This week, four authors speak about young female fury; Christina Hammonds Reed and Liara Tamani draw a crowd on Crowdcast; Tracey Hecht virtually visits a Kentucky library; and five Scholastic authors venture to Riverdale.
This One’s for the Girls
Last month, New York City’s independent bookseller McNally Jackson presented “Angry Teenage Girl,” a Zoom launch event for Hayley Krischer’s Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf (Razorbill). Tiffany D. Jackson (Grown, HarperCollins/Tegen), Courtney Summers (Sadie, Wednesday Books), and Ashley Woodfolk (When You Were Everything, Delacorte) joined Krischer to discuss what it means for a teenage girl to be “unlikeable” and still be the protagonist of their own story. Parrish Turner, children’s buyer at McNally Jackson, moderated the panel.
Los Angeles Launch
On October 19, Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif., celebrated the release of The Black Kids (Simon & Schuster) by Christina Hammonds Reed in a Crowdcast event featuring the debut YA author in conversation with Liara Tamani (All the Things We Never Knew, Greenwillow). The duo talked about the plot and characters of The Black Kids, the music written into the novel, writing complicated female Black teen leads, and more.
Homeschool Happiness
Tracey Hecht (The Nocturnals series, Fabled Films) recently took to Zoom to lead an interactive Read Aloud Writing session with the Kenton County Public Library’s Homespun Homeschool Club in Erlanger, Ky. The library’s branches offered a book and activity kit for each student to pick up before the event; 64 children between the ages of 7–11 attended. Pictured here (top row, from l.): librarian Maria Parker, Fabled Films Press brand manager Nicole Wheeler, Tracey Hecht, librarian Lauren Brandstetter (with mask), and guests.
A Riverdale Roundup
Honoring everyone’s favorite spooky holiday, all five of Scholastic’s Archie Comics authors gathered for the first time on October 14 to participate in I read YA’s “Halloween with the Archie-verse” panel. The event was virtually hosted by Children’s Book World in Los Angeles. Micol Ostow (Riverdale: Death of a Cheerleader), Caleb Roehrig (Archie Horror: A Werewolf in Riverdale), Sarah Rees Brennan (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Path of Night), Rebecca Barrow (Archie Horror: Interview with the Vixen), and Stephanie Kate Strohm (Katy Keene: Restless Hearts) were in conversation, while Alex Segura (Poe Dameron: Free Fall, Disney Lucasfilm), co-president of Archie Comics, served as moderator. The authors answered questions about their “Archie origin stories” and which characters would make the best crossover books. Brennan dressed as a witch for the occasion, and her cat Thackery Binx made a surprise guest appearance.
