By Karyn Henley
A suitcase overloaded with stuff you won’t even need is frustrating to lug around. So is a novel overloaded with backstory. I learned the hard way to pack light whether traveling across country or journeying through a novel.
For years I started my novel manuscripts with a good deal of background.
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Karyn Henley on Backstory or Baggage? »
By Joanne Rocklin
for Cynthia Leitich Smith‘s Cynsations
As I worked in my basement office on my new middle grade novel, The Fives Lives of Our Cat Zook (Abrams, 2012)(sample chapter), my hair was a mass of sticky cowlicks, paper was strewn on tables and floor,
YA book fans & librarians, summer reading is almost upon us!
Librarians, enter to win one of three sets of five signed Diabolical
bookmarks & a Tantalize series button! Please indicate your affiliation (the specific school(s), public library/system) in your entry.
Continue Reading Summer Reading Giveaway: Signed Diabolical Bookmarks »
Enter to win a giveaway package celebrating The Veil by Cory Putnam Oakes (Octane, 2011). From the promotion copy:
Read a Q&A interview with Cory.
Seventeen-year-old Addison Russell is in for a shock when she discovers that she can see the invisible world of the Annorasi.
Continue Reading YA Giveaway Package: The Veil by Cory Putnam Oakes »
Sarah Frances Hardy is the first-time author of
Puzzled by Pink
(Viking, 2012)(author-illustrator blog). From the promotional copy:
Not every girl loves pink . . .
Izzy hates pink as much as her sister,
Continue Reading New Voice & Giveaway: Author-Illustrator Sarah Frances Hardy on Puzzled by Pink »
Beth Revis is the author of the New York Times Bestselling Across the Universe series, published by Razorbill/Penguin in the U.S. and available in 17 countries.
The first book in the trilogy, Across the Universe,
Continue Reading Author Interview & Giveaway: Beth Revis on the Across the Universe Series »
Teachers! Librarians! Buddies! And other Superheroes-in-Disguise!
Enter to win one of two Robot Zombie Frankenstein! prize packages.
Each includes: a signed book, plus build-a-bot foam stickers, robot chest panel iron-ons, and other kid-sized story-related bling: a Robot Zombie Frankenstein mini-notebook;
Continue Reading Giveaway Package: Robot Zombie Frankenstein! »
Enter for a chance to win Angel Burn and Angel Fire, both by L.A. Weatherly (Candlewick, 2012). From the promotional copy of Angel Burn:
When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy,
Continue Reading Giveaway: Angel Burn & Angel Fire by L.A. Weatherly »
Enter to win a signed advanced reader copy of The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin (Razorbill, 2012) and some sinister sweet swag (see below).
From the promotional copy:
A deliciously spooky middle-grade debut that’s Coraline meets Hansel and Gretel.
Continue Reading Giveaway: ARC of The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy »
Welcome back to Cynsations, and congratulations on the release of Chronal Engine (Clarion, 2012)! What are your childhood memories of dinosaurs? As an adult, what fascinates you about them?
I was (and am) extremely blessed by having parents who supported reading and education.
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of going to the Hild Library in Chicago and coming home with grocery bags full of books.
