Book Club Kit Giveaway Winner: Why I Need a Blanket Fort That Fits 300 People

The CHAINED book club kit contest is now over!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered. I cried while looking through all the entries, because I wanted to give the book club kit to everyone. (As soon as I win the lottery, books for all!)

Here are some of the comments shared by the teachers and book club coordinators who entered:

"My students...have very tender hearts. They love to read to each other and to be read to as well."

"I'm the leader in name only, since the kids pick the reads and pretty much run the discussions."

"We have never had the money or opportunity to all read the same book at the same time."

"Our small city has just been identified as having the largest poverty rating in the state..."

"Any time I can put a book into the hands of a reader who struggles, I know this book may be the one to 'hook' this reader. When that happens, I know the child has taken the first step to becoming a lifelong reader, and this keeps me coming to school every day."

"With huge budget cuts again this year, the money to purchase new texts is not a possibility."

"The kids that come [to our lunchtime reading group] are great and have wonderful insights into the books we've discussed..."

"Even the most hardened ones want to believe they are capable of compassion."

"...we're often limited by the books we can study because we don't have multiple copies of titles."

"By the middle of this year, these 'reluctant readers' were saying very intelligent things about the books they were reading."

I want to build a giant blanket fort where I can sit and read with all of you.

But the winner of the Chained Book Club Kit Giveaway is...*drumroll*

Mr. Prokop's after school reading club at Nathan Hale Middle School in Crestwood, Illinois!

Here's a reminder of what will be in the package that's heading your way soon:

- Ten hardcover copies of CHAINED

- A CHAINED tote bag

- Bookmarks and signed bookplates for each member of your class or group

- Up to an hour-long Skype visit

And everyone who entered will be getting CHAINED bookmarks and bookplates for all of your students.

Congratulations to Mr Prokop's reading group, and thank you again to all of you teachers and reading group coordinators for all the work you do for the readers in your schools and communities. I know you don't do the work because it's an easy job, or because of the awesome paychecks, but because you love seeing your kids fall in love with a book.

Online Goodness: Giveaways and Excerpt

Hi everyone!

Just a quick post to point you to a couple of cool things about CHAINED online.

This one I discovered accidentally, so it may have been up there for a while. You can read the first chapter of CHAINED on Macmillan's website! Also discovered my tweets show up on my page over there. That could be interesting.

Then, hop on over to this Goodreads giveaway where three copies of the novel are up for grabs.

If you're a teacher or reading group coordinator, do you know about the Book Club Kit contest? That's where I'm giving away ten copies of the book, a Skype visit, and some other goodies to one classroom or reading group. Everyone who enters will get signed bookmarks for all of your readers.

And look, I have a few book events now, enough to update my Events page! I'll be signing in two different cities, so I call it a multi-city tour, right?

Hope to see you if you're in the Houston or Austin areas on those dates, and good luck to you if you're entering one of the giveaways!

Win a CHAINED Book Club Kit!

The release date for CHAINED is just a little over three months away! One thing I'm really looking forward to is talking to kids about the story.

Borrowing a great idea from author Caroline Starr Rose, I'm donating a book club kit to a classroom or reading group.

The kit will include:
- Ten hardcover copies of CHAINED
- A CHAINED tote bag
- Bookmarks and signed bookplates for each member of your class or group
- Up to an hour-long Skype visit

Everyone who enters will receive CHAINED bookmarks for their readers.

So, if you're a teacher, librarian, or reading group coordinator for grades 3-8, fill out the form below to enter the giveaway.

And I realize that since the book releases in May, it might be a difficult time of year for teachers to plan the reading and discussion of a new novel, but I figured I'd go ahead and post it now so it'll be ready for you to use either this school year or next. The Skype visit can be planned for whatever month is best for you and your group.

Contest is open from now until May 1st. Good luck!

The YAmazing Race With MGnificent Prizes!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Race! Hope you all had fun, and I loved reading all the nice comments here and on Facebook. Check The Apocalypsies blog tomorrow for the list of winners, and stop by the individual authors' blogs again for the results of their bonus contests.

Speaking of bonus contests...congratulations to Kathryn Flucht, who won a copy of CHAINED!

I'll leave you with this baby elephant playing with a rock:

You've reached the CHAINED stop on The YAmazing Race with MGnificent prizes, a whirlwind Internet contest featuring over 50 debut authors and prize packs with signed books, gift certificates, swag, and more. Don't worry if you just happened upon this page and are a little confused now. See the Apocalypsies post to start from the beginning and read the complete rules.

But, if you're ready to get going, take a Gatorade break while you read a little about CHAINED:

The touching story of a boy and an elephant who have a friendship stronger than any lock, shackle, or chain.
Ten-year-old Hastin’s sister has fallen ill, and his family must borrow money to pay for her care in the hospital. To work off the debt, Hastin leaves his village in northern India to work in a faraway jungle as an elephant keeper. He thinks it will be an adventure, but he isn’t prepared for the cruel circus owner. The crowds that come to the circus see a lively animal who plays soccer and balances on milk bottles, but Hastin sees Nandita, a sweet elephant and his best friend, who is chained when she’s not performing and punished until she learns her tricks perfectly. With the help of Ne Min, a wise old man who seems to know all about elephants, Hastin protects Nandita as best as he can. Still he wonders–will they both survive long enough to escape?
“…a story that unwraps the heart and asks it to be brave, loyal, and above all, kind.” ~ Kathi Appelt, Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author of The Underneath and Keeper.

Before you go, here's a bonus contest! Leave a comment about the race on my Facebook page to enter to win a signed hardcover of CHAINED. Plus, there are baby elephants over there.

If you're ready for the next stop on this leg of the race, go visit Katherine Longshore and find out more about her debut novel, GILT.

Thanks for playing!

Contest: Win a signed ARC of Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky!

One of the fun things about being in a author groups like The Class of 2k12 and The Apocalypsies is that I get a chance to read some of the other members' books before they're out. And just from the few I've read so far, I can tell you that 2012 is going to be an awesome year for books!

I was excited to receive Veronica Rossi's UNDER THE NEVER SKY in the mail from the Apocalypsies' ARC exchange because I'd already heard about how great it was and it sounded like just the kind of book I love to read. I think it was the same day or the next day I received a copy I'd won a copy in a Twitter contest from HarperCollins; I'd retweeted something to spread the word about their contest, but the retweet entered me in that contest and I was one of the lucky winners. Then I had this:

So that was a fun day. I mailed the Apocalypsies' copy on to the next person on the list, and kept the one from HarperCollins to read. And it's fabulous. And now I'll share it with one of you! Here's the description of the story from the book's Facebook page:

Exiled from her comfortable home in the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland--known as The Death Shop--are slim. In Reverie, she spent time with her friends roaming virtual environments called Realms. But in The Death Shop, even the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild--a savage. He's also her only hope for survival.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry sees Aria as sheltered and fragile--everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he also needs Aria’s help; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, they come together reluctantly, and embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by cannibals and wolves. Their unlikely alliance will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.

Don't you want to read it now? Oh, and I got to meet Veronica at a conference, and besides being a fantastic writer, she's also super nice. And she signed the ARC for the giveaway!

Here's how you can win it: we'll do the pick-a-line contest like I did for my cover reveal. We had a lot of fun with that. Leave a comment and tell me a page number from 1 to 374, and I'll reply back with a line from that page. I'll keep the contest open till next Wednesday, December 14th at 11:59 PM Central time, then I'll pick a random winner. (U.S. addresses only, please.) Be sure to leave your email address with your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck!

That's What (S)he said: Weekly Round-Up

Here's the stuff I found this week that I want to pass along:

You may have seen the post by The Bloggess about the metal chicken since it went viral (or "bacterial," as she suggests), but you must check it out if you missed it. It's not often I'm laughing so hard I'm crying while reading a blog post.

Here's a great contest to pass along to teachers and librarians: in author Caroline Starr Rose's book club kit giveaway, one lucky school or reading group will win a kit containing ten copies of her debut novel MAY B., a discussion guide, lesson ideas, bookmarks, a Skype visit, and more. Everyone who enters will get a set of bookmarks, and the giveaway ends November 1st.

If you're wondering what should be on your author website, see agent Kathleen Ortiz's post, Author Websites: The Basics.

Other cool things I found about social media and websites and such:
If you like the new floating share button I have now on the left side of the page, you can go to these step-by-step instructions from Howbler to get one for your own Blogspot blog. There are several colors to choose from, and it took almost no time to add it.

I have a new email signature I love, with little icons people can click on for the different places I can be found online, and it updates with a link to my most recent blog post. Here, I'll show you:

Nice, isn't it? It's also really easy to set up (otherwise I wouldn't do it). You can make your own with Wisestamp, and customize different signatures for work and personal emails if you'd like, too. I found Wisestamp from this article on the Biztips Blog.

Wonder what you tweeted way back in 2007? Galleycat had an article this week about the TweetScan backup, which lets you archive your old Tweets.

Some good posts about writing:

Chuck Wendig's Terribleminds blog is educational and hilarious, so it's one worth bookmarking. They have a "25 Things" series for writers, which includes articles like "25 Things You Should Know About Character (AKA Anatomy of a Character)."

Yesterday's post from Veronica Roth was about why you should stop listening to advice. But listen to her, 'cause she's awesome and smart.

Fun stuff:
Whatever you're doing, it's not so important that you can't stop to watch penguins jumping on and off an iceberg.

See more funny videos and TBT at Todays Big Thing.

And did everyone love The Voice as much as I did? All the finalists were so good, I'd have been happy with whoever won. Actually I felt like that the whole season-- I hated to see anyone go home. Here's one of my favorite performances, the coaches singing "Under Pressure." For one scary moment I thought it was going to be "Ice, Ice, Baby."



Have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend!