Dear Bloggers,

Pardon the group email, but I just heard some fantastic news and since it is Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I wanted to share. I am happy to report that Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, by debut middle grade novelist Kaleb Nation, has debuted on the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association bestsellers list in the #10 spot for Children’s Interest!

For those of you unfamiliar with the list, this indie group is one of the largest in the country, and includes stores such as BookPeople & Blue Willow (TX), Tattered Cover (CO), Changing Hands(AZ) and King’s English (UT), among many others. These are some of the biggest and best indies in the country.

What does this have to do with your blog? Because the focus of publicity efforts for this title have been primarily online—it is YOU we have to thank for this phenomenal success. For a 20 year old first time author to debut on this list, before he has even begun his cross-country tour, can only mean that word-of-mouth generated by all of you in the book blogging community (and masters of the twitterverse) has had a significant impact on the sales of this book—a direct contradiction to the controversial interview on the All About Romance blog which stirred up so much controversy four months ago.

But I didn’t even review Bran Hambric?! It doesn’t matter! As part of the larger book blogging community you are an integral part of an ever-growing online literary conversation that exists to discuss books based on merit and for the love of reading. It is through your work that debut novelists can now get discovered and shared throughout the world—and our thanks goes out to you for making this possible.

As you all know, there are many types of book bloggers—teen fan blogs, vlogs, kidlitosphere blogs, homeschool blogs, mommy blogs and the established book blogs we all know and love—and it has been remarkable to bear witness to how so many different types of readers have all come together to discuss and review Bran Hambric in an ever-growing online reading community.

A sincere “thank you” from Sourcebooks for helping us bring a little bit of magic, fantasy and adventure into the lives of readers everywhere. We’d like to show our appreciation by offering autographed posters of Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse (cover art by Brandon Dorman!) to any blogger to use as a giveaway (plus one for you to keep, if you’d like!). Feel free to pass this letter to other bloggers who might be interested in either the giveaway or the words of appreciation! As always, contact me if you’d like a poster!

Sincerely,

Paul Samuelson

Sourcebooks, Publicity

@psamuelson01

P.S. Feel free to post on your blog or distribute this as you see fit.

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

–
Gina MarySol Ruiz

http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealProp8

I woke up to a day of contrasts.  Wildly ecstatically happy that Barack Obama is President-Elect and despairing that Proposition 8, the ban on Gay Marriage passed.  That Los Angeles, my city passed it cuts to the quick.  That Latinos helped and voted yes cuts me even deeper.  We fell short and I blame myself for a part of it.

I could have done more.  I wrote two posts and I was vocal but I should have been standing outside of churches, speaking about why it is wrong.  I should have gone door to door every day for at least an hour.  I don’t know that I would have made a difference but at least I would have planted seeds of tolerance and understanding.  I failed at that and I’m ashamed.

I was watching the election results last night with my family.  My Filipino daughter in law that can’t vote and wants to desperately but is still taking her citizenship classes, my Mexican-Irish-Jewish-Filipino grandkids and my son all watched together.  When Charlie Gibson said that Barack Obama was President-Elect our house exploded with screams of joy.  I was stunned.  Stunned.  I hoped but didn’t really think it would happen.  I saw Pennsylvania go to Obama and then Ohio and that light of hope got a little brighter but still, I was completely floored at the announcement.  I sat there and just cried and cried.

All my life, I’ve been protesting and giving up my time to be out there marching but with every year that passed, it took its toll.  When I interviewed my personal hero Ana Castillo, we talked about being discouraged and steeling ourselves to go on, keep it up, be out there, not to let it get to us and that helped me find more strength to carry on and keep going, but it’s been hard.  Hard to see us doing any good, hard to see the changes.

Deep inside, I never thought my vote counted.  I never felt like an American.  I am third generation born in this country and I’ve always considered myself Mexican or Chicana.  I watched Whoopi Goldberg this morning and she said something profoundly moving to me because it echoed what I felt.  She said that she finally felt that she could put her suitcase down.  Yeah, it’s like that now.  I can feel a part of this country.  I can feel American because with Barack Obama’s astounding campaign and election, he’s shown me, the American people have shown me that votes do count, that we CAN make a difference, that the world is changing and we have that ability to change it more.

I never thought or believed that my sons or daughter could be a President here.  There were always limitations.  I believe it now.  I looked at my sleeping five-year-old granddaughter who loves politics and Obama, who only woke up to say, “Did my favorite one Obama win yet Grammy?” and it hit me that she could be a President of this country.  That’s when the tears started, that’s when belief set in.  That’s when I became an American.

I woke up and found Prop 8 had passed, and it robbed me of a lot of my joy.  I bitched and complained for a few minutes, but now I am resolute.  I will work my ass off to change it, I’ll get everyone I know fighting with me.  We can make a difference.  I am re-charged, renewed, re-energized and above all hopeful.  We live in a new country and hope is the word.

Mexica Tiahui (which means people move forward, gente adelante)

I was born in 1961 which makes me almost 47 years old.  My mother is Mexican-American, my father was Irish-Jewish (go figure).  I learned about discrimination early on.  My father’s parents didn’t think much of my Mexican Catholic mother.  She hated them for hating her.  Growing up in a Mexican barrio in Southeast  L.A.,  my sisters and I were too light-skinned, too freckled and we had that funny Irish last name.  No one liked us.  It didn’t matter that we were nice girls, we were different and so we learned to depend on each other and make our own way.  I found books and found I didn’t need friends.

In 1968, my mother moved to Watts.  What she was thinking, I’ve no idea.  We were worse off than before.  We were the only three “white” girls in a school of African-Americans.  Yeah, we got jumped all the time and life really, really sucked hard until my mother moved again.

I went to Junior High School in a mixed neighborhood.  Cubans, Mexicans, and Caucasians.  We still didn’t fit in anywhere and made few friends.  The Mexicans thought we were too white, the Whites thought we were too Mexican.  You get the picture.  Still, we got through it and the few friends I made are still with me.

As a mother, a single mother with Mexican-American kids, I ran into racism and discrimination over and over again.  I had one teacher tell me it didn’t matter if my daughter didn’t do well on a test because she’d probably end up pregnant and drop out of high school anyway.  Yeah, that was a conversation with the school board.

Over the years, I’ve seen things get better.  L.A. is very diverse and I don’t run into too much bullshit anymore.  I’m not the target anymore, it seems.  This year, the target of choice for hatred and discrimination is Gay Marriage and I’m just fed up.  Haven’t we learned that hatred, discrimination, racism and intolerance doesn’t work?  What gives us a right to decide who people fall in love with and want to marry?  Who are we to judge?

We have a constitution that says we are all created equal but we don’t practice it.  We’re quick to yank out a constitution and call upon our given rights but equally eager to subvert it.  It breaks my heart to see Latinos for 8, led by their churches, which really need to stay the holy fuck out of politics.  What happened to separation of church and state?

What is traditional marriage?  If we go back to the bible, it would mean a man had many wives.   Or it could mean that as a woman, your husband had all rights to your property and your children – you’d have no legal recourse if he chose to take your money and kids.  How’s that for traditional? There is no such thing as traditional marriage as proponents of Prop 8 would have you believe. Marriage has constantly changed as have people.  Evolution.  Of course, some people don’t believe in evolution.

My definition of marriage is this:  Two humans who love each other and are deeply committed to each other, their relationship and want to make a life together.  Marriage is hard work and not everyone can swing it.  I’m divorced and have yet to find a partner that I am willing to share that level of commitment with.  For those of you that have found such love and devotion, you deserve to have the marriage you want and all the joy that comes with it.

Discrimination and I are old enemies and so I am voting No on Prop 8 – it breeds hatred, exclusionism, divisiveness, racism, discrimination and intolerance.  Ya basta!

I’m begging you, if you’re thinking of voting for it, to please stop and think of what you are really doing.  You’re not saving marriage, you’re breeding hatred and stripping people (including yourself) of fundamental rights.

Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition

Author: Guy Kawasaki

Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1591842239
ISBN-13: 978-1591842231

I don’t read business books.  I don’t.  Business books and self-help books are the two types of books that make my eyes glaze over and have me thinking longingly about polyhedrons or hyperbolic geometry models in crochet or cooking or taking a walk, anything but reading that book.  I most certainly don’t review business books, or at least I didn’t till now and I blame Twitter.

Have you heard of Twitter?  I’m quite addicted to it.  I think it’s a marvelous tool filled with wonderful things and people.  About six months ago, I quit my job and had lots of time for Twitter where before I had only dabbled.  I started off following the foodies and the book lovers like me, then my varied interests took root and my friend list on Twitter blossomed.  I met Guy Kawasaki on Twitter and had no idea who he was.  He was just some guy with 18k followers so that made him interesting to me.  Social media fascinates me and he seemed like someone who was knowledgeable about it.  Long story short, I ended up doing some freelance consulting for him with Alltop.com and it’s been amazing.

For an information junkie like me, Alltop is heaven.  Working with Guy and Neenz behind the scenes compiling topics has been just a dream.  Talk about super nice people.  I know. I know you’re thinking that I love the book because of Guy but that’s not the case.  When he told me he was sending me his next book there was an inward groan.  Like “oh shit, I’m going to HAVE to read a business book”, but at the same time, I was infinitely curious.  What would Guy write about?  What would he say?  What were his core philosophies?  Would the Guy I knew from Twitter and emails be the same Guy in the pages of a book?     He had managed to pique my interest in a book that normally I’d have not only no interest in but would steer clear the hell away from.

Reality Check arrived at my door one morning last week.  I found I was excited about it, but there was still that shiver of dread as I looked at the business-like dust jacket.  I opened the book thinking, “This is gonna be painful.”

Ten minutes later, I was laughing my ass off at Fake Steve Jobs’ Introduction 2.0.  Then I got sucked into the rest of the book.  I literally unplugged my computer and didn’t stop reading until I was done.  Then I re-read it, slowly going over parts that had made the most impact.

Reality Check hit home on a lot of levels.  I’ve been working in the corporate world for over 20 years.  I’ve worked for huge corporations and small Internet companies. I’ve seen all the mistakes, heard all the bullshit or bullshitake to quote Guy.  I’ve watched people with really great ideas fall on their asses because of fundamental things they overlooked.  I’ve seen people spending money on advertising over PR and audited the expense reports of engineers.  Everything Guy said in his book is TRUE and it makes perfect, logical sense.

It’s not a book; it’s a blueprint for success in whatever you do.  Not planning starting your own company?  Fine.  You can still use this blueprint.  Not interested in starting a start up?  Ok, cool but his common sense approach and intelligent outlaying of simple business facts will get you ahead in your day job.  Read his interview with Penelope Trunk about Career Guidance.

My favorite chapter was How to Suck Up to a Blogger.  The title alone had me laughing and once I got past that, the advice was sound and sensible.  Guy knows what he’s talking about.  One of the things that struck me most was that Mr. Kawasaki really, really understands people and what make them tick.  His book is funny, smart, well thought out and completely necessary for just about anyone’s library.  Buy it, read it and then read it again.  Actually, buy two because you’re going to highlight, mark up, post-it note, dog-ear and completely destroy the first one using it so much.

The Hispanic Books Contest is officially over and I had only one winner – Rick DeMott.  Rick, please email me your address so I can get your books to you.

I hate to see the four remaining sets go unclaimed, so if you know of a library or school that needs them, please comment back and give me the name and address and we’ll send them there.  First four commenters get the books.

I saw this last week and it was fabulous.  Frankly, it was the only show of the season that interested me enough to unplug from my computer and put down the books. If you have a chance to watch the show, you won’t be disappointed. Very thought-provoking, smart, stylish and hey, there’s fantastic music.

Courtesy of @LifeonMarsABC – follow them on Twitter!

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat

Editor: Nikki Giovanni

Publisher:  Source Books

• ISBN-10: 1402210485
• ISBN-13: 978-1402210488

Stories in Rhythm. Operatic vernacular. Poetry with a beat. Call and Response. One part story and one part rhythm. These are some of the terms the poet Nikki Giovanni uses to describe Hip Hop in her marvelous introduction to this astounding and beautiful book, Hip Hop Speaks to Children.

Really? Opera? Read on, because Giovanni enlightens, gives us the history and a story in her unique and always poetic voice. As I read her introduction, I was wowed and started making comparisons to the Italian opera that I love and found her to be dead on the money right. Hip Hop does compare. It took several minutes to process her introduction and get on to the poetry in the book because I just had to absorb it and let it sink in. It did and I smiled and turned the page.

One of the things that struck me about this book is the artwork. The illustrations are beautiful, each with a different flavor as it’s illustrated by a variety of artists. Each illustration richly fits and contributes to the poem without competing or detracting from the message. It’s very well done and when I thought of the care in selection and the time it must have taken, I was further impressed.

I read the book first; the poetry without the accompanying CD. I wanted to get a feel for the beat of the rhythm without it. I enjoyed each poem tremendously and then re-read with the CD playing. Wow. A Tribe Called Quest reading “Ham ‘N Eggs”, Gary Soto reading his own poem “Music for Fun and Profit”, Ms. Giovanni reading “The Girls in the Circle”, Kanye West reading “Hey Mama”, Queen Latifah performing “From Ladies First”, Mos Def – “From Umi Says”, readings from Langston Hughes, Eloise Greenfield, Common, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lauryn Hill performing “Everything is Everything”, the list goes on and on.

This is an incredibly powerful, beautiful and important book. Both the book and CD are stellar in quality and diversity. The artwork is amazing and I find myself pulling it out of the shelf over and over for just one more re-read. The grandchildren (ages 3 and 5) love it as well and ask to hear the CD while they pore over the pages and take breaks prancing around the room and singing to the beat. They KNOW all the poems in the book and learned them in a relatively short time, which I attribute to the power of the beat, and all the artists; the poets, the illustrators, the singers and spoken word artists. What an astounding thing when a book moves children so that they LEARN – quickly and enjoyably. This book is for all ages and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

More about the book: Listen to Nikki Giovanni’s passion for it here. Listen to Nikki Giovanni read The Girls in the Circle here. Listen to A Tribe Called Quest perform Ham ‘n Eggs here. View a page of the book here.