BoB - KBWT

In the Battle of the Kids' Books, Amelia Lost went up against Anya's Ghost today.  The judge is Matt Phelan.  I could prove my own clairvoyance and tell you who I predicted would win but....you know I already looked and you wouldn't believe that this is the way I thought it would pan out.

The winner is... Amelia Lost  by Candace Fleming.

So, tomorrow, Between Shades of Gray meets Bootleg and Gayle Forman must decide which book moves on to Round 2.  I predict that Between Shades of Gray  will win.  Let's see if I am right - tomorrow.

As for Kids Book Website Tuesday - go around to Mo Willems website for fun for all ages. Piggies, Elephants, Pigeons, Frogs and all manners of creatures abound.  Mo Willems is always fun.

Storytelling Thursday

The Giveaway is still on.  Check your calendars.  I am giving away two tickets to Elizabeth Ellis' storytelling performance on March 31st - 7 pm -  at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA.  Larry Sceurman will open for Elizabeth.  If that doesn't get you all fired up to win, I don't know what will!

This promises to be the best performance of StoryFUSION 2012.  That seems like saying a LOT though.  There are the students' performances on Thursday.  They are shaping up to be impressive, fun and thought-provoking.

Then there is Elizabeth's keynote address on Friday night -HOPE: Storytelling in Financial Hard Times.  We can all use more hope.

Friday during the day, Dear Mr. Lincoln is going to be a great program.  And then there are the Saturday workshops and Saturday afternoon events.

So here's how you win.  Comment on this blog post - or on yesterday's post.  Include your town and state and a name - it can be a user name.  Share this blog post on Facebook and come back and comment SHARED for a second chance to win.

Make up a new adjective for "most excellent art festival" like tell-erific, or artawesome and add that to your comment for a THIRD chance to win.

Looking forward to your comments

GIVEAWAY!! Whatever!

It's Whatever Wednesday here and I have so much on my mind that if I did not control my flailing fingers - Wow!  Be grateful for my reticence.

 I uploaded a story fragment on Scribd.  Take a look and let me know what you think.  There is a story behind the names in this story.    Someday, I might share the story-behind.

And now to the main event!

  I have a giveaway.  TWO FREE PASSES to StoryFUSION's  Saturday Evening Elizabeth Ellis performance on March 31st at Northampton Community College's Lipkin Theater.  This is an awesome giveaway made possible by the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild.

Here is how you enter.  Comment on this blog.  Add your town and state.  For example, if your user name is watergirl and you live in Cranston Ohio, just put that in.  I am guessing that local people are more likely to enter.

You have until next Wednesday, March 14th,  to enter.   I will put all the entries into the Chobani Cup of Oracleness; pull out the winner; and announce that winner here on Thursday, March 15th, (The Ides of March), as part of Storytelling Thursday.  You will then email me at an address to be disclosed at that time and tell me where to send the passes.

You get another entry if you share this post on your Facebook page and come back and comment SHARED here.  Thanks so much.  StoryFUSION is - I need a new word that indicates a level of excellence that is rarely achieved by local arts festivals - artawesome? Fantasabulous?  Tale-errific?  Help me out here.

Get yet another entry if your comment includes a new word that describes a truly excellent art festival experience.

That's THREE possible entries for each of you.  Put on those thinking caps.  Share this post with everyone and get them to comment, too.

Book Aunt - KBWT

Thanks to the folks over at School Library Journal's Battle of the (Kids) Books, I discovered Kate Coombs' blog, Book Aunt, "Because OTHER people give you clothes and video games for your birthday. "  It looks like I'm a Book Aunt, too.

Author of such fun books as The Runaway Princess and The Secret-Keeper, Kate's blog chronicles her writing adventures and adventures in the world of books for kids, such as her excellent review of "BIG numbers", highlighting books about large numbers written for young children.

To learn more about Kate Coombs, her writings and her writer-ly activities, go to her official website.  It's visually attractive and offers resources for parents and teachers. Kate has developed activities for each of her books, including a sampler of secrets from The Secret Keeper.  Hidden treasures are revealed with just a click.

Starters - a review

Lissa Price's Starters dropped on my doorstep yesterday.  I disappeared.  Maybe you saw me yesterday afternoon, but really?  I was in a future version of southern California.  I followed Callie Woodhill as she tried to "sell" her body to an elderly renter in the hopes of raising enough money to get medicine for her dangerously ill 7-year-old brother.

In this future world, many people between the ages of 25 and 75-ish were killed during the Spore Wars.  Children and the elderly had been vaccinated and they survived.  But lifespans have increased to upwards of 200 years so employing the young is against the law to insure that the Enders - as older people are called - can continue working.  Children and teens, (Starters), who do not have older relatives to claim them become slaves to the state until they reach 19.

The chasm between the rich and employed and the unclaimed and poor is vast and ugly.  Enter Prime Destinations, a company that exists under the radar of the law.  Rich Enders, the really old ones, can rent the bodies of teens while the teens' brains are put to sleep. The Enders' bodies stay behind in a coma state.  Callie takes a chance that Prime Destinations will keep their promises, and agrees to three rentals, each one longer than the last.

If I could give some advice to Callie here?  RUN!  Away!  FAST!  But then the story would be about surviving and possibly her brother's death and squalor, etc., etc.  Callie doesn't run.  When she wakes up in her renter's clothes, she starts getting telepathic messages from her renter - who has dire plans for Callie's youthful body.  Dire, dreadful, dangerous, desperate plans.  The plans depend on Callie's extraordinary talents as a markswoman.  Not good.

Another piece of advice for Callie - stay away from rich handsome Starters.  I don't think she takes that advice either.  Sigh.

Expensive cars and fashions, clubs, VIPS, lifestyles of the Rich and Ender-ly, cat and mouse chases, and nasty villains combine with the mystery of just who is behind Prime Destinations to create a page turner.

This is the first in a proposed series.  I have some awful suspicions about who The Old Man - Prime Destinations' founder - is.  Awful, cringe-causing suspicions.  So I am anxious for the next installment.  Go, Callie, go.  And stay away from that rich Starter! (Oh, I so hope I'm wrong.)

Re-Seussification

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss.  Happy Read Across America Day to everyone!  Happy birthday, childhood's favorite Muse!  A man of myth, and words, and wonder, and fun!

From @gallerynuclus by way of justpicturethis.tumblr.com

OK!  From Fuse#8 Productions we have a the results of Elizabeth Bird's  Re-Seussfication Project.  She challenged illustrators to re-illustrate a Seuss classic in the style of another illustrator, honoring both - I hope. I particularly like the last illustration. 

Jarrett Krosoczka re-seussified The Cat in the Hat in Bernard Waber style.  This is NOT the last illustration referred to above.

StoryFUSION

Storytelling Thursday, here!

StoryFUSION!!  STORY - fusion.  A fusion of all the ways story can be told.  Well, maybe not all the ways. But a whole SLEW of ways.  The whole thing happens at Northampton Community College, one of my alma maters.  And it happens from March 29th through April 1st, 2012.  That's THIS month.  Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild is a MAJOR contributor to this event - as in we make it happen.

So I promised you I'd give you the low-down on this event.  But there is really too much to tell.  Here's a link to the schedule.  

Elizabeth Ellis is the featured teller.  She is intelligent and mesmerizing as a performer.  She sweeps people up into her stories.  She is a fantastic educator.  I <3 Elizabeth Ellis - could you tell?

So many other people are involved.  The workshops alone are amazing - and that's NOT just because I am co-leading one of them.  Here is a nice description of all the workshops.

The student performances promise to be wonderful.  I saw a minute or two of the multi-media project. I am in love! 

So here is YOUR cost analysis (smirk) of this event:

Free events:
Thursday afternoon and evening - all FREE! 
Friday's "Dear Mr. Lincoln" Reader's Theater event at 10 am and 1 pm - FREE (10 am is pretty full, though.)
Saturday afternoon - Film shorts, Story Jam - Free but donations are gratefully accepted.
Sunday - Sacred Stories - Free

Admission events:
Friday night - Keynote Address - $10
Saturday workshops - $35 each
Meals -$12 for lunch and $18 for dinner.  Nice menus, I promise!
Saturday afternoon Children's show - $5!  A bargain!
Saturday evening performance - $10
Sunday afternoon:  Elizabeth Ellis workshop for performers - $50

Pick THIS to save money:
ALL FESTIVAL PASS  - $60
This includes all performances on Friday and Saturday, 1 workshop and both meals.  This does NOT include Sunday afternoon' workshop.

Register HERE.

Comment if you want to sign up for a Thursday workshop.  Since there is no cost, there is no online way to register in advance.

See you there.