Reading Without Walls

Books have tremendous power in expanding our horizons. So many of us have unique stories, and so many of these stories are told through books! In the spirit of expanding these horizons, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Gene Luen Yang has announced the Reading Without Walls Challenge encouraging readers to explore books of diverse voices, genres, and platforms. If you're a teacher, encourage your students! If you're a bookseller, encourage your customers! If you're a lover of books, take the challenge - and read beyond your comfort zone! 

Kids Can Press "If" Giveaway!

Love kid-lit? Have a Goodreads account? You're in luck! 

Kids Can Press is giving away advanced copies of If... A Mind-Bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers by David J. Smith, just in time for back-to-school.

This is one of my fave kid's books this season!

Giveaway closes September 9, 2014.

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE!

Bookstore Appreciation with New Society Publishers!

Want to show some support for your favourite bookseller? The fine folks at New Society Publishers want to hear all about your favourite local bookstore! 

Does your favourite bookstore have a great selection? Knowledgeable and friendly staff? Nice atmosphere? Whatever the reason, let New Society know why it's your favourite bookstore and you can get a chance to win a New Society book of your choice. They'll also showcase the bookstore on their social media sites, so everyone will get a chance to learn how awesome they are!

So support your local booksellers by sending in the bookstore's name, city, and a photo to sara {at} newsociety {dot} com. 

For more information on the contest, please visit the New Society blog.

#READWOMEN2014 with House of Anansi

Earlier this year, writer and illustrator Joanna Walsh of The Guardian began the #readwomen2014 initiative to bring to light some of the challenges that female writers are still facing in the 21st-century. The hashtag has spread like wildfire since then, and people from all over the world have been sharing their experiences reading books by women using the #readwomen2014 hashtag.

The great folks at House of Anansi decided to start their own #readwomen2014 campaign and they've come up with an amazing contest that gives readers a chance to win every book written by a woman that Anansi publishes in 2014. That's a lot of books! To enter: try to identify all of the women featured in the video above (or as many as you can) and fill out a ballot. Good luck!

TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2014

Applications are now open for the 2014 TD Canadian Children's Book Week! This year, the theme is Read to Remember, and will commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. In May, 29 authors, illustrators and storytellers will tour the country. If you are a school, library, bookstore or community centre that would like to host, click here to apply. Tours include amazing interactive readings, writing workshops and contests for children from Kindergarten to Grade 12. This program has such an amazing outreach to aspiring readers and writers. Last year, over 400 readings were given, connecting with more than 25,000 children nation wide. How amazing is that? Book Week runs from May 3-May 10th, 2014. As I mentioned in a previous post, many fantastic authors, illustrators and storytellers are participating. Click here to see a list of tour participants and locations. Don't wait though...the application deadline is December 31, 2013!

DK Canada's Handful of Bricks 10 Minute Challenge!

Every office has their own way of motivating staff moral, but DK Canada's most recent efforts definitely take the cake! To celebrate the publication of the LEGO Play Book, they have issued a challenge to their co-workers with the Handful of Bricks 10 Minute Challenge. DK offices worldwide are challenged to design and build their best Lego creation in just 10 minutes using only a handful of pieces! The best part: it's a contest and the public is encouraged to vote for their favourite masterpiece! 

Not only can you vote for your favourite creation here, but you can also share your own. At Ampersand, we keep motivated with The 200 Squat Challenge. This contest seems much more enjoyable to me, so get building people!

Win an Eyewitness Travel Prize Pack with DK Canada!

DK Canada, publisher of the great Eyewitness Travel books, is giving one lucky winner the chance to win an amazing Eyewitness Travel Prize Pack! I've taken these books along on some of my own trips and they are amazing! The contest runs until November 4th, 2013 at 6:00pm so hurry up and enter now!

ABC of Toronto Contest!

Kids Can Press has partnered with CN Tower and CityPass for an amazing Toronto-themed Toronto Star Wonderlist contest! In celebration of Kids Can Press' new book, ABC of Toronto, Wonderlist is going to help a lucky winner experience this wonderful city with two adult and two children's CityPasses! These passes would give the lucky winner access to popular Toronto attractions such as Casa Loma, Royal Ontario Museum, CN Tower, Ontario Science Centre, and Toronto Zoo. The winner will also get the entire Per-Henrik Gürth library of "Canada Concepts" books, including the brand-spankin' new ABC of Toronto. That's eight hardcover books! 

This prize pack has an approximate value of $500. Click here to enter the giveaway. (Contest closes July 31, 2013 at 9 a.m. EST.)

To learn more about Per-Henrik Gürth's "Canada Concepts" books, visit the Kids Can Press website.

Share Your Travel Story, Win a Trip of a Lifetime

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Photo via Lonely Planet

Share your travel story with Lonely Planet for a chance to win a trip to Italy! The catch? You can only use 140 characters or less.
The deadline to enter is August 15th, 2013

Here are some pretty amazing entries they've received so far:

TIPTOEING PAST ONE HIPPO LATE AT NIGHT ONLY TO TURN AND SEE ANOTHER ONE MUNCHING AWAY ON GRASS RIGHT BY MY TENT.

UGANDA,

2011.

FINDING LONG LOST FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE ALLEYWAYS OF A SMALL VILLAGE.

CHINA,

2012.

HOLDING MY LOVERS HAND WATCHING A GLACIER CALVE WHILE SEA OTTERS FLOAT NEARBY.

ALASKA, USA,

2013.

I LOST MY MIND. FOUND IT IN ITALY. DANCING THE MAMBO IN A PERUGIA PIAZZA UNDER A FULL MOON. AIR FILLED WITH GARLIC AND OLIVE OIL.

ITALY,

1993.

LEARNING QUICKLY THAT IT'S SMART TO TIP THE SNAKE CHARMER.

TANGIER,

1995.

Check out the contest (and entries) here!

Lego Contest!

As the world's bestselling publisher of LEGO books DK is celebrating with a month-long photo contest – with a fabulous prize of an amazing collection of DK’s LEGO books worth over $200!

They want to see what creative kids ages 14 and under can make with their LEGO. Simple send them a photo and at the end of the month our Canadian LEGO Fan Builder extraordinaire Deborah Higdon (featured in the LEGO Ideas Book ) will select a winning creation. Throughout the month we will be posting the photos on cn.dk.com/legopix as well as on our Facebook page ( link to wwwfacebook.com/DKCanada ) and Twitter feed @DKCanada (link to www.twitter.com/DKCanada ).

TO ENTER:

Send a photo of your LEGO creation ( you can enter as many times as you like with different creations )  to us at general@tourmaline.ca (jpgs only, no larger than 5 mb). Please include the headline For the Love of LEGO in your email. One lucky entrant will win a DK LEGO Book collection worth over $200!

Deadline for submissions is October 31st, 2012 6 EDT

3-Day Writing Contest

So you think you can write a novel? How about doing it in three days! The winner gets published by Arsenal Pulp Press.  Last year's winner was Terroryaki! by Jennifer K. Chung.

If you think you have the chops check out the contest details. The 35th contest takes place September 1-3, 2012...good luck!

Hey DIVERGENT fans!! CONTEST ALERT!

The hottest book of the Spring season is going to be INSURGENT by Veronica Roth, follow up to the much acclaimed DIVERGENT. It goes on sale MAY 1st and people have been dying to read it. Advance reading copies for INSURGENT were few and far between, but I've managed to secure a copy for a contest! It's a great prize- not only do you get an ARC of INSURGENT (and the chance to read it before your friends and colleagues), you'll also get an autographed copy of DIVERGENT!

Contest rules:

• Contest is open to librarians and teachers in CANADA only
• To enter please send an e-mail to deweydivasinfo@gmail.com with the subject 'Insurgent Contest'. You must provide the full mailing address of your library or school.
• Contest begins today (April 10th) and I'll collect entries until 5pm (EST) on Monday April 16th and notify the winner via e-mail.
• Only one entry per person please. However, I'm running a simultaneous contest on the HarperCollins Canada Library blog HCCLibraryLove (yes, that's right- two identical but separate prizes!), so you may want to enter both contests to increase your chances of winning!
• Odds of winning are dependent on the number of entries, but still MUCH better than winning the 6/49. :)
  

Good luck!-Rosalyn (@rozsteele)
_____________________________________________________

UPDATE- The winners of both contests have been notified, but if you'd like another chance to win, you may want to check out the HarperCollins Canada Facebook page. They are currently giving away THREE ARCs of Insurgent (ends April 22nd)...

OLA Super Conference-HarperCollins Author Signings

So, who is excited about OLA Super Conference next week? I know I am! It's always a great chance to catch up with people that we don't see often and to hear about new & upcoming books. The Deweys aren't doing a session this year, but I'll definitely have a list of my newest picks at my booth, which I'd love to share!


Part of the fun of the OLA show is meeting some of your favourite authors, so I thought I'd help with your conference planning by giving you the heads up about the authors who will be signing at the HarperCollins booth (#731/733).


Thursday February 2nd:

10-10:45 a.m: Vicki Grant- Signing copies of Betsy Wickwire’s Dirty Secret

11 a.m. -12 p.m.: Gail Vaz-Oxlade- Signing copies of It’s Your Money: Becoming a Woman of Independent Means
2-3pm: Kenneth Oppel- Signing copies of ‘This Dark Endeavour’

Friday Feb 3

10-11am: Allan Stratton - Signing copies of ‘The Grave Robber’s Apprentice’

1-2pm: Frank Viva- signing copies of ‘Along a Long Road’


If you have a moment, you might also want to check out the new HarperCollins Library Love Tumblr blog where I've posted a picture of one of the giveaways we'll have at our booth...

Hope to see you at OLA next week!

-Rosalyn

Castle: Heat Rises

Season 3 of Castle ended with a shocking cliffhanger, but the long wait is finally over- Season 4 starts again tonight! Woo-hoo!Because I'm a fan, I'm celebrating the return of my favourite Monday night show with a giveaway.

Hyperion Books publishes the books of 'Richard Castle'. Yes, that's right, the ones featured in the TV show! Heat Wave, which introduced the character of Nikki Heat, came out in 2009. Naked Heat came out in 2010. Heat Rises, the third book in the series has just gone on sale. Fans of the show will definitely want to pick up this companion book, because you KNOW it will be referenced in the show this season (they always are)!

One lucky blog reader is going to get the prize pack depicted to the left- a hardcover copy of each of the three books in the series, along with an ALA READ poster featuring Nathan Fillion the (Canadian) actor who plays writer Richard Castle on the show. Don't worry- you won't be getting the poster tacked up on my cubbie wall (I'm not parting with THAT one). The winner will get a fresh, still-in-the-package READ poster.

“Richard Castle proves as adept at writing thrillers as he is at solving crimes. HEAT rises to the occasion.” –Dennis Lehane, bestselling author

So, if you are a librarian (in Canada) and interested in winning this prize, please send an e-mail to rosalyn.steele@harpercollins.com with the subject Castle Contest.

I'll collect names until September 30th at 9:00 a.m. EST and then notify the winner. Good luck!

Big Nate is On a Roll!

Big Nate is back and better than ever! Big Nate On A Roll, the third book in this fun series that Kirkus likened to a 'latter-day Peanuts and a kinder, gentler Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now available in stores & on library shelves.

Nate has always looked forward to his Timber Scout meetings (even the berets are cool). But when the practically perfect foreign exchange student Artur joins his troop, Nate is going to have some serious competition to earn first place in the Timber Scout door-to-door sales competition. And Big Nate REALLY wants the customized skateboard that is the prize… Many laughs ensue as the competition heats up! With its mix of text and comic style panels, this book (and the others in the series) appeal to avid & reluctant readers alike.

I must admit to having had a soft spot for Nate- I do like a mischief maker! So, to celebrate the release of Big Nate on A Roll, I’m running a contest for Canadian teachers & librarians. The winner will receive the prize pack depicted in the picture on the right, consisting of an autographed copy of the first two books in the series (Big Nate in A Class By Himself and Big Nate Strikes Again), as well as a copy of Big Nate on a Roll, Big Nate Boredom Busters, the newly arrived ARC of the new comic strip collection Big Nate: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? and a Big Nate cardboard standee.

To enter, please send me an e-mail at rosalyn.steele@harpercollins.com with the subject ‘Big Nate’. Be sure to include your full name and the mailing address of your library or school. I’ll collect entries until Friday September 2nd and contact the winner on Tuesday the 6th.

Win A Trip for 2 to Toronto!

To celebrate the release of Lindsey Kelk's new novel, The Single Girl's To-Do List, HarperCollins Canada is sponsoring a contest where the winner will win a trip for 2 to Toronto, a 2 night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel , salon services from Civello and dinner at MoRoCo.

To enter and for rules and regulations, follow this link.

Even if you live in Toronto, this prize would be a great 'staycation'. I only wish I could enter too!

The Single Girl's To-Do List was one of my Spring 2011 Dewey Picks. The main character, Rachel, is devastated after being dumped for the first time in her illustrious dating career. An avid list-maker & follower, Rachel starts a practical 'what to do now' list. The fun begins when her two best friends get hold of the list and decide to spice it up a little. Rachel's list begins with a makeover, moves on to tracking down 'the one that got away' (who now lives in Toronto) & includes a challenge that has Rachel facing her fear of heights. This book has great characters, a lot of laughs and is a fun summer read!

Dystopian Tour Contest

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting authors Veronica Roth (Divergent) and Lauren Oliver (Delirium) when they were in Toronto for the Dystopian Fiction Tour. InnerSPACE hosted the event that I attended at Indigo Yorkdale and aired the footage of the event during their broadcast the following night! Some fans had been there waiting in line for hours!

So what did Veronica Roth and Lauren Oliver have to say about their trip to Canada? Check out this link for Veronica's blog and this link for Lauren Oliver's blog.

As promised, for those who could not attend the events, I did get books signed. I'm offering up THREE of the following fabulous prize packs:

A Signed copy of both Divergent and Delirium
A Signed poster of Divergent
A 'Swag' bag full of cool tattoos & fun extras

If you are a librarian or teacher located in Canada and would like to win one of these great prize packs, please send me an e-mail at rosalyn.steele@harpercollins.com with Dystopian Fiction Contest in the subject line.

I'll collect entries until 9 a.m. on Friday June 10th and randomly draw three winners from the qualified entrants.

Remember- your odds of winning a fabulous prize on the Dewey Diva blog are MUCH better than winning the lotto!

Get Shredded! Do you want to Join me in taking the 10-Pound Shred Challenge?

In a fit of 'got-to-get-in-shape' New Year's Resolution madness, I committed myself to participating in a 'Try-A-Triathlon' being held in June. I've been hitting the gym regularly since January, but now that April is on the horizon (with June not far behind), it is definitely time to kick my workouts up a notch or two.

So, with this in mind, I've signed up for the Tommy Europe 10 -Pound Shred Challenge at work. Many of you will be recognize Tommy Europe- he is a former CFL player, personal trainer, and star of two programs on the Slice Network: The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp and Bulging Brides.

Tommy's first book, The 10-Pound Shred came out last week. A group of us here at the HarperCollins office are going to be following the fitness and health program described in the book for the month of April and blogging about our experiences following the program on The Savvy Reader . We've divided into teams and will be challenging each other to use the book as a way to kickstart our personal fitness goals. Mine is to actually finish the 375 m swim/10 km bike/2.5 km run 'Try-a-Tri' race without keeling over or being the last one across the finish line!

Tommy was at the office yesterday to do some Toronto-based press. He took the time to meet the teams participating in the challenge (and to bench-press one of my teammates - that's us in the picture to the left.)

My question for you is- would you like to follow along at home and take The 10 Pound Shred challenge yourself? I had five copies of the book signed when Tommy was in town. I'd like to send them to five librarians or teachers (Canadian residents only) who are interested in making a big fitness change and are not averse to 31 days of hard work in order to make it happen. If this sounds like something you'd like to do, please send me an e-mail (rosalyn.steele@harpercollins.com) with 'The 10-Pound Shred' in the subject line. Please include the full mailing address of your school or library. I'll collect names until Friday March 25th, and randomly select 5 names from amongst the qualified entrants.

HarperCollins Authors at the 2011 OLA Superconference

HarperCollins will be located this year at booths #731/733 at the Metro Convention Centre for the OLA Super Conference. We have a lot of exciting in-booth giveaways and events planned, including the following author appearances:

Thursday February 3rd:

10:30-11:30 Tom Earle, author of The Hat Trick
1:30-2:30 Vicki Grant, author of Not Suitable for Family Viewing
2:30-3:30 Lesley Livingston, author of Tempestuous

Friday February 4th:

9:30-10:15: Jenn Kelly, author of Jackson Jones
10:15-11:00: Rachna Gilmore, author of The Trouble With Dilly
11:00-11:45: Tish Cohen, author of The Truth About Delilah Blue and Invisible Rules of the Zoe Lama
1:15-2:00: Dan Vyleta, author of The Quiet Twin

Please stop by the booth and meet these fantastic Canadian authors and have a book signed (while supplies last).

For those still reading, here comes the contest- the first person to come to the HarperCollins Booth each day of the OLA Show (Thursday February 3rd and Friday February 4th) and say the secret phrase 'I LOVE THE DEWEY DIVA BLOG' will win a fabulous prize!

I look forward to seeing you at OLA!

NYRB Giveaway. . .

I promised a giveaway to celebrate finishing my 50 book NYRB challenge and I'm going to let YOU choose your own prize.  I mentioned that NYRB Classics has an amazing spring list which I'm listing below.  Pick the three books that you'd most like to read from the Spring list, plus two books from their backlist (browse it here) and a lucky winner will get all five plus a snazzy NYRB totebag.  Send me an e-mail at mscott@randomhouse.com  with NYRB in the subject line,  and a list of the 5 books. I'll throw all the names into a hat and pull out the winner. This contest is open to those living in Canada and the U.S. only.  For Canadian readers, please note that several NYRB titles are not available for sale in Canada and so I can't include it in your prize.  If the title doesn't show up on www.randomhouse.ca  then it isn't available in Canada.  Deadline for entering is January 15th, 2011.  NOTE:  This contest is now closed.

So without further ado, here's some of the amazing NYRB books to look forward to this spring. I guarantee there's something for everyone:

The Traveller's Tree by Patrick Leigh Fermor
An exploration of the Caribbean islands by one of the twentieth century's greatest travel writers.

The Doll by Boleslaw Prus, translated by David Welsh
An ambitious classic of Polish literature, a story of money, love and class set in the 19th century Warsaw.

The Ice Trilogy by Vladmir Sorokin, translated by Jamey Gambrell
Contains Bro, Ice and 23,000 - the three parts of Sorokin's trilogy recounting the escapades of the Brotherhood of Light, a group of homicidal fanatics in gritty, violent, contemporary Moscow.

Irretrievable by Theodore Fontane, translated by Douglas Parmee
The story of a couple, happily married for twenty-three years until a certain tension starts to creep in and they slowly start to drift apart.

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach
A fascinating true story about three paranoid schizophrenics who all believed they were Christ and were brought together to live for two years to argue and debate amongst themselves.

Songs of  Kabir, translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
A collection from the Northern India philosopher, satirist and oral poet Kabir, who lived from 1398-1518.

We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley
A new unexpurgated edition of this dark "fairy tale for adults", as Ackerley described it.  From the author of My Dog Tulip.  And yes, this also features a German shepherd.

Fair Play by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal

The story of two women, both artists who live, work, love, and argue from opposite sides of a large apartment building.  Jansson is one of my favourite NYRB authors - no one is better at writing about complicated women's relationships.

Dancing Lessons for The Advanced in Age by Bohumil Hrabal, translated by Michael Henry Heim
An elderly rake recounts his life story to a group of sunbathing women who remind him of lovers past.  The whole novel unfolds in one single sentence (don't panic, it's not that long -the book, not the sentence).

The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer
A surreal, black comedy about the mother of countless children from several marriages and her relationship with a successful screenwriter.

Fatale by J.P. Manchette, translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith
Aimee is a drop-dead gorgeous professional killer who has set her eyes on a backwater town where she plans to manipulate old grudges and play people against each other. A modern detective novel filled with farce and anarchy.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, translated by Donald Rayfield
A new translation of this great Russian classic.

When the World Spoke French by Marc Fumaroli, translated by Richard Howard
From the death of Louis XIV to the Revolution, French was the universal language in Europe. A series of portraits of political and intellectual foreigners who conversed in French regardless of their native language.