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I read the review on Rosi's blog already. Sounds like such a great story!

Wow! Some amazing blogs here. I would love to win some books for the Underground Library in my classroom! :)

Wow! This does sound like quite the adventurous story! I truly enjoyed learning more about pirates and why things had to be made up. Definietily putting this book on my TBR list as well as "Get this for my siblings cause they will love it list" :)

nothought2small(at)gmail(dot)com

Cute! Those books look like a lot of fun to read! I would love to read them :D Pirates are pretty cool maybe not the real ones.... but the fiction ones are cool cough cough Johnny Depp.

I absolutely LOVE Deadweather and Sunrise! One of my favorite MG books of all time. I am so excited to read New Lands! All the characters are so fun. I especially love Guts.
desiree1612@hotmail.com

This book sounds awesome. And we need more pirate love in books. :)

I loved the first book and I can't wait for the second!

Would love to read these books with my kids.

I'm such a sucker for pirate books. This one sounds awesome!

Yikes! The research you've done has made me decide to never research pirates. Or the british navy. Good grief! The book sounds much more fun.

I've been seeing this around and reading great things about this. Glad he made it up after reading about the research.

Pick me! Pick me!! Now I have one more wonderful book to add to my already long to-read list.

This book is SO brilliant and funny--glad to see it getting some love here. =) I've already got my own copy and an ARC of book 2, so please don't count me in the giveaway, but I just wanted to put in my two cents!

I've read about these books, and this confirms that I must read them! They sound very interesting.

I have a MMGM as well. I featured the classic Bridge to Terabithia: http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/03/book-review-bridge-to-terabithia-by.html

But this just gives me an excuse to comment. I really want to read these books!

My grandson and I loved Deadweather and Sunrise and anxiously await New Lands.
Continued good luck, Geoff Rodkey!

Sounds like a great book. Cool cover. Thanks for sharing about it! Awesome giveaway! : )

Sounds amazing. It's rare for me to be intrigued by MG usually, but books like these are so up my alley!
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!

Oh, I am so in to win this book! (And that is horrifying about pirates, but I guess I'm not surprised. Johnny Depp romanticizes the whole thing, doesn't he?)

It was really fun for me to read what Goeff had to say here. Thanks for posting that. No need to put me in the drawing as I have the book, but just wanted to thank you for the post.

This sounds fabulous!! Thanks for a chance to win books one AND two!

First off I would like to say excellent blog!
I had a quick question that I'd like to ask if you don't mind.
I was interested to find out how you center yourself and
clear your thoughts before writing. I have had a tough time clearing my thoughts in
getting my ideas out there. I do take pleasure in writing but it just seems
like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally lost just trying to figure
out how to begin. Any ideas or tips? Cheers!

my web page zulutrade

Thanks for introducing THE CHRONICLES OF EGG to my must read list.

The first book is my son's favorite book of the last year (and he reads a lot!) Can't wait for the new book.

I have seen this one around recently and it sounds so good! Thanks for sharing more about the book with us. :) Also, thanks for the giveaway.
~Jess

Good God - woolding sounds gruesome!! Amazing how people are so inventive when torturing each other. This sounds like a fun read. Love the name Millicent!!

The Sky is Everywhere left me a little teary-eyed. But no book has ever made me cry harder or touched my soul more than Between Shades of Gray by Rupta Sepetys. Truly moving.

The Book Thief! Read it twice and convulsed with sobs both times. Love that book.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. And I made the mistake of watching the movie first.

13 Reasons Why. Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe for the sheer beauty of the storytelling.

As a kid, "Beauty" by Bill Wallace had me bawling.

As an adult, quite a few books have brought tears to my eyes, but I can't think of a novel particularly that moved me so much that I cried a lot (although a couple of scenes in "Conspiracy in Death" always get my crying, no matter how many times I've read the book!)

Some non-fiction books have caused me to cry buckets, too, though...

Conversation with my then-eight-year-old:

Him: I just finished Where the Red Fern Grows.

Me: Oh? Are you ok?

Him: [shakes his head no]

Me: Do you need to cry for a while?

Him: Yes please. [throws himself into my arms and sobs]

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Bridge to Terabithia, Friday Night Knitting Club, The Fault in our Stars and Me Before You all got me.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I think a lot of it had to do with a decade long journey coming to an end, and having grown up with the books, it somewhat symbolically signified the end of my childhood.

The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons had me seriously tearing up at the end. Need to go back and reread it.

As a new mom, I received a book called "Just Like You". I couldn't get through 5 pages without crying!

Oh, geez. There have been so many. Atonement made me ball my eyes out. Deathly Hallows? Yep. The Fault in Our Stars, Last Summer of You and Me,and probably more that I can't think of right now.

The Grapes of Wrath, the last paragraph.

The Book Thief had me crying like a baby for a good ten minutes.

Whoops, meant to include Atonement.

Old Yeller. Nothing even came close. I was inconsolable for a month.

There are two books, actually. The first one is The Hobbit (it's been years since I've read it so I can't remember why I cried, I just know I did)

The second book is The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Such a sad, sad book.

Flowers for Algernon

Pawn in Frankincense - Dorothy Dunnett
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K Rowling
Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx

Some because they had devastating endings, some because of heartrending scenes which impacted the course of events; all made me cry so hard I could no longer see the page to read.

I just finished reading The Obvious Game by Rita Arens, and it had me crying not only when I was reading, but as I was going about my day later. LOVED it.

The Road made me cry. I cried repeatedly while reading The Fault In Our Stars. But no book has ever made me cry the way The Book Thief made me cry.

Mila 18 by Leon Uris.

I was only about twelve and this was my first exposure to WWII Polish and Jewish Ghetto history, so the emotional impact of the novelised tale was extreme!

I remember crying like a baby as the Polish cavalry charged the German tanks, and being utterly devastated when some mothers poisoned their own children rather than have them die on the trains/in the camps. I'm sure I'd have cried a lot more, but I was numb by that point!

It made such an impact on me I've never even attempted to reread it as an adult.

I remember literally sobbing the first time I read The Two Towers and thought Frodo was dead. It took me something like half an hour to calm down enough to finish the last few pages of the book. Then I found out he was alive & flung the book across the room, I was so mad at all that weeping for nothing. :)

Flowers for algernon.

The only one I remember is Jim Butcher's "Blood Rites." There was a scene in there that made me tear up and have to put the book down to recover.

Tess of the D'Urbevilles. Oh how I ugly cried at that one. My now husband found me in the kitchen in floods, and when I told him what it was over, he thought I was pretty nuts. He then bought me a rare edition of Anna Karenina though, which also resulted in lots of ugly crying, so maybe he likes it?

NEVER FALL DOWN was pretty horrible. And I agree with THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, and THE BOOK THIEF too! My daughters have all had to read MY BROTHER SAM IS DEAD and I've helped them with their reports and whatnot. So sad!

Jessica

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry At lots of specific places, but also at the end just because it seemed so incredibly hopeless

A Dog Called Kitty and Where The Red Fern Grows are two favorites.

Goodbye Mr. Chips was so sad when I was in middle school, on a family vacation, that my mom ended up having to take me on an outdoor adventure for a day, just to lift my spirits. I was also so completely heartbroken by The Time Traveler's Wife that when I finished reading it at 3 in the morning and called my mom (seeing a pattern here...hmm...) who works the night shift, I was sobbing so hard that she was worried the house had burned down or my sister who I was watching had been murdered. It took me about five minutes to calm down and tell her it wasn't anything real life, I was just really upset by a book plot.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It even made my husband cry, which he will never admit to, but we both know it did :)

Uncontrollable gush when Larry McMurtry killed off Augustus in "Lonesome Dove." Months later, got home to sight of wife sobbing convulsively on the couch and knew exactly what section of the book she had gotten to...

The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness.
If you've read it, you know the part I'm talking about!!

And Stolen by Lucy Christopher.
This one still makes me cry if I think about it for more than five seconds...

Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking and McCracken's An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination

"Eva Moves The Furniture" by Margot Livesey.
A stealth treasure of a book, that makes me cry now as much as it did a decade ago.

And recently, "The Fault In Our Stars." I finished it on an airplane, and had to hide my face in my hoodie on the tray-table in front of me.

Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein: Total ugly cry.
Also, The Time Traveler's Wife killed me because it was given to me as a "beach read." And for the record: there's nothing worse than sobbing on a sunny beach in Mexico.

An intermediate children's book Baby by Patricia MacLachlan. A beautiful story that had me sobbing in the Philadelphia airport. Even as I type this thinking of the book I can feel the emotions welling up.

The Book Thief
Plain Kate
The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, the Sandman series- finishing a Neil Gaiman book makes me cry.

As a kid, there were a few:

Where the Red Fern Grows (requires no explanation)

Sasha, My Friend (by Barbara Corcoran...it tells the story of a kid who befriends a wolf while living in ranch country. You can guess how well that goes.)

Summer of My German Soldier (by Bette Green -- about a Jewish teenager in the US who ends up harboring and falling in love with a detained Nazi. This left me inconsolable for days)

Dogsbody (by Diana Wynn Jones, about a star who's wrongfully accused of murder and imprisoned in a dog's body on earth. His only friend is an orphaned Irish girl.)

More recently:

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. (I re-read the series about once a year, and this makes me weep ever. single. time)

The White Bone (by Barbara Gowdy. Tells the story of a group of elephants on the quest to find a mythical white bone that will lead them to safety away from poachers. Not a kid's book - very adult, and very disturbing. It also has the single hardest to read scene I have ever seen in any book anywhere.)

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr.

I don't remember exactly why, but I know I cried for a long time after finishing Lois Lowry's MESSENGER. Am reading THE GIVER right now with my 5th grader, so maybe I'll just keep going with them!

Atonement.
But I have The Book Thief on my TBR pile and am waiting until I need a good cry. Ha ha.

"The Outsiders" by SE Hinton

then I cried during the movie too

The Fault in Our Stars.
The Time Traveler's Wife.
And the ending of The Amber Spyglass, which I made the mistake of finishing on the train.

Oh gosh, as with many others, Where the Red Fern Grows. I was eleven, I finished it at midnight and had to trek upstairs to find some tissues and then explain to my mother, first, why I was crying, and second, why I was reading at midnight.

The only other two books that made me cry were by Nicholas Sparks. Shut up! I know. The books were way sadder than the movies. at some point, A Walk to Remember, and when I was sixteen, and a very hard, don't show your feelings, tough sixteen, The Notebook. I remember lying on the couch using the book to hide my face as I finished the book. In the movie, they die together, but in the book, he ends the day knowing that the next would be the same, and the day after that as well, on for the unknown future. I was weeping. I tried to sneak past my younger sister to steal some tissues and terrified her. She thought someone had died.

The Fault in our Stars. I was weeping on the subway. The Book Thief - weeping on a plane. Harry Potter 4, when his parents briefly come back - weeping on the couch. (at least that one wasn't in public.)

Lots of things make me cry, so that isn't often terribly notable. But I recently read The Fault in Our Stars, which did not just make me cry. I SOBBED.

i'm not much of a crier at all (except for Hallmark commercials,FTW?) but The Fault in Our Stars just broke my heart. There was something about the relationship between Hazel and her parents that resonated with me. And when I say resonate, I mean made me bawl.

(not the same Crystal as the above commenter)
I don't have much time for fiction reading these days, but In Face of Danger made me cry when I was a kid.
...and I must admit...I cried when Dumbledore died.

The Book Thief is an old favorite that pulls on my heart strings. A new favorite is The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. Great emotional writing. I loved every page.

Sacred Hunger (Barry Unsworth)....I've never felt such love for a character (Matthew Paris) and to have him taken from me was almost unbearable. I sobbed for hours. I think it won the Booker the year it was released.

Where the Red Fern Grows had me bawling (Big Dan and Little Ann!) and of course Bridge to Terabithia. How unfair that seemed. The Book Theif! The Fault in Our Stars! All the usual suspects, I guess. Most recently I cried when I read Lois Lowry's Son. And if you want to read a heartbreaking children's picture book, I recommend The Big Ugly Monster and the Little Stone Rabbit.

My son just read My Brother Sam Is Dead and wrote a moving piece about the horrors of war for school.

I finished The Road on an airplane and was on the verge of tears at the end when *SPOILER ALERT!* the Man died. I held it together, but just barely.

Dave Barry's books have brought tears to my eyes, but of laughter, if that counts.

Lots of books... reading aloud Harry Potter, the secret garden, The golden compass series to my children and crying. But the Heaven tree trilogy from Edith Pargeter made me sob... sob, people...

Oh--someone mentioned The Amber Spyglass! I was shattered. So beautiful, so painful. (so deep).

The Green Mile - three tissues on the sob meter

Where the Red Fern Grows and My Girl caused me to cry for hours as a kid. I don't know that I've ever really cried as an adult for a book.

For me it was The Red Tent. I have never cried so hard over a book. Ever. I had to stifle it as best I could for fear I'd wake my husband. The part that did it (spoiler alert, but if you know your Bible stories, you'll already be aware) was when Dinah woke to find her lover had been murdered by her family. I even knew it was coming and thought I'd prepared myself. Apparently not.

Many of the above, and also Little Women!

Great question, Nathan.

I cry really easily. So, I tend to avoid really sad books, because I'll sob for days.

But I'll second those above regarding "Flowers For Algernon". Haunting. I can still picture the ending and feel heartbroken.

Add: I just read Angela's post above about Little Women. Oh absolutely. Beth!

the only one that's ever made me shed a tear is the line right at the end of "Test of the Twins." You need to have read all of the Dragonlance Chronicles and the Legends for it but the line "Look, Raist, bunnies!" is surprisingly emotional!

The Sparrow.
And I was prepared, because it's a frame story and you KNOW a whole bunch of people are going to die. But, man, the double death in the middle...

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Sun's - both mind blowing books. I didn't cry but was moved beyond belief.

From childhood -- and again as an adult when I read it to my children: Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene.

I'll Love You Forever, My Brother Stevie, Where the Red Fern Grows, and the short story There Will Come Soft Rains.

The Fault in Our Stars made me sob for hours. I read it New Year's Eve day and didn't want to go out that evening because (SPOILER ALERT!) it felt like a family member had died.

Oh, yes, and I'm with Adie. Summer of My German Soldier. All these years later just hearing the title again makes me hurt inside.

The Art of Racing in the Rain.

The end of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials had me weeping, which was especially hard because I was reading it aloud to my son and husband (we read the entire series aloud) and had to keep stopping to compose myself. Took about three hours!

A Fine Balance
Flowers for Algernon

On Chesil Beach, Water for Elephants, and Girls of Riyadh made me cry profusely.

Definitely The Book Thief and also the Holocaust portions of Sarah's Key (the present-day portions didn't move me nearly as much.)

As a kid Old Yeller made me cry the most. And then I suffered through the movie! Roll of Thunder Here Me Cry had me shaken up, too.

As an adult Flowers for Algernon and I have yet to make it through The Book Thief...

I've never been one to cry easily at books and movies...though the habit seems to be growing on me lately, oddly enough. The two that come to mind first are Mrs. Mike and Rilla of Ingleside.

(Incidentally, I've never dared to read Where the Red Fern Grows after having seen the movie once many years ago.)

I was reading Of Mice and Men aloud to a class of summer school students who never did much reding on their own. When George put his arms around Lenny and shot him, I completely lost it, sobbing like an idiot in front of my silent class. One of my students, Allen, a big, tough, smart kid, came up, gently took the book from my hands, and finished the reading. It was not the first time I'd read it. I'd probably read it forty times, but to this day I can't even think about that scene in the book without tearing up.

A MONSTER CALLS.

Weirdly enough, the book that made me sob is a non-fiction book called THE BOOK WHISPERER. It's a reading teacher's manifesto on student choice in the classroom. Reading it made me miss my classroom, yes, but even more so, I was heartened to see someone truly living the book life alongside her students.

I appreciate the mention.

I can't believe nobody's mentioned CHARLOTTE'S WEB yet--it's hard for me to get through the ending even now, a couple of decades after I first read it.

And most recently, Jo Knowles's SEE YOU AT HARRY'S.

Sophies World made me really, really sad, I cried in the whole end of the book. Then problaby Deathly Hallows: many, many things got me there. Everything was just sad and heartbreaking and moving and touching. The latest book that i cried over was the ending of Delirium - really sad.

I'll be the weird one who bawls my eyes out at fantasy novels. After you've spent years with these characters, when tragedy hits it's devastating.

Immortalis by R.A. Salvatore. Also The Ghost King

Changes by Jim Butcher

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Paula from Issabel Allende. It's not a book that just made me weep, it's that book that left me crying for days. It transformed me to a pretty morbid person on those days at least.

Am I crazy to say that I love it nonetheless?

Sorry. Typo: Isabel Allende.

Sophies World really, really made me cry. It has the most biggest and saddest plot-twist ever seen and the whole book and ending itself is beautiful and moving. The other is Sophie's World really, really made me cry. It has the most biggest and saddest plot-twist ever seen and the whole book and ending itself is beautiful and moving. The other is Deathly Hallows, which just got me, at so many points. It was sad, it was good, and touching and painful and happy all at ónce, and all the deaths and pain and misery and the ending and bahhh. T_T dead. The most recent book I have cried over was Delirium. Many times through I was sad and scared over the world and life Lena and every other had to life, without love. I'm actually not really a crying person, but sometimes books like Harry Potter and Sophie's World just gets me.

I'm a goober and cry fairly easily. Even if I don't like the book! Bridge To Terebithia hits me hard, as does The Book Thief. Someone mentioned A Monster Calls and I'll second that. It's a beautiful and poignant book.

The Collector by John Fowles

Sophie's Choice by William Styron. Holocaust books get me anyway, but that one did me in. Thank God I read it before I saw the movie, because as good as the movie is, the book was so much better (in my opinion).

A Fine Balance. Finished it on a plane. Bad idea. I was sobbing into a snotty cocktail napkin. I would put the book down and try and look normal, and then plunge in for more anguish and more tears and more snot. Poor guy sitting next to me.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. And I still can get choked up just thinking about the end of The Incredible Journey when Bodger shows up, limping over the crest of the hill.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, and it was totally unexpected, too!

LIttle Bee, A Dog's Way Home, Pillars of the Earth, Cold Mountain--and a bunch of the others already mentioned.

The Book Thief - definitely! If I was just a few decades younger I would have to elope with Rudy Steiner.

The Grey King by Susan Cooper made me sob. I remember reading part of it to my mom and being utterly unable to grasp why she didn't collapse in response.

Hmmm...I remember sobbing first at Burrich and Fitzchivalry's reunion and then Burrich's death scene in Robin Hobb's FOOL's FATE from the Tawny Man trilogy--the final story of the Farseer's.

Outlander
Into the Wilderness (series by Sara Donati) - particularly the final book, The Endless Forest
The Breakdown Lane by Jacquelyn Mitchard
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
and, oddly, Anna Quindlen's latest: Lots of Candles; Plenty of Cake had me tearing up on numerous occasions - I guess I could really relate to her sentiments

Nathan, have you read The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion? I started reading it at school when everyone, teachers included, was supposed to read for a 30 minute period a day. I kept bawling and my students were freaking out, so I had to read that on only at home.

Hiroshima by John Hersey makes me cry every time http://www.amazon.com/Hiroshima-John-Hersey/dp/0679721037

Brenda Pierson, I'm with you on the tragedy in fantasy. I choked up thoroughly over a certain scene in the last Wheel of Time book recently.

I'm the reverse of you, Nathan; didn't cry much as a kid, but stuff gets me all the time now. Brideshead Revisited was a recent bawler. And The Little Prince, which I'd never read before. I read The Giver for the first time last year, and that meltdown was epic.

I'm scared spitless to read The Fault in Our Stars.

Plainsong and Eventide, both by Kent Haruf. I cried in my soup. Read Plainsong first, some of the characters are in both.

Without fail, Erich Segal's Love Story gets me each time I read it. It's either when Jenny dies or when Oliver cries in his father's arms.

As a child, The Giver.

As an adult, Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows, and Tempting the Bride (some powerful parallels and emotional situations).

I don't cry often, but usually favorite characters dying or children being harmed immediately gets the tears rolling.

Where the Red Fern Grows, of course. As well as Old Yeller. And The Kite Runner. And I also cried over Her Fearful Symmetry.

A Thousand Splendid Suns and Beloved.

Black Beauty. Little Women. The Deep End of the Ocean.

Basically, put in a dying pet, loved one, or a lost or dead child, and you had better not get between me and the Kleenex.

The Fault in Our Stars (obviously) by John Green, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, and Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

@ Jenna - I forgot about the Little Prince. Me, too.

@ Jennifer - how could I forget Charlottes Web!!! Charlotte, no! So sad. :(

John Green can definitely make me cry.

The only books that ever made me cry were The Bridges of Madison County (duh) and Of Mice and Men

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kinsolver. You knew right from the beginning that one of the four children would not be making it out of the Congo alive, and the tension built throughout the novel. But when death came, it was completely unexpected and shockingly swift. Best of all, the scene was told from a child's point of view. A masterpiece! I was distraught for days afterwards.

The Green Mile by Stephen King. I learnt that you can't sob and read at the same time, not matter how much you want to keep reading.

The Green Mile by Stephen King. I learnt that you can't sob and read at the same time, not matter how much you want to keep reading.

I have never cried so much at a book as when I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Towards the end, don't want to give it away. I read it in middle school and was deeply affected by the relationship the girl had with her father. I'll never forget it. Still one of my favorite books.

Tolkien's "Children of Hurin".

Also the first draft of my friend's novel which I just finished reading because ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Never speaking to her again.

When I was little, I read a book called "A Dog Called Kitty" that left me sobbing...because it was one of the most emotionally manipulative kids' books ever.

The kid narrator was bitten by a rabid dog as a toddler, so he's terrified of dogs. A dog finally befriends him, and the kid names him Kitty. Kitty saves him from stuff, the kid learns to like dogs, yadda yadda yadda, the end, right?

Nope. In the last chapter, for no apparent reason, the whole family goes to the city to visit the boy's uncle who works on a construction site. Someone yells, "Look out!" and a huge pipe falls out of nowhere and crushes the dog to death. The End.

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
Exodus by Leon Uris

I have been most affected by scenes in novels dealing with the Holocaust. Though fictional, they represent real horrors perpetrated on real people. The scene in The Odessa Files where an old man had to help load his own wife onto a gassing truck haunts me to this day.
~jon

A Dog Called Kitty
Flowers for Algernon
The Time Traveler's Wife
some of James Herriot's stories

Anne Frank, the diary of a young girl.

Not a novel per se, but a memoir with novelistic (read: fantastical) elements: The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe (Dutton, 1929). In the early 1990s I was on a lunch break, reading the end while sitting on a plush couch in a hotel lobby -- and I was sobbing.

As a kid: Where the Red Fern Grows and The Diary of Anne Frank.

As an adult: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I think because I'd been invested in the series SO LONG--I started crying at Dudley telling Harry he wasn't a waste of space and never quit), The God of Small Things, Prince of Tides, The Kite Runner, Les Miserables.

The Fault in Our Stars had me crying, especially at the end.

The Red Pony,Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz were the first books I remember reading that made me cry.I was seven years old at the time.
As an adult the books that have affected me the most have been Fifty Shades of Grey.The third book made me cry the most but each book has made me cry.Several of J.D Robb's In Death series have made me cry.I love to read and I also write Romance Suspense novels.The Hobbit made me cry all the way through the novel.I was pregnant with my third child at the time and my husband read a chapter to me every night because it calmed the baby down as though she was listening to the story.Eventually all three of us were relaxed enough to go to sleep.

Never cried much over books or movies as a kid, but sniffled when Old Yeller had to be shot. Beth's death didn't affect me, and to my mother's horror, I didn't cry when Uncle Tom died. What she didn't know was that I sobbed over the scene with his wife. Her quiet noble grief haunts me to this day. As an adult, I was distraught for a week after "watching" Anna Karenina plunge into a nightmare from which there was only one way out. And I really hated losing one Weasley twin -- that sucked.

See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles-I cried for the entire second half of the book

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

All three brought on the ugly cry, but oh what a good catharsis each one is. Honorable mention to Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere. I didn't cry, but I love that book with all of my heart.

I wisely avoided books with animals growing up, as I was forced to read Where the Red Fern Grows, (I didn't start out as an avid reader,) and spotted the trend. I sobbed buckets after finishing it and had no desire to do so again.

That said, the first time I cried as an adult, (now an avid reader, but I stick with lighter material,) was when I got to the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. As a mom, reading Harry's emotion when Molly Weasley hugs him and Rowling writes: "He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother," just made my heart break.

Yup, teary now just thinking about it.

Walter Macken's Seek the Fair Land made me cry like a baby. John Green's The Fault in Our Stars was also a tear jerker. And Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Devastating in all the right ways.

Bridges of Madison County is the only book that made me cry.


I'm usually not an emotional person. I rarely cry, not for movies, books, or sappy commercials.

"Eyes of Prey" still gets me and I haven't read it in a couple years. I'm still sad about Cassie and that fact that the Chief could have saved her life.

"Softly Say Goodbye" by KC Sprayberry.

Fantastic YA novel about the perils of teen drinking.

The Book Thief, yes!
And the Amber Spyglass.
I BAWLED over the bench scene and when they have to leave each other.

One time I was working at a bookstore and found a copy of it out of place. I opened it up to that part and just started crying and reading it.

Someone came over and asked me if I was ok.
"Yeah," I said, "It's just so sad. They want to be together but they can't."

In a perfect world, the person would have said, "WOW! What a good book...I'll buy it."

But the person just looked at me like I was a weirdo, and walked away.

The novel that made me cry the most? 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Who would have thought that a Stephen King novel would have a heart-wrenching love story?

King credits his son--novelist Joe Hill--with suggesting the ending.

Jane Eyre, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and The Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society all left me wet-eyed with a lump in my throat. But 11/22/63 made me cry the most.

To this day, it's still 'Love you Forever' by Robert Munsch. Fifteen years since i first heard it, and I still can't make it all the way through without becoming totally useless.

The Red Pony by Steinbeck. The part that made me cry and haunts me still (spoiler if I tell, but--it's what happens to the pony.)

I have to agree with you about Atonement. Sweet divine, I was a blubbering mess when I read that book.

My Sister's Keeper, The Notebook, and Not Without My Sister had me crying myself to sleep. Anything Nicholas Sparks does tend to get me every time.

I also read 33 Minutes and have it reviewed at http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2013/01/middle-grade-monday-33-minutes.html

Whisper--I don't love zombie books either. This sounds good but I'll let someone else win because my TBR list is pretty long right now.

Would you believe I haven't read any of the zombie books! This one sounds like a good one to start with, though. Thanks for the review. I did a MMGM post over on my blog, but I don't see my name up there yet. So if you all want, hop over to my blog at http://creativewritingintheblackberrypatch.blogspot.com Thanks, Janet

Hmm...a middle grade book about zombies. Interesting at that age. I mean; I'd have been the MGer to love such a topic, but I wasn't in the norm. lol I'll have to check this one out.

+JMJ+

Did anyone else think, at first glance, that the cover was for an adult Urban Fantasy novel? I'm not crazy about zombies, either, but I have a working knowledge of The Walking Dead (Thanks, Mom!) and I love Middle Grade fiction. So this is definitely a book I'd be interested in. Please enter me in the giveaway, Shannon! Thanks! =)

My elementary students are always clambering for zombie books . . . and there really aren't that many for the middle-grade set. They seem to be more for teens, so I am definitely excited to read this one. Thanks for the recommendation. And blurb from Suzanne Collins . . . wow!

You don't like zombies? That's ok more for me *scoops up all the zombie books*

Would love to read this. It sounds amazing. And PURPLE COVER!!

christajls@gmail.com

Sounds amazing! Thanks for the heads-up since I hadn't heard of this one yet. My last MG read was Gustav Gloom and the People Taker which I adored. And since it was spooky, I'm already in the mood for some zombies!

I did, at first glance. Until I noticed the cartoony aspect of the young girl and zombie hands.

I can't watch The Walking Dead. It may be a good story, but i's just too violent for me.

I'm not into zombies either, for the very same reason. Zombies can't outsmart you or create some intricate evil plan. They're just persistent. The stories do get repetitive.

I did accidentally read a zombie book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth - but it was because I didn't know it was a zombie book until it was too late. I was actually surprised by that one. That's YA, though. Not much MG zombie going on.

I think it means even more that you would recommend Dead City as a non-zombie fan.

Sorry Janet--for some reason your email got sorted to spam. Added a link for you now!

I read my first zombie book recently--Carrie Harris' BAD TASTE IN BOYS--and really enjoyed it, even though I didn't expect to. This one sounds like fun, too!

Sounds like a great one. I'm not much of a zombie reader, but the way you describe it makes me interested.

I'm in love with that cover, and while I understand I shouldn't judge a book my a cover sometimes I can't help myself!

Since reading WARM BODIES and ZONE ONE, I can't get enough of zombies. And DEAD CITY sounds great! Plus, it's set in Manhattan and I'd love to return there one day. And an unusual cover for a MG, but really cool. Thank you for the chance to win!

Zombie MG FTW! Now I want to read this one and Zombie Tag! :)
~Ella Ink

Well, this one sounds interesting. Thanks for running the giveaway.

I'm not usually one for zombies either, but this book sounds very good!

YES YES YES!!! This sounds bloody awesome. :D

I agree with you: I've never really been one for 'zombies', But I won't deny this book looks INCREDIBLE!

This sounds fantastic - thanks for the giveaway! Most zombie novels are too scary for me, but a MG one is right up my alley. :-D

I love zombies! I've never read an MG one though and this one sounds like it's good! I definitely need to read this!! And, it has a purple cover!! Purple's my favorite : )

I'm not much of a zombie fan either but this one sounds awesome. And I have a few students who are kind of zombi obsessed right now - I know they'll love it :)

Sounds like a great book, I'd love to enter, thanks.

I must read this asap!!!!

Looks like a fabulous read. I can already think of 4 kiddos that will be waiting in line to read this. Thank you!

I read this and loved it! It was great. I wasn't going to buy it at first because it was kind of expensive, but I did and it was worth it! Molly has such an awesome voice, and she is just plain cool! I enjoyed it so much I gave a copy to my friend as a gift. She also loved it, which is pretty cool because we have VERY different taste when it comes to books. And even if you don't win, go out and get it. DEAD CITY is so worth it! :)

I already have a copy so don't enter me, please! Thanks!

Zombies - oh my! I have several kiddos who are having a hard time finding a just right "next" book. From your review it sounds like this might be it. Thanks for the chance to win :)

Oh! This book sounds amazing, Shannon :D Thank you so much for sharing and giving away a copy. <3 would love to win it :) *fingers crossed.*
Love, Carina

Zombies are awesome. I need to read this.

Am I the only one who has never read a zombie book? This one actually sounds interesting, it could be my first!

Sounds good (: and if you say it's good, it must be good! Can't wait.

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Sounds like a fun one! Thanks for coming out of the cave, Shannon. ;)

Great review! Glad you had a little reading time. This sounds like a wonderful book!
~Jess

This sounds SO incredibly amazing. Thanks so much, Shannon! And hey, why didn't you ever tell me there were Animal Fries, too!??!?! It took me two Animal Cheeseburgers to figure the fries out. =.= (i kid, i kid. but seriously. those poor, in-n-out-deprived east-coasters...)

Haven't read any Zombie books before. this one sounds a great way to start it :)

"dead city" sounds like a fun read! would definitely love to check it out and then spread the love by sharing the book with my nieces and nephews. ^.^

totally sold on this one and will be getting it. thanks! hope you are enjoying your weekend.

I like reading about zombies. I'll have to add this title to my list of books to get. Thanks for sharing about it. : )

I loved Gone Girl! It was my favorite of 2012 as well.

I just finished Shine, Shine, Shine by Lydia Netzer. It's a close second for me.

I know this one is sort of obvious, but then she's sort of obviously a great writer. Mine is JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy.

I loved "Gone Girl."

But my favorite of 2012 was "Cursing Mommy's Book of Days" by Ian Frazier. This book embarrassed me on the train more than once when I couldn't stop giggling. And, through all the silliness, the book gets modern parenthood and spousedom and even the workplace better than anything else I've read in a long time.

My favorite books were Where She Went and Slammed. I assume at least one of those were published in 2012.

Aside from my own? (Shameless...)

Ruta Sepetys' Between Shades of Gray. That's GRAY, not those other GREY books. Maybe it’s because it is the best book I’m reading at this moment. Technically it’s a 2011 book, but I’m always at least a year or two behind.

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. Amazing and beautiful-- I quote it often.

Demetri and the Banana Flavored Rocketship
By far.

I loved Gone Girl, Nathan, and up until the second half of the book, I shared your feelings that the novel was right up there with any great work of fiction and that it was only snobbery that kept Flynn from getting the same quality of attention that someone like Franzen gets (though I saw this as more of a genre prejudice than sexism). However, Flynn really dropped the ball toward the end of the novel, where you can feel her becoming a slave to the gimmick she set up, and where (spoiler) Amy's character loses all its nuance as she turns into a stock psycho. Gone Girl is a good example of what the real difference is between genre fiction and (literary) fiction. It's not the prose. The prose is sometimes better in genre novels. Rather, it's that the standards in genre fiction are simply lower overall--the characters aren't as complex, the plot not as plausible, the jokes usually less funny--and Franzen would never allow himself the conventions Flynn relies on.

The Fault in Our Stars is my absolute fave, but Gone Girl gets second place. I love Gillian Flynn. I had been recommending her other books to anyone who would listen. I'm glad she's finally gotten some acclaim.

I'm super curious to see how the movie will be done--if they follow through with the movie. She certainly plays with the genre and with the reader's psychology and expectations. A movie I saw recently--a doc called The Impostor--does the same thing. It tells a story, but it also plays with its audience and makes them complicit in the very thing it is criticizing.

David-

I think that's an interesting point, though I think it still worked for me because (spoiler) Nick steadily reveals himself to be less than sane and totally unreliable himself, which I think made it more believable that he would have been in a relationship with someone that unhinged. I think there was still quite a bit of nuance in that book even though it came with a potboilerish veneer.

I loved Gone Girl (and what a great book for book clubs to discuss!)
But I have two others that were my absolute favorites for 2012: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman. Both beautifully written, emotionally heartwrenching, with unforgettable characters and interesting ethical dilemmas.

Reading Gone Girl now. I feel spoiled every time I sit to read.

Such stellar writing!
~ Wendy

Gone Girl was my favorite, and A Fault in Our Stars would probably be second.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green was absolutly my favorite, although My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick is a close second.

My favorite of 2012, too! Wasn't thrilled with the ending, but I forgave it because the rest was so good.

Reflections by L L Howell

I loved Bring up the Bodies, Nathan. Happy New Year to you.

Bam! Hands down, Life Among Giants, Roorbach. This guy can WRITE!

Gone Girl was great. Tore through it in a day. Fault in Our Stars is fabulous as well, but my absolute favorite of 2012 is Laini Taylor's Days of Blood and Starlight, book two in her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy.

I know I'm late to the game, but I liked Junot Diaz's "This is How You Lose Her" for its last short story.

The gender bias thing has so been done to death.
Seriously Nathan. If there is a bias it is a bias TOWARDS female writers.
Most READERS don't care. But many writers, which includes journalists, bloggers, and trashy magazine spewers of words onto pagers, seem biased towards females.
In my almost worthless opinion, Gone Girl is being given a pass despite a very weak ending, yet Franzen, who is not my favourite, but someone I mention only because you did, would be lambasted by all if he published a book with such an ending.
Despite that, some perspective... Anyone who can write a book as good as Gone Girl is a wonderful writer, and deserving of immense praise.
My favourite book in 2012 was Fifty.... naaaa, just kidding.
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, and Building Stories by Chris Ware.
What a wonderful thing it is to be alive and have so much choice in 2013.

The Fault in Our Stars, but then I haven't read Gone Girl yet. Maybe I will change my mind when I get to it.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green followed closely by Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor followed closely by Gone Girl. Really it's pretty much a three-way tie. Ooh, also Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood. So, four-way tie, I guess.

I too loved Gone Girl and it's funny you mention ol Jon because I thought of him often while reading this book. Not sure if it was my absolute favorite, but I certainly enjoyed and bought it for many people this Christmas.

I really liked Adrienne Kress' Friday Society.

THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC by Julie Otsuka ... hands down my favorite! It's compellingly human, and who could possibly do a more powerful job writing in first person plural. Incredible!

THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC by Julie Otsuka is my favorite ... hands down! It is powerfully human, and who else could write an entire book so compellingly in first person plural?

sorry. It looked like the first one didn't post.

That I've read and was actually published in 2012: The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes.

My favourite this year was Bring Up the Bodies, but Gone Girl was definitely number two. I am seeing it all over everyone's favourites lists for 2012, so it clearly struck a nerve.

Mine was my favorite, if that's allowed. Not least because I was also the publisher and I got it done. Hooray, Hoorah! It's called Bare Naked at the Reality Dance, if I may please say so. If not, feel free to delete.

Mine was my favorite, if that's allowed. Not least because I was also the publisher and I got it done. Hooray, Hoorah! It's called Bare Naked at the Reality Dance, if I may please say so. If not, feel free to delete.

I second Shine Shine Shine and The Buddha in the Attic -- I loved both of them! Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain was stellar, as well.

I love the books you reccomend, they're always great. For me it was probably "Raven Boys"

"The Raven Boys" By Maggie Steifvater. She never disappoints, me lovies.

"The Raven Boys" by Maggie Steifvater. She never disappoints.

I didn't love Gone Girl as much as you did. My hands down favorite was Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan.

I loved Wild by Cheryl Strayed, but I was captivated by Gone Girl as well. The unreliable narrator was done so beautifully it'll be a tough standard to live up to.

Okay I admit I am guilty.My favorite book was and still is Fifty Shades of Grey.I have read all three of them at least six times.I love the characters,the romance and yes the naughty stuff is sexy and not offensive to me! All of that aside,the story is intense,well written and the characters are likeable,flawed,intriguing and irresistible.

The Fault in our Stars. Definitely. I have been a life-long John Green fan, but I am happy to see, based on your comments here, that I am not alone in loving this one.

My daughter would LOVE that book! She HATES pink, would rather do soccer than anything else, and has dragons painted in her room. Perfect!

Aw this sounds sooo cute!!!

That cover is so darn cute! Sounds like a wonderful story. I want to read this one. Thanks for sharing about it.

Ooh, that looks adorable! I'd love to win a copy for my niece :)

How fun to feature your agent's book! As an adult who reads many, many kid books, there is much to love about them no matter a person's age.

And look at that list of MMGM participants! Wow! The MG love continues to grow and spread. I've got my work cut out for me as I jog through the blogosphere today.

I'm always looking for fun chapter books for my younger students. This sounds like a series my girls would love.

I would love to share this with my daughter. She's a little into everything. She loves girly stuff(pink/purple, princesses,...) and dinosaurs, dragons, soccer...

monagargATyahooDOTcom

Great thinking to match a girl with dragons. I found inspiration as a teen reading Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels. It seems MG children might just find the same with this book.

Love the cover and the sound of this one. Adding to my to watch for list. AND---

one week, Shannon, one week!

Thanks for the chance to win Laura's book.

Princesses AND dragons -- too cute! I saw this book before I left the bookstore. And I knew she was your agent. How cool!

I think my granddaughter would love this book! Thanks for running the giveaway.

This sounds like a fun, cute book! Love the mix of a girl with dragons for a change : ) Thanks for the giveaway!!

This sounds like a cute book. Awesome that Laura writes too. I'll let someone else win who has a younger kid.

And congrats on the start of your blog tour. I saw the great review on The Story Siren. Yay!

What a cute cover! Thanks for the giveaway! And congrats on the blog tour! :)

Jasmine @ the bookish mama
thebookishmama at gmail dot com

Gosh, I bet you can't sleep!

Isn't it amazing how many agents are also writers?! Where do they find the time.

Counting down with you....

I'd love to read ROYAL PRINCESS ACADEMY: DRAGON DREAMS with my daughter. It looks wonderful.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

I know a couple of girls who will LOVE this story! The cover is completely adorable too! :)

What a fun book! And thanks for the giveaway!

Ha, Emma sounds just like a whole bunch of the little girls I know these days. Funny kids who play soccer must be trending worldwide. Thanks for putting this one up for giveaway, any one of them would love it as a gift I'm sure.

carlscott(at)prodigy(dot)net(dot)mx

This sounds like a really cute read - I'll have to tell my niece about it!

- Jessica @ Book Sake

I'd love to play please!

I would be excited to win a copy. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this.

~Trish Fletcher

This looks like the cutest book!

Thank you for this awesome giveaway. <3 This book seems perfect! Would love to win it :D *fingers crossed* <3
Love, Carina

This looks like a super little book. I love stories with fairy tale nods and I love illustrations too!
ladyofnarnia(at)yahoo(dot)com

Omg! I need this book! Ah! Thank you for letting me know about it, Shannon. <3 Sigh. I adore middle grade books. And this one sounds so good. Adore the cover :) Thank you for the giveaway as well :D *Fingers crossed.* <3
Love, Carina

That sounds great and a little spooky all at once!

Oooh, sounds soooo interesting! I'd love to be entered!

This sounds incredible. A bit of The Knife of Never Letting Go, with a touch of The White Mountains, all wrapped up in a nice, MG package. Thanks, Shan!

I haven't seen this one yet, but it sounds like a winner--and you're right about that cover!! :-)

I often have trouble getting into high fantasy too . . . glad you mentioned that this one has enough familiarity to keep the reader pulled in. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I love high fantasy. This one sounds like another great recommendation!!

And did you know that the cover for DARKBEAST is by the terrific artist, Erin McGuire? She did both the covers for my CIRCLE OF SECRETS and WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME - and she did the cover for BREADCRUMBS, too.

She's fabulous. The book sounds terrific, too.

I'm not a huge fan of fantasy, but this one sounds great. Thanks for running the giveaway.

I love fantasy, and this one sounds SO GOOD!

The cover is pretty. The story tears at my heart. My beloved cat passed a couple months ago. I can't imagine doing anything to harm him, let alone well...what law is dictating Keara to do. I think that law needs to be struck from the books. Looking forward to the giveaway.

I love the cover and this sounds like a great fantasy book! Thanks for sharing it with us : )

The cover draws me right in! And the story sounds wonderful. Thanks for offering the chance to win it.

Oh! I hadn't heard of this one. Love the cover and the premise sounds exciting, too! Thanks, Shannon!

I'd love to win this as it sound brilll!!!!

Sounds like a great read! Thanks for the recommendation.

Darkbeast sounds really good! Thank you for the review. I love middle-grade books and this one sounds very clever and well done.

Ooh this sounds AWESOME!!!! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to win!

I have a fondness for Ravens!

I love high fantasy but will let someone else win this one. I got to get my TBR list under control.

This one sounds like a good one. I'd love to win it for my grandchildren (after i read it of course!!!). Thanks for the chance.

mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

This sounds really good and I love the cover. I'd love to know what happens.

That does sound good and the cover looks almost like a first-run movie poster. Isn't it funny how great stuff like this can fall into our laps from out of nowhere? Thanks for putting up a giveaway for it.

Sounds like a real winner! I think I'd like it and so would the kids in my class :)

Hmmmm...Sounds good! Thanks for sharing! :)

Yay! The cover are so beautiful! I want to read it *-* Thank so mcuh for the opportunity. I haven't heard of it and I've added it to my TBR pile already :)
Have a nice day,
Camila

Thanks for the giveaway. Please enter me. Sounds very good.

This one sounds great - I love as good MG high fantasy!

- Jessica @ Book Sake

Whoa...this sounds great, Shannon! And I'm always glad to guest post, love that you always do giveaways, too!

I would love a copy of DARKBEAST thank you. Very interesting.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

I'd love to play please!

That sounds really good! I love a good familiar and this is a great spin on those!

This is exactly up my middle grade alley. I like the concept. Reminds me a little of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - like Pan and Lyra (only they don't have to kill their daemons, it's the opposite).

Congratulations on an actual MGM post. :-)

danika

That cover is indeed gorgeous and I would definitely want a darkbeast. I'm with you though, no spiders.

The book sounds great!

BTW, I love checking at my local library to see if they have books I'm interested in. Fort Vancouver Regional Library in Vancouver WA has KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES on order!

Ohmygosh, this looks amazing! And yes, the cover is gorgeous.

Oh yes, please enter me in the giveaway. Sounds like something I'd like.

I can imagine middle schoolers relating to DARKBEAST. Great concept. Look forward to reading this book.

Wow, this book sounds fantastic. Thanks for the chance to win, Shannon!

As the release of KEEPER is coming near, I want to read more MG!!! LOve this one!

I hadn't heard of this one either, but it sounds GREAT! Thanks for the chance to win.

Hadn't hear of this one. Pretty cover.

This sounds so good! And the cover is so pretty. :] Thanks for the giveaway!

I loved Pushing the Limits too. It was fabulous! My only other recommendation is For Darkness Shows the Stars by Peterfreund was so, so good. LOVED it.

I'd still recommend Sam Cruz's Infallible Guide to Getting Girls. I got my copy at NetGalley. Also, Dante's Girl by Courtney Cole was a super cute read.

Jess, I have Sam Cruz' Infallible Guide to Getting Girls. I will be reading that one soon. It sounds adorable! Haven't heard of Dante's Girl. Will have to look that one up.

Sarah, I LOVED For Darkness Shows the Stars. Persuasion updated for the time. I'm having such a great time reading lately, that I just can't seem to stop! I hope I kinda go over my 100 book goal this year. I fell short last year.

I'm sorry to hear about the problems with your dog. What a drag. I'm glad he's OK now.
I'd recommend Drowned by Therese Bohman for a good creepy suspenseful read!

I loved, loved, loved the first two books and can't wait to get my hands on this one. Besides writing great books, Carrie is amazing with titles.

Oooh, I need to read this! I adored the other two, and NEED to find out what happens with Catcher! <3

I can't wait for this one to come out in paperback so I can find out what happens! I feel like we've just being given sneak peeks into the catastrophe/virus so far.