Bride of Slug Man Blog Tour

Kate Walden Directs: Bride of the Slug Man
by Julie Mata
Disney Hyperion (May 26, 2015)
Audience: Grades 4-7
Fiction * Friendship * Dating
IndieBound * WorldCat
Download the Curriculum Guide

About the book: 
After her huge success with her first feature-length movie, seventh-grader Kate Walden is eager to start on her next film, a sci-fi romance called Bride of Slug Man. When a new kid comes to town from New York City, Kate thinks she might have a new found film buddy-someone to share her interest with. And it doesn't hurt that he's pretty cute. But it turns out that Tristan is making his own movie, and now the classmates Kate thought were eager to join her cast and crew are divided.

With rumors spreading in school and between sets, Kate finds herself juggling more than just call times and rewrites. And judging from the whispers Kate hears about Tristan Kingsley,she suspects that he isn't interested in having a fellow film-buff friend; he just wants to prove himself as the best filmmaker in school by winning the Big Picture Film Festival. Kate vows to enter too, and tries to focus on just making the best movie she can.

But between the cutthroat popularity contest, a bully situation that goes from bad to worse, and several on-set mishaps, Kate is going to need all the movie magic she can get to make sure Bride of Slug Man hits the big-screen.

Check out the book trailer:

Originally, I was going to do a review of Kate Walden Directs: Bride of Slug Man but as I was putting together the post I realized that I was the last stop on the tour.  Do you ever wonder if people go back and check out the other posts that the author and bloggers have worked hard on? So instead of just a review of the book...I thought I would do a little highlighting of the reviews, interviews, and guest posts for the tour.

Check out Julie Mata's guest post on GreenBean Queen Teen.  Mata's Plucky...Not Perfect gave me new insight into her character, Kate Walden. 

Over at Once Upon a Story, Julie's guest post talks about "Production Value" and adding "sizzle" and "Forced Perspective" to a movie and how Kate does this in Bride of Slug Man. This made me start wondering how I could use the post with students to talk about what would be the equivalent of production value, or adding sizzle, or forced perspective in something that we write. Check out Julie's curriculum guide for Bride of Slug Man for some great extension ideas.  

Next, hop on over to Read Now Sleep Later and check out Alethea's interview with Julie. Find out what 1959 black and white movie is her pick for favorite kid-appropriate Bride of Slug Man type movie.

Julie's guest post over at Curling Up With a Good Book focuses on her advice for How to Write What You Know.  Whether you have an exciting life or not, there are ideas for stories in those life experiences. Now I really want to know more about those 10 chickens that she owned at one time.

Don't stop yet, check out the review of Bride of Slug Man over at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia. 

There is another interview with Julie over at Book Hounds of YA. I may have added a couple of new (to me) reads to my TBR pile and there is an absolutely adorable picture of Julie's dog. Yeah, I know you want to click on this link. 

And finally, well maybe not finally since you have my post, but yesterday's guest post at The Brain Lair finds Julie sharing Director's Tips with readers. It even comes with a link to a short film that Julie made called Bus Driver. 

Now for the finally, Bride of Slug Man is just in time for summer reading. Though I am not suggesting any forced recommendations for kids to read during the summer but this book has a cool cover, it's funny, there is romance (well the fun kid kind of romance) and making movies in this book. What kid wouldn't want to pick it up and read it if you just happen to leave it in a spot they just can't miss? And when said kid is finished reading the book, it just might be responsible for sparking further creative endeavors with visions of film-making. 

Seriously, stop by your local independent bookstore or public library and pick up a copy of Bride of Slug Man. Read it yourself and better yet, share it with your favorite middle grader. 

About the Author: 
Julie Mata grew up outside Chicago and currently lives in Wisconsin, where she owns a video production business with her husband. She loves movies and once wrote and directed her own short film. She also loves traveling, gardening, and reading a really good book. Her first book was Kate Walden Directs: Night of the Zombie Chickens. For more information, including a downloadable curriculum guide and a filmmaking tip of the month, visit her website or follow Julie on twitter. 

Follow the blog tour: 

Monday, May 18      GreenBeanTeenQueen

Wed. May 20          Once Upon a Story

Thurs, May 21          Read Now, Sleep Later

Fri, May 22             Curling Up with a Good Book

Tues, May 26         The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Wed, May 27         BookHounds YA

Thurs, May 28       The Brain Lair

Fri, May 29            Kid Lit Frenzy

Giveaway:  One lucky winner will receive both books featuring Kate Walden - KATE WALDEN DIRECTS: NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIE CHICKENS and KATE WALDEN DIRECTS: BRIDE OF SLUG MAN. (U.S. addresses; allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.) Winner must be 13 years or older. Please complete the rafflecopter below to enter the giveaway.

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Mary McCoy: Author Interview

We are happy to welcome Mary McCoy to the blog. For those of you who will be attending Pasadena Loves YA in a couple of weeks, you will have the opportunity to meet Mary McCoy in person.  For readers of the blog, you get a virtual meeting with our interview.  Thank you Mary for graciously answering some questions for us about your debut novel, Dead to Me (Disney-Hyperion, March 2015).

What was the researching and writing process like for writing DEAD TO ME? How did you originally come up with the premise? 

DEAD TO ME is a film noir-inspired YA mystery. In film noir, the stakes are really high, emotions are heightened, everybody has their guard up, and I think that noir ethos fits into a high school setting really well.

I'm a librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library, so I knew about all these great research collections. Shameless library plug time! I used the online photo collection and map collection. I even used the online menu collection to find out what was on the menu at Musso & Frank in 1948 and how much things cost. The library made is very easy to pepper all those historical details through the book.

The description from GoodReads says that the book is great for fans of LA Confidential. What are some of your favorite noir films and/or mystery novels? Are there any that inspired DEAD TO ME?

I love LA Confidential so much - one of those rare cases where both the book and the movie are equally good! I was also really inspired by the movie Brick, which stars Joseph-Gordon Levitt and is about a high school loner-turned-detective who's trying to find out who killed his ex-girlfriend. As far as old movies go, some of my favorites are D.O.A., Double Indemnity, and In A Lonely Place.

I really love noir and hardboiled detective stories, but all the stock femme fatales and sexist tough guys can get a little grating. So I love it when stories like that are written from a woman's point of view or have really interesting, complicated female characters. Some of my favorites are The Song Is You by Megan Abbott and The Last Embrace by Denise Hamilton.

What drew you to the vibrant setting of 1940s Hollywood - especially the ugly underbelly of the film industry?

There's this incredible book called City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s by Otto Friedrich, and it's filled with every piece of gossip and every juicy scandal, but it's also a really well-researched history of the movie industry. Everyone should read it! It will suck you in.

DEAD TO ME features a cast of vastly differing characters, each with his or her own fascinating backstory. How did you create all of these back stories and entwine them into the plot so seamlessly?

I wrote long, involved backstories for lots of the characters in DEAD TO ME. Some of those stories made it in to the book (e.g. how Alice's mother got her big break in Hollywood), but a lot didn't (e.g.. how Jerry became a private detective). One character, Millie, was actually inspired by a real 1940s starlet named Lila Leeds whose acting career was ruined after she was caught smoking marijuana with Robert Mitchum (his career bounced back just fine).

My secret to writing a mystery is this: forge ahead to the end even if you don't know how it's going to turn out. Then once you're finished, you can go back and plant all the clues along the way. The thing that makes it all look seamless is working through round after round after round of revisions.

Any upcoming projects or books? Are you planning to write any more books about Alice Gates or 1940s mysteries?

The last line of DEAD TO ME is pretty much my favorite thing that I've ever written, so for now, I'm happy to leave that story and those characters right where they are.

I'm working on something new right now. It's also set in Los Angeles and it's about a history-obsessed main character, but otherwise, it's a whole nother thing.

Pasadena Loves YA
Date: May 23, 2015 | Time: 12 noon - 4 pm
Meet 20 YA authors 
Panels & Book Signings 
Giveaways and Refreshments  
Free tote bags for the first 150 guests!

This is a FREE event at Pasadena Public Library, Central Branch, 285 East Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91101

Keynote speaker Mary McCoy (author of Dead to Me) with Katie Alender, Victoria Aveyard, Alexis Bass, Julie Berry, Livia Blackburne, Virginia Boecker, Jessica Brody, Stephen Chbosky, Brandy Colbert, Ava Dellaira, Kody Keplinger, Liz Maccie, Morgan Matson, Lauren Miller, Alexandra Monir, Jennifer Niven, Romina Russell, Sarah Tomp, & Kiersten White

For more info, visit www.pasadenateenbookfestival.com
Check out the flyer here. 

Vroman's Bookstore be selling the books beginning at 11 am. The event is co-sponsored by Bridge to Books.

Though there is no registration required, we would greatly appreciate it if you would post, share, tweet, and tell everyone you know about the upcoming event! Please use the hashtag #PLYA2015.

Enter our Giveaway: Any 3 books from the 2015 Pasadena Loves YA authors, US only, ends 5/20/2015.

Thank you Alethea at Read Now Sleep Later for hosting and organizing the giveaway.

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The Isle of the Lost Giveaway

The Isle of the Lost
by Melissa de la Cruz
Disney-Hyperion (May 5, 2015)
#DisneyDescendants
Read An Excerpt | Official Site

If you live in a household with a pre-teen, Disney TV, Disney musicals, Disney movies are always a huge hit. When I was asked to share information about THE ISLE OF THE LOST and host a Disney Publishing giveaway, I couldn't resist. 

About the Book:
Evil tree. Bad Apple?

Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon to the Isle of the Lost--a dark and dreary place protected by a force field that makes it impossible for them to leave. Stripped of their magical powers, the villains now live in total isolation, forgotten by the world.

Mal learns from her mother, Maleficent, that the key to true darkness, the Dragon's Eye, is located inside her scepter in the forbidden fortress on the far side of the island. The eye is cursed, and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She'll just need a little help from her "friends." In their quest for the Dragon's Eye, these four kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain't so bad.

Isle of the Lost is the spell-binding prequel to Disney Descendants, A Disney Channel Original Movie Event this summer!

About the author:
Melissa de la Cruz is the author of many best-selling novels, including all the books in the Blue Bloods series: Blue Bloods, Masquerade, Revelations, The Van Alen Legacy, Keys to the Repository, Misguided Angel, Bloody Valentine, Lost in Time, and Gates of Paradise. She lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband and daughter. Official Author Website.

MEET THE DESCENDANTS Giveaway Prize Pack:

One (1) winner receives:

·         copy of The Isle of the Lost;
·         branded tank top, water bottle and temporary tattoos;
·         and a GadgetGrip smartphone home button sticker.

Giveaway open to US addresses only.
Prizing and samples provided by Disney Publishing.

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The Sky Painter Blog Tour and Giveaway

The Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes, Bird Artist
by Margarita Engle; Illustrated Aliona Bereghici
Two Lions (April 28, 2015)
Audience: 1st to 3rd grade
Poetry * Biography * Art
Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:
Louis loves to watch birds. He takes care of injured birds and studies how they look and how they move. His father wants him to become an engineer, but Louis dreams of being a bird artist. To achieve this dream, he must practice, practice, practice. He learns from the art of John James Audubon. But as Louis grows up, he begins to draw and paint living, flying birds in their natural habitats.

Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874–1927) is now known as the father of modern bird art. He traveled with many scientific expeditions all over the world. His best-known works—paintings for habitat exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History in New York—are still beloved by visitors today. His art helped to encourage wildlife conservation, inspiring people to celebrate and protect the world of wings.

Poems by Newbery Honor–winning author Margarita Engle and illustrations by Aliona Bereghici capture the life of Louis Fuertes and the deep sense of wonder that he felt when he painted the sky.

________________________________________

I am excited to have Margarita Engle on the blog today. She stopped by and answered a few questions that I had about writing a biographical picture book. Thank you Margarita for stopping by and I can't wait until everyone can pick up a copy of the beautiful biography in verse.

How do you tackle a biography in 32 to 48 pages?

I knew there were many incredibly inspiring aspects of Fuertes’ life that I wanted to honor! However, I did not want this to be an unemotional text about facts and figures. I longed to show the spirit of Fuertes’ work, both in terms of science and art. He was an original thinker, conceiving something other bird artists hadn’t tried—the painting of living birds in flight. 

Did you see what you can find and then see if a particular event in his life should be the focus or a certain period of time.

Some of my picture books are made up entirely of a single long poem, but this needed many poems, one for each stage of life. In order to show Fuertes at different ages, I had to begin with childhood poems, and progress to adult ones. He was a quirky child, already certain that he wanted to be a bird artist. He had a bird hospital in front of his house. When he was still very young, he tied the leg of an owl to the kitchen table, so that he could paint its portrait! He was also a quirky adult, sketching caricatures of his college professors as birds, keeping a loon in the bathtub long enough to paint it, and clowning around to entertain children in his art studio. However, his work was serious. By pioneering the painting of living birds in flight instead of killing and posing them, he changed bird art forever. He inspired an entire generation of ornithologists, including Roger Tory Peterson. He was the bird artist on all the influential scientific expeditions of his era, and he painted the murals for habitat exhibits at the Natural History Museum in New York. There is so much to admire in his life that I only managed to fit a few highlights into this picture book, but I hope they are highlights that will inspire children to care about conservation and the protection of wildlife, including urban birds.

Where is the line between a biography and a fictionalized biography?

Nonfiction biographies are strictly factual. They are written in third person, while The Sky Painter is in first person. Nonfiction does not imagine thoughts and emotions, while my poems do. Nevertheless, I’m happy to report that my poems are based on Fuertes’ own books, letters, and field notes, so I know that only the details are imagined, not the basic events and his attitudes toward those events. A fictionalized verse biography can be honest, even though it includes an element of imagination.

About the author: 
Margarita Engle is a Cuban American poet and novelist whose work has been published in many countries. Her books include The Poet Slave of Cuba, winner of the Pura Belpré Award for narrative and the Américas Award;The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor book; Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian, a Kirkus Best Book for Children; and The Lightning Dreamer, Cuba’s Greatest Abolitionist, winner of the 2014 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Young Adult/Children’s Literature. Margarita lives in California, where she enjoys bird-watching and helping her husband with his volunteer work for wilderness search-and-rescue dog training programs. To learn more, and to download a free activity kit for THE SKY  PAINTER, visit: www.margaritaengle.com

Check out the official book trailer:

Follow along on THE SKY PAINTER blog tour:

Mon, Apr 20     Library Fanatic

Tues, Apr 21     Kid Lit Frenzy

Wed, Apr 22    Unleashing Readers

Thurs, Apr 23   5 Minutes for Books

Fri, Apr 24     Teach Mentor Texts

Sat, Apr 25     Booking Mama

Mon, Apr 27    Sharpread

Tues, Apr 28   The Children's Book Review

Wed, Apr 29   Cracking the Cover

Thurs, Apr 30   A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust

Fri, May 1     Archimedes Notebook

Giveaway: 
One lucky winner will receive a copy of THE SKY PAINTER: LOUIS FUERTES, BIRD ARTIST by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Aliona Bereghici. (U.S. addresses only.)

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The Tapper Twins Blog Tour & Giveaway

The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other) Tapper Wins #1
by Geoff Rodkey
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (April 7, 2015)
Format: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook 

About the book: 
This brand-new series by a popular screenwriter is a pitch-perfect, contemporary comedy featuring twelve-year-old fraternal twins, Claudia and Reese, who couldn't be more different...except in their determination to come out on top in a vicious prank war! But when the competition escalates into an all-out battle that's fought from the cafeteria of their New York City private school all the way to the fictional universe of an online video game, the twins have to decide if their efforts to destroy each other are worth the price.

Told as a colorful "oral history" by the twins and their friends, and including photos, screenshots, chat logs, online gaming digital art, and text messages between their clueless parents, The Tapper Twins is a hilariously authentic showcase of what it's like to be in middle school in our digitally-saturated world.

Where to purchase the book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound 

Check out the official Book Trailer:

Check out each stop on the blog tour:

4/6/2015- Word Spelunker

4/7/2015- The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia 

4/8/2015- Forever Bookish

4/9/2015- Kid Lit Frenzy

4/10/2015- Page Turners 

About the author: 
Geoff Rodkey is the author of the Tapper Twins middle grade comedy series and the Chronicles of Egg adventure series. He's also the Emmy-nominated screenwriter of such hit films as Daddy Day Care, RV, and the Disney Channel's Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas.

Geoff grew up in Freeport, Illinois and began his writing career on his high school newspaper. While in college, Geoff was an editor of both the Harvard Lampoon and the Let's Go travel guide series. His early writing credits include the educational video game Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, the non-educational MTV series Beavis and Butt-head, and Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect.

Geoff currently lives in New York City with his wife and three sons. They do not have any pets, mostly because the whole experience with the goldfish was just too upsetting.

Website | Tapper Twins Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Don't forget to enter the giveaway: 
10 winners will receive a hardcover of THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (With Each Other) US Only.

Complete the rafflecopter form to enter:

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