2014's "Top Ten"s and "Best Of"s, a NYT bestseller, and a winner of the most "Best Of"s prize!

This year, JVNLA had seven books on a huge breadth of year-end “Top Ten” and “Best Of” lists! Including one book that topped lists ABOUT the top lists of the year: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters.

Below is the round-up of these phenomenal books:

Lost in Translation by Ella Frances Sanders (Ten Speed Press, September 2014)

Amazon chose this gorgeous book of illustrations that depict untranslatable words for its Best Books of the Year: Art and Photography list!

Lost in Translation also recently hit the New York Times bestseller list in the Travel section! It reached #6 in December and climbed to #4 in January. Congrats, Ella!

Songs Only You Know by Sean Madigan Hoen (Soho Press, April 2014)

In its list of 10 Best Music Books of 2014, Rolling Stones spotlighted Hoen's “gritty, gripping punk-rock memoir” (as they called it), and heaped praise on it: "It's funny at times, always brutally honest; a half-healed bruise, tender and multi-colored. Few books convey the fever-pitch intensity of youth with such vividness and so little glamorization, or as deeply explore the heartbreaking complexity of family—both those we're born into and the ones we choose."

This Is a Moose written by Richard Morris and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, May 2014)

Morris and Lichtenheld's picture book collaboration is about a moose being filmed in a nature documentary who just wants to be an astronaut (to the chagrin of the director). Kirkus named it to its Best Children's Books of 2014 list, calling it “a humorous—make that hysterical—homage to movies and big dreams.”

Booklist named it to its Editors' Choice: Books for Youth 2014 list, raving that “this rambunctious picture book is stuffed with delightfully absurd chaos.”

This Is a Moose was also featured in ABC's Best Books for Children 2014 catalog!

And Amazon picked it for its Best Books of the Year: Ages 3-5 list!

The Swan Gondola by Timothy Schaffert (Riverhead, February 2014)

The Kansas City Star named The Swan Gondola, a "love story set at a steampunk carnival in turn-of-the-century Omaha, with a clever take on The Wizard of Oz" to their Best Books of 2014 list!

Archetype by M.D. Waters (Dutton, February 2014 hardcover, June 2014 paperback)

Pop Sugar featured this futuristic suspense novel reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale on its Best Books for Women 2014 list!

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson (Knopf Books for Young Readers, February 2014)

Kirkus named The Tyrant's Daughter to its Best Teen Books of 2014 list, calling this YA about a girl whose family relocates to the US after her father is killed in a coup "smart, relevant, required reading."

Amazon also named it to its Best Books of the Year: Teen and Young Adult list!

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, September 2014)

In a unique “Top Ten” approach, The Wall Street Journal decided to look at ten “Best Of” lists to find the books most often at the top. They named the “suspenseful and sensual” The Paying Guests as the winner who appeared most often! The Paying Guests is about a widow and her spinster daughter who must take in lodgers in 1922--though things are not nearly as simple as they seem. It won by appearing on the six below lists:

The New York Times's Notable Books of 2014

The Washington Post's Best Books of 2014

The Guardian's Best Books of 2014, chosen by various writers; Ruth Rendell chose The Paying Guests.

Kirkus's Best Fiction Books of 2014; The Paying Guests was also a finalist for 2014's Kirkus Prize.

The Telegraph's Best Books of 2014

Barnes and Noble's Words of the Year: The Best Things They Read in 2014, chosen by various writers; Michael Dirda chose The Paying Guests. Barnes and Noble also included The Paying Guests among its Top Fiction Books for the Holiday list.

Beyond these, there is an incredibly lengthy list of places that included The Paying Guests as one of their “top ten” or “best of” books! Below is just a very brief sampling of some of the rest:

People Magazine's Ten Best Books of 2014

Pop Sugar's Best Books for Women 2014, the #1 pick!

Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best Fiction Books of 2014

NPR Fresh Air's Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books of 2014; The Paying Guests was also front and center on NPR's Book Concierge, their Guide to 2014's Great Reads.

Slate's Best Books of 2014

The Seattle Times's Best Books of 2014

The Kansas City Star's Best Books of 2014

Amazon's Best Books of the Year: Literature and Fiction

Congrats to all!

Celebrate Children's Book Week with some stellar recent releases!

Happy Children's Book Week!

Children's Book Week has been celebrated every year in May since 1919, making it the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. The movement is run by Every Child a Reader, an organization “dedicated to instilling a lifelong love of reading in children,” and is sponsored by the Children's Book Council (CBC), the association of children's book publishers. According to the CBC site, 2013 saw over 150 Children's Book Week events held in 58 cities across the US. This year, they've been aiming for even more!

In celebration of Children's Book Week, we decided to highlight some of our exciting recent (and some upcoming) kids' books!

This Is a Moose by Richard T. Morris, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, May)  

In a recent Publishers Weekly podcast, Morris talks about how the picture book came to publishing light—with some coercion from Morris's wife and agent, Alice Tasman, along the way! Lichtenheld joins the podcast to discuss how he helped the surprise ending evolve, and more. Listen to it here!

Morris has also been doing a number of readings since the book's release, accompanied by none other than the book's star moose himself! Mum's the word on who's actually inside that moose suit, but feel free to take a guess... :)

Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor (Bloomsbury, May)

A glowing review from Booklist noted, “In this 'reverse dystopian' novel, Cantor skillfully invites the reader to see our world and all its shortcomings and idiosyncrasies through Sky's questioning gaze.”

Count on the Subway by Paul DuBois Jacobs and Jennifer Swender, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf Books for Young Readers, May)

Count on the Subway was spotlighted in The New York Times Book Review's Children's Books section! It was also named an Editors' Choice pick!

Now and for Never by Lesley Livingston (Penguin Canada, May)

This will be the third in Livingston's Once Every Never trilogy, which began with Once Every Never in 2011 and was followed by Every Never After in 2013. Livingston is hosting a fab launch party for anyone in the Toronto area! Details are below if you happen to live nearby.

Burn Out by Kristi Helvig (Egmont, April)

A rave from Kirkus said of Burn Out, "Helvig builds a rock-solid future world and provides enough staggering plot twists and turns to keep pages flying to the gut-wrenching cliffhanger. A scorching series opener not to be missed”!

Gabe and Izzy: Standing Up for America's Bullied by Gabrielle Ford with Sarah Thomson (Puffin, March)

Publishers Weekly praised this book in a big article on bullying several months ago. You can find out more about the book and the PW article via our blog piece about National Bullying Prevention Month here.

Otis Dooda: Downright Dangerous by Ellen Potter, illustrated by David Heatley (Feiwel and Friends, March)

This is the hilarious sequel to Otis Dooda: Strange but True (2013). Otis has his own website, which simply should not be missed by any kids' book lovers! There you can download original songs based on the books, as well as super fun activities--such as How to Make Fart Goop or How to Make a Ninja Mask. So go check it out!

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson (Knopf Books for Young Readers, February)

School Library Journal named this their top Recommended Summer Read! But it's also gotten heaps of accolades and praise since its release, which you should check out in our previous post on the book here!

Neverwas by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, and Larkin Reed (Arthur A. Levine Books, January)

Kirkus named Neverwas to its "Smart Reads for Teens" list!  In a separate rave review, it said, “In this sequel to Amber House (2012), the creepy atmosphere of its predecessor segues into full-blown terror...A wild ride that leaves its readers breathless.”

So now go out and celebrate Children's Book Week with some great reads!

"Eye-opening and insightful," THE TYRANT'S DAUGHTER is a must read

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson has been having a great release month this February! It was named to the YA Movers and Shakers list on Goodreads where, according to Goodreads, it's been “racing up [their] popularity charts.” It was selected to the coveted position of “Amazon Best of the Month” in the teen category, one of only four total books. And it was named to Book Riot's list of hot new books to read in 2014.

Written by a former CIA officer, The Tyrant's Daughter tells the story of fifteen-year-old Laila, who has fled with her family from an unnamed Middle Eastern country after her father was killed in a coup. In Washington, D.C., Laila must adjust to a completely new life and new school, where she is shocked by girls who wear tank tops and shorts and where newspapers refer to her father as a “dictator.” Just as Laila's life begins to precariously balance amidst new friends, her mother's refusal to let go of the past threatens to upend everything in a new international crisis.

Central Ohio NPR's Shelf Discovery program recently spotlighted The Tyrant's Daughter.  They highly recommended the book, saying, “Although it was written for teens, The Tyrant's Daughter is an eye-opening and insightful short novel that has something to say to readers of all ages.” You can listen to the full review here.

Nearly every reviewer has praised Carleson's “beautifully written” prose (Booklist) and the complexity of Laila as a character. The strength of Carleson's writing is immediately evident when you pick up The Tyrant's Daughter. Take a look for yourself via the excerpt made available by Knopf Books for Young Readers here.

Below are some of the excellent reviews that have come in for The Tyrant's Daughter:

“Filled with political intrigue and emotional tension...Riveting...Raising as many questions as answers about Laila’s fate, the novel challenges social values close to home and abroad.” --Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Absorbing, character-driven...Carleson shrewdly makes what has become a sadly familiar story on the evening news accessible by focusing on the experiences of one innocent girl at the center of it. Laila is a complex and layered character whose nuanced observations will help readers better understand the divide between American and Middle Eastern cultures. Smart, relevant, required reading.” --Kirkus, starred review

“This is more than just Laila’s story; rather, it is a story of context, beautifully written, and stirring in its questions and eloquent observations about our society and that of the Middle East.” --Booklist

“An amazingly gripping and honest tale. Carleson keeps her readers feeling as though they have just returned from traveling in a foreign land, making those faraway issues feel a little more personal—a feat few can achieve with words alone.” --BookPage

“Timely, relevant, and fascinating, Laila’s story offers readers an accessible understanding of the seemingly intractable nature of Middle East politics.” --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Some books are entertaining, some books are eye opening, but it's a special book that's both...Insightful and honest, this book also delivers a powerful ending worthy of Homeland.” --Justine Magazine

“A touching, suspenseful story...Every American should read this book. It’s an eye-opener.” --Suzanne Fisher Staples, New York Times bestselling author of Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind

Knopf Books for Young Readers, February 2014

A former CIA officer's writing tips and spy insights

CLOAKS AND VEILS is a riveting CIA spy thriller written by former undercover CIA officer J.C. Carleson.  Just released a few weeks ago, the book has been hailed by Booklist as "cloak-and-dagger spycraft with a side of romance" and "fine escapist fare with a canny and capable protagonist."

In the book, CIA officer Dara McIntyre has been demoted after an affair with a Jordanian intelligence officer.  She finds herself stuck behind a desk pushing paper and burdened with the task of assessing whether a fellow officer, whose husband has been kidnapped and assassinated by terrorists in Dubai, is still fit for her job.  But the grieving widow has deep secrets, and there is far more to her husband's death than Dara first suspected.  Dara finds herself steeped in murky investigations, all the while trying to rescue her career as she journeys through Dubai and Barcelona.

Carleson recently participated in an interview on Chuck Wendig's TerribleMinds.com.  The interview is hilarious, complete with details on social gaffes Carleson committed while living in Spain and revelations about potential zombie apocalypses and wars against the robots.  In a more serious vein, it also sheds light on Carleson's writing process and what it means to be an undercover CIA officer.  Be sure to read the full interview here!  To whet your appetite, a few tidbits are below:

Q:  Why do you tell stories?

A:  I got used to being paid to lie in my old career and I wanted the paychecks to continue. 

More seriously, storytelling is a huge part of working undercover.  Huge.  You have to create a persona, live a cover story, and disguise your intentions--and you have to do it convincingly.

Q:  What can you tell us about the CIA that most people don't know or wouldn't expect?

A:  -There's a Starbucks inside CIA headquarters.  And a Dunkin' Donuts.

     -CIA officers hate being called spies.  They're not spies--spies are people who commit espionage against their own country.  CIA officers RECRUIT spies.

     -Plus more on TerribleMinds.com!

While CLOAKS AND VEILS is Carleson's debut book, she has also written a nonfiction business book about all the ways you can use CIA insights in everyday life.  That book, called WORK LIKE A SPY: Business Tips from a Former CIA Officer, will be published by Portfolio/Penguin in February 2013.  Check out the covers for both books below:

Thomas and Mercer, July 2012

Portfolio/Penguin, February 2013

To learn more about J.C. Carleson, visit her website here.