Like Love?

Harlequin, the long-lived, publisher of adult romances is starting a line for teen girls - and they want your help. On their site:

"The Harlequin™ Teen Panel is an online reader panel for teens between the ages of 13and 17.

Members of the Harlequin Teen Panel will participate in fun quizzes and discussions about things like: books, movies, music and websites. In other words, everything that you’re interested in.

This is the place to be if you love to read!
Sign up today to share your opinion about the books you’ve read and the books you’d like to read—as well as other things that help you choose your books."

More importantly, according to my sources:

"Teens will be asked to fill out fun quizzes; they’ll participate in discussions and will also receive FREE books (approximate retail value of $10-$15 per book?) and have a chance to enter into sweepstakes (with [parental] permission)."

Check it out, and remember, as always, if you find a book you love so much you think others should read it, ask the library to buy it - we probably will.

Like authors? Have questions? Just wanna Chat?

Readergirlz can help ya out a little there.



In celebration of Teen Read Week/Month Readergirlz are hosting live chats with authors EVERY NIGHT THIS WEEK. If you've got a MySpace account, you can participate. Just head on over to the group forum.

Here's the line up:

Monday, October 13:

Multicultural Bites

Coe Booth

An Na

Mitali Perkins

Tuesday, October 14:

Verse Bites

Lorie Ann Grover

Stephenie Hemphill

Lisa Ann Sandell

Wednesday, October 15:

Contemporary Bites

Ally Carter

Justina Chen Headley

Maureen Johnson

Thursday, October 16:

Fantasy Bites

Holly Black

Dia Calhoun

Ted Naifeh

Tamora Pierce

Friday, October 17:

Gothic Bites

Holly Cupala

Christopher Golden

Annette Curtis Klause

Mari Mancusi

Chats start at 6pm PST! Stop in and say hi! Hope to see you there!

And, if you just happened not to have seen it...here it is again, simply because I loves it:

NIGHT BITES

All I'm sayin' is this is awesome, take a look:

Reading Commonly

Hip Hop artist and actor Common, (formerly known as Common Sense and known to his mother as Lonnie Rashid Lynn) has started an online book club called The Corner Book Club through his Common Ground Foundation.

His website says:

"Teens are able to follow along with the recommended book of the month, blog with other members about relevant topics and have the opportunity to participate in a live online chat with Common Ground Foundation staff.

Celebrity artists will also be interviewed each month and talk about their favorite books and why reading is so important to them.

Each year the Foundation will sponsor a national "Common Ground Challenge" for our book club members. Winners will have an opportunity to meet Common and their essay will be posted on The Common Ground Foundation website. The Foundation is also committed to provide a college scholarship as the first prize award."

Their first choice? Long Way Gone, Memoirs of A Boy Soldier by Ishmaell Beah, which they describe as:

"This gripping story by a children’s-rights advocate recounts his experiences as a boy growing up in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, during one of the most brutal and violent civil wars in recent history."

Find out more, sign up, or just check out this month's artist interview with Talib Kweli.