Notable Extras

Posted on by scott

Thanks to those of you who’ve written to inform me that Extras is on the NY Times‘ Notable Children’s Books list for 2007. There are only six books on the list, and only three or four of them are arguably YA, so it’s certainly an honor.

Congrats to the other five authors who made it:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Sherman Alexie. Illustrated by Ellen Forney. (Little, Brown)
And awesome and funny tale of life on the rez, much deserved winner of the National Book Award (full disclosure: I was on the jury, as disussed here).

The Arrival
By Shaun Tan. (Scholastic)
An amazing worldess graphic novel/picture book about the immigrant experience, as mentioned in my post here.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
By J. K. Rowling. Illustrated by Mary GrandPré. (Scholastic)
Um, I think you know this one.

And for the littlies in your life:

How to Be a Baby . . . By Me, the Big Sister
By Sally Lloyd-Jones. Illustrated by Sue Heap. (Random House)
A picture book from the POV of the older sibling.

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella
By Paul Fleischman. Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. (Holt)
A mega-multicultural picture book version of Cinderella.

I really enjoyed the Times‘ description of Extras . . .

The finale to Westerfeld’s thought-provoking Uglies series, set in a postindustrial dystopia, continues its dissection of a culture transfixed by beauty and celebrity. In the future, everyone tries to raise his or her “face rank” within the fame economy, using personal hovercams, as if would-be star and member of the paparrazi at the same time. There is also plenty of hoverboard derring-do as a band of outsiders confronts a new menace.

Is it just me, or does the term “derring-do” is seriously underused?

WARNING: All future posts on this blog will contain the phrase “hoverboard derring-do.”

182 thoughts on “Notable Extras”

  2. wait a minute–did they say FINALE??? obviously, trilogy now means five. ever read frindle?? well, in that, nick changes the name of pen to frindle, so now (after scott-la writes another midnighters book…hint hint) i’ll change “trilogy” to five books…of course, first midinghters has to fit the bill, too…
    my older sis got a snow day a couple days ago, my other older sis got a 2 hour delay…we pretty much got a snow day, too, tho my mom didn’t intend it to be like that…
    we live like on this really high hill, and we have like a really long driveway, and we shoveled it…TWICE!!! the first time, there was like two inches of snow (our plow doesn’t plow unless it’s three inches 😡 ) so we shoveled the entire driveway, then it snowed AGAIN!! it was very light, but it was nasty, cause someone had driven on our driveway, and what do you know?? it turned to ice!! we were trying to chip at it, but eventually gave up, salted the driveway, and let it sit overnight. then we got the rest of the day off, cause our backs were like really sore.
    snow stinks on the driveway.
    but, u know how we live on a hill?? well, it’s awesome 4 sledding!! today, it was perfect to sled, so we went down like a million times…but, cause it snowed so early, the trees still had leaves on them, so there were like as many leaves as there was snow…it was bubbly.
    i have this strange bump under my ear…*sniff sniff* dunno what it is…
    right now i have a cinderella shirt on, cause i’m cool that way. yeah.
    my uncle’s coming home for christmas!!! yay!!! i dont remember the last time i saw him…maybe not since we took our cross-country trip and stopped to see him…he’s cool, tho. we always play hide and seek with him…he sometimes jumps out at the ‘it’ and scares them half to death!! i think he’s coming home either the 21 or the 23…he’s staying 2 weeks!! it would rock either way, cuz he’d be home 4 my b-day either way…it’s the 23!! i was brought home on christmas day…sigh. happy endings, happy endings…
    well, this is a bogusly long post…
    WRITE MORE, SCOTT-LA!! WRITE MORE!!
    -The Inconquerable Mathematician, Riderchilde-wa (said w/a nifty olde english accent!!) :mrgreen:

  4. Well, this is my life. Hopin ill get a boyfriend, drinken cranberry juice, and typing on the computer, yep, thats me. yep, im a bundle of fun, well my friend is saying stuff about me and i feel really poopish so im gonna drink cranberry and sing.

  6. I love cranberry juice. It’s the only juice I drink. I also like mixing it w/ sprite…it’s the closest thing I’ll get to champagne til I’m 21…that’s the legal drinking age, right?

    omg there are like no guys at my school…they are all really ugly except for the few really hot ones that are jerks.

    It’s sorta sad when a geeky guy asks out a cheerleader…especially by email when she can and will forward it to all her friends. I feel pity for him. Even if he did tell me to “shut the hell up” yesterday. ’cause he’s antisocial like that.

  7. i don’t like cranberry juice.

    and the boy to girl to idiot ratio in my school is way skewed. there’s millions of idiots, then a lot of girls, and then like 10 non-idiot guys, most of whom are just friends material.

    that is sad. always save humiliation for in person. but how’d he get her email?

    yes Allie-wa. 21 is the drinking age. 18 voting. 16 to get your permit (at least here) 18 to be a legal adult and get arrested and all that crap.

  8. i am trying to write a short story about a new generation of midnighters. the main character is the child of rex and melissa. i need to come up with a name for it as well as a gender.

    the guy names that i have are:
    Adian- help, little fire
    Aland- bright as the sun
    Alexander- protector of mankind
    Durriken- fortune telling
    Latimer- interoreter
    Sterne- seriuos minded
    Heller- sun
    Argus- bright, watchful
    Nestor- travler, wisdom
    Theron- hunter
    Ala- defending men
    Alpha- first letter of the greek alphabet

    Some of the girl names are:
    Dawn- dawn
    Lainey-sun ray
    Zelene-sunshine
    Jarvinia- keen intelligence
    Jenell- knowledge, understanding
    Marlene- child of the light, bitter
    Aglaia- wisdom, glory
    Alcina- strongminded
    Calypso- concealor
    Eleni- light or torch
    Elina- pure, intelligent
    Layna- light, truth
    Neoma- new moon
    Pandora- taltented one
    Selene/Selena- the moon
    Sybley- prophetes
    Sibyl/Sybil- wise, prophetic
    Csilla- torch, birght light
    Cybil-female prophet
    Eldora- gift of the sun
    Electra- shining
    Elysia- struck by lightning
    Horatia & Horacia- hour, time
    Ilona- torch, bright light
    Kalapso- concealer

    the kids talent is a mindcasting- seer.

    its friends are a daughter of jonathan and jessica. she is a flying flame bringer and her name is Elysia Ilona Electra Martinez.

    the other friend is a son of dess and a person who has a language talent. his name is Durriken Theron Latimer Buffalo.

    Help me pick out a name and i will post the whole story.(sorry this post is so long 🙂 )

  9. so many names in one. (like Durriken Theron Latimer Buffalo)

    hmmm…i’d say go with a sort of simpleish one, because as a story it’d be set in sort of modern-day world, so it’s kind of wierd to have anything too odd.

    i votes Pandora. i have a character named Pandora. also breaks neatly into nicknames Pan or Dora.

    though i must also mention i like Elysia (and the meaning! mind if i totally get inspired by that and steal it? where’d u get these names anyway)
    and Kalapso, esp as Kala.
    and Zelene. i luvs names with Zs in them.

  11. i’ll try—what site do u use?

    i’m also a fan of the random name generator—that’s where i’ve gotten some of my favorites, and is useful because it gives both first and last names.
    here, i’ll try linking
    http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm

    i’m in name-land right now b/c i’m working on a short story and the narrator still has no name.
    because her boyfriend stole it….
    trying to find one that fits, which is hard.

  12. Wow i just erased my whole short story. And I’m starting again. From scratch. And in 1st person instead of 3rd. cause i started it last year and it sorta um, yeah…sucked. so…a fresh start!

    Now I think I’m gonna start hyperventilating from the emptiness.

  14. Well i have a story and im realizing that it doesnt have a point so im going to start another one but i need help. I want to make it more sci fi or mysery and i don’t know what to do.

  16. okay. when in doubt—werewolves.
    or murder
    or zombies
    or ninjas
    or oracles in Reyjavick having nightmares about the dead—hey wait that’s mine! none of you steal it.

    word of advice. starting anew is good, but backing up old versions is better.

    i haven’t gotten to write in FOREVER (called by some as last sunday). stupid other things eating my time.

  18. Thanks for the tips. I wont steal your idea. I just need to start anew (as you said shall i say “”) I will have to think about it.

  19. Ok, i got a perfect idea, i combined werewolves and murder. Ok, read this, Love Stalks (tittle)

    One day a young girl falls in love. She’s 14 and she is sure its love, but when her boyfriend becomes rabid and kills her, everyone is stirred in the commotion. There is then an investigation to find out how she died, but there is only a group of people who know.

    Oh ya, hes a werewolf, ya thats right.

  24. i think she was talking about names. and that’s pretty cool. be kind of awkward if you’re calling them Calypso. like, dancing and all. Could go with Caly, i guess. said like Cali, you know.
    i don’t know. i still like Pandora.

    doesn’t Rex spell Greene with the extra e? Greene vs. Green.

    see? combine werewolves zombies murder ninjas romance and the result is ALWAYS GOOD. even if it’s so bad it’s good.
    Love Stalks is a pretty good title—and your premise is good too.

  26. OKay I’ve been creating a name fot r the fith book of UGLIES!!!
    The UKNOWNS it could be about some people that acually live RUSTY style i NEED impoot!!
    Crap TYPO and i’ve to go.

  27. Okay maybe im just to lazy does it really matter?

    Hey who here is Conceited? raise you hand

    When you want to say something raise your hand an put it over your mouth (ROLF)
    Im so full of Poo!!!

  29. scott, this post has been up since the 2nd. it is the 7th, post again!

    P.S. i found out something pretty fool that is in Extras. go to my blog to see it.

  32. is Extras really the last book? i just finished it yesterday, and if its the last book, thats so sad-making. 🙁 so much more could be done with the info given in Extras! i want more.

    ~marji-wa

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