I just found this through a recent Waking Brain Cells post – the USA Character Approved Blog‘s two newest Writing section posts focus on YA fiction.  Now two of my favorite things – NCIS and YA literature – are indirectly united! 😉

On Monday, the USA blog spotlighted five “Great Voices in Young Adult Fiction.” According to USA, these five recent novels are not only powerful YA stories, but have “crossover appeal” for adults as well.

• Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone
• Joe R. Lansdale’s All the Earth Thrown to the Sky
• Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star
• David Levithan’s Every You, Every Me
• Megan McCafferty’s Bumped

The previous article, posted last Wednesday, high-fives author Lauren Myracle for her C’est-la-vie attitude toward a Wall Street Journal op-ed‘s criticism of her book Shine‘s unsettling themes, as well as to the news that her National Book Award nomination was a mistake.  Here’s hoping the NBA’s honest mistake turns into positive publicity for Shine – it didn’t make the list, but it still got national attention.