigel Hinton

[Read more →]

An Interview with Ashley Rhodes-Courter,
author of Three Little Words: A Memoir

by Pam B. Cole 

At the age of three, Ashley Rhodes was taken from her biological mother by Florida child welfare system and placed in foster care. Ashley never again lived with her biological mother. Over the next nine years, she lived in fourteen different foster homes, many of which were abusive and negligent. At the age of twelve, Ashley was adopted by Phil and Gay Courter of Crystal River, Florida. Ashley had given up hope that anyone would care about her, but with the love and support of the Courter family, she learned to trust and thrived as a teen. This past May I had the good fortune to chair a session at IRA in Atlanta in which Ashley talked about her childhood memoir, Three Little Words, a testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit.  Below is a brief interview I conducted with Ashley after her IRA presentation.

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Alma Fullerton will be the featured guest author in the ALAN Book Chat on Wednesday, June 25, 2008.  The chat will begin at 9:00 PM (EDT) and will be moderated by librarian Barb Dean.  Everyone is invited to participate; you do not have to be a member of ALAN to visit the chat.  To access the chat, click here.  See you then!