Book Giveaway: Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin (adult fiction)

Nearly a year ago, Joshua Henkin's Matrimony was the first book I purchased for Winter Break reading. This is a ritual for me. I make lists throughout the semester of the books I most want to read when I'm not re-reading Tolstoy, Nabokov, or Nachalo: When in Russia.

Matrimony is a New York Times Notable Book and has just come out in paperback. Joshua Henkin will send one Big A little a reader a signed copy of Matrimony. Your task is the following: Send me a two-to-three sentence explanation about why you in particular want to read a great adult novel based on the central theme of marriage. Funny is good. I'll post the winning entry a week from today.

Josh is Book Group friendly and Matrimony is a fantastic book to read with a group. Need proof? Check out his essay over at Books on the Brain. He's also been visiting the litblogs these past two weeks and I've particularly enjoyed his posts at The Elegant Variation. 24 posts in all! Don't miss "What Gets Taught in a Creative Writing Class?," "My Favorite Writing Exercise," and "Present-Tense Fiction Redux." Good stuff for writers.

Want to know more about Matrimony before entering the contest? Joshua Henkin talks all about the book here:



Joshua Henkin's home on the web.
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Publication Day for Gail Gauthier!

It's publication day for Gail Gauthier's fantastic A Girl, a Boy, and Three Robbers. In honor of this big event, we just have to have a giveaway.

Giveaway:

Putnam and Gail Gauthier are running A Girl, a Boy, and Three Robbers contest. The first person to e-mail Gail Gauthier with their mailing address, saying that they saw this message on Big A little a, will receive a free, autographed copy of A Girl, A Boy, and Three Robbers!

If you know a child aged four to nine, you won't want to miss this one.

Okay, now on to the interview:

Hi Gail! Thank you for participating in the recent Edge of the Forest interview and for stopping by today--your big publication day! On occasion of the publication of A Boy, a Girl, and Three Robbers I want to ask you a few questions about writing for newly emergent readers--from a writer’s point of view and from an educator’s point of view. Here goes...

Kelly: Writing for younger readers is very difficult. Did you have to work with word lists or reading levels when composing A Boy, a Girl, and Three Robbers?

Gail: No. I worked with two editors at Putnam, submitting first to my long-time editor who moved on to another company before the first book was accepted and then my present editor, with whom I’ve worked on both Hannah and Brandon books. Neither one of them suggested word lists. I, myself, tried to keep in mind that I was expecting inexperienced readers to read these books. I remember using the word “sofa” instead of “couch” in the first book because I thought it would be easier to sound out. I was worried about the word Chihuahua and was going to avoid using it in the first book. But Susan, my editor, who used to teach elementary school, felt it was fine to provide an occasional challenge for child readers. I think she’s respectful of what kids can do. The biggest concern we had was the length of the stories I wrote for the first book. We were more concerned about attention span than reading levels.

Kelly: How do you get yourself in the right frame of mind to write for the five- to nine-year-old audience?

Gail: I’m embarrassed to say I don’t recall it being much of a problem. My first book, My Life Among the Aliens, was a middle grade book, but the narrator/main character, was, I believe, in kindergarten or first grade in the first story and grew a little older over the course of the book. So I’d written young characters before. When my kids were that age, I did a lot of volunteer work in their schools and with their Sunday school programs. I really do think kids that age are funny. My big concern in writing for them is not being familiar with their culture now that I don’t spend a lot of time with them.

Kelly: Which is more difficult to write--and why--a 200-page novel for teens or a 100-page novel like A Boy, a Girl, and Three Robbers (and its predecessor A Boy, a Girl, and a Monster Cat)?

Gail: I found the one true YA novel I wrote more difficult. I was trying to do something much more complex and multi-leveled than I was in the Hannah and Brandon Stories. I also wrote that book in the third person, which was different for me and took some effort. The Hannah and Brandon Stories deal specifically with children. The adults are minor characters, so it is relatively easy to keep the stories child centered. In the YA book, I had some very strong adult characters, and it was hard to keep them from overwhelming the story and making the teenage main character seem bland in comparison.

Kelly: What I really love (among many things) about The Hannah and Brandon series is the role imagination plays in Hannah and Brandon’s play. Now, Brandon is a big fan of the television, while Hannah finds inspiration from books. Do you think television can inspire children in the same way written stories can?

Gail: I hate to be negative about television because I think in many ways it can enhance peoples’ lives. But if you’re asking if it can inspire imagination or creativity in children (or maybe anyone) the same way written stories can, I’m going to have to say no. I think television programs--programs that are the visual equivalent of a story, anyway--can provide models that will help a viewer learn story structure, just as reading can. You can get a feel for dialogue from TV just as you can from reading. But I think it’s true that watching TV is a little more passive. When you’re reading a book, no matter how good the description is, you still have to visualize the characters and settings yourself. You have to imagine and create that yourself. I think the fact that so much of what’s on television is the same probably discourages imagination/creativity, too. You get a lot of variations of the same setup, the same kinds of kid shows, the same kinds of sitcoms, the same kinds of cop shows. I think kids viewing so much that’s similar are going to accept that as normal--just as adults do, for that matter. They aren’t going to realize that a story should be a unique experience.

A few years ago, the local challenge and enrichment teacher asked me to come in and spend some time with a child she said was incredibly creative and gifted and such a good writer. I think the girl was only in second grade. She was very vocal and sophisticated, but the story she showed me, while very nice for such a small child, was clearly something she’d seen on TV. Either she actually told me so or I recognized it. We sat there and talked about her television viewing. I don’t think the little girl realized that the story wasn’t something she’d made up herself. (Evidently the teacher didn’t, either.) I don’t think there’s anything wrong with young children modeling their work on a TV show and learning how to structure a story in that way. You could call it a kind of training. But I think we adults should recognize that what they’re doing isn’t necessarily creative or gifted.

I think the publishing world’s big interest in series, many of which are similar to other series, and serials duplicates in print the same kind of repetition we see on television. So that may come to discourage imagination, too.

Kelly: You have two heroes in The Hannah and Brandon stories—Hannah and Brandon, of course! As a writer, did you choose a boy and a girl as your heroes on purpose? (I only ask this question because I think the need to appeal to both sexes with one book at this age group is most crucial.)

Gail: I always planned a girl main character, first, because my original idea for the first book (which has nothing to do with the book as it was published) was inspired by my niece’s birthday party, and, second, because I’d only written one book with a girl main character. In early versions, the girl main character has a much older brother. Brandon first appeared as a secondary character. He didn’t become a co-hero until he became the narrator.

Kelly: Actually, I lied about two heroes. There are actually three main heroes of the Hannah and Brandon stories if you count the cat, who plays a big role in both stories. The cat, although he goes about living his life with no regard to Hannah and Brandon, is always central to their stories. I found this kid-cat dynamic to ring very, very true. Are you a cat person?

Gail: Well, I like them, and we did have a beloved cat for many years. After he went on to his reward, we didn’t get another because we learned that both our children are allergic to them. (As is my husband, who is the big cat fan at our house.) Because we couldn’t have cats, at one point my boys had a hamster and a Siberian spiny mouse. They were the inspiration for a chapter in my third book, Club Earth.

Kelly: What’s next for the Hannah and Brandon stories? What can we do as readers, writers, and educators to get these books to the young readers who will love them?

Gail: I don’t know at this point if there will be any more Hannah and Brandon Stories, though many people have been asking this week, which I definitely appreciate. As far as getting these books (or any particular book) to young readers is concerned, I’m sure your readers are well aware of all the problems that exist in publicizing children’s books these days--limited review space, reviews appearing in professional journals that the general public will never see, and more books being published than bookstores and libraries can handle. The only suggestion I can make is that readers, writers, and educators read and talk about children’s books. That seems so obvious to readers of kidlit blogs, but I wonder how often it happens outside our circle. I think it’s important that children see adults reading children’s books so that children will know adults value them. In his Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease talked about the importance of boys seeing their fathers read because boys model their behavior on men. All kids model their behavior on grown-ups. Kids of either sex need to see adults reading books like A Girl, a Boy, and Three Robbers or hear them talking about them.

I also think we could be doing more to create a reading culture. In spite of all the books published each year, I don’t think we are a serious reading culture at this point. I don’t know if we ever were, because, remember, universal education is a relatively recent thing, as is leisure time to read, as is electric lighting so that people can comfortably read after dark. It’s not as if we can truthfully say, “Oh, in the nineteenth century everyone read, and now they don’t,” because I’m not at all sure that’s the case. Again, I think readers, writers, and educators finding ways to talk about books, and specifically children’s books, would be a step toward creating a reading culture. In May I was in a junior/senior high school in Vermont that purchased multiple copies of some YA books (and not just books you’d expect to see read in class) for its media center to encourage groups of kids to read so they could then talk about their reading. The librarian would hang out at a table in the cafeteria sometimes to booktalk. That school media center also ran one of those community reading programs, but it was for parents and kids together. I hadn’t seen any of that kind of thing being done before.

Those people who have read Jasper Fforde’s Tuesday Next books in which an alternate England is very book-oriented, may remember the kids who collected trading cards designed around characters in books instead of sports figures. Authors and publishers are already producing book marks and post cards. We’re probably mass producing them. I heard a few years ago that I shouldn’t bother sending any of those kinds of things to booksellers because they’re overwhelmed with free promotional material. Well, why not encourage those as collectors’ items? Teachers could collect bookmarks and ask their students to look for them in bookstores and book fairs. They could encourage kids to collect them. Sure, it’s a small thing, but it would be a first step toward getting name recognition for authors and books, and a step toward creating a reading culture. Nobody thinks encouraging the collecting of sports cards is too small a thing to do.

Okay, now for the speed round:

Tell us a little bit about Gail Gauthier. Where do you live? How do you spend your days?

I live in central Connecticut now and spent many years as a suburban/small town mom doing school and community volunteer work. In fact, I just quit my last volunteer job last year. I’ve lived a very traditional late twentieth, early twenty-first century adult life. As a child, though, I grew up on small farms in Vermont. My father’s parents were French Canadian immigrants, and his extended family was quite French. He and many of his siblings couldn’t speak English when they started school, and some of them never finished grade school. I attended one-room schools from third through seventh grade. So I’ve had a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde existence that’s reflected in my writing--I have my suburban mom books and my Vermont books.

I am an exercise hobbyist, so I start the day working out then usually waste some time on the Internet before getting started working. I’m not very good at staying on task or juggling balls, so lots of times if I’m writing, I’m only writing. If I’m working on a new school presentation, I’m only doing that. If I’m doing some studying, that’s all I can manage. Needless to say, I’m not very organized about what I call life maintenance, either--getting the clean laundry folded, painting that bathroom that’s had color swatches on the wall for a couple of years. I like to think I’d last a month at a traditional job, but with work habits like mine, I can’t be sure.

Beer, wine, or a soft drink? Soft drink.

Who is your favorite writer? I wouldn’t say I have a favorite, but I have liked a lot of M.T. Anderson’s work. I like David Sedaris’s essays, but if I had a chance to read more of Sarah Vowell’s, I might like her even more.

Beach, city, or forest? Forest

What draws you to children’s literature in particular? What I mean is, why children’s fiction and not, say, mystery, chick lit, or “literary fiction”?

Children are my material. Before I started writing for children, I wrote a lot of what I thought of at the time as women’s fiction. It was angst-ridden meaning of life stuff. I have an adult mystery novel and an unfinished sci fi book from that period in my office. Both the main characters are angst-ridden women. I “found my material” as a result of being a mother. Much of my published work, particularly the early stuff, deals very much with my children’s lives or my life as their mother. I wouldn’t have a career without my kids, and many of my books are dedicated to them.

Coffee, tea, or a triple skinny latte? Hot chocolate

Movie, Theater, or a Concert? Movie

If you had an entire week and unlimited resources to do whatever you’d like, what would you do and why?

I would like to go on a weeklong fitness/reading retreat. A taekwondo class would be offered on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9 A.M. and yoga and stretching classes at any other time of the day I felt like taking one. The week would be sprinkled with book discussion group meetings and maybe some author presentations in the evening after dinner. Some of those presentations would be outdoors around bonfires. The site would be in the mountains, but, miraculously, there would be a village filled with good restaurants reachable on hiking trails. The surrounding meadows would be dotted with Adirondack chairs for people who wanted to read outside. There would be a library with a fireplace. Hey, and maybe there be fireworks every night!

Thanks, Gail, for joining me here today. Don't miss the rest of the Gail Gauthier tour here:

June 29 Books Together
June 30 Sam Riddleburger
July 1 Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
July 2 Jen Robinson's Book Page
July 4 The Miss Rumphius Effect
July 5 A Fuse #8 Production

And don't miss Gail's own discussions about chapter books this week at Original Content!

Book Review and Giveaway: Alec Flint Super Sleuth: The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure

First--the book giveaway: Scholastic is running an Alec Flint, Super Sleuth contest. The first three people to e-mail jill@jillsantopolo.com with their mailing address, saying that they read this message on Big A little a and correctly cracking the coded message below will receive a free, autographed copy of The Nina, The Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure. (Hint: The key to Alec and Gina's code is over on www.jillsantopolo.com)

Here's the coded message that needs to be cracked: RM ULFIGVVM SFMWIVW MRMVGB GDL, XLOFNYFH HZROVW GSV LXVZM YOFV.

Get to it, super sleuths!

Now for the review:

Children love a good mystery and Jill Santopolo's Alec Flint Super Sleuth: The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure delivers.

Alec Flint is in the fourth grade and on a mission: He's in training to become a super sleuth. His training program is mostly self-designed, but Alec does have one great advantage--his dad's a police officer. One morning, when Mom is away on a business trip, Alec tags along with Dad on a case. At the local history museum, the Christopher Columbus exhibit has gone missing.

Like most fourth graders, Alec Flint is tired of Christopher Columbus and the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. But this is a mystery too good to miss. Now all he needs are some clues and a partner.

A partner shows up where Alec least expects one--in the form of the smartest girl in his math class, Gina Rossi. She has a mystery of her own troubling her: What happened to their art teacher, Ms. Blume? Ms. Blume is mising, right before her wedding, and no one can find her to unlock the art cabinet at the school. Gina's just the partner Alec needs. Not only is she smart, but she brings her own mystery to the team (and a secret code to boot).

Alec Flint Super Sleuth: The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure is the first in a series of mysteries written for children just reading chapter books on their own. Although Alec is in the fourth grade, this mystery is perfect for children as young as six if they are reading fluently. Alec is a character children will relate to--he's an earnest kid who is just looking to improve his sleuthing skills. Alec Flint has a great future with the elementary school market: Start practicing your code today!

Blog Tour: Eric Luper

Welcome to Stop #5 on Eric Luper's Blog Tour!

Eric's debut novel--Big Slick--was just released and let me tell you that it is one fun read. Once your stress levels go down, that is.

Andrew gets caught up in the rough-and-tumble world of Texas Hold'em and, unfortunately, doesn't know when to walk away from the table. Before you know it, he's in big trouble. Big Slick had me biting my nails to the end, hoping Andrew would wake up and manage to avoid complete and total ruin.

On to the interview...

KH: Eric, you have to know my first question: The card game Texas Hold'em is central to the plot of Big Slick. Do you play cards?

EL: I do play cards. I'll have to say Texas Hold'em is my favorite. I'm a numbers sort of guy (on the days when I'm not a words kind of guy) and I love to crunch the pot odds in my head. But I've also been known to play Magic: the Gathering, Free Cell, Spider Solitaire, War, Crazy Eights, Uno, Go Fish, Pokemon and 52 Pick Up. I also like just shuffling cards. There's something inherently satisfying about shuffling.

KH: Beer, wine, or a soft drink?

EL: It all depends on the time of day, the day of the week, and my mood. Volume-wise, I probably drink soft drinks the most, but I probably enjoy wine the most. I'm sort of a beer geek though and I like to try the exotic stuff. I also went through a beer-making stint but for me the most enjoyable part was designing the labels for the bottles.

KH: Do you watch card tournaments on television? In real life?

EL: I love watching poker tournaments on television because you can see what cards the players are holding. The drama level is high because you know who is bluffing and how it pans out. They also edit out all the boring stuff. Unless I'm actually playing, I can't stand watching tournaments in real life. I have no idea how they can muster a crowd to watch people playing cards. It's like asking people to enjoy an art exhibit where all the paintings are covered with sheets.

KH: Beach, city, or forest?

EL: I'm going to have to go off the board on this one, Kelly, and say "lake." We have a weekend place in Lake George and that's where we spend most of our summer weekends. If pressed to stay on the board, I'll say city. I love wandering aimlessly in New York City. There's nothing like it.

KH: Why did you decide to write Young Adult fiction and not, say, mystery, chick lit, or "literary fiction"?

EL: I started out writing a literary chick-lit mystery, but I got hung up on the proper way to haughtily describe a character being bludgeoned to death with a Hermes purse. Actually, when I was in the creative writing program at Rutgers oh so many parsecs ago (that's a little joke for all you Star Wars geeks out there), all my best stories seemed to come from a teen or child protagonist. Why fight it?

Plus, I think YA fiction is intense. It's emotionally charged and very high in action. Fun stuff.

KH: Coffee, tea, or a triple skinny latte?

EL: Wow, what's with all the beverage questions? [KH: Ummm...it's because I love coffee. And mineral water. Apologies.] Actually I used to drink a lot of frappuccinos but when I found out how many grams of carbohydrates are in them (go look on the Starbucks website) I switched to plain old coffee. Now, I drink way too much of that for any one human being.

KH: Big Slick is your first novel. How long did it take you to write? And I mean from the very beginning--from the spark in your eye to the lovely product I just received?

EL: Here's the timeline (these are rough estimates, but close enough for government work):

• January 2004: I saw my first poker tournament on television and wrote a poker scene as a short-story writing exercise.



• April 2004: I brought my short story to my weekly critique group. They clamored for chapter 2. I called them a bunch of crazyheads.



• June 2004: I started to think that maybe they weren't crazyheads after all.



• September 2004: I finished my first draft and began editing.



• February 2005: I met Wes Adams (my editor at FSG) at the NYC SCBWI conference and slid him my manuscript under the bathroom stall door. (Okay, I'm kidding about that last part)



• April 2005: Wes sent me an editorial letter with some suggestions



• August 2005: FSG offered me a contract.



• September 2005: It finally sunk in that FSG offered me a contract



• September 2005 to date: All sorts of bizarre mind-blowing stuff happened (along with all sorts of temper tantrums, fist-shaking and growling) and there you have it--a book!

KH: Movie, Theater, or a Concert?

EL: Without a doubt: movie. Although I do like watching dramas on the stage, I can't stand musicals. There's something about how all those folks break into song and dance that tears me right out of the story. Although, I do sometimes wish that people broke into song and dance in real life. That would be cool. As for concerts, they're just too darn expensive.

KH: If you had an entire week and unlimited resources to do whatever you'd like, what would you do and why?

EL: This is a tough question. I'm one of those people who loves to fantasize about winning the lottery. I don't play the lottery, but I think about winning it all the time. If I had unlimited resources and only seven days, my week would include staying in a gothic castle with a huge contemporary YA library (you know, one of those libraries with the ladders on wheels), access to night life in some exotic metropolitan area, a wine tasting in a vineyard, a hot tub, a team of nannies, a convertible Ferrari, and a pet chimp. Let's not forget the pet chimp.

KH: Halloween, New Year's, or Valentine's Day?

EL: Without a doubt, Halloween. New Year's is for amateurs and if you need a special day in which to tell someone you love that you love them then you're doing something wrong.

BOOK QUESTIONS

KH: Oh, I felt so badly for Andrew and how much trouble he got himself into with Texas Hold'em. How did you manage to keep up the suspense in the novel? Did you find doing so difficult?

EL: This is an interesting question. I'm not much of an outliner. When I write, the most I have planned is maybe the next chapter and a vague idea of where the book will end up. I know I'm writing well when whatever I'm producing surprises me--makes me laugh, tear up, get excited, etc. I suppose that lends itself to surprising my readers as well.

KH: Addiction and all its dangers play an important thematic role in Big Slick. Was this a theme you thought important when designing the book, or did it develop organically while you were writing?

EL: I give very little thought to theme as I am writing. For me, writing with theme in mind is a one-way path to a boring, preachy manuscript. I create characters that I love and present them with challenges. Then, I keep throwing interesting, yet prickly, things in their way to prevent them from getting what they want or need. Theme, I think, develops on its own through desire, cause and effect, and good old-fashioned karma.

KH: How much research on cards and the game Texas Hold'em did you have to conduct to make Big Slick believable?

EL: Believable is an interesting concept. I think believability comes from character rather than from setting. I mean Scott Westerfeld's Peeps is believable. David Lubar's True Talents is believable. Yes they are fantastical, but once a reader commits him or herself to the story it's all about suspension of disbelief. And that concept holds whether your characters are fighting vampires, have psychic powers, or are playing poker. When you think about it, all of writing is an illusion. If you really want to nitpick, all of life is an illusion. It all has to do with consciousness and perception, but that's getting very existential and too much into my argument of why I shouldn't have to weed the garden in my backyard.

KH: Okay, so this isn't exactly a book question, but tell me a little bit about your blog: Do you find blogging adds to your writing...or, is it just a big distraction?

EL: I have a blast writing my blog. It's the place I write when I want to just let go. It also lets me decompress. Sure, it's a distraction from my writing. What in life isn't? Sleeping is a distraction. Paying rent is a distraction. Working a job that actually pays is a distraction. So is blogging. But blogging is a distraction that lets me keep my head in my writing. And as I said, I have a total blast working on it.

KH: What can we look forward to next from Eric Luper?

EL: My next novel, believe it or not, is going to be grittier than the first. It is about a young jockey at Saratoga racetrack who is pressured to tamper with a horse and help fix a race. There are a lot of seedy characters and tough choices in that book too. Look for it in July 2009, just in time for opening day at Saratoga!

And to keep up to date on what's going on in the world of Eric Luper, check out my website at http://www.ericluper.com/ or my blog at http://eluper.livejournal.com/.

KH: Thanks, Eric! It was a pleasure to talk with you.
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You can catch the rest of Eric Luper's blog tour here:

Alice Pope's CWIM blog
SaturnCast
The Longstockings
Bildungsroman
The sixth interview, conducted by Julie M. Prince, will be up next week in the all-YA edition of The Edge of the Forest
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Book Giveaway! The first two readers who e-mail FSG (childrens.publicity@fsgbooks.com)
and mention they read Eric Luper's interview here at Big A little a will receive free copies of Big Slick. (You have to mention Big A little a. Good luck!)

Pay it Forward Winners!

First of all, apologies to Karen and Becky for forgetting to link to your giveaways. The week ran away before I could even notice it was gone. Next month, I promise, I'll be more attentive.

This month's winners of the Pay it Forward giveaway are:

Cassie Was Here: Jim D.
The Deep: Mrs. Coulter

Send me your addresses, folks, and I'll get those books winging your way.

Pay It Forward: September

It's September 1. I hope you all have fantastic plans for the last weekend of summer and that you have beautiful weather to enjoy.

September 1 means it's time for the September Pay It Forward Book Exchange. This month, I have two great titles for you--both with something extra.

In the Middle Grade category: An autographed copy of Caroline Hickey's Cassie Was Here (my review). That's right. If you win a copy of this book, Caroline will sign it for you and send it to you herself!

In the Young Adult category: The Deep, by Helen Dunmore. I have no idea when this book will be released in the States. The first volume in the series, Ingo, is available in stores now. The second, The Tide Knot, will be released in February. The Deep? Probably 2009.

So, if you'd like a copy of Cassie Was Here or The Deep, then leave a comment. The drawing will be held a week from today. Make sure you check back next Saturday to see if you've won. (Heather! You won a copy of If a Tree falls at Lunch Period, but I can't find you.)

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If you've posted your giveaway, let me know and I'll link you up!
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The weekend reviews will be up this afternoon.

What a great idea: August giveaway

Cloudscome (A Wrung Sponge) has brought an idea whose time has come into the kidslitosphere. (Original idea from a blog called overwhelmedwithjoy.)

Here are the details. I must admit upfront that I've changed the original rules to fit with the kidlit book world. (Changes to the rules are in red print.)

1) Once a month I'll pick a book (or two) to give away to one (or two) lucky reader(s) (you don't have to have a blog to enter). It may be a book that I've purchased new or used, or it may be an ARC or a review copy of a book I've recently reviewed. (If you receive an ARC from me, please don't sell it online after you've read it.)

2) Details on how you can enter to win will be listed below.

3) I took out rule #3, because I want people who don't maintain blogs to play. However, please feel free to pay forward the same book after you've read it on your own blog if you do keep one.

4) If you're really motivated and want to host your own "Pay It Forward" giveaway at any time, feel free to grab the button above to use on your own blog. Just let her know so she can publish a post plugging your giveaway and directing readers your way!

Let's get some books zipping about the kidlit book world. Each month I'll pick 1-2 titles, Middle Grade or Young Adult, I think are outstanding. To kick off this month's contest, I'm offering two different books. Be sure to mention in the comments which you'd prefer. They are:

1. The Puzzling World of Winston Breen, by Eric Berlin. (ARC) I really enjoyed this book and just posted my review today.

2. Gennifer Chodlenko's newest book If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. I'll be posting a review of this one over the weekend, but let me just tell you now that this is a book you can't put down.

Both books have a September 2007 publication date.
I'll hold a drawing on Monday, August 13.
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Check out these other giveaways in the kidlitosphere:

In the Pages has a Bright Ideas Calendar by McDonald Publishing. 365 Language Arts Activities for Grades 1-3. Perfect for parents, homeschoolers, teachers, and librarians!

Cloudscome has a copy of Annie Dillard's The Living up for grabs at A Wrung Sponge.

Libby has Looking for Alaska as this month's choice at Lessons from a Tortoise.

Caroline is giving away Special Topics in Calamity Physics at Food for Thought.

A Seed is Sleepy giveaway

Chronicle is sponsoring another book giveaway. This time it's an autographed, first edition of Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long's miraculous A Seed is Sleepy. You'll also receive its predecessor, Cybils award-winning An Egg is Quiet and some actual sunflower seeds.

The catch? I believe you'll have to sign up for Chronicle's newsletter. But, believe me, folks--these books are worth it.

Click here for the details.

Say hey to Margo Rabb!

I'm thrilled to welcome Margo Rabb to the blog today. I loved her Cures for Heartbreak (as did Jen Robinson) and it's great to have the opportunity to ask her some questions.

(Would you like to read Cures for Heartbreak? Then send an e-mail to contest@margorabb.com. One lucky [random] winner will win a copy today if you mention you visited with Margo here. I hope you win!)

Now on to the interview:

Tell us a little bit about Margo Rabb. Where do you live? How do you spend your days?

I live in Brooklyn, New York, not far from Queens, where I grew up. I think there are more writers per capita in Brooklyn than anywhere else in the nation. There's an application for local authors to get their books displayed in the window of the neighborhood Barnes & Noble. As for spending my days: I have a 4-month-old baby girl, so I spend my mornings with her, and then I write for a few hours in the afternoon, when I have a babysitter.

Beer, wine, or a soft drink?

Red wine. I'm a petite person, and a very cheap date--I can't handle more than two glasses.

Who is your favorite writer?

Alice Munro. The only fan letter I've ever written (aside from one to Shaun Cassidy when I was 12) was to Alice Munro. She wrote back, though Shaun never did.

Beach, city, or forest?

All of them--in my dream life I'd own a brownstone in Brooklyn, a country house in the woods, and a place on the beach. At the moment we own none of the above, however. Buy some books, people!

You also write short stories. Which do you prefer--the short story or the novel? Which do you prefer to read?

I love both, and am usually reading a story collection and a novel simultaneously. I enjoy writing both also--I only wish that publishers were as enthusiastic about short stories as they are about novels. (They aren't--mention the words "short story collection" to most literary agents and they turn pale and fidgety.)

Coffee, tea, or a triple skinny latte?

Coffee coffee coffee! (as Lorelai Gilmore says.)

You have said that Cures for Heartbreak took eight years to write (from Backstory). When did you decide it was complete? Was there one moment when you knew it was perfect?

I decided it was done when I found myself taking out words and then putting the same words back in. Then again, I was giving a reading from the book last week and crossing out entire sentences and re-writing them in the margins--so apparently I'd still be re-writing it if I could. As for knowing it's perfect--that never happens!

Movie, Theater, or a Concert?

Theater. One of the things I love most about living in New York City is going to the theater. The last play I saw was the Roundabout Theater's production of The Pajama Game starring Harry Connick, Jr. I'd never liked Harry Connick, Jr. before, but after seeing him in that...let's just say my husband is tired of hearing about Harry.

If you had an entire week and unlimited resources to do whatever you'd like, what would you do and why?

Since I've been dealing with the sleep deprivation of having a young baby, first I would check into a nice hotel and sleep and sleep and sleep. When I finally woke up I'd love to travel to Italy when truffles are in season and eat them with everything.

Halloween, New Year's, or Valentine's Day?

Halloween, definitely. Another advantage of being a mere 5' 1" is that I already have big plans for future Halloweens with my daughter. I'm going to go undercover as another kid so we can go trick-or-treating together and I can get as much candy as possible. Then I'll share it with her and her friends. If they're nice.

BOOK QUESTIONS

1. What is it about sisters? What I especially appreciated about Cures for Heartbreak was your description of Alex and Mia's relationship. Polar opposites, yet still close (although sometimes combative). Did you base this relationship on ones you know in your own life or on observation of strangers?

Seeing as my sister is sitting right next to me as I type this, I should probably say that my fictional portrayal of the relationship is utterly and completely a product of my imagination. (Sister nods at this approvingly...) She isn't a polar opposite at all (though I'm wearing heels and she's wearing hiking shoes and I have on lip gloss while she wears chapstick...) We weren't as close when we were in high school, but we've become very close now.

2. While Mia certainly struggles in Cures for Heartbreak, I felt so sorry for dear old dad. Does he find happiness after such amazing loss? (I did read the "Afterword," so I know it can't have been long-lived, but in a fictional world perhaps?)

I think that both in fiction and in real life, the father found happiness. After my mother died, I was surprised by my father's amazing resilience--he went from the grief and depression after losing our mother to really being happy again.

3. One sentence on the final page of the novel is particularly moving. Mia thinks, while on the roof with her beau--"cancer boy" Sasha--"If grief had a permanence, then didn't also love?" Do you find both grief and love permanent, or do they both fade over time?

I think both are absolutely permanent. I'll never get over the grief I've felt for my parents, and will always love them. I've kept a journal almost daily since I was fifteen, and whenever I read back on old loves the feelings return--they haven’t gone away, they're just buried under new ones.

4.What can we look forward to next from Margo Rabb?

I'm about halfway done with a new novel...and I promise there is no one bearing any resemblance to my sister in it.

To learn more about Margo Rabb, check out her website. You can also drop her a comment or two (or five) at her MySpace page.

Thanks, Margo. It was great fun to interview you! To catch the rest of Margo's whirlwind tour, here's the itinerary:

3/19: Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray
3/20: Lizzie Skurnick at The Old Hag
3/21: Jen Robinson at Jen Robinson's Book Page
3/22: Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production
3/23: You are here
3/26: Liz Burns at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
3/27: Jackie Parker at Interactive Reader
3/28: Little Willow at Bildungsroman
3/29: Leila Roy at Bookshelves of Doom
3/30: Mindy at propernoun.net


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Editorial notes:

1) I was Alex. Heck, I'm still Alex.
2) That darn Shaun Cassidy. He was lousy with his fans. Hooray for Alice Munro!
3) Colleen Mondor wrote an amazing reaction to Cures for a Heartbreak.

Chronicle Books Giveaway

Do you like contests? Do you like books? Then check out the Chronicle Books Giveaway Contest.

The grandprize winner will take home four autographed Chronicle titles. They're great books too--An Egg is Quiet, Ivy & Bean, Tour America, and Mom and Dad Are Palindromes. There are also two first prize winners, who will receive (unautographed) Emily's Balloon, Masterpieces Up Close, Ton, and Tools.