Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Teen Menu

Sorry to have missed sharing a Teen Menu post last month, but I had an unexpected death in the family and was unable to pull together a post. But I'm back this month with a review and some interesting YA news.

YA News

This is a bit of older news, but I've been out of the loop and just saw it a few days ago. Jamie Campbell-Bower, who plays Volturi member Caius in the Twilight movies and had the lead role of Arthur in the one-season series Camelot, has been cast as Jace in the upcoming The Mortal Instruments movie. The funny thing about this is I found out literally minutes after I saw a picture of Jamie and his fiance, Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter movies), together and thought they'd make a great Clary and Jace. The role of Clary has already gone to Lily Collins, however. See author Cassandra Clare's blog post on the casting choice for more information and her take on Jamie.

Lise Haines' Girl in the Arena, about a modern-day teenage gladiator, has been optioned for TV by actress Charlize Theron and Denver and Delilah Productions.

A vast array of media rights to Sherrilyn Kenyon's works were recently acquired by Amber Entertainment. First to go into film production is her Chronicles of Nick YA series.

Sad that the Harry Potter books and movies are now over? Never fear! Author J.K. Rowling is launching a new site called Pottermore in October which will be full of Harry Potter-related content and will be the exclusive place to buy digital copies of the Harry Potter books. Beware if you see any offers to sell you access to the site. Scammers are taking advantage of Harry Potter fans by trying to sell bogus access when the site will be free to all when it fully launches. To stay up on Pottermore news and see a video message from Rowling, visit the Pottermore site.

Entertainment Weekly recently did a feature story on the guys in The Hunger Games movie -- Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Liam Hemsworth as Gale. Check out the pictures here.

And check out the wickedly cool motion poster for the movie here. Yes, I'm counting down to this movie.

Even more Hunger Games news! Lionsgate has already announced the release date for the movie adaptation of the second movie in the trilogy, Catching Fire. It will hit theaters Nov. 22, 2013. As a reminder The Hunger Games releases March 23, 2012 -- months and counting.

YA Review

The City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare is the fourth in her popular The Mortal Instruments series. The first three books in the series had the arc of a trilogy, leading up to the confrontation with the big baddie in the third, City of Glass. But just because that particular battle is over, don't think things are going to go swimmingly for Clary and Jace, the main focus of the series, and their friends, Alec, Isabelle, Simon, Maia and Magnus. There are still battles to be fought, foes to face, and complicated feelings to work through.

In this fourth installment, we get to see more about Simon, Clary's best friend who has gone from geeky boy in a crappy garage band to geeky vampire in a crappy garage band. Simon is dealing with what it means to be a vampire and how he can't ignore it anymore, hoping it'll magically go away. Oh, and there are some mysterious people who evidently want to kill him for some reason. Maybe it's because he's the only Daylighter, a vampire who can go out in the daytime.

And someone is killing Shadowhunters, the angel-human hybrids who protect the world from demons and keep peace among Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, warlocks and fairies). Just when you think you know who and why, another twist in the story proves you wrong. As layer upon layer of the story is revealed, I found myself turning the pages faster and faster to find out what was going to happen next and where Clare was going to end this particular installment. As I expected, it was at a point that left me wanting the next one immediately.


7 comments:

  1. Whoo hooo, Trish! I was already over here finishing my blog today and caught a glimpse of your post.

    I saw that Entertainment Weekly article (ET is one of my secret vices!) and love the casting for "The Hunger Games." It was so interesting to see who was cast because I just finished reading the first book in the series.

    Thanks for all the news on Pottermore!

    Uh, do I win a Golden Dish for being first commenter LOL?

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  2. Sorry Jo, if there is an award for posting first, I've never seen one and I have been "first" several times! A great idea though, especially since we live on the west coast and get a jump on all those in the east.

    Trish, sorry to hear about a death in the family; please accept my condolences.

    Your blog post and review today is terrific; love the updates. Please keep them coming. Cannot wait for "The Hunger Games"
    film(s)

    SECOND!

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  3. LOL on the Golden Dish, Jo. :) I love Entertainment Weekly. It and RT are the only magazines I subscribe to.

    Did you like The Hunger Games? I love that series.

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  4. fsbuchler, thanks for the condolences. And glad you enjoyed the post. It's fun keeping up with what's coming in the entertainment world.

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  5. Trish, you were missed last month and you remain in my prayers. :)

    My kids and I are SO excited for Pottermore!! we all saw HP7.2 twice at the theater and are dying for it to come out to DVD. Such a terrific ending!

    Looking forward to the Hunger Games movies, too. :)

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  6. Andrea, thank you.

    And I really enjoyed HP7.2 as well. I've very curious to see what all will be on the Pottermore site.

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  7. Until last year I was working as a children's librarian. It was gratifying to see all the good fiction that was/is coming out for the YA market. Yes it is heavy on the paranormal/urban fantasy, but the writing, plots, and characters are good no matter what genre you like. Best of all, it has gotten teens reading at an age when they usually read less and less.
    Thanks for all the info.

    Sorry you had such an unfortunate event in your life. I hope the good memories will help you get through it.

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