Played: 14 | Download | Duration: 00:02:02

If you haven't read any books by Jacqueline Woodson yet, you need to remedy that right away.  She's written a lot of books for children and teens, ranging from picture books to novels.  Her realistic fiction stories for teens feature characters who have to deal with life-changing problems like teenage pregnancy in The Dear One, a terrible secret in I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, and a boy's troubled relationship with his mother in From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun.

The biggest and loudest reaction I’ve ever had to a booktalk was when the kids responded to the last line of my booktalk of From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun.  Multiple times at multiple schools, the kids’ reaction was so loud that I had staff members come over from different parts of the library to see what was going on.  It got so that I spent so much mental energy bracing myself for what might happen at the end of the booktalk that I didn’t realize that it might generate another kind of reaction, too.  One time I started this booktalk and when I got to the line about Melanin’s skin being darker than everybody else, everyone in the class turned in unison to look at one kid whose skin was a lot darker than everyone else (and whom I hadn’t even noticed until the moment that it happened).  I felt like I’d painted a bullseye on that kid, and I felt just terrible about it.  However, by the time I got to the end of the booktalk I’d given the class something else to think about.  

I think my message here, if I can find one, is that while we always try to show how every book we’re presenting has universal appeal, some details of the story might apply to individual students in the class whether you realize it or not.  You’re booktalking about a girl who has a weight problem, and kids in the class turn to stare at a girl who has a weight problem of her own.  You’re booktalking about a boy named Kevin, and the kids start giggling because there’s a boy named Kevin in their class.  You’re booktalking about a kid who’s being abused by a family member, and one or more of the kids in your audience is being abused when they go home at night.  There are always going to be some details of the books you present that will jump out at members of your audience.  Your job as a booktalker is to push through the distractions in the classroom and show your audience how each of these books can appeal to them and apply to their lives.

BOOKTALK:

Melanin Sun has spent most of the thirteen years of his life not fitting in.  The first reason was his name – Melanin Sun.  Now you’d probably figure that any mother would have to be crazy to give her kid a name like that, but then again, her name is Encanta Cedar, so maybe it’s not so crazy after all.  The other thing that made it hard for Melanin to fit in was his color – not just that he was black, but that his skin was darker than anyone else he knew, including his mother.  Melanin wondered a lot about what his father looked like.

Well, like I said, Melanin didn’t fit in with most people.  But he did have a few friends – there was Ralph, and Sean, and even Angie, who gave him her number and said they should hang out sometime.  Melanin manages to fit in, in this very small world of just his mother and his friends.  But that small world is about to be destroyed.  It all starts when Melanin’s mother tells him that she wants him to meet the new special person in her life.  Melanin thinks it’s no big deal; it’ll just be some guy she’ll go out with a couple of times, they’ll break up, and everything will go back to normal.  Because that’s what always happens.  But when the meeting actually takes place, Melanin feels like his whole world is going to end.  Because not only is his mother’s new love white … but she is a woman.

Played: 17 | Download | Duration: 00:02:29

Anya's Ghost is the first of what I hope will be many books by Vera Brosgol, and it's one of my favorite graphic novels.  It's a stand-alone story that takes realistic fiction and gives it a paranormal twist, and it features a protagonist who is refreshingly fallible.

To give you a little behind-the-scenes insight, I'll tell you that I recorded this booktalk several days ago, just a few minutes after I finished writing it.  In a future "how-to" episode I'll be talking about how and why booktalks can evolve over time, but I can tell you that I've already made multiple changes to this booktalk and I haven't even presented it to an audience yet.  So stay tuned for that future episode when I'll tell you about some of the changes I've made and why I made them.

BOOKTALK:

Anya is a Russian girl who doesn’t fit in at her American school.  Over the last few years she lost weight and she lost her accent, but she still can’t get the other kids to like her.  There is one Russian boy at her school, but Anya doesn’t want to hang out with him because he’s much too Fobby (that’s Fresh Off the Boat).  And then one day Anya has an accident that changes her life.  She falls down into an abandoned well, and at the bottom of that well she finds a skeleton.  And hovering just above that skeleton is the ghost of a girl.  When Anya sees that ghost, she has the reaction that you might expect.

That’s right — she freaks out and starts screaming.

But little by little, as the ghost talks to Anya and Anya talks to the ghost, Anya starts to calm down.  By the time she gets rescued, she’s starting to become friends with the girl who used to be Emily Reilly.  Anya starts learning the advantages of being friends with a ghost.  Emily can help Anya cheat on tests by telling her the answers the other kids chose.  Emily can sneak a look at Sean’s schedule so that Anya can just happen to bump into him after class.  Emily can tell her the best places to hide where the principal won’t be able to find her.  

Anya wants to repay Emily for helping her out, and she offers to do some research and see if she can find out what really happened to Emily.  But the more Anya learns about Emily, the more she realizes that Emily has been concealing the truth about herself.  And Emily has been dead for almost 100 years; she’s had a LOT of time to think about what she really wants.  Anya is going to learn just how dangerous befriending a ghost can be.

Played: 21 | Download | Duration: 00:02:33

Avi has written over sixty books, including realistic fiction, humor, mysteries, and historical fiction.  The first recommended reading list I received as part of my training in young adult services included several of his books — Nothing But the Truth and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  During my career as a young adult librarian I’ve enjoyed many of Avi’s books, especially several titles that combined historical fiction with suspense, like Crispin: The Cross of Lead and Murder at Midnight.  And yet, out of all of Avi’s contributions in the field of children’s and young adult literature, one of my all-time favorites is still Wolf Rider. It’s a story about a boy who has a terrifying mystery dropped in his lap and tries to figure out what he should do next.  This booktalk always keeps the kids in my audience on the edge of their seats!

Oh, I do have one marketing question, though.  Why do some of the covers for this book feature the subtitle "A Tale of Terror" and some don't?  Because while the picture featured on the cover shown above definitely LOOKS really cool, I think that the whole "Tale of Terror" thing would also be a major selling point.  You see, the first time I booktalked Wolf Rider, this is what it looked like:



BOOKTALK:

The kitchen phone rang three times before Andy picked it up.  “Hello?” he said.  A voice replied, “I just killed someone.”  “What?”  “I just killed someone.”  Well, Andy has no idea who this guy was, but he figured he shouldn’t take any chances – this guy might be telling the truth.  He wrote a note to his friend Paul, who was in the room with him.  The note said, “Guy killed someone.  Go outside phone.  Call cops.  Trace call to this number.  I’ll try to keep him on.”  Paul ran outside to call the police, and Andy stayed on the phone.  The man said his name was Zeke, and that he’d just killed a woman named Nina Klemmer.  He described what she looked like – what she had looked like when she was alive, and what she looked like now that she was dead.  He said there was blood all over the floor, and Nina’s eyes were still open, as if she were looking at him.  Zeke described her car, her clothes, everything about her.  Andy kept asking questions, trying to keep the man on the line.  Finally, the line went dead.

Andy thought it would be simple.  He would just tell the police what he’d learned, they would solve the case and everything would be over.  But it didn’t work out that way, because when Andy told his story, no one believed him.  Not the police, or his teachers, or his father, or even his friends.  The only way Andy is going to solve this is to do it himself.  But who is Nina Klemmer?  Is she just a made-up name, or is she real?  Is she really dead, or is she alive and in danger?  Andy is about to find out that these dangerous questions are going to have some very dangerous answers.

The good folks at Reading With Pictures (motto: "We get comics into schools and get schools into comics") have been promoting the use of comics and graphic novels for quite a while.  Well, now they're trying  to raise money for a book that can be used in classrooms that will be called The Graphic Textbook, and they could use some help ASAP.

Learn more about Reading With Pictures HERE!
And check out the Kickstarter project HERE!

If you can contribute, please do it soon — they've only got 12 days left!

Played: 21 | Download | Duration: 00:08:27

In this episode, I discuss the unique challenges involved in doing class presentations for different types of classes with special needs.  I also discuss a bunch of books that I've used with these classes in the past.  Some of them are on the older (and out-of-print) side, but I hope that they'll give you some ideas of which of your shelves to browse to find books that you can share with classes like these.  I mentioned "show and tell" nonfiction booktalks and poem-format novels — you can learn more about those types of books in my earlier episode entitled Help! My Booktalk is Due Tomorrow! 

Plus, I also mentioned these poetry and picture book titles in this episode:
Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States edited by Lori Marie Carlson
What to Do When a Bug Climbs in Your Mouth and Other Poems to Drive You Buggy by Rick Walton
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex
My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman

NOTE: Stay tuned next month for a Very Special Episode!

Played: 19 | Download | Duration: 00:02:18

As you may remember, one of my criteria for including booktalks on this blog and podcast are that the books themselves be in print.  Which means that some of my favorite books have been in limbo, and I check those titles periodically to see if they're in print again.  I was delighted to see that Look For Me by Moonlight was available again so that I could share it with you.

I'm a big fan of many books by Mary Downing Hahn (who needs a website update, BTW, since her books are still being released).  Most of my favorite books of hers include some compelling supernatural elements, often but not always in the form of ghosts. 

If you're in charge of ordering books for teens in a school library, a public library, or even a classroom library, you should order several copies of this book.  It's an older book about an ever-popular topic, and teenage girls will be reading and sharing this book with each other before you know it.

BOOKTALK:

Cynda is sixteen years old, and her life is about to change completely.  Ever since her parents divorced and each of them remarried, Cynda has been going back and forth living most of the time with her mom and Steve and the rest of the time with her dad and Susan.  Mom and Steve have moved a lot over the years, dragging Cynda along with them.  But once she hears they’re moving overseas, she puts her foot down.  She’s not going.  So the family reaches a compromise – Cynda will go to live with Dad and Susan for six months, and then take it from there.  Cynda’s glad they listened to her for once, but when she gets to her new home, she realizes how hard this is going to be.  Dad and Susan already have one child together, and there’s another one on the way.  Cynda feels like a stranger in her new home – she doesn’t fit in, and no one understands her.  

But then … she meets Vincent.  He is older, sophisticated, handsome, intelligent, caring, sensitive – he’s everything she wants!  Vincent listens to her.  Vincent understands her.  And there’s something about him that’s mysterious … almost magical.  As Cynda falls in love with him, it becomes harder and harder for her to see Vincent for what he really is.  Cynda is about to learn a hard lesson – that evil can only come into her life if she invites it first.  But by the time she realizes this, it will be too late … because she’s already given the invitation.

Played: 24 | Download | Duration: 00:01:36

Very few authors of children's and young adult literature are as prolific or as popular as Walter Dean Myers.  He's written dozens of books, including realistic fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.  Somewhere in the Darkness is one of my favorite novels of his; it's a simple story that carries a lot of emotional power.

BOOKTALK:

Jimmy Little’s life has stopped in tenth grade.  He’s lost his direction, he can’t keep up with school, and his life is going nowhere.  But then something happens that changes everything – his father comes back into his life.  Jimmy’s father has been in prison for as long as he can remember.  Jimmy doesn’t even know him – he’s a complete stranger.  Well, Jimmy’s father has come back into his life not just to meet him, but to take him away.  Now Jimmy is leaving his mother, his friends, and everything he’s ever known, to live with a total stranger.  And Jimmy doesn’t even know what he’s getting into.  You see, Jimmy’s father hasn’t been telling him the whole truth.  There are some things he was truthful about, like how much he loves his son.  But there are other things he’s kept secret, and as time passes, Jimmy will learn them all.  By the end of their journey, Jimmy and his father will learn to love each other, hate each other, or maybe both.

Played: 26 | Download | Duration: 00:01:16

Okay, first things first.  I was a HUGE fan of Zilpha Keatley Snyder when I was growing up.  I read (and re-read) stand-alone stories like The Velvet Room, The Egypt Game, and The Witches of Worm.  I was also a fan of books in the Stanley Family series like The Headless Cupid and The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case.  Even though The Headless Cupid is an older book, I think that it aged very well.  It combines the timeless topic of family problems, specifically the challenge of blended families, with a creepy touch of the supernatural.  Is Amanda really a witch?  Is the house really haunted?  

Several years ago I needed to write some booktalks for 5th and 6th grade classes, so I perused the shelves of my children’s room to get some ideas.  While I was primarily looking for newer titles, I was also keeping my eyes open for books that I’d already read which I could share with new audiences.  When I found The Headless Cupid on the shelf, I remembered how much I’d loved this book when I was a kid.  I remembered that I liked the way the siblings interacted with each other and how they were understandably suspicious of this new outsider.  And I also thought that kids would be captivated by the supernatural side of the story.

BOOKTALK:

It’s always hard moving into a new house, getting along with a new stepmother and making room in your family for a new sister.  It’s even harder when your new sister hardly talks, never smiles, and brings magic books, a crow, a snake, and a toad.  You see, Amanda believes in the supernatural and she studies witchcraft.  The Stanley kids don’t know what to do about her – on the one hand they’re afraid of her, but on the other hand they think she’s fascinating.  Pretty soon, Amanda is giving the kids witchcraft lessons, and things start getting out of hand.  But even Amanda is in for a big surprise.  Because while she always likes to be in charge of the magic, she’s about to realize that this old house has a few secrets of its own.

Played: 27 | Download | Duration: 00:07:15

You might not think that booktalking to adults is harder than booktalking to kids or teens, but it REALLY is! 

Among the topics I cover in this episode, I discuss my booktalk of Bird by Angela Johnson, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, and my previous episode on Conquering Your Fear of Public Speaking.

Played: 37 | Download | Duration: 00:02:01

Anna Dressed in Blood is a wonderfully creepy and scary story.  Cas is a likeable protagonist, and Anna is a great character, too ... once you get to know her.  The character of Anna and the reason she got her distinctive name will definitely intrigue your teen readers!  Check out Kendare Blake's website to learn more about Anna Dressed in Blood and her other exciting books.  And stay tuned for the release of Girl of Nightmares in August!

BOOKTALK:

Cas has led a very unusual life so far.  His mother is a witch, and his father was a ghost hunter.  Cas’ father hunted ghosts for years until someone … or some THING … killed him.  Now Cas uses his father’s weapon to kill ghosts. 

Right now, Cas is going to pick up a hitchhiker.  This hitchhiker haunts a road in North Carolina, and every time someone picks him up he’s happy and friendly for the first several miles until the car reaches the bridge — the bridge where the hitchhiker was killed.  That’s when he transforms into something else — an angry spirit that wants to get revenge by destroying the driver of the car.  The hitchhiker has already killed more than a dozen people.  Cas has to make sure that he won’t kill anyone else.

As soon as he takes care of the hitchhiker, Cas and his mother are moving to the town of Thunder Bay so that Cas can hunt another ghost.  This ghost is called Anna Dressed in Blood because when her throat was cut she bled so much that her white dress turned completely red.  Cas doesn’t know it yet, but Anna is more powerful, more dangerous, and at the same time more human than any ghost he’s ever encountered before.  Anna might change his life … if she doesn’t end it first.

At the beginning of this month we talked about John Carter, and I was one of its bigger supporters.  Was that because I thought that Woola the dog-like creature was cute, because Taylor Kitsch was cute, or because all the action was a lot of fun?  Uhm ... how about all of the above?

Then this weekend we talked about The Hunger Games, and for the first time ever since I've been crashing the party at Cinefantastique, the guys liked a movie as much as I did!  And in case you were wondering — if you love the book, you should see the movie, and if you didn't read the book, go see it anyway!

After we finished our discussion of The Hunger Games, we talked about movies that might be good candidates for me to come back and discuss on Cinefantastique in the future.  I'm delighted to announce that I will be returning to the show to discuss what just might turn out to be a summer blockbuster.  The movie is based on a book I read several years ago.  A book that seemed like it would be completely ridiculous, but which turned out to be both a lot of fun and almost ... kind of ... historically accurate. 

Well, all except for the part about the vampires

Yes, that's right, I'll be swinging by Cinefantastique again in June to discuss Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter!

Played: 41 | Download | Duration: 00:01:45

Gary Paulsen is one of the most well-known authors of literature for children and teens.  His most famous novel is Hatchet, about a boy named Brian who survives a plane crash and has to fight to survive.  Paulsen also wrote several sequels to Hatchet, several non-fiction books, and many stand-alone fiction titles.  The Crossing is not as famous as some of Paulsen's other books, but personally it's one of my favorites.

A lot of people think that booktalks have to be roller-coasters of suspense with cliffhanger endings.  But The Crossing is one of my favorite examples of a story that is slow, steady, and profound.  And so my booktalk doesn't have a cliffhanger at all, just hints about that profound ending that is waiting around the corner.  Remember that you choose which books you want to share, and you choose how you're going to share them.  If you don't find a cliffhanger that you can use for a hook, see if you can find other ways to capture your audience's interest, like empathetic characters and memorable plot details.  No offense to Brian, but I can't picture his character nearly as well as I can picture Manny, a boy who dreams of having so much money that he can afford to throw it away.

BOOKTALK:

Manny is fourteen years old, and he lives on the streets of Juarez, Mexico.  He has to beg for money and food from the American turistas, who are so rich that they can afford to throw money away, just for the sport of watching Mexican children fight for it.  Manny has been fighting for most of his life.  He has never known a day without hunger, and he has never had a home.  But he dreams of crossing the border to America and starting a new life; a life where he will wear new pants and a new shirt with silver snaps and a new belt with a large buckle and new boots, and he’ll have so much money that HE can afford to throw it away.  But first Manny needs to cross the border to America, a border that is so dangerous that hundreds of Mexicans risk arrest and even death to cross it every night.  In order to make the crossing, Manny will need courage, strength … and money.  His situation looks hopeless.

But things are about to change.  Because Manny is about to meet a strange man ... an American soldier with ghosts in his past and nothing in his future.  And when Manny and this soldier meet, it will completely change both of their lives.

Played: 36 | Download | Duration: 00:01:24

I can't believe it took me this long to share a historical fiction booktalk!  Actually, Catherine, Called Birdy combines some of my favorite elements of teen fiction.  It's historical fiction, it's written in a journal format, and it's also hilarious!  Check out Karen Cushman's website to learn more about the author of Catherine, Called Birdy, The Midwife's Apprentice, Matilda Bone, and lots of other exciting historical fiction titles.

BOOKTALK:

Catherine’s life has just gone from bad to worse.  Up until now, she’s been the daughter of a not-very-rich lord.  They have their title, they have their land, but that’s about it.  Catherine has spent her days doing things she hates, like cooking and cleaning and sewing and embroidery – and she’s not good at any of it! 

But now, like I said, things just got worse.  Catherine’s father has decided that he wants her to be married to someone as rich as possible as soon as possible.  But Catherine doesn’t want to be married, especially not to the ugly old men who keep coming to see her.  She’d rather be a monk, a musician, or even a crusader!  Catherine has to make a plan, and soon, if she doesn’t want to be married.  But she has a lot of tricks up her sleeve, and she’ll use every last one to drive her suitors away.

Life sure was tough in the thirteenth century!

Today we recorded a conversation about John Carter, in which my primary contributions were to discuss the differences between this film and the 1912 book A Princess of Mars ... and to discuss the benefits of having a main character who doesn't wear a shirt for most of the film.  You know, just the essential points of film criticism!

Anyway, our discussion of John Carter will be released this week.  Our discussion of The Hunger Games film will be recorded on Sunday March 25th and will be released shortly after that.  You can listen to these episodes on the Cinefantastique website or subscribe to their podcast feed on iTunes. 

Enjoy!

Played: 30 | Download | Duration: 00:08:31

It's difficult to know how to describe this episode.  I'm just going to say that the personal meets the professional, and that there is practical information here although you'll have to be a little more patient than usual to find it.  And I am definitely out of my comfort zone.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Arnold Hyman and Lisa Hawkins.

Played: 33 | Download | Duration: 00:01:42

I first became aware of the nonfiction essay collection called Dear Bully when I got an advance reader's copy shortly before October, which was National Bullying Prevention Month.  Reading this book made me think about how bullying affected my life when I was a kid and how much it influences the lives of the teens I see every day.  Think about all the times that you ever bullied someone, how many times you were a victim, and how many times you watched it happen to someone else.  Now think about the kids growing up today and how new technologies like social media and texting can spread insults and rumors like wildfire, increasing that humiliation and frustration even further.  This is a book that teens, teachers, and parents should be reading, or at the very least they should know that it exists.  Usually this is the point where I plug the author's website, but since this is a collaborative effort by so many authors I'll point you to the book's website instead.  There you can learn about the book and the authors, and also read new essays every week.

BOOKTALK:

Ellen Hopkins.  Carolyn Mackler.  Lauren Oliver.  Mo Willems.  R.L. Stine.  These are just a few of the people who contributed to this book, and they all have two things in common.  The first thing they have in common is that they all grew up to be writers.  The second thing they have in common is that they all have strong memories of bullies from when they were growing up.  Some of these authors were bullies.  Some of them were victims.  And some of them were bystanders who stood back and watched what happened to other kids.  But they didn’t say anything because THEY didn’t want to become the next targets.   

All of the stories in this book are true.  All of these stories were remembered by young people who grew up, and learned how to share their voices with the rest of the world.  And each of these authors needed to share their stories with you.  They wanted to tell you that even though they lived with depression, confusion, and anger, they struggled … but they survived.  

And so can you.

Played: 41 | Download | Duration: 00:01:46

While I do love the cover of Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis, I know that it might alienate certain readers who will take one look at it and decide that this isn't a book for them.  Your job as a booktalker is to take a book like this and show your audience that this isn't a book that only white girls would appreciate.  This book actually drills down into the very core of the teenage condition: it's a book about family problems, and it's a book about lying and keeping secrets. 

Every teenager has experienced family problems.  Every teenager knows how hard it is to keep a secret.  Every teenager will be able to identify with Mazzy in this book, and they'll wonder what they would do in her place.

BOOKTALK:

If anyone asks Mazzy how she and her family are doing, Mazzy tells them that everything is fine.  Even though it isn't.  Her mother stays in bed all day, sleeping and taking her pills and then sleeping again.  Her father stays away from home.  He told Mazzy that he'd be gone for a week, but he lied.  He's been gone a long time now.  He calls once in a while to see how they're doing, but Mazzy doesn't like answering the phone.  Because she doesn't want to lie to him.  She also doesn't want to lie to her teachers, her neighbors, her friends, or the lady from Family Services.  But Mazzy knows that if she tells the truth about what's really going on at home that she might not have a home any more.  So instead she lies to everyone.  She tells people that her mother is working, or that she can't be disturbed.  She doesn't tell them that her mother is upstairs, still in bed.  Eating, sleeping, and taking her pills.  Mazzy knows that they can't keep this up forever.  One of these days she's going to have to let the lady from Family Services in, and she's going to see that her mother can't take care of them anymore. 

And then what will they do?

Played: 30 | Download | Duration: 00:02:00

I have always been a fan of fairy tales, and as soon as I was old enough to understand the inventiveness of retold and reimagined fairy tales, I loved those, too.  Donna Jo Napoli is one of the most prolific authors when it comes to retold fairy tales.  Beast is one of my personal favorites, but she has also reimagined classic fairy tales like Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rumplestiltskin, and the Pied Piper of Hamelin.  Check out her website to learn more about her books for kids and teens.

BOOKTALK:

Once upon a time, there was a prince.  His name was Orasmyn, and his father was the shah of Persia.  Throughout his life his luck had always been good – until the day that he was cursed.  He was told that the next day, his father would kill him, and that the only thing that would break the curse was a woman’s love.  Orasmyn thought he had the answer – he made his father promise to kill no man the next day, and he planned to stay locked in his room just in case.  But his plan unraveled on the way to his room.  Orasmyn stopped to help a servant girl; a girl who was not what she seemed.  She was a pari — a fairy — who delivered the second part of the curse by turning Orasmyn into a lion.  Now, his father had promised not to kill any man, but he didn't say anything about lions.  In fact, his father was going on a lion hunt the next day, and had promised to kill a lion with his bare hands.  Orasmyn spent the next day narrowly escaping the hunters, and the days after that realizing that even though he had escaped death, that he was still a lion, so the curse still needed to be broken.

Orasmyn the lion went to France to find a woman who would love him and finally break the curse.  He didn’t know it yet, but one day he would meet a woman named Belle who would finally be the one to save him … but then, we already know her side of the story.

Played: 26 | Download | Duration: 00:02:32

Here at Be a Better Booktalker, we're always looking for books that will shake up those reluctant readers and get them interested in books again.  I'm going to say that Jude is a great candidate, based on the number of teens who fight over this book after I booktalk it to classes.  Good readers, reluctant readers, boys, and girls will ALL want to know what happens to Jude after his father's violent death.  Check out Kate Morgenroth's website to learn more about Jude and the rest of her novels for adults and teens.

BOOKTALK:

If Jude is sure of just one thing, it's that he doesn’t want to be anything like his father.  He doesn't want to live like him, and he doesn't want to die like him.  When the police interview Jude, they notice that he shows no reaction to the fact that his father is lying dead on the kitchen floor.  The police don't know that Jude has had years of practice learning not to show emotions on his face.  They don't know what it was like living with his father.  When the detective comes in and asks Jude what happened, he decides to tell at least part of the truth.  Jude tells him that his father was a drug dealer, and that he was killed because he was skimming too much from his heroin and cocaine shipments.  When the detective asks what happened in the kitchen, that's when Jude lies.  Jude tells him that he was in the living room watching TV, and that he didn't see who shot his father.  He doesn't tell the truth – that he saw exactly what happened because he was sitting next to his father at the kitchen table at the moment he was killed.  That he heard his father's last words.  That he watched his father die, and watched the blood seep out of his body and onto the floor.  Jude doesn't tell the detective the truth because of the promise that he made to his father's killer.

When the police search the apartment looking for clues, they find evidence that even Jude doesn't know about.  They find a sealed envelope taped to the underside of a drawer, and when they open it everything changes.  Because inside the envelope is evidence of the truth about Jude and his family, the truth that has been kept from Jude his whole life.  Opening that envelope sets a chain of events into motion that Jude could never have predicted.  He's about to learn who he really is, who his father really was, and in how many ways Jude is just like his father.

I was honored to be a guest once again on the Cinefantastique podcast this weekend, discussing The Woman in Black and several other recent releases.  You can listen to the episode on iTunes or check it out on the Cinefantastique website HERE.

Oh, and be forewarned: the spoilers section is even more spoilery than usual.  That was where I talked about some of the enormous differences between the book and the movie and we all shared our thoughts about some major plot twists.  But don't worry; Dan always gives you a warning about when it's safe to come back into the discussion after the spoiler section is over.

Enjoy!

ETA: When I checked the web traffic for this website recently, I noticed that this entry was getting a lot of hits because of specific searches using the terms "woman in black" and "dog."  So let me tell you a little more about the dog in case that's why you're here.  This dog (pictured above) is named Spider, and according to the book is supposed to be female.  There are some big differences in Spider's role between the book and the movie versions of The Woman in Black, and I discussed some of those differences in the Cinefantastique episode that we recorded.  Follow the link above to listen to that conversation and to hear more about Spider the dog!