1. Or, I should say a quick, SMALL five, as I am still on vacation and it is total chaos (albeit the fun kind) all around me as I write this. Two preschoolers high on pancake sugar, various adults getting organized for pool and bike outings, an endless cycle of dishwashers and clean towels and sunscreen applications. In other words: the good stuff. Thank you to everyone for the sweet and abundant birthday wishes. I had a great day and this has been a really wonderful week. I’m already sad about leaving, and we don’t even go for a couple more days. Now that’s a good vacation.
2. This week WILL end, though, and then it’s back to the book tour. Quick roundup of what’s ahead:
- Thursday, June 16th: Politics and Prose at The Bethesda Library, 7400 Arlington Road. Bethesda, MD
5pm - Friday, June 17th: Blue Willow Bookshop at The Refuge, 13150 Memorial Drive Houston, TX. 7pm: ALSO: there will be a canned food drive at this event and all donations are welcome!
- Monday, June 20th: Flyleaf Books – with the Dessen race cars! 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd (Historic Airport Rd). Chapel Hill, NC. 7pm.
I also will have events coming up in July, at Eight Cousins Bookshop in Falmouth, MA, and in August at Malaprops Bookstore in Asheville, NC. And then, in the fall, there is….
3.CANADA! I’m so pumped to finally be able to tell you all about this, although I don’t have a ton of details yet. For years we’ve been trying to work out a way for me to get up to Canada, as I have a lot of devoted readers up there who have been asking for a book tour stop. Well, thanks to Penguin Canada, it’s happening. I’ll be in Toronto for a few appearances. One I KNOW about already is on Thursday, September 22nd at North York Central Library. But I will fill you in about others when I know more. Around that same time, I’ll also be at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. Oh, and I’m doing some stuff in Texas this fall as well. And NCTE, I think. And…okay, now I’m exhausted. Time to stop!
4. As I said, this week has been blissful. And, surprisingly, healthier than normal. Usually when we are here at the beach, we are ALL about shrimp burgers, and onion rings, and pizza and ice cream. It’s like the required diet. But my husband is on a health kick, so this time we’ve been cooking much more, lots of fish and fresh greens we brought from our garden. I mean, I HAVE been singlehandedly polishing off my Dairy Queen ice cream birthday cake, bit by bit, every afternoon, but after all the salads, it balances out. Right? Of course it does! Last night, we did a low country shrimp boil, which was both easy and awesome. Boil some water, dump in a ton of Old Bay, then throw in red potatoes, kielbasa (we used turkey: see, healthy!) followed by fresh corn on the cob pieces and then shrimp. Drain it, put it on a pan, and stick it in the middle of a table covered with newspapers, and then peel and eat. So freaking good.
That said, I WILL get my shrimp burger today. And onion rings. You can only be so healthy for so long.
5. Finally, I know I am super late on this, but I have to say something about the whole Wall Street Journal-Young Adult Book kerfuffle from earlier this week. (Can I just tell you how much I LOVE the word kerfuffle? Just say it out loud. See? But I digress.) Anyway, for those who haven’t kept up, there was a piece in the WSJ about how hard it is for parents to find YA books that are appropriate for their kids, as everything is about vampires and dystopian worlds and shocking language and sex. (I’m paraphrasing, obviously: the article itself is here. ) Anyway, many YA authors, readers, and librarians and booksellers responded, saying that this is NOT true, there is a wide variety of books out there, and that issues DO need to be addressed, because teens are experiencing them and can often find solace and support on the pages of novels. Here’s my take. We can’t candy-coat adolescence, people. Teenagers know that better than anyone. And as I said on Twitter earlier this week, if you are only seeing one kind of book out there for teens, you’re not looking very hard. Or, um, at all. Personally, my books don’t have vampires or zombies or post-apocalyptic themes or settings, and I can tell you that, based on the amazing readers I’ve met over the last month during the tour, and heard from here and other places online, people are finding them just fine. So maybe that WSJ reporter needs to just ask the teen READERS what they like and want to read? Trust me, my readers are not scary. They’re amazing and smart and excited about books and they would LOVE to talk to you all about it. You’re cheating yourself, WSJ, for not engaging them in this conversation. Your loss.
Okay, enough of the rant. Back to vacation!
See you next week. Have a good weekend, everyone!
Wow, everything sounds so amazing. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you’re making your way up to Canada! It’s great that you’re able to expand past the United States and into Canada. BTW happy belated birthday! Mine is today, so we share the Gemini sign.
Can’t wait to here more from you, have a great weekend!
CANADA!!!! I am beyond happy that you will be come to CANADA!!!! I have been a follower and reading of your since I was able to read! Hope the rest of you vacay is good and Cant wait to see you at the North York Central Lib!!!!!!!
Canada, WOW! Amazingly I’m going too in July. I’m going to Montreal (luckily I know how to speak French.)
Love your books!
Happy belated birthday! My gosh that is SUPER great!
BIG fan of you, reading What Happened to Goodbye RIGHT now! Great book!
Have fun in Canada!!!
Sarah,
Are you EVER going to come to Cleveland, OH? If you are, CONTACT ME!!!
:O
I agree with Emily, come to Ohio, please!
I read a great article that Laurie Halse Anderson posted on her twitter about ya books:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/
Anyway it’s a great article.
I read many of your books but the one that touched me the most was “The Truth About Forever” Wes and Macy were Obviously doing to be together. But the way Macy’s life changes and Jason came back completed surprised me And the way they got together at the same time she began doing what she loved to do most;run. It was so beautiful!!
Write much moreee please!!
Can’t wait to see you Thursday at Politics & Prose!!!
The food sounds amazing! Soak it in as much as you can before you have to leave! And it’s so awesome that you get to go to Canada! What a great opportunity! And I couldn’t agree more with what you said about the WSJ. Don’t say anything until you have all the facts, right? Well, enjoy the rest of your week Sarah. And I just finished What Happened to Goodbye and it is officially my favorite book. Ever.
Hey! OMG so my friend Sarah said “If they’re reading about sex they aren’t doing it!” Which I have to agree with, those parents have no idea what they are talking about! We (Sarah and I) can totally relate to your stories!!! I really hope you come to IL soon!! When you came to Naperville I couldn’t go
my mom was working. I hope your vacation is great the rest of the time your there!!!!!! Also, WE ARE TOTALLLY IN LOVE WITH YOUR BOOOKS! Sarah says “GO SARAHHHHHHHHS!!!!” ( I have to agree!) <3
I’m proud of you for taking a vacation! I don’t know about you, but I get the most ideas when I’m away from my desk.
Are you ever going to talk about the books with messages inside we can buy???
Keep having fun…:) YAY SUMMER!!!
Live up your vacation! Here in the southern hemisphere I am currently swathed in a cocoon of blankets drinking hot tea…
I agree whole-heartedly with you about the whole WSJ article thing. They’re not looking at the right stuff!
Sure, there *are* a lot of vampire/zombie/whatever YA novels out there, because there has proven to be a market for them. Ok, that’s cool. You know what else sells lots? Mills and Boon. But we don’t base the entire ‘romance’ genre of novels on them.
There exists in this world many wonderful things and many YA novels that inspire and entertain, including yours Ms Dessen
It’s just a shame some people aren’t looking hard enough to figure this out for themselves.
I agree completely, Mel!
what about vancouver..?
Come to Victoria, B.C.!!! D; if not there then ATLEAST VANCOUVER!!!! <33333
Hello Sarah Dessen,
I’ve only read one of your books (in french: “En route pour l’avenire”) and I really liked it!
It’s the first time I see your blog and I like reading all what’s on your blog, it is like reading a diary. I like diaries… I started writting my first diary when I was 7 years old and I’m still writting one at this moment. I’m for now to young to take all my diaries together and make a book of it. But that’s what I’m going to do. And you really inspired me about what we can do in our lives and about love… your book tells me a lot of things. So I’m now going to the bookshop and I’ll buy one of your books. I really think your books is a sort of message to the reader. And it inspire me for my diaries and my daily live. I wanted to thank you!
Hope you had a wonderful vacation and go to relax lots. As for the WSJ article, I just finished reading it and it mad me a little mad. I go to the bookstore pretty frequently and although I am 25 I do like to read YA books sometimes and honestly there are a lot of books out there that do not have violence and volgarity. When I was younger my mother had no problem finding me YA books to read although it could be argued that she is a somewhat liberal parent. The article reminds me of a time in high school when the school paper, which I was a part of, started running a short story written by a student about the physical abuse that she went through with ther boyfriend and the partents and faculty were outraged because our newspaper was also sent to the junior high schools in the district and they did not think it was acceptable. I thought it was perfectly find but nobody asked my opinion. Anywho went of on a little bit of rant just now. On a lighter note hope the rest of your book tour goes great and safe traveling.
SOOOOOOOO excited that you are coming to Canada!!!! and to Toronto! and can’t think of a better place than north york central library! Marking the dates down on my calendar
Heyyy sarah
I come from South Africa…and no, I DO NOT live in the bush.
And I totally LOVE ur books
I’ve felt inspired by them, since I’m a “writer” in the making…
And wow I really agree with your argument about the WSJ segment!
Ur books are so touching…and do u have any tips for a girl who dreams to become a writer?
Hi! It’s funny, I just sent you an email about a good response to the WSJ article, a response in which you are mentioned! I found this response on an agent’s blog before I caught up with your blog. I thought I’d post it again here: http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1481#m12495