Lara Zielin

Yesterday at an antique sale, I uncovered a hardcover copy of King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry, which won the Newberry Award in 1949.

Can I just tell you, I loved this book growing up.

I must have read it at least 50 times, no exaggerating. Ms. Henry was one of my earliest inspirations because she found a way to fuse horses (zomg, horses!) with story-telling, resulting in the most exciting books I’d ever come across.

I went through troubled times as a teenager to be sure, but there was a while there when my heroes were Ms. Henry and James Herriot and Anne of Green Gables. I think even when I was trying to fly my rebellious flag, deep down I was just a literary nerd.

Anyway. I’d owned this lovely book in softcover growing up, but lost it sometime after college. I was delighted to rediscover it and become immersed once again in a story that spans generations, taking readers to Africa, France, England and the United States, where the main characters are a horse and a mute boy.

And here, I bet you thought “King of the Wind” was going to be a post about passing gas.

Book reviews are like a bit like first dates. When they’re good, you can rave about them and be all like, Zomg, sooo amazing!

When they’re bad, you can shrug and say, Meh, it’s only one, we’ll see.

Either way, there’s no indication about any kind of long-term success. A good review doesn’t mean your book is going to be a best-seller. A bad review doesn’t mean your career is over.

And yet.

Andyetandyetandyet.

It sure feels amazing when you get a great review. I mean, just speaking from the heart here — as someone who really, really likes it when people really, really like my books — it feels fabulous.

And guess what?

Publisher’s Weekly — as in THE Publisher’s Weekly — likes The Implosion of Aggie Winchester!

I’ve pasted their entire review below, and you can also link to it here. Please, please do the happy dance with me because, okay, I know I can’t hang my hat on this long-term, but for right now? I am totally kicking my heels.

One of Zielin’s strengths as a writer is that she really “gets” teens: their voices, angst, and insecurities. Another is that she’s not afraid to throw her protagonists into no-win situations and watch them claw their way out. Aggie Winchester, a junior and self-professed goth, thoroughly resents her mother–who is also the principal of Aggie’s high school, which fuels her rebellious, self-destructive behavior. But then Aggie’s best friend, Sylvia, gets pregnant and is nominated for prom queen, an old boyfriend rears his gorgeous but devious head, and Aggie discovers that her mother has breast cancer. Though Aggie is not always a lovable main character, Zielin (Donut Days) keeps her real and honest. As Aggie heads ever deeper into the hole she’s dug for herself, she grapples with some tough choices. Should she have sex with her old boyfriend to get him back? Should she rat on Sylvia, who may have rigged the prom queen election? How can she make her mother actually listen to her? For teens confronting similar questions, Aggie’s realistically bumpy journey will be welcome, timely, and thoroughly satisfying. Ages 14–up. (Aug.)

Man, can I just say — there is SO much good young adult (YA) fiction out there! Hoo boy. The quality of everything I read just keeps going up and up and up. I love it. Here are a couple of YA books I’ve read recently that I wished would never end:

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr. The first sentence of the back jacket copy starts: I was thirteen when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy’s Buick …

The novel was a National Book Award finalist, and little wonder. The main character, Deanna, is raw and tough and still likable, which is no mean feat. The story represented a snapshot of Deanna’s life at a crossroads, and I loved how the author showed her wrestling with obligations toward family, with her reputation as the town’s slut, and with believing something better was out there for her. Zarr is officially my hero — and Deanna, too.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. The main character, Sam, is smart, pretty, popular — and shrugs at her easy good fortune. Things are sometimes hard for people. They’re not hard for her. That’s just how it is.

Sam isn’t aware of how her life impacts others until she relives the day she dies again and again — sort of like Groundhog Day but much, much deeper. The way Sam becomes alive through dying is beautiful and heart-wrenching. I read this book in one solitary sitting. And it’s not exactly a slight tome. It’s YA lit at its best.

On my to-read list? Well, there’s never a shortage of books there, but here’s a snapshot:

Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

What books have you read/loved lately, and what’s on your reading list?

This is the fridge in our basement.

Most people keep meat, ice cream, or frozen vegetables in their fridge. But not us.

Welcome to the house where two writers live!

Yes, it’s true. We keep books in our fridge. Three words come to mind: Need. More. Bookshelves.

Until we get some, let me show you around.

These are our “Dummies” books. They all start with “P.” My father-in-law gave me that poker one, and boy was he sorry he did. I read that sucker cover to cover and smoked his butt at Texas Hold ‘em. True story.

Here is a book bought a few years back. Since I purchased it, “volunteer vacations” have really burgeoned in popularity. I probably don’t need the book anymore, but I like having it.

We’re having a garage sale in June and it’s possible some of these books might make it into the sale. But I’m not betting on it. Even if they’re in a fridge in the basement, I love having books around.

“Books are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of books, even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome.”  ~ William Ewart Gladstone