Jessica Day George

Monday, January 26, 2009

Hooray for Midnight Ball! Hooray for Neil Gaiman! Hooray for lists!

Just, in general, hooray!

Today the Newbery Awards were announced, and I am beside myself with glee! Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book is the winner! And Savvy, by Ingrid Law, is one of the honorees. I have not yet read Savvy, but I've been hearing such good things about it, I cannot wait! For a complete list of the winners, also the winners of the Printz and other fine awards, go to: www.ala.org!

And in other news:

Princess of the Midnight Ball is out! YAY! It actually came out last Tuesday, but I haven't had two seconds to blog! But it's here, and it's fabulous. Go, buy, read, love. It is my joy and my delight, as though it were one of my very own children. Kirkus gave it a RAVE review- Thanks, guys!

If you check the "Meet Jessica" page, you will see that I will be out and about promoting this wonderful book in the month of Love, aka February. And speaking of love, I have yet to post on that page that I will be in Tooele at 2 pm on February 14th at The Purple Cow Bookstore. More details to come on that one, as I will be reading and signing and making merry with other authors like Sara Zarr and Randall Wright!

Remember, kids, Midnight Ball is my ode to knitting, and there are knitting patterns that go along with it. The patterns have been added to the Midnight Ball page, and if you knit one of them, send me a picture. I think I'm going to start posting "fan knits!" on there too! So if you're a knitter, wear your best knitwear to my signings! I'll have THE black wool chain with me, and am elbow deep in yarn making some other fun things to wear.

And now it's that time when I post my favorite books of the year. I'm doing something a little different this year, as you will see. They're in no particular order, and they may not have been published in 2008, that's just when I read them.

Favorite Kids' Lit


The Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer, by Laini Taylor
The Exchange, by Graham Joyce
The Game, by Diana Wynne Jones
Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Chalice, by Robin McKinley
Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
The Absolutely True History of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Fighting Ruben Wolfe, by Markus Zuzak
The Invention of Hugo Cabrey, by Brian Selznick
The Patron Saint of Butterflies, by Cecelia Galante
Ten Cents a Dance, by Christine Fletcher

Best Adult Books

Ysabel, by Guy Gavriel Kay
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
The First Man in Rome, by Colleen McCullough
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

Best Non-Fiction

Yes Man! by Danny Wallace
Eating Chocolates and Dancing in the Kitchen, by Tom Plummer

Best Short Stories

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, by Susannah Clarke
M is for Magic, by Neil Gaiman
Let it Snow! by Lauren Myracle, John Green, and Maureen Johnson

Best Picture Books

Llama Llama, Red Pajama, by Anna Dewdney
No Babysitters Allowed! by Amber Stewart and Laura Rankin
Cinderella, by Cynthia Rylant
Fifteen Animals! by Sandra Boynton

Go now, my people, and READ!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jessica--

Thanks for your best books of the year list. I've read a few of them, and I'll be sure to check out the rest.

I got "Princess of the Midnight Ball" hot off the press and absolutely loved it. Great job! I posted a review on my blog:
http://fullyauthorized.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/princess-of-the-midnight-ball/

Have a great February promoting--

Wendy

Laini Taylor said...

(love the blog name of the above commenter!)

Hi Jessica! Yay for Midnight Ball!! And knitting, yay! I'm sure I'm not a good enough knitter to knit anything involving a pattern: scarves and other rectangles are my limit!! (Speaking of knitting, I just posted an awesome video of the knitter who made all the tiny doll sweater for the Coraline movie. So cool!)

Big congrats on the new book -- can't wait to read it!

rachel said...

Jessica, congrats on Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow making it on the YALSA's best books for young adults! That is so awesome. I absolutely LOVED the book and I look to reading Princess at the Midnight Ball!

Lars said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Yay! I've been looking forward to reading your new book.

And you have excellent taste in books. I've read and really liked a lot of the books on your list.

Melinda said...

I cannot wait to read your new book. And I cannot believe that I am going to miss the launch party at the King's English next Saturday! Augh! I have a class that lasts all day--in Provo no less. This will be the first one that I've missed. :-(

Anonymous said...

I started and finished Princess of the Midnight Ball last Saturday, and LOVED IT!!! It was so awesome, and even better than I expected. Now if only every girl could own a dress like that one on the cover...

Anonymous said...

this is sooo annoying!!

I can't find Princess of the Midnight ball ANYWHERE!!!!!!

ARGHHHHHHH

I asked in all the bookstores but they said they had no idea it was even out!!

help!!!

what do I do?? where can i get it?

love from a fan X

lol

Anonymous said...

Whoops, just saw it on the front page. yup. i am an idiot.

i have sent 2 versions of this message but am not sure if they got through???

yar... well sorry everybody. my mistake. at least i can buy the book now!!!

God bless the Queen and such...

J X

Taffy said...

I don't know if I let you know I did a review on Midnight Ball. Here is the link:

http://taffyscandy.blogspot.com/2009/02/book-review.html