Welcome, everyone, to our first ever Slatebreakers Theme Week! We’re hoping to do this on a semi-regular basis here on the blog, dedicate a week to thoughts and reviews about one specific author

For our first theme week we decided to dedicate ourselves to a quintessential YA writer, and a real advocate for teen girl literature. Every post on the blog this week will be regarding the one and only Meg Cabot!

What’s interesting for us about exploring Meg Cabot’s writing on this blog is that while we know she’s a SERIOUSLY big deal in the field, with a huge following of teens and adults, we actually didn’t have much experience with her before this year. I actually hadn’t read a single Meg Cabot book (I know! Sacrilege!) until earlier in 2011 when other YA enthusiasts convinced me that this was a huge gap in my education. And they were right! I hate to admit this to you, but I had neither read The Princess Diaries nor seen the movie until last week. Downright unpardonable. Luckily, now I’m a little more up to speed, having read seven titles, but I still have a lot more to go.

I think what I love best about Meg Cabot is not her sincerely likable heroines, sharp sense of humor or her spot on descriptions of heartfelt teen crushes (though those things, certainly, are worth appreciating) is her unabashed love and advocacy for her teen girl audiences. I love this article she wrote last year on the Huffington Post about “Why Reading for Pleasure is Serious Business.” In it she talks about how in high school, she sought out strong female protagonists who could offer her a total escape from her own experiences, books where something amazing happened to ordinary girls. And throughout this article, she gives so much credit, and so much value to her readers. And I love that about an author for young people, and especially an author who writes mainly for girls. And so, I developed a love for Meg Cabot, hence the reading of seven of her books over just the past few months.

Accordingly, in honor and appreciation of Meg Cabot’s general awesomeness, all of Slatebreakers this week is dedicated to her work. Over the next few days, expect to see reviews of several books spanning the past decade and (because we couldn’t resist) some color commentary surrounding the 2001 film adaptation of The Princess Diaries starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. So check back over the next few days, because much, much more is coming!