Who Will Be the Kid Lit Heroes of 2008?

Last year, 38 authors about to publish their first work of young people’s fiction banded together as the Class of 2K7 to cross-promote their work and provide event planners with a central talent pool for readings, school and library visits, and other literary opportunities. Among the most notable success stories of the year: a NYT bestseller list appearance for Melissa Marr‘s Wicked Lovely, and a National Book Award nomination for Sara Zarr‘s Story of a Girl. Perhaps more important than the individual achievements, though, is the recognition that great things can happen when writers unite to support each other and promote the joy of reading to young audiences (and the gatekeepers for those audiences) rather than simply simply trying to sell their own books.

This year, 28 more middle grade and YA authors hope to duplicate their predecessor’s success as the Class of 2K8. It’s an eclectic bunch: Stories range from the friendship between two young indentured servants in 19th-century New England (A Difficult Boy, M.P. Barker) to a teenage girl’s quest to find the other child who share’s her sperm donor’s genes (My So-Called Family, Courtney Sheinmel) to a fantasy about a young prince tracking down his milkmaid friend after she goes missing (Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains, Laurel Snyder). “In the next few days we’ll explain how this blog plans to function once books start rolling off the presses,” the Class promised yesterday in its New Year’s greeting, “but for now let us just say IT’S GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!” We’ll keep our eyes peeled.

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