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Hello everybody,

First of all, I would like to say THANK YOU to all the people who made The Magic Violin virtual book tour a success!

Thank you to all the nice people who took time out of their busy lives to host my tour and leave comments on my tour stops. I really appreciate it! Some people commented on my every stop--really, I'm so very grateful and wish I could send you all gifts!

And now, the winner of the $20 Amazon gift certificate is......................

lisalmg !!!!!!!!

Have a WONDERFUL Christmas, everybody!

Mayra

It looks like we had about 26 participants in TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY, which is an extremely appropriate number, seeing that it was my 26th birthday.

You might think that the 26 participants found ways to thank about 26 authors. However, you'd be very wrong. We thanked over ONE HUNDRED AUTHORS yesterday. Yay!

Many of you asked if TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY will be an annual event. Yes. I think it will...but let it also serve as a reminder that it isn't difficult to find contact info for most authors and any day can be your own personal TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY.

Now for the part you have all been waiting for...the winner of the $15 Amazon Gift Card is jamarattigan! Email me your address at emykate03 *AT* yahoo *DOT* com.



PS...Thank you for the birthday wishes, as well. It turned out to be a great day. Many people called and stopped by. Hubby bought me roses and took me to Ottavio's for dinner. Then, I came home and dug into my Cold Stone Midnight Delight cake. Sigh.

I am a day late on this one but what a fantastic idea Emily at whimsy had.

In honor of Tell an Author You Care Day, Book Moot bows to:

Rockstar Rick Riordan -- He really is a rock star. Young men, who I worried would NEVER read for pleasure, have discovered what it is all about thanks to him. Reading the first chapter of The Lightning Thief has also provided me with some of my most meaningful and happy experiences as a librarian.

I also have to thank Gail Gauthier for Happy Kid and the most hilarious reading-aloud my daughter has ever entertained me with while I was driving a car. Also her heroine, Thérèse, from The Hero of Ticonderoga is a character I would like to hug.

Jack Gantos will always have my heart for getting this family through a very emotional time. I wish he still wrote an update to his website. Even once a year, he always made me laugh.

Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm are so gracious to kidlitosperians and have created the most imaginative young mouse in the world. I may have mentioned that I named my IPod, Babymouse?

Audrey Couloumbis has completely won me over with her books about two sisters on the run in the wild west. I find myself asking friends and relations and strangers in dentist office waiting rooms, have you read The Misadventures of Maude March yet?

Thank you, all!

It's Tell An Author You Care Day, as proclaimed by Emily at whimsy. It's also Emily's birthday, so be sure you check out a list of some of the authors she cares about -- one for each of her years -- and wish her a happy birthday!

Here are Emily's suggestions for celebrating TAAYC Day:

"1. Write a letter or email to a favorite author. I think JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer receive plenty of fan letters. Think of an author you love that may need a little boost.
2. Write a positive review on Amazon and, if you want to, link to it in your blog.
3. Buy a book by a favorite author and give it to someone who will enjoy it.
4. Profile an author in your blog. I'm not talking just another review. Tell us a little about the author and mention at least one of his/her books that you love."

In what I hope becomes an annual event, today is "Tell An Author You Care Day." Read Emily's post on Whimsy Books for more information.

Margaret Peterson Haddix

Birth: April 9, 1964, Washington Court House, Ohio, United States
Education: Miami University, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1986
Religion: Presbyterian
Family: Married with two children

Bibliography

Running Out Of Time, 1995
Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey, 1996
Leaving Fishers, 1997
Among the Hidden, 1998
Just Ella, 1999
Turnabout, 2000
Among the Imposters, 2001
The Girl With 500 Names, 2001
Takeoffs and Landings, 2001
Among the Betrayed, 2002
Because of Anya, 2002
Among the Barons, 2003
Escape from Memory, 2003
Among the Brave, 2004
Say What, 2004
The House on the Gulf, 2004
Among the Enemy, 2005
Double Identity, 2005
Among the Free, 2006
Dexter the Tough, 2007
Uprising, 2007

In my life, 2007 could easily be declared the year of Margaret Peterson Haddix. (Much like 2003 was the year of Michael Buble and John Mayer. Or 1995 was the year of the Beatles.) I *discovered* her work at my local library in January. By March, I had read every single Margaret Peterson Haddix book in their collection. There are plenty still I haven't read. But I have read all the ones I have easy access to. I haven't posted all my reviews yet. I guess you could say I've been saving them for a rainy day, or that I was saving them for a special day...a special project. (I have chosen the Shadow Children books for my Dystopian Challenge, so all of those will be posted by its deadline of November.) I just love, love, love Margaret Peterson Haddix. They're intelligent. They're thought-provoking. They're well-written. They're practically perfect in every way. And they seem designed to stimulate natural discussion. Not the kind of discussion that your teacher would force you to do. Not the kind of discussion where you have to brainstorm for hours in order to come up with a topic to discuss in a paper or essay question. Just natural, honest, provoking discussion about the book. You finish a book, and suddenly you want to tell everyone in the world about it. You want others to read that book just so you can discuss it with them. You lose yourself in them. For example, I read six of the seven Shadow Children books in just one weekend. I didn't care about doing anything else. I just had to read those books.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 1995. Running Out of Time.

Jessie Keyser has lived her whole life in a small village, Clifton, where the year is 1840 and a disease is threatening to become an epidemic. But what she doesn’t know can save her...for outside her small village, the year is 1996. In the 1980s, a millionaire had a ‘brilliant’ idea of creating an authentic tourist attraction where volunteers would throw themselves back in time while tourists secretly watched. Jessie’s mother and father were two of the original volunteers. The rules were simple. Anyone was supposed to be able to leave if they changed their mind. While they couldn’t discuss the ‘twentieth-century world’ with just anyone, they could tell their children once they turned twelve. They were supposed to have access to modern medicine in the case of life-threatening illnesses. But what happens when the rulebook is thrown out? Can Jessie save her village from disaster? Full of secrets and surprises, RUNNING OUT OF TIME is an exciting science fiction read.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 1998. AMONG THE HIDDEN.

Among the Hidden is the first in a seven book science fiction series entitled the Shadow Children. Luke is a third child. That alone sets him apart. Makes his very existence a threat to the status quo. In a world where the Population Police have not only ruled that each family is only allowed two children...but where they enforce the law with deadly force, Luke’s existence puts his whole family at risk. Before his twelfth birthday party, Luke’s life was restricted but not unbearable. For a child who’s never known the joy of going shopping, going to school, having friends outside his immediate family, he cannot miss these things. But when his family’s farm’s neighboring land (woods, farmlands, etc) becomes prime real estate development...then his world does change. Suddenly, he’s not allowed outside even in the backyard. No longer can he run and play in the yard. To help in the garden. He can’t even be allowed near any windows--whether the blinds are drawn or not--for fear someone might see his shadow. Restricted almost exclusively to the attic, Luke’s life seems one of lonely despair. But when he sees another face in the window of a neighbor’s house--one who shouldn’t be there because she has two older brothers--he begins to realize that he might not be alone after all. He then has to weigh the risks. Is it worth finding a friend if it jeopardizes his life in hiding? What if he’s caught? What if they’re both caught? Is it better to be safe and hidden? Or is there another way to live--a better way to live?

Today is TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY, so show an author that YOU care. You may want to...

1. Write a letter or email to a favorite author. I think JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer recieve plenty of fan letters. Think of an author you love that may need a little boost.

2. Write a positive review on Amazon and, if you want to, link to it in your blog.

3. Buy a book by a favorite author and give it to someone who will enjoy it.

4. Profile an author in your blog. I'm not talking just another review. Tell us a little about the author and mention at least one of his/her books that you love.

If you leave a comment, telling me what you did for TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY, you will be entered into a drawing. They say you should get presents for others that you would want yourself. I love gift cards that allow me to buy books...so I will send a 15 dollar Amazon gift card to one lucky winner.

Check out what some other bloggers have done...


Sara Lewis Holmes wrote a thank you post to Connie Willis.

Jules at 7-Imp is in with her tribute to Jeremy Tankard.

Becky Laney chose Carolyn Meyer and wrote up an incredible author tribute.

I am actually going the old-fashioned route and writing by hand (gasp) fan letters to Karma Wilson, Shannon Hale and Robin McKinley.


Thanks for participating! And, if you are a writer yourself, THANK YOU for creating stories for the world, for sharing a piece of yourself.

TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY is only hours away (or minutes if you're on the East Coast). Don't forget to leave a comment so I can enter you into the drawing!

And many thanks to those who have helped spread the word!

I haven't been around LJ much this week because my mom and sister are visiting from out of town. They are the most wonderful women in the world.

We saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix last night. It's not my favorite HP movie, but book 5 isn't my favorite either. I don't have enough teen angst. I think teenage boys, on the other hand, relate to HP 5 because of the inner turmoil Harry is going through. They struggle with the same feelings of anger. When I read it, I felt like...OK Harry. Get over it. Move on...but I'm not a teenage boy with an impossibly hard life.
Professor Umbridge and Luna Lovegood are great in this movie, though. Umbridge is perfectly creepy, and Luna is really out there.


REMEMBER...
TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY is on Monday, July 16th!

TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY is one week from today on July 16th!

And good luck to all who entered the Smartwriters WIN competition. Results are only hours away...finally!

I am taking a break from typing conference notes today to declare a call to action.

At the conference, I met brilliant and kind author, Martine Leavitt of Keturah and Lord Death fame. While she signed my book with an inspirational message, I gushed about how great her book was. I thought she was being gracious when she acted surprised. But then she surprised me...she told me that once a book goes into print, you expect to get a lot of feedback on it. Remember, Keturah is a National Book Award Finalist. Martine told me that she had probably recieved half a dozen fan letters.
I, of course, told her that many kidlit bloggers have raved about her book.
But it got me thinking.

So, I hereby declare Monday, July 16th, TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY. You can...

1. Write a letter or email to a favorite author. I think JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer recieve plenty of fan letters. Think of an author you love that may need a little boost.

2. Write a positive review on Amazon and, if you want to, link to it in your blog.

3. Buy a book by a favorite author and give it to someone who will enjoy it.

4. Profile an author in your blog. I'm not talking just another review. Tell us a little about the author and mention at least one of his/her books that you love.

I was thinking about making TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY sooner, but with the fourth of July next week, I decided to wait. Now you have plenty of time to figure out how you will celebrate the day. And why did I decide to wait more than two weeks? Well, July 16th is my birthday. So, by participating in TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY, you are giving a boost to a favorite author AND sending me a birthday present. Thanks. :)

AND...since it will be my birthday...I would like to give you a present. If you leave a comment, telling me what you did for TELL AN AUTHOR YOU CARE DAY, you will be entered into a drawing. They say you should get presents for others that you would want yourself. I love gift cards that allow me to buy books...so I will send a 15 dollar Amazon gift card to one lucky winner. Sorry. I'm a little bit broke right now. That's the best I can do. BUT if anyone else wants to donate other winnings, let me know.

All right. Pass the word along. July 16th it is.