Tuesday, November 3, 2009

What Elana Roth wants

In lieu of anything profound, I'm just going to put the call out today for a list of things I would like. A wish list, shall we say? Here goes.

1.Middle-grade novels. I have been reading a ton of awesome MG novels lately. When You Reach Me is perfect. I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President (which I guess some people are calling YA, but the kid is in 7th grade, so dammit, I'm calling it MG) is cracking me up. So send me something with a strong hook and a great voice, and make it good. Think big.

2.Non-paranormal YA. I've had so many "I see ghosts" books cross my desk, that even if you are reinventing the hook, I can't see it anymore. I don't mind fantasy, or sci-fi elements, but bear in mind, I like my YA reality-based with a splash of those things. Go read CANDOR if you really want to get a sense of my taste. So give me a twisty YA, give me a voice I haven't heard before, a vision of the future I haven't seen yet, a POV that hasn't been touched on (I'm still waiting for the YA version of the movie SAVED! to cross my desk).

Her blog on the Caren Johnson Literary Agency site.

1 comment:

Kim Wheedleton said...

I keep hearing about When You Reach Me, and it is definitely on my "To Buy" list. It's also on my Christmas Wish List, and my Birthday Wish List, and my If-Anybody-Anybody-at-All-in-the-Family-Would-Want-to-Buy-Me-Some-Really-Great-Books-These-Would-Be-Great List. (I'm nothing if not thorough).

I have read First Light, Rebecca Stead's earlier book, which was fantastic. If you haven't read it, I would suggest that one.