Authors of young adult novels support Obama

"I'm an Obama chick," Judy Blume told an LA audience via video Friday night. The occasion was not a political fundraiser -- it was a celebration of the author's work called Blumesday (yes, a Bloomsday pun) and Blume's appearance was a surprise.

Judy Blume has written entirely adult novels ("Wifey") and children's books ("Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing"), but she may be best known for her young adult books -- "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," "Deenie" -- that deal with difficult adolescent subjects.

This week, Blume was the first author to post on a new website, YA for Obama. The site was founded by author Maureen Johnson, who writes, "We're looking to get people talking, and to figure out ways that we can ALL help Barack Obama become the next President."

Many authors are participating, including John Green ("Looking for Alaska"), Scott Westerfeld (the Uglies series), Meg Cabot ("The Princess Diaries"), Holly Black ("The Spiderwick Chronicles"), Libba Bray ("A Great and Terrible Beauty") and more.

At first it seemed odd that people who write for teenagers were publicly banding together to talk about the presidential election. Their readers can't vote, can they? But the site is about social networking, urging people of all ages to join, discuss, ask questions, share ideas. Just a few days old, it has more than 700 members.

"Tell your parents, tell your grandparents, it's not just about them this time," Blume writes. "It's about you and your future. It's about my grandson's future. That's why I'm speaking out."

As Jacket Copy said before, if you know of a group of authors who have gathered to publicly support John McCain, let us know at jacketcopyla (at) gmail.com.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo credit: Sigrid Estrada