Asakiyume is a wonderful writer. I have read many of her stories for adults and her three main young adult books. The latest is perhaps the most marketable so far. Kids, teachers, librarians — all sorts of people — will be as riveted as I was. (Perhaps she will comment below with a few words on the theme.)
While waiting for an agent, Asakiyume asked Kelsey Michele Soderstrom to paint the main characters, below, and began to plan a website about the book and its exotic settings.
I thought of Asakiyume when I read an article in the Concord Journal the other day about high schoolers who weigh in on galley proofs of young adult books.
The Journal says, “Just two years after the group’s inception, the Concord Carlisle High School Young Adult Galley has been selected as one of 16 Young Adult Library Services Association Teen Top 10 review groups.
“Members of the group will read galleys, or uncorrected proofs of books, before they are sent off to be published, and select 10 they like best. This information will be used to select YALSA’s top 10 galleys this year.
“Jennifer Barnes, ex-teen library services consultant at Concord Carlisle High School, was the head of YALSA’s teen fiction division and used to bring galleys into the high school’s libraries for interested students to read. The galley group formed …
“When Barnes left the school, students still wanted to review galleys but had a harder time procuring them. …
“Using Kindles, group members would download galleys off of NetGalley, available to bloggers, educators and members of the media. The CC Group members would also send letters to publishers requesting galleys.
“Then, still looking for more galleys to review, the group decided to apply to be a YALSA Teen Top 10 Review group. …
“ ‘Sometimes authors will respond [to reviews],’ [recent grad Clare] Bannon said. … ‘It was so cool when an author would respond to something you wrote. It would encourage you to keep reading and keep reviewing stuff.’
“The group will continue to get together and meet up to discuss books throughout the YALSA Teen Top 10 process.” More at WickedLocal.com.
Art for Asakiyume’s latest story: Kelsey Michele Soderstrom
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
This era is a really exciting one for author-reader interaction and for the democratic voice of the reader when it comes to reviews. I have a friend who’s a publicist for Little Brown, and they really do pay attention to what readers are saying on sites like Goodreads. It’s so great that the readers at Concord Carlisle HS are getting involved with this–authors (and other readers) really value their reactions.
And I hope other readers will like Pen Pal as much as you did. I hope to see it out in the world by Christmas time!
Well, keep me posted. When it does get out in the world, I will blog about it again.