When I first started my blog, I knew of only one blogger who was also based in Montreal – Cat from BeyondBooks.ca. This spring when she suggested that we meet up with the few other Montreal-area bloggers she knew, I was looking forward to it. Little did I know that it wasn’t just the two [...]

A few weeks ago, a children’s book reviewer for the Wall Street Journal denigrated a whole slew of contemporary YA authors. Some of them are authors whose books I haven’t read yet, but others are authors with books that I really enjoyed and think are very necessary for teens, including Cheryl Rainfield‘s Scars. Because I [...]

A couple of days ago I heard through Twitter that Karen Sandler, the author of the forthcoming title Tankborn, was without an interview partner for Armchair BEA, and she was looking for someone to share in the fun. I can’t remember if I registered for this “session” or not, but it seemed like a good [...]

Many book bloggers are at Book Expo America (BEA) this week, but for those of us who couldn’t make it to New York City, you don’t have to be completely left out of the fun. That’s because for the second year in a row, Armchair BEA is here. Like Armchair BEA, this is the second [...]

Is there any major differences between being a YA writing in South Africa as compared to North America in general and either the US or Canada in particular? What types of events and settings have inspired the writings of a South African writer? I had the opportunity to “meet” one such writer recently over Twitter [...]

In celebration of National Poetry Month, I dug through the stacks of my childhood writing and found a few gems that I wanted to share. The poems below are all from a collection that I wrote (and illustrated!) in the 6th or 7th grade. I am equal parts amazed and embarrassed at the writing. I [...]

I’m always so happy when I have the chance to present my readers with a guest post from a new or established YA writer, who I really respect. Today, is one of those days, and I’m very ecstatic that Nora Olsen was able to clear some time from her schedule to share what inspires her [...]

Last Wednesday, YABookShelf.com published a commentary about those who criticize adult readers of young adult fiction and devalue the genre as a whole, called The Devaluation Of The YA Genre. It has gotten a lot of attention from other bloggers, YA authors, librarians, and readers, including a mention on YA Highway’s weekly field trip and [...]

If you Like the YA Book Shelf Facebook fan page, then you probably noticed a link I posted to a thread on Reddit.com that had me (and many other YA bloggers and readers) up in arms a few days ago. Since the thread in question actually pointed to this guest post by Melanie Fishbane about [...]

Over the last few months, it’s been my pleasure to have some great personalities from the book industry write guest posts about how, in part, they’ve been inspired by YA literature. Today, I’m happy to present Melanie Fishbane’s post about the literary characters that made her swoon as a young adult and how they’ve influenced [...]