!Queen of Teen Shortlist!

MFB is ridiculously proud to bring you some fab PR news from the Queen of Teen award creators:

Queen of Teen is royally delighted to announce the shortlist for the fiction world’s most glamorous award. Thousands of heartfelt nominations have been received from teenagers across the country and voting is now open to find this year’s Queen of Teen.

The ten fabulous authors who have made the shortlist are as follows:

• CathyCassidy
• Maureen Johnson
• Sarah Webb
• Joanna Nadin
• Cathy Hopkins
• Samantha Mackintosh
• Chris Higgins
• Hayley Long
• S.C. Ransom 
• James Dawson <- !! it's a boy !! 

The award will be presented at a glittering award ceremony in July 2012, when the writers of the best nominations will be invited to mingle with their favourite authors, invited journalists and other special guests. The ceremony is to be held at Queen of Teen HQ in leafy Surrey and will be superbly pink and sparkly – a truly majestic celebration of this thriving and important genre!

Teens and tweens can now vote for their favourite author from the shortlist by visiting www.queenofteen.co.uk. 

Queen of Teen has attracted tens of thousands of votes from young readers across the globe and last year resulted in the fabulous author of the Chocolate Box Girls books, Cathy Cassidy, being crowned Queen of Teen. On being crowned Cathy said: “I've had lots of fun since being voted Queen of Teen... it's an amazing award because it's all about YOU, the super-cool reader gals out there. Your votes and views really DO count!”

Not heard about Queen of Teen? 

The Queen of Teen competition was launched to acknowledge the hugely significant part that fiction can play in the teenage years, and to encourage girls to turn off their computers and mobile phones and pick up a book instead. Queen of Teen has a dedicated website www.queenofteen.co.uk with information about the award’s history, details on how readers can vote for their favourite authors and pictures of the last two award ceremonies.

You can also find Queen of Teen on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @QueenofTeenUK #QOT2012

Letters to Cathy by Cathy Cassidy

Synopsis:

Have you ever had a crush?

Fallen out with your best friend?

Cathy Cassidy is here for you.

There are no questions Cathy hasn't been asked and isn't afraid to answer, from growing-up to dating, making friends, following your dreams and much more. Through the happy times, the mad and crazy times and the days when you simply find yourself asking "Why?" - whatever's bugging you, Cathy can help.

I'm a newcomer to Cathy Cassidy and I've got to admit, I'm glad I've discovered her. I recently read Ginger Snaps and loved it - I was surprised by how much this tiny book tackled and the positive message it conveyed.

Then I met Cathy in person at the Puffin media event and I was blown away by her presence. Here is someone who deeply cares about her audience. It wasn't just a gimmick. This is exactly who she is, there is no pretend. You know how you can sense a person's "real-ness"? Listening to Cathy chat about how she came to writing, her writing career and what lead her to become such a success, I felt inspired and wanted to jump up and clap like a lunatic. Fortunately I refrained. Did I mention I got her autograph???

I subsequently came home and devoured Letters to Cathy written by Cathy as an overall book of advice to her readers about subjects as far ranging as bullying, confidence dilemmas, boys, growing up, friendship, family matters and it also deals with sad things like bereavement etc.

I was initially a bit hesitant thinking it was going to be a bit preachy and dull but I found that this book was written for me, afterall. I'm 36 (going on 37) and so much of Cathy's advice to her readers can be applied to me...even at 36.

Advice on how to pretend confidence, how to keep your friends, how to stop being down on yourself, to keep on dreaming, all these things are aimed right at me. My heartfelt opinion is that every girl from the age of 6 should be given a copy of this to read and to keep it on her bedside table. To be honest, there is some ready advice here for boys too but I fear that the very pink cover will detract our macho brethren from picking it up but maybe, just maybe, a book like this (if it doesn't already exist) can be done for the lads?

Written in an easy conversational style, Letters to Cathy is a treasure trove. I forget utterly how painful it is growing up, how scared and emotional I was at certain times in my young life and reliving that with her readers and fans was really poignant. But as I said above, some of the advice still works for me. A book like this is invaluable and I would recommend it to be bought now, immediately, by everyone who reads this blog post. Maybe not everything in here will reflect what you're going through but there are life lessons in here which are given with deep sincerity and love. I admire Cathy for tackling such a variety of subjects and for being so gutsty in answering these letters from her fans, but most importantly I am incredibly proud to see such a large variety of young people write in with their problems - the mere fact that they feel they can do that just goes to show their respect for an author whom they admire. These letters are dealt with sensitively and each letter is given it's due attention. After each section Cathy gives websites and other books by a variety of authors and publishers to read for further information or inspiration.

Cathy is my heroine for 2010 and I'm hoping to do an Author of the Month event with her later this year, depending on her schedule of course. Find Cathy's very cool website here. Letters to Cathy is out now from Puffin UK.

GingerSnaps, Cathy Cassidy

Synopsis:

Gone are the days when Ginger was an outsider, always on the fringes of friendship. She’s swapped puppy fat and pigtails for make-up and hair straighteners and never looked back – until now.

Ginger and Shannon are best mates, but when they befriend lonely Emily, everything changes. Even the saxophone-playing boy in the trilby hat can’t help – he’s part of the problem . . .

Are Ginger and Shannon drifting apart or can they stay best friends forever?

Gingersnaps (as the boy in the trilby calls the main character, Ginger) is a very thoughtful, well written and deceptively deep novel from the Queen of Teens, Cathy Cassidy. I've not read any of Ms. Cassidy's books but I am aware of how popular she is so it was difficult to see past that at first. Oh, for maybe the first paragraph!

The novel is fantastically readable and highly recommended - it follows the story of Ginger, once an ugly duckling, a freak, the girl on the side, the nerd, the one everyone at school made fun of or ignored entirely. Always sitting on the sidelines, looking in, wishing to be part of the bigger cooler group of kids.

Ginger's now a bit older, she's tamed her hair, learned how to use make-up to cover up her freckles and she's learned how to dress. She's not, in any way, a mean person, which I appreciated. Initially, you have the impression that she's pretty together but the cracks appear in her facade as she realizes that her best friend (who chose her by the way) does not approve of her budding friendship with the freaky funny boy wearing the trilby who plays the saxaphone - Sam.

Ginger struggles with her image, her friendship with Shannon and the new member of their small circle of friends, Emily. She is so scared she's going to revert to being the weird one, the one no one talks to, if Shannon starts preferring Emily to her, that she completely freezes up and decides to walk away from her budding friendship with Sam (whom I have a teeny tiny crush on as he is just so cool in his oddness). She then takes a long hard look at what Shannon expects from her as a friend, how sweet Emily is in reality and she realises that she's made some wrong decisions in her life. The moment things start changing for Ginger, you feel like clapping with glee. She's remained a nice person throughout, a bit of a pushover really, one who lets Shannon walk all over her. But then she seems to come into her own personality and she stands up for herself - not just to Shannon but also to the teachers (read the book, you'll understand) who in their well-meaning way, were trying to force her to do something against her will.

The book deals competently with a teenager's struggle to find their own identity in a world where everyone has to toe the line and not stand out. It also deals with how careful you have to be with your friends, old and new, along with being bullied and how to handle yourself in situations like that.

GingerSnaps is a treasure trove of wonderful writing, a good storyline and importantly, there is a lesson to be learned - stand up for yourself, be yourself and don't allow yourself to get bullied, even if it is under the guise of friendship and peerpressure.

I would recommend this to be read by both boys and girls of eleven years up - even if the cover might turn off some boys! - it is a fun read, with some brilliant jokes that had me grinning, an interesting main character in a dilemma which only she can solve.

If all of Cathy Cassidy's books are this fun, I may have to go out and myself the rest! She's definitely turned me into a fan.

This is Cathy's website (which is just insanely cute) and if you look under the Books section, you can read a sneak peak of GingerSnaps.