I've often been frustrated by discovering an author after his/her older works were unavailable. That's why I was so excited when I discovered ebooks (around 2001, when there was one place to get them, and I had to read them on my PDA). Suddenly all those old books by writers like K.K. Beck and Charles de Lint that I hadn't been able to track down in used book stores, eBay, or even the library were out there for $3 or $4! It turned me into an instant ebook fan. It's kind of like getting a gift when I can buy old books by new favorites (like, say, The Walk. ;-)) I think putting backlist titles out there for new readers is not just one of the smartest, but also one of the nicest, things an author can do.

I'm guessing Haggarty's, which was apparently a department store in LA: http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=2283.

No more Spandex. I am so tired of not being able to find blouses and pants that don't have Spandex, Lycra, or some other synthetic stretchy stuff in them. I'm convinced that the main reason manufacturers do this is to avoid having to make clothes that actually fit, but even 2% of that stuff makes me perspire in a most unladylike fashion. It just doesn't breathe! So I'm learning how to adjust patterns (with Nancy Zieman's pivot-and-slide method) and using inexpensive quilt fabric--which is still pretty nice cotton most of the time, and comes in lots of colors--to make a blouse. Next up: some crops or shorts out of sturdy poplin. Three more words: 100 percent cotton!

(Of course, just because I haven't seen a lot of YA mystery doesn't mean it isn't out there. :-) But I do keep an eye on YA reviews, and haven't seen much mystery for my To Be Read list.)

My nieces and nephew, all heavy readers (the nieces more than the nephew), buy most of their books at Walmart for one reason: They live in a small town in rural Oklahoma, where there are no bookstores. They aren't allowed to shop on Amazon on their own unless they have gift certificates, and the closest bookstore is Hastings (which is actually my favorite bookstore chain), an hour and a half away. Their reliance on Walmart is not economic so much as geographic. :-) I suspect this is true for a lot of rural teenagers. I don't think they would be interested in ebooks, because they can't put them on their birthday and Christmas lists. If they did, we wouldn't buy them, because we wouldn't have anything to wrap and put under the tree. :-) Personally, I like ebooks; I just don't see them being something the teenagers in my life would enjoy. You're right about their desire to have THINGS. They want the matching hardcovers lined up on the shelf. They want to look at them and count them and touch them. I was the same way as a teenager. There is a lot of YA that doesn't suck. I haven't seen much in the way of mystery, except for some paranormal stuff, like Wendy Corsi Staub's Lily Dale series. There are also some thrillers, and plenty of spy stories (e.g., Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series, about a boarding school for girl spies). I would love to see some good traditional mysteries for young adults, but I don't know if that's something actual young adults would love or not. :-)

I like the new cover better than the old one. It's more modern. I really enjoyed the book, too. I like ebooks fairly well, but I get tired of the format after a while and usually can't keep reading long into the night--my eyes can't take it. I stayed up later than I should have to read THE WALK on my iPhone. :-)