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Books

10 Great Kids’ Books That Have Never Been Made Into Movies

By Emily Temple on

Last week, we rolled our eyes at the news that Adam Mansbach’s much-buzzed-about children’s book Go the Fuck to Sleep is being adapted into a film. After all, though it seems like every kids’ book ever has been produced for the big screen, there are still many great ones that haven’t been — and that would make much better cinematic fodder than a book that is mostly the published cry of an overworked parent. After the jump, our list of ten amazing kids’ books that should definitely be made into films before Go the Fuck to Sleep (but we’d settle for after, too). … Read More

Books

What Your Favorite YA Series Says About You

By Emily Temple on

This week, NPR published their list of the 100 Best YA Novels of all time — as nominated by their readers and then selected by a panel of judges. While we have our reservations about the ranking (Twilight before Earthsea?), the poll reminded us of the fact that no matter how many serious books grace their shelves, every devoted reader has at least one favorite YA series from their childhood (or, um, more recently than that) that they still think is pretty great. After all, of the 100 entries on NPR’s list, almost half of them weren’t novels at all, but rather series of novels at least three books long. So in case you’re wondering what that lingering affinity for Weetzie Bat means for your life on a grand scale, or wondering what strangers on the train think when they see you reading Vampire Academy, we’re here to help. Click through to find out what your favorite YA series says about you, and let us know if we’ve got you pegged — or if we’re totally off the mark — in the comments. … Read More

Books

10 of the Greatest YA Series of All Time

By Emily Temple on

Yesterday, we were saddened to learn Donald J. Sobol, that the author the Encyclopedia Brown series, has passed away at the age of 87. We loved the Encyclopedia Brown books as kids, and the sad news sent us on a little trip down memory lane — but not just for Encyclopedia and Sally, for all the YA series that brought us joy as, well, young adults (and, we admit, since then). Just for fun, we’re going to look beyond the obvious choices, but rest assured that we consider The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, the Harry Potter books, and The Hunger Games series to be among the best as well (even at the tippy top). It’s just that we think they’re so well established already that you really don’t need to see them on a list like this — you can probably just look over at your shelf. Click through to see a few of our most beloved YA (and older children’s book) series of all time, and if we’ve missed the books that made your younger self spin, please share the wealth and add to our list in the comments. … Read More

Comics

Flavorpill’s Most Anticipated Comics Releases, July-November 2012

By Tucker Stone on

While we’re still neck deep in summer, never fear: there’s comics on the way! The next few months will see the newest work from Chris Ware and the most recent in rude violence from Johnny Ryan, all while we gear up to celebrate the 30th year of Love and Rockets. And that’s not all! Check out the entire list to see the ten graphic novels we’re most looking forward to between now and November. … Read More

Books

The Greatest Female Sci-Fi/Fantasy Authors of All Time

By Emily Temple on

Had she not passed away six years ago, today would have been beloved science fiction author Octavia Butler’s 65th birthday. Butler not only made waves for being a phenomenal writer, but for being one of the remarkably few African American women authors writing in her genre. In honor of the occasion of Butler’s birth (and because lady sci-fi authors never get enough love) we’ve put together a list of the greatest lady authors of science fiction and fantasy in this or any time — in our own humble estimation of course. Click through to read our list, and don’t forget that these are our own personal favorites — since there are many more than ten fantastic lady sci-fi/fantasy authors out there worthy of your time, please add to our list and let us know which of your own favorites we missed in the comments! … Read More

Books

The 10 Best Authors of Children's Literature

By Emily Temple on

Today, we’re wishing the legendary children’s book author Lois Lowry a very happy 75th birthday! One of our all-time favorite authors of children’s literature, Lowry published her first kids book in 1977, and has since penned over 30 more. To celebrate Lowry’s birthday, we’ve put together a list of the all-time best authors of children’s literature written in English, from the contemporary to the classic, from the wildly magical to the wittily familiar. Here, we’re defining “children’s literature” as being novels aimed at the 9 to 13 set, a little bit young for YA proper, but well into the chapter book stage and getting ready for more meaty fare. After all, there’s no better way to prepare a child for a life of creativity and curiosity than to give them a bunch of great books during their formative years. Or at least we think so. Click through to read our list — and since we wanted to make this list three times over (but you’ve gotta stop somewhere), be sure to chime in with your own favorites in the comments! … Read More

Books

10 Great Science Fiction Books for Girls

By Emily Temple on

Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved and much-lauded A Wrinkle in Time turns 50 this year. As The New York Times points out, it’s one of the few science fiction books to have drawn a large female fan base. At the time of its publication, science fiction was not often market to girls, and the genre is still often considered to be mostly the purview of men. Indeed, according to the article, women continue to read science fiction much more rarely than men: “Half of 18- to 24-year-old men say that science fiction is their favorite type of book, compared with only one-fourth of young women… Thirty-two percent of adult male book buyers are science-fiction fans compared with only 12 percent of women.” However, lots of girls and women love science fiction, and we are confident that many more could, if only they gave it a chance. To help with the gender imbalance in this delightful, political, strange genre of speculative fiction, we’ve put together a list of 10 great science fiction books for girls and women — though we think anyone would enjoy them. Click through to check out our picks, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your own favorites in the comments! … Read More

Books

Gallery: Famous Writers as Handcrafted Dolls

By Caroline Stanley on

Tipped off by a Facebook post by literary scene fixture Miss Sara Rosen, we just discovered the most amazing treasure trove of handcrafted, miniature versions of some of our favorite writers of all time over on Etsy — and they’re all available for purchase. Just think, you can make a tiny Kurt Vonnegut chat up a pint-sized Flannery O’Connor! Joyce Carol Oates can have a deep conversation about heartbreak with Sylvia Plath! JRR Tolkien and Isaac Asimov can arm wrestle to determine who is more popular! The possibilities are endless. Assuming that you’d enjoying geeking out over these as much as we did, we’ve rounded up a slide show after the jump. Click through to check it out, and let us know in the comments which doll you think bears the closest resemblance to the author who inspired it. … Read More

Books

The 10 Greatest Child Geniuses in Literature

By Emily Temple on

What is the deal with our culture’s preoccupation – literary and otherwise – with kid geniuses? Is it that we all secretly wish we were still children – but with our adult intellect intact? Is it that we think a child with remarkable abilities but with age-appropriate innocence is our last best hope? Will the strange pleasure we get from the wise child (Kids Say the Darndest Things, anyone?) trope never run dry? Garth Risk Hallberg’s lovely piece over at the Millions, Adam Levin’s The Instructions and the Cult of the Child, has gotten us thinking a little more about precocious children, specifically in that mirror of society, English Literature. Click through for our thoughts and our list of some of our favorite literary child geniuses. … Read More

Books

10 Best Books for Girls and Young Women

By Emily Temple on

One of our favorite gentlemanly blogs, The Art of Manliness, recently posted a list of their picks for the 50 best books for boys (specifically for ages 9 to 12, but really for boys of all ages). We liked it, but then we thought — what about the girls? Are we going to let our young girls be relegated to Mormon propaganda like Twilight and stories about simpering princesses? We think not! Here are our top ten choices of books for girls and young women — we have some overlap with TAOM’s list (because why should girls only read books about girls?) but we’ve also picked out some spectacular novels particularly for the young ladies. Our claim: boys will like them too. Let us know what we’ve missed — we limited ourselves to ten and we know there are lots more out there — and tell us about your personal childhood… Read More