Children's Book Week

Did you know that it's Children's Book Week?  I am undoubtedly living under a rock, since this came as news to me.  What is it, you may ask.

Established in 1919, Children's Book Week is the longest-running literacy initiative in the country. Each year, books for young people and the joy of reading are feted for a full week with author and illustrator appearances, storytelling, parties, and other book-related events at schools, libraries, bookstores, museums, and homes from coast to coast!

Cool, right?  And now that I know, I hunted around and found some great events and offers going on this week and I thought I'd share them with you.

1.  Sylvan Dell Publishing is making all of their ebooks available for free on its website this week.  I know my girls are going to LOVE this, since the majority of stories seem to involve animals.

2.  There is a massive giveaway hop going on with over 100 blogs participating.  Check out the linky list here.

3.  There are loads of official and unofficial events going on this week and into next all across the country.  Libraries, schools and book stores are hosting authors, putting on plays, or having massive sales.  Check out the CBW website or Facebook page for details.

4.  The Children's Choice Book Awards were presented Monday night in NYC.  Kids vote for their favorite stories - not industry executives.  For a full list of the winners, check here.  Some of the highlights include:

Teen Book of the Year ~ Clockwork Prince: The Infernal Devices, Book 2 by Cassandra Clare 
Author of the Year ~ Jeff Kinney - Diary of a Wimpy Kid 6: Cabin Fever


5.  In general, you should peruse the  Children's Book Council website.  This place was new to me, but it features new releases in children's books and also has interesting news articles, like the fact that Target is phasing out Kindles in favor of Apple products, or that Scholastic predicts that within the next 3 years 30% of its sales will be for e-books.

6.  Last, if you have children of your own or know someone who does, here are some ideas to help them celebrate the joy of reading this week:
     *  make a bookmark with a pretty charm on it
     *  clean off your shelves and donate out-grown books to those less fortunate
     *  dress up like your favorite storybook characters (bonus points for acting out the book)
     *  have a no-TV afternoon
     *  do some inventive cooking based on stories -- like Green Eggs and Ham

What's on your radar for Children's Book Week?

Debut YA Book Birthdays!

Big CONGRATS to these debut artists, whose YA babies are being born into the world today.

The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes
What does it mean to do wrong, when no one punishes you? A smart and unflinching look at friendship, the nature of entitlement, and growing up in the heartland.

Paige Sheridan has the perfect life. She's pretty, rich, and popular, and her spot on the homecoming court is practically guaranteed. But when a night of partying ends in an it-could-have-been-so-much worse crash, everything changes. Her best friends start ignoring her, her boyfriend grows cold and distant, and her once-adoring younger sister now views her with contempt. The only bright spot is her creative writing class, led by a charismatic new teacher who encourages students to be true to themselves. But who is Paige, if not the homecoming princess everyone expects her to be? In this arresting and witty debut, a girl who was once high-school royalty must face a truth that money and status can't fix, and choose between living the privileged life of a princess, or owning up to her mistakes and giving up everything she once held dear.

Pretty Amy by Lisa Burnstein

Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she's somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when their dates stand them up for prom, and the girls take matters into their own hands--earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx--Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating"rehabilitation techniques" now filling up her summer. Worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing--like she is nothing.

Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it's worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.

Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Libby Kelting had always felt herself born out of time. No wonder the historical romance-reading, Jane Austen-adaptation-watching, all-around history nerd jumped at the chance to intern at Camden Harbor, Maine’s Oldest Living History Museum. But at Camden Harbor Libby’s just plain out of place, no matter how cute she looks in a corset. Her cat-loving coworker wants her dead, the too-smart-for-his-own-good local reporter keeps pushing her buttons, her gorgeous sailor may be more shipwreck than dreamboat — plus Camden Harbor’s haunted. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, Libby learns that boys, like ghosts, aren’t always what they seem.

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis (her YA debut)
It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?


Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock
Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.
Since then, Mac's life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac's hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy's killer: 
A white werewolf. 
Lupine syndrome--also known as the werewolf virus--is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control. 
Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy's murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy's boy-friend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk. 
Kathleen Peacock's thrilling novel is the first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spell-binding urban fantasy series filled with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.


Wuftoom by Mary G. Thompson
Everyone thinks Evan is sick ... Everyone thinks science will find a cure. But Evan knows he is not sick, he is transforming. Evan's metamorphosis has him confined to his bed, constantly terrified, and completely alone. Alone, except for his visits from the Wuftoom, a wormlike creature that tells him he is becoming one of them. 
 
Clinging to his humanity and desperate to help his overworked single mother, Evan makes a bargain with the Vitflies, the sworn enemies of the Wuftoom. But when the bargain becomes blackmail and the Vitflies prepare for war, whom can Evan trust? Is saving his humanity worth destroying an entire species, and the only family he has left?

May 10th ~ Beauty by Lisa Daily (her YA debut)
What's it like to be the most beautiful girl in the world?

Molly desperately wants to be beautiful. And that's what she tells Dharma, the mysterious portrait artist who sketches her face at the town fair just minutes after she's humiliated in front of Hudson, the guy of her dreams. When Molly wakes up the following morning, she's the most beautiful girl in Miracle, Ohio. Babies coo in her arms, her house fills with flowers from dozens of drooling boys, and she's chosen to be a model for the hottest store in town. Best of all, Hudson finally falls for her.

But Molly soon discovers that beauty--and her wish--comes with a price. She's faced with an impossible choice: Will reclaiming her true identity mean letting go of Hudson for good?

One for the Murphys by Linda Mullaly Hunt
A moving debut novel about a foster child learning to open her heart to a family's love

Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong--until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She's not really a Murphy, but the gifts they've given her have opened up a new future.


Good gracious!! That's a lot of debuts this week. I think the publishers are trying to make sure we're all stocked up for summer!

A SPY LIKE ME by Laura Pauling

In celebration of the official release of A Spy Like Me, Laura Pauling is hosting a three-week blog series: A Spies, Murder and Mystery Marathon. Woot! Woot!

Authors galore, guest posts and book giveaways almost every day!

Gemma Halliday, Cindy M. Hogan, Elizabeth Spann Craig,
Nova Ren Suma, Elisa Ludwig, and Anne R. Allen....Just to name a few!

And here's why she's celebrating!

Stripping your date down to his underwear has never been so dangerous.

After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must sneak, deceive and spy to save her family and friends and figure out if Malcolm is one of the bad guys before she completely falls for him.

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Smashwords

Head on over to Laura’s blog for the start of the Spies, Murder and Mystery Marathon. You won’t want to miss this sizzling series as we head into summer. Stock up on some great thrilling reads! If you dare…

The Artemis Rising Blogtour Hop Giveaway

Today, I get to welcome Cheri Lasorta, author of Artemis Rising, as she talks to us about the torture of openings.

Openings that drive you crazy

I hate openings. Okay, not really. But for about six years, I hated the opening of my first novel, Artemis Rising. Why am I hatin'? Simple. I didn't know where to begin. I couldn't figure out what scene would best represent my character and my story; what would set up the catalyst and the main plot; what would draw in a reader and make them unable to set the book down.

I went through years of going back and forth. I tried two prologues; started the day before, the day of, and the night of a major event on board a ship. Nothing seemed to give me the "wow" element I was looking for. Oftentimes, I wasn't getting to the good stuff fast enough.

Thankfully, a mentor of mine read my opening. Buried in chapter three, I had written a paragraph about an incident that had occurred before my characters sail to the islands where most of the story takes place. She circled that paragraph and told me, "That right there. That is your opening." It took me a mere second to realize she was absolutely right.

That scene was the true catalyst for my character. It sets her off on a course she cannot escape from and forces her to make a choice that affects her fate and her relationship with the one she loves.

Writers often find opening scenes difficult. They obsess so much over the first line of the book that they forget to make sure that they are starting at the right place in the story. I know I did that.

Prologues

Some things to keep in mind when writing prologues:

• If you begin with a prologue, you'll generally want to make sure that it is a complete scene. And be aware that most agents, publishers, and readers have an aversion to prologues. Usually this is because they are executed incorrectly and they have become overused. You are also doubling your work. You have to hook your reader not once, but twice.
• It's best if your prologue involves your main characters and it should generally take place before the timeframe of the main story.
• Your prologue must have a specific purpose. Usually, it will relay information that would not naturally be available to the audience within the main part of the story. If you don't have an excellent reason to include a prologue, I recommend omitting it.

Openings that Wow!

Every opening is different. There are no hard, fast rules in structuring a novel, but there are some tried-and-true methods for opening a story that will keep your reader devouring your pages hours later.

• Try to begin with your protagonist.
• Study openings from books similar to yours and in your genre. Then write an opening that uses the strengths of standard openings and put your own unique twist on it.
• Focus on how to best capture your main character's most important traits and create an inciting incident that will showcase them.

And my best advice? Keep reworking your opening until you know you've got it right. That's what I did ... with a little (a lot) of help along the way. =)

Watch Dr. Veronica Esagui's interview of Cheri Lasota on the Author's Forum and hear Cheri read the opening scene from Artemis Rising.

Awesome, right?  I enjoyed this book so much and I'm sure you will too.  You can order the paperback on Amazon.com, Buy.com, Book Depository, and Barnes & Noble.  Of course, the ebook version is available as well.

The Artemis Rising Blog Hop Giveaway

In celebration of the paperback release of Artemis Rising, I'm going to hold a little contest here on my blog.  You can win my LAST butterfly ring -- just like the one Psyche is wearing on the cover of Destined. It's pretty cool.  Plus, I'll throw in an autographed bookmark.  (Sorry - US only.)  All you have to do is fill out the form, telling me which line from Cheri's reading caught your attention the most.
The contest will remain open for one week from today.

To continue on the blog hop, please click here to jump over to  G.P. Ching's blog. And be sure to check out Cheri's blog too for more great blogtour awesomeness.

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

So, this was supposed to go live this morning, but apparently Blogger COMPLETELY IGNORED ME. *pulls out hair*  Anyway, for those you who haven't heard already, here are this week's debut YA book birthdays.  [I tell you, IMHO, the releases just keep getting better and better as the year goes on.]  This week we are celebrating:

Wrecked by Anna Davies

Secrets of the sea have never been sexier than this.

Ever since the death of her parents, Miranda has lived on Whym Island, taking comfort in the local folklore, which claims a mysterious sea witch controls the fate of all on the island and in its surrounding waters. Sometimes it’s just easier to believe things are out of your control.

     But then a terrible boating accident takes the lives of several of her friends, and Miranda is rescued by a mysterious boy who haunts her dreams. Consumed by guilt from the accident, she finds refuge in late-night swims—and meets Christian, a boy who seems eerily familiar, but who is full of mystery: He won’t tell her where he is from, or why they can only meet at the beach. But Miranda falls for him anyway…and discovers that Christian’s secrets, though meant to protect her, may bring her nothing but harm.

     Seductive and compelling, Wrecked brings a contemporary, paranormal twist to a classic enchanting tale.

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

Embrace the Forbidden 
What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences? 
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels. 
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna. 
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelly Corielle

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

In this intensely romantic, modern recounting of the greatest love story ever told, Romeo’s original intended—Juliet’s cousin Rosaline—tells her side of the tale.

What’s in a name, Shakespeare? I’ll tell you: Everything.

     Rosaline knows that she and Rob are destined to be together. Rose has been waiting for years for Rob to kiss her—and when he finally does, it’s perfect. But then Juliet moves back to town. Juliet, who used to be Rose’s best friend. Juliet, who now inexplicably hates her. Juliet, who is gorgeous, vindictive, and a little bit crazy...and who has set her sights on Rob. He doesn’t even stand a chance.

     Rose is devastated over losing Rob to Juliet. This is not how the story was supposed to go. And when rumors start swirling about Juliet’s instability, her neediness, and her threats of suicide, Rose starts to fear not only for Rob’s heart, but also for his life. Because Shakespeare may have gotten the story wrong, but we all still know how it ends….

Wentworth Hall by Abby Grahame

Eighteen-year-old Maggie Darlington has turned into an entirely different person. The once spirited teen is now passive and reserved. A change Lord and Lady Darlington can’t help but be grateful for.

It’s 1912, and the Darlingtons of Wentworth Hall have more than just the extensive grounds to maintain. As one of Britain’s most elite families, they need to keep up appearances that things are as they have always been… even as their carefully constructed façade rapidly comes undone.

Maggie has a secret. And she’s not the only one… the handsome groom Michael, the beautiful new French nanny Therese, the Darlingtons’ teenage houseguests Teddy and Jessica, and even Maggie’s younger sister Lila are all hiding something. Passion, betrayal, heartache, and whispered declarations of love take place under the Darlingtons’ massive roof. And one of these secrets has the power to ruin the Darlingtons forever.

When scandalous satires start appearing in the newspaper with details that closely mirror the lives of the Darlingtons, everyone is looking over their shoulder, worrying their scandal will be next. Because at Wentworth Hall, nothing stays secret for long.

Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova

For Tristan Hart, everything changes with one crashing wave.

He was gone for three days. Sucked out to sea in a tidal wave and spit back ashore at Coney Island with no memory of what happened. Now his dreams are haunted by a terrifying silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth.

His best friend Layla is convinced something is wrong. But how can he explain he can sense emotion like never before? How can he explain he’s heir to a kingdom he never knew existed? That he’s suddenly a pawn in a battle as ancient as the gods.

Something happened to him in those three days. He was claimed by the sea…and now it wants him back.

What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen
In this suspenseful thriller, Sara and her mother are going to secretly escape her abusive father—when her mother mysteriously disappears.Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it.     With each day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both.

What do you think??  I tell you, there's a lot of these novels that need to go on my TBR list ASAP.