Authors Jennifer Lynn Barnes jenlyn_b and and Robyn Schneider robbiewriter have created a community called memegirls. Jen tagged me for the following meme, but while I was filling it out, I decided it would be more interesting have OTHER people fill it out so I can see how they view me. Please leave your comments below.

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After I posted this, Jen created the Un-Me Meme. You may do this survey if you'd rather!

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POP QUIZ

Question #1: Jenny Han is:

a) an author
b) a blogger
c) hilarious
d) all of the above

Jenny Han's debut novel Shug is as sweet as the title implies. From the first chapter - make that the first page - I knew I had found a book I would treasure and recommend. If you are in middle school, or if you have or work with kids in middle school, put this title on your must-read list. (Read my full-length book review.)

After reading Shug, I visited Jenny's website and discovered her blog. These online resources revealed that Jenny knew her fair share of pop culture. We talked back and forth via our LiveJournal blogs and discovered that we both loved the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the 80s film Teen Witch, and the book series The Baby-Sitters Club, among other things.

I interviewed her last year, and now The Edge of the Forest is allowing me the opportunity to chat with her again. Ladies and gentleman, I present you with the blogging writer of the month: Jenny Han!

In case anyone here has yet to read your awesome novel, Shug, please tell them about the story.

Shug is about a twelve year old girl who isn't quite ready to grow up just yet. She longs for change and at the same time, she fears it, especially when it comes to love. Oh yeah, she's crazy about her ex-best friend Mark, who's gotten a little too cool for school.

What do you hope readers think as they read the final page and digest the book's sweet contents?

I hope that readers feel that it's a truthful ending that's really a beginning. That's what I love about books, the way you know an ending is when things start to really get good. I hope they know that Annemarie is going to be okay, that life is hard sometimes, but that there are also really sweet, unexpected moments that come when you least expect them.

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Read my first interview with Jenny Han.

Shug was released in hardcover in 2006 and will be available in paperback in fall 2007. Look at the adorable cover, then read the first chapter online.

This interview was the Blogging Writer feature in the March 2007 edition of The Edge of the Forest, a children's literature monthly.

Someone asked for a list of recently published or coming soon tween titles. My recommendations:

General Fiction (alphabetical by title)
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Series or Sequences
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Related Booklists: Clean Reads for Early Teens, Comedies for Tweens and Teens, If Then for Middle School, and Middle School Selections