What I Leave Behind by Allison McGhee Blog Tour: Guest Post +GIVEAWAY

Super excited today to be a part of the blog tour for 

What I Leave Behind by Allison McGhee!

The tour is hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club.

ABOUT THE BOOK
What I Leave Behind by Alison McGhee
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Release Date: May 15, 2018
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary 

Synopsis:

After his dad commits suicide, Will tries to overcome his own misery by secretly helping the people around him in this story made up of one hundred chapters of one hundred words each. Sixteen-year-old Will spends most of his days the same way: Working at the Dollar Only store, trying to replicate his late father’s famous cornbread recipe, and walking the streets of Los Angeles. Will started walking after his father committed suicide, and three years later he hasn’t stopped. But there are some places Will can’t walk by: The blessings store with the chest of 100 Chinese blessings in the back, the bridge on Fourth Street where his father died, and his childhood friend Playa’s house. When Will learns Playa was raped at a party—a party he was at, where he saw Playa, and where he believes he could have stopped the worst from happening if he hadn't left early— it spurs Will to stop being complacent in his own sadness and do some good in the world. He begins to leave small gifts for everyone in his life, from Superman the homeless guy he passes on his way to work, to the Little Butterfly Dude he walks by on the way home, to Playa herself. And it is through those acts of kindness that Will is finally able to push past his own trauma and truly begin to live his life again. Oh, and discover the truth about that cornbread.

Goodreads

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Book Depository

Kobo

IndieBound

iBooks

About the Author
Alison  McGhee writes novels, picture books,  poems, and essays for all ages,  including the forthcoming novel  Never  Coming  Back  (out in October  2017) and the #1 NEW  YORK  TIMES  bestseller  SOMEDAY, illustrated by Peter  H.  Reynolds.  Her work has been translated into more than 20  languages.  She lives in  Minneapolis, California, and Vermont. 

I was able to ask Allison to share her thoughts on a topic for a blog post. Since I'm a middle school media specialist I know kids always want to know what authors were like in middle school. Here's what Allison had to say.

What was I like in middle school? I was full of happiness. I grew up way out in the country, and I loved it. I loved waking up to the sun coming up over the pine woods across the road. I loved making hay forts in the barn and keeping them secret from my sisters and brother. I loved building a treehouse that no one but me was strong and agile enough to climb into. I loved reading and writing and dreaming up worlds in my imagination.

I was full of doubt. Will I ever stop growing (I grew six inches in eighth grade)? Why are my toes so long? Does my hair look good? Should I have gotten different glasses?
I was full of sadness. My best friend in the world moved to Florida, and I missed her terribly.

I was full of questions. Why are there so many cliques? What is my place in the world and how do I figure it out? Is there a world beyond this one, and was there a world before this one, and did I live before?

I was full of anger and heartbreak. I rode the school bus to school, and it was a horror show of cruelty. Kids were so mean to each other, especially the ones who couldn’t fight back and had no resources of sharp tongue or humor to help them get by. The driver encouraged their meanness. In school, kids could be so mean to each other. Bullying was common. I tried to be kind, and I tried to defend, but I could never do enough. The injustice of the world was mirrored in middle school.

I was full of love. I loved my mother and father. I loved my sisters even though I wasn’t entirely sure they loved me back. I loved my little brother. I loved our dogs and cats. I loved my friends, and I loved the woods and the fields, and I loved the big sky and the smells of the earth and the clothes on the line and dinner cooking. I loved the sense that the world was full of possibility, and my life and everything I would do in it was also part of that possibility.

I absolutely love everything about this guest post! Especially the "full of anger and heartbreak". I know that for some kids the two toughest times of the school day are lunch and the bus ride. I hurt for some kids know what they face as they step on that bus. It's the one thing I wish I could stop forever as a teacher!

For more blog stops check out the tour information

http://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2018/05/tour-schedule-what-i-leave-behing-by.html

1  COPY  WHAT  I  LEAVE  BEHIND  

US  ONLY  

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Blog Tour: Hooper by Geoff Herbach - Guest Post +GIVEAWAY

Very excited today to be a part of the blog tour for Hooper hosted by JeanBookNerd (check the link for more info)!

I have so many boys who enjoy Geoff Herbach's books, so I knew it was something I wanted to share! 

And even more excited because I have a guest post as well! 

SYNOPSIS

From Geoff Herbach, the critically acclaimed author of the Stupid Fast series, comes a compelling new YA novel about basketball, prejudice, privilege, and family, perfect for fans of Jordan Sonnenblick, Andrew Smith, and Matt de la Peña.

For Adam Reed, basketball is a passport. Adam’s basketball skills have taken him from an orphanage in Poland to a loving adoptive mother in Minnesota. When he’s tapped to play on a select AAU team along with some of the best players in the state, it just confirms that basketball is his ticket to the good life: to new friendships, to the girl of his dreams, to a better future.

But life is more complicated off the court. When an incident with the police threatens to break apart the bonds Adam’s finally formed after a lifetime of struggle, he must make an impossible choice between his new family and the sport that’s given him everything

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Geoff Herbach is the author of the award-winning Stupid Fast YA series as well as Fat Boy vs the Cheerleaders. His books have been given the 2011 Cybils Award for best YA novel, the Minnesota Book Award, selected for the Junior Library Guild, listed among the year’s best by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association and many state library associations. In the past, he wrote the literary novel, The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg, produced radio comedy shows and toured rock clubs telling weird stories. Geoff teaches creative writing at Minnesota State, Mankato. He lives in a log cabin with a tall wife.

PHOTO CREDIT: KATHERINE WARDE
WEBSITE: https://www.geoffherbach.com/
TWITTER: @geoffherbach
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1234979.Geoff_Herbach
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/geoff.herbach
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/geoffherbach/

I asked: This book seems timely with what is going on in our world - talk about how current events possibly influenced the story.

I was starting to write the book when Donald Trump moved into the spotlight. I was already working with race issues, a rural kid playing basketball with black kids and gaining an understanding of why they felt vulnerable in our world. The message of the book gained a lot of its energy when I started thinking about how the same politics that made these kids feel afraid for their lives and livelihoods was at play in discussions about immigration.

My dad was born Jewish in Antwerp, Belgium in January of 1940. A few months later, my grandparents took my dad and literally ran for their lives. At one point they were questioned by the S.S., and my father watched by Nazis. The vilification of human beings fleeing war and devastation hit me hard. My family (the grandpa on my mother’s side, too), came to this country to flee horror. My family was not vilified. My family was embraced by this country. My grandmother found her life’s work here. My father thrived. Most of those in my family who didn’t leave Europe were murdered.

That national leaders could possibly use victims of incredible horror to gain political advantage makes me sick and so sad. That African American children legitimately fear for their lives and livelihoods based on their interactions with our police and legal system makes me sick and so sad. Sport is something that puts me at ease and it transcends race and class boundaries. I guess all of this came together in the making of Hooper. I certainly was reacting to current events and trying to show how the rotten parts of our political culture impacts sweet, excellent kids.

Super interesting to hear about this!!! Thanks so much for sharing! 

Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter

1 Winner will receive a Signed Copy of HOOPER by Geoff Herbach

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Guest Post: Ralph Hardy Author of Argos +GIVEAWAY!!

Welcome to Day #4 of The Argos Blog Tour!

To celebrate the paperback release of Argos: The Story of Odysseus as Told by His Loyal Dog on March 27th, blogs across the web are featuring exclusive content from Ralph Hardy and 5 chances to win a copy of the book!

My Favorite Middle School Novels
by Ralph Hardy

Growing up in a small town in eastern North Carolina I struggled to find books to read, particularly in the summer when school was out. There were no bookstores in my town, and even if there were, my father was raising five kids on his own after my mother died, so there wasn't any money for books. Moreover, my brother and I spent the weekends in the country with my childless aunt and uncle, and there was no library for miles around.  But there was a general store on the country road that led to my aunt's house, and we stopped there every Friday afternoon and bought comic books, and later, cheap paperbacks, particularly those written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. As a result, Tarzan of the Apes became one of my favorite middle-school books. 

Tarzan of the Apes

First published in 1912, Tarzan of the Apes was one of the first of many cheap paperbacks my brother and I read during those long, hot summers in North Carolina. Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs--who used to be a pencil sharpener salesman!—Tarzan transported my brother and me to a continent far beyond my wildest imagination. Killer apes, savage leopards, and conniving British colonialists—none were a match for Tarzan. We were so enthralled by the novels, and later, the TV show and movies, that my father hung a long rope from the branch of a tall tree on my uncle’s property, and my brother and I swung on it for hours and hours until our hands were calloused and our arms grew strong. Once my father said he’d give us five dollars if we could climb the rope hand-over-hand to the top. Five dollars back then was equivalent to forty dollars today, and he thought he’d made a safe bet. Two weeks later, when he came to pick us up from my uncle’s house I called him over to the tree and climbed hand-over-hand all the way up.  I don’t even remember if he paid me, but I’ll never forget the look on his face.

Old Yeller

Spending as much time as we did in the country, I gravitated toward books with rural settings. We had a dog that just appeared at my aunt’s house one day and stayed, and for a few months, a pet raccoon until he escaped from his pen. They’re pretty clever.  So Old Yeller entranced me like very few books ever did. Written by Fred Gipson, illustrated by Carl Burger and published in 1956, Old Yeller tells the story of young Travis Coates, who has to help take care of his family’s ranch while his father is away on a cattle drive. Named for his dirty yellow coat and his strange way of barking, Old Yeller saves Travis and his family many times from the dangers that life on the frontier brings. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I will say that I tried to elicit the same emotions that Old Yeller brought me in my depiction of the relationship between Telemachos and Argos in my own novel.  Wait. What’s this strange wet stuff on my face?

My Side of the Mountain

I think I read My Side of the Mountain by Jean George at least twenty times. I checked it out of our school library week after week, and I'm sure I deprived a lot of other potential readers the joys of experiencing that great novel. Sorry about that.  The story is quite simple: fifteen-year-old Sam Gribley is tired of living in his cramped New York city apartment with his many siblings and runs away to his great grandfather’s abandoned farm to live in the wilderness there. Along the way he has to live off the land, tames a falcon and weasel, and eventually learns how to build stronger relations with the people he loves.  Back then though, I didn’t care about the moral; for me it was just and adventure story and an escape from my own life at home. My own family had begun to change at the time I was reading the novel. My father had remarried and now I had two stepsiblings with whom I didn’t get along at first.  Even worse, I was no longer spending much time in the country with my beloved aunt and uncle. My Side of the Mountain probably kept me from running away from home until our family figured out how to get along, although I still think it would have been pretty cool to have a pet falcon.

So these were my favorite middle school novels. I often wonder if I were growing up today with all the distractions provided by cable television, smart phones and video games if I would have found these classics. Would a librarian have steered me to them? Would I have found them in an old country store? A garage sale? I can only hope so.

*****

Blog Tour Schedule:

April 2nd — BookhoundsYA
April 3rd — Book Briefs
April 4th — Word Spelunking
April 5th — The OWL
April 6th — Crossroad Reviews

Buy: Amazon | Indiebound

Add on Goodreads

Follow Ralph: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Fans of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series will love this reimagining of Homer’s The Odyssey told from the point of view of Odysseus’s loyal dog, Argos.

Now available in paperback, this rousing story of devotion and determination is an original take on one of the most beloved myths of all time.

For twenty years, the great hero Odysseus struggles to return to home on Ithaka. He defeats monsters. He outsmarts the Cyclops. He battles the gods. He does whatever it takes to reunite with his family.

And what of that family—his devoted wife, Penelope; his young son, Telemachos; his dog, Argos? For those twenty years, they wait, unsure whether they will ever see Odysseus again. But Argos has found a way to track his master.

Any animal who sets foot or wing on Ithaka brings him news of Odysseus’s epic voyage. These tales bring hope that one day his master will return. Meanwhile, Argos the loyal dog watches over his master’s family and protects them from the dangers that surround a throne without its king.

About the Author: Ralph Hardy graduated from the University of North Carolina and received an MFA from Columbia College, Chicago. He now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife and two children. He is also the author of Lefty and The Cheetah Diaries.

GIVEAWAY

One (1) winner will receive a finished copy of Argos
US only

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One of Us Is Lying Blog Tour and Guest Post! +GIVEAWAY

Very excited to be part of the blog tour for One of Us is Lying hosted by Rock Star Tours!

About the Book:

Title: ONE OF US IS LYING

Author: Karen McManus

Pub. Date: May 30, 2017

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 368

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Amazon, B&N. TBD, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, & One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide. 

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.

Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.

Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.

And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High s notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

About Karen:

As a kid I used to write books when I was supposed to be playing outside, and not much has changed. I'm a marketing and communications professional who also writes Young Adult contemporary and fantasy fiction in Cambridge, MA.

When not writing or working I love to travel, and along with my nine-year old son I've ridden horses in Colombia and bicycles through Paris. A member of SCBWI, I hold a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University. Which I have never, ever used professionally.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

Karen was nice enough to write a guest post for The OWL. I asked her to talk about how you write a mystery that keeps everyone guessing.  I'm always impressed and fascinated by someone who can do that well! 

Here's what she had to say!

The art of hiding clues and keeping the ending a surprise (definitely needed with this book!)

When I was a kid I loved the game Clue. There was something satisfying about methodically piecing together bits of evidence until I could say with absolutely certainty that the murder was committed by Mrs. Peacock, in the library, with the candlestick. I wanted One of Us Is Lying to recapture that experience in narrative form—keep readers guessing, but also building on what they learned over time so that the puzzle, once solved, makes sense. 

To keep suspense high, writers have to plant clues in such a way that they nag at a reader’s mind, but don’t beat them over the head. I used a few different techniques that I’ve culled through years as an avid mystery reader (and board game aficionado) while writing One of Us Is Lying:

1. Unreliable narrators. Because One of Us Is Lying is very character-driven, its four main characters—Bronwyn, Cooper, Addy, and Nate—need to carry a lot of the suspense. They’re in the room for their classmate’s shocking death, which at first makes them objects of sympathy. But when investigators learn the death wasn’t an accident, they become suspects. So they needed to have layers of secrets—not only were they keeping things from their parents, their friends, or the police at various points, but sometimes they weren’t even honest with themselves. 
2. Several possible explanations. Throughout the book, investigators and others advance different theories: Did the four students plot Simon’s death together? Did one of them plan it and frame the others? Or could a different character be pulling strings? My intent was to keep all of these plausible for as long as possible.
3. Red herrings. These are useful to scatter throughout a novel to keep readers from guessing whodunit too soon. I don’t want to provide specific examples from One of Us Is Lying (because spoilers) but in general red herrings can take lots of different forms. Suspicious characters who turn out to be innocent, clues that were planted by the villain, events that seem meaningful but aren’t … you get the idea. 
4. Ambiguous behavior. Characters in One of Us Is Lying often say one thing, but mean another. Sometimes they contradict one another or withhold information. And other times, their reactions simply aren’t what you would expect for the situation. All that contributes to a feeling of unpredictability and an uncertainly about who to trust. 

The hope, of course, is that if you sprinkle your diversions and clues properly throughout the story, your readers are guessing until the very end. But even if that doesn’t happen, the experience can still be satisfying if everything ties together in a way that makes sense.

Thank you for sharing all that!  I still don't think I could write a mystery well - one that keeps the reading guessing!

To see more tour stops check out this week's schedule and the tour page at Rockstar Book Tours:

Week Three:

6/12/2017- Eli to the nth- Review

6/13/2017- YA and Wine- Interview

6/14/2017- Smada's Book Smack- Review

6/15/2017- The O.W.L.- Guest Post

6/16/2017- Zach's YA Reviews- Review

3 winners will receive a finished copy of ONE OF US IS LYING, US Only.

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Blog Tour and Guest Post: Oh Susannah: It's In the Bag by Carole P. Roman +GIVEAWAY

Today I'm welcoming Carole P. Roman to the blog.  She has a wonderful guest post for us about handling bad days.  Plus there is a great giveaway!

About the Book:

Written by Carole P. Roman
Illustrated by Mateya Arkova

From award-winning author Carole P. Roman comes a new chapter book featuring Susannah Logan, a young student having a very bad day. It all begins with homework trouble and an invitation to a sleepover that she doesn’t want to go to. Would you want to go to a sleepover in a creepy house? Rather than dealing with her problems, Susannah stuffs them into her backpack. But how much can a backpack take? Will she be able to confront her worries before the backpack bursts? Or will she just continue to hide them away? Join Susannah and her friends in this story sure to charm busy young readers everywhere.

Ages 7-10 | Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | April 3, 2017 | ISBN-13: 978-1543034615

Available Here:

Amazon

Indiebound

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carole P. Roman is the award-winning author of the Captain No Beard series. Both Captain No Beard: An Imaginary Tale of a Pirate’s Life and Captain No Beard and the Aurora Borealis have received the Kirkus Star of Exceptional Merit. The first book in the series was named to Kirkus Reviews Best 2012. Captain No Beard and the Aurora Borealis has been named to Kirkus Reviews Best of 2015. Each book in the series has won numerous awards including the NABE Pinnacle Award, IAN Award, Moonbeam Award 2014, National Indie Excellence Award Finalist, Shelf Media Outstanding Series Award, ForeWord Review Five Star and Finalist in the Book of the Year, and Reader’s Views Children’s Book of the Year 2013. Roman is also the author of the award-winning non-fiction culture series, If You Were Me and Lived in… that explores customs and cultures around the world. She has co-authored a self help book, Navigating Indieworld: A Beginners Guide to Self-Publishing and Marketing. She lives on Long Island with her husband and near her children and grandchildren.

OFFICIAL LINKS

Carole P Roman.com: http://caroleproman.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarolePRomanAwardWinningAuthorAndBooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/caroleproman

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5854108.Carole_P_Roman

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/caroleproman/

Now I welcome Carole to The OWL!

Topic: How do you handle a bad day?

I never really have a bad day, per say. My day is long, much like my main character in Oh Susannah: It’s in the Bag. It begins at the crack of dawn at about five-thirty in the morning. I go straight to a breakfast meeting with the division managers of each of the departments in our company, while my character, Susannah goes to school. Either way, both of our days are packed with potential landmines. I am reminded of a commercial that used to be on television where a woman is being fortified for her chaotic day by drinking orange juice.  Both Susannah and I could use a big glass of that juice.

When I arrive at work, people from other states are listening in on the phone and my husband and I are bombarded with problems that range from losing a large account or a serious breach of protocols with complicated repercussions. We run a company that services high-powered people with unrealistic expectations. The clients used to be able to ruin my day with hysterics and threats to grind us into dust. There is pressure. I have a lot of people depending on me to make the right decisions and sometimes it is an awesome responsibility. It used to lay heavy on my shoulders. Not anymore.

I suffered a heart attack at the ripe old age of forty after one client harassed our company over something that I’m sure she doesn’t even remember today. It was a horrible experience. I almost died. I ended up having an angioplasty. I watched my parents unravel, my kids could barely speak, my husband had to shoulder everything alone. That was the day I learned to put things into perspective. 

Those awful days do weigh heavy in my memory, like a scar that won’t heal. They are a reminder to never forget what is really important.

Susannah, the character in my book, and her family are letting life lead them instead of the other way around. They are caught up in the stress and pressure of always performing perfectly, never sharing when it becomes overwhelming as though it would somehow make them seem not up to the task.

I wrote this book watching other mothers and fathers drive themselves crazy to prove they could do it all, never realizing they were setting impossible standards for their children. What’s it all for if you are not here to enjoy it?

I learned from my own crisis, that every situation is fixable and when it’s not, we must sometimes endure the unendurable. While time slows to a crawl, and things do feel overwhelming, I know there is light at the end of the tunnel. I take a deep breath and concentrate on finishing what can be done.

There may be twenty-four hours to a day. That time is made up of 1440 minutes. I concentrate on what I can fix, and accept the limitations of what I can’t fix.

Talking about it always helps, hearing that you have done everything possible to prevent the disaster or, sometimes, even admitting that your own mistake caused it, can be therapeutic. It makes you realize life is fluid, whatever is going on won’t last forever, and in my own Pollyanna brain, I think, maybe something good will come out of it.

When the parents in this story realize their child’s life is spinning out of control, they help her learn how to reel it back in. They never expect Susannah will return the favor by making them sit back to think about what was pushing her there.

When life gets bad, I think back to that scene in Gone with the Wind, when Scarlett’s world is falling apart. She looks out into the burning sunset and says, “Tomorrow’s another day.”

Well, she’s right. Tomorrow is another day, and when things look really bleak, there is only one way to go and that is up.

What great thoughts! I couldn't agree more!

One (1) grand prize winner receives:

A copy of Oh Susannah: It’s in the Bag, autographed by Carole P. Roman

A SunnyLife Havana Lunch Cooler Tote

A SunnyLife Cool Bananas Tumbler

Four (4) winners receive:

A copy of Oh Susannah: It’s in the Bag, autographed by Carole P. Roman

Giveaway open to US and Canadian addresses only.

Prizes and samples provided by Carole P. Roman and The Children’s Book Review.

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Tour hosted by and content provided by: The Children’s Book Review and Carole P. Roman

Spurt by Christ Miles Blog Tour: Top Ten List and +GIVEAWAY

Today I welcome Chris Miles to The O.W.L. to promote his new book Spurt and share a Top Ten Guest post! 

Synopsis

Balls and all!

Jack Sprigley isn’t just a late-bloomer. He’s a no bloomer: an eighth grader, and puberty is still a total no-show. Worse yet, he hasn’t heard from his friends all winter vacation. He assumes they’ve finally dumped him and his child-like body—until he finds out it’s much worse than that. His friends are now so far ahead of him that they’ve started dating. Jack is out of luck. But then he comes up with a plan to catch up and win his friends back. And his plan is perfect: he just has to fake puberty.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Praise for SPURT

“Hilarious, addictive, brilliantly-warped... like Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen crossed with Diary of a Wimpy Kid” -- Stuart Gibbs, New York Times bestselling author of the Spy School series

“Funny, heartfelt, and likely to appeal to reluctant readers, especially boys on the cusp of puberty” --School Library Journal

“A refreshing take on body image, acceptance and the need to fit in. The novel’s moments of profundity are subtle yet powerful, and masterfully balanced with humour. Spurt is appealingly naughty.” --Books+Publishing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Miles has written several books for young readers in Australia. His short fiction and other writings have appeared in publications throughout Australia. He works as a website designer and developer, and in his spare time he indulges his love of Doctor Who, LEGO®, Dungeons & Dragons, and anchovies. He is a dog person (though not literally).

WEBSITE: http://www.chrismiles.com.au/
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/248340.Chris_Miles
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/chrismilesauthor

I was able to ask Chris to create a Top Ten List for this post.  I asked:

What are the Top Ten ways you procrastinate when writing!

Here's what he said:

1. Doing the laundry
2. Doing the dishes
3. Eating cereal (and therefore making more dishes, see number 2)
4. Reading books and articles about writing instead of actually writing
5. Tweaking the settings on my word processor
6. Obsessing over finding the right names for things
7. Making wish lists of LEGO® sets I want to buy
8. Taking photos of my dog
9. Googling for reviews of my book
10. Composing emails to Google asking why there aren’t more reviews of my book (see number 9)

I LOVE #7 and I know many of my students would too!!!  Thanks for sharing these Chris! 

I'm going to keep this short since this post is getting a little long!

Very cute, real, funny book.  This is a topic that not many books out there take on! At first I was a little leery, but in the end it was all good.  I liked Jack a lot.  He was real, likable and believable.  That was important because you had to buy into him if you were going to run with the rest of the book!  

I will admit I'm curious how kids the age of the characters in the book will react to it.  The cover alone will catch their attention, but I'm curious what they'll think of it beyond that.  If they decide to read it, I think they'll enjoy it! 

In short - Give Spurt a try! I think you'll like it! 

5 Winners will receive a Copy of Spurt by Chris Miles

Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter

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