Young Adult fiction editor

I want to read young adult books for a living. I want to edit them. How can I do that? Someone tell me! :) I love young adult books.

I was talking to some of my students about young adult books the other day and it was so much fun. And my partner's daughter and I talk about them too--she even recommended a good series to me by Shannon Hale that is her favorite.

Why can't I just read for a living? Or at least read and get paid for it? How do people end up doing that?

What It Is by Lynda Barry

I've always liked Lynda Barry. And her newest book is the best yet. It's a book about writing, but it's all these drawings and collages and she tells her own personal stories too. I love it. Maybe what I liked best were the questions she asks in her collages at times. Here are my favorites.

What is the difference between imagination and memory? Which is stronger?

To follow a wandering mind means having to get lost. Can you stand being lost?

Is reminded the same as remembered?

What is the difference between lying and pretending? There is no lie in pretending.

And a favorite quote:
I believe there is something in these old stories that does what singing does to words. They have transformational capabilities, in the way melody can transform mood. They can't transform your actual situation, but they can transform your experience of it. We don't create a fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay. I believe we have always done this, used images to stand and understand what otherwise would be intolerable.

Cool book. You should check it out.

books i've read february 2009

2.2.09

• Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel (Y)
• Unbelievable by Sara Shepard (YA)

2.3.09

• Museum ABC by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (PB)
• The Museum Book: A Guide to Strange and Wonderful Collections by Jan Mark & Richard Holland (Y-NF)

2.4.09

• Broken Angels #4 by Setsuri Tsuzuki (M)
• Broken Angels #5 by Setsuri Tsuzuki (M)
• To Quote a Queer edited by John Lessard (A-NF)

2.5.09

• Bleach #16 by Tite Kubo (M)
• Bleach #17 by Tite Kubo (M)
• The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going (Y)

2.6.09

• Get Backers #8 by Rando Ayamine & Yuya Aoki (M)
• Lulu Atlantis and the Quest for True Blue Love by Patricia Martin (Y)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney (Y)

2.8.09

• Better Read than Dead by Victoria Laurie (A)

2.9.09

• Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat edited by Nikki Giovanni (Y)
• Rhinoceros by Kelly Enright (A-NF)

2.10.09

• The Grasshopper's Song: An Aesop's Fable Revisited by Nikki Giovanni & Chris Raschka (Y)
• The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett (PB)
• Nana #12 by Ai Yazawa (M)
• Bleach #18 by Tite Kubo (M)

2.11.09

• The Wallflower #18 by Tomoko Hayakawa (M)

2.12.09

• A Wise Man Sleeps #1 by Mick Takeuchi (M)
• The War at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks (GN)
• The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers (PB)
• Bleach #19 by Tite Kubo (M)

2.13.09

• serafina67 *urgently requires life* by Susie Day (YA)

2.14.09

• Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak edited by Smith Magazine (A-NF)
• Nana #13 by Ai Yazawa (M)

2.15.09

• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Y)

2.17.09

• What's a Ghoul to Do? by Victoria Laurie (A)
• Platinum Garden #6 by Maki Fujita (M)

2.18.09

• Wonder Bear by Tao Nyeu (PB)
• Previously by Allan Ahlberg & Bruce Ingman (PB)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a mayan Soothesayer!: Fortunes You'd Rather Not Tell by Rupert Matthews & David Antram (Y-NF)
• Boogie Knights by Lisa Wheeler & Mark Siegel (PB)
• Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola (PB)
• The Last Polar Bears by Harry Horse (Y)
• Bleach #20 by Tite Kubo (M)
• Bleach #21 by Tite Kubo (M)
• You Can Save the Earth: 7 Reasons Why & 7 Simple Ways: A Philosophy for the Future (A-NF)
• Tupac Remembered: Bearing Witness to a Life and Legacy edited by Molly Monjauze, Gloria Cox, & Staci Robinson (A-NF)

2.19.09

• Curiosa: Celebrity Relics, Historical Fossils, and Other Metamorphic Rubbish by Barton Lidice Benes (A-NF)
  
• Nana #14 by Ai Yazawa (M)
• Wicked by Sara Shepard (YA)

2.20.09

• You Wouldn't Want to Be Cleopatra!: An Egyptian Ruler You'd Rather Not Be by Jim Pipe & David Antram (Y-NF)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be an Egyptian Mummy!: Disgusting Things You'd Rather Not Know by David Stewart & David Antram (Y-NF)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pirate's Prisoner!: Horrible Things You'd Rather Not Know by John Malam & David Antram (Y-NF)
• Sailor Moo: Cow at Sea by Lisa Wheeler & Ponder Goembel (PB)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Greek Athlete!: Races You'd Rather Not Run by Michael Ford & David Antram (Y-NF)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be an Aztec Sacrifice!: Gruesome Things You'd Rather Not Know by Fiona Macdonald & David Antram (Y-NF)
• Bleach #22 by Tite Kubo (M)
• Bleach #23 by Tite Kubo (M)
• The Last Gold Diggers by Harry Horse (Y)
• The Last Cowboys by Harry Horse (Y)

2.21.09

• Cattitude: The Feline Guide to Being Fabulous by Kim Levin & Christine Montaquila (A-NF)

2.22.09

• Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz (YA)

2.23.09

• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (YA)

2.25.09

• I'd Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts by Larry Wilmore (A)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Medieval Knight!: Armor You'd Rather Not Wear by Fiona Macdonald & David Antram (Y-NF)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Suffragist!: A Protest Movement That's Rougher Than You Expected by Fiona Macdonald & David Antram (Y-NF)
• A Vision of Murder by Victoria Laurie (A)

2.26.09

• Bleach #24 by Tite Kubo (M)

02.09 total: 62

10 youth fiction; 5 young adult fiction; 8 picture books; 9 youth non fiction; 18 manga; 7 adult non fiction; 4 adult fiction; 1 graphic novel