SCBWI 2013

The Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators has been a huge part of my career and kept me inspired the many years before I finally sold a book. I've attended their L.A. conference every year since 2000, and this year was an exceptionally great one. I met writers I've wanted to meet for a long time, caught up with friends I see far too seldom, and made contacts that could help projects I'm currently working on.

 

Here's Lin Oliver welcoming the 1,200+ attendees in the ballroom.

 

Carolyn Mackler and I haven't seen each other in person since The Future of Us book tour in January 2011. So it was great to hang out (and brainstorm!) in person again. We also had a lot of fun running a workshop on co-authoring a novel. You can read about that talk here.

At an SCBWI conference, authors and illustrators are everywhere! If you read other blogs from people who attended this conference, you'll notice a lot of pictures are taken near the bar. That's (mostly) because the bar is the center of the lobby. It's not (entirely) because that's where creative people hang out. Here I am, standing before the bar, with Ellen Hopkins and Veronica Rossi.

I love that SCBWI hosts an evening for published attendees who aren't part of the faculty where they can display, sell, and autograph their books. That's where I picked up three books to take home (signed!) to Isaiah. I bought The Gingerbread Man Loose On the Fire Truck, by Laura Murray...

Open This Little Book, by Jesse Klausmeier (I already had a copy at home, but it's a fave of Izzy's so I had no problem buying another copy)...

and Robots, Robots Everywhere! by Sue Fleiss.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that I dress up every year for the conference's Saturday evening theme party. And I usually go all out! As a normally shy person, this is my excuse to break free. ("It wasn't me, it was the costume!") This year, the theme was The Black and White Ball. After coming up with an idea for a costume, I contacted several friends to see if they'd dress up with me. Most said, "Hell no!" Others came up with excuses that sounded to my ears like "I'm too chicken!" But Jessica Freeburg, the Assistant Regional Advisor in Minnesota (and ghost hunter!) bought the costume even as everyone else was saying no.

The day before the theme party, we anonymously emerged in costume and walked through the bookstore. We didn't speak. Communication was done through hand signals, head and shoulder gestures, and dancing. (This post is the first time we're outing ourselves as Checkers!)

Here we are trying our hardest to silently answer Paul O. Zelinsky's questions about the schedule.

Lin Oliver invited us to the stage to encourage people to attend the Black and White Ball, which we attempted to do without speaking.

We also did a "performance art" piece during lunch one day, trying to feed ourselves while mouthless. I saw several people taking pics, and now that you know who we are, I'd love to see them!

Later in the ballroom, Carolyn Mackler gave her keynote presentation. Her husband and sons flew out from NYC with her, and I sat with them as she rocked the ballroom. Literally! As part of her speech, she played a love song recorded in the 90s by a Canadian rock band whose singer fell in love with her. And it was a good song!

That night was the Black and White Ball. And what children's book conference with that theme would be complete without Penguins?

Here I am with Max (a.k.a. Jim Averbeck), who wore a nametag declaring the final two words from Where the Wild Things Are: "Still Hot!!!"

Why am I not in costume? Because throughout the conference people asked me what I was going to wear, and since I wanted Checkers to be anonymous, I told them I'd be there at the beginning but then had to leave for a meeting. It was a lot of fun to hear people say they were disappointed I wasn't dressing up, and then the next day tell me I should've seen these two freaks who dressed in checkered bodysuits. "You couldn't even see their faces!"

Last year, I didn't know there had been an afterparty on the lower floor of the hotel. But this year, I knew about it! And I was going! I knew I'd be too hot as Checkers, so I planned on going as myself. Until I noticed a friend had taken out her hair extensions as part of her costume. I'm not sure if she wants me revealing that she sometimes wears extensions, so I won't name names. And for no reason other than I was tired and dehydrated (you can't even drink water while dressed as Checkers), I decided to put on the extensions and go as Billy Ray Cyrus / Kid Rock / Tim McGraw / Axl Rose, depending on who you ask.

The next day, I grabbed coffee with Laurie Halse Anderson and Stephen Chbosky. We talked about our wonderful readers, book banning, screenwriting, and I may have convinced Mr. Chbosky to speak at the conference next year (he's never been to the conference and was there simply to chat for a while).

At the autograph party, I finally got to meet some authors I'd been on the lookout for throughout the conference, such as Ransom Riggs...

and Tahereh Mafi.

For my signing, I was lucky enough to sit beside...Carolyn Mackler! (Which was a good thing since we were signing copies of the same book.) We even got a chance, for the first time, to sign the Japanese edition of The Future of Us that an attendee brought with her!

After the conference, there's always a faculty party at Lin Oliver's house. The food was delicious, and I was able to find time to chat with people I kept missing at the conference. Here I am with Kirby Larson and Naomi Kinsman.

And then, finally, I got to meet the author/illustrator I'd been too nervous to meet earlier. I kept seeing him, and then chickening out from introducing myself. Bruce Degen wrote and illustrated Jamberry, one of my favorite books to read with Isaiah. That book will always have such special memories for me, which made me nervous to meet The Creator. Thankfully, as is often the case, he turned out to be such a warm and funny guy. (And he wanted me to tell you he's holding a glass containing nothing but jamberry juice.)

The evening ended with a jam session in the living room. Mike Jung, Arthur Levine, and Barney Saltzberg led a singalong of Beatles tunes (and many other songs, but the Beatles songs were the only ones whose lyrics I didn't have to fake knowing).

Next year, maybe I'll open up my costume idea to all of you.

C'mon, don't be chicken!

Tavia & Hannah: Literary Twins

Browsing through the bookstore the other day, I came across Aprilynne Pike's latest novel. One look at the cover of Earthbound and I thought, "Hey! I know that girl!"

While brainstorming book covers, designers have so many factors to weigh. It should grab your attention, set the right tone, and hopefully raise some questions. If they're going to put a character on the cover, it also needs to express an aspect of who that character is. While scrolling through photos looking for ideas, sometimes they stumble upon a stock image or expression that strikes the perfect note. And while the main female in Earthbound (a supernatural romance) is very different than Hannah in Thirteen Reasons Why, there are relationship notes that tie them together.

From the flapcopy of Earthbound:

Tavia immediately searches for answers, desperate to determine why she feels so drawn to a boy she hardly knows.

Here's how Ms. Pike’s U.S. publisher chose to depict Tavia, and my Hungarian publisher depicted Hannah:

 

Another cool coincidence: In the U.S., Thirteen Reasons Why and Earthbound are both published by Razorbill.

To see another one of Hannah's literary twins, check out this blog post about a Jodi Picoult novel.

RWA - Part 1



According to Wikipedia (as of right now), a romance novel focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people and has an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. A dystopian novel, on the other hand, is set in an utterly horrible or degraded society. Both genres, of course, include stories that stretch or poke holes in those definitions, and many novels use elements from both. If both genres include well written and emotionally complex stories, as they do, why is one often viewed as higher literature than the other? Essentially, it's just cynical versus sentimental.

 

When speaking at schools and libraries, I've been asked many times what my guilty pleasure reading material is. My answer has been the same for years. "Christmas romances!" (Actually, I never say it with an exclamation point, but with a sheepish grin while looking away.)

 

The novel I'm working on now focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and I hope to give it an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. So I recently decided to spend a few days in Atlanta at the 2013 Romance Writers of America conference. I decided to feel guilty about this pleasure no more!

 

The hotel hosting the event was huge and architecturally beautiful. Here's the view looking up from the lobby.

 

I believe there were over 2,000 attendees at this conference. To give you a sense of how many of them were men, here's inside one of our restrooms.

When I first got there, a massive signing with approximately 450 authors was in progress. On the plane ride over, I finished a story written by Fern Michaels in an anthology. My first autograph of the conference!

The first keynote speech was Cathy Maxwell. She told a heartbreaking story about her ex-son-in-law, which perfectly described the intense need many of us have to express ourselves through art.

At one of the workshops I attended, Nora Roberts described her exhilaration at having received an email from Stephen King. At the mere mention of Mr. King's name, the lights in the room immediately dimmed. (Fuh-reaky!)

After getting a book and an anthology signed by Ms. Roberts, I also had the anthology signed by two other contributing authors, Ruth Ryan Langan and Mary Blayney. It was an amazing moment for me when Ms. Blayney, after noticing my nametag, told me she loved Thirteen Reasons Why.

At another signing, I met another author who'd read my books. (Maybe this shouldn't always be so shocking, but it is!) This September, Kimberly Kincaid has a story coming out in a Christmas anthology. And guess who'll be buying a copy.

There were also a lot of YA authors at this conference, both published and pre-published. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun talking to them, I kept forgetting to take pics. For example, at my first dinner in Atlanta, I met up with Romily Bernard, whose upcoming debut (Find Me) I'd started reading the night before. I sat beside Cecily White (Prophecy Girl), whose book club will be reading Thirteen Reasons Why next month.

I sat with Marni Bates (Invisible, etc...) during one of the lunches. She also has a book out called Decked with Holly. Guess who'll be buying a copy.

I went to dinner at a restaurant called Pacific Rim (no relation to the movie) with Shaunta Grimes (Viral Nation), Ally Carter (Heist Society, etc...), Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, etc...), Tracy Clark (Scintillate), and Jason Roer (filmmaker, future author, and my conference roommate!). I don't know how I haven't run into Ally or Carrie before, so this dinner felt long overdue! And it was great to share the evening with Shaunta, whose book is only two weeks old. As for Tracy and Jason, we go way back. Or...up!

I met Huntley Fitzpatrick (My Life Next Door) after being introduced by her friend and keynote speaker...

Kristan Higgins. Her presentation was probably my favorite keynote I've heard over all of the conferences I've attended. It went from hilarious to touching to heartbreaking and inspiring. When I speak, I often share emails (anonymously, of course!) from my readers to show that people read books differently based largely on their own experiences. In her speech, Ms. Higgins used words from her readers to show how powerful and important this genre can be.

On the final evening of the conference, they had the Golden Heart and RITA Awards ceremony. The Golden Hearts are given to pre-published manuscripts, and it was great to have to-be-published authors taken as seriously as published authors at a writing conference. The RITAs are awarded for published books, and it was wonderful to see the editors recognized along with the authors.

Here I am with Sarah MacLean and her RITA award. Maybe in a couple years she'll take her photo with me, and I'll be clutching one of those. (Don't laugh! It's not like a guy's never won a...wait...have they?)

Of course, no awards show is complete without dancing! Here I am with fellow arms-flailing YA authors (back row, l-to-r) Bria Quinlan, Holly Bodger, Amy DeLuca, Darcy Woods, Marni Bates, Cecily White, (front row, l-to-r) Jennifer McGowan, Kim MacCarron, and Shea Berkley.

Thanks for a great first time, RWA! I labeled this post Part 1 because I'm sure I'll be back.

The Dutch Musical!

The World Stage - Germany

This past week saw the German stage premier of Thirteen Reasons Why. The title over there is Tote Mädchen lügen nicht, and it's being performed at the Junges Theater Bonn.

 

Here is the cover of their program.

 

It's been amazing to see how well this story connects with readers around the world, but the German translation has been especially well received. It's been a bestseller, won a national award, and is taught in many of their schools. Considering that I had no idea it would sell anywhere outside of the U.S. (and I wasn't even certain it would sell within the U.S.), all of these things come as beautiful surprises.

And now a stage performance???

Below are photos taken from the program. If you've read the book, you may be able to tell which scenes a few of them depict. (Click the pics to enlarge.)

I won't be able to attend any of the shows, but I know many of my blog readers live in Germany. So please check out a performance if you get the chance. I just signed a contract to extend the run into November.

And to the cast and crew, "Danke sehr!"

New Philly

I don't know if the citizens of New Philadelphia, Ohio ever refer to their city New Philly, but they should! I didn't want to ask, though, in case the question annoys them. (If you ask people who live in San Francisco if they ever call their city Frisco, they usually answer something like this: "No we do not!!!!!!!" If you get the chance, you should ask them for yourself. It's fun!)

My trip to New Phil(ly)adelphia was my most exhausting speaking gig to fly to. I left my home airport on Monday at 6pm, had a long layover in L.A., then flew to Chicago where I had another long layover, and arrived in Ohio around 10:30am on Tuesday. I scrambled to my hotel for a quick snooze, and when the alarm went off, I jumped into Author Mode. (Author Mode is a biological setting you get upon publication.)

And the travel was entirely worth it!

Before speaking, I had dinner with several librarians, a library intern, teachers, and members of ADAMHS (Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services). In the photo below, Darlene Dotto is to my right. She was the person who organized the visit. Not pictured is Michelle McMorrow Ramsell, the library director. She took this photo, which I borrowed (swiped?) from her Facebook page.

At the library, before I spoke, two members from ADAMHS informed the audience about what their organization provides as well as the warning signs of suicide. It was a wonderful way to start the event, and it was an honor to have them there. (They even stayed to hear me speak!) If I was at all groggy as I stepped up to the podium, the audience had me fully charged within a couple of sentences. They were so engaged and engaging!

Thank you for a great visit, New PhilADELPHIA!

The Chinese (Traditional) Edition!

TFOU Week = tofu week

The novel I wrote with Carolyn Mackler, The Future of Us, takes place over a specific series of days in 1996. So we consider the week leading up to Memorial Day Weekend as TFOU Week!

Last week, I posted online that one tradition of TFOU Week is to eat a tofu dish for each day. I apologized for such a tradition, but apparently there are people who can make a yummy tofu dish.

For example: Emily!

Emily is currently a sophomore at the same high school that I attended. On Twitter, in honor of TFOU Week, she posted five days of her tofu creations:

fried tofu with mushrooms

tofu con huevo en pan

tofu omelette

tofu bbq burrito

noodles with tofu...and a book!

For being so cool, Emily will be visited by the Facebook Fairy (the mythical creature behind the shenanigans in The Future of Us), who will present her with a signed copy of the book!

El A and El Paso

This past week, I did a booksigning in Los Angeles, and a school visit in El Paso.

In L.A., I spoke at a Barnes & Noble where I've always wanted to do an event. Why? Because it's in the middle of a cool shopping district called The Grove, and because they make really cool banners to promote their events.

I was one of three YA authors at this event. One of the authors was my friend, and fellow Razorbillian, Jordanna Fraiberg. The other author was Jordanna's friend, and my new friend, Lauren Miller.

After discussing our books (which you should all run out and buy), and before the Q&A, we held three contests so audience members could win prizes. The first contest had them line us up by how old we were when we had our first kisses. One of us was young, one was a late bloomer, and one was just right (not that you should judge the first two). It took two tries before we had a winner in that contest. Then we had them guess which author went to Harvard, which went to Yale, and which dropped out of college. Someone won that on the first try (and I'm going to assume that was a lucky guess). Finally, we told them that, as children, all of us used to dress up in costumes and go out in public even when it wasn't Halloween. One of us went to school dressed as a bellydancer, one went shopping wearing an old lady wig, and one went to the mall dressed as Wonder Woman. That question really stumped the audience.

Other authors who came out to hear us, which made us very happy, were Jennifer Bosworth, Aaron Hartzler, Alexandra Monir, and Greg Pincus. And yes, you should definitely buy all of their books, too (or pre-order it if it's not out yet).

A few days later, I flew to Texas. Right before my visit, I found out that my great grandfather lived in El Paso in the late 1970s. I also found out where he liked to eat, which was a total greasy spoon diner. When the librarian who organized the event (Hey, Gloria!) picked me up at the airport and asked if I was hungry, I said, "Have you ever heard of Elmer's Family Restaurant?"

Yes, the place looks very similar to how it probably did in the '70s. But the food was good!

The next day, I gave four presentations in the library of Burges High School. Almost all of the students had read both of my books, which always makes an event more fun, and also makes the Q&A more engaging.

That evening, I had dinner with several students and faculty at a great restaurant called The Garden. With more chances to interact with the students, we had some wonderful literary discussions. And the artwork around us helped set the tone.

So what happened to the banner from Barnes & Noble? While I was all prepared to arm wrestle or do a spelling bee or have a watermelon seed spitting contest, Jordanna and Lauren basically said, "You can have it."

Isaiah and I are thinking Slip-n-Slide!

The F.A.M. at The Grove

Sunday, May 19, I'll be speaking in Los Angeles with two other YA authors: Jordanna Fraiberg and Lauren Miller. If you're anywhere near Barnes & Noble in The Grove (I'm talking anywhere within a 120-mile radius), you should definitely consider being there at 2pm. That's when The F.A.M. (Fraiberg-Asher-Miller) will give a little presentation, answer your questions, and then sign your books.

In preparation for the Q&A, we decided to ask a bunch of questions we've always wondered about each other. Some of the questions were book-related, but many were not. If you've got a book-related question for us, and especially if you've got a weird or silly question...

We'd love to see you in L.A.!

Q: When you were 16, what did you want to be when you grew up?

JORDANNA: A professional squash player. First, squash is an actual sport, and yes, there is a vibrant and active pro tour. I did realize my dream after I graduated college, but it lasted all of 6 months before I realized I needed to also exercise my brain. So I hung up my racket to work in journalism in NYC.

Q: How do you take your coffee?

JAY: At restaurants, I use one sugar packet and one of those thimble-looking creamers. It would probably taste better with more than one of each, but I figure the sugar and creamer people know the best way to mix a coffee. If it was supposed to have more of each, they would've made the packets bigger!

Q: What is your go-to karaoke song?

LAUREN:"Whatta Man" by Salt N Peppa. I should mention, however, that I should probably not be permitted to do karaoke in public. I seem not to have mastered the art of using a microphone. I end up sort of scream singing into it, making everyone in the audience grimace with pain.

Q: What non-YA book do you wish you'd written (for non-financial reasons)?

JORDANNA:The Hours by Michael Cunningham.

Q: What time of day do you like to write? Any rituals you care to share?
JAY: I do my best brainstorming during the day, often while doing other activities, but I prefer to do the writing at night. I wrote most of my first book at a coffee shop, but most of my second at a small table in my living room that looked outside. I don’t have any rituals that I must do, but sometimes I like to help set a certain tone or atmosphere for myself just before sitting down to write. Sometimes that includes music (the My So-Called Life soundtrack for Thirteen Reasons Why; mid-90s pop-punk for The Future of Us). For the book I’m currently working on, along with specific music, I also have some scented candles set a very particular atmosphere.

Q: If you could meet any non-YA author, living or dead, who would you choose?

LAUREN: Leo Tolstoy. Not only did he write one of my all time favorite books (Anna Karenina), he was also a philosopher and a deep thinker. History remembers him as sort of a nut, but I think there's more to the story.

Q: High school boyfriend! did you have one? What was he like?

JORDANNA: Nope, I did not. While I had too many crushes to count, I was a bit of a late bloomer on the boyfriend front (which is probably why I've devoted my career to writing about it!).

Q: Did you have any nicknames in high school?

JAY: I wasn't cool enough or dorky enough to have a legitimate nickname. But in one class, we created fictional families for ouselves as adults. I named one of my kids Gabriel because I've always liked that name. But when I shared my fictional family with the class, someone realized that Gabriel would be called Gabe by a lot of people, and Gabe just sounds so wrong when attached to my last name. For a long time (meaning: to this day), people who were in that class will say "Hey, Gabe" when they see me. (Gabriel was instantly eliminated as a potential name for my potential children. My non-fictional wife and I named our son Isaiah.)

Q: If you had to pick a cartoon character as your personal mascot, who would it be?

LAUREN:Oooh, this is a good one. I think I'd probably pick Rainbow Brite. She's smiley and happy and she brings color to the world. Plus, she has a super awesome white horse with rainbow hair. Every girl needs one of those.

Q: If you had to spend a year living somewhere in the U.S. other than California, where would you live?

JORDANNA:I'd love to spend a year living in Maine. I've gone there practically every summer since I was a kid, and, as luck would have it, so has my husband (note: not how we met). I'd love to experience the other seasons there. There's something incredibly romantic to me about being there on a crisp, snowy winter day.

Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

JAY: I tend to overthink things, so while this should be a fun "Wouldn't it be cool if..." question, it also nearly makes my brain explode. Being invisible would have so many benefits, but I couldn't just walk around carefree. I'd have to be careful people didn't hear my footsteps or bump into me. If they knew there was an invisible person around, after the initial shock, they'd want to capture me. It would be hard to find me, of course, but they would. It'd be like a massive game of Marco Polo with everyone running around with extended arms, and they wouldn't stop until they found me. And then the military would hear about my power and want to use me for their purposes. So I'd choose the ability to fly. That would be the most exciting, as well as the most relaxing, superpower. Or would it? I'd have to fly only at night to limit my chance of exposure. If I had to fly during the day, I'd have to either fly so high that people on the ground wouldn't see me, or only in places where cows or coyotes would see. But what if I showed up on radar? Could I fly faster than a military jet? Anyway...whatever...I still choose flight!

Q: If your contract required your next book to be something other than YA, what age would you write for, and what genre?

LAUREN: I'd write a grown-up, old fashioned mystery, probably with an old lady detective heroine like Miss Marple. I am a mystery fiend. When I was a kid, I loved Sherlock Holmes (the Jeremy Brett version) and Murder She Wrote.

Q: Which is more fun for you, writing a first draft or revising a final draft (and why)?

JORDANNA: I used to prefer writing first drafts, and they're still a really fun process of discovery, but I find I really get my groove going in revisions. The hope is that by the final draft, I can really deepen the characters and their relationships because by that point I know them so well.

Q: If you had a spirit animal, what would it be?
JAY: A beluga whale. But not just any beluga whale. It has to be a baby beluga.

Q: Are you a night person or a morning person?

LAUREN:Hands down, a morning person. I like to get up before 5 a.m. to write, and it's my favorite time of day. I don't even need an alarm. My eyes just sort of pop open at about 4:50. Which is great for my writing, but not so good for my social life. By about 9pm, I'm done for the day. My husband calls me Lame Lauren. I tell him to get his butt up at 5am to see how cool I am then!

Q: If you had to get a tattoo, where would you put it and what would it be? If you're not sure of the design, what are some requirements it would have to meet?

JORDANNA: I would probably get it on the inside of my right wrist, so that I'd catch flashes of it as I write. To that point, I'd want it to be some kind of kundalini yogic symbol that reminded me to breathe, to take a moment. To be in the moment. Hey, maybe I'll go get one!

Q: Are there any foods you crave while writing? Does it depend where you are in the process?

JAY: I forget to eat when I’m in the middle of writing. As long as there’s coffee, I’m good. But while editing The Future of Us, I pulled some all-nighters at a donut shop that was open the hours when I needed to write. That was probably the yummiest (and most fattening) writing experience I ever had. It was awesome!

Q: Name a food item you could never live without.

LAUREN: Is coffee a food item?  It's the one thing I seriously can't imagine ever giving up, even if someone told me it was killing me.  Okay, maybe if it was killing me.  But only in that one instance.  If I'm restricted to actual food items, then I guess I'd say avocados.  I hated them until I got pregnant with my daughter, and now I add them to every meal.  I'm also a big fan of toast, especially when it's smeared with my latest obsession, sunflower seed butter.  It's weird the first time you eat it, but after the second time, you'll be hooked.  Man, I'm hungry right now.

The Icelandic Edition!

Spring 2013 Children's Books

Browsing through the Spring 2013 Children’s Books issue of Publishers Weekly, these are the recently released (or soon-to-be released) middle-grade and teen novels that most grabbed my attention:

Bad Unicorn by Platte F. Clark. Max discovers that a killer unicorn is hunting him in this launch of a fantasy trilogy.

Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston. Alternating past and present vignettes tell the story of a teen with a bomb strapped to her chest.

Born of Illusion by Teri Brown. A budding magician who plays sidekick to her faux medium mother tries to hide her own powers.

Cameron and the Girls by Edward Averett. A boy suffering from schizophreniform disorder falls in love with a classmate and with a girl in his head.

Crash and Burn by Michael Hassan centers on a troubled teen who takes his school hostage at gunpoint, and on the peer who stops him.

Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez. To make sense of her high school crush’s suicide, Frenchie retraces her steps of the last night she spent with him.

Freaks by Kieran Larwood. Misfits exhibited in a Victorian sideshow use their unique talents to solve crimes.

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan tells of a romance between an invisible boy and the one girl who can see him.

Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust by Leanne Lieberman. A Jewish teen who is sick of hearing about the Holocaust must make a tough choice when her friends play Nazi war games.

Me & My Invisible Guy by Sarah Jeffrey. Shy Mallory’s imaginary boyfriend keeps the guys away—until everyone at school learns the truth.

Mojo by Tim Tharp. A teen who gets no respect at school hopes to improve his status by solving the case of a missing rich girl.

Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl. Emily Dickinson stars in this debut novel of a series that imagines literary figures as crime solvers.

Paranormal Properties by Tracy Lane, illus. by Natalia Nesterova. Working on the set of his parents’ghost hunting TV show, a teen discovers he can see and talk to spirits.

The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors, illus. by Dan Santat. In this series launch, two friends bring a wounded animal to a vet for imaginary creatures.

Sidekicked by John David Anderson tells of a boy who belongs to a secret organization for the training of superhero sidekicks.

Still Star-Crossed by Melinda Taub. After the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, a prince wonders how to bring their families together.

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith. An online correspondence begins when a teen movie star accidentally sends a girl an email.

Wickedpedia by Chris Van Etten. Someone is editing Wikipedia articles about teens dying in gruesome ways—and they’re coming true.

You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle tells of six kids who have a new movie made about them every five years.