And it Ends: Thank You!

Phew! So this is the last post for Sex in Teen Lit Month, and then we're done. It's gone by pretty quickly! I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have! I have some thank you's to make - please bare with me, this may take a while.

Firstly, a big, huge, massive, ginourmous thank you to Luisa Plaja. This lady has gone so far beyond helpful and supportive, I'd say this was partly her baby too. Luisa helped me come up with the idea originally, supplied me with a list of titles as possibilities I could use for this month, supplied me with a copy of Extreme Kissing to review, agreed to be interviewed about it, sent me her thoughts on each of the books as a reader/mother/author to include with the reviews, supplied SiTL Month with a contest, has been available for me to ask opinion on various aspects of the month as I was working things out, helped me to get my hands on some of the books, and has been generally pro everything SiTL Month! Luisa, thank you so, so much for all your help with this month, you have been amazingly awesome, and I'm very sorry for clogging up your inbox! You are a STAR!

Thanks to all the wonderful authors who agreed to be interviewed! Your answers were just so fascinating to read! It was just so fantastic of you all for taking the time to answer some questions for us all, and for your support of SiTL Month too! So thank you to Tanya Lee Stone, Luisa Plaja (again), Joanna Kenrick, Sara Hantz, Laura Ruby, Mary Hooper, Serena Robar, and Melvin Burgess! You're awesome!

Cheers to all the wonderful ladies who contributed guestposts, author Jane Eagland, Ana of Things Mean a Lot, Kay of Infinite Shelf, and Kate of Another Book Blog-Whore. You're all fantastic, and your posts just so interesting!

Thank you to all the authors who wrote the books I covered for this month, which includes Nick Hornby and Julie Burchill.

And thank you to everyone who commented! It wouldn't have worked without you guys commenting, so thank you for taking an interest and for popping over to read it all and comment! You're all amazing!

I really did enjoy this month. It opened my eyes quite a bit. I hadn't read non-fantasy YA in a long time, and I didn't think it was for me, but decided to do this anyway because it was a subject I was interested in and because it's something I feel is important. I was completely wrong, YA is for me! I love it, and will be continuing to read it. You may just find that Ink and Paper Specials becomes my own YA book review blog :) We'll see.

My eyes were also opened by the books I read themselves, and how they dealt with the subject. They effected my way of thinking, and I'm no longer a teen! Each book made an impression in it's own way, but there were some that had quite a big impact, and made me look at things differently. I was going to list the ways, but it would just be far too long. When I have children of my own, I'll be sure to recommend all these books. Perhaps handing over any copies I own - as long as they don't damage them!

So, SiTL Month is now over. There's a possibility I may do something similar in the future, so as corny as this is, would you mind giving me your feedback on the month with this short survey, please? It's only 6 questions long, it shouldn't take you long to answer, and I'd really appreciate it! Cheers.

So thanks everyone for such an awesome month! It's been fun :)

Continue reading And it Ends: Thank You!

And it Starts: Article by Tanya Lee Stone on The Power of Sex in Young Adult Fiction

It is now July, and Sex in Teen Lit Month has officially begun. Hurrah! I can't tell you how much I have been looking forward to this! During this event, you can expect reviews, interviews, discussion posts, a contest, a few guest posts, and more! Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest so far. Your wait is finally over, and I hope this month is as enjoyable for you as you've thought it would be!

Before I start with my reviews and interviews, I thought I would give you something to read, as a bit of a taster as to what to possibly expect from the reviews and interviews to come.

Tanya Lee Stone, author of YA novel A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, wrote an article several years ago on this very topic, Now and Forever: The Power of Sex in Young Adult Literature, and sent me the link in an email when we were talking about interviews.

Here's a little excerpt:

"...books are possibly the safest place for [teenagers] to learn about sex—not just the physical part but also the complex web of emotions that accompanies it. Through fictional characters, readers can ponder multiple perspectives and gain insight into this new world that they are beginning to encounter. They can consider how they might feel or act in a given situation and can empathize with a character."

Pretty interesting, huh? Have a ganders, and then if you feel to voice opinions, feel free to comment :) Let's get a discussion going!

Tomorrow I will post the review of Tanya Lee Stone's A Bad Boy Can be Good for a Girl, and an interview with her. Tanya will kindly be popping over tomorrow to answer any questions you may have, so if there are any questions regarding the article, make a note of them!

Continue reading And it Starts: Article by Tanya Lee Stone on The Power of Sex in Young Adult Fiction

SiTL Month Updates

I thought putting all updates in one post would be neater. You may want to check back a few times to see if there are any other updates as the days go on.

Update - 4th June - Serena Robar:

Serena Robar, author of up-coming YA novel Giving Up the V, has passed my details on to her publicist to send me a copy of her book, and has agreed to be interviewed for Sex in Teen Lit Month! Fantastic news, in my opinion!

Really, the list of books will stop now. I'm really not the fastest reader in the world, and I wouldn't want this going over a month.

Update - 10th June - SiTL Month will be held in July, and getting hold of the books:

Just to let you know, I've got everything sorted, so now SiTL Month will be held in July.

I already have a few posts written for the month, one including my review for Extreme Kisses by Luisa Plaja, which was awesome, and I'm off to the library today to get some of the books I need to read. The rest I'm waiting to be delivered.

Just a question. If you're planning on reading along - though you don't have to! - would you mind letting me know, just so I know roughly how many people are thinking of doing so. Thanks!

If any American or Canadian people wish to read along, you might have a bit of trouble getting hold of the books, as most tend to be buy UK authors. If you find this to be the case, you may wish to try using The Book Depository to buy the books, as it's an online UK bookstore, and it has freeshipping worldwide. It might be the best way to get hold of the books - and it tends to be cheaper than Amazon UK, I've found.

Update - 11th June - Will be interviewing Joanna Kenrick:

The wonderful Luisa has been her usual super self, and in response to my previous post asking if there are any other authors who wish to contribute, mentioned SiTL Month to the Scattered Authors Society and asked if anyone was interested - and if they were, to email me. Thank you Luisa, you are a star!

A few people have emailed be about contributing, one of whom is Joanna Kenrick, author of Screwed, who has agreed to be interviewed for the Month! This month just keeps getting better and better, and it hasn't even started yet!

Just to recap, I'll now be interviewing Luisa Plaja, Tanya Lee Stone, Sara Hantz, Serena Robar, and Joanna Kenrick.

This is going to be one hell of a month!

Update - 12th June - Will be interviewing Melvin Burgess:

Yep, I got in contact with Melvin Burgess, author of Doing It, yesterday about a possible interview, and he has agreed!

This is just seriously amazing. This Month is going to turn out so much better than I first thought. I only though I'd be reviewing a few books, maybe a few disussion posts, and hoping people go involved. It's got so much bigger! It's so exciting!

Update - 14th June - Tanya Lee Stone will answer questions:

Author Tanya Lee Stone has agreed to pop on over a few times a day when her interview goes live - which looks to be on 1st July - to answer any questions you guys may have.

If you've read A Bad Boy Can be Good for a Girl , and have any questions, make a note of them somewhere so she can answer them for you!

Thank you, Tanya!

Update - 17th June - Laura Ruby has agreed to be interviewed:

Laura Ruby, author of Good Girls, has agreed to be interviewed! This is just awesome news!

But if that wasn't enough, both Sara Hantz and Joanna Kenrick have agreed to pop over on the days their interviews go live to answer any more questions you guys might have! This is all depending on when the interviews go live; I don't know when that will be yet, as I want to get a few more posts typed up before I start setting out a time table, and so they can't say for definite, but it's a possibility!

All good news, eh? :)

Update - 19th June - Mary Hooper has agreed to be interviewed:

Mary Hooper, author of the Megan Series, has agreed to be interview, which is just fantastic!

The Megan novels focus on teenage pregnancy, so it will be awesome to read about. I'm really looking forward to reading them!

Update - 28th June - Not reading the whole Megan series:

I got back from childminding my cousin for a week yesterday, and didn't get much reading done while I was there. As July is fast approaching, and I still have a few books to get through, I'll be reading only the first Megan book in the trilogy by Mary Hooper.

I'm quite upset at having to do this, as I wanted to read them all - and will eventually - but I have other books to read, posts to write (reviews, interviews, so on), etc, I'm not sure I would get it all done. To take off some of the pressure, I'm sticking to just the first book. I'm trying to get through the rest of the books quickly and get the posts sorted so I can enjoy the month with you all rather than trying to finish off and rushing, and not enjoying it as much.

Sorry to let you down.

Continue reading SiTL Month Updates