Book Blogger Hop Weekly Questions

May 4, 2012 By 1 Comment

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!
Hashtag: #BookBloggerHop

Book Blogger Hop

Grab the Logo!

Read the History and Rules of the Hop. This link also includes information on how to submit a question for the Hop and how to be a potential Host of the Hop!

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In an effort to simplify things, I am posting a list of the upcoming Book Blogger Hop weekly questions. Hopefully this list will help you prepare your posts in advance, if you so choose.

April 28 – May 4: Are you attending the Book Blogger Convention (aka Bea Bloggers) and/or Book Expo America in New York City in June? If not, will you participate in the online event called Armchair BEA?

May 5 – May 11: What are the next five books in your TBR (to-be-read) pile? And, don’t worry, you can change your mind and read something different – we won’t check! :)

May 11 – May 17 (date changed to start on Fridays instead of Saturdays): Who is your favorite book character? I’ll give you a maximum of two choices, but they have to be from different genres!

May 18 – May 24: How many books do you own? This can include books in your to-be-read (TBR) pile(s) and books you have already read that are on your keeper shelf.

May 25 – May 31: Blogging Question: How do you handle the writing of a negative review?

June 1 – June 7: BEA Edition – What upcoming releases are you most looking forward to?

June 8 – June 14: If you were to write a book, what type of book would you write?

June 15 – June 21:  Do you belong to a book club, either online or in real life?

June 22 – June 28: Blogging Question: Do you immediately write a review upon finishing a book or do you wait and write multiple reviews at once?

June 29 – July 5:  Do you have a keeper shelf for books you loved? What books are on that shelf and why?

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“Waiting On” Wednesday: Where We Belong

May 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication “can’t-wait-to-read” selection this week is:

Where We Belong
by Emily Giffin
Publication Date: July 24
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 9780312554194
384 pages

From publisher website:
The author of five blockbuster novels, Emily Giffin, delivers an unforgettable story of two women, the families that make them who they are, and the longing, loyalty and love that binds them together

Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.

For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

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Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge

May 1, 2012 By 1 Comment

I normally do not post press releases on my blog, but I am huge proponent of children’s literacy, so I wanted to share this event with all of you. I hope that you, in turn, will share this with the kids in your lives!

Jennifer

GET READY TO SET A NEW

SCHOLASTIC WORLD RECORD FOR SUMMER READING

 The Scholastic Summer Challenge Invites Kids to Keep Reading this Summer by Logging Reading Minutes to Win Virtual Rewards

New York, NY–May 1, 2012– While athletes prepare for the 2012 Summer Olympics, kids will compete in their own challenge – the Scholastic Summer Challenge - a free, interactive reading program dedicated to helping kids keep their reading skills sharp throughout the summer by reading every day.  Kids everywhere will Read for the World Record by logging the minutes they spend reading this summer and attempting to beat the current world record of 64,213,141 minutes set during summer 2011. The 20 schools whose students log the most minutes will be recognized in the 2013 Scholastic Book of World Records. The Scholastic Summer Challenge kicks-off today at www.scholastic.com/summer and runs through August 31, 2012.

 “Just like the world’s greatest athletes, children need to keep their skills sharp and reading is like any other skill – it needs to be practiced,” said Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic. “Without this practice, children find themselves falling down the “Summer Slide,” and that is not the fun slide at the park, but rather the loss of critical learning and reading skills caused by not reading books over the summer.”  Francie continued, “The proven way to get kids reading is to put them in charge of their own reading – let them choose the books they want to read, when they want to read, and how they want to read – whether in print or digitally. It is the win-win summer reading solution.”

SUMMER READING FOR KIDS:

The Summer Challenge motivates kids with weekly challenges, fun sweepstakes, virtual rewards, book chats and friendly competition. Starting today, kids can log their reading minutes, track their reading stats, and their school’s rank, collect virtual rewards in their ‘prize center’ and enter sweepstakes for the chance to win free books. For the third year in a row, WORDGIRL™ , from the Emmy Award winning television series airing on PBS KIDS GO!, is serving as the national “Ambassador of Summer Reading” to help encourage kids to practice reading in order to have a better vocabulary.

To reach even more young readers this summer, the Scholastic Summer Challenge is teaming up with the American Camp Association’s® Explore 30 initiative that encourages campers to read 30 minutes every day.  Campers nationwide will be logging their reading minutes to help break the world record.

SUMMER READING FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS:

The Summer Challenge website is also the go-to summer resource for parents and teachers. Through the site, teachers can sign up their class, track their students’ reading progress and access free helpful tools including printable reading logs and reading certificates. Plus, parents can sign up to receive email alerts on their child’s reading achievements, access summer book lists compiled by Scholastic experts, and discover ways to use the Summer Challenge at home with the Family Participation Guide created in collaboration with nonprofit partner Reach Out and Read, an organization that prepares America’s youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.

For the second year, Scholastic is teaming up with iVillage and PBS KIDS to promote the importance of summer reading to families nationwide through Summer Reading Parties hosted by 80 bloggers across the country. Bloggers will receive Summer Reading Kits including books, activities, bookmarks and more to celebrate summer reading in their communities, on iVillage.com and through their blogs.

SUMMER READING AMBASSADORS

Joining Scholastic to support summer reading will be dozens of the nation’s Governors’ spouses who will be hosting summer reading events at schools in their home states.  The names of all of the 2012 Summer Reading Ambassadors will be announced soon.

For more information about the Scholastic Summer Challenge, please visit: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/SummerChallenge

About Scholastic

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and services and children’s media. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children’s books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs and school-based book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks and the Company’s Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.

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Contacts:

Sara Sinek, Scholastic, 212-343-6899 ssinek@scholastic.com

Nadia Almahdi, Scholastic, 212-343-6355 nalmahdi@scholastic.com

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Book Blogger Hop: April 28 – May 4

April 28, 2012 By 11 Comments

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!
Hashtag: #BookBloggerHop

Book Blogger Hop

Grab the Logo!

Read the History and Rules of the Hop. This link also includes information on how to submit a question for the Hop and how to be a potential Host of the Hop!
 
What to Do:
1. Post on your blog answering this question:

Are you attending the Book Blogger Convention (aka Bea Bloggers) and/or Book Expo America in New York City in June? If not, will you participate in the online event called Armchair BEA?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name, Genre you review, and direct link to your post answering this week’s question; failure to do so will result in removal of your link).

3. Visit other blogs in the list, spending quality time getting to know the people you are visiting. Don’t just visit the post with the question, but click around and read some of the blogger’s other content, too! This Hop isn’t about the number of people you can visit, but the quality of each visit.
 

My answer:
Yes, I am going to both the Book Blogger Convention (BEA Bloggers) and Book Expo America! I missed it last year, but I went the previous year and had a blast. I’m looking forward to meeting some new bloggers and sharing our love of reading together! It should be a great time! If you would like to meet up, let me know! It’s going to be a fun week and I would love to see as many of you as I can!

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Linky List


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The Book Blogger Hop Returns!

April 27, 2012 By 9 Comments

I have really, really missed the Book Blogger Hop. I’ve missed connecting with some other bloggers every week, reading your responses to the weekly prompt, and overall just getting to know all of you in the book blogging world.

So, I’m resurrecting the Book Blogger Hop back to what it was when I first started it. I hope you will join me!

About The Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop
In March of 2010, in response to what I thought was a void in the book blogging community, I started the Book Blogger Hop. I loved all of the #FF (Friday Follow) tweets on Twitter, where everyone spreads love to their favorite people in order to help them gain new followers. So I thought to myself – “How cool would it be to have something like that where fellow book bloggers could come and find new book blogs to follow, find new books to read, and gain more exposure for our blogs?” This CRAZY idea became the Book Blogger Hop!

The Book Blogger Hop is much more than just a “follow for a follow”. It’s about making friends. There are literally thousands of book bloggers around the world. It can seem like we are blogging in a bubble, constantly checking the same blogs over and over again. The Hop is about taking the time to make a quality visit to another blog, getting to know the person who is writing that blog, and seeing if you really *want* to follow that person! I am not a big fan of blindly following other blogs just to increase your follower numbers. There is no guarantee the people will come back. Just because they are “following” you doesn’t mean they’re reading your posts. How many times have you “dumped” the messages in your Google Reader account due to the daunting number of messages there are, many from blogs you “had” to follow (in order to participate in a hop, giveaway, etc). I’d much rather have a lower “follower” count and know that these people are following me because they WANT to follow me and not because they HAVE to. I like the knowledge that I’m connecting with people on more than just a “have to” level.

Many spinoffs of the Hop are around in different incantations and they each serve their own purpose. I feel that any way our community can continue to grow and get to know one another is a step in the right direction. The number of book bloggers continues to grow daily and it can be hard to make connections with like-minded people. So, the purpose of the Book Blogger Hop is a bit different than other Hops. We are here to build relationships and community; to find other bloggers we want to follow (and not just blindly following someone for the sake of following them); and to get to know our fellow book bloggers on a more personal level.

Logistics

I anticipate running the Hop from Saturdays-Fridays Fridays-Thursdays (beginning May 11, 2012) each week. It may go up on a Friday night or Saturday morning and end the following Friday night. There will be a weekly prompt like before, with a question for you to answer on your own blog, but I will not be policing the Hop. If I notice a spam link, I will delete it. If someone else brings a spam link to my attention and I can verify it, I will delete it.

What do I consider spam? If you enter your link in the linky but do not post on your blog answering the weekly question. I got a bit frustrated with the previous Hop due to the amount of complaints I was getting for people not abiding by these simple rules. So, it will be very easy. If you do not post and I find out about it, your link gets removed. I’m not going to e-mail you asking where your post is as it should be up when you enter your link. The post you link to on the linky list should be the direct link to your post answering the weekly question. Easy peasy. Harsh? I don’t think so. The rules are quite simple, really. And it will keep me sane. :)

You may be asking – what exactly IS a book blogger? Here’s MY take: Do you have a blog? Do you blog about books/authors? Do you write book reviews on your blog? Do you rave about books and authors on your blog? Is your blog content primarily about books? Then you are most likely considered a book blogger and are welcome to participate in this Hop!

Things in my life are still a bit crazy so I may call on some guest hosts from time to time just to keep things fun. I will keep you informed if that happens. If you are interested in possibly being a guest host, please fill out the form HERE.

Weekly Prompts

I need your help! Do you have a great question that you would like to ask your fellow bloggers? Remember: it has to be universal to all bloggers and not specific to any one genre! It can be something bookish, something more personal, or anything else! Please keep it G-rated for our younger bloggers, please! If you have a question, please submit it using this FORM. If your question is selected, I will give you credit during that week’s Hop.

Please click here for a list of the upcoming Hop questions!

Hop Posts

Please click HERE for the latest Hop post (to be launched Saturday April 28, 2012 at 12am EST!)

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If you have any questions or suggestions for the Hop, please e-mail me at jennifer@crazy-for-books.com. Thank you for your support and patience during the 6 month Hop hiatus!

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