Uh... if Snow White is supposed to be that pretty, why did they pick Kristen Stewart? I'm sorry, but, "pretty" just doesn't work with her.

Wow. The cover for FLIP is tons better in the UK version than in the American version!

Sigh. "thought" not "though"

I think the cover's okay; I've certainly seen worse. I SO want to read this book. I loved Devilish, really liked Suite Scarlet and Girl and Sea, and really though 13 Little Blue Envelopes was lame and weak. This new one looks really intriguing and I can't wait to get a copy and see what I think. *jealous*

How does she feel about mysteries? The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie by Alan Bradley (and sequels!!) features an 11-year-old, fiesty-as-Hades, brilliant heroine. Wonderful stories -- for adults and an intelligent kid.

To Emily and Jenn -- Yes! To Say Nothing Of The Dog is hilarious! PLUS, it's the sequel to Doomsday and comes before the Blackout/All Clear pair. But, don't make the mistake I made and read Willis' book without first reading Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing Of The Dog!). Jerome's book is hilarious as well, and Willis's To Say Nothing Of The Dog is meant for those familiar with his story. Her story keeps intersecting with and referring to the older work, and has tons of parallels with it. You will miss half the fun if you haven't read Jerome's work first. When I finally read Jerome's story, then went BACK and re-read Willis', the latter made so much more sense!!

I love Connie Willis! Yea for her!

Loved the little side allusions to Honey Badger and to Monty Python there. I probably missed a few others, though. (snicker)

So, Hamlet, The Graphic Novel? I am amused.

Eeeewwww!

And my first thought was sort of a combination of those: Is wearing nothing but fuzzy boots supposed to look sexy here? Because it SO doesn't.....

I get students who use this as an excuse all the time; they're not much like the gal in the story with the Dessen book. That girl obviously did like to read or she wouldn't have been in a bookstore in the first place. In my experience, when a parent tells me their child is a slow reader, I find they're usually right. However, I cheerily tell them that there are lots of good books for kids who aren't yet on grade level and that the more fun the kid has reading, the more than kid will read, and the easier it will become. And when a parent tells me their kid is a good reader, I often find that is true as well -- even if the kid isn't quite as brilliant as the parents think. The problem there is that parents often have no clue what the kid can handle. True story: One little gal last year LOVED to read and went through tons of books. She was also special ed and read way below grade level. No problem. Our school library has plenty of great MG books for her to gobble up. All was good. Then her father told her he wanted her to read Les Miserables. No joke: he gave this kid the full-length Victor Hugo. Yeah, how to crush a kid's love of reading. geez. For the whole week, I gently explained to her that Hugo didn't have modern 12-year-olds in mind when he wrote it, and that I could find parts of his work long and dull sometimes, too. I kept suggesting that maybe we could find a simplified version. Finally the dad gave in and let the girl choose her own books! Phew!

Uh, so it's kind of trying to be the Reduced Shakespeare Company does Harry Potter, right? But it doesn't quite get there as well.... :(

Very Stepford Wives. Very.

That's the BEST Australia could do? Sure, the books are set in Australia, but that's about the only interesting thing I could find. Very poorly written. Poor Australia. I hope there's something better for them in YA soon.

I cannot believe you actually read this book. The first one was so very bad, and I know you saw that too. You are a brave, brave woman to read this and tell the world about it. And, anyone who thinks that a kid says "stomach gas" and knows who Perry Mason is is obviously so far removed from real teenagers that they should be disqualified from ever attempting to write for them. Heck, Perry Mason was before MY time.

Okay, the Tonks one is kind of cute. But Tonks and Snape are the only remotely correct ones. Tom Riddle was, according to the books, a good-looking child. Lupin wasn't changed into a werewolf until he was a child, not as an infant. And Harry was 15 months old when he survived the killing curse, not a tiny infant. And Dobby's not human, unlike the baby version.

Well, I just missed the boat on everything today -- including putting Tom Bombadil in The Hobbit when he's in LOTR. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. *hangs head in shame*

"And not just through that genre – much more damaging, concerned parents might think, is the complete disregard for reproductive health awareness in literature for younger readers. Perhaps we can forgive this carelessness in a story such as The Hobbit, though its publication coincided with a good deal of unsafe sex; or The Secret Garden, despite the charged relationship between Mary and Dickon." Wait. Where, pray tell, is there ANY sex in The Hobbit?!!! I suppose it's implied with Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, since they're freakin' married, but since they don't appear to have produced any children in eons of time, the need for condoms seems irrelevant, doesn't it? And Mary and Dickon? Isn't she, like, 9? And I don't recall any pedophilia or rape scenes going on..... "...it is unfortunate that JK Rowling neglected to squeeze even one lesson about sexual health into Harry Potter's Hogwarts timetable. Unsurprisingly, in the later books, we find the 17-year-old alumni, often roaming the world in small, unaccompanied gangs, placing themselves at considerable risk. Recall the scene in a tent, more fully explored in the last film, where Hermione dances with Harry? Only memories of Ron Weasley appears to stand between Hermione and the strong possibility of a teen wizard pregnancy." Uh. No. Harry Potter is one of the most chaste YA books out there. Harry occasionally fantasizes about kissing Ginny, and that's as far as it goes. If anything, it's an abstinence message going on there. And the dancing scene only occurs in the movie, not the book. Also, they're wizards. Surely Hermione would know an "accio condom" spell. Ya think? Look, I have no problem with books that show characters practicing safe sex. Really, that's good. But this writer is really groping (pun intended) for stuff to back up her arguments if she has to resort to these. Ridiculous.

Best thing I've seen all day. :D And Dobby was a chihuahua. *giggle*

AWESOME!!! I am so jealous.

Don't worry about it. Lots of folks who aren't particularly into 19th Century American religious organizations mix up The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (the Jehovah's Witnesses) and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). Both names are freakin' long, after all. And my guess is that the Russian folks who created this list would be just as happy to ban one group as the other, since religious tolerance doesn't seem to be too high on their list of priorities.

It WAS funny. I liked the "kiss" part. :)

I didn't see anything on the Mormons either, but there was plenty on the Jehovah's Witnesses, so that means the Mormons are likely to be banned in some part of the list, too. :) Actually, the whole thing reminds me of the Cold War times. James Bond, anyone? (And now I'm humming "I Hope The Russians Love Their Children Too.")

Dang. I was doing just fine with understanding the host guy, but when that translator started babbling over the top of the actors, I lost both the English and the Spanish. Oh well. But, hey, those Phelps twin are cute. ;)