DianeZ. Shore Book Blog - Day Two

Children's author and storyteller, Diane Z. Shore says her favorite thing about writing for children is meeting the kids. She writes picture books, early reader chapter books, poetry, short stories, games/puzzle pages, and non-fiction. “Humorous stories and non-fiction are my favorite things to write," says Diane.

Her work has been published in a variety of magazines including Highlights for Children, Cricket, Spider, Ladybug, Humpty Dumpty, Jack & Jill, Turtle, Children's Playmate, Boys' Quest, and various teaching magazines. Her poetry has won national awards and has appeared in several anthologies, including Miles of Smiles, If Kids Ruled the School, and Rolling in the Aisles. Her nonfiction piece "Presidential Dentures" was awarded the 2002 History Feature of the Year Award given by Highlights Magazine. Diane’s award-winning books include This is the Dream, illustrated by James Ransome, This Is the Feast (HarperCollins), illustrated by Megan Lloyd, Bus-A-Saurus Bop, (Bloomsbury) illustrated by David Clark, Look Both Ways (Bloomsbury), illustrated by Teri Weidner, Rosa Loves to Read (Scholastic), illustrated by Larry Day and How To Drive Your Sister Crazy (I Can Read! Level 2, HarperCollins), illustrated by Laura Rankin, inspired by and written for reluctant readers.

Diane lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two children, Jennifer and Sam. Scampering about the house are Skruffy, a Jack Russell Terrier who holds the record for most bad hair days, and Punkin’, an orange tabby. Diane says her family, including Skruffy and Punkin’, have inspired her writing, but she adds, “The kids I meet at schools inspire me the most!” To find out more about Diane, visit her at her website.

The Tale of Despereaux and Blue Bloods Sweepstakes, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid Contest

If you are a teacher or a librarian you might want to enter this sweepstake event. One school and one library will be awarded a fantastic prize - an advanced screening of the new film, The Tale of Despereaux. Four runners up will win a Tale of Despereaux gift basket containing, among other things:

A complete set of eight movie tie-in titles
A selection of five award-winning Kate DiCamillo books in hardcover
A $50 movie theater gift certificate to see The Tale of Despereaux in theaters
One copy of The Tale of Despereaux video game (for PC)
One Despereaux plush

To enter the sweepstakes visit the sweepstakes website.

And for those of you who are fond of vampire stories take a look at the Blue Bloods Sweepstakes. Children between the ages of 11 and 16 can enter, and all entries must be received by December 31st. The winner will get to have lunch with Melissa de la Cruz, the author of the series, and will receive a $1000 shopping spree.

To enter this sweepstakes go to the Blue Bloods website.

Now, I have a confession to make. I have not yet read or reviewed any of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I know, this is a terrible state of affairs, but I am going to rectify it in the next couple of days by reading the first book in the series. For all of you Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans there is a cartoon contest that you need to know about. Anyone between the ages of 6 and 16 can enter, and the contest is open until January 31st 2009. Plenty of time to create a comic story. And the prizes are scrummy too:

1 Grand Prize Winner Receives:
One visit by Jeff Kinney to the winner’s school.
One framed “Wimpify Your Family” original comic by Jeff Kinney.
One signed copy of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Do-It-Yourself Book” by Jeff Kinney.
30 Runners Up Receive:
A signed copy of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book”
by Jeff Kinney, to be mailed to the winners.

To find out more about this contest visit the Diary of a Wimpy Kid website and click on the Contest link in the top right hand corner of the page.

Calling all Harry Potter Fans - Want to meet J.K. Rowling?

To celebrate the launching of her new book The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J. K. Rowling is going to be hosting a special event at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. Five lucky American children between the ages of eight and seventeen will be selected to attend this event. All your child needs to do to be considered is to write an essay of no more than 200 words about how they have helped others, which they need to send to Scholastic Books in New York City. Entries need to be in the hands of the people at Scholastic by October 30th so get writing! For more information and for all the official rules for the contest please visit the contest webpage.

Student Contest: President for the day

Peachtree Publishers is hosting a contest for school children. Teachers and librarians can ask their students to answer the question "If I were president of the United states for the day I would..." Three winners will be "selected to receive a complete library of Peachtree's 2008 picture books for their classroom. Contest winners will be announced November 4, 2008."

For more information about this terrific contest please visit the publisher's website. The contest information is at the bottom of the page.

Back-to-school event for adults

For those of you who will soon be getting back into the swing of sending a children or children to school, here is an event that you might like to participate in. On August 16th MommyTalk.com will be hosting a Back-To-School Bash for grownups. As MommyTalk says "Getting ready for back to school isn't easy. We deserve a bash, don't we?" Up until August 15th you can enter a back-to-school contest and on the 16th you can join other grownups online for a celebration. For more information take a look at the event page.

Contest From Lobster Press

I wanted to let you know that Lobster Press, a marvellous independent publisher based in Montreal, Canada, is hosting a contest. For those of you who have youngsters who like food and cooking this might be a perfect opportunity for you to share one of your favorite recipes with others. The winner of the contest will recieve Yum: You're Ultimate Manual for good nutrition and four other Lobster Press books. For more information visit the contest page on the Lobster Press website. A review of Yum will be appearing on the Through the Looking Glass website in due course.