I know things have been a bit thin on the ground of late…

Between deadlines and family stuff, my plate is pretty full. But come back next week for announcement on the LOLPuppy contest as well as some fabulous giveaways and guest blogs!

I leave you with a few interesting sites around the internet:

1) Jennifer Lyn Barnes has a glorious manifesto about the purpose of YA. For the record, *I* thought that King was saying that it was an oxymoron that any novel was only for young adults. And this is the guy, remember, who made his name with a story about a prom queen gone bad. King does not roll with the belittling of other writers in other genres or other markets. That’s why he so loves Nora Roberts.

Updated to add: Having now read King’s actual article, a review of the new novel The Hunger Games, I still think he meant that the classification of young adult is a sticky one. However, I also think the man is due to read a bit more widely in the genre, if he truly believes that death, violence, and tough choices are rare circumstances in young adult novels. It’s not all prom queens (oh, wait a minute) and unicorns (ditto).

2) Maureen Johnson, who never lacks for strong opinions, gives last week’s brilliant post on the state of sex education in schools a cracklingly good follow up featuring the most succinct and cogent argument I’ve ever seen against the appallingly stupid idea of “abstinence only education.”

“…anything with the word “only” in the title doesn’t really sound all that educational. Anything that actually comes out and says “WE ARE LEAVING INFORMATION OUT” has no place on a curriculum.”

Sing it, sister.

And, because no week is complete without a picture of Rio, I leave you with a depiction of Rio’s favorite place: on top of the AC vent. She’s a little immodest, I must say.

Let’s try it again with some clothes on, huh pup?