Halloween Giveaway: Mythological Creatures Stamps

A couple of years ago, I ordered a few sets of the British "Mythological Creatures" stamps, thinking they'd make a great Book Aunt giveaway. Besides their topic, they are linked to children's books because Neil Gaiman—a good stand-in for Jack Skellington, the Halloween King, in more than one way—wrote the text that describes each stamp on the lovely enclosure card. How cool is that? In fact, Gaiman teamed up again with his favorite illustrator, Dave McKean, who did the darkly beautiful artwork. Here is a sample of Gaiman's writing, from the description of giants:

The remaining giants sleep, lost in deep slow dreams, covered in earth and trees and wild grass. Some have clouds on their shoulders or long men carved on their sides. We see them from the windows of cars and tell each other that from some angles they look almost like people.

So here's how this works: leave a comment describing your favorite monster or mythological creature in 1-2 sentences. On October 31, I'll pick the best of the comments that actually do some describing, as opposed to simply naming a beast. You're welcome to throw in a metaphor or two! I have three of these stamp sets, so after selecting the best and second-best comments, I'll simply do a drawing for stamp set #3.

Meanwhile, I hope your costume plans are coming together, your leaves are turning orange or gold and falling in slow motion, your spiderwebs are trembling in the moonlight, and you have at least one jack-o-lantern on your porch, maybe even a tribe.

Note: As usual, this giveaway is open anyone on the planet. I'll be happy to pay the postage if you're a winner in Japan or New Zealand or Kenya! Wherever you're from, you should either leave your contact info in your comment, or just be sure to check back on November 1 to see if you won.

Update: Participants, see my note in the comments!

Springy Giveaway

Hi all! I have given away copies of my MG fantasy books every so often here at Book Aunt, but I haven't given away a copy of my picture book for some time. And it has a spring/rejuvenation theme in there somewhere...

So leave a spring comment in the next (almost) two weeks, by midnight on February 1, and then I'll draw names and send an autographed copy of The Secret-Keeper to the winner. It's an original folktale, which I know very well is a contradiction in terms, but I suspect you know what I mean, right?

Anyway, in your comment, please share either a spring thought or a happy secret, i.e, something nice you haven't mentioned to anyone else yet. It can be something small like "The bush out front is starting to bloom" or something upbeat like "Passed a kid on the street today who gave me such a great grin and a hello as he went by." (Now, I'm in L.A., and I realize spring isn't there quite yet on the East Coast and in certain other parts of the world, but you can look forward to it with your comment!) Of course, you can always recommend a spring-appropriate book as an alternative.

Do be sure you're reachable, whether by your regular link or an e-mail address or by checking back on February 2nd. Thanks!

(And yes, I ship prizes internationally. I hate to leave anyone out.)

Note: Jacket art and illustrations in general were created by the wonderful Heather M. Solomon.

Enchanted Inkpot Giveaway, Etc.

The writers who host the Enchanted Inkpot blog are doing their second annual Giveaway Extravaganza, and all you need to do to enter is comment on what upcoming MG and/or YA fantasy books you're looking forward to reading! So head on over and see if you can be the first or second place winner of ELEVEN books in one fell swoop, including possibly (in one of the batches) mine.

On a slightly chagrined note, I will tell you that the sequel to my book, The Runaway Princess, is on sale at Amazon right now. While I'm not sure this is a good sign from my perspective as an author, I figure some of you might want to take advantage and get your hands on a copy of The Runaway Dragon for a lot less than the usual price.

And in that vein, let me just point out that this is a great time of year to buy your nieces and nephews, or sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and spouses and friends and, well, everybody, a book! Or two or three books, for that matter. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who used to love spending the afternoon of December 25th as a child reading the new books Santa brought me for Christmas...

The How-Did-I-End-Up-with-Two-Copies-of-This? Book Giveaway, Part Deux

Announcing the second How-Did-I-End-Up-with-Two-Copies-of-This? Book Giveaway, wherein I reshelve yet again, ponder the limitations of having a mere 13 bookshelves in a two-bedroom condo, and wonder if it's truly possible to have too many books.

I will therefore send the winner of this giveaway three (3!) books, one clean new hardcover copy of each of the following, which are all very good:

--Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus by R.L. LaFevers (reviewed here, the third in an adventuresome series about a girl with a knack for curse detection whose parents run an antiquities museum in London in the early 1900s)
--The Magic Thief: Lost by Sarah Prineas (the second in a series about a boy who, in Book 1, picked the pocket of a wizard and became his apprentice; now he runs away from home and comes up against a sorcerer-king)
--A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce (a rich, dark retelling of the story of Rumpelstiltskin, this Young Adult book is set in England at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution)

How do you enter? Simply leave a comment in which you tell us what book/s you own just one copy of, but wish you had two of, if only to have a loaner available. This is also a chance to recommend a favorite, whether old or new!

The giveaway will run for about two weeks, ending at midnight on Thursday, May 13. Then I'll draw names to find a winner. So check back and/or leave handy identifying info in your comment.

P.S. I guess I should say which books I wish I had two of! An American Childhood by Annie Dillard and All the Small Things, a collection of poems by Valerie Worth, are the first two that pop into my head. Also The Silver Curlew by Eleanor Farjeon (which I will be posting about soon...).

Update: This contest is now closed. Winners to be announced shortly.

The How-Did-I-End-Up-with-Two-Copies-of-This? Book Giveaway

Announcing the first, and probably last, How-Did-I-End-Up-with-Two-Copies-of-This? Book Giveaway, inspired by the Great Reshelving Project, in which I learn, for the 685th time, that I buy too many books and then don't know where to put them.

I will therefore send the winner of this giveaway three (3!) books, one clean new copy of each of the following, which are all very good:

--The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (shortlisted for the Newbery this year, another tender fable from the award-winning author, more magical realism than fantasy)
--The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, an Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer (a series I really like; it's about Sherlock Holmes' much younger but equally talented younger sister)
--The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones (very funny satire on fantasy clichés, encyclopedia format)

How do you enter? Simply leave a comment in which you tell us what 2-3 children's books you love so dearly that you would be happy to own two copies of them, or possibly do own two copies! (Just for example, I own two copies of an out-of-print fantasy called Taash and the Jesters by Ellen Kindt MacKenzie, a book I loved as a child.)

This giveaway will run for a week and a half to two weeks, depending on participation. Then I'll draw names to find a winner. So check back and/or leave handy identifying info in your comment.

Update: The HDIEUWTCOT? Book Giveaway will end at midnight, Pacific Time, on Friday, January 29, 2010. I'm enjoying all of your comments, especially knowing I'm not the only two-copy hoarder. And yes, I'm still keeping two (even three) copies of certain books!

Enchanted Inkpot Giveaway Extravaganza

Eep! Forgot to tell you about this! Okay, I belong to a fantasy writers' blog called Enchanted Inkpot, and we are currently doing a major giveaway where you can win, not one, but eight books at a time. This photo shows the selections, including my two Runaway books. Each row is a gift basket, with three baskets in total. (And each one has a theme of sorts.)

But you have to link over there and comment at the very least to have a chance at winning. The grand prize winner gets first pick of the baskets and a gift certificate to a bookstore, too. To win that, you also have to twitter/blog/post on Facebook about the contest. Second prize is similar, but third prize is simply a drawing based on comment participation. So if you're interested, link on over and have at it!

Update: This contest ended December 9, 2009, and the winners have been posted.

New Book Giveaway

It occurs to me that I really should give away copies of my new book to a couple of deserving souls who have the immense sagacity to visit Book Aunt...

So here's the deal: leave a comment telling us about your favorite fictional dragon (other than my Laddy) and why your pick is so very cool/scary/cute/weird/other. Then you will be entered in a drawing to win one of two autographed copies of The Runaway Dragon!

If you already own the book, comment anyway--you can always give the non-autographed copy away or ask me to sign the book to a niece or nephew.

Being a great believer in randomness, I'll do this for a week or two, depending on how many people participate.

Note: It really helps for you to include your e-mail. If not, I hope your sign-in makes you easy to track down and/or that you will check back.

Update: Talking to Jennifer in the comments of my 9-27 post made me realize that if I were going to pick a dragon based on illustration, as opposed to one from fiction for middle grades, YA, or adults (which was what I had in mind when I brought this up), it would have to be the one Trina Schart Hyman created for Saint George and the Dragon. Gorgeous! Oh, but the best picture book overall about dragons is Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like, by Jay Williams and Mercer Mayer. If you haven't read it, I suggest you look for it at your library. It makes a great read-aloud for second and third graders, many of whom will get the joke about how people form their opinions. I used to read it to classes when I was subbing and then have the kids create their own dragons using torn construction paper on black backgrounds.

My First Giveaway, Featuring the One and Only...

I'm getting the same feeling I got last summer, a kind of melancholy I can only associate with the lack of a new Harry Potter book coming out. The movie helps, but it's just not the same as a big, fat book full of Hogwarts adventures along with the direness of Lord Voldemort's quest to defeat Harry and, incidentally, to conquer the world.

So when I got the chance to do a giveaway in honor of the newest (and last) Potter paperback, Book 7, which is auspiciously due out on 7/7, I was totally there. Although you, fellow Hogwarts devotees, are the beneficiaries, with the possibility of winning one of five prize packs, each consisting of three paperbacks:

• Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


• Book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


• Book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The folks who are providing the books wish me to include this Harry Potter website link, plus the following info:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a breathtaking finish to a remarkable series. The final chapter to Harry Potter's adventures will be released in paperback July 7th! It all comes down to this--a final face-off between good and evil. you plan to pull out all the stops, but every time you solve one mystery, three more evolve.

My thoughts about Book 7 are a little darker and deeper. When I bought the book, I wondered whether J.K. Rowling could possibly end the series in a way that could satisfy me. For one thing, I didn't want the series to end, implying built-in dissatisfaction. I was amused by the middle of the book, which dragged. But the dragginess had a purpose--Harry and his outgunned friends were muddling around in the countryside, unsure how to defeat the undefeatable, or even to save their own lives. It was a gloomy, drizzly book, but that kind of makes sense, when you're talking about such fear and sadness.

I'll confess that I wasn't fond of the long exposition from a beloved and departed mentor near the end of the book. But that's just a quibble; when I closed Deathly Hallows, I really felt like the author had pulled it off. I gave one of those happy, happy sighs you give just before turning back to reread favorite scenes. (Or in my case, to reread the last three chapters, as I tend to speed up toward the end of a book and need a second, calmer read to recover anything I've missed in my hurry.) I decided that the final battle could easily have been botched, but instead it was just right, up to and including the losses, as well as the strange roles played by some of Harry's supposed enemies. J.K. Rowling is a lot more subtle than you might think!

Now, if you'd like to participate in the giveaway, which will run for three weeks and close July 4th with a nice blast of fireworks reminiscent of a powerful burst of magic, just write about Harry Potter in the comment section of this post. Tell us about a favorite character, secondary character, monster, teacher, or villain. Write about a favorite scene. Write about your favorite clever details or your favorite plot twist. Or you can write about staying up till midnight at a bookstore party when one of the books came out. As my English teachers used to say (every single one of them), be specific. Anything from 2-3 sentences to a longer paragraph is fine. Just show off your love of Harry!

One of my own memories of Harry Potter was the night I bought a book at midnight (I think it was Book 6) and came home feeling really tired. I said to myself, I'll just read a chapter or two. Yeah, right. At ten o'clock the next morning, I stopped to take a nap. Then I finished the book in time to go to a birthday party at the home of my student's aunt. My student was twelve and too cool; he was way less thrilled to see me than his mother was. Fair enough, since she had invited me. The party was Belizean, so I got to eat plaintains and try to figure out what everybody was saying as I watched the little kids bounce up and down in one of those jumpy houses in the backyard. My student and his cousin and I did have a conversation about the new Harry Potter book, though, and both of them were amazed that I had already finished--they forgot to be cool for a full ten seconds, they were so impressed!

The thing is, this student of mine was slowly dying of cancer. (I teach sick children.) A few months later, he wasn't up for algebra anymore. All I did when I went over to his house to work with him was read Harry Potter--I think it was Book Three. He really liked the way I read, doing different voices and everything. The day before he died, I was reading him Harry Potter.

I guess that might also explain my melancholy.

Anyway, I hope your thoughts and memories are far more upbeat than mine. Please share, and I'll be happy to pick a handful of the comments to win the prize packs. What I'll do is select 1-2 that I think are especially great and then do the rest simply as a drawing, giving us the best of both worlds.

P.S. Apparently several other bloggers in Kidlitosphere are also doing this giveaway. Visit each of these sites for more chances to win! They are Abby Librarian, Charlotte's Library, The Well-Read Child, Brimful Curiosities, The Spiral Notebook, Wizards Wireless, Write for a Reader, and readergirlz.