What would you buy with $300? Or even $200 or $100? Now is your chance to find out! Comment on any 451 Press site during the month of August and you could win! Three comments will be chosen at random to win a cash prize of $300, $200 or $100. The more you comment the more chances you have to win. So start reading and let those fingers fly.
The notorious tales in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events are now available in paperback. To celebrate, HarperCollins is giving away free books. To enter, sign up here. The last entry will be accepted on July 26, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. (EST).
Barnes and Noble is hosting “Summer Reading in the Magic Tree House” - read any eight books (borrowed or bought) and you will earn a coupon for a FREE book. You might also win a copy of The Magic Tree House #37 signed by author Mary Pope Osborn!
To earn your free book, pick up an entry form at Barnes and Noble. The contest is open to school aged children, grades 1 through 6 and runs from May 29 to September 2. For more details, click here.
Barnes and Noble, The Magic Tree, Mary Pope Osborn, summer reading
Cheerios® is looking for the next great children’s book author in its Spoonfuls of Stories® Children’s Book Contest.
The book should be geared towards children ages 4 to 8. The winner could receive a book deal with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. The top three entrants will receive cash prizes from Cheerios.
The contest begins on June 19 and ends on September 7. For rules and how to enter, visit the site.
HarperCollins Childrens Books is hosting a sweepstakes.
Ten winners will receive an “I Can Read!” Prize Pack! The Prize Pack includes a tote bag and free books like Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist? and Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings.
To enter, click here.
Dave over at PopBuzzUK was bouncing around some ideas for writing and books, and suggested a summary contest. A good idea but a little long for a kids’ book blog. So, I totally usurped his idea and tweaked it somewhat. Shorter books deserve shorter summaries. Thus… haiku!
A haiku poem is traditionally a three-line poem: the first line with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables, and the third line with five syllables. So, using these guidelines, try summarizing the plot of a kids’ book (any kids’ book from The Hungry Caterpillar to Harry Potter). It’s pretty easy (and fun) once you get started…
Here’s an example of Little House on the Prairie:
Out on the Prairie,
Laura has a big crush on
Almanzo Wilder.
Or here for Nancy Drew:
Nancy, Nancy Drew
Titian-haired mystery girl
Can solve anything.
So come on! Give it a whirl!
Treehouse Junkie is celebrating with a contest! You can win a free book… check out the details here.
Meg Cabot’s new book, Pants on Fire, is helping HarperTeen blaze its way to summer. To celebrate, you can enter on HarperTeen to win a signed copy of Meg Cabot’s Pants on Fire and a $100 gift certificate to Sephora for you and a friend.
To nominate your princess (or prince) for a day! Get your entries in soon!
To celebrate the launch of the last Harry Potter book, Amazon.com is hosting a contest in search of the “Harry-est Town in America.” The title will go to the U.S. city or town (sorry Aussies, Brits and the rest of you Potterheads) that has pre-ordered the most copies of the final book. The winner will be announced soon after the witching hour of 11:59 PM (PDT) on July 15, 2007. In addition to winning the title, the city or town will have the benefit of a $5000 Amazon.com gift certificate payable to a charitable organization which provide services in the town, to be determined by Amazon.com.
Rankings of the top 100 Harry-est Towns in America will be updated weekly on Amazon.com. Here is the list of this week’s Top 10:
1. Falls Church, VA
2. Fairfax, VA
3. Gig Harbor, WA
4. Vienna, VA
5. Katy, TX
6. Media, PA
7. Issaquah, WA
8. Doylestown, PA
9. Pembroke Pines, FL
10. Snohomish, WA
As of 2:00 p.m. (EST) April 5, 461,804 copies had been pre-ordered on Amazon.com.
In the US, there’s really no such thing as real princesses. Since we don’t have royalty, we create our own. We elevate celebs like Paris Hilton and Ivanka Trump (my mother would argue that Elizabeth Taylor is a better choice) to nearly royal status due to their money and position in life. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed. In fact, some dictionaries actually now define “princess” beyond being descendants of royalty to “a woman considered to have the qualities or characteristics of a princess.” So, if you think like a princess and act like a princess, apparently you can be a princess.
But what does it mean to think or act like a princess? If you asked ten people to define the characteristics of a princess, you’d probably get ten different answers.
In one of my favorite books of all time, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess,
The heroine of the story is a little girl named Sara. She is the daughter of a wealthy father (her mother is dead) who dotes on her. While her father chases his fortune, he enrolls Sara in a boarding school in England. Sara has everything that she could ever want in terms of material things - she is, in that regard, a little princess.
When tragedy hits home, little Sara is no longer a princess in the eyes of the headmistress, who condemns Sara to the attic to live and work in poverty. However, those that Sara had always been kind to remember her thoughtfulness and remain her friends when everyone else abandons her. Sara and her friends create a fantasy world in the attic above the boarding school. But little by little, the fantasy seems real.
Sara finally regains her fortune and her place as a little princess. But this time, being a princess is more about kindness and graciousness than money or treasures.
The ending, while “happy” isn’t a fairytale ending. Everything isn’t magically okay at the end. And perhaps that’s why my pink, paperback copy of The Little Princess was so well worn. Life is not always easy. Bad things happen. Even children understand this concept, though admittedly in a relative way. But this notion of being kind to others, keeping your spirit even when things seem darkest, believing in the good in other people are the traits of a true princess, I loved this as a child. I still do as an adult.
It’s easy to be jaded nowadays and to watch whom the media regards as princesses and wonder what kinds of messages we’re sending our children. A book like “A Little Princess” is just the answer. It reminds us - kids and adults alike - that kindness has its own rewards and that there is magic all around us in our everyday lives. It’s a nice lesson to remember.
And speaking of remembering, don’t forget to sign your own child up to be princess for a day on Tiny Treasury!
The children’s division at Random is having a contest to give away free books! For more info on how to enter, click here.
I know, you’re totally thinking this is an April Fool’s Day thing because I don’t strike you as the princess type. I wasn’t. But then I had two little princesses of my own and that all changed.
The thing is, I used to be very anti-princess. I think that somewhere in my feminist soul, I thought that princesses were bad role models for girls, that they were simply silly and weak and caught up in their appearances. I was wrong.
There are a lot of good lessons to be learned in fairy tales, from princesses and godmothers and ogres: the triumph of good over evil, the merits of believing in dreams, the importance of friends. There are strong princesses and smart princesses, princesses who are good at taking care of others, princesses who love to read books - pretty much any kind of princess you can imagine - and now in any color (more on that later).
And so, without further ado, and with a wave of my wand, I’m announcing that the theme at Tiny Treasury this month is princesses. And to kick off the princess theme, we’re having a contest! From now until the end of the month, send me pictures of your little princess (or prince) and tell me in 100 words or less why he or she deserves to be Princess (or Prince) for a Day. I’ll post the picture of the winning entry on May 1.
Quick rules:
In honor of the man that most of us revere
We’re hosting a contest - the deadline is near!
That’s right, it’s a contest in honor of Doc Seuss
Enter your rhyme, you’ve got nothing to lose.
If you’ve not yet been over to give the rules a peek
you must do it soon, you’ve got less than one week!
So be it clever or witty with advice sage or wise
Submit by March 2 and maybe win the big prize!
See, Dr. Seuss-like talent not required! Don’t forget to enter the contest, the deadline is this Friday (on Dr. Seuss’ birthday).
Dr. Seuss is perhaps one of the best loved children’s authors of all time. His style has been copied and imitated, but never quite duplicated, throughout the years. March 2 marks Dr. Seuss’ birthday. In honor of Dr. Seuss, I’m hosting a contest! Here is your chance to create your own Dr. Seuss style rhyme about anything so long as it’s not defamatory or offensive (see below).
The winning entry will be posted on my site and the author will receive a free Dr. Seuss book.
Here are the rules:
1. Your entry must be 100 words or less.
2. Entries must be posted in the comments below or sent via email to me by the deadline.
3. Plain text only, no attachments.
4. Include your name, location (city and state or country is sufficient) and email address with your submission. I won’t publish your email address, but I do need to be able to contact you.
5. You retain the rights to your rhyme, but if you enter the contest, you’re giving me permission to post any part or all of your rhyme, first name and location on my site.
6. Entry deadline is 11:59p.m. EST on March 2, 2007.
7. The winning entry will be determined by me, in my sole discretion.
8. Offensive entries (whether an entry is offensive will be determined by me and will include but isn’t limited to language which is sexually explicit or includes profanity or slurs) will be disqualified and deleted from the site.
Good luck! May the best rhyme win!
It's impossible to get rid of a bad children's book once it has entered your house. In fact, if history teaches us anything, it's that it will become a favorite. Your child will cling to it, sleep with it and worst yet, require you to read it over and over again.
At tinytreasury.com, our mission is separate the good from the bad. If I can save one parent from having to read a rhyming book about dancing pigs, then I'll know I've done my job.
Tiny Treasury Author(s)
» Jackie
