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Ripley’s Seeing is Believing GIVEAWAY

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The new Ripley’s annual for 2010 is out, and guess who has a copy to give away to one lucky reader? As if giving a copy of this awesome book is not enough, I’m throwing in a coupon good for buy one get one admission at any of the Ripley museums that is good through December 31, 2010.

So something has happened with these Ripley books, and that something is fantastic. When I was young, I remember Ripley’s books being very similar to the thick volumes of Guinness World Records books: information, interesting stories, and a few black and white photos.

But this bad boy is jam packed with awesome full-color and full-page pictures.

This volume of Ripley’s has some great feature sections. It’s divided into 12 sections that highlight feats of the human body, food, science, earth, and more.

The book begins with a history of Ripley himself which gives a nice overview of the hows and whys of his entire story and legacy. I loved the nice feature on Houdini within the “Incredible Feats” section but was perhaps most impressed with the fold out feature on P. T. Barnum in the “Body Oddity” section. There’s been a lot out about him recently, but with the research and name of Ripley’s, this one’s expertly done (and not to mention incredibly interesting with the layout and use of photos).

Did you know someone paid $3,154 to buy a half-eaten piece of toast … of Justin Timberlake? What about the fact scientists in the UK studied the brain waves of locusts while they watched Star Wars? Oh, and the urban legend of mentos and diet coke? Well, you can look at the photo for yourself. And be careful if you are trying to have children and live in Nebraska or New Jersey: you’re much more likely to have triplets than anywhere else in the country.

This is a book that boys and girls will enjoy. The photos are so interesting, the colors and lay outs of the pages are evocative and engaging without being overwhelming, and the snippets of human and non-human feats are attention-grabbing. What I love about these sorts of books is how they can be picked up and read at one’s leisure any time. They also never get old — you can read it again and again. Ripley’s is good for all ages, though those who are squeamish may want to skip some parts of the book. It’s a tried and true favorite and, well, SO MUCH BETTER than when I was a kid!

If you want to learn more about Ripley’s annuals, check out their website here. If you want to buy the book, you can check out a good deal on their facebook page. But as I said before, I have a copy to give away along with a buy one get one pass.

GIVEAWAY RULES:
Please follow ALL of the rules to be entered!

1. You can earn an entry through these means:

+ 1 if you comment with your email address
+ 1 if you comment with a Ripley’s believe it or not type fact (and if it’s something you pull from their website, even better!). If you can link to your source, you’ll win our librarian hearts.
+ 2 if you subscribe to our feed or are already a subscriber
+ 2 if you tweet the giveaway or you blog it — leave your twitter name/blog name in the comment. You can get 2 entries for tweeting and 2 entries for blogging for a total of 4.

2. You leave a separate comment for EACH point you earn (to be clear: comment on this post once if you just leave your email address. Add a second comment if you are also commenting with a “believe it or not” fact. Add two more comments if you subscribe or are a subscriber. Add two more if you tweet or blog it. So, the most comments you’d be leaving on the blog is 8 — you tweet, blog, subscribe, tell a believe it or not, and leave an email). Please don’t leave one comment with all your points; we’ll never sort through them!

3. Contest runs from now until September 11.

To sweeten the deal a bit, the winner will also receive an ARC of choice from my bag. It’ll be a surprise! If we get 75 comments or more, there will be a second winner of an ARC of my choosing (of course, with a bit of input from said winner).

Good luck. I’m so excited that the wonderful folks with Ripley’s sent this title along. It’s a beautiful book that will be well-loved by the lucky winner.

GIVEAWAY!

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I’m announcing random number #2 and #10 as the winners of the After the Moment giveaway (yes, I used a real random generator). So, that means….

#2…Nancy Pearl WannaBe has won a copy of After the Moment plus a book in their preferred genre

and

#10…Carlene has won a book in their preferred genre.

To claim your prize, please email stacked.books@gmail.com with 2-3 preferred genre choices. If I don’t hear from you by Friday, another winner will be selected.

Thanks for the turnout, all. Keep your eyes peeled for more giveaways soon.

GIVEAWAY reminder!

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Just a reminder that you have ONE WEEK LEFT to enter our giveaway. I will indeed be selecting 2 winners — the first winner will receive After the Moment along with a book in their preferred genre and the second will win one book in their preferred genre. There are only 10 entries so far, so your chances of winning are good! You can comment here or on the other post following the rules.

STACKED’s first book GIVEAWAY!

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Since we’re new to the blogging world and we’d love to see who’s checking out our stacks, it’s time for the first official GIVEAWAY here at STACKED. Please read carefully and follow the easy contest rules to be entered in a drawing to win a copy of After the Moment and one other title of my choosing (and I promise it’ll be good — I’m debating among a few titled picked up during January’s American Library Association Midwinter Conference).

Contest Rules:
1. You must comment on this entry with your name and a link to your blog if you have one.
2. Recruit one new reader to our blog — all they need to do is comment with their name and a link to their blog if they have one and mention that they were directed here by you. They will be added to the contest, too, if they bring in a new reader.
3. If you don’t recruit a new reader, you can add a link to your blogroll to our blog. Just let us know which you did. We’ll also hang on to your links and include them on our blogroll (good reads to good reads is a good thing, isn’t it?)

Simple? You’re right. We want to connect to more readers, so we’re hosting the contest in order to find them.

The contest begins TODAY and runs through the end of the month (May 30 being the final day for the contest). Depending on how generous I am feeling and how many readers we’re able to connect with, I may throw in another book for a second winner. You will, of course, need to stay tuned for details.

After the Moment, Garret Freymann-Weyr

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It’s difficult to be a young male in our culture — there really are only a few acceptable stereotypes within which you can fall: the alpha male, the gay male, the sensitive mommy’s boy, the nerd, or the creepy guy. Although we know males are much more than a stereotype, sometimes in growing up, it seems those are a boy’s options for how to live and behave.

In Garret Freymann-Weyr’s After The Moment, we meet Leigh: a guy in his early 20s reflecting back on his last years in high school and considering how he has come of age. Although the story is not about becoming a man in the traditional sense, Freymann-Weyr (a woman, by the way) delineates what it means to grow up and understand pivotal moments in one’s development, particularly where it relates to love.

Leigh is a high school junior, living in New York City with his mother, a romance novelist, when his father Clayton calls to break the news that his new wife Janet’s former husband Seth has died in a terrible accident. This news has not yet been broken to Millie, Janet’s young teenage biological daughter and Leigh’s beloved step sister. It will be Leigh’s job to come down to Maryland and break the news to her, since she adores and admires him more than anyone else in the world.

While he is in town to help Millie come to grips with the news, he meets Millie’s good friend — also a junior — Maia Morland. As you’d expect, Leigh’s got an incredibly attractive girlfriend at home, but he becomes quite entranced with Maia and not for the reasons he adores his girlfriend Aster. Rather, there is something about Maia that speaks to him at a much deeper level. When Millie is beginning to feel more at ease with the loss of her biological father, Leigh returns him only to be asked by Millie and Clayton to consider relocating to Maryland for his senior year to continue helping Millie cope with her loss. After surprisingly little consideration, he jumps at the opportunity.

After The Moment explores the huge amounts of growth and change that happen to Leigh as he begins a relationship with Maia; it’s not a sheerly romantic relationship, but rather a relationship that is about growth, change, and uncertainty. Leigh wrestles with many excruciating decisions during this year, including Maia’s mental health, his role as a protector, and his role as a male living a fear-free life (Leigh spends many pages in this story reflecting upon the Iraq war and the young men his age both fighting in the war and dying and those trying to avoid the war and dying as civilians). As is likely clear as well, Leigh’s also fighting the demons that come with a difficult family structure, a girlfriend in New York and girlfriend of a different sense in Maryland, the values and ethics of love and sex, and plotting a post-high school life.

Throughout the book, I was very impressed with some of the situations that Freymann-Weyr depicted, particularly through the eyes and mindset of a 17 year old male. There was a true depth to this character and he was utterly relatable and sympathetic. As a reader, I felt entirely on his side and began really thinking about how tough it is to be a guy. This same story told through the perspective of a woman wouldn’t be as powerful or thought provoking, even if it was well-written. This is a story of growing up that both males and females will relate to, and it will definitely open up the eyes of females while garnering a sense of understanding from males.

After The Moment was paced well, and the descriptions and scenarios were quite believable, though at times I found some situations contrived or unnecessary — I thought, actually, there were too many uninteresting and inconsequential characters cluttering the story lines that were brought in immediately and then left to sort of fend for themselves in the end. While many readers might find the fact that not one single family was a “healthy, normal” one (everyone had been divorced, remarried, or multiple iterations of either), I think that might be a point of comfort for some. I become quite obsessed with familial structures when reading, and while I initially got mad that there could be no role models of normality in the story, I thought that actually heightened the ability of Leigh to grow as a male. This becomes crystal clear in a final conversation between Leigh and his father.

I found Maia to be a frustrating character throughout the book; the girl had a lot of problems that I felt she could solve for herself. But then I stepped back for a moment and realized that she is the perfect metaphor for what Leigh is dealing with as a male on a daily basis — she needs help and love, and while many could easily dismiss and ignore her and her problems, he found her absolutely worthwhile. Quite a way to parallel the ideas about the Iraq war and the future!

Overall, I was incredibly impressed with Freymann-Weyr’s After The Moment and believe that it is the perfect book for the older set of teens. The story is set up as a flashback, with Leigh and Maia in their early 20s reflecting on their 17 and 18 year old lives. Although the book will be marketed for those 14 and over, I think that the real audience will be those between 16 and 26. There is a real sense of connection from both ends.

This is not your typical romance book, so while girls who like romances may swoon for Leigh and this one, I think that this could be sold to guys. I think it should be sold to guys, actually. After The Moment breaks stereotypes and bends the artificial rules in such a manner that males may find themselves feeling more confident about how they act and think. I think Leigh will be relatable — he loves soccer, he has a tough family life, and he doesn’t deny enjoying sex — but he’s much more complex than that. I think there is still a bit of a lag in the young adult literature that bulks guys up as much more than just their personal interests. This one is a definite in that arena. I am eager to see what the reception is for both males and females.

After The Moment will be available from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt press May 17. I was able to pick up a copy at a conference, and I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to read it. Keep your eyes peeled for a GIVEAWAY of this book from us very soon.