The Buzz

• Tiger Eyes the Movie!

  May 9, 2013

  Hurrah! We're less than a month away from the release of the Tiger Eyes movie! If you read Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes but didn't know that it was adapted to be a film, you're in luck now! Tiger Eyes will be in theaters June 7th, so check your local listings to see if it'll be playing in a theater near you! 

  I can't stop watching the official movie trailer for this movie. It's so perfect and Willa Holland is everything I imagined Davey to be. And Wolf? Wow! I don't want to gush, but you can get more details about the cast on the Tiger Eyes IMDB page!

  I'll be updating you as the weeks get closer to the movie release date! Judy's got a very busy schedule from here on now so I'll keep you in the loop with any giveaways you could enter or any other fun stuff you should know about!

  Will you be watching Tiger Eyes in theaters, Buzzers?

  Watch the Tiger Eyes trailer!

  Tiger Eyes - Trailer from Tashmoo Productions on Vimeo.

  About Tiger Eyes:

  Add to your RB bookshelf | Goodreads | Buy a copy

  Davey has never felt so alone in her life. Her father is dead—shot in a holdup—and now her mother is moving the family to New Mexico to try to recover.
  
  Climbing in the Los Alamos canyon, Davey meets the mysterious Wolf, who can read Davey’s “sad eyes.” Wolf is the only person who seems to understand the rage and fear Davey feels.
  
  Slowly, with Wolf’s help, Davey realizes that she must get on with her life. But when will she be ready to leave the past behind and move toward the future? Will she ever stop hurting?
  

  by Buzzgirl | 10 comments |
  Filed under: Judy Blume Tiger Eyes Tiger Eyes Movie

• Lionsgate Announces Screenwriter for the Wonder Movie!

  May 9, 2013

  Exciting news! Lionsgate has hired screenwriter Jack Thorne to adapt one of our beloved books, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, for a movie!

  If you're wondering what Jack Thorne has written and if he'll handle Auggie's story with care, don't fret! Thorne is a BAFTA-winning screenwriter and playwright, whose previous works include The Scouting Book for Boys, A Long Way Down, Blood Red Road, Mortimer Green, and This is England, and the original UK show Skins, so he's got quite an impressive resume! You can learn more about Jack on his IMDB page.

  Congratulations to Ms. Palacio! We're so thrilled that Auggie and his story will get to touch more people! We can't wait for further development and casting announcements! You can read more about the movie and production team at Deadline.com!

  About Wonder:

  Add to your RB bookshelf | Goodreads | Buy a copy

  I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.
  
  August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be.

  The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?
  
  

  
  
  

  Watch the book trailer for Wonder!

  Photo courtesy of Deadline.com

  by HeadBuzzer | 7 comments |
  Filed under: R.J. Palacio Wonder Wonder Movie

• BuzzGuy Review: The Tragedy Paper

  May 8, 2013

  About The Tragedy Paper:

  Add to your RB bookshelf | Goodreads | Buy a copy

  Read the Chapter Sampler!

  SUMMARY: It follows the story of Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.”

  A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed. Yet, despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “It” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy.

  To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, but she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone ever finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine romance, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.
   
  Jumping between viewpoints of the love-struck Tim and Duncan, a current senior about to uncover the truth of Tim and Vanessa, The Tragedy Paper is a compelling tale of forbidden love and the lengths people will go to keep their secrets.

  REVIEW: Truthfully, I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked up The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan. Forbidden love isn't usually an angle I tend to spring for, since a lot of the misconceptions and angst can be cleared up almost right away if you were honest from the start. But I digress.

  Initially, due to Ms. LaBan's naming scheme and the dual POVs between Tim and Duncan, who are hinted at to have had some sort of weird interaction before the book begins, I thought that The Tragedy Paper was going to be some sort of rewrite of Macbeth, which would have been cool. Instead I realized that while there are a few Macbeth jokes here or there, The Tragedy Paper actually has more parallels to another classic that I read for class - Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, which is just as cool, if you ask me.

  Not to give away the book, but with Tim and Vanessa stepping into loose roles of Ethan and Mattie, the constant allusions to heavy winter snow and "the accident", and the senior year sledding activity, it's really hard to ignore the same themes that both Tragedy Paper and Ethan Frome follow, especially with how "cold" everything feels, and how Tim (or Ethan) feels so miserable and trapped and thinks that Vanessa (or Mattie) could be his key to being happy.  

  As an albino, Tim has some really high walls up because he's lived his life being stared at and made fun of. But after a chance encounter with Vanessa at the airport, she brings a sense of color and freedom he's never really felt before. Except Vanessa already has a boyfriend and he'd totally kick Tim's butt. Sometimes I cringed at Tim's social awkwardness because he's just so transparent about his wanting Vanessa - guy's never heard of a poker face. But overall, Tim is a steady narrator and a likable guy. You can't help but feel for him, even if you'd wish he'd stop moping so much and let himself enjoy things and let people other than Vanessa be his friend. While Duncan is the second narrator and his own story going on, I found myself really looking forward to hearing Tim whenever it wasn't his chapter, trying to race ahead to find out what happened to Tim and Vanessa, and what happened between Tim and Duncan. 

  I know a lot of people compared The Tragedy Paper to Thirteen Reasons Why, and I guess it's a fair enough comparison, especially with the use of tapes/CDs to tell a story in retrospect, but I'd also recommend picking up Looking for Alaska, Paper Covers Rock, and Ethan Frome. Overall a great read, not too heavy on the romance, and a great character study.

  If you liked these books, pick up The Tragedy Paper:

  

  Have you read The Tragedy Paper, Buzzers?

  by BuzzGuy | 8 comments |
  Filed under: BuzzGuy Review elizabeth laban the tragedy paper

• Historically Crushed: Jillian Larkin on Jay Gatsby

  May 7, 2013

  A note from Headbuzzer: Enjoy this post Jillian Larkin wrote for Romance at Random! Jillian chats about how her longstanding crush on Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby influenced the plot of the final book in her Flappers series, Diva!

  Historically Crushed: Jillian Larkin on Jay Gatsby

  Young Adult Romance Authors share their biggest historical crushes with RomanceatRandom readers. Today we hear from Jillian Larkin, author of The Flappers Series.
  
  I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for the first time when I was fourteen. I was assigned to read the book for my Freshman English class. Between dress rehearsals for the school play and a solo in an upcoming choir concert, I didn’t even have a chance to open the book until the night before the test. But that didn’t stop me from falling head over heels in love with the story. I finished reading the book just as my alarm went off to wake me up in the morning. Once I took the test, came home, and got the rest I so desperately needed, I promptly began The Great Gatsby for the second of what would eventually become a whopping twelve times.
  
  I always find something new to adore upon each new reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous work. But what, or rather who, I’ve loved most ever since those first sleepless midnight hours in high school is Jay Gatsby himself. At fourteen I was carried away by the romantic notion of a man who would build such riches for himself, all for the woman he loved. It didn’t hurt that he was also beautiful, charmingly called everyone “old sport,” and could throw one hell of a party.

  As I got older I began to recognize the sadness and desperation that shrouded Gatsby’s quest to win back his beloved Daisy, but that only made me love poor old Jay even more. It also made me want to scream at Daisy, “What are you doing?! I know Gatsby’s probably in the mob or whatever, but still—he did all of this for you. With a man who loves you that much throwing himself at you, you would really still rather be with a racist, philandering lump of a man like Tom? Really?!”
  
  When I was twenty-one I started to get that familiar hankering for some time alone with my favorite lovelorn blonde. I wanted to get lost in the glitz and glamour of his parties, dancing the Charleston and drinking martinis. But did I really want to read the same book yet again? Even I had my limits. So instead I decided to start my own series about the 1920s. Gatsby wouldn’t be there, but the sparkling dresses and bouncing jazz that filled his world would be.

  When it came time to write Diva, the final book in The Flappers series, I knew I wanted to pay homage in some way to my longtime literary crush. So I sent Gloria to Great Neck (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s former home and inspiration for West Egg) to spy on a mysterious millionaire named Forrest Hamilton. No one quite knows how Forrest got his fortune, and that’s what Gloria has to find out.
  
  Now that I’ve finished The Flappers series, I do believe I finally am ready to read The Great Gatsby for the thirteenth time. You get the shaker and the olives, Jay, and I’ll bring the gin and vermouth.

  Have you read The Flappers series?

  

  This post was originally published on Romance at Random.

  by JillianLarkin | 10 comments |
  Filed under: Diva Jillian Larkin Romance at Random The Flappers Series

• Lauren Kate Video Chat on Facebook!

  May 7, 2013

  Calling Fallen fans, fanatics, lunatics (jk!), and enthusiasts!

  Although the Fallen series has come to an end, that doesn't mean we can't still share and discuss our love for Luce, Daniel, Cam, and the rest of the gang!

  Lauren Kate's been super busy lately, with a new book (Teardrop) coming out in October, a baby, and touring, but tomorrow, May 8th from 7-8pm ET, Lauren will be hosting a video chat right on her Facebook page!

  How do you join in? Just RSVP at her Facebook event right here! See you there!

  If you're new to the Fallen series, click on the book covers to read chapter samplers and watch book trailers!

  
  

  Have you read all the Fallen books?

  

  

  by HeadBuzzer | 11 comments |
  Filed under: author chat Fallen LAUREN KATE

• Follow the Paperboy blog tour!

  May 6, 2013

  Hurrah! Starting tomorrow, we're going to be following along with Random House Kids and Vince Vawter on the Paperboy blog tour!

  Paperboy comes out on shelves May 14th! Follow Vince on his educator-themed blog tour as he stops by and chats about the historical backdrop of Paperboy, segregation in small Southern town Memphis, the 1950s, and more!

  The tour kicks off tomorrow at the Teach Mentor Texts blog, but following along with @RandomHouseKids as they tweet out the blog tour stops!

  
  
  
  

  FOLLOW VINCE VAWTER ON HIS BLOG TOUR

  05/07 - Teach Mentor Texts - Review

  05/08 - Random Acts of Reading - Interview

  05/09 - Teach Mentor Texts - Interview

  05/10 - Ms. Yingling Reads - Review

  05/13 - The Children's Book Review - Guest Post

  05/14 - Nerdy Book Club - Guest post

  
  

  Watch the Paperboy book trailer!

  About Paperboy:

  Add to your RB bookshelf | Goodreads | Buy a copy

  An 11-year-old boy living in Memphis in 1959 throws the meanest fastball in town, but talking is a whole different ball game. He can barely say a word without stuttering, not even his own name.

  So when he takes over his best friend's paper route for the month of July, he knows he'll be forced to communicate with the different customers, including a housewife who drinks too much and a retired merchant marine who seems to know just about everything.
  
  The paper route poses challenges, but it's a run-in with the neighborhood junkman, a bully and thief, that stirs up real trouble--and puts the boy's life, as well as that of his family's devoted housekeeper, in danger.
  

  by HeadBuzzer | 5 comments |
  Filed under: blog tour Paperboy Vince Vawter

• Buzzguy & Buzzgirl's May New Release Picks

  May 6, 2013

  It's the first Monday of the month, so you know what that means! Buzzguy and I have been chatting about what new releases we're excited to read and pick up this month! Remember you can click on book covers to be taken to their book pages, and Random House titles are bolded!

  BuzzGirl's May New Release Picks

  

  The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan; Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore; The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles; The Language Inside by Holly Thompson; The Year of Luminous Love by Lurlene McDaniel; Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan; A Gathering of Wings (Centauriad #2) by Kate Klimo; Faerie After by Janni Lee Simner; Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown; The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher; Golden by Jessi Kirby; The Originals by Cat Patrick; Parallel by Lauren Miller; Truth or Dare by Jaqueline Green; The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston; Below by Meg McKinlay; The Caged Graves by Dianne Salerni; Thorn Abbey by Nancy Ohlin; Five Summers by Una LaMarche; Of Triton by Anna Banks

  BuzzGuy's May New Release Picks

  

  Paperboy by Vince Vawter; Kindness for Weakness by Shawn Goodman; The End Games by T. Michael Martin; The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

  What books are you looking forward to reading this May, Buzzers? Tell us in the comments!

  by Buzzgirl | 13 comments |
  Filed under: May new releases

• Author Letter from Shawn Goodman

  May 6, 2013

  
  Please welcome Shawn Goodman to Random Buzzers this week! Shawn will be chatting on his author board with you Buzzers all week about his new book, Kindness for Weakness, so stop by and bring your questions!

  A LETTER FROM SHAWN GOODMAN

  I’m not sure when I first saw myself as a writer. To be honest, I didn’t know that it was a real job. I thought writers came from far away places like England, or Russia. They smoked hand-rolled cigarettes, and drank liquor from dusty, unlabeled bottles crated from Morocco or Tangiers. They were dead, too, preferably from old battle wounds, or being gored by a wild animal. Less desirable, but perfectly acceptable deaths included malaria, cirrhosis, and, of course, going mad.
  
  I drafted my first short stories in secret, when I was in college. As soon as my roommates would leave the apartment, I’d lock the door and shut all the blinds. Then I’d take out my notebook and pen and, with one ear trained for the sound of approaching footsteps or the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway, I’d write. In those days I wrote tentatively, self-consciously, and always in secret. Like I was taking part in some illicit or shameful act, which I supposed I was.
  
  It’s not that I thought writing wasn’t respectable. Far from it, in my mind it was noble. Exalted. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I simply didn’t have the right of claim. I couldn’t be a writer, because I wasn’t an interesting person. Because I lived in a little rust belt city where nothing ever happened. Because I wasn’t well read and didn’t understand why the classics were a big deal.  
  
  But how I loved stories! And bookstores. And libraries where, over the course of decades, the hardcovers and softening plaster walls had taken on each other’s smell and created a new one that was equal parts vellum and lime. Fantastic, that smell.
  
  For years I continued to write in secret, and worked odd jobs (short order cook, bicycle mechanic, mower of lawns.). I read furiously, but with no direction. Science fiction one day, an old boatbuilding manual the next. I trained to be a psychologist, and had the privilege of listening to hundreds of people, kids mostly, tell their own secret stories. And together we tried to write better, more hopeful endings. It was difficult work, but important, I think, even when happy endings weren’t anywhere to be found.
  
  I still work with kids and read haphazardly. But I no longer write in secret.
  
  I don’t know when exactly I became a writer. I suspect now that it isn’t something you can become, at least not through travel and odd jobs. Or the locking of doors. Perhaps it occurs only when you give yourself time… time to stand still, and to listen. Time to think. Time for the slow-moving gears in your head to complete the thousand or so revolutions required for the creation of characters and stories. And longer still for those characters’ voices to grow bold enough to demand that you present them to the world. In my case, these things are beginning to happen, and for this I am profoundly grateful.

  About Shawn Goodman:

  Shawn Goodman is a writer and school psychologist. His experiences working in several New York State juvenile detention facilities inspired the books Something Like Hope, and Kindness for Weakness.

  He has been an outspoken advocate for juvenile justice reform, and has written and lectured on issues related to special education, foster care, and literacy. Shawn lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife and children.

  by ShawnGoodman | 5 comments |
  Filed under: Author letter Kindness for Weakness Shawn Goodman

• Author Recap: Erin Vincent

  May 3, 2013

  
  This week, Erin Vincent visited our author boards to talk to us about her heartbreaking memoir, Grief Girl, based on her account of losing both her parents at the age of 14, leaving just her, her older sister, and baby brother to raise themselves.

  This is what we learned about Erin:

  • Looking back, Erin has decided while if she could go back in time to prevent her parents' deaths she would, but not the affect it had on her life afterwards
  • Erin's baby brother, Trent (who was only 3 at the time), was what kept her going forward: she'd look at him and remember how much he needed her
  • Erin initially thought writing Grief Girl would take six months. It took six years
  • For Erin, the hardest part about writing Grief Girl was reliving everything. Erin said "I typed and I sobbed but I didn't stop"
  • Erin wore a hot pink dress to her mother's funeral
  • Erin's brother didn't really have a reaction to her writing Grief Girl, but her sister said that although everything was true, she was less than thrilled
  • After Erin left high school and would meet new people who didn't know about her parents, she'd just say that they were retired and living on the coast
  • One of the reasons for writing Grief Girl was that Erin was really annoyed at how all the books on coping with grief weren't adequate and so off the mark in terms of the grieving process and feelings involved
  • Erin thinks people often spout cliches when talking about grief and loss because some are impatient with others' grieving, while others mean well but do not know what to say
  • Erin's advice for talking to someone who's in mourning to not avoid the subject by ignoring the person but to just express the fact that they feel for them and are thinking of them
  • Erin was a journalist for seven years
  • Erin was also a fashion stylist. She's worked with Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Ralph Lauren, and others
  • Erin says that while she has very vivid memories of her life after her parents accident, she kind of doesn't remember her life before
  • Erin has to work in complete silence
  • Erin's motto when writing Grief Girl was "feel the fear and do it anyway"
  • Erin loves both hardcover and paperback covers for Grief Girl
  • Erin would never exaggerate the truth - especially for non-fiction and memoir, because that takes away from "based on a true story"

  That's just a little bit of what we learned about Erin! To read through the rest of her responses to you guys, visit her board here! 

  Next week, author Shawn Goodman (author of Something Like Hope) visits to talk about his newest book, Kindness for Weakness! Both books are based on his experiences as a school psychologist and his work in juvenile detention centers. We're giving away ARCs of Kindness for Weakness, so stop by his board and leave a question for him!

  by HeadBuzzer | 8 comments |
  Filed under: Author Recap Erin Vincent Grief Girl

• Random Hour: YA Guys and the Bad Touch

  May 1, 2013

  So the other night I was reading a book (duh) and it was moving along at a fairly decent pace: a paranormal mystery, lots of after school hijinks, a budding romance between a hot guy and a girl who doesn't know he's totally into her - you know, the usual. So far so good, right? 

  Then I got to this one scene where the main character had just gotten into a heated discussion with the guy and was about to storm off, so what did he do?

  He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him. For whatever reason - maybe it was the mood I was in that day - that kind of hit a nerve with me.

  What's your point, Buzzgirl? you guys say, this happens a lot in YA!

  That's exactly my point - there's a lot of this wrist grabbing, arm pulling action in YA. Maybe people think it's hot, or authors include it to amp up the tension between whatever two thirds of a love triangle, or to create a visual. But I'm not sure it's the best way to illustrate romantic tension.

  Think about it. If a guy you've known for a couple of weeks at most (and I'm being generous in terms of YA timelines) got upset and then grabbed you by the wrist, would you think that's hot? Chances are no. If anything, you'd get frightened or angry because he was being aggressive.I'd be yelling bloody murder if someone grabbed at me like that.

  It's one thing if someone was about to fall down and got grabbed by their arm - but when this happens regularly to demonstrate underlying "romantic" feelings? I get a bit uneasy. I think there are better ways of conveying tension, or showing that someone "cares" that includes touching. What happened to putting an arm around someone's shoulder? Or slipping a hand into theirs? Or maybe even stroking cheeks?

  Do you Buzzers think I'm looking way into things too much? What do you think about wrist grabbing and arm pulling in YA?

  Photo taken from Dr. Myri's Blog.

  by Buzzgirl | 12 comments |
  Filed under: Buzzgirl Pet Peeves Random Hour