Search This Blog

Friday, September 30, 2011

Chat with Authors Anne Ursu and Laurel Snyder on Twitter! #magicisreal

This Tuesday, October 4th, at 8pm EST, Breadcrumbs author, Anne Ursu, and Bigger Than A Breadbox author, Laurel Snyder, talk about about Fantasy, Magic, and Realism in Middle Grade on Twitter using the hashtag #magicisreal. 

The chat will be hosted by ALAN board member, English teacher, and creator of RAW INK Online Paul W. Hankins. Official title: Magic is Real: Fantasy, Magic, and Realism in Middle Grade.

5 chat participants will receive free copies of Breadcrumbs and Bigger Than A Breadbox!

But it isn't a chat unless you join us! We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, and opinions about fantasy, magic, and realism in middle grade literature today. Meet us, this Tuesday at 8pm EST on Tweetchat.com.

BIOS
Anne Ursu is the author of three middle-grade novels that comprise the Cronus Chronicles trilogy: The Shadow Thieves, The Siren Song, and The Immortal Fire. She is also a professor of writing for children at Hamline University and a lifelong Minnesota Twins fan. Anne lives in Minneapolis with her son and two cats. You can visit her online at http://www.annursu.com/.

Laurel Snyder is the author of  three novels for children, “Penny Dreadful,” “Any Which Wall” and “Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains OR The Search for a Suitable Princess” (Random House) and two picture books, “Inside the Slidy Diner” and “Baxter the Kosher Pig.” (Tricycle). Visit her online at http://www.laurelsnyder.com/.

Paul W. Hankins teaches English 11 and AP English Language and Composition at Silver Creek High School in Sellersburg, Indiana. Paul is an ALAN Board Member. The creator of RAW INK Online, Paul seeks opportunities to connect his students with young adult authors. Paul's Twitter literacy initiative, #SpeakLoudly, was selected as Edublog's Most Influential Tweet/Series of Tweets for 2010 and the chat he co-hosts with Donalyn Miller, #TitleTalk continues to grow in popularity within the Twitter community. Paul's thoughts on literacy topics like reading aloud to secondary students and literature-based multigenre projects have appeared in Education Week, Choice Literacy, thewritingsite.org, and The Courier-Journal.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Happy Book Birthday, Breadcrumbs! Enter Our iPad Giveaway to Celebrate!

To celebrate the release of BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu (pub 9/27/11) we are giving away an Apple iPad and an iPad case with BREADCRUMBS cover art! This giveaway will be run as a Tweetstakes and will commence Tuesday, September 27th 2011 at 9:00 am EST and end Friday, September 30th 2011 at 12:00 noon EST.  

TO ENTER: FOLLOW @WaldenPondPress on Twitter (www.twitter.com/waldenpondpress) and TWEET the following message:
RT @WaldenPondPress To celebrate the release of BREADCRUMBS, we are giving away an iPad! RT&follow WPP to enter! Details http://ow.ly/6DdIs


One first place winner will receive an iPad Wi-Fi 16 GB and an iPad case with BREADCRUMBS cover art. Winner will be chosen at random from all entrants on Friday, September 30th at noon and contacted immediately via direct message on Twitter. Remember, you have to be following @WaldenPondPress for us to DM you!

Good luck to all who enter!

Official Rules:

iPAD Tweetstakes -- Official Rules
SPONSOR

This promotion (the "Sweepstakes") is sponsored by Walden Media, LLC ("Walden Media"), 1888 Century Park East 14th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90067.
ELIGIBILITY

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

To enter, using your Twitter account
1) Follow @@WaldenPondPress
2) Tweet or retweet the approved message. The entire message, including exact link, hashtags, and @reply, must be included to qualify. LIMIT ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. Multiple entries from one Twitter account and single entries from multiple Twitter accounts held by the entrant are automatically disqualified.  Automated means of entry and entries by any means which subvert the entry process are prohibited and all such entries will be void.

The Sweepstakes is open to all legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia eighteen (18) years of age and older, excluding employees and immediate family members of HarperCollins or Walden Media, LLC, and its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns, advertising, promotional and fulfillment agents, attorneys, and other representatives and the persons with whom each of the above are domiciled. Offer void wherever prohibited or restricted by law.

Each entrant in the Sweepstakes must be the rightful holder the Twitter account. In the event of a dispute concerning the identity of the holder of the Twitter account, the holder will be deemed to be the person who owns the email address that was used to register the Twitter account. The Twitter account must be opened prior to the commencement of the Sweepstakes. 

ENTRY PERIOD
The Sweepstakes will commence on Tuesday, September 27, 2011, at 9:00am (ET). The last entry will be accepted Friday, September 30th at 12:00 noon (ET).

SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION OF WINNER
One potential winner will be selected by a random drawing from among the eligible entries. Winner will be chosen by no later than four (4) days following the end date above. The potential winner will be notified by Direct Message via Twitter. If the potential winner does not respond to the notification within three (3) days of delivery, an alternate winner will be chosen. If a potential winner is not following @waldenpondpress on Twitter and therefore cannot receive a direct message, an alternate winner will be chosen. The potential winner will be required to complete, sign, return and have notarized an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability Release, and where imposing such condition is legal, a Publicity Release (the “Prize Claim Documents”).  If a selected potential winner fails to return the signed Prize Claim Documents within five (5) days of the receipt of the Prize Claim Documents, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner may be selected.

PRIZES
There will be one grand prize winner who will receive: one (1) Apple iPad 1, 16GB WiFi and one (1) hard-shell case wrapped with soft fabric with an estimated retail value (“ERV”) of $600. Walden Media reserves the right to substitute a substitute prize or cash payment of equal or greater value for the prize (or a portion of the prize) in its sole discretion.

The prize is non-transferable and cannot be sold or redeemed for cash.  The Internal Revenue Service requires a Form 1099 MISC to be issued and filed for any prize winner if the annual aggregate value of the prizes received is $600 or more. Walden Media will issue a Form 1099 MISC to the Grand Prize Winner for the ERV of the Grand Prize.

CONDITIONS
By participating, entrants affirm that they have read these Official Rules, agree to be bound by them and the selection of the winners, which shall be final, and waive any right to claim ambiguity in the Sweepstakes and/or these Official Rules. All federal, state and local tax liabilities arising from this Sweepstakes will be the sole responsibility of the winner. Acceptance of the prize constitutes permission to use the winner's name, tweet, likeness, biography, and prize won for purposes of advertising, promotion and publicity without additional compensation, except where prohibited or restricted by law.

The entrants release, discharge, and hold harmless Walden Media and its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, attorneys, representatives and agents, including advertising, promotion and fulfillment agencies, from any and all liability or damages arising from the administration of the Sweepstakes and the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize received in this Sweepstakes, including, without limitation, the following: (i) late, lost, incomplete, delayed, misdirected or unintelligible entries, (ii) any printing, typographical, administrative or technological errors in any materials associated with the Sweepstakes, and (iii) any damage to the entrant's computer, related equipment, data files, and software resulting from entrant's downloading of information regarding the Sweepstakes or participation in the Sweepstakes.

Walden Media reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, cancel or suspend this Sweepstakes should a virus, bug, computer problem or other causes beyond Walden Media's control corrupt the administration, security or proper operation of the Sweepstakes. Walden Media may prohibit you from participating in the Sweepstakes or winning a prize if, in its sole discretion, it determines that you are attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Sweepstakes by cheating, hacking or employing other unfair practices or by abusing other entrants or the representatives of Walden Media.

ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE OPERATION OF THE SWEEPSTAKES MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS, AND, IN SUCH EVENT, WALDEN MEDIA RESERVES THE RIGHT TO PURSUE ITS REMEDIES AND DAMAGES (INCLUDING COSTS AND ATTORNEY'S FEES) TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

Any dispute arising from the Sweepstakes will be determined according to the laws of the State of California, without reference to its conflict of laws principles, and the entrants consent to the personal jurisdiction of the State and Federal Courts located in the State of California over them and agree that such courts have exclusive jurisdiction over all such disputes.

THE ODDS OF WINNING DEPEND UPON THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES AND THE RATE AT WHICH THEY ARE RECEIVED.

For the names of the prize winners, e-mail your request to waldenpondpress@gmail.com no earlier than 10/5/11, but no later than 10/11/11. You may also send a self-addressed stamped envelope (postage not required from Vermont residents) to Walden Media, 17 New England Executive Park, Suite 305, Burlington, MA 01803 during the time period above.

This Sweepstakes is conducted solely by Walden Media, LLC and is not sponsored or otherwise affiliated with Twitter and/or Apple, Inc..

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Get Ready for the BREADCRUMBS Blog Tour!

It's blog tour time! Starting Monday, September 26th and running until Friday, October 7th,  author Anne Ursu will be touring the blogosphere to talk about her new novel, Breadcrumbs. In addition, some awesome bloggers will be posting reviews and offering book and Skype giveaways. Be sure to check out every tour stop and enter all the giveaways!

BREADCRUMBS BLOG TOUR:
Monday, 9/26 – Guest Post at The Book Whisperer 
Tuesday, 9/27 – Review and Book Giveaway at Mundie Kids
Wednesday, 9/28 – Review and Skype Giveaway at Great Kid Books
Wednesday, 9/28 – Book Giveaway at 5 Minutes for Books
Thursday, 9/29 – Interview at Bildungsroman
Friday, 9/30 – Review, Guest Post, and Book Giveaway at Bookalicious 
Saturday, 10/1 – Interview and Skype Giveaway at Kid Lit Frenzy
Sunday, 10/2 – Review, Interview, and Book Giveaway at The Reading Zone
Monday, 10/3 – Guest Post at Galleysmith
Tuesday, 10/4 – Review at Galleysmith
Tuesday, 10/4 – Guest Post, Review, and Book Giveaway at The Book Smugglers
Wednesday, 10/5 – Review and Illustrator Interview at A Backwards Story
Thursday, 10/6 – Guest Post at The Mod Podge Bookshelf
Friday, 10/7 – Interview and Review at Book Rat

Thanks to all of the amazing bloggers who participated in the tour. We have had a blast working with all of you!

Next post: All the info you need to enter our iPad giveaway on Twitter this coming Tuesday, 9/27!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Congratulations to the Winners of Our Back-to-the-Books Giveaway!

Congratulations to Alanna from Florida and Joannie from Georgia, winners of our Back-to-the-Books Giveaway Hop prizes! Thanks so much to everyone who entered. Stay tuned for more information about a Twitter giveaway later this month...