Writing Siobhan Dowd in 'A Monster Calls'

Unlike his carefree peers, Conor endures the mental and emotional strain involved with having a terminally ill parent. Late one evening a powerful and ancient monster, something that might have otherwise frightened him horribly, visits him. However, Conor has something far worse to fear—the truth. And the monster is determined to make him face it.  

A Monster Calls is an original idea of the late Siobhan Dowd. After her untimely passing, Patrick Ness was given the opportunity to complete her story and initially resisted. He ultimately undertook the challenge, and truths, monsters and a tribute to the benefits of ...

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Disaster in the Heartland: Behind 'Ashfall'

Suppose you’re a 15-year-old kid growing up in Iowa. Suppose your parents leave you home alone for the weekend. Then suppose a super volcano blows its top, covering your world in fire, ash and a frenzy of post-disaster mayhem. Do you make it out alive?

In Ashfall, Mike Mullin has blended a knowledge of survival skills, from Tae Kwon Do to skinning rabbits, with geological and ecological authenticity to deliver an apocalyptic coming-of-age story that will make readers second-guess the comforts of their reality. Reflecting on Ashfall, he talks about how making your wife cry can improve your book ...

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Behind 'Anna Dressed in Blood'

Following in a parent’s footsteps might mean becoming a lawyer or dental hygienist. For Cas Lowood, it means exterminating menacing poltergeists with an ancient knife. So what’s a boy to do when one of his murderous targets, Anna Dressed in Blood, unexpectedly spares his life? Spare hers in return? Kendare Blake talks graveyard research, corpses under the bed and why she might upset Bill Murray.

Find more great mysteries & thrillers among our 2011 Best Books for Teens.

What prompted you to pinpoint ghost killing as a premise?

Truly? I wanted a subject that was grisly. And I mean ...

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Jon Skovron on ‘Misfit’

If turning 16 isn’t sufficiently awkward, try doing it as a half-demon, motherless vagabond with an aloof father too protective to tell you that a hellish being is set on annihilating you. Really, Misfit is understating the case just a bit.

Catholic schoolgirl Jael picks up some significant allies in her plunge into self-knowledge, most notably thoughtful skater Rob and her newly discovered Uncle Dagon, an astonishingly cuddly demon. Here, Jon Skovron touches on religion, celebrity and the staying power of Sigourney Weaver.

Find more great mysteries & thrillers among our 2011 Best Books for Teens.

In reference to beliefs ...

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Behind Jo Knowles’ ‘Pearl’

Being a teenager can be awkward. Throw death, well-hidden secrets and falling for your best friend into the mix, and it’s disastrous—or incredible. It all happens to Pearl’s titular character nicknamed Bean in one stiflingly hot summer. Here, Jo Knowles discusses dealing with stress, the beauty of butter and priceless publicity photos.   

Uncover more books about family secrets.

Food therapy plays a big part in guiding your characters through stresses and secrets. What’s your comfort food?

It’s true, there’s a LOT of comfort food in Pearl. Most of which I find comfort in myself ...

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Gary Ghislain’s 'How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend'

In a debut that practically defines "zany," Gary Ghislain launches 14-year-old David onto a rooftop chase through Paris with his therapist father's new patient, Zelda, who claims to be from the all-female planet Vahalal in How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend. With it he makes the galaxy a brighter place by intermingling couture, otherworldly violence and good ol’-fashioned girl power. But what about getting some autobiographical dermal ink?

Find more madcap science fiction for teens.

What led to such a heightened awareness of fashion amid David and Zelda's sci-fi hijinks?

Decomposing Converse shoes, jeans and ...

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Behind 'Fly Trap' with Frances Hardinge

Escaping through chimneys, masquerading as a skeletal horse and saving a spoiled princess are just the tip of the tumultuous iceberg on which irreverent Mosca Mye, her violently hungry goose, Saracen, and her antiheroic cohort, Eponymous Clent, find themselves in Fly Trap. With this alternative world fantasy, Kirkus noted that author Frances Hardinge "creates a strange original society that reflects our own in provocative ways." We found her previous novel, The Lost Conspiracy, equally beguiling in the world-building department. Here she sheds some revolutionary light on white lies, name games and prehistoric pets.

Find other fantasy worlds to lose yourself ...

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Jennifer Richard Jacobson on 'Small as an Elephant'

During what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation weekend, Jack wakes to find himself abandoned by his mentally ill mother, and he gradually begins questioning the reality he had until that moment. Jennifer Richard Jacobson confesses how a writer’s research can lead to wooden lobsters and why we could all use a little grandmotherly wisdom.

READ MORE ABOUT CHILDREN FORCED TO MAKE IT ON THEIR OWN.

What prompted the need to create a story surrounding such delicate issues as parental abandonment and mental illness?

Ten years ago I was at a writer’s conference and the facilitator suggested ...

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Behind 'The Floating Islands'

With the help of magic, masquerade and a few dragon feathers, two cousins brought together under tragic circumstances go against the odds of society and propriety to claim their identities and also save their peaceful home from destruction. Debut author Rachel Neumeier reveals her blueprint behind the mystical literary landscape of The Floating Islands, what makes a rule breaker and just how good this book tastes.

Find more great fantasy & science fiction among our 2011 Best Books for Children.

The world you’ve created feels familiar even as it’s a completely original setting. How did you achieve that?

Tolounn ...

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Behind 'Concierge Confidential'

Michael Fazio has been catering to the whims of the elite since Charlie Sheen tossed him a few bucks in the ’80s to go buy an ashtray. Since then, his penchant for behind-the-scenes support has flourished into a partnership in a premier Manhattan concierge service. His book, Concierge Confidential, unearths select secrets to seamlessly gliding his gilded clients past the velvet ropes.

ADDICTED TO CELEBRITY GOSSIP? See more on latest tell-alls from Johnny Weir, Lo Bosworth and Russell Simmons.

What prompted you to reveal your secrets?

Navigating the landscape of all things service oriented can be complicated and very frustrating ...

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2010 Best Books: Showtime, by Larry Stempel

After two and a half decades, Larry Stempel has composed the first comprehensive history of one of the most shape-shifting, gluttonously consumed art forms—Broadway musical theater. From early Vaudevillian spectacles, to destined-for-revival classics of the ’50s, to record-breaking mega-musicals of the ’80s and onward, Stempel reveals the common thread between each tier to be “how deeply collaborative the musical theater is as a medium.” In its dawning days, the art form was looked on as a workhorse to be exhausted and discarded—script, lyrics and all—once the money stopped rolling in. Yet with much of musical theater’s ...

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2010 Children's Best: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, by Maryrose Wood

Tea is best served with droll mystery. At least, that’s what’s bountifully dished out in Maryrose Wood’s unapologetically Anglophile series opener that follows a well-established age-old tale: girl becomes governess, governess is employed at sprawling estate for three certifiably wild children, governess unearths multiple mysteries on premises. “I don’t receive many—or to be precise, any—books for middle-grade readers that combine a riff on Jane Eyre and feral children,” says Donna Bray, VP and co-publisher of Balzer + Bray. “I was powerless to resist.” Wood admits “there’s no greater satisfaction as an author than to ...

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The Legend of the King

For the past 12 years, Gerald Morris’ series The Squire’s Tales has breathed articulate life into a retelling of Arthurian legends with a contemporary approachability that doesn’t compromise their authentic allure. Noble knights, captivating enchantresses, mystical beings and dexterous swordsmen have all dutifully played their parts from book one. And with The Legend of the King, the tales come to a close as noble Camelot faces certain destruction at the unforgiving hand of Arthur’s illegitimate son, the wretched and pointedly evil Mordred.

“In Legend I had to face the inevitability of a set, tragic ending,” says Morris ...

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