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When a writer needs help, what do fellow writers do? We write! (Let’s be honest, it’s all we know how to do. We literally have zero other skills.) Due to his debilitating mental illnesses, fellow writer Robison Wells (Variant) and his family have crippling debt. In support of Robison Wells, his brother Dan Wells (I Am Not a Serial Killer) and Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Steelheart) have put together Altered Perceptions, a stellar anthology with contributions from 30 professional authors. For $10 buy the ebook, for $25 a hardcopy, with every dime going to the Wells’ family debt (Brandon Sanderson is swallowing all the overhead).

Please go to the Indiegogo page and pledge your money! Great stuff for a great cause! My own contribution is a short story. As of this moment, the only people in the world who have read this short story are my husband and Kiersten White. I hesitate to describe it for fear of spoiling it. But it’s safe to say my readers haven’t read anything like it from me before. I anticipate some people might be shocked by it, but I like it.

I wanted to participate in this fundraiser not only because I know and like Robison, but because mental illness is a personal matter for me. Like all of you I’m sure, there are dear people in my life who have to claw their way through every day battling a mental illness. It’s common. It’s biological. It’s not their fault. It’s not laziness or a bad attitude or a result of bad choices. It’s a disease like cancer or any other. I appreciate how open Robison is about his own struggles. He is helping to remove the stigma of mental illness. It’s something we could all acknowledge a little more.

One of Robison’s illnesses is OCD. I think this may be the most misunderstood of all mental illnesses. I hear people say, “I’m so OCD. I have to have my house clean” or such, as if OCD and cleanliness or fastidiousness were the same thing. In fact, OCD is a neurobiological disorder. If you don’t have OCD, you clean your house because you like it that way, and you feel satisfied when it is. If you have OCD, you are crawling with horrible feelings and compulsions, you have intrusive thoughts you wish would leave you alone but they shout inside your head over and over and over again, and you don’t want to wash your hands one more time or check the light switch twenty times before leaving the room or mumble a chant you loathe every time you have a certain thought, but if you don’t you feel sure that something horrible, horrible, horrible will happen and it will be all your fault so you do these things over and over again and worry that you’re crazy and don’t know how to stop and sometimes hate yourself for it all. OCD is a terrible taskmaster. OCD is frightening. OCD is exhausting. OCD is not a joke for those who suffer from it. The good news is there are treatments for OCD. Cognitive behavioral therapy and often medications can help put a patient back in control of their life. The bad news is mental health services aren’t widely available or affordable for many in the country, and the accompanying stigma of mental illness keeps many from seeking help. I hope we can change this, and I hope this conversation and this anthology is one small step forward.

So much love for Harriet the Spy! And I agree, a marvelous book. The correct answer is:

THE BOOK OF THREE, first book in the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. 2014 marks its 50th anniversary, and this fall the anniversary edition will publish with an introduction written by yours truly. This book and all Lloyd Alexander had a huge influence in my younger reading self and who I am as an author today. I'm beyond honored.

And the randomly selected winner who also guessed correctly: JEAN! (who wrote: "It's probably Harriet The Spy but I would hold out for Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car by Fleming or The Book of Three by Alexander. Whatever the book, congratulations!")

Jean, please email your mailing address to squeetus (at) gmail (dot) com to get an ARC of Dangerous.

More giveaways to come. I'll announce here, but my twitter and facebook are the best places to get breaking news. 

I turn 40 this week. Come back Wednesday for another announcement, February for lots of Austenland DVD giveaways, and 40th bday celebration stuff all year. Because I will celebrate and refuse to be anything but thrilled by this acheivement of four decades.

And I'll end with an exciting cover reveal:

The Unfairest of Them All will be in bookstores March 25 and (I think this is official) I'll be kicking off the publication with an event at Changing Hands in Phoenix!

Last year, a publisher contacted me. In 2014, one of the most beloved books from my childhood is celebrating a significant anniversary. The publisher is releasing an anniversary edition. And they wanted me to write an introduction for the new edition.

Whoa. This little girl just about died from surprise and delight.

A book little Shannon cherished so much will now have an introduction written by big Shannon! That's just magical.

But what book is it?

Let's make it a contest, as I have an ARC of Dangerous to give away! In the comments, make your guesses. Next Monday I'll use a random number generator to pick a comment until I get one that guessed correctly. May the odds ever be in your favor.

Since such magical things happen, maybe when I'm old or dead, Bloomsbury will release an anniversary edition of The Goose Girl with an introduction written by one of you.

Ps. Austenland releases in the US February 11 and I get to give away some DVDs! Check back here or follow me on twitter for the most up to date info. (pps. I don't have any DVDs in my possession. People keep emailing me requests.)

2014 is going to be a crazy year for me. Some highlights.

January - I turn 40. Bring it.

February 11 - Austenland releases on DVD/Blu-ray.

March 4 - Dangerous publishes. This is the book I first sold with a synopsis in 2005. It was a complicated book, and I spent a lot of time and a lot of drafts on it, also letting the Austenland screenplay, Midnight in Austenland, and Palace of Stone come first while I untangled and rewrote. I'm so excited and so happy with this book. I've heard people call it "Hunger Games meets The Avengers," which is very complimentary IMO but I think does give a pretty good idea of what kind of story to expect. I hope you guys love this one. I'm incredibly fond of it. Always a risk to genre-hop but I'm so happy I did.

March 25 - EVER AFTER HIGH: The Unfairest of Them All publishes. This is the second EVER AFTER HIGH novel, cover reveal to come. FYI I don't have any part in the merchandise, i.e. dolls, clothes, etc., or the games and webisodes (I'm not that cool!). But I've really enjoyed writing the novels to help tell the story of the clever and playful world Mattel created. Here's a lovely article in Kirkus Reviews about the first book.

June 24 - SPIRIT ANIMALS 4 publishes. This is the series that started with Brandon Mull's Wild Born, and a different author is writing each book in the 7-book series. TItle and cover announcements to come!

July 15 - EVER AFTER HIGH 3 publishes. TItle and cover announcements to come! This one is going to be so fun. Dean has been helping me with Ever AFter High 2&3 (it'd be too much too fast for me to do alone) and we're having a blast with this one.

October 14 (I think) - The Princess in Black! The first book in my and Dean's early chapter book series, illustrated by the phenomenal LeUyen Pham (pronounced Lay-win Fam). I've seen the final art (full color illustrations each page, 80 pages long) and I'm trying not to FREAK OUT with excitement. Oh heck, I'll just go ahead and freak out. OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHYOUGUYS!!!

So...yeah, five books in one year. I did work on Dangerous for years, completing it over a year ago, and Princess in Black is short. But still. I never, ever, ever after imagined I'd see 5 books in one year. I'll be on the road a lot in 2014, doing two book tours as well as conferences, festivals, etc., so I'll see many of you! Tours TBA.

ps. Princess Academy 3 (title and cover TBA) will probably pub March '15.

pps. I've got lots of TBAs so check back here. My new year's resolution: blog post each Monday. What's yours?

Winner winner chicken dinner! My children and husband all chimed in and picked their two favorites. The first was no surprise:

I know the marvelous manipulator of the Batman image and she has been justly rewarded. I wanted to honor a second winner so I gave my family three votes on another one. They all chose different pictures (so many great ones!), overlapping on one:

Awesome! Marvelous-photo-taker, please email me your address and who you'd like the books personalized to at squeetus (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks, guys, for caring about this! I love that so many of you care too. Hopefully by spreading awareness we'll give our boys a chance to grow up reading lots of great stories and embracing female characters as well as male.

To continue the ongoing posts featuring bits from the Palace of Stone area on my website, I list dozens of titles we tried on for size. Here are a few that I thought would be the final title at one time:

Lady Miri

The Queen's Castle

Lady of the Princess

The Robber Princess

Crown Breaker

Miri of Mount Eskel

We have news! (no, not Austenland movie news yet...)

Presenting the illustrator for The Princess in Black! As we announced earlier this year, The Princess in Black will be a series of early chapter books, written by me and my husband, published by Candlewick. The first is looking at a fall 2014 release. And I'm elated, ecstatic, and overjoyed to get to crow about the illustrator:

LEUYEN PHAM!

I met LeUyen (pronounced Le Win, or just call her Uyen/Win) many years ago when on tour in California. We kept in touch, and all the while I had secret, fervent wishes to one day work with her. I had no idea she might have felt the same about me! Dean and I are thrilled she's agreed to go on this adventure with us. She's a gorgeous, silly, thoughtful, imaginative, and obscenely skilled artist, mother, and human being. She's going to blow these books OUT OF THE WATER.

Here's her bio:

LeUyen Pham is the prolific and bestselling illustrator of many books for children, including Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio and Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore. Pham has also written and illustrated her own works, including All the Things I Love About You and Big Sister, Little Sister. She lives with her husband and two sons in San Francisco.

But really the best way to get to know an illustrator is through her art, no? Feast.

All image copyrights LeUyen Pham. See her website for even more lovelies.  She's ridiculously versitile. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for Princess Magnolia--princess by day, monster hunter by night! (or by day too, really, depending on what time they crawl up out of Monster Land and into her kingdom.)

You guys! You guys you guys you guys! Princess Academy: Palace of Stone will debut on the New York Times Bestseller list next week. I feel like I'm walking on air...and any second I'll trip and come down and it won't be true. But for now, it's true! YAY!

I'm in Georgia at the moment, will be at the Decatur Book Festival tomorrow. I've met so many great people and done crazy amounts of travel. Tired. But good tired. More later.

Keep sending in entries for the Guys Read "Girl" Books contest. Jon Scieszka, our former esteemed ambassador of chidren's literature and founder of the awesome Guys Read campaign, sent me a photo to add to the collection:

"Rooting for Miri and the Revolution all the way!"

Winners! Winners! Wow, the 2nd guesser got it all right only 9 minutes after I posted. And I thought it would be so hard.

SORA!

1. English-UK
2. Indonesian
3. English-UK
4. Japanese
5. Dutch
6. Hungarian
7. Korean
8. Spanish
9. French
10. fan art by CrownJewel
11. Indonesian
12. Turkish
13. Vietnamese
14. Korean

Here's where things get freaky. Using the random number generator, the random winner was: Q. Yes that's right, the same gal who correctly guessed the last contest and already won an ARC. I don't think she meant to enter. She wasn't guessing, just wishing everyone luck. So I'm going to send you some foreign edition, Q, and save the other ARC for someone else. Second time, the winner was:

TAIGER!

Sora and Taiger, email me: squeetus (at) g mail (dot) com.

Still more opportunities to win an ARC of PALACE OF STONE. On Twitter, my publisher (@bwkids) is running a contest. Tweet something you learned from Princess Academy with the hashtag(#PrincessAcademy) and you're entered into a contest. I believe one person each week is chosen. Here are some of the entries they sent me. Just lovely. And I can't take credit. Of course when I write, I'm not thinking, "What can I teach people?" I'm just thinking about making the best story I can. These lovely readers found their own messages in the story, part of the magic of reading.

@jessung #PrincessAcademy taught me that it's okay to feel vulnerable, and that being brave--even if I may feel quite the opposite--is okay, too.
 
@domisimone At #PrincessAcademy I learned that I can do or be anything, and that I don't have to end up with the prince to be happy.
 
@JayaLaw I learned from #PrincessAcademy that education can heighten your awareness of the world and improve your community's standard of living.
 
@sherryberrett #PrincessAcademy I learned to communicate through stone, but I must not be soon it right because it isn't working. (ßhahaha J)
 
@moltenbook Learning and friendship are worth more than any crown or gown. #PrincessAcademy
 
@broadwayforever Reading #PrincessAcademy taught me that everyone has talents that make them special, even if it takes a while to figure them out.
 
@abackwardsstory #PrincessAcademy from @bwkids teaches girls that it's okay to love and be YOURSELF, and not rely on boys to save them!
 
@chelserbug What I learned from #PrincessAcademy? I learned that everyone is a princess :) (And also, I found a new appreciation for my home mountains!)
 
@Robin_Weeks #PrincessAcademy by @haleshannon taught me that we don't like people who can't make us respect them. And that I want my own linder house.
 
@rebeccamherman I learned that there are much more important things than being beautiful or rich or a princess! #PrincessAcademy
 
@LauraLyle #PrincessAcademy taught me knowledge is power. And that appearances are deceiving. Cliche because they are true!
 
@BookSnatch I learned that no matter who you are, you can become the type of person you want to be if you work hard. #PrincessAcademy
 
@Kiirs I learned that even a girl who thinks she's insignificant can change the world. #PrincessAcademy

And don't

Thanks for playing! I just have to reinsert these two lovely images: Spanish Enna Burning and Korean Forest Born. Mmm. (click to enbiggen) At TLA last week, I noticed how rare painted covers are now for YA. It's all photos.

So many of you were SO close. But the first correct answer was from Q!

1. Enna Burning, German
2. Forest Born, UK
3. River Secrets, Korean
4. Austenland, Korean
5. Enna Burning, Spanish
6. Enna Burning, Korean
7. The Goose Girl, Hungary
8. The Goose Girl, Japanese
9. Forest Born, Korean
10. Enna Burning, Japanese
11. Enna Burning, French
12. River Secrets, UK

And as some of you suggested, I'm giving away another ARC to a randomly selected commenter. The winner is...

S Blackburn!

Okay you two winners, email me your address and who you want the ARC signed to! squeetus (at) g mail (dot) com.

ONE MORE CONTEST: On Tuesday evening 7pm MDT (6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern), I'll post all the Goose Girl covers, first correct guesser wins an ARC. I think that one will be tougher. See, I'm doing it in the evening for the sake of students! I do listen to you! There will be 15 covers to guess. Some of them you already know. Some will be really tough. May the force be with you.

She wears glass slippers.
She sleeps in a tower.
She sings to birds.
She is the perfect princess.
And for a monster-fighting heroine, that is the perfect disguise.
Princess Magnolia is...

The Princess in Black!

The Publisher's Lunch announcement:

"From Newbery Honor winner and Eisner nominated authors Shannon and Dean Hale, a young chapter book series following the brave and exciting adventures of Princess Magnolia, a perfectly proper princess by day, but when trouble raises its ugly, monster-shaped head, she ditches her flouncy dresses and glass slippers and becomes THE PRINCESS IN BLACK! Sold at auction to Sarah Ketchersid at Candlewick Press."

These things take time to publish. They'll be full of illustrations, so I imagine a couple of years before we'll see the first one? I'm so excited about this series. We love writing them. They make me laugh. Can't wait to share!

The 2009 Cybils present a great list of reading material. I love the Cybils for how they balance high literary quality with entertainment and reader appeal. I hope to see this award continue for years to come and grow in prominence.

I'm a judge for the SLJ Battle of the Kids' books, and I've read my books, made my decision, and written my reasons. But I can't tell for a few weeks! (Ooh, now I have two secrets waiting to be revealed) Check out the brackets of contenders and judges, and vote for your favorite, giving it a chance to come back from the dead in the last round. Good fun.

And in all the life mania, I forgot to acknowledge the winner of the Rapunzel's Revenge book trailer contest! Yay Alysa! It was tough competition all around, but I think the humor and style pushed hers through. Well done. Please send me your mailing address at squeetus (at) g mail (dot) com. I'm slow, but I will get you your box o' books!

Dean and I are coming your way this weekend, Southern California! See my events page for details. I've had many requests to extend the tour to other areas of California and other states. I wish I could! That's not in my power. It's up to my publisher where I go, and I have to limit the tours overall due to the smallish children who inhabit my house.

Please keep voting on the rapunzel's revenge book trailer contestants through Feb 25. I am so glad I don't have to select the winner myself...however, I am in the hot seat for the actor and the housewife book club contest.

This was really, really hard. So many lovely, touching, funny, and just stand out entries. The photos were great. Many groups incorporated pies into their meeting. One group served all kinds of homemade pies--shepherd's pie, pizza pie, etc., as well as a dozen different desert pies. Another made pies then in the tradition of Becky Jack, delivered them to neighbors who just might need the comfort of a homemade pie. Sweet!

One group of ladies dressed as stereotypical housewives, with hairs in curlers, cream-on-face, bathrobes, etc., and above them hung a whale made of cardboard and construction paper (a book reference -- awesome!). Another had a potluck, and the menu was typical Mormon food.
Spaghetti
Funeral Poatoes
Green Jello with carrots and without
Sprite with Sherbet
Iceberg Salad (from a bag, served with Ranch)
Fruit Pie
Fruit Crisp
Lion House Rolls
Hawaiian Bread

This had me laughing. I love it! And seriously, funeral potatoes are SO good. They're called that because after a funeral, in Mormondom, the women in the neighborhood typically make a big lunch for the extended family of the deceased, and someone always tends to bring a cheesy, saucy potato casserole. But hey folks, don't wait for a death in the family to try this at home! And I happen to be a fan of Jello, but I can't eat it with the carrot shavings. Makes me gag.

So many invented great games and ideas to get everyone talking. I was touched by the discussion accounts and feel so grateful to have such open-hearted readers who were willing to go on this book journey with me, even when it wasn't quite what they expected, or in some cases, approved of.

And now the winner...because it was impossible for me to judge the actual book group meetings, I judged on presentation alone. And the entry from kategory.org was very clever. As Becky did in the book, each lady wrote up her own information, if it had appeared in the fictional celebrity magazine Exclusive! The pictures are darling and funny, and I laughed and felt like I knew you. Email me privately and I'll get your mailing address and send you those hard-earned book prizes!

Thanks, everyone who entered! You are all darling. Now I really want some pie...

I just peeked at Libba Bray's blog and saw a video link she posted that is so fabulous and is giving me wonderful flashbacks to our tour together. If you have 5 minutes to waste...and especially if you are a child of the 80s...it's worth checking out. (rated PG) Hysterical. I love you, Libba Bray! With a passionate love that will only end in ruin. And perhaps brownies.

To answer a couple of questions from the last blog post: This Saturday at the King's English (or really, at any book signing), will I sign books that people bring in?

The answer, for me, is always yes. I will sign any books you bring. But if you bring books from home to a signing at a book store, it's good manners to buy at least one book from the store. They're hosting the event, putting money into it, and their only take from it is book sales. It doesn't have to be one of my books, but I do ask that if you bring outside books, you support the book store by making a purchase. No one's going to check up on you, but I highly encourage it. Books don't have a high profit margin. A book store has to sell a lot of books to stay in business, and we NEED them to stay in business.

Another question: does this event have a theme? YES! Aprons and pies. You heard right. Wear an apron in solidarity to housewives everywhere and come eat pie. I'll give a book to the awesome person who dons the most fabulous apron. The King's English in Salt Lake City, Utah, 5 pm on June 13.

And now for news that's so exciting to me but probably won't really matter to anyone else (except my mom...hi Mom!)...the actor and the housewife is an Indie Next Pick for July! Indie Bound (formerly BookSense) is basically the United Federation of Independent Booksellers in the US (and Canada? I'm not sure about that...) Each month the booksellers select stand out titles to recommend to customers. This is a huge hug for the book and I'm so thrilled.

Wowee! Yee-ha! Cowabunga! rapunzel's revenge is an Eisner nominee in the teen/tween category! The Eisners are the Oscars of comic books/graphic novels. Dean especially is super-pumped, having been raised by wolves and comics, cutting his teeth on Eisner-winning tales. We'll be going to comic-con in San Diego this summer, where the winners will be announced. Here's the full list in our category:

Best Publication for Teens/Tweens
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, adapted by P. Craig Russell (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Crogan’s Vengeance, by Chris Schweizer (Oni)
The Good Neighbors, Book 1: Kin, by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh (Scholastic Graphix)
Rapunzel’s Revenge, by Shannon and Dean Hale and Nathan Hale (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
Skim, by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood Books)

Also, I'll be at BookExpo America (BEA) in May. I was asked to host the ABC Dinner (Not a Dinner). The other speakers will be Mike Lupica and Katherine Paterson. (Would it be too much if I bowed to her? Because that would feel natural. Wow.) I'm so honored to be asked. I feel like the authors who get asked to do those things are the big name, A-list, top tier type, and I so don't feel like I belong. I've talked with other authors about this, how we're just waiting for it all to come crumbling down, for someone to say, "Wait, she's a fraud! Who let her in?"

One more pic from the Book Babe Event. Check out these awesome ladies in their austenland-themed shirts. Aren't they darling? Love it!

I cut my hair yesterday. I'ts to my jawline now. It was driving me crazy last weekend, so chop-chop. Part of the fun of being a girl.

One last thing--I donated a signed, hardcover, first edition, first printing of princess academy for the online auction. It's up now.

So I've known for a while, of course, but now I can finally reveal the exciting news--the goose girl is soon to be a major motion picture! The director, David Lynch, isn't known for doing this kind of a story, but he loves to stretch himself and try new genres, and after speaking with him I'm eager to see what he'll produce. Something truly original, I have no doubt. Still some details to come, but here's what we have so far:

Ani - Miley Cyrus
Ani's mother - Whitney Houston
Selia - Rosie Perez
Geric - Steve Buscemi
Falada - Robin Williams
Talone - Daniel Craig

I haven't seen a screenplay, but it's being adapted by the same screenwriter that did Good Fellas. It's all such a whirlwind, I hardly know what to think!

EDIT: Ha-ha! I'm so tickled I got so many of you! Though I didn't mean to get some of you quite so good. I thought for sure everyone would see right through that. I think I depended too much on people knowing who Steve Buscemi was. A brilliant character actor, but he would never play Geric. Maybe Ishta... For those of you who live in places where you don't celebrate April Fools, on April 1 it's tradition to try and trick people for a joke. I'm sorry to those of you who were sincerely upset, and alas, no plans are in the works to make Goose Girl a movie. Honestly, I'm extremely protective of the Bayern series and it would have to be just the right director and cast to tempt me.

Sorry to draw out the suspense! I've been busy all day. I took a commentor's advice and used an online random number generator to select the winners.

20 - Danielle, who said "Eeeep!"
367 - Megan G., who said, "I was so excited to hear there would be another book in this series!"

Hooray for Danielle and Megan! Please email me at squeetus (at) gmail (dot) com. I'll need your mailing address and who you want the book signed to. Also if you're under 18, I'll need an email from your parent giving me your address. Let it be known that Shannon Hale does not solicit private information from minors! So let it be done.

Thanks for all your enthusiasm for this book. These giveaways are fun for me, but also kind of stressful because I feel so bad for everyone who expressed hope and passion about winning. I'm sorry about that. I wish I had 450 ARCs to give to everyone. The night after I posted the FB ARC giveaway, I had a long and vivid dream about how early readers of the book hated it and blogged about how horrible the book was (in great detail). I read these blogs and I called my publisher, begging them please not to publish it after all. I'm not a professional dream analyst, but I think there might be some buried anxiety there...

As a bit of salve for those hopeful who didn't win, here are some sneak peeks, in the form of lines I cut from forest born. [Edit: each paragraph is from a different part. They don't read as one continuous story. I think I confused some people!]

How young and sweet Enna and Isi had seemed, their faces simplified by the head wraps. Men especially had taken interest in their attention and questions. For other girls, Rin might have feared the greedy look in those men’s eyes, but last night she’d found herself fearing for the men.

"Don’t you all look at me like that,” said Isi, “or I’ll have to poke someone in the eyeball."

Rin curled up on the floor, her back hard against a straw pallet, and let herself cry the fear and anger and frustration out of her body. She cried as if all that poison inside her could well up and leave as tears. Then in that withered, numb state of all-cried-out, she sat up and decided.

“Rin?” Isi peeked into the antechamber. She was in her dressing gown, carrying a shielded candle. The light washed her pale face, yellow hair and white clothes in the same shade of gold. She looked like an image stamped on a coin, and her beauty at that moment made Rin hold her breath.

In the past, that would have been inviting, a chance to be still a moment, to listen and hum with the life of growing things, to feel her own thoughts go clear and bright like sunlight through poured water.

Guess what? There are still tickets available to the Book Babe Event in Mesa, Arizona on April 4. When the platinum level seats sold out the first hour, it appears many people thought the whole event was sold out. But fear not! There are tickets still available. This is going to be three hours of music, comedy, and art, including an author panel with eleven really cool authors (including very cool yours truly). We have a ton of amazing prizes to raffle (books, art, memorabilia), and Stephenie Meyer is going to auction some jaw-dropping stuff at the event only. All the proceeds go to help our friend and all around book babe, Faith Hochhalter, in her fight with cancer. Everybody who attends the event will walk away with, at the very least, a signed book from someone on the author panel. Some of you will walk away with much more.

There will also be an online auction separate from the event, which will open any day. I've added an item that I will be auctioning: an ARC of forest born. Yes, I now have more than one copy in my hot little hands and I intend to use them well. So in celebration I'm going to give away TWO copies to my blog readers. You heard right! What do you have to do to enter? Just post a comment on this blog post. In four days, again I'll have Dean randomly give me two numbers, and those commenters will win the book, which of course I'll sign to you. No age limit for participants, but if you're a minor, I will need to get your mailing address from your parent/guardian.

To give you something to talk about, I'll reveal for the first time the cover for forest born. (In the US anyway, I haven't seen the UK cover yet.) There will be no Alison Jay cover. I am very sorry about that. I know that many of you collect the books in hardcover and this one won't match. Fingers crossed that you still like this cover for what it is. Ta-da!

Hooray! Thanks to the children's and YA bloggers of the Cybils who awarded rapunzel's revenge with a big cyber kiss. The judges said, “What made this book stand out to the judges was that it takes a well-known story and does something recognizable, but unique, creating an adventure which readers of both sexes can enjoy. Those readers will get swept up in the rawness of the emotions presented. The art is bright and leaps from the pages, but the images don’t overshadow the story or mask weaknesses in the plot. The story and images carried the weight equally, were well-paced, engaging, and generally solid.”
Nominated by Elizabeth.

Saludos to this mysterious Elizabeth out there somewhere! Thank you, dear.

Here's the complete list of winners:

Easy Readers

I Love My New Toy, by Mo Willems (Should there just be a Mo Willems Award?)

Fantasy & Science Fiction

Middle Grade

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (confirming the Newbery committee's excellent choice!)

Young Adult

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (Huzzah!)

Fiction Picture Books

How to Heal a Broken Wing, by Bob Graham (must read...)

Graphic Novels

Elementary/Middle Grade

Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation)

Young Adult

Emiko Superstar, by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Steve Rolston (Oh DC, why did you cancel the MINX line? Why?)

Middle-Grade Fiction

The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd (must read...)

Non-Fiction MG/YA

The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir, by Cylin Busby and John Busby (Cylin also edited the First Kiss, Then Tell anthology that Dean and I contributed to)

Non-Fiction Picture Books

Nic Bishop Frogs, written and illustrated by Nic Bishop (must read...)

Poetry

Honeybee, by Naomi Shihab Nye (must read list getting longer...)

Young Adult Fiction

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E Lockhart (how have I not read this yet?)

On behalf of winner Mo Willems, Elephant and Piggie responded:

Jack and Rapunzel had something to say as well (click to view larger):

I've said it before, but the Cybils are my favorite awards (and it's not just because in three years two of my books have won...it's not...really, I'm serious...it's almost not...). They combine literary quality with reader appeal, and come up with an unbeatable reading/shopping list. Really, all the finalists in each category are so fantastic, I don't know how the judges manage to come up with this list. But I'm thrilled to be on it. And seeing The Hunger Games there in the same category book of a thousand days won last year makes me feel tripley honored.

Wow. So I said "galley giveaway" and you said, "Bring it!" Consider it brung. I'm going to try and get more ARCs to do more giveaways next month. And now the big reveal. The completely random winners whose numbers were selected by Dean are...

4 -- Katie of bluestocking.org
316 -- Jean who wrote about a Readers Choice book

If Katie and Jean would kindly email me at squeetus (@) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address I'll send you an ARC! Please let me know who you'd like me to sign it to and if you're under 18. Do write back after you've read it and let me know what you thought. And if you feel so inclined to burn the book, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know in advance so we can attend and roast marshmellows.

In the past 4 days, I've heard from two people who have read this book. So exciting! After my week of worry, the response was so delightful I wanted to share.

The first, Cathy from Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas, wrote: "I got the ARC yesterday at work and, after dinner, got the kids into bed, cleaned the kitchen (sort of), and picked up the ARC, intending to read only a few pages before going to sleep.  "Ha!"  Couldn't put it down and read the entire book in one sitting -- the heck with tomorrow... I kept bursting out laughing, startling my husband, and then began weeping (he kindly passed the kleenex) and then began reading furiously, knowing it was getting late, but having to finish the book. Well, now it's tomorrow and I'm sitting in front of the computer, bleary eyed but happy, thinking about Becky and Felix and Mike and the hairless cat.  Smiling to myself over some of my favorite lines ("We don't eat gravel, Sam.  We are not chickens.") and knowing that this sleep-deprived day was totally worth it."

Wow, thank you, Cathy! That gravel line, I said that to my 18-month-old daughter one day when we were outside, then I rushed inside and wrote it down and later put it in the book. It was so fun to write a contemporary book about another mother so I could share some of my personal experiences with her.

The second response is kind of cheating because it's from my sister Jessica, who has read all my books multiple times. She might be my biggest fan, bless her heart. She told my mom, "Oh my gosh. This is Shannon's best book. I was hooked from the very beginning. Just the emotions...it was so moving, and I was laughing, and then crying, then laughing. I can't stop thinking about it. I love this book."

Wow, thank you, Jessica! Don't let me forget I have that DVD I borrowed from you. Let's rent Ghost Town on Thursday, okay? Also, I don't smell. I don't. So stop accusing me of that. Really, I wear deodorant. And shower and everything. And I took an informal poll and other people don't think I smell. Unless they were being nice.

Announcing the rapunzel's revenge book trailer contest! Make a book trailer for rapunzel's revenge, post it on you tube, send us the link, and join the contest. We'll run it for six months, vote at the end, and winners will receive a big o' bag o' book goodies beyond your wildest dreams. No rules. But keep in mind, it must be clean (comfortably viewable by the young and innocent), and shorter usually works better (10 seconds to 2 minutes). More details to follow, but to kick us off, check out the FANT-TAWESOMENESS of Marcus Aurelius's contribution.

Happy holidays, folks. Someone must have wished for a white Christmas in Utah, 'cause, boy howdy.