It is written: On Thursday, February 19, 2009, a cleverly composed young adult novel called The Great Call of China will be set free into the world.

It is also written: Author of cleverly composed novel is none other than Live Journal’s very own Snoop Cynthea Liu! There will be countless blog celebrations today all over the internet for this long awaited, momentous event — so what are you waiting for? 

Twirl your chopsticks and do your happy panda dance in honor of Cynthea!! Woo Hoo!!

   
    THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA by Cynthea Liu,
     (Puffin, 2009), Ages 12+, 224 pp.

The Great Call of China was written especially for Puffin/Speak’s Students Across the Seven Seas series (S.A.S.S.). It’s about an adopted 16-year-old Chinese girl, Cece Charles, who travels to China via the S.A.S.S. program. She’s excited about the chance to indulge in her passion, anthropology, explore her roots, and have some fun, but when she finally arrives in Xi’an, she receives quite a culture shock. 

To make matters worse, finding out more about her birth parents only increases her apprehension. Will the cute guy she met on the plane, who’s also in the program, be able to help smooth out the bumps in the road? The Great Call promises to be a captivating look at coming to terms with one’s cultural identity, as Cece connects with her past and develops a new appreciation for her adoptive parents.

Cynthea, author of the highly acclaimed, Writing for Children and Teens: A Crash Course (Pivotal Publishing, 2008), and founder of AuthorsNow!, is pulling out all the stops in celebration of her first published young adult novel. She’s written a series of articles, called, BEHIND THE BOOK: Writing for Children’s or Teen Book Series (all installments can be found at the Writing for Children and Teens website), and from now until December 18th, Cynthea is waiving honorariums for school visits (and travel fees!) in the Chicago, Dallas and Tulsa areas. Plus, everyone is invited to the official release party at Cynthea’s website!

Beloved by her fellow writers for her unfailing generosity and kindness, many of them are blogging about Cynthea’s book today, and Tara Lazar is hosting a special release party for writers at her blog, Writing for Children (While Raising Them), which includes great giveaways and an exclusive interview with Cynthea! The only possible downside in all this revelry is that a certain brown rabbit might eat your manuscript (stock up on carrots).

Snoop says: Big deal. Cynthea would be nowhere without me.

So, are you ready to slurp your congratulations to Cynthea? The official alphabet soup kitchen helpers and I had planned to serve a traditional egg drop soup, to help us get into the "travel abroad to China" frame of mind. But, we changed our recipe, under heavy whiskered duress, just to please a certain patron named Snoop, who claims to have played a major role in the completion of Cynthea’s book.

Who are we to question such a hare-brained claim? We hope you find our offering adequate, so much so, that you will be compelled to hop on over to your local indie or fave online bookseller, and snatch up a copy of The Great Call of China, pronto.

Today’s Special: Cream of Carrot (with touches of ginger, essence of cashew,
and whole wheat bunny crackers). Guaranteed to put a hop in your step!

For more about Cynthea’s books, visit her website and Live Journal blog.

For extremely helpful, comprehensive information about writing, check out her Writing for Children and Teens website.

   
    Pay no attention to that rabbit. I wrote the book!

To visit the Soup of the Day gallery, click here!

*Panda photo by Modii.