The purpose of the Christy Awards is "honoring and promoting excellence in Christian fiction." In the Young Adult category, the nominees are How Huge the Night by Lydia Munn and Heather Munn (Youth Reads review currently in the works); Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren (Youth Reads review here); and Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson. We don't have a review of Merchant's Daughter, but we do have one of Dickerson's The Healer's Apprentice.

The Christy Award winners will be announced July 16.

Read more: Tyson Wynn, Wynn-Wynn Media press release, April 16

"Whenever a book makes such a sweeping and compelling impact on youth culture it catches my attention and I always find myself asking the same question: What is it about the soul of youth culture today that is so taken by this particular story -- in this case, The Hunger Games?"

Read more: Robert Crosby, The Current, Patheos

(H/T Timothy Dalrymple)

"I said no to Twilight and yes to Hunger Games for my kids, and here’s why."

Read more: Nancy French, What She Said, Patheos

The blog What She Read, at Patheos, is giving away Easter books for kids.

Read more: Jill Joiner, What She Read, Patheos

"I’ll confess. When I first heard about the storyline of Hunger Games I was appalled and thought civilization had slipped another cog into the abyss."

Read more: Dick Staub, Staublog, DickStaub.com

"As [Suzanne] Collins told the [New York] Times, 'I don’t write about adolescence. I write about war. For adolescents.' In the interview, she insists, 'If we wait too long [to talk to teens about violence], what kind of expectation can we have? We think we’re sheltering them, but what we’re doing is putting them at a disadvantage.'"

Read more: Monica Selby, Her.meneutics, Christianity Today

Haley Stewart | Carrots for Michaelmas | January 29, 2012

"So, I’m coming up with a reading list containing female characters that could put a smack down on Bella Swan any day of the week and reveal what a real woman looks like."

Amy Lepine Peterson | Her.meneutics | March 7, 2012

"If we Christians are going to use the conventional princess trope, we need to redeem it, not just repeat it with a thin gloss of scripture on top."

Jen Doll | The Atlantic Wire | February 23, 2012

A look at why Young Adult novels have such wide appeal, to readers of all ages.

Against Walter Dean Myers and the 'dumbing down' of literature: 'Those kids' can read Homer
Alexander Nazaryan | New York Daily News | January 4, 2012

In which I gamely stick out my tongue
Shannon Hale | squeetus blog | January 16, 2012

Educator Alexander Nazarayan advocates for more focus on the classics and less on contemporary young adult fiction. Novelist Shannon Hale argues that he's missing something. The two pieces together make for an interesting point/counterpoint on teen reading.

Books for Christmas -- Suggestions for Kids
Denny Hartford | The Book Den | December 17, 2011

Denny recommends our list of books to buy your kids at Christmas, and adds some suggestions of his own.

"Young adult novelist Sara Zarr is no stranger to the genre, with three award-winning books to her name (Story of a Girl, Sweethearts, and Once Was Lost, which Her.meneutics contributor Laura Leonard reviewed last spring). Her latest book, How to Save a Life (Little, Brown, 2011), received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and landed on its 'Best of 2011' list."

Read more: Ruth Moon, Her.meneutics, Christianity Today

Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2011: Children's Fiction
Publishers Weekly | November 2011

Publishers Weekly offers its top 24. Look for our reviews of some of these in the weeks ahead. (We've already covered two of them: Divergent and Beauty Queens.)

You're Reading WHAT?
Heidi Stevens | Chicago Tribune | October 25, 2011

A panel of journalists, along with the president of the Young Adult Library Services Association, offer their personal opinions on what to do when your teen is reading a book you find offensive. (For instance, be prepared to ask questions like "So it's OK to date the undead behind your parent's back?")

A Doyle Man
Michael Dirda | The Paris Review Daily | September 21, 2011

Dirda, a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, recalls the joys of "the first grown-up book I ever read," The Hound of the Baskervilles: "I shivered with fearful pleasure, scrunched further down under my thick blanket, and took another bite of my Baby Ruth candy bar, as happy as I will ever be."

(H/T Kim Moreland)

Teen Roundtable: Book Banning
YA Confidential | September 27, 2011

Teens discuss their thoughts on adult topics in Young Adult books. Interestingly, the group as a whole comes out strongly against censorship, but when asked, they have no trouble thinking of topics that they themselves would like to see banned.

Exclusive Excerpt: Andrew Klavan's 'The Final Hour,' parts one, two, and three
Andrew Klavan | Big Hollywood | August 2011

Read three excerpts from the final installment of Klavan's Homelanders series (available at the Colson Center Store).

The Final Hour
Stan Guthrie and John Wilson | Books & Culture | July 25, 2011

A podcast about the fourth and final book in Andrew Klavan's Homelanders series. (Go here to read my positive review of the first book in the series.)

Tips for Encouraging Summer Reading
Jen Robinson | PBS.com | June 2011

A few tips to make reading attractive to kids.

Gatsby without Greatness
Roger Ebert | Chicago Sun-Times | July 6, 2011

Film critic Roger Ebert complains about a new "intermediate level" version of The Great Gatsby that not only takes out much of the beautiful language, but also changes the meaning.