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Geesh, you’d think I wouldn’t forget about my own book contest. But I plead summer brain. It’s all mushy with Slurpees and Sno-Cones. Maybe I should plead brainfreeze then, too!
So without further ado, the red guy on the front cover is named DUSTER!
While no one guessed the exact name, Wafa Musitief guessed DUSTERS, so she wins an original signed monster sketch by illustrator James Burks!
But wait! We added a second prize for a random winner. And that winner is Jarm Del Boccio!
Congratulations Wafa and Jarm! I’ll be emailing you shortly.
Once again, thanks for subscribing to my blog. Rest assured there will be a lot more prizes coming soon. You’re bound to win one eventually. And if you don’t, I’ll treat you to a Slurpee. Brainfreeze is an awesome way to float through summer.
Allow me to reveal the cover of THE MONSTORE, my June 2013 picture book illustrated by James Burks!
It’s so fabulous I spend hours staring at it as if I’m a 7th grade dork in love with a 1981 poster of Rick Springfield.
Forget about wishing to be Jessie’s girl, I’d rather be James’s girl, ’cause the dude seriously knows how to whiz-bang-kaPOW a picture book cover. ( Oh, Rick, please don’t take it personally.)
That’s main character Zack front-and-center with his pesky little sister Gracie popping into the frame. The hulking orange guy is Manfred, the flying monster is Mookie, and that’s Mojo with the striped, wiggling arms and crooked horns. Peeper is the little eyeball perched on the Monstore sign, although he isn’t named in the book. He’s James’s invention!
That leaves the red broom guy. And guess what? He doesn’t have a name. Well, he does because James names all the character he draws, but this monster never gets mentioned in the story.
So here’s a monster of a contest for ya: try to guess the name James gave him! If you do, you’ll win an original, autographed monster sketch by the talented Mr. Burks. If no one guesses his correct name, or if there’s more than one correct answer, the ultimate winner will be decided by Random.org. UPDATE: We’re now giving away TWO sketches because y’all have come up with such great names. One to the person who guesses the name and one random winner chosen from the rest of the entries.
You get one entry for commenting and then one additional entry for each place you share THE MONSTORE cover—blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Just leave a comment letting us know! The contest closes one week from today, so get those monsterly names in!
Hope you love the cover.
And if Rick Springfield is out there, how about playing my book launch party?
Have your people call my monsters.
THE MONSTORE is still two years away from release, but today I have the OK to share with you initial character sketches by the brilliant illustrator James Burks!
The main character of the story is Zack, who wants to buy a monster to scare his pesky little sister Gracie. (Isn’t she sweet? How could she possibly be pesky?) Three of the main monsters are Manfred, Mookie and Mojo…and of course, there’s the proprietor of the shop–the Monstore Manager. I wonder if Danny DeVito would like to play him in the movie version? (Yes, one can dream.)
I hope you enjoy these illustrations!
Copyright 2011, James Burks
OK, the cat is out of the bag. I’m not the most organized person in the world. My daughter’s closet looks like Justice for Girls exploded and I store soda bottles and juice boxes on my kitchen floor. There. So now you know, when you visit my house, you must tiptoe around the towers of books because I never get them back on the shelves.
Mrs. Mozer brought to my attention that I featured every single one of her 3rd grade class’s monsters for The Monstore—except one. Alexander’s. I’m sorry, buddy! So without further ado, here is Alexander’s creation!
I’ve got just one question for Alexander—can I borrow your monster’s watch? I really need that thing.
What kind of monsters do Mrs. Mozer’s 3rd graders have for us today? Well, they envision small, furry, cute monsters…except for Nick. I wouldn’t want to mess with Nick’s creature–he’s fierce!
So what do you prefer: a monster you can cuddle, or one who will protect you from evil-doers? I’d like a little of both!
Thanks again to these creative kids for sharing their Monstore merchandise with us. This is the last installment of Monster Monday…until I visit YOUR CLASS NEXT!
Does your class wanna Skype with me? I’ll visit any classroom via Skype in June. All you have to do is ask! I’ll give an advance reading of THE MONSTORE, lead you in a creative writing exercise, and of course, ask you what monster you’d like to buy at the Monstore!
Ethan:
Jenna:
Matthew:
Meredith:
Nick:
Sophie:
“Oh, reading…what they did before fun was invented,” says Candace Flynn (on Disney’s Phineas & Ferb). Candace’s grandmother persuades her to read Sherlock Holmes but Candace scoffs. But the next morning, Grandma finds Candace bleary-eyed and hunched over the book. Candace hasn’t stayed up reading it–she’s stayed up reading the ENTIRE COLLECTION! “Before fun was invented, indeed,” snarks Grandma.
Plenty of kids know that reading is fun. And blogging, too! Like Erik the Great. (Great name, huh?) This nine-year-old bibliophile began a book blog to share his favorite titles with other kids. Erik the-story-loving-3rd-grader piqued my interest, so I invited him to talk about children’s lit and blogging.
Why did you want to start a blog?
I wanted to because I LOVE books. I read all the time (I even get into trouble in school sometimes for reading so much). My grandmother told me about a time when she was in a book store shopping for a book for me. She said she didn’t know what to buy for me and a kid in the store recommended that she get “The Strange Case of Origami Yoda” by Tom Angleberger for me. He told her he was sure I would like it (and I did). So I thought that if she would take book advice from a kid, maybe other people would too. At first I wanted to write reviews for newspapers but my Dad suggested a website. I thought a blog was a good idea because I could talk to people all over the world about books and then people could also tell me what they think about the books I write about and suggest books for me to read.
How did you get started?
When I had the idea to make a blog, my Mom and I went on the computer to find the best place to make a blog and we liked WordPress. I looked at other book review blogs and websites to kind of get an idea of what I’d like my blog to look like. Then I just started writing. I started writing about some of my favorite books and then readers started suggesting books and then I started watching for new releases. My school let me pass out flyers about my site and I left flyers at books stores and libraries and that helped me get more readers. Then I started to read other book blogs (like yours) and commenting on the posts they have and the other bloggers started to visit my site. I really like to see what other people are reading and what they think about it.
What did you hope to accomplish with the blog?
I wanted to not just review books, but I also wanted to talk with other kids and adults about books. I just wanted to find people who love reading as much as I do. Then I started asking authors and illustrators if I could interview them about writing books and making pictures for books. It’s really interesting to talk to the people actually creating books.
Do you know what you want to do when you grow up? Do you want to be involved with books, or something totally different?
I really want to be an inventor when I grow up. I already have some ideas for inventions like a refrigerator that you don’t ever need to open the door so that you save energy (and it’s voice commanded, too). I think being an inventor, I will have to read (and write) a lot. My Mom is a scientist and she writes a lot of books and articles and is reading all the time. Right now I am actually writing my first book called “The Adventures of Tomato and Pea”. It’s about aliens getting stranded on Earth and trying to get back to their home planet (planet -Oarg).
Sounds like a fun story, Erik! Thanks for talking to me about blogging. And thanks for blogging about books!
You can find Erik at www.thiskidreviewsbooks.com, most recently reviewing MOON OVER MANIFEST by Clare Vanderpool, to which he gives 4 out of 5 bookworms.
And check out the monster Erik wishes he could buy at The Monstore!
Well I was so excited about my Quentin Blake find that I forgot to post the awesome monsters from Mrs. Mozer’s third grade class! I asked them to imagine a monster they could buy at the Monstore–what would it look like? What special talents would it have? Their answers just prove that kids have more creativity than adults! I mean, who else but a kid would invent a bubble gum man? Chew on that! (Or gee, is that a bubble GUN man? Either way, these monsters are cool! Excuse me while I go play Wii with Ella Jr.)
Abby:
Christian:
Denise:
Ella:
This week, I’ll have to borrow the Katy Perry monster from Leah. How did she know that I love “Firework”?
I’m a little worried about Ear Wax Man getting loose, though. And I’m curious why his nickname is Elvis Presley…???
Another huge thanks to Mrs. Mozer’s third grade class for the creative monsters! I wish they were all available at The Monstore. I’d most certainly go broke snatching them up.
Alex:
Leah:
Pierson:
Tucker:
Here are four more monsters created by the students in Mrs. Mozer’s third grade class.
I asked them to pretend they could shop at The Monstore (the neighborhood shop in my debut picture book). What kind of monster would they buy? What special talents would it have? They came up with some fabulous creatures!
Denise:
Hanna:
Jimmy:
Lucas:
Thanks again, Mrs. Mozer’s class. More illustrations to come next Monday! Have a monster of a week!
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 