Feature Fun Friday - 90 Second Where The Mountain Meets the Moon

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now) Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters.





This is simply and completely awesome. Done by a family where the dad is a professional illustrator (if you haven't heard me spouting my love for Bookie Woogie, one of my favorite blogs on the internet, you really should clicky the link), this it their entry for the 90 second Newbery. It is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and it is done with shadow puppets. Be still my heart. And it is so cute, and funny, and really, pretty spot on to the book. So yes, watch. :) Have a great weekend everyone!



Bookie Woogie: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon from Z-Dad on Vimeo.

CONTEST TIME!

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Rainy Day by Coldplay.






I am making this short and simple. Because you are utterly-and-fantastically-awesome-so-much-that-I-might-hyperventialate-and-pass-out-if-you-were-any-more-awesome, I want to celebrate and have my promised dance party. Don't worry, if you don't feel like moving your booty with me, I will do enough dancing for all of us. This manuscript whooped my butt hard (and I'm still beating it into a pulpy submission). For those not wanting to dance, you may eat cupcakes. They are over there in the corner. And why yes, I did hand paint them all myself to your exact likeness. There are also Faberge eggs as party gifts. Puppies are inside.


But I also promised a contest, and a contest I will give you. How does a personalized copy of any book signed by the one and only Neal Shusterman sound?


This dude has written more books than I can shake a stick at. One of his best known is Unwind, but Everlost just finished its trilogy and is being made into a movie. Of course there is also The Schwa was Here, Bruiser, The Shadow Club,...


And one of them is waiting for YOU.


I will crawl through trenches, dive through hordes of people, all to get you a signed, personalized copy of your very own. With anything you want said in there (within reason). I'll try my darndest, at least. So you if you want him to say "Were-llamas are awesome" or "may the F x A be with you" I will give him my biggest eyes to let it be so.



All you have to do is comment below by Monday October 3rd 2011 11:59 EST. (sadly, not open internationally this time).


I cannot guarantee which books will be there (Unwind is almost sure to be there, as well as the newest Everlost), but if you have a preference, feel free to state it in the comments below and I will try to get it for you.


Thank you for being amazing!

Monday's Muse, 39th edition.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): The Groove is Real by Preston Reed.



The idea of Monday's Muse is to introduce you to unknown, forgotten, or overlooked fiction that has been lost from regular radar. I am WriterGirl. I am in the business of saving lives, one book at a time.

What I do is go to amazon, narrow it down to a YA field and type in a random word, any word that comes to mind. I then take a sampling of some I have never heard of before, or only vaguely heard of (and hopefully you as well). No infringement is intended for any description I take for the books. It's purely for promotional reasons. I will try and cover as many genres as possible that are fitting for the random word. Simple but it really uncovers some incredible gems. I will be doing this every other Monday. If there are any words you want to prompt me with, go ahead and fire away.


Today's random word:
Thank You.



Because right now, all I feel is gratitude in my heart for you.






I Stay Near You: One Story in Three by M. E. Kerr.

An ill-fated romance between a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and a boy from the richest family in a small upstate New York town has dire consequences for three generations. A gold ring, inscribed with I Stay Near You, triggers a complex chain of events as it's passed down from one generation to the next.




In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Opdyke.

Even among WWII memoirs, a genre studded with extraordinary stories, this autobiography looms large, a work of exceptional substance and style. Opdyke, born in 1922 to a Polish Catholic family, was a 17-year-old nursing student when Germany invaded her country in 1939. She spent a year tending to the ragtag remnants of a Polish military unit, hiding out in the forest with them; was captured and raped by Russians; was forced to work in a Russian military hospital; escaped and lived under a false identity in a village near Kiev; and was recaptured by the Russians. But her most remarkable adventures were still to come. Back in her homeland, she, like so many Poles, was made to serve the German army, and she eventually became a waitress in an officers' dining hall. She made good use of her position, risking her life, she helped Jews in the ghetto by passing along vital information, smuggling in food and helping them escape to the forest. When she was made the housekeeper of a German major, she used his villa to hide 12 Jews, and, at enormous personal cost, kept them safe throughout the war. In translating Opdyke's experiences to memoir, Armstrong and Opdyke demonstrate an almost uncanny power to place readers in the young Irene's shoes. Even as the authors handily distill the complexities of the military and political conditions of wartime Poland, they present Irene as simultaneously strong and vulnerable, a likable flesh-and-blood woman rather than a saint. Telling details, eloquent in their understatement, render Irene's shock at German atrocities and the gradually built foundation of her heroic resistance. Metaphors weave in and out, simultaneously providing a narrative structure and offering insight into Irene's experiences. Readers will be rivetedAand no one can fail to be inspired by Opdyke's courage.--Publisher's Weekly.



Time Enough For Drums by Ann Rinaldi.

Sixteen-year-old Jem struggles to maintain the status quo at home in Trenton, New Jersey, when the family men join the war for independence.

There are signs of rebellion in the Emerson household several years before the actual American Revolution hits in 1776! Brought up in a relatively liberal household, Jemima Emerson is quite a challenge for her tutor, John Reid, who is known as a Tory with strong ties to England. How could Jem's parents be friends with a man who opposes American freedom? Jem longs for freedom on every level, in the home and her homeland--and John represents the forces that restrict her.

Jem and her family soon find themselves fighting for freedom in whatever ways they can in the Revolutionary War. Before long, Jem discovers that there is much more to Mr. Reid than she ever imagined. Her feelings about him change when Jem realizes that John shares her love of freedom--and will risk his life to defend it.




Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury.

It’s Agnes Wilkins’s debut season, and she’s already attracted the attention of one of nineteenth-century England’s most eligible and desirable men. Lord Showalter is handsome, wealthy, and has a quirky interest in helping England amass the world’s finest collection of Egyptian artifacts. Agnes thinks it could be a good match, but suspects Showalter may be too good to be true. And indeed, he is hiding something—the fact that he’s a spy working for Napoleon. His orders are smuggled into London in Egyptian artifacts, and when Agnes unwittingly pockets one during a mummy unwrapping party at Showalter’s home, her action jump-starts a chain of events that bring out dangerous characters, dangerous circumstances, and the biggest danger of all—true love.

Jennifer Bradbury’s knack for suspense and adventure make this an amazingly rich, wildly compelling novel about the secrets inside and outside of a mummy’s tomb.



Blackbringer (Dreamdark) by Laini Taylor.

Magpie Windwitch is not like other faeries, most of whom live in tranquil seclusion. When she learns that escaped devils are creeping back into the world, she travels all over with her faithful clan of crows, hunting them down. The hunt will take her to the great forest of Dreamdark, where she must unravel the mystery of the worst enemy her folk have ever known. Can one small, determined faerie defeat the forces that threaten to unmake the world?



The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson.

This compelling first book in a medieval fantasy trilogy features Elisa, a 16-year-old princess, as she grows from an inexperienced girl who is forced to marry a weak king for political reasons into a confident and capable young woman, destined to be a respected leader in her own right. Shortly after her birth, Elisa received a magical Godstone in her navel, a sign bestowed every 100 years on a chosen one. Despite this, she feels inadequate when compared to her older, more beautiful sister so she eats to compensate for it. She's also very clever, particularly in the strategies of war, but all that most people see is her ample size. The only person who respects her is young Lord Hector, her husband's personal guard. Shortly after her wedding, she's kidnapped and forced to endure an arduous journey through the desert that toughens her. One of her kidnappers is a young man who falls for her and she for him. His people hope that she, as the Godstone bearer, can save them from their constant war against a neighboring enemy. This fast-moving and exciting novel is rife with political conspiracies and machinations. Elisa's maturation and physical transformation echo Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Princess Ben (Houghton Harcourt, 2008). Fans of Tamora Pierce's "Beka Cooper" series (Random) will find a kindred spirit in Elisa as she experiences great adversity and heart-wrenching loss.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton, School Library Journal.



I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett.

It starts with whispers.

Then someone picks up a stone.

Finally, the fires begin.

When people turn on witches, the innocents suffer. . . .

Tiffany Aching has spent years studying with senior witches, and now she is on her own. As the witch of the Chalk, she performs the bits of witchcraft that aren’t sparkly, aren’t fun, don’t involve any kind of wand, and that people seldom ever hear about: She does the unglamorous work of caring for the needy.

But someone—or something—is igniting fear, inculcating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Aided by her tiny blue allies, the Wee Free Men, Tiffany must find the source of this unrest and defeat the evil at its root—before it takes her life. Because if Tiffany falls, the whole Chalk falls with her.

Chilling drama combines with laughout-loud humor and searing insight as beloved and bestselling author Terry Pratchett tells the high-stakes story of a young witch who stands in the gap between good and evil.

Feature Fun Friday - Rick Riordan and The Son of Neptune.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow.




OKAY. Okay, guys, I'm ALIVE. And better still, I am back to blogging! :D (that originally came out as "blooging" so apparently I am also as coherent as ever). I am not done with editing, but the worst of the storm is over. I've ridden it through and come out conqueror, on top of a shockingly messy pile of paper and shattered bad-plots stuff. Thank you for sticking with me. I could not ask for better followers anywhere.

And news. I know you'll want to hear this. The promised party-contest is coming--next week. And it's personalized, or, will be. Because you guys rock just that much. Look for it on Tues.


But now for today's Feature Fun Friday. A new video of Rick Riordan introducing the newest Percy Jackson book, set to a most intense score (you know you've hit it big when you have heavenly Greek columns covered in mist as your backdrop and your own personalized music score). And I'm geekishly excited for this one (it comes out Oct 4th. Soooo close). Have a great weekend, everyone! I look forward to seeing you next week. I cannot tell you how much I've missed you.


Feature Fun Friday - The Higher Power of Lucky 90 Second Newbery.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): O My Father by Steven Sharp Nelson.






Nope, didn't forget again at all. Nope, not me. *shakes head quite vigorously, but not in the least convincing* (see, this is a sign editing is going well. The less you see me, the more intense the writing is going).

This is another entry for the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival, and it is a funny little gem. For maximum enjoyment, it is best if you know the controversy surrounding this at the time of it's award announcement about a particular word on the first page (plus the fact it was snubbed on the Today Show in place of an appearance from Snooki and The Jersey Shore). Have a great weekday *ahem* weekend, everyone!




Feature Fun Friday - The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Umlahi by Mediaeval Baebes.




Feature Fun Friday - 90 Second Newbery - Mixed Up Files...

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): All the Pennies by Mindy Gledhill.





See this? This isn't Monday. It's really Friday. I didn't forget in the midst of my editing to put up a Feature Fun Friday for the week. Not at all. (see, it's really better that I'm gone for a little while). But do you remember the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival I featured a little while back that James Kennedy is hosting? It's super cool and I'm loving the entries. Any Newbery or Newbery Honor winner is eligible and you have until October 17, so there's still time! :D

Here is a really cute one for The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. (loved this book but couldn't remember what it was all about so this was nice refresher).