Welcome to Buzz Worthy News where the stories are awesome and not at all well-written. Need your YA industry news? Never fear, Kate Copseleey is here to give it to you straight.

In this week’s Buzz Worthy News: CW announces an adaptation of Little Women, Game of Thrones adds another season, the internet collectively loses its shit over Harry Potter hashtag, J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter celebrate their birthdays, Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers is removed from summer reading list and much, much more!

Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly news post bringing you all the best information about the book and blogging world, particularly for the venn diagram of people who overlap between the two. For new releases and cover reveals of all the best Young Adult fiction, check out our Tuesday post: Hot New Titles.

Entertainment News

CW Adaptation of Little Women

I’m not sure what kind of crack-fueled idea machine they have over at the CW, but it sure puts out some interesting shows.  This time, they’ve got Little Women (arguably one of the best women written classics out there), but it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.

The original novel centers on four sisters, who navigate through the murky territory between childhood and adulthood, experiencing first love and heartbreaking tragedy as they grow up in Civil War-era New England.

Jolly’s script is described as, “A hyper-stylized, gritty adaptation of the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott, in which disparate half-sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy band together in order to survive the dystopic streets of Philadelphia and unravel a conspiracy that stretches far beyond anything they have ever imagined – all while trying not to kill each other in the process.”

Reactions have been everything from excitement to outright incredulity.

@maureenjohnson Can I just watch the scene where Jo gets in a knife fight with Amy after she throws her book in the fire?

— trollprincess@ohai.social on Mastodon (@trollprincess) July 30, 2015

I remain unmoved until I’ve at least seen the pilot.  It could be BRILLIANT or it could be craptacular.  We shall see.

Source

HBO To Make ‘Sexier’ Version of ACG&S

That was All Creatures Great and Small, in case you missed it.  This one is a head-scratcher for me.  Sexier means more sexy stuff right?  Like sex, and sexy talk, and sexy dressing?  These books are a bunch of stories about a RURAL VET in England.  But okay, sell me on the idea:

The US version will reportedly be “sexier and glossier” than the original, which would not be difficult – with their tweed jackets, flat caps and scenes elbow-deep in recalcitrant cows, the on-screen trio of Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy and Peter Davison did not radiate the kind of glamour associated with Sex and the City, another HBO hit.

Hmmm… try harder.

A production insider: “There’s a bit of a fad for British classics after the success of Poldark and Doctor Who. There’s plenty of scope to make the storylines more modern but keep the basic formula the same.

“It’s going to be sexier and glossier and the hope is to get a couple of big names involved to help make it a success.”

I dunno.  The names for these books come from a hymn.  As in, A CHURCH HYMN.  And I don’t know about you, but dusty church hymnal reading backwoods veterinarian doesn’t exactly scream sexy to me.

Source HERE and HERE

Game of Thrones Adds Another Season

Another confusing move in HBO land is the one to extend Game of Thrones into an 8th season.  Someone explain this to me, because I don’t get it.  Didn’t they cut like a book’s worth of characters/storyline to make season 5 instead of stretching it out over 2 seasons?

HBO president Michael Lombardo told reporters Thursday that while the series is currently in production on Season 6, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are currently planning for the series to run until Season 8.

“The question is how much beyond 7 we’re going to do,” Lombardo said at the Television Critics Association summer press event in Beverly Hills. “I think [Benioff and Weiss] are feeling there’s probably 2 more years after [season] 6. As I’ve said before, I’d always love for them to change their minds, but I think that’s their plan right now.”

I get that this is a rich and interesting world.  I also get that the story has started to greatly deviate (but not in a good way) from the original books.  But is there really enough here to go beyond the books so far that you’re essentially adding on another book?

Source

Bookish News

Judy Blume Saves A Husband

A collective groan went up from book hoarders everywhere when they read this story on Jezebel’s website:

Residents of the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn have spotted flyers written by one Bad Husband in particular, who accidentally put an “irreplaceable” copy of Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret in a curbside giveaway box.

The flyer reads:

I accidentally gave this book away on Saturday July 25th in a box on the corner of Green & Franklin. This book is extremely important to my wife. It was a keepsake from her mother and is irreplaceable. On the inside cover is a note that reads “Christmas 1991.” If you happened to pick up this book can you please get in touch with me .

Please call or text [number]

Lucky for this man, either Judy herself reads Jezebel or someone tipped her off and she started asking for help to get ahold of the guy.

https://twitter.com/kalenski/status/626893711234965504

This wonderful lady can’t make up for a copy inscribed by the woman in question’s mother, but it could certainly help smooth things over!

@judyblume I'm the terrible husband!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart…marriage saved!!!

— Leonard Lasek (@reddsauce) July 31, 2015

Let’s hope some good soul in Brooklyn responds, because otherwise that hubby may be in the dog house forever!

Source

Boy Only Has Junk Mail To Read, Postal Worker Responds

When I was a kid, my parents couldn’t afford to buy us a lot of books (there were eight kids), but I certainly wasn’t relegated to reading junk mail!

Mathew Flores is a typical 12-year-old boy. He love LEGOs, and he also loves to read.
“I just usually read the newspapers,” he said.
Mathew can also get lost in what most of us consider junk mail. That’s what he was doing when Ron Lynch saw him last week as he delivered mail for the Sandy Post Office in Utah.
“A young man was standing here reading junk mail,” he said. “Asked me if I had any extra.”
Lynch found out Mathew reads newspapers because he doesn’t have any books.
“I asked him about going to the library, and he said he couldn’t afford the bus pass,” Lynch said.
Mathew’s situation tugged at Lynch’s heartstrings.

At this point, most people would just shrug or maybe bring the kid a used book if they were feeling extra nice.  Lynch is clearly not most people.

So Lynch posted a picture of Mathew on Facebook, asking his friends to send the boy some books.

“I was given many books as a child, and it’s time to help someone else,” Lynch wrote. “Please share and let’s get him tons of reading material! Most kids his age want electronics! It’s great to see his desire, and you should have seen him beam when I said I could help!”

But his plea went viral.

“It’s gone from there,” he said. “I’ve heard from the UK, from Australia, from India.”
People have already gone to Mathew’s home.

“They said these are books for you, and I thought they were mistaken,” he said. “But they were for me.”

Mathew plans to read each of the new books and then help out other kids who want to read and don’t have a lot of reading material.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have something in my eye and I’ll be over here, getting it out.

Source

Harry Potter Hashtag Freak-out

Twitter was abuzz on Thursday when they saw the hashtag #NewHarryPotterBooks trending.  Because unless you know otherwise, it sounds like JK is writing new books set in the Wizarding World.  Alas, it was not the case:

Comedy Central’s @Midnight has launched another fun game: the #NewHarryPotterBooks hashtag!

…Except Twitter users all over the world are now freaking out about what they believe to be an announcement about new Harry Potter books. Chris Hardwick, we see what you did there.

No, JK had not written anything new.  And then the fallout began as fans all over the world reacted to the anti-news.

To whoever started the #NewHarryPotterBooks thing, have you learned nothing from this series. pic.twitter.com/cLJPitYO9W

— gator hater 🏳️‍⚧️🇮🇱 (@kungfucohenn) July 30, 2015

https://twitter.com/HPotterLogic/status/626717473652342784

https://twitter.com/LilyBaileyUK/status/626731546968485888

Source

Controversies

Some Girls Are Banished From Summer Reading List

As posted earlier this week on her tumblr page, a high school has banned Courtney Summers’ book, Some Girls Are from their summer reading list.

Principal Lee Runyon pulled the book from the freshmen Honors English I summer reading list after a parent complained about the novel’s dark and explicit content.

“In looking at the situation and circumstances and timing, we felt like we needed to try to accommodate the parent’s concerns, which had some validity, and make a common-sense decision,” Runyon said. “I think we could likely make a better choice.”

The book, which is about change in social behavior after sexual assault (towards the victim), has been highly praised in a variety of places.

“Fans of the film ‘Mean Girls’ will enjoy this tale of redemption and forgiveness,” says School Library Journal.

Melanie MacDonald calls it “smut.”

Her daughter is an incoming ninth-grader at West Ashley. For Honors English 1 this summer, she had the option of reading either “Some Girls Are” or “Rikers High” by Paul Volponi.

A few weeks ago, MacDonald and her daughter both downloaded “Some Girls Are” on their Kindles in hopes of tackling the summer reading assignment together.

MacDonald got to page 74 – and a crude reference to oral sex – before she’d had enough. The next morning, she confiscated her daughter’s e-reader and called the school.

“I’m not a prude for God’s sake and I understand that these are issues kids are facing – the drugs, the alcohol, the bullying – but there has to be a way to present it that’s not destructive to them,” she said. “I get they’re trying to find something the kids are interested in, but this book is trash.”

Hmm… “trash” is a really strong word.  And how is presenting something in a way that teenagers will understand and be impacted by destructive? Isn’t it supposed to be informative?

West Ashley posted a third book to the online Honors English I summer reading list last week, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” along with an apology from the English department for the “inconvenience.” But for MacDonald, that wasn’t enough. She filed a complaint with the district to trigger a committee review of the text and its usefulness in the curriculum.

In other words, not satisfied with being offered yet another option for her daughter’s reading list, she wanted it removed for ALL the other students, as well.

This book was vetted by English teachers and deemed worthy, but one parent gets to decide for ALL the students.  Okay then.

also just really love parents who think that BOOKS are what is driving Young People to Sin with Reckless Abandon

— sarah mccarry (@sarahmccarry) July 29, 2015

***Kelly Jensen from Stacked Books has started a book drive to get as many copies of Some Girls Are in the hands of West Ashley High School students as possible. Find out how you can help here.

Source

The Writing Women Friendly Comics Panel Disaster

After a previous eye-opening article by The Mary Sue on the “Writing Women Friendly Comics” panel planned at Gen Con that was offering ZERO women panelists, it seemed like everything was coming up roses.

@Gen_Con That's such great news, thanks for letting us know!!

— The Mary Sue (@TheMarySue) July 23, 2015

And then along came Bill Willingham.

https://twitter.com/jessiwitt/status/626834207118073857

The Mary Sue relays the key details of what went down:

Jessi Witt wrote,

So, the first words out of Bill Willingham’s mouth were a testy disclaimer about how this was not a “women in comics panel” and yet, because of a website of questionable journalistic integrity (I forget the exact quote, but basically: Throwin mega shade at TMS) it basically was now, so-thank-you-very-much. It was wild, the first thing he says in a panel to set the mood is whingeing about accountability. There was a lot of whingeing. I considered walking out after his words because he made it pretty clear that he had an agenda from the outset that I didn’t necessarily want to hear.

Willingham continually spoke over everyone he engaged with, which is a pretty fitting (but god, frustrating) move for a dude who doesn’t seem to get the concerns of minority writers at all. He certainly was a catalyst for a lot of things, but discussion wasn’t one of them.

Near the end of the panel, Willingham called on a woman to speak. Not one sentence into her statement, he stopped her to talk again. Another woman from the other corner of the room called to him that he needed to stop interrupting women to speak over them, since he had doing this most actively to the women. He got prickly about that and responded with, “Really?” No apologies, no deference, just more talking.

Luckily, it wasn’t all bad:

Many of the attendees who emailed us stressed repeatedly that the other panelists brought valuable information to the discussion, and that Gen Con as a whole has felt like an inclusive and positive experience so far.

And this:

I don’t want people to think that the female panelists were silenced during the panel – we both went out of our way to make sure we were heard. Major props to Jim Zub, Chris Roberson and Gene Ha for being good allies and giving us room to talk.

Let’s all hope that next year is a little more uneventful, shall we?

Source

Interesting Links

GOT Historical Comparison

Summer Reading Infographic Via Goodreads

YA Authors Share Their Fave Book Boyfriends

Man Booker Prize Longlist

JK Rowling’s Birthday:

1) Cool Harry Potter Birthday Cakes

2) 17 Harry Potter Actors Send Birthday Wishes for JK