tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45954911773472267892024-03-06T15:03:11.835-05:00Hello ElloEllo - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.comBlogger514125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-50631898425728981912016-01-18T01:08:00.004-05:002016-01-18T01:08:50.370-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Everytime I hear more drama in Kid Lit...</div>
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<br />Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-74388106012081308672015-05-25T13:08:00.000-04:002015-05-25T13:10:40.198-04:00Sloths<div id="fb-root">
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Too cute! <br />
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<blockquote cite="/AnimalistNetwork/videos/588970974579397/">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/AnimalistNetwork/videos/588970974579397/">Sloths Are So Talkative!</a><br />
Did you know #Sloths made this adorable sound? It's like they're calling out for us to hug them, too cute! What animals do you think they sound like? Tell us below and share the video if you want to see more #SlothSundays.<br />
Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AnimalistNetwork">Animalist</a> on Sunday, May 17, 2015</blockquote>
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Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-85899891543417675272015-05-11T23:26:00.000-04:002015-05-11T23:26:04.999-04:00Gaithersburg Book Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm really excited to let you all know that I'm going to be at the Gaithersburg Book Festival this Saturday, May 16 from 11 to 12. It will be a We Need Diverse Books panel and it will be with an amazing line up!! Gene Luen Yang, Tracey Baptiste and Aisha Saeed!!! My youngest is beside herself with joy because she has read and loved both Gene's The Shadow Hero and Tracey's The Jumbies! And I can tell you that Aisha's Written in the Stars is an incredibly moving, emotional novel that will send you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. So yeah, I'm part of this amazing panel and I couldn't be more excited!<br />
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So if you are in the area, please come to the Gaithersburg Book FEstival, this is one of the BEST festivals out there so don't miss it!!Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-49060937885356664562015-03-31T13:40:00.002-04:002015-03-31T13:40:53.874-04:00KING is officially out today!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is the finale!! I am very proud of it. Very proud of finishing the series. And sad to leave it behind. I did a post for Diversity in YA <a href="http://diversityinya.tumblr.com/post/115036761427/taekkyon-and-the-end-of-the-prophecy-series" target="_blank">here on Taekkyon and finishing the series</a>. Please go check it out. And if you haven't read the first in the series, please take advantage of the fact that Prophecy is only $1.99 on all ebook platforms right now!! Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-34892112284830552342015-03-25T22:06:00.003-04:002015-03-25T22:06:57.649-04:00YA Scavenger Hunt 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Hello Everyone!</span>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">I'm part of the Spring 2015 YA
Scavenger Hunt!</span> There are <span style="font-size: 14pt;">eight outstanding teams this season. I am going
to be a part of #TeamTeal! The Scavenger Hunt runs from April 2nd through April 5th
beginning and ending at noon Pacific time on those days. </span>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">If you've never been a part of the hunt before you should
give it a try. It runs like a giant blog hop, introducing you to new YA authors and books along
the way. There are tons of prizes including a grand prize for each team. If you win one of the
grand prizes you will get a book from each author on that team! For more information and to
make sure you get hunt updates, sign up for news on the #<a href="http://yascavengerhunt.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">YASH</a> website. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> You don't want to miss out on this fabulous and fun
event, but play fast because the hunt is only live for three days.</span> So come back on April 2nd!!<br />
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Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-52632556071824048322015-02-09T18:03:00.001-05:002015-02-09T18:03:19.600-05:00tumblr tumblr bumblryeah that title was on purpose but to be honest I'm pretty much only on tumblr and twitter these days. So if you want to find me, please check me out there.<br />
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I'll link you to my latest tumblr blog post titled "<a href="http://elloellenoh.tumblr.com/post/110574537964/a-message-to-the-gatekeepers" target="_blank">A Message to the Gatekeeper</a>s."<br />
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Hope you like it!Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-69166173745769198062014-12-11T00:27:00.000-05:002014-12-11T00:27:01.119-05:00King Release Date delayedHi everyone!<br />
Well I was surprised to find out that the release date everyone else had online was actually right and I was wrong. I was originally told that King would be released on December 31, 2014. But marketing feels it would be better for us to wait so King won't be out until March 31, 2015. Other than the fact that I have a huge box of bookmarks that say December 31, 2014, I'm actually not upset with the delay. It should allow Warrior to come out in paperback and hopefully help bring Prophecy to a wider audience. So I'm going to assume it is all good! :o)<br />
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In the meantime, there is going to be quite a lot of WNDB news coming out in the next few weeks and I'm excited to share it with you all. If you haven't signed up for the WNDB newsletter. Please do so <a href="http://eepurl.com/T-XGz" target="_blank">here</a>. With all the money that WNDB has raised, we are going to be able do do some really great things, thanks to all of you!!Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-46754966002219640562014-10-24T10:48:00.001-04:002014-10-24T10:51:37.422-04:00WNDB Indiegogo Campaign!!! And Personal Appeal<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dear WNDB Supporter or future supporter:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You may have heard of </span><a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">We Need Diverse Books</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> as the organization whose hashtag went viral back in May when we launched a campaign to share with the world why diverse books in literature matter. We were covered in many major news outlet </span><a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/media/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">from around the globe</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and the coverage shows no sign of slowing down.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Since then we’ve incorporated, and have new initiatives coming down the pipeline. Programs such as Diversity in the Classroom, The Walter Dean Myers grants and awards, our Educational kits and programs, and our Diversity Festival will directly impact diversity in children's literature. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These programs are all geared to make change happen. And we need your help! We’ve just launched</span><a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/we-need-diverse-books/x/8714434" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> an indiegogo campaign</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to help fund our goals. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">All donations are tax-deductible. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bonus: You can choose from a plethora of perks including original art prints, t-shirts, totes, agent critiques, dinner with top authors and more! Every dollar you donate goes directly into our programs. You can be the change. Let’s teach all of our children about empathy by sharing the Story of Us All. If you can't donate financially, that's okay too. We can still use your support to spread the message as widely as possible. Some ways you can help are:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Please pass this message on to 5 or 10 folks who may be interested in supporting this campaign and buying a perk!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Use</span><a href="http://twibbon.com/Support/we-need-diverse-books" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Twibbon</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to add some WNDB flair to your avatar (</span><a href="http://twibbon.com/Support/we-need-diverse-books" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://twibbon.com/Support/we-need-diverse-books</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Participate in our cue card contest by creating your own sign to emphasize why you #SupportWNDB, whether it’s for yourself, because of a family member, or because of a diverse book that changed your life. Use the</span><a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/cue-cards/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">templates</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> we’ve created (</span><a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/cue-cards/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://weneeddiversebooks.org/cue-cards</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">/) and submit pictures to our</span><a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/submit" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tumblr</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. The photos with the most reblogs will win a WNDB prize pack. Make sure to tell your local librarian to participate as well—your local library could win a huge book donation prize!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We can't do it without you. Please join us and Support WNDB.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ellen Oh, President </span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="445px" scrolling="no" src="https://www.indiegogo.com/project/we-need-diverse-books/embedded/1655537
" width="222px"></iframe>Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-30926768707017837822014-10-09T15:16:00.001-04:002014-10-09T15:16:50.197-04:00King Bookmarks!Now that I have Twitter, tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, when do I have time for my old blog? Poor old blog. There are too many things to cross promote over too many platforms. If only I can feed them all into the blog!
But at least I have something worthwhile to share on the old blog! With so many things going on with #WeNeedDiverseBooks, I forgot all about making bookmarks for King until I suddenly realized I had all of these events in September and got a reminder that I should be promoting King at them! With less than a week to make bookmarks, I was in a bit of a bind. My usual fantastic designer, <a href="http://mmsaidesigns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Amber at MMSAI</a>, was all booked up and unavailable (because she is fantastic and you need to get on her schedule asap because she is extremely popular!!). Fortunately for me, the wonderful Diana Sousa came to my rescue! Diana is the amazing web designer of the WNDB website. If you haven't seen it, <a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/">check it out here</a> it is brilliant!<br />
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And so she did me a big favor and made me these beautiful bookmarks for King! Look how gorgeous! <br />
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For more information about Diana, here's her <a href="https://www.behance.net/Diana-Sousa" target="_blank">webpage</a>. Diana is amazing and I can't recommend her highly enough!<br />
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I am so lucky to know such gifted and talented people! Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-11683561244234294382014-09-08T20:32:00.003-04:002014-09-08T20:32:51.712-04:00Bloom articleHi everyone! So the first part of my Bloom article has posted!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bloom-site.com/2014/09/08/ellen-ohs-prophecy-trilogy-and-why-weneeddiversebooks/" target="_blank">Check it out here! </a><br />
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The second part - which is a Q&A, will be posted on Wednesday.<br />
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Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-51076835367599528502014-08-13T16:30:00.001-04:002014-08-13T16:30:54.821-04:00Pinterest and Instagram!I've been getting a lot of asks about what other social media I am on besides twitter, tumblr and facebook. Well I'm also on pinterest and instagram. <br />
<br />
I had deleted my account awhile back but I have now reactivated it. So if you want to see the random stuff I like to pin, please feel free to follow me <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/elloecho/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
I am also on Instagram but if you decide to follow me <a href="http://instagram.com/elloecho" target="_blank">here</a>, please be warned that my kids like to hack into my account and I also post lots of photos of my little puppy.<br />
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And sorry to all you Snapchat users, but that's one social media I don't plan on using!Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-497997100310711402014-08-07T12:47:00.005-04:002014-08-07T12:47:55.454-04:00WNDB incorporated!Grassroots organization files for incorporation as a non-profit organization in the state of Pennsylvania, and welcomes its first advisory board members, authors Grace Lin, Jacqueline Woodson, Matt de la Peña, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Cindy Pon<br />
<br />
New York City, NY (July 28, 2014) More than just a hashtag, We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization created to address the lack of diverse, non-majority narratives in children’s literature. We Need Diverse Books is committed to the ideal that embracing diversity will lead to acceptance, empathy, and ultimately equality. Its mission is to promote or amplify diversification efforts and increase visibility for diverse books and authors, with a goal of empowering a wide range of readers in the process.<br />
<br />
In order to accomplish its mission, We Need Diverse Books reaches out to individuals and groups involved in many levels of children’s publishing—including but not limited to publishers, authors, distributors, booksellers, librarians, educators, parents, and students. “Incorporating will give us the legitimacy and standing we need to move forward with our mission,” says Lamar Giles, VP of Communications. “We have many exciting projects in the works.”<br />
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In addition to a Diversity Festival planned for 2016, We Need Diverse Books plans to initiate a grant program to support diverse authors, bring Diversity into the Classroom with collaborations with First Book and the National Education Association, and develop a “diversity toolkit” for librarians and booksellers.<br />
<br />
Inaugural advisory board members includes Grace Lin, Jacqueline Woodson, Matt de la Peña, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Cindy Pon. “Each of these members has a history of advocating for diverse books, and is a pioneer in the field of children’s literature. They will not only increase our visibility as an organization, but light the way going forward,” said Ellen Oh, President of We Need Diverse Books.<br />
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On the heels of its enormously successful panel at the inaugural Book Con, the We Need Diverse Books team has been invited by the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) to present the first ever diverse author signing and reception, and present panels at the Baltimore Book Festival, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the American Library Association (ALA), and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), among others.<br />
<br />
And we have a new <a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org/" target="_blank">website</a>!! Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-9013590601998512222014-07-04T15:34:00.002-04:002014-07-04T15:34:59.338-04:00KING Countdown Widget!Over the years, I have been so fortunate to meet and become friends with some amazing people! The blogging community is truly a wonderful one and one of my favorite people is the awesome <a href="http://safaripoet.blogspot.com/">Petra of Safari Poet</a> who has always been so kind and supportive of me. And she's done it again! A beautiful King countdown widget to celebrate the very last of the Prophecy trilogy! As always, I'm deeply grateful to her for thinking of me! And so if you are interested in a KING countdown widget, you should be able to grab the code on this post or go to <a href="http://safaripoet.blogspot.com/p/widgets.html">Petra's blog</a> and take it from there. She's got a lot of other wonderful widgets there also! Thank you Petra!!!
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Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-48096691774655469932014-06-16T17:51:00.000-04:002014-06-16T17:51:02.672-04:00Cover Reveal for KING! The final book in the Prophecy Series!!When it comes to book covers and editors, I do feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I've known the concept art for the final book for a while now and it has been incredibly hard for me not to want to brag about it.<br />
<br />
I have 3 books and each cover has been even more beautiful than the last. I don't quite know how the art team at HarperTeen does this. Their talent is truly extraordinary. From color choice to background details to placement of art. I am truly blown away by my cover. <br />
<br />
It is the perfect cover to the final book of the series.<br />
<br />
The crowning glory.<br />
<br />
The King of the trilogy.<br />
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Okay, I'll shut up and reveal it now... drumroll please...<br />
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***</div>
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TA DA!!! </div>
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<br />Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-23644578240016433692014-06-03T00:25:00.000-04:002014-06-03T09:30:33.965-04:00BookCon recap!So much good stuff has happened! How do I relate it all? I think the best way is to share links with you.<br />
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Here's a <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpublishersweekly.com%2Fpw%2Fby-topic%2Findustry-news%2Ftrade-shows-events%2Farticle%2F62693-bea-2014-weneeddiversebooks-announces-initiatives.html&h=QAQGOw4M1AQENlCQg8WM5dli2AAId5rQR5mQalwjSGCHzfQ&enc=AZPDF7qjyO-h6S1pbT36X_rH90R2YSwnJ1RXDz8ClyI663KQYmwipANo5NC24EN9dBJCuSw3siKA_Yi1pBa9JNkZ&s=1" target="_blank">PW wrap up on the panel. </a><br />
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Here's a little <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/06/02/318098926/-weneeddiversebooks-campaign-comes-to-inaugural-bookcon" target="_blank">NPR interview our team did</a>.<br />
<br />
Here's a pretty thorough <a href="http://www.lynmillerlachmann.com/the-weneeddiversebooks-panel-at-bookcon/" target="_blank">reporting on the panel by the wonderful Lynn Miller Lachmann</a>. <br />
<br />
And if you want to actually listen to the entire panel, here's an <a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/post/87586495592/bookcon-panel" target="_blank">audio podcast for your listening</a> pleasure! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1zk238CQfxEifP5AsUloWjKZyUxtYrsuwSvhK_IJHboSUhKelShleJydjYG-1dhahuq-c7zMTaYBbAPRbBQt0966dF0ok23gqcd_KialKLlivhk3CJ_d1CduKFkB14DkvKv2sDzg_WbM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-03+at+12.09.26+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1zk238CQfxEifP5AsUloWjKZyUxtYrsuwSvhK_IJHboSUhKelShleJydjYG-1dhahuq-c7zMTaYBbAPRbBQt0966dF0ok23gqcd_KialKLlivhk3CJ_d1CduKFkB14DkvKv2sDzg_WbM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-03+at+12.09.26+AM.png" height="244" width="320" /></a></div>
Also, why is it that everytime someone takes a photo of me, I'm making a weird face and hand gesture?<br />
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That last one looked like I was going to start a song and dance number soon.<br />
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But in any case, I can tell you that the event was an amazing success! Just take a look at the crowd we had!<br />
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I like this picture a lot because that's my fabulous agent, Barry Goldblatt sitting in the very front! Do you know that he is a true supporter of diversity? He created the <b>The</b> <b>Angela Johnson Scholarship, </b>a
talent-based grant for writers of color attending the MFA in Writing
for Children & Young Adults Master of Fine Arts program. The $5,000
scholarship will be awarded to up to two students annually. You can find more information about it <a href="http://www.vcfa.edu/angela-johnson-scholarship-new-students-color-or-ethnic-minority" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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The audience at our panel was simply amazing. We were so crowded that when we started people were sitting on the floors, standing against all the walls and more people who wanted to come in were turned away. The crowd was incredibly enthusiastic and so very supportive and we had the best time. And now there's still far too much to do but I shall leave you with my new favorite thing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZv4fU1dA_ADe-Q2-kNRmdPUaANb5U196ahtNQHRpuvntyDRlf79xTSI1xgXlsmVazNvLo5et5pXxwWtSVw3Yj5diSpUtAhwqy99vi9TxKVWU7c2E2wm7fVHiO_pO92RAK-XrZ2_j7LzM/s1600/BpLRKHBIIAEttBy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZv4fU1dA_ADe-Q2-kNRmdPUaANb5U196ahtNQHRpuvntyDRlf79xTSI1xgXlsmVazNvLo5et5pXxwWtSVw3Yj5diSpUtAhwqy99vi9TxKVWU7c2E2wm7fVHiO_pO92RAK-XrZ2_j7LzM/s1600/BpLRKHBIIAEttBy.jpg" /></a></div>
This is a Chibi version of me! By the incredibly talented <a href="http://www.s-morishitastudio.com/about/" target="_blank">Sharean Morishita </a>who I am a huge fan of! Her art is so awesome and she is working on creating a fantastic, diverse comic which I cannot wait to get my hands on when she is done!!<br />
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And that's the recap!!<br />
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<br />Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-6834302497233231792014-05-27T11:03:00.000-04:002014-05-27T11:03:37.093-04:00Imminent Brain ImplosionSo I've been neglecting my poor blog because of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign and all the blogging I'm actually doing over there instead. If you are curious, <a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">here's the link</a>.<br />
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There's been so much to do that I've been in constant state of blind panic as I worry about what I'm forgetting. Not to mention that no writing has been getting done and you can imagine what I've been spending all my time on.<br />
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But I'm really excited that our BookCon panel is this Saturday! I am looking forward to seeing as many people as I can there! We are up against John Grisham and Carl Hiaasen, but I'm sure people would rather see us, right? Right? :o)<br />
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Here's the information again for anyone who wants to come! We will have some buttons and bookmarks to pass out AND if you come by our table, we would LOVE to have you take a photo submission for our blog!<br />
<br />
<h2>
The World Agrees: #WeNeedDiverseBooks</h2>
<strong>Date:</strong> Saturday, May 31<br />10:00 am - 11:00 am<br />
<strong>Location:</strong> Room 1E02<br />
<strong>Speakers:</strong> Aisha Saeed, Ellen Oh, Grace Lin, I.W. Gregorio, Jacqueline Woodson, Lamar Giles, Marieke Nijkamp, Matt de la Peña, Mike Jung<br />
<strong>Description:</strong><br /> After taking the Internet by storm,
the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign is moving forward with brand new
initiatives to continue the call for diversity in children’s literature.
Join the WNDB team as they share highlights of their campaign, discuss
the success of grassroots activism, highlight diverse books and how
everyone can diversify their shelves and talk next steps for the
campaign. Ellen Oh (PROPHECY Series), Aisha Saeed (<em>Written in the Stars</em>, 2015), Marieke Nijkamp, founder of DiversifYA, Lamar Giles (<em>Fake ID</em>) and Mike Jung (<em>Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities</em>). Special Guests include acclaimed Authors Grace Lin (<em>Where the Mountain Meets the Moon</em>), Matt de la Peña (<em>The Living</em>) and Jacqueline Woodson (<em>Beneath a Meth Moon</em>). Moderated by I.W. Gregorio (<em>None of the Above</em>, 2015).Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-59282704673685583372014-05-08T20:11:00.000-04:002014-05-08T20:11:22.880-04:00BookCon Panel!It's been an amazing experience to see the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign take off as well as it did. Clearly, it was a message that truly resonated with people and I say it's about time! To top things off, we have the great pleasure of announcing that we have been invited to host a panel at BookCon on May 31.<br />
<br />
<h2>
The World Agrees: #WeNeedDiverseBooks</h2>
<strong>Date:</strong> Saturday, May 31
<br />10:00 am - 11:00 am
<br />
<strong>Location:</strong> Room 1E02
<br />
<strong>Speakers:</strong>
Aisha Saeed, Ellen Oh, Grace Lin, I.W. Gregorio, Jacqueline Woodson,
Lamar Giles, Marieke Nijkamp, Matt de la Peña, Mike Jung
<br />
<strong>Description:</strong><br />
After taking the internet by storm, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign
is moving forward with brand new initiatives to continue the call for
diversity in children's literature. Join the WNDB team as they share
highlights of their campaign, discuss the success of grassroots
activism, highlight diverse books and how everyone can diversify their
shelves, and talk next steps for the campaign. Ellen Oh (PROPHECY
Series), Aisha Saeed (<i>Written in the Stars</i>, 2015), Marieke Nijkamp, founder of DiversifYA, Lamar Giles (<i>Fake ID</i>) and Mike Jung (<i>Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities</i>). Special Guests include acclaimed Authors Grace Lin (<i>Where the Mountain Meets the Moon</i>), Matt de la Peña (<i>The Living</i>) and Jacqueline Woodson (<i>Beneath a Meth Moon</i>). Moderated by I.W. Gregorio (<i>None of the Above</i>, 2015)<br />
<br />
We got a terrific right up in Publisher's Weekly - link is <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/62211-reedpop-adds-bookcon-panel-on-diverse-books.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=6926488611-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-6926488611-304483421#path/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/62211-reedpop-adds-bookcon-panel-on-diverse-books.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=6926488611-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-6926488611-304483421" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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If anyone is going to be in NYC for BookCon, I hope you will come and support us! We'd love to see you!!Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-64502728121381960422014-04-29T16:38:00.002-04:002014-04-29T16:38:43.622-04:00DIVERSIFY YOUR SHELVES<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today we're revealing part three of
the <a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/post/83943947418/we-need-diverse-books-campaign" target="_blank">#WeNeedDiverseBooks</a> campaign, a project that’s near and dear to my heart!
Part three is called “Diversify Your Shelves,” and it’s all about taking a
personal approach to promoting diversity in literature.</div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>What, exactly,
does that mean? Is this maybe something we’ll do for a week and then go back to
buying books by old white guys?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Well, no. “Diversify Your Shelves” is a continual
celebration of fabulous diverse literature, by fabulous diverse authors.
Checking out what books we have on our shelves, and seeing how we might
diversify them, is just a jumping off point. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There's also going to be a “Diversify Your Shelves” chat on
<b>Saturday, May 3<sup>rd</sup> at 2PM EST</b> to discuss our favorite diverse books
and authors! Use the #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtag to join in!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>But wait! Why is
this so important?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Well, there are lots of people
blogging about this more eloquently than I, like </span><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.diversityinya.com/"><span style="color: #1d57c5; font-family: inherit;">here</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">,</span> <a href="http://disabilityinkidlit.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: #1d57c5;">here</span></a>, <a href="http://elloecho.blogspot.com/2014/04/we-are-still-not-doing-enough-for.html"><span style="color: #1d57c5;">here</span></a>, and <a href="http://justinaireland.tumblr.com/post/82239722695/diversity-the-zero-sum-argument-and-chicken-wings"><span style="color: #1d57c5;">here</span></a>, </span>but some of my biggest reasons
are:</div>
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<br /></div>
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Because, at every conference I or my writer friends attend,
there are kids asking why they can’t find books with characters who look like
them, either on the cover or in the pages. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Because the same thing happens at book signings, except
there the kids are saying they’ve always wanted to get into writing, but don’t
think they’ll be successful because they’re people of color.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Because queer kids are still killing themselves over being
different (or being <i>told</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> that they’re
different) and the greater representation they have in books, the less alone
they’ll feel.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Because awesome genres like YA wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t
moved away from the old, white dude model of literature and started reading
stories written by ladies. Diversify Your Shelves is a continuation of that
principle—hearing all stories from all voices.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Because it’s 2014, but we still keep seeing all-white panels
at book festivals, or even all-white male panels (in genres vastly dominated by
women!) and that’s kind of insane to me. Diversity shouldn’t be the exception.
It should be the norm.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And because, at the end of the day, when I look at my
shelves, I think:</div>
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<br /></div>
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I can be better.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I can do more.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And I’d love for you to join me.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So, without further ado . . .</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Let’s Diversify
Our Shelves!</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Here’s
how it works: this weekend, <b>May 3rd and 4th,</b> we’re all going to head out to our local bookstores* to pick up books by fabulous diverse authors. (Need recommendations? Check out the <b>May 3<sup>rd</sup></b> #WeNeedDiverseBooks chat!) Then, once you’ve returned home, snap a photo of your new diverse book(s)** and post it as a comment below! And if you want to get really creative, you can take Before and After photos of your bookshelves: Before, when they weren't too diversified, and After, when you've added in books by fabulous PoC authors, queer
authors, and authors with disabilities! Woot! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">This <b>Monday, May 5th,</b> one lucky winner is going to win <b>FIVE BOOKS OF THEIR CHOOSING</b> out of the choices below!!! </span><span style="color: #222222;">And every Monday throughout the spring, a new
winner will be chosen to receive two fabulous diverse books! Woot!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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But wait, it doesn’t stop there.
Remember when I said “Diversify Your Shelves” was a continual celebration? That
means any time you buy a book from a diverse author, or featuring a diverse
character, snap a picture of that book and post it to Twitter with the
#WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtag! We’ll retweet you, and help spread the word about
what diverse books people are buying! And by participating in the “Diversify
Your Shelves” movement, you’ll be showing publishers the kinds of books you
want them to buy, showing conference organizers which authors you want to see on
panels, and helping tweens and teens find representation in books! Which,
really, is the awesomest prize of all!</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx67XFRmKzfhcOnHV8ki0PCE9DqfaKMSUBUl4HJ3B43IvFBZy20lBSolbVvNsMVfBWmCkN7ikIpyXM23hzbUPk_8lqv6UNEiqY3KiK3Hs6vp82fzhlYQ5euneRfiQAr4Tx8Z_HYjGjjxQ/s1600/diversifyyourshelves.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx67XFRmKzfhcOnHV8ki0PCE9DqfaKMSUBUl4HJ3B43IvFBZy20lBSolbVvNsMVfBWmCkN7ikIpyXM23hzbUPk_8lqv6UNEiqY3KiK3Hs6vp82fzhlYQ5euneRfiQAr4Tx8Z_HYjGjjxQ/s1600/diversifyyourshelves.png" height="320" width="273" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<br />
<b><u>REMEMBER: THE WINNER OF THE PRIZE PACK WILL BE CHOSEN MAY 5TH!</u></b><br />
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/96788a5/" id="rc-96788a5" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a><br />
<br />
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*Obviously, not everyone has the money to “Diversify Their Shelves” at this particular moment. That’s okay! Because stopping by the library and having them order a book by a diverse author, or even sending them an email about your interest in diverse books, can make a big difference in the “Diversify Your Shelves” movement! You can even snap a photo of a certain section in your local library, and then snap another one after they’ve ordered more diverse books for you! That way, you’ll not only be diversifying your own shelf, but you’ll be diversifying the shelves for your entire neighborhood! Go, you!</div>
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<br /></div>
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**Don’t worry, e-book lovers! You can totally enter the contest too. Just snap a photo of your reading device with the book’s cover showing (or a screenshot of the purchase), and you’re good to go!
</div>
Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-74144767356771981932014-04-26T16:22:00.002-04:002014-04-26T16:22:38.713-04:00We Need Diverse Books Campaign
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2l-m7H2jx5kjnScyNVUO-1UFZd3_wzCN1_CNFNtNslF2XC3i-s-91kkwc5EJ7VufChdOm7W3TnIlzfy79y1rQ2cSscQzJjZWITiQW3CaL_Nv3I41XxxQADHrIHPEff65siDlssJiyVs/s1600/weneeddiversebooks-share.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2l-m7H2jx5kjnScyNVUO-1UFZd3_wzCN1_CNFNtNslF2XC3i-s-91kkwc5EJ7VufChdOm7W3TnIlzfy79y1rQ2cSscQzJjZWITiQW3CaL_Nv3I41XxxQADHrIHPEff65siDlssJiyVs/s1600/weneeddiversebooks-share.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recently,
there’s been a groundswell of discontent over the lack of diversity in
children’s literature. The issue is being picked up by news outlets like these <span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.nytimes\.com\/2014\/03\/16\/opinion\/sunday\/where-are-the-people-of-color-in-childrens-books\.html?_r=0\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;">two </span></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">pieces in the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/the-apartheid-of-childrens-literature.html?_r=1"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NYT</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, <span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.cnn\.com\/2014\/04\/09\/living\/young-adult-books-diversity-identity\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;">CNN</span></u></span>, <span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/shelf-life\.ew\.com\/2014\/04\/15\/kid-lits-primary-color-white-report\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;">EW</span></u></span>, and many
more. But while we individually care about diversity, there is still a
disconnect. BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of
“luminaries of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of
diversity, nothing changed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now is the time to raise our voices
into a roar that can’t be ignored. Here’s how:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On May 1<sup>st</sup> at 1pm (EST), there will
be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days. We’re starting with a
visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We want
people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere they can
to help make the hashtag go viral.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For the visual part of the campaign: </span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because
___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an important,
poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is important to
you. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants to support
diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without you if you
would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you want! Pose the
sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite library. Get a
bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">However you want to do it, we want to share it! There will be a Tumblr
at <span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/weneeddiversebooks\.tumblr\.com\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink">http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/</span></span> that
will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit
your visual component by May 1<sup>st</sup> to </span><a href="mailto:weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> with the subject line “photo” or submit it right on our Tumblr page
</span><a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/submit"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and it will be posted throughout the first day. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting and it will
be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you think will
help get the word out. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will be a nonstop
hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get enough people to
participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice of more media
outlets.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the length of the
campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion going, so
we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions even after
May 1<sup>st</sup>.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On May 2<sup>nd</sup>, the second part of our
campaign will roll out with a Twitter chat scheduled for 2pm (EST) using the
same hashtag. Please use #WeNeedDiverseBooks at 2pm on May 2nd and share
your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity
matters to you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On May 3<sup>rd</sup>, 2pm (EST), the third portion
of our campaign will begin.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> There will be a Diversify
Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to put their money where their
mouth is and buy diverse books and take photos of them. Diversify Your Shelves
is all about actively seeking out diverse literature in bookstores and
libraries, and there will be some fantastic giveaways for people who participate
in the campaign! More details to come!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
hope that you will take part in this in any way you can. We need to spread the
word far and wide so that it will trend on Twitter. So that media outlets will
pick it up as a news item. So that the organizers of BEA and every big
conference and festival out there gets the message that diversity is important
to everyone. We hope you will help us by being a part of this movement.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-27296748287874086672014-04-26T12:54:00.001-04:002014-04-26T12:54:34.670-04:00My website is safe again!Thanks to Alex who gave me the heads up about the virus on my website and to my amazing web designers, Denise and John Biondo, who worked really hard to clean it all up for me. Ellenoh.com is safe! Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-40120229187584542092014-04-20T17:25:00.004-04:002014-04-20T17:25:51.392-04:00My author website HACKED!<br />
Guys, my Ellenoh.com website has been hacked. Please do not go there!!
It has been infected with very bad malware. Fortunately, my blog is hosted on blogger and I never moved it to my website. I always thought that was a pain but now I'm very grateful because my blog is safe. <br />
<br />
I would gladly hurt the
person who did this to me. Also, if you see any emails from
ellen@ellenoh.com - DON'T open for now!! Delete! Everything has been
compromised and it's a huge mess. I'm real sorry guys!!Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-20172304824155085632014-04-12T13:46:00.001-04:002014-04-12T13:46:23.740-04:00We Are Still Not Doing Enough for Diversity in Kid lit<div class="post_body">
I’ve written about <a href="http://elloecho.blogspot.com/2013/06/why-being-poc-author-sucks-sometimes.html" target="_blank">Why Being a POC Author Sucks Sometimes</a>. I’ve written about the importance of Diversity and <a href="http://elloecho.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-diversity-reading-list.html" target="_blank">Diverse Reading Lists</a>. And I’ve even written about <a href="http://elloecho.blogspot.com/2013/08/diversity-in-writing.html" target="_blank">Diversity in Writing</a>.
The discussion about why diversity in children’s literature is
continuing because POC are still greatly underrepresented at less than
10%. (see this <a href="http://www.diversityinya.com/2014/03/diversity-in-publishers-weeklys-2013-young-adult-bestsellers/" target="_blank">fantastic post </a>by Malinda Lo at Diversity in YA.) There’s even an article in CNN about “<a href="http://%27where%27s%20the%20african-american%20harry%20potter%20or%20the%20mexican%20katniss/?%27" target="_blank">Where’s the African-American Harry Potter or the Mexican Katniss?</a>"
There’s a lot of good talk but there’s still no action. And
furthermore, there’s a lot of lashing out that somehow when we ask for
diversity, we are somehow anti-white. If we talk about our need for
representation, our articles are just "race-baiting" and discriminatory
toward whites. How can asking for more authors of color and characters
of color in children’s literature mean we are anti-white? I will never
understand this thinking and I have no use for it. Kelly Jensen, a
librarian and true supporter of diversity, said in <a href="http://catagator.tumblr.com/post/82428324072/gender-diversity-ya-lit-and-the-whole-shebang" target="_blank">her excellent post</a>
“When you support one group of people, it is in not denigrating another
group of people. Instead, it’s doing your part to raise <strong>everyone</strong> up.” And this is what we are fighting for. Raising us all up because diversity is good for everyone.<br />
<br />
How bad is the problem? <br />
<br />
Of the 3,600 books the Cooperative Children’s Book Center reviewed in 2012:<br />
<ul>
<li>
3% were about Africans/African Americans; 1.8% were written by Africans/African Americans<br />
</li>
<li>
1.5% were about Latinos; 1.6% were written by Latinos<br />
</li>
<li>
Less than 1% were about American Indians; less than 1% were written by American Indians<br />
</li>
<li>
2% were about Asian Pacifics/Asian Pacific Americans; 2.3% were written by Asian Pacifics/Asian Pacific Americans<br />
</li>
</ul>
Click <a href="https://tinakugler.squarespace.com/blog/2013/6/28/illustration-friday-equality" target="_blank">here for a fantastic illustration by Tina Kugler </a>that really highlights the problem based on statistics released by the <a href="http://ccblogc.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-see-white-people.html" target="_blank">CCBC</a>.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of good people out there fighting for more diversity
in publishing. But it’s not enough. There’s even more people who nod
their head and agree whole-heartedly that we need more representation.
But it’s definitely not enough.<br />
<br />
Today I’m pointing fingers. At publishers, librarians, teachers,
booksellers, publicists, conference and festival organizers, reviewers,
journalists, in fact our entire media. You are all not doing enough.
There are some wonderful children’s books authors of colors out there
publishing amazing books that are just not getting the attention they
deserve. They are ignored. Where is their media coverage? Where are
their book tours? Why isn’t their more diversity at book festivals and
conferences? Why is it that any promotional materials talking about ALA
award winning books don’t also highlight the Coretta Scott King or the
Pura Belpré, etc? (See <a href="http://megmedina.com/2014/02/05/whats-going-on-in-multi-culti-lit-the-librarians-speak/" target="_blank">Meg Medina’s post on this</a>.)<br />
<br />
Publishing and promoting books that include diversity by white
authors is a good start for diversity. But that is not enough.
Publishing and promoting authors of color so that we break the arbitrary
10% cap is what is really needed. We need more published authors of
color. But if current authors of color are not promoted, then it hurts
the chances for all other potential POC writers. It becomes a vicious
circle. A self-fulfilling prophecy that continues the belief that books
by and about POC don’t sell. We are not doing enough to break this
prophecy.<br />
<br />
Recently there was a <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/61836-reedpop-promises-to-add-to-bookcon-panel-after-criticisms.html" target="_blank">big controversy</a>
over the fact that BookCon was featuring an all white male power panel
at BEA. Lerner Publishing Group editorial director Andrew Karre said in
the PW article, “If they really want to put their money where their
mouth is, they should have a panel on this topic, the issue of diversity
in children’s books.” I want to put a rallying call out for this to
happen. Meg Medina, the fabulous author of the award winning Yaqui
Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, and I were recently talking about how we
wanted every conference and every festival in the country to have a
diversity panel until the day comes when we don’t need to do it anymore.
So yes, ReedPOP, please include a diversity panel to make up for your
world class blunder. And please don’t fill it up with white people. We
authors of color are here yelling into the crowd. We are writing our
books and fighting to promote them in an ocean filled with white capped
waves that wash over us. But we are here because there is a need for us.
And we won’t stop fighting or raising our voices.<br />
<br />
Several months ago, I was at a school event where a very young black
girl was standing shyly off to the side as I was chatting with some 6th
grade students after my presentation. She gave me her notebook and asked
me to sign it, which I was glad to do. It was a book of her own poetry
and short stories. I smiled and said “I’m so glad to meet a young
writer!” She beamed at me and said “I love writing and I want to be a
writer but I didn’t think I could because I’m not white.” I was
surprised and asked her if she’d read any books by Walter Dean Myers,
Angela Johnson, or Linda Sue Park. She nodded and shrugged her shoulder
and said, “But I’ve never seen them in person.” To this young teen, an
author of color was a mythical creature, not to be believed, until she’d
seen one in person. She couldn’t believe in her dream to become a
writer until she saw for herself that a real life POC had done it. This
is why we must continue to fight for diversity in children’s literature.
For all of our children, so that they can see that we exist and that
they can believe that their dreams of becoming whatever they want, can
come true.</div>
Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-62600476466323984162014-04-04T12:56:00.004-04:002014-04-04T12:56:53.873-04:00Teen Librarian's Book Battle!So I just found out that PROPHECY won a book battle over at the Teen Librarian's first ever book battle in her library and I couldn't be happier!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOD7yITw3Dmba6f2ZyHopSod1FpivDTPDTg1pwBFgkSowNT5G810KciLh7N5c5UH0oXkqjWGQU4mI3Ps_SDy5vJPKIbX7b8N4isGK0Xn75LUtH7YoN9KjLYsfW7n4LwRROC1YsMmmG3s/s1600/book+battle+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOD7yITw3Dmba6f2ZyHopSod1FpivDTPDTg1pwBFgkSowNT5G810KciLh7N5c5UH0oXkqjWGQU4mI3Ps_SDy5vJPKIbX7b8N4isGK0Xn75LUtH7YoN9KjLYsfW7n4LwRROC1YsMmmG3s/s1600/book+battle+2014.jpg" height="320" width="251" /></a></div>
Here's the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0CzwfZpLL0706smpFwLynlGogqjupaXXKe6nrR3uEn_fzEAI6tP8ihE1G7yw7f0uoHx-3VmhH_VXd44M6R0DE6WrUcISPrZFlRnAiIHvRN4cOg3TWay60dkkVHnJ3uCx-91VvGCXRqc/s1600/book+battle+2014.jpg" target="_blank">link to go read all about it!</a>! Thanks so much Teen Librarian!<br /><br />Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-75442142097993609952014-03-19T16:50:00.002-04:002014-03-19T16:50:48.241-04:00NoVa Teen festival, Gilded Winner and other news...Hi everyone! Sorry for being out of the loop for awhile. I caught a terrible cold that apparently didn't want to leave me. Ever cough so bad you bruise your ribs? Yeah, this is not fun. It hurt so much that it even hurt to eat! I find that unforgivable! But in any case, I'm on the mend and can actually focus on things like writing a blog post - which takes more brain power than I have had these days!<br />
<br />
All right, first things first! The winner of my Gilded contest is Patrice Caldwell! Congrats Patrice!<br />
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Secondly, wanted to post up some pics of my fabulous time at NoVa Teen Festival.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCIp3yMT5IpL4knNc7JseL0jV2idv0N0iz1tf9WaG1VHjNLgpUoV4-YOdiGbYOOeXZQX2AD5v_DUrLUl-MuCd4KFY3uVZahGCoh6S9MUbsL0BFjMmstv6oaLjsQ4T-hwfczQrS2fXcEc/s1600/BiJIsYIIMAEO_4I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCIp3yMT5IpL4knNc7JseL0jV2idv0N0iz1tf9WaG1VHjNLgpUoV4-YOdiGbYOOeXZQX2AD5v_DUrLUl-MuCd4KFY3uVZahGCoh6S9MUbsL0BFjMmstv6oaLjsQ4T-hwfczQrS2fXcEc/s1600/BiJIsYIIMAEO_4I.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
The day before the festival, Jessica Spotswood, Lamar Giles and I had an event at a local high school. It was a lot of fun, plus I got to hang out with Jess (who is always wonderful to be with) and meet Lamar in person for the first time! Lamar and I have the same brilliant editor, Phoebe Yeh, for our first books, and we've been talking online for years now! Lamar is just as great in person as he is online! Plus, don't miss his new fantastic book Fake ID!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOkJBlc2NQBDQZscn-ASTTHgzZHju6VI6dL13qmLTgA7KNFd5IzPMe9F49LtB2zl-tKHXUcGEfLUzKrSekpN1SJJpp8hd8URyBUI39KJ4PAg7EXe4S75iJ2FzSKcVK6A7qvQk6N0JthM/s1600/BiN6yGPIEAAt4ua.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOkJBlc2NQBDQZscn-ASTTHgzZHju6VI6dL13qmLTgA7KNFd5IzPMe9F49LtB2zl-tKHXUcGEfLUzKrSekpN1SJJpp8hd8URyBUI39KJ4PAg7EXe4S75iJ2FzSKcVK6A7qvQk6N0JthM/s1600/BiN6yGPIEAAt4ua.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Lamar and I got to be on the first panel of the festival (about Identity) with Sarah Guillory, Diana Peterfruend and Meg Medina. This was a fantastic panel and we had a great discussion and I would love to do this again real soon!<br />
<br />
I have to take a moment to say that meeting Meg Medina was like meeting a long lost friend! Meg is the winner of the <span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><b><a href="http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal" target="_blank">2014 Pura Belpré Award</a></b></span> for her excellent book Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass! I have wanted to read this book for a long time and I now have a signed copy to cherish for myself! Meg is also a huge supporter of diversity and so like minds started rocketing through all the things we should, could, and would do to keep diversity on everybody's minds.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZmEl0jwA9pszn-uEeGRz8AjnfVxQJQGZRcFYt7_c74wTaPk6dg3lsY4zFhrGixUf5dAMtXMVibh5wiwX5SZ9xQAbGFEohf8dE5QWnX43SDyFLPVc69U86ueyKBD8ZQaosoQOuCe8iqg/s1600/BiOMY_cIUAAbgbc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZmEl0jwA9pszn-uEeGRz8AjnfVxQJQGZRcFYt7_c74wTaPk6dg3lsY4zFhrGixUf5dAMtXMVibh5wiwX5SZ9xQAbGFEohf8dE5QWnX43SDyFLPVc69U86ueyKBD8ZQaosoQOuCe8iqg/s1600/BiOMY_cIUAAbgbc.jpg" height="240" width="320" /> </a></div>
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Next up was my Breakout Panel with my dear friend Marie Lu, who I adore and who you all know I'm a big big fan of! There's something very comforting about having a discussion with someone you really love and admire a lot. It makes for a great and stimulating discussion. Plus, it helps when you have a huge crowd of eager fans (mostly Marie's) with lots of smart questions. <br />
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And then it was time for the signing!<br />
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Here I am with Lamar, Sarah and Meg at the signing part of the day! I was grateful and so appreciative of everyone who came and bought Prophecy and/or Warrior! It was exciting to have such a great turnout! In fact, I underestimated and didn't bring enough SWAG, which I was sorry about, but what a great problem to have!<br />
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I met some really lovely teen readers who were super sweet and smart and I just wanted to hug them all!<br />
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I got to see another teen reader who, btw, is going to be a big author one day in the near future! She's got the drive, the determination and some amazing story ideas! I got a good feeling about her.<br />
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Ok, last picture and an important one! Because this is with Danielle Ellison who is not only an author and an editor (for Spencer Hill Press) and a bookseller and YA event coordinator, wow, right?, but she came up with the whole NoVa Teen festival idea! Along with Nico Piro, Arlington YA librarian extraordinare, and Lelia Nebeker, YA book buyer at One More
Page, these 3 amazing women put together one of the best events I've ever attended. I have so much respect for them. Even Marie Lu, who has been too many many events, couldn't get over how great the festival was for a first time event! There were tons of teens and authors and volunteers and books!! So to Danielle, Nico and Lelia, and all the wonderful volunteers that helped make Nova Teen festival happen, thank you very much. It was truly a splendid event. <br />
<br />
I think there was one more thing I was supposed to blog about but my cold medicine has worn off and my brain has turned to goo. So here's me signing out for now! Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4595491177347226789.post-88673851554554649622014-03-01T10:10:00.003-05:002014-03-02T00:50:58.770-05:00GILDED By Christina Farley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3q-sa16mL1bfAj3aC76rOHIn-wuUhFR9quy6H-OJ9WA1g3cxkdGBzzLe_DWv_tWTg7gy3M9HXNqajUyqIdFBH9dzugAJ3TgpFz4Q7tNRE1SNqVeYWSsPHX05QzWEaL8bZi3E4cfeYiM/s1600/Gilded_final-cvr-comp_12-11-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3q-sa16mL1bfAj3aC76rOHIn-wuUhFR9quy6H-OJ9WA1g3cxkdGBzzLe_DWv_tWTg7gy3M9HXNqajUyqIdFBH9dzugAJ3TgpFz4Q7tNRE1SNqVeYWSsPHX05QzWEaL8bZi3E4cfeYiM/s1600/Gilded_final-cvr-comp_12-11-13.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGMiWcE5hpP-u36e-jS1IG_3Az8-AcYki2B5siEReGZTFlQXHF-aNkFvG1jqky50irRo3uVcZnWC66QrWdJV2nklxbAa60Cjj9UukghP6r8-5TBWazn4yOBoFl_x8CUQiQJmlzxwgRvU/s1600/authorphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGMiWcE5hpP-u36e-jS1IG_3Az8-AcYki2B5siEReGZTFlQXHF-aNkFvG1jqky50irRo3uVcZnWC66QrWdJV2nklxbAa60Cjj9UukghP6r8-5TBWazn4yOBoFl_x8CUQiQJmlzxwgRvU/s1600/authorphoto.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a></div>
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So my very dear friend, <a href="http://christinafarley.com/books/" target="_blank">Christy Farley</a>, has just released her debut book GILDED and I seriously couldn't be more excited!!! I love love love this book! Because it is set in Korea and has a Korean MC!!! Here's the summary:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
When s<a href="http://i2.wp.com/christinafarley.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Gilded_final-cvr-comp_12-11-13.jpg"></a>ixteen-year
old, Jae Hwa, is uprooted from her home in L.A. to Korea, she thought
her biggest problem would be fitting in with her classmates and dealing
with her dismissive grandfather. But she was wrong. A Korean demi-god,
Haemosu, has been stealing the soul of the oldest daughter of each
generation in her family for centuries. And she’s next.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jae trains with a Korean master, confident
her taekwondo will be enough to fight Haemosu. But she’s wrong again.
Desperate, Jae delves into the ancient arts of metamorphism and uses her
growing power in the Spirit World.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
And then there’s Marc. Irresistible,
charming, and mysterious, Marc threatens to break the barriers around
Jae’s heart. But Marc has a secret of his own. One that could help
destroy Haemosu. As Jae grows closer to him, she must decide if she can
trust him and whether putting his life in jeopardy is worth the risk.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jae thought she knew all the answers. It
turns out that she’s been wrong about a lot of things: her grandfather
is her greatest ally, even the tough girl can fall in love, and Korea
might just be the home she’s always been looking for.</div>
</blockquote>
I've been so happy and excited about Gilded and now that it is out, I want everyone to go read it. So I'm doing a giveaway for a copy of Gilded!!! All you have to do is tweet or tumble back to me or leave a comment on the blog! The giveaway will be open for one week!!! <br />
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<br />Ello - Ellen Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.com22