How would you like to win a copy of GLOW by Amy Kathleen Ryan? All you have to do is enter your information below.  Click HERE to read my review from yesterday. You have until Friday, January 20th to enter.

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Da Da Da Daaaaa!!!! I am happy to feature CINDER again on this blog. This time, thanks to MacMillan Audio, I am giving away a copy of the audio. I am so excited!!!! This book is so good.  No matter what format you prefer there is one for you.

Here is an audio excerpt:

Do you like e books? How about the first 5 chapters for free?

Now is your chance to win a copy of the audio. GOOD LUCK everyone! You have until Friday, January 13th to enter.  Friday the 13th will be a good thing for one lucky reader.


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DID YOU KNOW???

In 1968, it was decided to scrape off the original paint on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, and repaint it. It took 27 years to finish the job.

I think this is a cool fact.  I’ve been to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a sight I’ll always remember.

Here is a picture of the souvenir I bought there. A rivet from the bridge.

Here are two other cool things I wanted to share with you guys.  This way you can see the colorful pictures inside the book too.

The 208-page book, full-color hardcover book is written in TIME For Kids’ clear, authoritative, engaging and age-appropriate style, and packed with vivid illustrations and comprehensive reporting. Kids and adults alike are guaranteed to say “Wow!” and have “Aha!” moments as they discover cool and incredible facts, figures and records.

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Incredible Size:

• The giant squid is the largest invertebrate in the world and their eyes are 10 inches across, making their eyes alone bigger than a human head!

Incredible Animals and Plants:

• The Texas Horned Lizard can squirt blood through its eyes to up to 6 feet if it feels threatened. That is enough to frighten just about any animal.
• Did you know that a zebroid is an animal that is half zebra and half of some other member of the horse family? A Zorse is half zebra, half horse. A Zonkey is half zebra, half donkey. Can you guess what animals are mixed to get a zony?

Incredible Sports:

• If you think snowmobiles are cool, then you should check out freestyle snowmobiling. The riders zoom up a steep ramp and fly through the air from 65 feet to more than 100 feet while performing tricks such as standing on the seat or dangling from an upside down machine.
• If you’re not afraid of getting dirty you will enjoy Bog Snorkeling. With a snorkel and flippers, competitors swim 60 yards in smelly, thick bog water. Just make sure not to use your hands because that’s not allowed.

Incredible Earth:

• The largest natural crystals in the world are in the Cave of Crystals in Mexico. Some crystals in this cave are up to 36 feet long and weigh 55 tons.

Incredible Space

• Io is the third largest moon of Jupiter. What makes it special is that it has more active volcanoes than any other place in the solar system.

Incredible Jobs:

• David Blaine is a magician who is not afraid of doing jaw-dropping stunts. He once put himself in a plastic box that was then surrounded by water. For seven days he stayed in the box, unable to move, eat or drink more than a few tablespoons of water each day.

Incredible Technology:

• In South Korea some students are being taught by robot teacher. Researchers have found that students are in fact more relaxed around robot teachers than real ones. Will robots replace human teachers one day?
• The AirPod car must be one of the most environmentally friendly cars because it runs on AIR! The car can be filled up in minutes and the three wheeler can travel about 135 miles between fill-ups.

Incredible Kids:

• Jessica Watson was 16 when she sailed nonstop around the worlds by herself. It took her seven months to travel 23,000 miles on a 34 food boat.
• Hanna Turner was 4 years old when she decided she wanted to help homeless to keep their feet warm. Ever since, she and her family have run the charity Hanna’s Socks, and just as the name suggests, they hand out socks to those who need them.

Incredibly Weird but True:

• The Bone Room in California is the place to go if you’re in the mood to snack on chocolate covered crickets, cookie wafers mixed with ants, or lollipops with real scorpions in the center!
• The Glass Frog lives in Central and South America and is transparent! From its underside it is possible to see its beating heart and digestive system.

Now is your chance to win a copy of this fun book.  I have to tell you, these types of books were checked out all the time when I was a middle school librarian.  The kids can’t seem to get enough of the cool pictures and the fun short facts. I’m giving away two copies.  You have until November 16th to enter.

I am so excited to be able to host a Q & A with Lauren McLaughlin. I’ve recently read and reviewed SCORED, her latest novel. I enjoyed the dystopian world she created so much. I was glad to get a chance to ask her some questions. Enjoy.

Are you a fan of the House of Night series? If so, this giveaway is for you.  Would you like a chance to win DESTINED, the 9th book in the series? If so, fill out the information below. Here are the other books in the series just in case you have missed some.

“…Zoey is finally home where she belongs, safe with her Guardian Warrior, Stark, by her side, and preparing to face off against Neferet – which would be a whole lot easier if the High Counsel saw the ex-High Priestess for what she really is. Kalona has released his hold on Rephaim, and, through Nyx’s gift of a human form, Rephaim and Stevie Rae are finally able to be together – if he can truly walk the path of the Goddess and stay free of his father’s shadow…”

How would you like to win an audio book of ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE? Fill out the information below to be entered.  You have until October 21st to put your name in the hat. If you’d like to read my review of this fascinating book click HERE.

Watch the Book Trailer 

Take a tour of Gabrielle Zevin’s neighborhood and see what inspired her to write ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE.

Once there were three. Three friends who loved each other—Jenna, Locke, and Kara. And after a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, their three minds were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld. Even in that disembodied nightmare, they were still together. At least at first. When Jenna disappeared, Locke and Kara had to go on without her. Decades passed, and then centuries.

Two-hundred-and-sixty years later, they have been released at last. Given new, perfect bodies, Locke and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead.

Everyone except Jenna Fox.

Would you like to win a copy of the Unabridged Audio of THE FOX INHERITANCE? If so, here is your chance.  You have until Thursday, October 13th to enter.

Need more convincing?

Would you like to win a copy of MY LIFE UNDECIDED by Jessica Brody? If so, enter your information below for your chance. You have until Saturday, October 15th to enter.

About the Book:

PLEASE READ THIS! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.

Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.

But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!

Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.

But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.

Have questions about your life? Go to the MY LIFE UNDECIDED blog to ask.  You might just get the right answer.

Here is another giveaway for you guys. This time it is a children’s book by Nancy Tillman.

We know our children are special, and now the incomparable Nancy Tillman expresses this universal feeling in the most touching of ways: Every child is born with a crown. The crown is everything that gives us unique value. Our crown will always be with us wherever we go, whatever we do.

Please take the time to watch the trailer below and fill out the required information for the giveaway.  Good luck everyone.  You have until Saturday, October 8th to enter.

Karin’s Book Nook would like to welcome Ty Drago, author of THE UNDERTAKERS: RISE OF THE CORPSES, to the blog.  He was kind enough to send a write up about his book launch party in April. I wish I could have been there. But, even though we couldn’t enjoy this wonder event, the publisher is making it possible for you to get your hands on a book.  Two lucky blog readers will win a copy of THE UNDERTAKERS: RISE OF THE CORPSES.  Just fill out the form below by Friday, Sept. 23rd.

On Saturday April 9th at 1:00 PM, a group of about twenty-five people gathered at Children’s Book World in Haverford, PA to listen to — well — me.

The occasion was the launch of my new Middle Grade thriller, THE UNDERTAKERS: RISE OF THE CORPSES.

This book, the first in a series, chronicles the adventures of twelve-year-old Will Ritter, who steps out of his house one day to discover that his next door neighbor, his math teacher, and his assistant principal have all become the walking dead.  But these aren’t the slow, stupid zombies of movie fame.  No, these rotting cadavers are intelligent, organized, and bent on world domination!  And that’s not the bad news.

The bad news is that the “Corpses” somehow disguise themselves as normal men and women, an illusion that can only be penetrated by a few rare individuals, all kids.  The invaders know this, and so the Corpses infiltrate the schools and neighborhoods, and when they uncover a Seer, they silence him or her — permanently.

So Will must run, leaving his home and family behind.  He joins a rag tag army of resistance fighters in Philadelphia.  They call themselves the Undertakers, and the oldest of them is only seventeen.  Together, they stand as humanity’s only hope against an invasion that only they know about.

That’s more or less how I explained it to the kids and adults who gathered at Children’s Book World to hear about my novel and — hopefully — buy themselves a signed copy.

But a launch has to be more than a book signing.  To properly propel a novel forward, it has to be an event.  It has to have an agenda, a time table, prizes and even guests. I knew from the start that it wouldn’t be enough to talk Undertakers and scrawl my name on some books.  I had to put on a show!

So I started with a contest.  My publicist and I dubbed it the Undertakers Undead Art Contest.  Sourcebooks promoted it on their Teenfire website (teenfire.sourcebooks.com), and I promoted on the series’ website (www.jointheundertakers.com).  Then I went about contacting more than forty middle schools, all in my home state of New Jersey, telling them about the contest and urging their artistic participation.

The theme was simple: zombies — but zombies wearing, not rags, but clothes or uniforms or whatever.  In other words: Corpse drawing.

The response surprised me.  We received close to thirty entries from artists ranging in age from eight to seventeen. 

Contest; check.

Next came the swag, the fun trinkets that you can hand out to promote your book.  The good people at Sourcebooks sprang for the bookmarks.  These were, and are, outstanding — double-sided and colorful, with the Undertakers branding on one side and a bar code on the other that, when read by a phone capable of such things, immediately accesses the YouTube book trailer.

Oh, didn’t I mention the trailer?  We’ll get to that.

The buttons I paid for myself, though the graphics department at Sourcebooks designed them for me.  These come in two flavors.  One is red with a bit of business from the cover, the title of the book, my name, and the words “I AM AN UNDERAKER” and “www.jointheundertakers.com” around its rim.  The other is green, sports a few dead folks, and bears the same words, but with “I AM A CORPSE.” 

Swag; check.

The trailer I actually did more than a year ago, filming it in my basement with a handheld night vision camera that I bought on Amazon for ninety bucks, and two actors who basically did it for free.  The result was pretty dramatic, and we had it playing at the launch — another arrow in my promotional quiver.  To see it, visit www.jointheundertakers.com.

Trailer; check.

For the event itself, I managed to convince those same two actors to return.  One, a talented young pro named Griffin Back, played my hero Will Ritter.  The other, an equally talented make-up artist named Josh Hahn, portrayed the loathsome Kenny Booth, animated cadaver and overall bad dude.

At the launch, I had a table set up with three chairs.  Griffin sat on my left and Josh on my right. Josh was in his “Corpse” make-up.  His girlfriend, Alicia Manoski, came as well — made-up to look like the sinister Lilith Cavanaugh, the Corpse villainess from Undertakers Book Two.

In front of each was a stack of stills taken from the trailer and printed out in glorious (greenish night vision) color.  Then, just to add atmosphere to the event, the Undead Art Contest entries were taped up around the table and behind us on the wall.  The plan was simple: when kids (or adults) came up with a book to be signed, I would sign the book.  Then Griffin and Josh would each sign pictures of themselves, and each add a button — one Undertaker and one Corpse.  Then the pictures, the buttons, and a bookmark would go back to the customer along with the autographed book!

Guests; check.

The launch’s agenda went like this:

1.     Introduced by Heather of Children’s Book World

2.     A brief talk about myself and about the book series

3.     A brief reading of Chapter One

4.     Announcement of the Undead Art Contest winners

5.     Book signing and photo ops

Agenda; check.

The event, arranged by my Sourcebooks publicist, was widely publicized and the good folks at Children’s Book World were welcoming and professional.  The weather was perfect, and the bookstore itself small but charming.

But how did it go, you ask?

There were a fair number of people on hand, and I sold a solid number of books.  The time went quickly; it always does at such events.  My friends and most of my family showed up, along with a reasonable quantity of kids who were just there for the book.  By the end of it Josh, still in his Corpse make-up, had pulled a couple of “running” stilts out of his car and was hoping all around the outside of the building, still in his undead garb!  A sight to see!

And then it was over.  All that planning and prep — done.

Except, of course, it isn’t.

A launch is exactly what the word implies.  It’s the beginning of something, not its ending.  My promotional efforts are far from over.  In addition to the interviews and blog tours (this one included), my publicist and I are preparing visits to schools and libraries, literacy events and, of course, more bookstore book signings.

THE UNDERTAKERS: RISE OF THE CORPSES, to take the ship analogy perhaps a step too far, has been successfully launched.  Now my job is to take the wheel and guide her through the treacherous waters ahead.  Its success or failure depends entirely on the kids out there who love a good “zombie” story and are willing to shell out the eight bucks to buy one.

The novel, like a good “ship”, has enjoyed an admirable send off.

But there are no guarantees.

In the modern publishing world, there never are.

Thanks, Ty.  We look forward to reading this one and the sequel, THE UNDERTAKERS: QUEEN OF THE DEAD.

If so, visit Join the Undertakers.

They can help you.