This Could Have Been You

Ah, people, any one of you could have been the reader enjoying Club Earth, but you didn't enter the drawing, did you? No, Sam Riddleburger took his shot at winning a book and now he's the one "overcome with emotion" (his words, not mine) while reading it.

You still have a chance at a copy of My Life Among the Aliens, though. The drawing isn't until Christmas Eve. We haven't had that many entries, yet, so don't hold back believing the odds are against you. We're not exactly talking about a one in a million chance here.

And, remember, somebody's got to win. Why not you?

Only One More Day

You have only one more day to try to to win a copy of Club Earth.

Both Club Earth and the earlier My Life Among the Aliens are among my suburban books, as I might have said here earlier. (You can't possibly expect me to remember everything I've said here. We're talking over 1,300 posts.) All my work draws heavily on who I am, and these books draw on Gail the suburban mother.

Thus in Club Earth you'll find a chapter about an alien arriving on earth thinking he's going to summer camp, because my kids did summer camp. An alien gets hauled along to a father/child campout that is modeled on Indian Guides, as it was called when my family took part for around six years. (The pig roast in that chapter is pretty much what I was told happened.) There's a chapter on alien traveling salespeople helping kids out with school fundraisers because my kids once took part in five fundraisers in a two-month period. The kids in Club Earth have hamsters because the Gauthier boys, being allergic to cats and dogs, had a hamster and an Egyptian spiny mouse. In fact, most of this book was written on a computer set up next to their cages.

So, one more day, folks, to have a chance at winning stories of all that domestic bliss.

Why Not A Little Healthy Competition?

You've got less than a week to enter the Club Earth Thanksgiving Giveaway but more than a month to take your shot at winning a copy of My Life Among the Aliens for Christmas.

Anyone can enter, of course, but if you teachers and librarians want to have some fun, you can encourage your students to enter to win the book for your library or classroom collections. The more kids who enter on your behalf, the better your chances of winning. Why not start a little competition with that third grade teacher down the hall who you've never really cared for?

Today I heard from an education major looking to start her personal classroom library.

Books For The Holidays

We're doing a couple more book giveaways here, this time in honor of the upcoming holidays. You can take a chance at winning my first book My Life Among the Aliens, which includes a Christmas chapter, and its sequel, Club Earth, which includes a Thanksgiving chapter. You can enter any time between now and the night before Thanksgiving for Club Earth and any time between now and Christmas Eve for My Life Among the Aliens.

These are what I call the "Will and Robby books." They're collections of short stories about two brothers whose home is visited regularly by aliens. They are two of my suburban books, set in a nameless suburban world and drawing upon my adult life as a suburban mother. (I also have Vermont books set in a named, fictional town in Vermont and drawing upon my life growing up in that state.)

The cover art, as well as the small drawings at the beginning of each of the chapters, were done by Santiago Cohen. If you watch Comedy Central, you're familiar with his work because he designed its logo. His interior artwork didn't appear in the paperback versions of my books (I don't recall what that was about), so if you have those, this giveaway could be your chance to get a "complete" edition.

These books are no longer in print, though there has been talk of rereleasing My Life Among the Aliens in paperback. In addition to its hardcover G.P. Putnam edition, it was released in paper by both PaperStar and Scholastic.

Check out the details for entering again.