Thanks to Tye Murphy for creating a book trailer for the Tenners’ spring releases!  Lots of good titles here, guys.  Enjoy!!

Short and sweet, ’cause I don’t have a lot of time:

Leave a comment here between now and the end of the month and I will donate a dollar to the local library.

You heard me.  One Washington.   Cent smackeroos.  A hundred red cents. 

So easy.  Just do it!  If you’re stuck, just say, “I love libraries.”  (“I love liberries” or “I love Giles the hot librarian on Buffy” will do.)

To see more, scroll down two posts.

You don’t want me to come after you, now, do you? 

** Special thanks as always to Betty von Betty for promptly rising to the challenge.  As for the rest of you–you can do it!

Today marks 3 months until the release date of Nice and Mean, and I’m going to celebrate by giving things away!  Booky bookmarks, Dr. Pepper lipgloss in three varieties, and some Indian bangle bracelets can all be yours to help celebrate the world of Niciemeanieness in anticipation of the big release.

Mavie, the delightful blogger at The Bookologist, is kind enough to host the giveaway, and she has all the details on her site of how you enter and earn points. (She’s on West Coast time, so if you go there and it’s not up, just check back later.)  I’ll be here all week to get you pumped about Nice and Mean and about being the first kid on the block with the swag. 

Why should you want to read Nice and Mean when it comes out in three months on June 8th?  (Or even pre-order it now?)

-We’ve all read about the mean girls, but what’s going on in the heads of the nice girls–the ones who smooth everything over for everyone?  Nice and Mean gives the scoop.

-Haven’t you ever wondered, maybe with annoyance, what makes people popular, especially when they’re, you know, MEAN?  Nice and Mean investigates. 

-Haven’t you ever wondered why everyone is suddenly wearing…. (Fill in the blank.  I’d wonder why people are wearing gladiator sandals, but I wouldn’t want to offend you, so never mind.)

-Don’t you think Dr. Pepper is the drink of choice?  Me, too.  You will get to think about it a lot when you read this book.

So, what are you waiting for?  Don’t let someone else get this fabulous Nice and Mean prize pack.  Comment, Tweet, and get other followers on board to win today.  If you comment, I will contribute money to my local library, as seen below.  And hey!  Thanks for coming!  It really means a lot to me.

Note: this contest is open to people of all ages, but you must live in the US, and will last until Friday, March 12, 2010, C.E.

Welcome to the library-loving blog challenge!

 Whether you’re a bookstore lover or a library devotee, chances are that your local library is doing something awesome right now. 

 They may be finding a book that your non-reading child will actually like.  They may be helping someone use the internet to look for jobs, or trying their dangedest to find the name of the book that you only remember as, “Oh, it had a pink cover, it maybe it was blue, and it had the word ‘girl’ in the title.  It came out last year, or maybe the year before…”  They may even, if you beg the right way, be forgiving your library fines. 

I don’t know what I’d do without the dedicated and hospitable staff at the Louisville Free Public Library.  It must be an effort for them to smile when they see me coming, because I always ask them to pull so many books for me from around the city.  But they are always well-informed and kind, even though they’ve had a horrible year. 

In August, a flash flood that covered the city in two feet of water—the city!  Not the country!  We have regular city streets!—ruined the sorting and storages facilities at the main branch.  Many people pitched in for the recovery effort, but the library is still in need of funds.  The picture below is from the week of the flood.  Imagine already struggling with funding your multi-service operation and coming in to find this in your basement.  (The truck is the Bookmobile, drowned.) 

 Here’s where you and I come in: I joined writer Jennifer Hubbard’s Library-Loving Blog Challenge.  For every commenter on this post between now and April 6, 2010, 12:00 pm, I will donate 50 cents to the Louisville Free Public Library, up to an amount of $40. 

How easy could it be?  You comment, I proudly find two quarters, and the library gets a gift.  If you don’t know what to say in your comment, “I love libraries” will do. 

Note that my pledge is “per commenter,” so if a single person leaves 50 comments, that still only counts once.  But you can do more by spreading the word.  Please link to this post, tweet about it, and send your friends here so they can comment and raise more money. 

If you’re moved to make a flat-fee donation to your library, or to start your own challenge, you are quite welcome, and please leave that information in the comments.

For a complete list of participating bloggers (and to visit other sites where you can help libraries just by leaving a comment!) visit the writerjenn blog at http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/

Thanks for joining!  I look forward to seeing comments in the name of library love.

My fellow Tenner, the endlessly energetic Jen Nadol (whose name, smushed together in her Twitter profile, looks attractively like Jenna dol), featured me on her Book Briefs feature.   (Thanks, Jen!)  You can check it out here, and read more about her book, the gorgeously attired The Mark, here.

And if you’ve come here because you were there and you’re like, “Double-dipping–what’s the point?” I’ve got a cookie for you.  There are currently 94 days (94!) until the release of Nice and Mean.  So I’m going to give you a little glimpse of what happens on p. 94 (::opening advance copy and hoping it doesn’t contain a major spoiler::)

Okay, here you go.  Sachi, the most un-trendy of characters, has to make a video about the subject of trends.  (Don’t ask.  Just read the book.)  But she kind of gets into it, interviewing a friend, and thinks,

Lainey was one of the only people in our grade who wore Converse hi-tops, but they didn’t look dorky, like Priyanka’s old reeboks.  I really wanted to find out how people knew when originality was cool and when it was doomed. 

Don’t forget–four days til the Nice and Mean swag giveaway!

(And now I really need to post something not about Nice and Mean.  I’m making myself Nice and Sick.)

According to my snazzy new Countdown Widget, there are now 97 days until the release of Nice and Mean.

Which can only mean one thing: Nice and Mean swag must be….Given away!

Giveaway giveaway giveaway giveaway

Yes!  You saw correctly, Pat–those are Nice and Mean bookmarks, next to Dr. Pepper Lip Gloss (Marina’s fave) and, not pictured, some Indian scarves that give Sachi a bit of pizzaz. 

Mavie, who runs the  very cool blog, The Bookologist, will be running the show. It’s next Tues, March 8th, which will be THREE SHORT MONTHS from N&M’s release.   If you find Mavie on Twitter (@TheBookologist), or find me there, too (@JessicaLeader), you’ll be up on the details and the chance to

Win!

Valuable! 

Prizes! 

This message was brought to you by the letters N and M, and by the punctuation mark !