The Blue Girl

Another recommend. I simply adore Charles de Lint. He's my hero. I am halfway through "The Blue Girl", a YA novel set in his wonderful pseudo-real city of Newford. Love it, love it. He has such a wonderful narrative voice. And speaking of narration, I'm a little bit jealous. The first novel I ever wrote, I wrote in varying first person point of view. Each chapter heading had the name of the character who was the POV person in that chapter. It was rejected oh-so-many times on the grounds that this was simply "not done". I even changed it to third person, at great personal anguish, in the hopes of pleasing a literary agent who later passed on the manuscript anyway. So my question: Can Charles get away with it in The Blue Girl because he is Charles de Lint? Or is this really off-putting to some people, and these were the people I kept sending the manuscript to?

Jessica Recommends. . . .

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. It was amazing! I couldn't put it down! I immediately sent my husband to the comic book store near his work to get me the "Hatter M" comic books, which go along with the novel. "Looking Glass Wars" is actually a multi-media experience: the novel, the comics, and the CD of music that goes along with it are all excellent. I also read this year's Printz Award winner, "American Born Chinese" which was fabulous, the Newbery winner "The Higher Power of Lucky" and the Newbery Honor book "Penny From Heaven". I thought that "Higher Power" was charming, but I think that of the two, "Penny From Heaven" will have broader appeal. Older boys may be wary of "Lucky" and it's young girl protagonist, but I can see them getting into the adventures of Penny and her wacky uncles. I'm hoping to get my hands on "Hattie Big Sky", "Rules", and "Surrender" soon, to complete my Printz/Newbery reading.