The readergirlz book selection for April 2008 is Shark Girl, a verse novel by Kelly Bingham about a young woman whose life changes after she loses an arm. Little Willow, Miss Erin, and Lorie Ann Grover gathered around a virtual roundtable to discuss the book.

Little Willow: I'm fond of saying that Shark Girl is 95% verse novel but 100% heart.

Miss Erin: When I finished reading it, I felt that the story wouldn't have been as good if it'd been told using prose. For certain "tough subjects," verse novel seem to make the story feel starker, more real, more close somehow. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Lorie Ann Grover: Verse is the perfect format to carry intense emotion about hard subjects. Shark Girl definitely deals with these. Verse allows readers to jump in and out of the poems. We have a chance to consider and recover and move forward. It's not as daunting as, say, an entire prose chapter on amputation.

( Read more... )

LW: Any closing thoughts?

Lorie Ann: Thanks, Kelly, for writing a book to encourage readers to redefine themselves after life changing events. Thanks for inspiring us!

"Big picture, Jane," he says.
"You could have died.
Instead, you are here. You have time to find out why.
You have your whole life to discover
and rebuild."

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you'll check out previous roundtable discussions, which include three friends giving A Little Friendly Advice by Siobhan Vivian a try and the postergirlz for readergirlz considering Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

Related Posts at Bildungsroman:
Interview: Kelly Bingham
Book Review: Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
Booklist: Verse Novels

I am a readergirl! Are you?
Read the new issue of readergirlz. This month, readergirlz are discussing Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham.

Talk About It

Drop by the readergirlz forum to talk about this and other great reads.

Listen in as Little Willow, Miss Erin, and Lorie Ann Grover discuss Shark Girl.

Chat with author Kelly Bingham on Thursday, April 24th at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST at the readergirlz forum. The chat will last for about an hour.

Recommended Reads

Our April theme is Triumph. Considering this theme and the spotlighted book, the readergirlz divas and the postergirlz advisory council recommend the following books:

Fiction:
Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley
Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss
The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

Non-Fiction:
Nerves Out Loud edited by Susan Musgrave


Operation TBD

YALSA and readergirlz are partners in Operation Teen Book Drop (Operation TBD). To celebrate April 17th, 2008, Support Teen Literature Day, we've organized a massive, coordinated release of 10,000 publisher-donated YA books into the top pediatric hospitals across the country! Learn more about Operation TBD at the readergirlz website and feel free to repost this post.


New Downloads and Shareables

Come and get your readergirlz downloads! Imagery by Dale Leary, Dia Calhoun, Lorie Ann Grover, and Holly Cupala. Show your support for readergirlz with cool avatars/icons, banners, bookmarks, logos, and more. We even set up cut-and-paste code to make it easy for you to post the images at your blog or website. Enjoy!

Recent Reads
Last month's featured book and author: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Next month's featured book and author: Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Visit the readergirlz archive.

Related Posts
Meet the readergirlz divas and the postergirlz advisory council
Read the original readergirlz press release
View all of the readergirlz-tagged posts at Bildungsroman
Check out my interview with author Kelly Bingham and my review of Shark Girl

March: 56 books read

Picture Books
A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann
Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson

Graphic Novels
The Baby-Sitters Club Graphix: The Truth about Stacey by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier
Babymouse: Rock Star by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

For ages 8 and up
The Babysitting Wars by Mimi McCoy
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (coming out in April)<
The Floating Circus by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (coming out in July)

For Ages 12 and up
Girl, Hero by Carrie Jones (coming out in August)
Hershey Herself by Cecilia Galante (coming out in May)

For teens and adults
The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
The Fortunes of Indigo Skye by Deb Caletti
A Little Friendly Advice by Siobhan Vivian
Love (and Other Uses for Duct Tape) by Carrie Jones
The Decoding of Lana Morris by Laura McNeal and Tom McNeal
Crimes of the Sarahs by Kristen Tracy
Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser
Shift by Jennifer Bradbury (coming out in May)
Read My Lips by Teri Brown (coming out in June)
Band Geek Love by Josie Bloss (coming out in July)

For adults
The Myth Hunters: Book One of The Veil by Christopher Golden
The Borderkind: Book Two of The Veil by Christopher Golden
The Lost Ones: Book Three of The Veil by Christopher Golden
Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl (short story)