Guest Post and Giveaway - May I Come In?

May I Come In? Guest Blog by Marsha Diane Arnold

#giveaway @MarshaDArnold

Someone recently noted that many of my newer books have woodland creatures in them. It’s true. Though my earlier work included books like The Pumpkin Runner, a fun fiction story inspired by the unlikely Australian ultra-marathoner Cliff Young and The Bravest of Us All, about a farm family and their first tornado, my recent books are about cuddly-looking animals. There’s Lost. Found. with Bear and his red scarf, Waiting for Snow with impatient Badger and steadfast friend Hedgehog, my board books Baby Animals Take a Bath and Baby Animals Take a Nap with cute animals doing just that, and now May I Come In? with frightened Raccoon looking for a friend in a storm. Maybe the reason I’ve turned to so many cute animals is simply that I need cuddling. Sometimes, I think the world needs cuddling. So, I have provided my version of cuddling in my books.

Two woodland creatures that make an appearance in May I Come In? Do you feel cuddled?

May I Come In? is a simple story of Raccoon searching for company during a storm. It’s a story about opening your heart and opening your door. Sometimes the simplest things are the most important.

In May I Come In? Raccoon is frightened by the storm, but braves it to search for a friend because he doesn’t want to be alone during this scary time. None of us like to be alone during frightening times. When Hurricane Irma visited Florida last year, many of us living here were frightened and many were evacuated from their homes due to the danger. It was heart-warming to see how many people opened their homes to others. In my husband’s and my home, there were fourteen of us, friends and family plus two dogs staying with us. Every bed and couch was taken, and some of the floor!  Though crowded, it was comforting to have others with us to share thoughts, to worry together and assure one another that all would be well, to share hot tea, and even to watch the wind blow over a few of our much-loved trees. Together, we all felt stronger.

 

Jennie Poh has done lovely work bringing my characters to life. The faces of Possum, Quail, and Woodchuck, who originally turned Raccoon away, standing at Rabbit’s door, melt your heart and the antics of the bobbing bunnies are delightful.

Besides expressing the comfort of being together during trying times, May I Come In? is a book about inclusion. It is hurtful to watch a child or any person being excluded, being shunned. It really isn’t difficult to open a conversation circle, a game, or a lunch table to another, but so often we don’t. The characters in May I Come In? are different animals. They are different, but in the end, they find themselves together in their time of need because of the welcoming, open door of Rabbit.

Thank you Cindy Mitchell and Kiss The Book for having me as a guest. Cindy told me I could write about anything I wanted for this guest blog, anything about my books, life, or memories. As I am now a grandmother in her sixties that covers a lot of ground! I’ve tried not to take up too much of your time here, but if you’d like to know even more about my life, books, and school visits you can visit my website, www.marshadianearnold.com or check out my course on Writing Wonderful Character-Driven Picture Books at http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-character-driven-stories.html

Now let’s all go find a good book to kiss!

Would you like to win a signed copy of Marsha's latest book, plus a cute tote bag from Sleeping Bear Press? How to win?  1. Comment on this blog post; 2. Like this post on twitter; 3. Retweet this post; 4. Look for the other posts about this giveaway here (one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday) and do the same for more chances to win!  You have until Thursday 22nd (date change)  at midnight Mountain time to enter.  Winner announced on the blog on Friday - short and sweet!

Good Luck!

Ken Baker - Author Interview

I rarely have author interviews posted on Kiss the Book, so here is a treat for you.  I had a chance to ask any questions I wanted to Ken Baker, author of Finding Forever, the first in the Deadline Diaries series.  I thought I would pick and choose which questions to post, but instead, I think you should have a chance to read them all for yourselves and enjoy them as much as I did! --Cindy

Ken Baker is a host on E! Entertainment News and has written a handful of other books, some of which we have reviewed here on Kiss the Book such as Fangirl and How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love.

How did you end up in your E! career? 

- Like most things in my life, it involved a healthy dose of dumb luck. I had been working at Us Weekly for many years as an editor and writer and my office just so happened to be in the same building as E! Since I was a warm body and close, I think they started using me as an expert on stories and that lead to me reporting and interviewing and eventually they hired me away from Us Weekly! That was eight years ago and it has been a great ride.

When did the writing bug bite you?

- I began keeping a journal at age 11. It was at first mostly about my hockey life. But then it expanded into more serious topics, like about my family, or about things that were frustrating me. It became an important outlet for me and remains to to this day something that I think helps keep me (kind of) sane.

Knowing about your job as a reporter for E! News, it makes some sense that Fangirl was about life in the music industry spotlight, How I got Skinny… was about reality TV.  So, how did your lead character in Finding Forever end up being a detective?

- Well, she is a blogger with the mind of a detective! I wanted to write a story where the journalist gets to be the hero. It doesnt have to always be the spy, or the FBI agent or undercover CIA officer or the cop. I still believe in the power of journalists to uncover truth and impact society. So the character Brooklyn Brant in the Deadline Diaries represents that passion and faith that I have! 

Where does Brooklyn's religious side come from?

- I was raised Roman Catholic. It shaped me in many profound ways: A clear concept of right from wrong, good and evil, power of prayer. I spent a lot of time talking to God as a kid. So I think there is a bit of me in Brooklyn in that sense. But as the series continues, Brooklyn will come to question her faith just as all of us do at some point.

Is there a question about yourself or your book that you wish people would ask, but they never do?  If so, what is the question and your answer.

- Yes: "Why does Brooklyn Brant have red hair?"

The answer: Because redheaded people are "different," they stand out, they can't blend into the crowd as easily. I think it makes them more interesting to write about in many ways. 

Is there anything that readers should know before they pick up Finding Forever?

- It is a blend of mystery, suspense, thriller and romance. I saw one review where the guy was like, 'Hey, this isn't a mystery because I found out all this stuff early on!' And, you know, he is right! But that's not a valid point of criticism because it is not technically a mystery because I refuse to write into that tired old formula. Brooklyn Brant is Nancy Drew but with a nonstop Instagram and Twitter feed and an obsession with Taylor Swift. She is a modern young woman with access to a lot of information.

Are we ever going to hear more about Josie and Peter’s romance from Fangirl?

- Aw, I love them. Maybe. There is a first draft of a screenplay so we shall see! 

All three of your novels have teenaged girls as the main character, and their voices are spot-on.   How are you able to channel that voice?

- We all have been teens at some point. If we pay attention to life, that part of us is always inside. As a writer, all I do is access it and apply it to these fictional characters in very modern situations. Growing up today is the same as it was in the 1980s: hard, exciting, fun, scary, adventurous and the ultimate mystery! 

Barnyard Purim by Kelly Terwilliger- OPTIONAL

Terwilliger, Kelly. Barnyard Purim, illustrated by Barbara Johansen Newman.  $7.95   Content: G.  PICTURE BOOK.  This book celebrates a Jewish holiday known as Purim.  The holiday celebrates the Biblical story in the book of Esther.  In this picture book, the barnyard animals dress up and perform a play recounting the story of Esther and Mordechai and their efforts to save the Jewish people.  I don’t know if it’s appropriate to tell a biblical story in the classroom, but if so, this is a cute way of doing so.  The illustrations are wonderful, fun and exciting.  The story is told in an intriguing and interesting way.  There is a sly fox that makes the ending exciting.  Pre-K.  EL (K-3).  OPTIONAL.  Reviewer: SL.   

Caitlyn Kittredge - Guest Blogger

Hey everyone:

Caitlyn Kittredge is joining us today to tell us more about her Iron Codex world.  You may have already read my review of the first book Iron Thorn, but not, here's a link.

And here is Caitlyn:

Secrets of the Iron Codex

Hey there, everyone!  It's so great to be here guest-blogging at Kiss the Book.  I understand I'm the first guest blogger ever, so I'm going to try to set the bar high, and answer a few questions you all posed:

After a student reads your book – what are the five things they should probably look up on Wikipedia in order to understand your universe better – and WHY?

Great question!  Since The Iron Thorn is an alternate-history novel, here's a few things that might help students delve deeper into the world.

1.     H.P. Lovecraft and the Lovecraft Mythos

If you want a better understand of monsters like the shoggoth or places like Arkham that appear in The Iron Thorn, reading about H.P. Lovecraft and his Mythos (a shared world he created for some of his stories, most famously The Call of Cthulhu), this would be an excellent place to start!  I also recommend reading Lovecraft's work, starting with The Call of Cthulhu, A Shadow Over Innsmouth, Herbert West: Re-Animator, At the Mountains of Madness and Dagon.

2.     The Red Scare

McCarthyism, the hysteria-fueled hunt to root out Communism in America in the 1950s, plays a big part in why I decided to write the Iron Thorn.  Joseph McCarthy went far beyond his short-lived fame in The Iron Thorn, eventually getting elected President and instituting the Proctors and their oppressive laws.  The real story of the Red Scare has a different ending, but is no less chilling.

3.     Steampunk

A genre of entertainment and an asethetic movement, steampunk is a genre of alternate history that presupposes steam technology, rather than combustion or atomic, is the dominant form of progress.  Usually set in the Victorian era, but ranges from the Renaissance to the far future, in various novels.  Students can read up on classics of the genre and fun stuff like steampunk costuming, which is a great way to bring the world of steampunk books to life.  For other stellar steampunk novels, try Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld or The Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock.

4.     Nikola Tesla

The father of modern technology, according to many, Tesla features prominently in The Iron Thorn, though I supposed that he invented a few secret, magically inclined items rather than his many true accomplishments, which include the alternating current—the means by which most modern homes and technology receive power.

5.     Dirigibles

Rather than airplanes, airships such as dirigibles and blimps are the primary form of travel in The Iron Thorn.  Reading about alternate forms of air travel often leads to learning about the inventors, the associated disasters, and how history may have turned out differently if one form of technology had been adopted above another.

Besides reading the blurb on the flyleaf or my review, what should a librarian know in order to sell this book to their students?

That it's a great adventure story, that it has some scary moments but also some romantic ones, and that if you love history, Gothic-style storytelling or just reading about worlds that aren't like our own, you'll probably love the book.  Aoife, the heroine, is also very into science and engineering, so geek girls and boys alike will really love her!

And lastly – is there something that you were DYING to talk about during the blog tour that just didn’t come up – a question you thought people would ask and they just didn’t, or some secret that you would be willing to spill if someone said just the right thing?

Really, if anyone has questions, I'm more than happy to answer them.  I'm so grateful I got a chance to share so much with my readers over the course of this tour, and I'm usually pretty easygoing as far as questions about myself, writing, publishing or my books. 

As for secrets—those have to stay secret for now, but suffice to say I am working on a new YA trilogy as well as more Iron Codex books.  Hopefully I'll have news for you soon!

(Cindy) Thanks Caitlyn!

If you want to read more of Caitlyn's blog tour, you can join her next at:

The Children's Book Review—Friday, April 29^th

www.thechildrensbookreview.com

Library Lounge Wizard—Saturday, April 30^th

http://www.libraryloungelizard.com/

Some of my personal favorite earlier stops on the tour were at:

SUVUDU—Tuesday, April 12^th

http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/04/explaining-steampunk-by-caitlin-kittredge.html

Fantastic Book Review—Friday, April 15^th  

http://www.fantasticbookreview.com/2011/04/blog-tour-iron-thorn-by-caitlin.html

Random Acts of Reading—Monday, April 18^th

http://randomactsofreading.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/my-nose-in-a-book-or-how-reading-taught-me-to-write/

Now go buy the book - or see if the library has it to check out - because I had a great time reading it and I think you will too!