Vlog Review of 'Looking for Alaska' and BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

I finally found time to record another vlog! Sorry for some of the lag...not sure why it keeps doing that. I tried rebooting my Mac and closing everything out, but it still didn't help. If you know the secret to getting rid of lag, PLEASE SHARE!

Anyway, here's my review of John Green's 'Looking for Alaska' and also a big announcement!

Sick-lit: What??

Today I came across a VERY frustrating article (click here to read). The journalist for a U.K. website went off on how "sick-lit" is becoming a disturbing phenomenon. At the top of the references was the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (if you haven't read it I highly recommend you do so). The journalist goes on to say, "While the Twilight series and its imitators are clearly fantasy, these books don't spare any detail of the harsh realities of terminal illness, depression and death."

I'm not sure what goes on this journalist's life, but it would appear that they live in a bubble.

 I've done the "raising a teenage girl" thing before with two stepdaughters who (thankfully) turned out to be intelligent, respectful, well-adjusted women. My daughter is about to turn 13 in just a couple of days (*sob*). I know there's some pretty dark stuff that can go on in a teen's life in today's society. My own slightly tainted childhood experiences include having a cousin die of cancer when I was just 8 and pulling up to his house just behind the hearse. If this journalist is suggesting we shelter our children from such literature because of these serious subjects, they're just living in serious denial. Terrible things happen. Young children die of cancer and commit suicide. Kids cut themselves to express their feelings. Small children are gunned down in their classroom by a madman. We know this from real life. If teens are reading books about these things, it's up to their parents to talk to them about these issues.

I read the same books as my daughter so I know exactly what goes into that intelligent brain of hers (she's an 'A' honor roll student). I'm going to have her read The Fault in Our Stars so she can see just what kids facing cancer have to deal with. I know it will make her a more compassionate person. She knows two kids in school who were very recently diagnosed with cancer. Would this U.K. journalist suggest it's better for my daughter to live in the dark and not understand the kinds of things her schoolmates will have to face? I promise you, there is nothing in this book that "glamorizes" cancer. It's a very sad, depressing book in which teens die. It's reality.

Tannith Carey of dailymail.co.uk really needs a wake up call.

**As as side-note: I certainly don't condone writing on these subjects to get higher sales. I don't think it was really a "trend" when John Green wrote this book.**

Amazon's Top 10 Children's eBooks for 2012

I wanted to share this list I came across today of the best selling ebooks in 2012. I didn't post the top ten adult as I write for young adults, plus I couldn't stomach seeing 50 Shades of Grey twice in one list. Of these ten I have only read Insurgent and The Fault in Our Stars (which was mind-blowingly amazing). Have you read any? What do you think will be on the best selling list of 2013?

Insurgent (Divergent) by Veronica Roth  (952) Kindle Price: $7.29 The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus, Book Three) by Rick Riordan  (1,418) Kindle Price: $8.00 The Serpent's Shadow (The Kane Chronicles, Book Three) by Rick Riordan  (343) Kindle Price: $9.99 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green  (1,552) Kindle Price: $10.99 While It Lasts by Abbi Glines  (369) City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare  (346) Kindle Price: $8.89 CRASH by Nicole Williams  (243) Because of Low (Sea Breeze) by Abbi Glines  (193)