By: Betsy Bird,
on 6/5/2007
So I found out my publisher is going to give me 2 cartons of books to give away at my party this Saturday.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 5/7/2007
Got this from illustrator Scott E. Franson's blog:
Because everyone deserves free stuff. Especially libraries.
I would like to donate a fine art print from my new book Un-Brella to 20 different libraries. Please send the required information in an e-mail and the first 20 libraries that respond will receive a print suitable for hanging in their library.
For more information:
Library Art Donation
http://www.scottefranson.com/3-books/unbrella/unbrella_art-prints.html
By: Betsy Bird,
on 5/3/2007
A big thank you to The Excelsior File for reminding me of this one. Unless you've forgotten, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day. It's the national holiday where you go to your local comic shop guy and demand free stuff. Why is it a holiday? Because on this day they actually give in. You can even go here for a comic book store locator. Those of you with kids should take advantage of this. I grew up on comics and I'm of the firm belief that girls should read more of them.
Thanks too to Lady, That's My Skull (which you should always always go to for your comic blog craziness needs) for the Lana Lang image here.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 4/13/2007
From HMOCL #26, copies of his new YA novel in a contest.
We’re giving away an Advance Reading Copy of Jay’s debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why. And all you’ve gotta do is make us laugh! Actually, you’ve gotta make us laugh harder than anyone else.
Your entries will be judged by all three Disco Mermaids on a funny-scale of 1 to 10 (10 being frickin’ hilarious). The ten highest-scorers will move on to Round Two. Or maybe we’ll use a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being the least funniest, in which case the lowest-scorers will move on.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 4/9/2007
Hey!
Hey hey hey!
Remember remember the twelfth of Apr..prember....
Which is to say, this upcoming Thursday. Whatcha doing at 6:00? Wanna see Mo Willems? Huh, huh, do ya do ya do ya huh? Well please consider doing so. I want a packed house.
And for that matter, why don't you stop by on the next Thursday, April 19th, to see Meghan McCarthy of Aliens Are Coming fame? Same time, same place. And while I'm thinking about it, howzabout Emily Jenkins on April 26th? Make a month of it.
Did I mention it was free?
By: Betsy Bird,
on 3/15/2007
Would I lie to you?
I got this info in the mail. Read it carefully now.
Thought I'd let you know a head of time that HarperCollins is doing an ARC giveaway (a set of six!) in conjunction with an ad in April's School Library Journal. The ARCs are all first novels and include Finn's Going, The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney, My Mother the Cheerleader, Skulduggery Pleasant, Wicked Lovely, and Me and the Pumpkin Queen . . . I'm guessing you probably already have most of these, but maybe you know some librarians who would be interested in receiving a set. All they have to do is email a request to the address listed in the ad--simple as that. So if you know anyone who might be interested, tell them to keep an eye open for the first fiction ad in the next School Library Journal....I'll repeat. There will be an ad in School Library Journal AND Booklist that, when you see it, will allow you to try and get this load of lovely ARCs, "while supplies last." So keep your eyes peeled until then.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 3/14/2007
The title is MIT to offer its courses free online by year end.
Not that it gets you a degree or anything, but it just sounds like fun. Not that you'd be able to get your MLIS this way, but I wouldn't mind an online course on early Lewis Carroll or the effects of Maurice Sendak on the world of child psychology, for a lark. Think about it, oh ye other schools out there.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 3/7/2007
This is a little confusing, but I think I've gotten the gist of it.
There is currently a book blogger office pool going on. In conjunction with the March 8th Tournament of Books sponsored by Powell's Books, a contest has begun that allows one lucky reader the chance to, "win every book jousting in the tournament."
"How so?," says you.
Simple. The Book Blogger Office Pool. A group of book bloggers looked at a list of books nominated for the Tournament, decided which ones people would love the most, and filled in the standard "brackets" to guess the final winner.
Where do you come in? Well, as the Powell's blog described it, ". . . you pick a blogger, email TMN with his/her name, and they'll randomly select one reader for each blogger — and the winning blogger's reader wins a copy of every single book in the tournament."
Cool, huh? The list of bloggers is here. More info:
To enter the 2007 ToB Book Bloggers’ Office Pool Contest, please select one of the book bloggers listed (Kate’s Book Blog, Book Nerd, The Millions, Condalmo, Brockman/Powells.com, or Shaken & Stirred), type it into an email’s subject line, put your full contact info into the email’s body, and then send it to [email protected] by 6 p.m. EST, Wednesday, March 7, 2007; only one entry per person. We will then randomly select an entrant to be assigned to each of the office pool bloggers; the winning blogger’s entrant will receive all of this year’s tournament books after the end of the ToB, courtesy of Powells.com. Good luck!And hey. I don't want to tell you how to vote. Maybe you're a fan of The Millions or something (too much information for me), but insofar as I can tell, Shaken & Stirred, is the closest thing we have to a kidlit representative. I say you lob her some support. Go, Gwenda Bond, Go!! WOO!
By: Betsy Bird,
on 3/3/2007
Would I lie to you? I mean about this. I figure that a fair amount of you out there may have a need for this particular computer program. So howzabout checking out this announcement that Adobe Systems is releasing a free, ad-supported version of Photoshop online in six months?
Me hubby informs me that they've already tried something like this in the past and that it didn't work out particularly well. Still, for those of you holding out for a basic Photoshop package, this might be just the thing you need."We recognize there is a customer there--we recognize they are not going to pay us, necessarily, directly. But we could use ad revenue as a model. Google has demonstrated that it works pretty well for certain types of applications," Chizen said.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 2/11/2007
You've probably heard this on other blogs, but who am I stand silent when free books are available to all?
Grand Prize
Free gift basket filled with autographed copies of four of the Best
Chronicle Children's Books of 2006 and more!
First Prize
Free gift basket filled with copies of four of the Best Chronicle
Children's Books of 2006.
One Grand Prize and two First Prize winners will be selected by March
15th.
How do I enter?Enter now! Send an e-mail to [email protected].
- Click on the e-mail link below.
- Write Best Books in the subject line of your e-mail. If you are not already
a subscriber to the Chroniclekids monthly e-mail bookblast, you will be signed
up automatically.- You will be entered automatically. Winners will be notified by March 15th!
Thank you for the plug.
That's a wild, wild title to see, as I'm in the midst of reading China Mielville's Un Lun Dun (YA science fiction title); there are sort of crime-fighting "unbrellas" in this book, fighting an evil, evil smog. I had to do a double-take when I saw that.
Ah well, will have to look for Franson's book, too. But, dude, if it takes place in UnLondon, I'm going to run screaming.
Pop Quiz: Two books this year take place in a place called UnLondon. Can you guess the second?
If you lived in UnLondon, you would want an Un-Brella.
I have no idea. Do tell, Fuse.
And the answer is.....
Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher. It actually uses the phrase "un-London".
There are still prints left. I didn't know it would be so hard to give art away.
Thank for posting this link! I was able to win one for my library and I AM VERY excited about it. I work in Youth Services so it's even better :)