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THE CONTEST So, now it’s your turn. Tell me about a book you received as a gift that meant a lot to you or one you gave away that meant a lot to you. Put your answer in the comments section then Google Friend my website (if you haven’t already done so), follow me on Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads then complete the form below. The comment, GFC and form are required for entry into the contest. You will receive an extra point each for Twitter, Goodreads and FB follows. THE PRIZE One commenter will win a signed and personalized copy of my book Odessa, as well as bookmarks, coverart postcards for each of my other books and whatever else I feel like sticking in. THE GIFT And since this is the Holiday Season, I will be giving one signed copy of Odessa to our local high school library. THE HOP If you enjoyed this posting and wish the chance to win more books, follow this button along its route through the blogs of other Young Adult and Middle Grades authors during our Holiday Hop. Continue reading →

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8 Days until the Holiday Hop! Time to tell you about my final sponsor: Usborne Books.

Usborne Consultant Nancy Murphy is sponsoring this giveway.

Nancy has this to say:

As a mother, I understand the importance of finding quality products for babies and kids. I have chosen to sell products that we personally use in our daily life. The most important product is our large selection of books! My girls and I love to read. My husband and I both value education and feel that it is so important.The books really make learning fun and exciting for kids. We have lots of favorites.

Give the Gift of Reading
Help your child with reading from an early age with the NEW Usborne Very First Reading Set.
Usborne Very First Reading is an exciting series for children who are just starting to learn to read. The 15 book boxed set includes a helpful parents’ guide.
Very First Reading is designed to bring children up to the level at which they can tackle stories in Usborne First Reading (Level One), which is part of the bestselling Usborne Reading Program.



Usborne Books & More offers a commission based income while providing us with exciting monthly prizes, sales bonus, and incredible travel contests. They also recognize us for our achievements. I won 2009 consultant of the year honorable mention and 2010 New Supervisor of the Year. Plus, we won a trip to Hawaii! So, please let me share this wonderful opportunity with you.
If you are interested in viewing my Usborne Books website, click here. Click on Income Opportunity for more information about selling or to see this month’s starter kit. You can also sign up to win $50 in free books.

I would love to share more information about Usborne Books with you, hear about your favorite product or to hear your comments. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Nancy is offering a $15 Usborne Books Gift Certificate.  Giveaway is open to those in the US. (FORM is already live if you'ld like to enter early).

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The Holiday Hop starts next Wednesday so it's time to tell you about another of my wonderful Holiday Hop Sponsors: Leap Books.
Once in blue moon, a publisher comes along who does things in an innovative way. Leap Books opened their doors on the night of the blue moon, expecting something magical to happen. And it did.

ABOUT LEAP BOOKS

Leap Books, LLC, is a new publisher that opened on January 1, 2010. A member of the Children’s Book Council, Leap is committed to producing quality fiction for teens and tweens. Our Surge line for teens (ages 14-19) will feature paranormals, contemporaries, inspirationals, and mysteries. Our Frolic line for tweens (ages 10-14) will focus on the same categories, but we’ll be putting out lighter paranormals for this age group. We also plan to branch out with fantasy, historical, and multicultural titles.

Although we are open to most every genre, at present we are accepting submissions only from agents or from attendees at conferences where our editors speak. From time to time, we may put out a call for a specific genre via Twitter. Once we acquire a manuscript, each submission goes through a two-level process prior to approval by an editor. A committee composed of editors, educators, librarians, and booksellers who are familiar with the target audience read the manuscript. If they agree it has potential, it goes to a teen focus group for review. Only submissions that get a unanimous and enthusiastic thumbs-up from both panels will be considered by Leap editors for acceptance.

We have an exciting lineup of books slated to come out over the next few months. Watch for Freaksville by Kitty Keswick and Under My Skin by Judith Graves, both first books in werewolf paranormal series by debut authors. Bonnie J. Doerr’s eco-mystery, Island Sting, about the endangered Key deer and Jane Greenhill’s I Was a Teenage Alien, a humorous sci-fi, will round out our spring offerings. We have a light paranormal and funny chick lit lined up for summer, and we’re working on several great titles for fall including For the Love of Strangers, a lyrical coming-of-age tale rooted in Russian mythology, by Jacqueline Horsfall. This popular author of joke books and nonfiction is now taking her writing in whole new direction, and we’re delighted to have this opportunity to publish her poetic and poignant fiction.

Leap Books plans to stay small so we can produce high-quality books and spend time promoting our authors and helping them develop their careers. There will be no mid-list authors at Leap; we only accept top-notch authors with terrific ideas and strong writing skills. At the same time, we’re looking to introduce fresh new voices to the world. We hope to get teens excited and eager to read more, to encourage reluctant readers to pick up books, and to put out books with artistic appeal. To do that, we’ve contracted several artists to add graphic elements to our books. We’re especially thrilled to have the gothic artwork of Canadian graphic artist Val Cox to enhance our paranormal books. For more information about Leap Books, our authors and illustrators, and our latest contests and giveaways, visit us at http://www.leapbks.com/.

Leap Books is giving away (2) $10 Gift Certificates.  Giveaway is open Internationally.  (FORM is already live if you would like to enter early)

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The Holiday Hop is just over a week away.  Today I'm going to tell you about another of my fabulous sponsors Memorable Children Books & Gifts.

Ella Johnson started Memorable Children Books & Gifts in May 2008. As a formal teacher, she knows that making basic education fundamentals interesting to children can be challenging. Education can be fun, exciting and captivating for children with the right learning tools. So her goal is to “make learning interesting and fun” for the children while they learn. Including the latest technology was imperative because we don’t want children left behind. Her product includes Personalized and Non Personalized books and gifts. Memorable Children Books & Gifts is also in the business of supporting other small businesses.

More about Ella & Memorable Children Books & Gifts:

As a formal teacher, I know that making basic education fundamentals interesting to children can be challenging. I knew education could be fun, exciting and captivating. Our goal is to “make learning interesting and fun” for the children. Including the latest technology was imperative because we don’t want children left behind.

The answer was to offer personalized stories with popular characters that hold the child’s interest because it is about them interacting with Dinosaurs, Leprechauns, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Dora the Explorer, Disney Characters, Care Bears and many more. The technology is the method in which these stories are conveyed, on “Interactive CDs” and “CD-ROMs”. Many are personalized which captivates the children even more. These CDs and CD-ROMs reinforce the basic reading skills of the children when they read along with the narrated stories that are spelled out at the bottom of the computer screen.

Children love to play these CDs for hours at a time because they’re fun. Parents love these CDs because they take comfort in knowing their children are learning while having fun. Children find it fun also when they read a story and it all about them in a Personalized Book.

Memorable Children Books and Gifts© (MCBG), is expanding. We offer a wide selection of Disney Personalized Books like My Adventure Books. These personalized books incorporate your child’s name - making them the star of an exciting adventure story. In each of these wonderful stories, your child's name, birthday, address, friends or brothers and sisters names are all printed in these unique, personalized children’s books. There are a large number of titles to choose from including Disney books with all the most popular Disney characters. All with 30 full color pages personalized throughout. We also have Personalized Disney Clocks, Placemats, Name Poems and DVDs.

Every gift is a keepsake! A Personalized Gift made entirely from Wood, with the child's name personalized on it. Whatever the special occasion - a Christening, New Baby, Baptism, Birthday celebration or Christmas - a wooden gift that will last so long is the perfect gift. All Children Gifts are hand cut and finished like Wooden Clocks, Nursery Sets, Pencil Holders, Growth Charts, Door Plates and many more.

We also carry Interactive Story Book CDs for children. These Interactive Story Books comes Personalized or Non- personalized. The personalization of the story books not only includes the child’s name but, in some cases

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The Holiday Hop is coming December 1st. This will be a 5 day hop hosted by Simply Stacie. There are over 200 blogs participating in this event each hosting a giveaway for gift cards for you holiday shopping.

I'm excited to tell you about one of my sponsors, Little One Books.

Six years ago Joan McCoy and Barney Cohen became Grandparents. As they sought out appropriate material for their newest family member they were overwhelmed by the vast amount of choices available for young children. Failing to find guidance in their purchasing options, they took matters into their own hands. Their goal is to put age appropriate, quality media into the lives of young children. Today they have five grandchildren from one through six years of age.


They created Little One Books, an online site designed to help others make informed choices from among the immense amount of material available for children ages zero to five. Joan and Barney have personally reviewed and selected each and every item in their store. Visitors to their site will find detailed information on why they prefer a particular product in the "Why We Chose" section of each product page.

At Little One Books you’ll find the absolute best in baby board books, toddler music, pre-school videos and everything in-between. They have bedtime books that promote rest and relaxation, and others that are guaranteed to get your little one up and moving. In the thirty years that have elapsed since raising their own children, they’ve never lost sight of the important role that books, music and video play in a child's early life.



 At Little One Books, we understand the important role that books, music and video play in a child's early life.

 We specialize in quality books, music, and video, for children from birth through age five.

 Our team of professionals have personally reviewed and selected each and every item in our store.

 There is detailed information on why we prefer a particular product in our "Why We Chose" section of each product page.

 We match each product to what we believe is the youngest appropriate age group.

 We will pass along the latest news in child development, and publish discussions with authors, illustrators, musicians and producers

 We share personal anecdotes related to child rearing in our companion blog.

 Our carefully selected items can be used for years to come. As children develop they often find pleasure in revisiting old favorites, and eventually learn to read them on their own.

 We want to help parents, grandparents, family and friends make informed choices from among the vast amount of media available for children today.

 We want our customers to have a rewarding online shopping experience.

Little One Books will be giving away a $25 Gift Certificate.  To enter you'll need to be a follower of this blog. Giveaway is open Worldwide. (If you want a jumpstart on entering the FORM is already live).

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