by hatfield13

Contest for Impatient Readers

Sometimes it can be hard to wait.  I’m feeling a little impatient about the books of 2008 for a few reasons.

As a writer, I’m feeling impatient because my second MG historical novel, Champlain & the Silent One,  is still seven months away from the shelves.  It’s off being edited and illustrated now, so all my work is done, except the waiting.  I can’t wait to see the illustrations and the cover, and I really can’t wait to start talking with kids at schools & libraries about Samuel de Champlain and the tribes who guided him on his voyage from Quebec to Lake Champlain 400 years ago.

As a reader and teacher, I’m excited for a whole roundup of 2008 titles from favorite authors & friends & other writers whose work I’ve heard about and can’t wait to read.  I’ve been lucky enough to get sneak peaks of some of them, like Linda Sue Park’s Keeping Score, which I reviewed here. This one is so unbelievably good that I’ve decided it’s a crime not to pass it along so someone else can read it and love it and hopefully talk about it, too.

So here’s the contest.  I’m giving a way my pre-read and somewhat well-traveled ARC of Keeping Score.  I won it in a drawing on

[info]cynthialord

‘s blog a few weeks ago and asked Cindy if she’d be okay with me giving it away again.  The ARC traveled with me to the Kindling Words retreat in Vermont last week, where Linda Sue Park (

[info]lsparkreader

) graciously signed it for the giveaway.  It’s not a shiny, perfect, unread-by-human-eyes ARC, but it is signed and got to hang out with the likes of Linda Sue and Laurie Halse Anderson and Sara Zarr and Katie Davis and Jane Yolen and other wonderful people.  It’s an ARC with lots of good karma.

If you’d like to be entered the drawing, just leave a comment below with the title of one 2008 release that you can’t wait to read.  The contest ends at 6pm EST on February 13th.  I’ll figure out some bizarre and random way to choose a winner and announce it here on my blog on Valentine’s Day.

49 Replies on “Contest for Impatient Readers”

  1. I feel so fortunate that LSP lives in MY town. 🙂 I can’t wait to read Marissa Doyle’s BEWITCHING SEASON. 1800s sisters of age to be married! Woo hoo!

  2. contest!

    Thanks for holding the contest, Kate! I love Linda Sue Park’s books. The book I’m most looking forward to reading this year is Elizabeth Bunce’s CURSE DARK AS GOLD.

    Thanks again!
    Natalie

  5. LOCK & KEY by Sarah Dessen

    (For the record, I’ve already read and love the ARCs of:
    SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr, THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS by E. Lockhart, and THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary Pearson. AND I’m about to read (and probably love) DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK by Marlene Pearson)

    ooh please enter me in your contest!

  6. Ooh! I’d love to be entered! And I cannot wait to read TRACKING DADDY DOWN, by Marybeth Kelsey, coming out later this year. Trust me friends, it ROCKS.

    Cathy

  7. I’m super excited to read Elizabeth Bunce’s A Curse as Dark as Gold. I heard about it over on the Blue Boards, which is also where I heard about your contest!
    ~Michie (on the blue boards; I don’t have live journal)

  10. entry

    Hmmm, a title I can’t wait to read (beside my own…LOL)…
    How about Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer? Deb is a “fellow” Class of 2k8er, and although I can’t wait to read ALL the members’ books, if I had to pick one, this would be it.

  13. I’ve entered you in the drawing!

    You’re lucky! I loved spending time with Linda Sue at Kindling Words, and her keynote address was absolutely amazing. I’m looking forward to BEWITCHING SEASON, too.

  20. Hey! I saw your picture on Linda Sue’s blog, didn’t I? It was memorable — two of my favorite writers right there in one of my favorite bookstores. I’ve entered you in the drawing!

    The Penderwicks are on my list, too.

  22. Both of these are on my wish-list, too. (BTW, did you know that INK EXCHANGE is one of the books being offered in the Harper Teen First Look program?)

    I’ve entered you in the drawing.

  26. Yahoo! A book I was waiting for is avilable now on Amazon! I thought I had a bit more time to wait. Thanks for the contest and the question—I looked it up so I could spell the author’s last name correctly. It was “Harmless” by Dana Reinhardt.

    Here are some others I’m looking forward to:
    “The Seer of Shadows” by Avi
    “The Penderwicks on Gardam Street” By Jeanne Birdsall
    “Prepared for Rage” by Dana Stabenow

    I am also waiting for a Nancy Werlin book. There aren’t any scheduled in the next year (that I know of) but I wait and hope. 🙂

    EQ

  27. The 2008 book I’m MOST looking forward to with unabated excitement is SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD by my dear friend, Nancy Viau.

    Rock on, Nancy!

  32. Re: Pick me!

    I’ve already heard great things about TROUBLE, and I loved WEDNESDAY WARS. Thanks for the comment – I’ve entered you in the drawing!

  33. I hadn’t heard about this one but just checked it out on the 2k8 website. My son is going to LOVE this story. Thanks for the tip! (You’re entered in the drawing, too!)

  36. I’ve entered you in the drawing – and you’re not alone. I’ve been excited about SAMANTHA HANSEN ever since I met her on Nancy’s blog.

  40. Way too many to just choose one, but I will anyway. Nancy’s Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head.

    Annette Gulati
    wwwthewritingwildlife.blogspot.com

  41. Oh, a contest!!

    There are so many books that I’m looking forward to this year, but the one I am especially looking forward to is UNDONE by Brooke Taylor.

  48. In the picture book category, I can’t wait to read Cathy’s newest book baby: ‘TWAS THE DAY BEFORE ZOO DAY. Also, JESSIE’S MOUNTAIN and lots of grown-up books, too.

  49. great contest!

    What a great idea for a contest, Kate, and a wonderful prize! I just got back from the SCBWI Conference in NYC, and I had the chance to chat with Linda Sue about her book. I can’t wait to read it! I am eagerly awaiting the publication of BLACK STARS IN A WHITE NIGHT SKY, a poetry book by Jonarno Lawson and Sherwin Tjia. I guess it’s been published in Canada. When I attended a “Best Books of 2006” presentation last December at the Eric Carle Picture Book Museum in Amherst, MA, the moderator read a poem from this collection that gave me goosebumps. I’ve been pining for it ever since.