September 9, 2009

Whoooooooooooooo's That Author? September (with give-away!)

This month's featured author is Pseudonymous Bosch who wrote the Secret Series.

If you haven't heard of this series you need to check it out!  Last spring I bought the first one, The Name of This Book is Secret, out at our school book fair.  I had to buy it when I looked at the first chapter.  The entire first chapter is nothing but X's! Like it has been censored.  That alone caught my attention.  I shared it with my students saying that normally I'd read them the first chapter as a way to hook them, but I couldn't read it.  It was impossible to read.  Then I showed them what it looked like. They LOVED it.  They wanted me to read the book aloud to them. Several begged me to hold it for them, so they could check it out when it went public. (going public in my room means it's now available for checking out)

As the title says this is a book with a secret.  A mystery.  Here's the summary from Barnes and Noble:

Warning: this description has not been authorized by Pseudonymous Bosch. As much as he'd love to sing the praises of his book (he is very vain), he wouldn't want you to hear about his brave 11-year old heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest. Or about how a mysterious box of vials, the Symphony of Smells, sends them on the trail of a magician who has vanished under strange (and stinky) circumstances. And he certainly wouldn't want you to know about the hair-raising adventures that follow and the nefarious villains they face. You see, not only is the name of this book secret, the story inside is, too. For it concerns a secret. A Big Secret.

If you've read the Series of Unfortunate Events books you may be thinking they are similar.  I guess they are to some degree, but I couldn't get into those books.  This one had me hooked right away.  There is plenty of action, suspense and fun characters.  Although a few times I wanted to shake Cass and Max and ask them what they thought they were doing.  They tend to put themselves in dangerous situations. 

The best part! There are two more books in the series.  If You're Reading This It's Too Late and This Book is Not Good For You

Be sure to check out the two websites for the series:

WORD OF WARNING: if you don't like books where the author/character talks directly to the reader, you will NOT like this book. It is done quit a bit throughout the story.

  









Give-Away!
If you'd like a chance to win a copy of the first book in this series The Name of This Book is Secret, you need to do 3 things!

  1. Be a resident of US (sorry but for my first one I'm trying to keep it really easy for me!)

  2. Tell me if you like to read mysteries and why/why not (your entry won't count without this!)

  3. Leave an email address to so I can find you if you win.
Extra Entries
+1 Link from sidebar (leave a link please)
+1 Tweet it (please @justkeepreading so I see it)

That's it!  I'm keeping this simple for my first attempt at a give away.  The contest will end midnight Central time on Sept. 30th.  I will post the winner within 3 days. 

19 comments:

  1. I do like to read mysteries. I read a lot of Agatha Christie when I was in high school and now I read mostly YA mystery and Janet Evanovich, lol. Oh, and some childrens too esp. the Gilda Joyce series and the Blue Balliet books. I like them for the suprise at the end!

    annieiskawaii at gmail dot com

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  2. Tweeted: http://twitter.com/lilbookworm/status/3867529456

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  3. I love mysteries. I love being totally surprised at the end!

    Kelsey
    kelseythebookscout@gmail.com

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  4. Please enter me. Thanks for the chance. I like to read mysteries because I love trying to piece the clues together like a puzzle.

    lizzi0915 at aol dot com

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  5. I love mysteries because they keep me wondering and I love to find out the real ending...whodoneit!

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  6. I love mysteries, they keep me on my toes...I love guessing what's next!

    yabookqueen@yahoo.com

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  7. i would love to enter, but i won't give my email out in the comments,
    btw, there are more than those 2 websites!

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  8. I love mysteries because I love to try and solve them by the middle of the book! My email is sandrabannerman@gmail.com

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  9. anonymous! I'll still count you entered if you email me your address! (check on the right sidebar for my email)

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  10. I love reading mysteries because of how everything in the end ends up fitting together to make it happen. I also enjoy trying to figure out who did it if that's part of it.

    +1 Link from sidebar scroll down on left side.
    http://twoandahalfbooklovers.blogspot.com/
    rae_sunshine4(at)yahoo.com

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  11. I do like mysteries. I loved the Harry Potter books growing up. I really liked a couple Agatha Christie stories and I've only read one Nancy Drew book, but I loved it...so yeah, I do.

    Lauren51990 AT aol DOT com

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  12. tweet

    http://twitter.com/ShootingStarMag/status/4062064297

    lauren51990 AT aol DOT com

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  13. I am a resident.
    This book sounds so fun!
    I do enjoy mysteries if they are well written, which sounds kind of obvious but I don't like mysteries that keep leading you up to an end and then taking it away and leading you up etc.

    +1 linked in sidebar
    http://thelifeofateenlibrarian.blogspot.com/

    thanks

    teensatthelibrary[at]yahoo[dot]com

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  14. Please enter me :)
    I do like mysteries. I like not knowing what is coming next and also trying to figure things out myself before the end.

    WilowRaven[at]yahoo[dot]com

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  15. I love mysteries because they keep me on my toes while I'm reading!

    amanda n.
    fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  16. tweet tweet:
    http://twitter.com/fitz12383/status/4077817366

    amanda n.
    fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  17. Also posted on my blog:

    http://bookshelfmonstrosity.blogspot.com/2009/09/notable-giveaways-on-blogosphere.html

    amanda n.
    fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  18. You know, I'm not usually a mystery person, but the select ones I've read I really enjoyed. I like not knowing where the story is going and waiting to see all the answers fall into place. I've got this book and the second one checked out and I'm excited to read them.

    librariansbook(at)gmail(dot)com

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  19. I love mysteries!!! I love trying to figure them out and the... mysterious quality of them. I especially like mysteries mixed with fantasy or science fiction.

    +1 Tweet it (please @justkeepreading so I see it) - http://twitter.com/ParadoxRevealed/status/4516967554

    paradoxrevealed (at) aim (dot) com

    ReplyDelete