Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (ages 10 - 14) - giveaway!

I loved reading fairy tales and fantasy stories when I was a child. Nothing was better than slipping into another world, whether it was entering a magical world through the back of a wardrobe with C.S. Lewis, or joining Milo as he traveled through the doldrums with his watchdog Tock, or flying with dragons through the land of Pern in Anne McCaffrey's series. Children, especially ages 9 - 12, still love fantasies. They're drawn to magical worlds, with extremes of good and evil and sometimes blurry in-betweens, where children have to navigate their way through challenges and quests with only the help of trusted allies they discover along the way.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own MakingI am excited to read a new fantasy novel for children: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne Valente. This novel has received high praise from many quarters: starred reviews from several book review journals, praise from numerous authors such as Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow and Tamora Pierce, and one of Amazon's Books of the Month for May 2011. If you would like to win a free copy of this book, keep reading!
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
by Catherynne Valente
NY: Feiwel and Friends, 2011
ages 10 - 14
available on Amazon and at your local library
With a twisted, turning story, Valente tells the tale of September, a young girl from Omaha, Nebraska, who finds herself whisked away to Fairyland to retrieve a witch's spoon. One book-loving friend, Donalyn Miller (a.k.a. The Book Whisperer), describes this as a blend between the Phantom Tollbooth, Alice in Wonderland and the Oz books. I'm intrigued, and not sure I want to read much more!

Here's an intriguing book trailer for The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland...



To learn more about this story, head over to Catherynne Valente's website. She offers a wonderful chance to read the first several chapters and to listen to her reading them aloud. She also tells the intriguing story of how this story came to life, taking flight first as a free web-based novel and eventually being published with gorgeous illustrations and support from all corners.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own MakingGiveaway opportunity:
Join me in a summer reading! The publishers of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making have offered a copy to one of my readers. Hooray!

Contest rules:
  1. Leave a comment on this post, sharing your favorite fantasy story (or one your children have loved).
  2. Share this contest on Facebook or Twitter with a link to this post, and leave another comment so I can give you an extra entry.
  3. Follow this blog, either by signing up for emails (see the right hand column) or through Google Connect or Facebook. Leave another entry letting me know you follow this blog.
  4. You must live in the United States and have a U.S. shipping address in order to qualify.
  5. Make sure you leave a valid email address in your comments, so I can get in touch with you.
  6. Contest ends Thursday, June 30th at midnight P.S.T. Winners will be announced on July 1st.
Many thanks to Feiwel and Friends for this kind give away offer. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion will go to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you). Thank you for your support.


Review ©2011 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books.
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19 comments:

  1. LaurenJune 21, 2011 at 3:07 PM

    Sounds like a fun read!

    (I follow you via rss)

    Lauren

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  2. LaraJune 21, 2011 at 10:00 PM

    Ooh the boy and I would love to read this!

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  3. Deborah UnderwoodJune 21, 2011 at 10:06 PM

    This looks great! My favorite fantasy books when I was a kid were the Narnia ones. I'll share contest on FB!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Margaret Osako (Margaret@Kabongo.com)June 22, 2011 at 7:52 AM

    I subscribed to your RSS feed (most willingly and excitedly). I can't wait to share your reviews with my Twitter pals!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Margaret Osako (Margaret@Kabongo.com)June 22, 2011 at 7:54 AM

    My favorite fantasy books when I was a kid were, yes, C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, particularly The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Recently I read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and thought it would be a great read for 10-14 year olds.

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  6. Fourth MusketeerJune 22, 2011 at 6:30 PM

    Please enter me! I'd love to read this one.

    My daughter was obssessed with the story of Thumbelina when she was about 4 years old.

    margo_tanenbaum(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Z-KidsJune 22, 2011 at 7:28 PM

    I loved Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles growing up. Now I am reading them to my kids and loving them all over again.

    I've been reading lots of good buzz about "The Girl Who Circumnavigated." Thanks for the chance to win!

    Z-Dad

    zenzart at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dashka SlaterJune 23, 2011 at 3:29 PM

    Prydain Chronicles. Narnia. His Dark Materials. The Princess and the Goblin. Half Magic. Anything by E Nesbit. The Oz Books. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. The Abhorsen Trilogy. Oh and many many many others.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dashka SlaterJune 23, 2011 at 3:31 PM

    And I subscribed to the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dashka SlaterJune 23, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    And tweeted too. And finally remembered to leave an email address: dashkaslater@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJune 24, 2011 at 4:15 PM

    I love Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series.

    urchiken at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Renee GJune 24, 2011 at 6:54 PM

    I've always enjoyed Alice in Wonderland.
    rsgrandinetti@yahoo(Dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Renee GJune 24, 2011 at 6:56 PM

    I follow as Renee G on gFC
    rsgrandinetti@yahoo(DOt)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. SarahJune 25, 2011 at 6:07 PM

    My favorite fantasy book when I was younger was C.S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy.

    heartnsoul0210 at yahoo

    ReplyDelete
  15. SarahJune 25, 2011 at 6:07 PM

    I follow your blog.

    heartnsoul0210 at yahoo

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bridget R. WilsonJune 27, 2011 at 5:29 AM

    My favorite fantasy as a child was The Fairy Rebel by Lynne Reid Banks.

    bridgetwilson4765(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  17. Laura5June 28, 2011 at 7:17 AM

    This book sounds fabulous. I'm such a sucker for good fantasy.
    My favorite recent fantasy read is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Lin. Amazing!
    Thanks to you and Feiwel and Friends for the opportunity!

    Tweet=check
    Follow=check
    email=liblaura5 AT gmail

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  18. AnonymousJune 30, 2011 at 6:19 PM

    Hmmm, fantasy. From my childhood, The Hobbit. From my kids, well, they were of the Harry Potter era.

    Thanks, Mary Ann, for your enthusiastic engagement with children's literature. It is a delight to follow your blog.

    bcctdd at gmail

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mary Ann ScheuerJuly 1, 2011 at 10:58 PM

    Thank you all for commenting, sharing your interest in this book! I used Random.org to draw a winner, and the winner is Deborah! I will contact you off-line, Deborah.

    ReplyDelete