First Page Panda

Mom has said that I could lose a few. I’ve never thought it was possible. My first diet was five years ago, when I was ten.  I daintily ate crackers and cheese with a glass of juice for every meal, so proud of myself that I ate so little by the end of each day. Then it became too hard and I ate like a pig again. I tried to cut out carbs last year, but rice and bread were too yummy to give up. I don’t want to eat a burger without a sesame-seed bun. No way. And life without pizza. Is that even possible?  Might as well ask me to cut off a limb.

I don’t like what I see in the mirror. My hair is frizzy from the Florida heat. My shirt is baggy to hide my potbelly, which grows after large meals. I was minding my own business at the mall one day, waiting in a long line to buy some jeans, and an older woman asked me if I was pregnant. Gasp. At fifteen?  And do I really look that fat and bloated?  On a bad day, on a high-carb day, maybe I do look like I’m carrying a bun or two in the oven. I’m not overweight, just at the high end of normal on the height/weight chart. Sometimes I console myself that it’s called big-boned, not fat.

Excerpt© 2011 Medeia Sharif

About the book:

In BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. fifteen-year-old Almira Abdul fasts for Ramadan. The holy month does not move smoothly at all when she experiences her first major crush. Her best friend Lisa and the catty new girl Shakira are also infatuated with Peter. If Almira pursues him, not only will she be in a bind with these two girls, but she’ll also go against the grain of her strict Muslim family.

What people are saying:

“A humorous, hip look at the ups and downs of fasting for Ramadan within the context of intergenerational and cultural challenges.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS

“Medeia Sharif’s sparkling debut YA novel BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. features the feisty, witty yet vulnerable Almira, who struggles with both self-esteem issues and a seemingly unrequited crush on a hipster artist. BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. deftly combines humor and poignancy with an authentic teen voice set against the multicultural background of vibrant Miami and Almira’s loving yet-strict Muslim family. The book’s universal themes will resonate with all teens balancing family ties with coming-of-age conflicts.”—Paula Yoo, author of SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY, GOOD ENOUGH, and SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS

“I laughed out loud as Almira struggled to fit in with her traditional family as well as the rest of the world.”—Sydney Salter, author of SWOON AT YOUR OWN RISK, JUNGLE CROSSING, and MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS

“I love Almira Abdul—the honest, tell-it-like-it is, funny, and very real main character of Medeia Sharif’s wonderful, eye-opening debut, Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. Here’s a great, new voice in teen fiction.”—Melissa Senate, author of THE MOSTS and THEODORA TWIST

Releases: July 8, 2011

About the author:

Medeia Sharif is a Kurdish-American author who was born in New York City, and she presently calls Miami Beach her home. She received her master’s degree in psychology from Florida Atlantic University. Not only does she write, but she’s also a high school English teacher. BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. is her first novel. You can visit her at www.sharifwrites.com.

A gray hall monitor in wrinkled clothes walked silently in front of Jana on her way to the school counselor’s office.

Grays moved so quietly that even when you were with one you felt alone. Their hearts weren’t in anything they did. Jana opened the door to the office, expecting to be greeted by someone.

There was a wide oak desk in the middle of the room with toys arranged on it. The room smelled like furniture polish. Antique arcade machines lined the walls to either side. The green leather chair behind the desk was occupied by a half-size dummy of a clown. Its face was enameled white, with an orange red nose in the middle. Red paint outlined a pair of wide-open lips. A red wooden tongue rested inside the clown’s hinged mouth.

“Knock, knock,” Jana said. “Anybody here?”

If the clown answered, she was leaving.

Excerpt© 2011 Randy Russell

About the book:

Jana loved her boyfriend to death.

What people are saying:

“Not your usual paranormal romance. Romeo and Juliet meets Daniel Waters in folklorist Randy Russell’s wry teen debut…Wickedly clever.”–Kirkus, starred review

“Randy Russell has created the ultimate paranormal romance but has also infused a dark comedic element that sets the novel apart from others in the genre.”–Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray

“It’s humiliating to die in a bowling accident, especially when it means going through the afterlife in a pair of bowling shoes. Even more serious for high school junior Jana Webster is the separation from her one true love, Michael…Laughter, for Russell, is not an act of mockery or ironic distance, but rather a marker for empathy with his very human characters.”–Publisher’s Weekly

Released: June 21, 2011

About the author:

Randy Russell lives in the woods in Western North Carolina.  He writes ghosts and dead people. You can visit him at www.ghostfolk.com.

Giveaway:

To enter Randy’s “The Dead Rules Giveaway to Support Teen Reading” for a chance to win $500 in free books of a reader’s choice and $1,500 in free books to classroom teachers and librarians–all through independent bookstores–visit www.ghostfolk.com/free.asp. The contest ends July 31, and you get a free Dead Rules button just for entering.

CHAPTER ONE

“I believe that myths, like every living thing, are born, degenerate and die. I also believe that myths come back to life.”—Octavio Paz

Consuela wrestled with an armload of jeans, trying to catch the hangers on insufficient hooks. Squeezing into the tiny dressing room, she tugged on the first pair. No good, she pulled them off. Tried another pair. And a third. Step-step on, step-step off; a ten-minute workout in a three-by-three space. It was as if the room was specifically designed to make her feel big. Consuela hated how she looked in jeans. It made her want to eat a donut.

Eventually she found two pairs that weren’t too bad; the question was whether they were worth buying. Consuela compared price tags. She didn’t like the jeans enough to buy both. It was tough to feel good when clothes were made for size-four white girls. She felt heavy, unsuccessful, and annoyed—the exact opposite purpose of her coveted shopping therapy break.

Screw it.

Consuela pulled her T-shirt over her head, unhooked her bra, and posed for herself a few times, half-naked in the dressing room mirror. She flashed a smile over her shoulder, feeling better than she had all morning. Perfect white teeth, no cavities—her smile was her best feature.

Getting dressed, she decided to keep one pair of light denims and hand the rest back with the two plastic, yellow #6 cards. She hung the remaining eleven hooks neatly in her palm for easy counting. The baggy old attendant had glared at her earlier as if she suspected Consuela of shoplifting. Like she could hide a pair of True Religions in her cleavage. She could all but hear her best friend, Allison’s, voice in her head: You know, you probably could! Allison could always make her laugh.

Consuela held her head high as she stopped at the dressing room exit. The old woman lifted her hangdog eyes.

“Find anything?” the woman asked, only because she had to.

“Yes, thank you.”

The gnarled, arthritic hands took the jeans as a sudden lurch of vertigo brought Consuela to her knees.

Excerpt© 2011 Dawn Metcalf

About the book:

Sixteen-year-old Consuela Chavez suddenly and inexplicably finds herself in the parallel universe of the Flow, where she and other teens with extraordinary abilities safeguard a world where they no longer belong.

What people are saying:

“LUMINOUS is a stunning debut, a remarkably original fantasy with a wonderful heroine that effortlessly mixes beauty and horror. I found LUMINOUS an utterly intoxicating, entirely magical feast, and I can’t wait to return to the vibrant world of the Flow.”–Karen Healey, GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD

Released: June 30, 2011

About the author:

Dawn Metcalf grew up in an old Victorian home filled with fairy tales, art supplies, magic, and love. Now she writes about myths that never happened and worlds that might have been. She lives in Connecticut with her two cats, two kids, and amused husband, raising the next generation of wild imaginations. You can visit her at www.dawnmetcalf.com.

The pandas have some new giveaway winners to announce!

The winner of the Popular giveaway is:

Sarah

The winner of the Flawless giveaway is:

Vivien

The winner of the Forgiven giveaway is:

Kris

Congrats to all the winners!

It all starts at home. On the mountain. Three miles up a rutted dirt road, out past Mr. Benny’s apple orchard and over the hill from Nanny Ann’s farm stand. It’s fall, now, my favorite season. And in just a few days, we are going to be having my favorite holiday: Halloween. Yep, out here on Canton Creek Turnpike, it’s time for candy collecting and pumpkin carving.

Papa’s prepping my pumpkin, and I am looking out the window. The sun has almost set, leaving the world soaked in streaks of orange and heavy purple shadows. It’s the best time of day with everything turning gold. The swingset, the river, and the already fallen leaves melt together in the dusk. Our ox, Millament, is walking lazily toward the barn. Going to get warm, I suppose. I bet he wishes he was in here and I sorta do too. The fire is crackling in the woodstove and the house is alive with noises: Mama humming in the kitchen, sisters fussing around the table, and Papa slicing away at the top of that pumpkin.

I’m about to come away from the window and get started, but then a little glimmer of brown flits in and out of the shadows and for a minute it looks like a leaf tumbling in the wind, out of control, but then it lands just below the window and I can see it’s a genuine monarch butterfly. I put my hands up to the glass because that monarch is crazy to be out there this time of year. She wouldn’t have the proper amount of meat on her bones to survive. I’m breathing quick and thinking maybe I had better go and get it to come inside, but I fog up the window with my breath and when the fog disappears, the monarch’s gone. I hope it’s headed south and not trying to prove it can make it through the winter.

Excerpt© 2011 Erin Moulton

About the book:

Big things are about the happen at Maple’s house. Mama’s going to have a baby, which means now there will be four Rittle sisters instead of just three. But when baby Lily is born too early and can’t come home from the hospital, Maple knows it’s up to her to save her sister. So she and Dawn, armed with a map and some leftover dinner, head off down a river and up a mountain to find the Wise Woman who can grant miracles. Now it’s not only Lily’s survival that they have to worry about, but also their own. The dangers that Maple and Dawn encounter on their journey makes them realize a thing or two about miracles-and about each other.

What people are saying:

“A heartfelt tale of familial love, with just a touch of magic.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“Moulton is an author to watch, and her debut novel will appeal to girls Maple’s age who prefer action to character realism.” –Booklist

“Moulton describes the girl’s journey–and their motivation–in vivid and heart-wrenching prose.”–Horn Book

Released: May 12, 2011

About the author:

Erin E. Moulton graduated with an MFA in Writing for Children from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of Flutter: The Story of Four Sisters and One Incredible Journey(Philomel 2011) Erin is co-founder of the Kinship Writers Association and when she is not writing she works at Springboard After School with lots of silly kids and a bearded dragon named Puff.  Erin lives in Southern New Hampshire with her husband and puppy where she writes, reads, drinks tea and dreams.   You can visit her online at www.erinemoulton.com or on Facebook as Erin E. Moulton (Author).

Win a copy of Breath of Angel! Details at the end of this post.

The prick of the thorn drew blood, but Melaia smiled. The last ramble rose of the season was well worth a pierced thumb. She carefully drew the blossom from the vine that clung to the side of the temple. As she breathed its rich, sweet scent, she sensed someone watching and looked up, expecting to see one of the novice priestesses. She saw only dry leaves skittering across the flagstones of the walled courtyard, along with a black feather, no doubt from a bird scavenging seeds in the wood pile.

Then a haggard young man stepped through the gate, and Melaia drew back. The chill autumn breeze riffled the edge of his dirt-stained cloak, revealing the corner of a journey pack and the hilt of a dagger.

Melaia gave him a tentative nod.

“I’ve come -” His words rasped to a halt, and he wiped his fist across his mouth.

“I’ll fetch water.” Melaia tucked the rose into her waist sash and headed for the stone urn by the arched doorway. “Travelers are always welcome at our temple. We’ve pallets if you wish to stay the night.” She would have to check with the High Priestess, but Hanni rarely turned away weary travelers.

“My thanks,” the man croaked.

Melaia flipped back her loose braid the color of dark honey and dipped a pottery cup into the cool water. “I’m chantress here, always eager to hear new tales from travelers.”

The young man looked too weary to tell tales. Or too ill. His dark-ringed eyes darted from one afternoon shadow to another, and he cocked his head as if he heard something beyond the walls.

Excerpt© 2011 Karyn Henley

About the book:

In this YA fantasy, Melaia, a young priestess is drawn into a longstanding feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm. She joins a band of angels who are trying to restore the stairway, but discovers that it can be restored only if an ancient debt is repaid by “breath of angel, blood of man,” a payment that will change Melaia’s destiny forever.

What people are saying:

“Karyn Henley’s novel starts with a jolt, grabs the reader by the collar, and doesn’t slow down one minute. This author infuses her text with imagery, suspense, and a cast that will appeal to all ages. In addition, it has a feeling that I can only describe as ‘folklorish,’ with all the best elements that come with that – music, magic, and mystery. I think it’s destined to become a classic.”–Kathi Appelt, author of The Underneath, National Book Award finalist, Newbery Honor Book, PEN USA Award

“This lusciously written fantasy has it all: epic battles, earthbound angels, immortal humans, and a bright, engaging heroine. Henley’s young priestess-turned-warrior is forced to put her past together like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces so sharp they cut. Her story is nearly impossible to forget, so readers will be eager for more!”–Louise Hawes, author of Black Pearls: a Faerie Strand, AAUW Juvenile Literature Award noinee; Gold Award, Hall of Fame, teensreadtoo.com

Released: June 21, 2011

About the author:

Award-winning author Karyn Henley has written over 100 titles. Breath of Angel is her first novel. An accomplished songwriter, Karyn has been a Dove Award nominee, and received a regional Emmy Award as Music Composer for a television special.  She lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, a jazz drummer. Visit her at www.maybeso.wordpress.com or find out more about the book at www.breathofangel.com.

Giveaway:

Karyn has been kind enough to contribute a copy of Breath of Angel for a giveaway!

Just comment on this post to enter.

For extra entries:

-Be a follower of this site (just click “Join this site”) or a follower on Twitter [+1 entry each].

-Link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook, etc. [+1 entry per each link].

Please list your extra entries in the comments.

The contest is open in the US and Canada and ends on June 29th at midnight EST.

Good luck and happy reading!

My boyfriend, Max, and I are lying on his twin bed, limbs tangled, foreheads pressed together, trying to catch our collective breath after a dizzying  forty-five-minute make-out session, when he says the three most terrifying words in the English language:

“I love you.”

Instinctively I recoil, my spine stiffening.

“Stella?” Max says, running his hand along the curve of my hip, pulling me back toward him. “Did you hear me?”

I mumble something along the lines of “mm-hmm” and try to paste on one of those mysterious Mona Lisa smiles.

Max scoots even closer and rolls slightly so that his mouth tickles the outside of my ear. “I said, ‘I love you,’ ” he whispers throatily.

I respond the only way I know how: by pulling his face against mine and kissing him deeply.

Max isn’t the first boy to tell me he loves me, but he is the first who seems to notice that I don’t say it back. My best friend Kat would point out that this is because when most guys say “I love you,” what they’re really saying is “Let’s get naked.” She warned me about Max from the start. I thought he only asked me out because he was looking for a date to the junior prom, but Kat said I should be careful, because Max had never dated a girl for fewer than six months, not even freshman year.

Excerpt© 2009 by Lara Zeises

About the book:

When Stella Madison’s food-loving parents help her land a summer job at the local newspaper, there’s only one catch: she’s expected to write about food. Luckily, Stella has Jeremy, the hot new intern at her mom’s restaurant, who’s more than happy to help. But where does that leave Stella’s boyfriend, Max, who recently dropped the L-word? And could her separated parents be cooking up romances of their own?

What people are saying:

“Sweet Life is brimming with teen appeal. Zeises has created a refreshing protagonist sure to captivate readers, who will enjoy following along as she learns about romance through food, and vice versa.”–School Library Journal

“Stella Madison’s summer of food and love is a great read full of broken hearts, broken promises, and broken eggs. A must for anyone who eats.”—E. Lockhart, author of The Boyfriend List

“This book’s got all the right ingredients: friends, family, boys, and food. The perfect summer read!”—Sarah Dessen, New York Times bestselling author of Lock and Key and Just Listen

Released: October 2010 in paperback (July 2009 in hardcover)

About the author:

Lara M. Zeises is the author of three novels for young adults. Her first, Bringing Up the Bones (2002), was named an honor book for the 2001 Delacorte Press Prize Competition. Her second, Contents Under Pressure (2004), began as her thesis project at Emerson College, where in 2001 she earned her MFA in creative writing. It has been named to the 2006 International Reading Association’s Young Adult Choices list (among others) and was voted the 2006 Delaware Blue Hen Teen Book Award winner. Lara’s third novel, Anyone But You (2005), was a Teen People Top 10 Pick. An excerpt from that project helped earn Lara a 2005 Emerging Artist Fellowship in Literature-Fiction from the Delaware Division of the Arts.

In addition to writing, Lara teaches part-time at the University of Delaware, where she received her BA in English-Journalism. She also facilitates creative writing workshops for both teens and adults.You can learn more about her by visiting her website at zeisgeist.com.

Win a Sirenz Prize Pack! Details at the end of this post.

Shar

A Mismatched Pair

God, you’re wearing those clunky things again? How stupid, wearing five inch wedge heels on cracked and frozen New York City sidewalks. What if you break an ankle?

“Great shoes,” I said, faking a beauty queen smile at Meg.

“I think I paid five dollars for them. They’re from the 70s,” she said absentmindedly.

No kidding. You should have left them there.

“Feet cold?” I wiggled toasty toes in my crystal-studded Ugg boots. My feet were warm, and they looked good.

She shrugged.

Poor toesies.

When I scored a spot in the coveted Fourth Year Live-in, a program our alternative school offered to 12th Grade students who ‘show promise, initiative and vision in their chosen field of study’, I was psyched. It was a sweet deal that included the perk of on-campus housing, just like college—no parents, no curfew, and Manhattan living for nine months! Only top students were offered the opportunity. I knew I had to have a roommate, but how awful could that be?

Then I got paired off with Meg Wiley.

We couldn’t be more mismatched. Black hair, black clothes, old clothes, not to mention voodoo, hoodoo or whatever else she was into, the Academically Independent High School of New York we both attended had saddled me with a vampire out of a 40s horror movie—and an argumentative one too. She always had some smart ass remark about my love of cashmere or my Starbucks addiction. As if she had no habits to complain about.

I looked at her, clomping along the sidewalk in those outrageous wood-soled Kabuki shoes and completely black ensemble, and shuddered. On my tall and fair-skinned body, that much black would make me look like the walking dead. She could never squeeze her curvy frame into my pink sweaters even if she wanted to. Besides, Meg only wore clothes that made her look like she was in a perpetual state of mourning. My skinny jeans, ballet flats, and Victoria’s Secret PJs were safe. I shrugged it off.

Excerpt© 2011 Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo

About the book:

Bickering New York city room mates and high school seniors Meg and Shar are recruited by Hades, Lord of the Underworld to be his special-assignment Sirens.

Released: June 8, 2011

About the authors:

Natalie Zaman is the co-author of Sirenz, the first in a YA contemporary fantasy series published by Flux. Her work has appeared in various magazines, newspapers, e-zines and anthologies for adults and children. She’s currently plotting disasters for the characters of Sirenz and working on a Victorian fantasy for teens. Natalie lives in central New Jersey with her family and several fine looking chickens.

Charlotte Bennardo is the co-author of Sirenz, the first in a YA contemporary fantasy series published by Flux. When not contemplating embarrassing situations for the characters in the sequels, she works on her own YA, MG and adult level novels. She has been published in magazines, newspapers, e-zines and anthologies. She is held captive in New Jersey by three sons, husband, cat and friends.

Giveaway:

Natalie and Charlotte have been kind enough to contribute a Sirenz prize pack for a giveaway! The prize pack will include a signed, glittered-up copy of the book, bookmarks, phone charms, and buttons.

Just comment on this post to enter.

For extra entries:

-Be a follower of this site (just click “Join this site”) or a follower on Twitter [+1 entry each].

-Link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook, etc. [+1 entry per each link].

Please list your extra entries in the comments.

The contest is open in the US and Canada and ends on June 22nd at midnight EST.

Good luck and happy reading!

Win a copy of FORGIVEN! Details at the end of this post.

May 31, 1904

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show”.
—David Copperfield, Charles Dickens, 1850

With one shaky hand I raised that branch, an inch only. I quaked like an aspen leaf in a tricky breeze. Not from the cold, though there was that. But from the fear.

“Come on out, girl.” The voice of this intruder with the evil snaky eyes rang through the clearing, bell-like in the frost morning.

I eased back deeper into the tangle of chokecherry. Snake-eyes had his back to me, and I fixed my own eyes on the ripped edges at the bottom of his pants leg, watching those frayed threads as the knitted branches that hid me sliced up his form. If I could crawl back silent, if I could just belly back far enough here, if I could get on my feet again, could get enough ground between us so he couldn’t shoot me, I could outrun him. Because when I had to, I could outrun a deer.

“I ain’t gonna hurt you, now.”

Liar. The bruise on my upper arm spoke to that lie. The bruise where he’d grabbed me, surprised me, and I’d twisted around and whanged him good with that fry pan, giving myself just enough time to scrabble into the thicket where I hid now, my stomach on the frozen ground.

Excerpt© 2011 Janet Fox

About the book:

FORGIVEN is the companion novel to FAITHFUL (2010). FORGIVEN is the story of Kula Baker, a young woman living in Yellowstone National Park in 1906. Kula must find her way to San Francisco in order to help her father; while there she encounters love, betrayal, and disaster in the form of the great San Francisco earthquake. Kula must learn that the key to a happy life lies in accepting yourself.

What people are saying:

FORGIVEN has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection for 2011.

“…A riveting, well-written, wonderful story…As I followed Kula Baker from the heart of Yellowstone…to the heart of San Francisco…I felt my own heart racing.”–Kathi Appelt, author of the Newbery Honor Book The Underneath

“Absorbing, exciting, and romantic.”–Nancy Werlin, National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Impossible

Release date: June 2, 2011

About the author:

Janet Fox has recently moved from College Station, Texas, to Montana, where she, her husband, and their college age son have a cabin in the mountains not far from Yellowstone. Her writing for children has appeared in Highlights for Children and Spider magazines; her award-winning non-fiction middle grade book, Get Organized Without Losing It (Free Spirit Publishing, 2006), continues to be a top seller. Her debut novel Faithful (Speak/Penguin) was published in 2010 and was a YALSA nominee for Best Fiction for Young Adults and an Amelia Bloomer 2011 Selection from the ALA. She has served as a regional advisor for SCBWI and has taught middle school and high school English/language arts. Janet has an MS in marine geology and she received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in July 2010. Her second novel Forgiven, a sequel to Faithful, is due out in 2011. Visit her at www.janetsfox.com.

Giveaway:

Janet has been kind enough to contribute a copy of FORGIVEN for a giveaway!

Just comment on this post to enter.

For extra entries:

-Be a follower of this site (just click “Join this site”) or a follower on Twitter [+1 entry each].

-Link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook, etc. [+1 entry per each link].

Please list your extra entries in the comments.

The contest is open in the US and Canada and ends on June 15th at midnight EST.

Good luck and happy reading!