Reading is Fundemental invites you to join the 2009 Read With Kids Challenge and help them collectively log 5 million minutes of reading with kids. Log minutes spent reading with kids between April 1 and June 30 and you could win a trip to Disney World! (Plus, you'll have the absolutely joy of reading with a child you care about, which is a reward in itself..)
The Winston Breen Puzzle Party kicks off today at A Patchwork of Books! So head on over there and solve the puzzle for a chance to win the newly-released book The Potato Chip Puzzles. (But if you don't try too hard, that's a-okay with me since it'll up MY chances of winning... Mua ha ha ha!!!)
Speaking of things you can win, the lovely Sarah at GreenBeanTeenQueen pointed me to a giveaway at Brooke Taylor Books for an ARC of Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd! Tell me this is not a book all us geeky blogger types want to read... So head on over there (or not, y'know, since if you enter it decreases MY chances...)
Steph's collecting first-pub stories for a new feature on her blog: Pub Stories. First up is Cindy Pon, author of the YA Asian fantasy Silver Phoenix. (Trisha's got a review of Silver Phoenix, so check it out.)
ETA (1:06PM): Annnd Steph's holding a giveaway for an ARC of Silver Phoenix, so make sure you head over there and enter!
John Green's participating in Blog Every Day April and answering questions sent in by readers. I found this post about Twilight and YA fiction particularly interesting. A quote:
I believe that we as readers should read both as a sweet devouring (as Eudora Welty famously put it)--but that we should also be able to read critically at the same time. Which is to say that I think one can read, and love Twilight while simultaneously being troubled by the manner in which it romanticizes and objectifies the other.
In honor of National Library Week, The Picnic Basket is serving up a few words from authors about how awesome librarians are. Awww. *blush* We try. ;)
And Shannon Hale writes about taking risks with her writing, specifically trying new genres and writing the stories she wants to write. From the post:
Alas, here I am. Not a smart businesswoman, but a weird little hausfrau still in my pajamas clicking away at a scifi trilogy one word at a time and biting my nails while I await reaction to my new book for adults. I knew I was taking a risk when I decided to write the actor and the housewife, hands-down the biggest risk I've taken as a writer for so many reasons. But I chose to do it anyway.
And that's all I've got for you this morning! The sun's finally peeking its head out today and it looks like it's going to be lovely in Chicagoland today. C'mon spring!!