THE BUZZ ON DON'T GET IT TWISTED t's always nice when someone besides your mom or husband says nice things about your book. So check out the early reviews. And I didn't even have to pay them. Sweet! I started this series hoping to portray a diverse cast of friends repping the types of friendships I've had and have seen among the young teens in my life. Well, the Demi-Goddess over at YA Books Central thinks my series are "excellent for showing friendship that crosses racial and social boundaries." Mission accomplished! And Teens Read Too gives it four stars. You can't beat that with a bat! Urban-Reviews has DRB Clique fever. They gave both So Not The Drama and Don't Get it Twisted 5 out of 5 stars. Perfection's kind of cool...and scary. Can we say, high expectations for That's What's Up! ::gulp:: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER ook who's hanging out with me giving me the straight scoop on them and their books. E. Lockhart Carrie Jones Jen Barnes Karen Neches Laurie Stolarz Bev Katz Barnholdt Carla Sarrat Jennifer Lynn Barnes Cecil Castellucci Caridad Ferrer Lauren Barnholdt EXTREME AUTHOR CHALLENGE hey came. They wrote. They pleaded for your votes. Teen Read Week competition! Library groups competed to write the best new chapter of SO NOT THE DRAMA! COMPETITION 2... Cockeysville Branch Library you lucky ducks, you! No need for votes, you've got some pizza coming your way. So look, they may have won a pizza party by default, but they worked hard on this chapter. Hey, you try co-authoring with thirteen other people. What I love about this chapter is the use of dialogue and the little trick of writing notes. Who would have thought, in the age of texting, teens still write notes in class. So old school. Sweet! The set-up: In this chapter of So Not The Drama, Lizzie and Mina are on the outs. After a long, tense weekend of barely talking to one another, Mina heads to their Lit class the following Monday determined to make peace. Except, uh-oh, her anger gets the best of her and she and Lizzie end up butting heads again. Lizzie says, "I am sorry because I was fussing." Lizzie's eyes were sad. Mina looked up and rolled her eyes. "It will take more than I'm sorry." It was getting humid in the classroom. Lizzie says, "You know what? You're so stuck up sometimes." Mina snapped in a soft voice, so the teacher couldn't hear, "You are wrong for talking about me behind my back." "Like you never talked about me behind my back? What's your problem?" Lizzie said. "You know we've been through thick and thin and we're best friends. Can you even explain yourself?" The teacher told them to stop talking and with that Mina rolled her eyes at Lizzie. Then five minutes later, she sent her a note saying, "I don't want to fight with you. In fact I don't want to be friends." "Well, I want to be friends. In fact, I'm sorry," Lizzie said. She tried to smile but all she felt like doing was crying. Mina felt like crying too. She knew she didn't mean it when she said she didn't want to be friends with Lizzie anymore. She wrote back and the note read: Look, I'm sorry. I shoulda never said I don't want to be friends cuz I do. It's just that I don't wanna see you hurt and cry. I'd rather get rid of your pain and if I'm the pain, then I'll get rid of myself. "Look, Mina, I would never let you get rid of yourself because you're special to me. But you know it was rude, what you did," Lizzie said. Mina wrote back, I love you. I'm sorry! We'll finish our convo @ lunch. And in a big heart, she wrote, Mina & Lizzie BFF 4eva COMPETITION 1... The winner of the first round was Randallstown Branch Library... Congratulations!