I read an article in Wednesday’s New York Times that catalogued one of the newest teen crazes–momentary choking for pleasure. Now, I’ve never done this, but apparently it is pleasurable to deprive your brain of oxygen for a few seconds (oh, say, 30) and then feel all the blood rushing back into your head. This is not a sexual game–that is, it’s not necessarily accompanied by sex or masturbation–but the knowledge of this practice is evidently widespread among teenagers and middle-grade-age kids. A number of teen deaths listed as suicide in recent years are now being revisisted as possible victims of the choking game gone awry. Read More

Okay, so, I’m not sure whether this was meant to be ahem flattering or not–I can’t tell if the blogger is being sarcastic or not–but here’s my first mention in a blog by a children’s librarian. The blog is called A Fuse #8 Production. You can follow this link to the description of my book , which occurs towards the bottom of the page, though you can do a search for J.L. Powers to locate it quickly.