Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!
VROOM VRRROOOMMM!
Do you have a need for speed? Come on, let’s burn a little rubber, ’cause today, Hot Rod Hamster, the first picture book by multiple award-winning author, Cynthia Lord, officially hits the shelves! *the crowd roars*
Will you just look at that hamster? He oozes personality and kid appeal from every pore, and only wants one thing: to build a sizzling hot rod so he can enter the race at the 4 Paws Speedway.
Calling all quackers!
Clickety click, clickety clack, Max the soup-cooking duck is back back back!
This week, Sitting Duck (HarperCollins, 2010), the fourth book in Jackie Urbanovic’s wildy popular New York Times bestselling picture book series, officially hits the shelves!
Everyone here at alphabet soup couldn’t be happier, cause we’re all quazy about Max, Brody, Dakota, Bebe and the whole raucous menagerie living at Irene’s. Seems like just yesterday we first heard Max knocking on Irene’s door (Duck at the Door, 2007), seeking shelter one winter’s day after the rest of his flock migrated South. Once he learned to use the remote control, discovered his flair for cooking, and made himself happily, quackily at home, he endeared himself not only to Irene and her resident dogs, cats, birds and rabbits, but to readers all over the world.
Since then, Max and the gang have kept us in stitches by concocting a masterpiece soup recipe (Duck Soup, 2008), and bravely taking in a desperate alligator (Duck and Cover, 2009). Yikes! What madness and mayhem could possibly top those escapades?
“My new favorite is Lindt’s Excellence Intense Pear Bar. One square of that and I’m writing (or critiquing!) productively for the next hour.” ~ Becky Levine
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here!
Official pub day for The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide: How to Give and Receive Feedback, Self-Edit, and Make Revisions (Writer’s Digest Books, 2010), by the one and only Becky Levine!
Whew! That’s some title, and friends, it lives up to every word, every paragraph, every page. As soon as I got my copy, I dove right into it, and ever since, one thought keeps running through my mind: how I wish I had this book 20 years ago. It would have made my writer’s journey so much easier, with all its great advice and guidelines about how to take one’s writing to the next level.
Ah, love, sweet love!
The perfect reason to serve up the first bowl of celebration soup for 2010!
It’s especially fitting for a first bowl to honor a first book, and even better, it was written by a Live Journal friend I had the pleasure of meeting last fall: the one and only Jennifer R. Hubbard! Today, her debut young adult novel, The Secret Year, officially hits the shelves!!
*wild cheering, swooning, licking of lips in anticipation*
By now you know how I feel about first books: only happens once in a writer’s lifetime — no matter how many books follow, there will always and only be just one first book — a sparkling, awe-inspiring, shiny bright moment in time that deserves to be honored, celebrated, shouted from the rooftops, and embraced by all who love to read, write, edit, publish, promote, and share books.
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photo by Zerberus.
Good morning!
Time to wake up and smell the coffee! I’ve poured a steamy cup just for you. Mmmmmm. Breathe in that rich, divine aroma of freshly brewed Arabica beans. Would you like it black, or with a little sugar and milk?
photo by lepiaf.geo.
Sip, sip, sip and join me in a jazzy java jive, because today, Kristina Springer’s very first YA novel, The Espressologist (FSG, 2009), is officially out! Yay!!
Whether or not you worship at the altar of caffeine, The Espressologist is sure to tickle your fancy and lift your spirits. I’ve always believed the old adage, "you are what you eat." In this fun, breezy story, which School Library Journal has called "compulsively readable," the main character, Jane Turner (a 17-year-old barista), believes people are what they drink — at least when it comes to a cup of Joe.
Jama's Alphabet Soup 