Want to Trade? Updated Trading List

Well, it's official. I've done a little bit of spring cleaning the last few days (not much, but a little) and it's time to get rid of some old books to make room for new. Plus, I'm also moving to Florida for the summer, so I want to have everything sent out by May 15th.

So here's an updated trading list. Want to help me out, or see something you want? You can see my wish list in the left sidebar. If you don't have anything on that list, you can send me an email with a list of what you have, and we'll see if I can work something out.

Pretty much these are all gently used (a few new)
ARC=Advance Review Copy, PB=Paperback, HC=Hardcover

Books with an (*) I am open to doing a 2 for 1 trade in some cases.

*Adios To All The Drama by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (ARC)
After Ever Afterby Jordan Sonnenblick (ARC)
Alphas by Lisi Harrison (ARC)

Banana Ninja BOLDPRINT Graphic Novel by Robert Piotrowski (PB)
The Best Little Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron (PB)
*The Book For People Who Do Too Muchby Bradley Trevor Greive (HC)
Boys without Namesby Kashmira Sheth (ARC)
Bratfest at Tiffany's by Lisi Harrison (PB)

Catwalk: Strike a Pose by Deborah Gregory (PB)
Change Of A Dress (Cinderella Cleaners) by Maya Gold (PB)
Cirque Du Freak 5: Trials of Death/Cirque Du Freak 6: The Vampire Prince2-in-1 Edition by Darren Shan (ARC)
Confessions of a Teenage Hollywood Starby Dyan Sheldon (PB)

*Daily Reflections For Highly Effective Teensby Sean Covey (PB)
*Dancing With Ana by Nicole Barker (PB)
Dark Tales of the Tower by Donna G. Munch (PB)
Dayan's Birthday by Akiko Ikeda (HC, no Dust Jacket)
The Dead End by Mimi McCoy (ARC)
Defining Twilight: Vocabulary Workbook for Unlocking the SAT, ACT, GED, and SSATby Brian Leaf (PB) *This is unused*
Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love by Pat Mora (HC)

Ed's Terrestrials by Scott Christian Sava and Diego Jourdan (PB)
*Eight Cousins by Lousia May Alcott (PB)
Elephants and Golden Thrones: Inside China's Forbidden City by Trish Marx, Ellen B. Senisi, and Li Ji (HC)
Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger, Jessica Gruner, and Buzz Parker (ARC)

The Fatal Childby John Dickinson (HC)
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve (ARC)
First French Kiss: and other traumas by Adam Bagdasarian (ARC)
Frenemies #2: Faketasticby Alexa Young (PB)

Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookeryby Susan Juby (ARC)
Girl to the Coreby Stacey Goldblatt (HC)
*Gone and Back Againby Jonathon Scott Fuqua (PB)
Graveyard Girlby Wendy A. Lewis (PB)

*Happy Birthday, Felicity! A Springtime Storyby Valerie Tripp (PB)
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (HC)

*The Incredible Truth about Motherhoodby Bradley Trevor Greive (HC)

*The Jane Austen Book Club: A Novelby Karen Joy Fowler (PB)
*Jinxedby Day Leclaire (ARC)

Kings and Queens of the Bible by Mary Hoffman and Christina Balit (HC)

Learning To Swim by Ann Warren Turner (PB)
Likely Story: Red Carpet Riot by David Van Etten (HC)
Lost for Words by Alice Kuipers (ARC)

Magyk (Septimus Heap, Book 1) by Angie Sage (HC)
*Meow.org: The Cat-Napping Caperby Darby Lee Patterson (PB)
*Missing Persons #2: Chocolate Loverby M. E. Rabb (PB)
*Missing Persons #3 The Venetian Policemanby M. E. Rabb (PB)
My Sweet Audrina by V. C. Andrews (PB)

*The New Girl (Fear Street, No. 1) by R.L. Stine (PB)

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (PB)

Prep Cool (Cinderella Cleaners) by Maya Gold (PB)
Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged by Carrie Bebris (PB)
The Princess and the Frog Junior Novelization by Irene Trimble (PB)

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (PB)

Race for Doroon by Gloria Jean Hartman (PB)
The Real Life Channel by Robert A. Black (PB)
Red River, Vol. 1 by Chie Shinohara (PB)
The Road to Weird: Carly's Ghost / Harpo Marx is Seeing Things by Peggy Tibbetts (PB)

*Samantha Learns a Lessonby Susan S. Adler (PB)
Scepter of the Ancients (Skulduggery Pleasant) by Derek Landy (PB)
*The Secret of the Atticby Sheri Cooper Sinykin (PB)
Secret Santaby Sabrina James (PB)
The Shadow Door (Elsewhere Chronicles)by Nykko and Bannister (PB)
Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World by Jan Greenberg (HC)

The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2by PJ Haarsma (HC)
The Stolen Sapphire by Sarah Masters Buckey and Jean-Paul Tibbles (PB)
Thin Club by Kim Ann Tennant (HC)
This Totally Bites! by Ruth Ames (ARC)

*The Vanishings (Left Behind: The Kids #1) by Jerry B. Jenkins (PB)

When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton (ARC)

*YUM: Your Ultimate Manual for Good Nutritionby Daina Kalnins (ARC)

Argh!

I know, I know, I haven't posted hardly anything lately. Last week I was trying to get everything organized for the book battle, and this week, well, I started a new job. I'm working on the 2010 Census and this week is training week. So all my free time is spent doing all the stuff I normally do during the day... like my regular job for example.

But! I am working on a fun thing to help tide you all over until the book battle results are revealed from the first round. So hang in there, and more stuff will be coming soon!

Book Battle: Offical Starting Line

Let's get ready to rummmmmmmmmmble!

This is the official starting point for the 2010 YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle!

So here's how it's going to work. I currently have 38 judges assigned to 24 brackets in three different rounds. If you'd like to see the books organized into the starting brackets, check out this post. Each judge (or judges if it's a partnership) will be assigned two books to read in two weeks. At the end of two weeks, each judge will pick a winner. One book will move on, one will not. The one that moves on will become part of a bracket in the next round and will have a chance to move on or not depending on what the new judge(s) decide.

So this week it's going to be a little quiet while our first round judges spend the next two weeks choosing which books will move on to Round 2. And then (hopefully) starting on May 9th we'll begin to announce the decisions while Round 2 gets started on their reading.

All right guys, it's time to get started. Let's battle!

Book Battle: Cheer Us On!

First of all, I want to send a big, huge, giant THANK YOU! to everyone who signed up to help with the battle. Our positions have all been filled, and today is the official start date. It's been a lot of time and preparation poured into something that started out as a little crazy idea and has gotten a whole lot bigger in the meantime.

If you didn't end up as a judge this time around, we can still use all the support we can get on the sidelines. So this post is for all of you out there cheering us on. And we could use a little help.

Help us spread the word about the battle. If you haven't already, grab the button over in the right sidebar and/or write a post on your own blogs. The more people who know about this, the more exciting it gets! Also, you can also share the trailer I made just for this purpose. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is again. (And if you've already seen it, you can watch it again too...)


Now, if you're wanting to follow all the action, there's a couple ways to do it. First, you can subscribe to this blog's feed. There's an RSS thing in the left sidebar, or you can subscribe via email or Google Friend Connect (all in the left sidebar).

If you're not a feed person, you can also bookmark this blog. I have a sticky post at the top of the blog will all the basics in it, and I'm updating the introduction post will helpful links too.

Lastly, we do have a Goodreads Group as well. I've been bad about posting updates here the last few days, but I will do better, I promise! You can join the group and enter the dicussion with our other members to discuss who your favorite is to win, find news updates, etc.

On behalf of myself and the other battle judges, we thank you for your continued support. Now let's sit back, relax, and have a little fun!

Brackets Complete!

Whew! It's been a loooong week, but after several days of intense organization (really, you should see the papers I have scattered around I had to use for this) the book brackets are complete! Check them out below (you can click to make it bigger):


And we're now ready to battle. The offical reading kick off is tomorrow, Sunday April 25th. That's when our lovely Round 1 judges will be working through the first set of brackets. So things will continue to be a little more quiet around here as they work on that. And then as soon as they're done, we'll be annoucing which books moved on and which ones well... didn't.

Now, hopefully I'll have some time to get my butt in gear and write some reviews in the next two weeks...

Book Battle: Offical Nomination List

Well, it's past midnight on April 18th, so that means nominations are now closed. Want to know what made the final battle list? Here to introduce the titles is the brand new, just completed official YA Bloggers Book Battle Trailer:



Feel free to share the trailer on your own blog if you like. And let me know what you think. It's my first time making a trailer...

So what do you think of the titles that made it? All told we had over 40 different books nominated, and it was tough trying to narrow it down to only 24. Thank you so much to everyone who nominated titles and gave input about which ones should make the final list.

Now that the nomination list is in, the next week or so will be spent organizing the titles into brackets, splitting up the judges, and getting the first round judges reading their titles. Things might be a little quiet for the next few days as things are being set up, but make sure you stay tuned for the most recent updates.

And now, if you happen to be a list person, here's the final nomination list again:

Eighth-Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker
A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
Ash by Malinda Lo
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
The Season by Sarah MacLean
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey Jay

Hurry, Time is Almost Up!

Don't forget that tomorrow (April 18th) is the very LAST DAY you have to sign up to judge a bracket or nominate a title to compete in the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle.

The list of nominated books will be posted sometime on Monday, April 19th. Books that were nominated more than once are automatically on the list, and then the final spots are being filled by consulting with a few alternate judges. So want to have a say in what makes the final list? First of all, make sure you've nominated your favorite book. And then, if you're quick, you can participate in this poll below.

These books are all in the running to be on the shortlist, but there isn't room for all of them. Vote for the book YOU want to see make the list to save it. The books will the most votes from this may move on (depending on what other nominations come in). So if you see a book you want to "save" from being cut, make sure you vote for it!

*Poll removed when nominations closed*

Ironically, the most highly nominated book isn't eligible for the battle this time around. It's Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia, which unfortunately isn't able to participate this time because it won't be published until May and doesn't make the March 31st cutoff date. I don't know much about this, but the nominators have been raving about it, so it must be good.

Anyway, don't forget to nominate if you haven't already, vote in the poll above, and come back Monday to see who makes it and who doesn't.

If anyone has trouble with the poll and would rather email their vote to me, send it to shadyglade(AT)mail(DOT)com.

Changes to Battle Schedule

Nominations for the Book Battle are filling up fast. Since I got a better response than I thought, I am changing the deadline. Nominations and Judging applications will both close on Sunday, April 18th. So if you haven't nominated a title, or signed up to be a judge, now would be a good time to do so!

The deadlines on the Introduction Page have been changed to reflect this.

New Post Notice

For anyone who's interested, my first Ask A Cast Member post has gone live at my Disney blog. Today's topic: Gators in Splash Mountain. Click over to read the whole post, and/or to submit your own question.

LOL of the Week: Civil Disobedience

I bought my larger cat Brownie a leash and harness this week thinking that now the weather is nicer we could both use a little more exercise. Yeah, this was pretty much the result...

If you'd like to learn more about LOLcats, you can check out the website, or read my review of the book.

Have a great week!

Contest Heads Up

Today in the blogosphere is the 24-hour-read-a-thon where participants try to spend as many hours as possible reading in a 24 hour period. And while I can't participate this year (I have to work), there are a lot of cool things going on today to celebrate.

One of the biggest events is the 2010 Contest Craze hosted by Cindy at Princess Bookie.


So if you want the chance to win a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of free books, click on this button to head over to her blog and check out the festivities.

Happy winning!

Snubbr.com Giveaway

Have you heard about Snubbr.com? This new website is like your own expert personal shopper -- only online! All you have to do is ask a question, like "what's the best young adult book" or "what whitening toothpaste is best" and you'll receive an automatic list of recommendations. Instant magic.

To celebrate the opening of this website, I'm hosting a giveaway. Do you like historical fiction? Then this is the contest for you! Here's how to enter:

1. Visit the Best Historical Fiction page and pick a book. Then fill out this form to enter.
2. If you ask a question on snubbr.com, add the link to the form for +3 extra entries.

Please note: The books offered by the site in this giveaway are not necessarily intended for teen/children audiences. Please read the descriptions to decide which title is best suited for you. I personally have not read any of these books, and this contest should not be viewed as a recommendation from me for any of these titles.

Rules:
-Contest open until April 17th at midnight PDT.
-Open to US only.
-Entrants must provide a mailing address to enter.
-Any entries left in the comments of this post, will not count, so make sure you enter by filling out the form.

We have A Button! And a few other updates

Well, as you can see from this post, we now have a button. Yay! Thanks very much to the wonderful and multi-talented Kate from The Neverending Shelf who made this one.

So are you read to spread some battle love? Grab the button here, or using the box in the left sidebar:

<center><a href="http://theshadyglade.blogspot.com/2010/04/introduction-to-ya-bloggers-debut-book.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKbupksWkzU1wcKNjQOoszIZCwYebH8bE7PlbOzNJxCyMvLkgbfU4PRgDcLZsZPznMcuj4MuDiyzwtDVa9LaiAka3Icx3-05RWNN8n9LZUFPgorXWlpF6HbsHwxE7gW4lVBfIvA/s200/button2+sidebar.jpg" /></a></center>

A few other minor updates. Based on the way the brackets work there will probably be 16 titles who will join the battle. If need be, I will be holding a poll to determine the 16 finalists. Books nominated more than once will be automatically entered of course. So make sure your favorite book gets nominated!

In other news, the judging spots are filling up fast. If you haven't already signed up, now's a good time to submit your application.

And last but not least, we now have a Goodreads group! This is the place for those of you who want to stay up to date on the latest news of the battle, but don't remember to come back to check the blog. There's not much going on there now, but feel free to poke around a bit.

That's it for now. Can you feel the building excitement? Ooh, I can't wait!

Books I Read in March

I know we're already a few days into April, but I have fun putting these videos together.

Since I spent the first part of March getting over yet another cold, and the second part of March in a lot of waiting rooms while I dealt with my cat's medical emergency, a lot of the books this month were "comfort" reads. Those tried and true favorites that I've read and reread many times, and yet I never get tired of. But, I also read a few other books in there too, including a book from my "guilty pleasure" series, The Clique. That book, by the way, isn't worth it although I still like reading the series.

As always, comments/suggestions are appreciated! I did have someone ask what music I was using last time, is that something that you would want to know? Or do you even care? Anyway, without any further delay, here's my video for the month of March.



Now, I'm off to go get some reading done, so hopefully next month's video will be a little more interesting!

Judges Application for Book Battle 2010

Okay everyone. Here's where I need your help for the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle 2010. I can't judge these things myself, so I need your help to act as judges!

Each judge will be required to read the two nominated books in their bracket, pick a winner, and then write an explanation that will be posted on your blog on the designated day (or if a non-blogger then emailed to me to post for you).

Judges do not need to be a blogger to participate, but if you are you will be asked to submit your blog link. Your blog should be somewhat established (older than 2 months) and must contain a reasonable amount of original content. You must also blog about Young Adult books (meaning you can blog about other things too, but you need to have posted about YA lit before).

So, ready to volunteer?

*Applications Now Closed*

If you a non-blogger and would like to participate, you will be asked to provide one or two review samples by email.

If more judges sign up then there are available spots then they will be chosen at random. I would like to have at least two judges for each bracket, so we'll see what we get.

Applications will be taken until April 18th, 2010. I got lots of enthusiasm for this project, so don't you all let me down now by not submitting an application. :)

By the way, have you submitted your nomination yet?

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at shadyglade(AT)mail(DOT)com.

Nominations Open for Book Battle 2010

Welcome to the Nominations Page for the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle 2010! This is the place where you can nominate the book YOU think should win the battle.

Your nominated book should follow these requirements:
1. It must be a debut book (if the author has written books since, only the FIRST book they wrote is eligible)
2. It must be either Young Adult (or high middle grade)
3. It must have been first published between January 1st, 2009 and March 31st, 2010 (this is the narrow the field as much as possible so our judges have a chance to read the nominations!)

So, have a book you want to nominate?

*Nominations Now Closed*

PLEASE only nominate one or two books. Otherwise the list will be too long!

Nominations will be open until Sunday, April 18th, 2010. At that point we will narrow down the nominations if necessary and post the judging brackets. Then the battle will be on!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at shadyglade(AT)mail(DOT)com.

Now, nominate away!

And you can volunteer to be a judge too!

Edited to add: DO NOT leave your nominations in the comments! They won't count unless you use the form. Thanks!

An Introduction to the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle

So what is the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle?

Well, it started as a crazy idea. An idea that seemed popular (to my surprise) and it kind of took off from there.

The YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle is a bracket-style judging contest to pick the best nominated debut work published in the last year (and a little bit of 2010).

Here's how it will work:

People will have a chance to nominate a book of their choice to take place in the battle. After nominations close, the books will be narrowed down and fit into brackets for our lovely volunteer judges to read. Starting in late April each judge will read two books and choose a winner. One will move on, one will not. It will all come down to two books in a epic book battle to choose the best!

Latest Updates:

9/9 - The wrap-up post has been put up, concluding the 2010 Battle. You can catch up on everything and leave your feedback here.

9/4 - The final winner has been announced! This post has the winner.

7/8 - Round 4 Winners have been announced. Check out the announcement post to see which books have made it to the finals.

6/28 - The Mystery Revived Book is... The Iron King! It will get a second chance to battle during Round 4. Results coming soon!

6/22 - If you haven't been keeping up with the announcements, make sure you check out this post to see all the winners for Round 1, Round 2, and Round 3.

5/10 - Winners from Round 1 have been announced. Check out this post to see which books are coming out on top.

5/9 - Round 2 has started! Winners coming soon!

And they're off! Get the details from the Battle Starting Line.

For those cheering us from the sidelines, find out all the ways you can keep up with all the action.
The brackets are complete! Check out which books will be battling which books here.

The Official Nomination List has been posted, so you can check out the 24 books that will be in the running for the top spot. Make sure you also check out the Battle trailer while you're there.

You can also grab the battle button in the left sidebar, or view our Goodreads group to stay up to date with the latest happenings.

Now, get ready to battle!

Clear Away The Clutter Read-A-Thon

Okay, so I had totally though I had posted this weeks ago, but it turns out I never fished it out of draft form. *forehead smack*

So since it starts TOMORROW, I figured I needed to finish this up quick.

As part of her Clear Away the Clutter Mini Challenge, Kate from The Neverending Shelf is hosting a Clear Away the Clutter Read-A-Thon. Yay! Here's a chance to read some of those books from my Clear Away The Clutter post.

Who can participate
Anyone!

When
Begins: 7am, Monday, April 5th
Ends: 11pm, Sunday, April 11th

You'll need to head over to Kate's post to sign up, but you should join me!

I'm setting really small goals because although this is a week long thing, I don't have Spring Break and I'm really busy with my job. So I don't know how much I'm going to be able to read. My goal is to read at least two hours a day. We'll see what happens...

Starting tomorrow I will be trying to spend my free time reading rather than blogging. I have several scheduled posts that will go up anyway, but if you email me I may be a little longer in responding. Again, we'll just have to see!

As far what I'm going to read, I'm pretty much sticking with my list from my original CATCC post. With these few additions:

Scripture reading (I do this every night, so why not count it?)
Green by Laura Peyton Roberts
The Wish Stealers by Tracy Trivas
Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten (I started it weeks ago, I need to finish!)

Need a button

All of you creative graphics people out there, listen up. I'm painfully poor at creating buttons, and I need one for the upcoming YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle. And since I'm so not creative when it comes to button making, this is where you come in.

But wait! There's incentive. :-) I have a copy of Golden by Cameron Dokey, a copy of Never Bite a Boy on the First Date, or a Beautiful Creatures t-shirt that I'll send to the person who makes the button we use. So if more than one person submits one, then the one we use gets it.

So get out there and be creative! I'm open as far as design goes, but I would like it to say "Debut Book Battle" on there somewhere at least. Any other writing is fine too, just go with what you think looks best.

If possible, if you could please have them to me by April 8th that would be great!

Email me at shadyglade(AT)mail(DOT)com with your entries or your questions.

Good luck!

LOL of the Week: Cookies

I know I normally do these on Sunday, but Sunday is going to be pretty busy with the upcoming Book Battle, so I'm posting this today since I don't have anything else planned while I'm busy preparing for that.

So without further of my rambling, here's this week (well, next week's, really) LOL:


If you'd like to learn more about LOLcats, you can check out the website, or read my review of the book.

Have a great week!

Project is a Go!

Well, since I had a lot of positive response, the book battle is on! The official title will be the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle. Okay, so it's a working title. If you have a better suggestion, please let me know. I'm horrible at names.

Anyway, I will be busy the next few days getting things organized. Nominations will open on Sunday April 4th. That's also when I will be asking for volunteers to judge the rounds. So look for more information then.

Thank you everyone for the response!

And if anyone wants to make a button for this, please let me know. :)