Oh wow...the LA Times reviewed my book today. Squee!

[Wheezy]

(Please forgive the self-promo. The LA Times Book Review is kind of a big deal, especially for children's books, which don't get reviewed much in the big papers.)

Not Just For Kids: 'The Unwanteds' by Lisa McMann
The author colorfully takes on cuts in school arts by creating a world in which creative children are separated from the pack in a classic tale of good versus evil.

By Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times

August 28, 2011, 7:00 a.m.
The Unwanteds

A Novel

Lisa McMann

Aladdin/Simon & Schuster: 390 pp., $16.99, ages 8-12

As public school districts across the country get butchered with all the sensitivity inherent to a rusty hatchet, parents are processing the loss in novel ways. Take bestselling author Lisa McMann, who brainstormed the concept for her middle-grade debut "The Unwanteds" after art and music classes were cut from her children's school.

Artistic kids were being punished, believed McMann, who reimagined their punishment as something other than the real-world decline of imaginative thinking. In "The Unwanteds," every resident in the bland, mostly colorless community of Quill is marked as Necessary, Wanted or Unwanted (if they sing, paint or dance), in which case they are shackled, taken to a death farm and forced to face the Great Lake of Boiling Oil.

This annual ritual, or purging, takes place when children have reached the inauspicious age of 13. By then, their parents and other town members have observed each individual's tendencies to determine if a child can stay in Quill, with its "identical houses planted closely together like rows of sweet corn," or needs to be banished...
-------------
More at the link:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-lisa-mccann-20110828,0,2965246.story

[DJ13]

1. Congratulations!

Nice write up!

[panader0]

2. Huge congrats!

You should be very proud. K&R

[cbayer]

3. Big K & R! That is just too cool!

:toast:

[EFerrari]

4. That's awesome, Wheezy!

[kestrel91316]

5. Fabulous. But is that review by Susan Carpenter of Susan Carpenter McMillan fame??

[Wheezy]

14. Hmm, I have no idea!

[A-Schwarzenegger]

6. Excellent, Lisa.

"Art is a powerful weapon indeed."

[WillyT]

7. That's Excellent !!! - K & R !!!

Congratulation!!!

:toast:

:hi:

[Octafish]

8. Congratulations, Wheezy!

And into the future: Good Luck!

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. great

[NICO9000]

10. Awesome!

:headbang:

[Blasphemer]

11. Congratulations! I love the concept.... nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. congratulations!!

that is so cool

[XemaSab]

13. Very, very cool!

:D

[SheilaT]

15. I have just gone to my library's webset

and suggested that they purchase it.

[Divernan]

23. Good idea! I made same suggestion to Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh

Congratulations on your new book, Ms. McMann. Hope it gets nominated for an award like the John Newberry medal, or the Michael L. Printz award for excellence in literature written for young adults.

[Wheezy]

38. You know your awards!

Thanks so much! I did an event at Carnegie Library a couple years ago with one of my teen books. What a beautiful place!

[Wheezy]

37. Thank you!!

[housewolf]

16. Some heart-warming news this Sunday - Congratulations to you!

How thrilling! I hope your book gets much more positive attention.

Congrats, congrats, congrats to you!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[Wheezy]

17. Thanks so much everyone! Holy recs, batman!

You guys are making me tear up a little. *sniffle*

[Fearless]

18. Congratulations!

[Curmudgeoness]

19. That's the way to fight the system. This is a win for you.

:toast:

[Celebration]

20. "Color" me IMPRESSED!! n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. My dear Wheezy!

I SAW that! Now, I'll have to go back and read it more carefully!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You done good!

:toast:

[NJCher]

22. how lucky we are

To have the likes of a Wheezy at DU!

First, intriguing concept.

Second, good job on targeting the readership.

Third, this needed to be said.

Congratulations, Wheezy! :toast:


Cher

[libodem]

24. Way cool

Congratulations.

[Divernan]

25. Love your website! And the cover on your new book!

Homepage http://www.lisamcmann.com

I enjoyed reading Harry Potter, and I look forward to reading your book as well.

Coming August 30, 2011- The Unwanteds
The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter... is sure to be a double hit." ~ Kirkus Reviews

Quill prevails when the strong survive.

Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their graves.

On the day of the Purge, identical twins Alex and Aaron Stowe await their fate. While Aaron is hopeful of becoming a Wanted, Alex knows his goldchances are slim. He's been caught drawing with a stick in the dirt-and in the stark gray land of Quill, being creative is a death sentence.

But when Alex and the other Unwanteds face the Eliminators, they discover an eccentric magician named Mr. Today and his hidden world that exists to save the condemned children. Artimé is a colorful place of talking statues, uncommon creatures, and artistic magic, where creativity is considered a gift... and a weapon.

[Wheezy]

56. many thanks!!

[Kind of Blue]

26. Incredibly Wonderful! Congratulations!

I must read it. Thanks for sharing the news!

KnR!

[cali]

27. Congrats and oh my word- this comment from a reader of the review:

Howard Latchford at 12:41 AM August 28, 2011

Art and music are indeed optional. It is a common conceit among artists and musicians that their work product is somehow necessary. Population control of artists and musicians can be somewhat enforced, even humanely, by reduction in their school programs. I have original art in my house, but it is not necessary to my well-being. The things necessary for my well-being are provided by technology, by medicine, by chemistry, etc. The attitude of the book being reviewed seems to be one that would flow from an unrealistic sense of entitlement, always a contentious matter, but especially so during economic hard times. People are usually unharmed by stupid artistic works. The technological world harms us all when they do stupid work. It is more important to get the technology right. Artists, don't quit your day jobs. That goes for you, too, Ms. McMann.
unclesmrgol at 7:05 PM August 27, 2011

[Wheezy]

39. I know, right?

I kind of want to tell him this *is* my day job. But it's best to leave these types of folks alone. :D

[hfojvt]

28. 399 pages isn't exactly a children's book

art was one of my least favorite classes in grade school. I still remember I had to stay after school once to finish my "art" project which was gluing threads to a piece of paper over the outline of a skeleton. Bleah. That artistic masterpiece has now rotted in a landfill somewhere.

[cali]

29. huh? the length of the book doesn't mean it's not a children's book.

[hfojvt]

32. depends on your definition of "child"

Here are two that I would consider children's books

The Berenstain Bears and the In Crowd by Stan and Jan Berenstain 32 pp

Richard Scarry's "Be careful, Mr. Frumble" 24 pp

Heck, even "The Chocolate War" is only 288 pages and that would more properly be considered "young adult" rather than "children".

[Divernan]

52. Only thing better than a good book is a really long good book.

Query: How many pages are in each of the Harry Potter books?
Around 600 in the last 2 books, but only a couple hundred in the first 2 or 3.
The number of pages varies greatly between the various editions and the seven books.
In the standard UK editions:

* Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - 223
* Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 251
* Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 317
* Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 636
* Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 766
* Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince - 607
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 607


Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_pages_are_in_each_of_the_Harry_Potter_books#ixzz1WMtNlt00

It is so sad that your negative childhood experiences with art have blocked you from savoring great art. I never liked my grade school art classes myself - it was the only subject at which I didn't get A's. But oh, the magnificent art I have viewed at museums around the world, not to mention in my collection of fine art books, and the art history classes I take now that I'm retired.

The reviews describe this as a book for the middle grades - which I think means 6th grade and up. Kids that age will not be reading the Berenstein Bears books, which are for a younger crowd, aren't they?

[Wheezy]

58. It's a chapter book for ages 9 and up, similar

in reading level to the Harry Potter books, or books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web - that sort of thing.

[Lorien]

65. Two words: Harry Potter

and as far as art classes go: mine shaped my whole life. I've worked as a professional animator, illustrator and art instructor for 30 years. My first professional gigs were at age 16, and I never would have gotten that far at that age without great art classes in school!

[Wheezy]

81. I love this!! My son is 17 and he has made 6 illustrations for me to use

in my presentations. We made one of them into a postcard and are including it with the book at my signings on tour. He doesn't have the greatest art classes now, but we found some classes at our local arts center and he's learned SO much.

[LWolf]

67. My students read longer books than that.

I'll be reading it soon, and will no doubt add it to the classroom library. All it will take is a 2 minute book talk to get students lining up for a chance.

It really doesn't matter what your individual likes and dislikes are; every generation has children who feel like they don't fit, and like the things that matter to them don't matter to tptb. They don't have to be artists for the story to speak to them.

[Wheezy]

82. I think you're right. What kid hasn't felt unwanted at one point or another?

I will be pointing out that all people are creative in various ways. Even the "villain" is creative - he's just not recognized as such by this particular society because he hasn't been caught.

[LWolf]

112. The book has been on hold at the library

since you told me about it; they've ordered several copies which are "in process" right now.

I'm looking forward to reading it. You've picked up a current theme which is dragging us all down. When we (teachers) are "corrected" by our admins for allowing time for creativity in class, we feel pretty unwanted, too.

These days everything we do has to be "data-driven," and I don't mean driven by data that proves the merits of art, music, and general creativity. The only data that drives us are standardized test scores, and we have to keep large 4-inch binders full of how we assess, analyze data, teach, assess, analyze data, ad nauseum for each of those standards.

This year our principal will be doing 12...yes, TWELVE observations of every teacher, and every observation will be about how we're using the data from that damned binder.

[Wheezy]

122. That is really heartbreaking.

It's funny (not in a haha way) -- when my publisher sends me on tour, I visit schools for FREE, and it's like pulling teeth to find a school who either isn't testing on the day I'll be in town, or who is able to finagle an hour of the day to devote to having an author come in and talk to the kids about reading and writing.

When I was a kid, I would have died of happiness to have had an author come into school.

[LWolf]

131. We get an author to come most years.

Our wonderful county librarians set the whole thing up. They contact the author, make all the arrangements, and schedule the visit with any school willing.

Last spring we got Will Hobbs!

To be honest, it's probably not the most constructive set up; talking to 90 kids in a gym isn't as effective as visiting in classrooms with smaller groups would be. It's not in the county's budget to make authors available to individual classrooms. Still, I'm always up for the visits.

The best author visit I ever had was way back in the late 80s; she was related to one of our kindergarten teachers, and was coerced into spending two long days. She two assemblies during the school day, and another for parents the evening of the first day, along with a book sale. The 2nd day we set her up in the library, and had interested students attend a writer's workshop with her, half-day so she could do two and keep the numbers lower.

By the time she left, half of our students owned a signed book, all of them could say they'd met her, and there was a buzz about writing that continued for a couple of months after she was gone.

These days, we have to justify every thing we do with every minute of student contact to make sure it is somehow benefiting those test scores. The number of assessments, all year long, we have to keep up with DO clog up the schedule.

[anneboleyn]

129. I read lots of books in the Young Adult genre of that length or even longer. Hell, many of them are

fairly "long" (the prose isn't Victorian either) -- the Harry Potter books, the Twilight series...and of course many of the great classics of the genre are 300 pages or so.

[Lisa0825]

30. I see you are coming to Houston Oct 29! Would you have time

to meet up with some Houston area DUers?

BTW, I don't have kids, but I read about your book Wake here on DU and ordered it, and I loved it! :yourock:

[Wheezy]

40. I would love to!

I think that visit is one of those quick in-and-out overnighters for a book festival, but I don't have my schedule yet. If I have time I definitely would love to do that.

Thanks for the support!

[MikeE]

31. Congratulations!

[Odin2005]

33. Cool!

:D

[Book Lover]

34. Kick and rec and many many congratulations!

[sabrina 1]

35. Excellent and it sounds like a wonderful book, not to mention

that the review itself draws needed attention to a very important subject.

It IS a big deal! Congratulations!

:kick:

[grahamhgreen]

36. To the top of the front! Congrats!

[WinkyDink]

41. Living the dream! Congratulations!!

[Wheezy]

42. A thousand thank yous!

I feel very Unwanted in the best possible way. (That's a good thing!)

[DavidDvorkin]

43. Congratulations! That's a coup.

[blm]

44. Wonderful....my 6th grade daughter is fortunate to be in an Arts school.

Many of the kids she goes to school with would suffer greatly without this opportunity.

[B Calm]

45. You make us all proud!!!!

[ZombieHorde]

46. So awesome; so fun. Congratulations! nt

[Lucinda]

47. How wonderful!

Congratulations!

[Quantess]

48. Congratulations!

I hope you sell a lot.

[Blue_Tires]

49. congrats!

[JohnnyRingo]

50. Good for you!

That's got to be a great feeling of accomplishment.

[SteveM]

51. Kudos to you! nt

[gateley]

53. EXCELLENT! K&R! nt

[Omaha Steve]

54. Well done

K&R!

[yellerpup]

55. Super!

What great news! Congratulations. :applause:

[TacticalPeek]

57. Oorah.

:toast:

[Taverner]

59. Awesome!

[pacalo]

60. Congratulations, Wheezy!!!

:toast:

[RainDog]

61. congrats to you!! n/t

[Wheezy]

62. The excitement of being reviewed by the LA Times is

nearly being overshadowed by the excitement of being near the TOP of the Greatest page on DU! I don't think I've ever been here before. Two firsts in one day? I can hardly contain my excitement. I think I should probably have a beer or something.

Cheers to all!

[Lorien]

63. Congrats!!

[AsahinaKimi]

64. Omedetou gozaimasu!

Congrats on the review! Nice!

[LWolf]

66. I can't wait to read it.

fyi, your recent recommendations were great. I finished the 2nd one today. :hi:

[Wheezy]

70. Wonderful! I have so many more -- let me know if you get in a rut and need more titles. :)

[Irishonly]

68. Congratulations

:yourock:

[Kaleko]

69. Wonderful news to share with us.

Congrats!

[amborin]

71. Kudos to you!

[Doremus]

72. Wonderful news!

My very best wishes!

[RainDog]

73. btw- your other books are wonderful, too!

and I recommend me them to students.

[Wheezy]

83. Thank you so much!

That means a lot.

[reACTIONary]

74. Congrats! So when is some right-wing authoritarian going to try to ban it from public schools? (nt)

[Wheezy]

85. If it's like my other books...

Probably sooner rather than later.

I mean, there's magic and stuff. ;)

[klook]

75. So great.

I want to read your book and get it in the hands of every librarian, school administrator, parent, and -- oh, yeah, student. :)

:yourock: :fistbump: :headbang:

This reminds me, I need to join my local Friends of the Library group.

Congratulations!!

[hunter]

76. Love it...

... and the comments are making me laugh because some people just don't get that it's ALL art.

A hundred thousand years ago there were people making beautiful stone hammers, there were people using ordinary rocks, and there were people trying to crack bones and nuts open with their teeth.

The anti-artists were the ones using their teeth and they are still among us. It was the artists who could make a beautiful hammer and the artists who could gracefully swing an ordinary rock who got us where we are now, not the ones who cracked their own teeth and had to have someone else chew their food.

[Wheezy]

88. YES times a thousand. Those comments frustrate me to no end.

Everyone is creative, people!

I've had others make judgments on me personally because of how "the author views creativity."

This is fiction, folks. Not my diatribe. :D

[alfredo]

77. I posted the review on Facebook.

[Wheezy]

86. Thank you!!

I appreciate that. You rock.

[alfredo]

96. I have a few friends in the community art movement here

in Kentucky. I hope they see it.

[Wheezy]

123. You're the best. :)

[alfredo]

127. Thanks. I try to connect people.

[PatSeg]

78. How exciting for you

The book sounds fascinating!

[russspeakeasy]

79. Congrats...............

:toast:

[Sportsguy]

80. Congrats!

I want that book too!!

[Wheezy]

87. I wish DU had a "like" button for posts!

[woolldog]

84. Wheezy, just curious

how you found your publisher? Was it through an agent? I'm an aspiring writer and a little naive on the process of getting a book published.

Congrats, btw.

[Wheezy]

91. Thanks! Yes,

I went the traditional route and queried a agent, whom I've been with for five years - he's sold 8 books for me and I consider him a manager, career counselor, and friend for life.

But it wasn't that easy. I had another manuscript I tried to get published first. You just have to keep writing. After about 100 rejections, I moved on with the next book (which hit the NYT bestseller list. If I had kept trying with book #1, I might not have had this luck).

You do need to have a finished manuscript to get an agent (and a publisher), unless it's non-fiction, in which case you need a good 30-page proposal with tons of research about the topic, audience, and competition.

Good site to find agents: agentquery.com

Good place to find other serious writers and all the info on how this crazy business works: absolutewrite.com

[classof56]

94. Well, congrats on such a great book review, and thanks for the links

Coincidentally, I just perused an email from writersmarket.com and a couple days ago received the latest issue of Writer mag. Then there's Writers Digest...all great sources for those like me attempting to break into the field. Lots of others, too, but good to get recommendations from those like you who've succeeded in the game. I am active in a local writers group, as well as member of a critique group, and currently working on what will be my first novel. (She says with confidence!) So, it's wonderful to hear about your accomplishments and shortly I'll go on your website to learn more. Question: Have you gone the Kindle/Nook route? Several of the published authors in our group tell me they're making more from e-books than they are the ones in print. Hope that's not the wave of the future to too great a degree, 'cause I love going to author readings/book signings and of course long for the day I'm doing my own.

Again, congrats and so glad you are a fellow DUer! You've inspired me!

[Wheezy]

124. Best wishes with your novel writing!

My books are all available on Kindle/Nook through my publisher. I have a few other manuscripts that didn't sell, and I may fix them up one day and put them out there on my own. The hard part about doing your own is that you get no in-store support, no advertising/marketing/publicity -- you've got to do it all, and it's a real balance between pissing off your facebook friends because all you do is sell sell sell, and getting the marketing balance right -- being a person who also has a book for sale.

It can be a real hit and miss. But I totally understand why people go that route, and I can see myself doing it in the future if I ever get the chance to work on some of those older manuscripts. I just don't have the time to devote to it now.

I do think it's crucial to have an amazing cover and to hire a professional editor, though. So there are costs involved in putting out a quality product.

Glad to inspire! I was a slush pile author - from getting the agent to getting the first book deal, I had absolutely no connections to the publishing industry, and I did okay. It can be done. :)

[woolldog]

98. I appreciate the reply and info.

Thanks.

[malaise]

89. Congrats

I'm going to order your book

[Wheezy]

92. Aw dang it. Thank you.

Cheers indeed.

[virgo20110808]

90. yeah~~~

ah,it's very......

[polly7]

93. Congratulations! That's fantastic. :) n/t

[immoderate]

95. Big time!

Congrats!

--imm

[DeSwiss]

97. Yea!!!! - K&R n/t

[nolabear]

99. Congratulations! A great way to handle a disturbing situation.

[proReality]

100. Congratulations!!!

That is fantastic. I hope it becomes a best seller.

[dorksied]

101. The premise reminds me of another book, "The Giver"

[Wheezy]

102. The Giver is definitely an influence

As is the magical world of Narnia. Kind of a combination of styles - dystopian fantasy.

[DFW]

103. I bow in humble awe!!

I hope to follow in your footsteps some day!

Congratulations!

[Whisp]

104. very nice, hearty congratulations. :)

[madrchsod]

105. congrats!!!!

wow.... you wrote about me when i was in school! i`m glad i did`t have to face the great lake of burning oil!

[The Doctor.]

106. Well done!

I hope more projects are on the way!

[Desertrose]

107. Sounds really good!! K&R

As a creative type, I am so sorry they have cut out the arts in schools. It is nothing short of a crime against our children. We need creativity in ALL its forms more than ever these days.
:thumbsup:

:hug: How awesome your son has done the illustrations!!!!

[cate94]

108. Congratulations!

[deutsey]

109. Congratulations!

:thumbsup:

[rosesaylavee]

110. I have put this on my list

as I and just about most of my family are in art related careers.

Yay for you!

[nuxvomica]

111. Awesome

Congratulations on a great review. :thumbsup:

[Zephie]

113. Sounds fantastic!

I'm going to order a copy on Thursday. :)

[DirkGently]

114. Excellent. Congratulations!

[go west young man]

115. Great job in defending the arts.

Joseph Campbell would be proud of ya! Creativity is for sure on the back burner in the U.S.
Our children and our future are going to suffer because of it. The tree of life is being peee'd
on in the USA sadly while the MIC beast grows larger and larger. These are rough times and your
book is a breath of fresh air in a stale stagnant environment. Congrats.

[Wheezy]

125. many thanks!!

[av8rdave]

116. Congrats on the review! And thanks for the great message

[fascisthunter]

117. Congrats!!!!

[BlueMTexpat]

118. Wonderful and congratulations!

I actually read that review before seeing your message here and thought to myself, "What a wonderful woman!"

It is perhaps unsurprising to discover that you are also a DUer!!

And yes, I am going to buy your book. :yourock: :applause: :loveya:

[Wheezy]

126. OMG, thank you! That's a lovely compliment.

[GreenPartyVoter]

119. Wonderful!

[democrank]

120. YAY!!!

Good for you

[valerief]

121. Bravo! nt

[anneboleyn]

128. This is a fabulous review! Congrats on your new novel! I have always wanted to write YA fiction...

Congrats on your new book, and congrats on an excellent review in the LA Times! The book sounds fascinating, and I particularly like the way you worked a very important, current issue (the elimination of art and music classes) into a clever fictional universe so that your readers will have a sense of just how much is being lost when these things are eliminated. I will look for your title.

Thanks so much for posting this review.

[rug]

130. I read the description to my 11 and 9 year old daughters. They want it!

Then they started arguing over who gets to read it first.