Both the new issue of Bookslut and Eclectica Magazine are up and I have many YA reviews in each. (Also some reviews for adults, but more on those later.) Over at Bookslut my column this month is called "Heirs to Judy Blume" and includes those four girl/boy/sex books that I've written about here earlier. This was one tough column to write - it was so hard to get in the head of a teenage girl (and from this vantage point, I so did not want to go there!) but I really think you have to find your inner 15 year old to judge these books fairly. Here are the titles:

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr (sex to young and everybody knows about it)
Good Girls by Laura Ruby (sex caught on film and everybody knows about it)
Angel's Choice by Lauren Bogsted (sex got you pregnant and everybody knows about it)
Pop by Aury Wallington (just want to have sex as friends - and everybody knows about it)

Can you see my theme with this one?

There are two different group reviews of YA titles at Eclectica. First up is my salute to quirky families. I love these kinds of books - they speak to some part of my bored middle class white bread Koolaid upbringing that really wishes there had been at least some bit of funkiness to hang out with. (I know - I'm practically a cliche, aren't I?) The titles in this review include:

Permanet Rose & Caddy Ever After by Hilary McKay (love the Cassons!)
Truth and Salsa by Lois Lowery (Funny and also quite timely)
Gods in Winter by Patricia Miles (coolest Greek god fiction ever!)
Year of the Dog by Grace Lin (oh how you will feel for this girl!)
Isabella's Above Ground Pool by Alice Mead (perfect for the 8-10 year olds)
When I was Young Neruda Called me Policarpo by Poli Delano (Addams family in S America!)
Travels with My Family by Marcia Gay (Addams family as hippies)
Five Lost Aunts of Harriet McBean by Alexander McCall Smith (the man can write anything)

And also a historical fiction review. I kind of don't like doing these - I love good historical fiction, but dislike lumping books together merely by the fact that they take place in the past. I'm trying to find unifying themese that transcend date (as with my columns on war fiction), so hopefully I'll be able to do fewer of these general categories. Having said all that, these books were great! They are:

A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz (perfect for girls ages 10 and up)
Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (she has created one of my new favorite heroines in YA lit)
The Shadows of Ghadames by Joelle Stolz (woefully overlooked as far as I'm concerned)
Paradise by Joan Elizabeth Goodman (Canadian hist fiction - I swoon with glee!)
Snowfall by KM Peyton (simply sublime and one great ending)

And don't forget to do your part (20 freaking minutes out of your day people!) to join the Virtual March on New Orleans!