starry river of the sky blog tour!

October 1, 2012October 1, 2012 ~ jama ~ 10 Comments

Starry River of the Sky, the long anticipated companion novel to Grace Lin’s Newbery Honor book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown, 2009), is officially out this week!

Alphabet Soup is pleased and honored to be participating in the six-stop Blog Tour, which begins today and runs through next Tuesday, October 9. Grace will be visiting each blog, so be sure to bookmark all the stops so you don’t miss anything.

**STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY BLOG TOUR**

Monday, October 1: Bookie Woogie

Tuesday, October 2: The Enchanted Inkpot

Wednesday, October 3: Jama’s Alphabet Soup

Thursday, October 4: Pragmatic Mom

Friday, October 5: Charlotte’s Library

Tuesday, October 9: Abby the Librarian

Grace is also planning a very special virtual Book Launch Party tomorrow at her blog, with games, prizes, and other goodies! I can’t wait to see what she’s cooked up.

Meanwhile, check out the official book trailer:

* * *

Have a great week and make sure to get your hands on a copy of Starry River of the Sky, which has already earned a whopping 5 *starred* reviews! This is truly storytelling at its very best!

—————————————————-

soup of the day: flying the dragon by natalie dias lorenzi

July 1, 2012September 15, 2017 ~ jama ~ 19 Comments

“The dragon is a creature of the sea,” Grandfather said. “When it takes to the sky, it is looking for something precious it has lost. When it finds what it was looking for, it returns to the sea in the form of rain.”

Konnichiwa! Hello!

*bows*

We’re especially excited today to be celebrating the official release of Flying the Dragon by Natalie Dias Lorenzi (Charlesbridge, 2012). Not only is Natalie a Virginia author, but this is her debut middle grade novel. As I always say, no matter how many books you go on to write, or how rich and famous you might become, there will always be only one first book, with its own special brand of pride, joy and feelings of accomplishment. We LOVE to celebrate first books!

Friends, I’m so glad you’re here to join us. Let’s get the party started by suiting up.

First, please select a t-shirt. Depending on your mood, you may feel like building a kite,

or noshing on sushi:

With all the mouthwatering Japanese food in the book, you should probably put this on, too:

Lookin’ good!

Can’t eat a plate of yakisoba without a good pair of chopsticks. Choose your favorite color:

All set?

Now, a little about Flying the Dragon:

Continue reading →

we have a winner!

May 28, 2012May 27, 2012 ~ jama ~ 11 Comments

We are pleased to announce that we have a winner in the Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World giveaway!

After the most recent fiasco, Mr. Random Integer Generator decided he needed some time off in the south of France, where he is, at this very moment, nibbling on Salade Nicoise and sipping L’Estandon. He was only too pleased to pass le bâton to Monsieur Cornelius, who then acted with the utmost discretion to avoid any jealousy in the ranks.

M. Cornelius made sure no one could impersonate Mr. Generator by securing all stray mustaches. No monkey business this time.

After reading Iva Honeysuckle for the fourteenth time, he channeled his favorite main character by cutting a fresh Y-shaped branch from a willow tree. Though this was his first experience with ~~dozing~~ ~~dowsing~~ divining, Cornelius held steady and employed enviable powers of concentration.

After a mere 3 minutes and 24 seconds, his dowsing rod twitched and dipped and pointed to one lucky commenter.

*drum roll, please*

Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner of a brand new, signed copy of Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World by Candice Ransom is:

WOOHOO! CONGRATULATIONS, JANE!!

Please send your snail mail address to: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com, so we can get your prize out to you zippity quick!

BIG THANKS to everyone for all your great comments (please have some unsweetened cherry Kool-Aid). We hope you all discover wonderful new worlds in your summer reading!

***

See, things went swimmingly this time. No monkey business. No monkey business at all.

—————————————-

we have a winner (i think)!

May 21, 2012May 20, 2012 ~ jama ~ 8 Comments

So, I was very excited to see who would win a copy of Jo Knowles’s fabulous new book, See You at Harry’s (Candlewick, 2012).

But a strange thing happened when I entered the kitchen.

hatley — “Greetings! Mr. Generator at your service, Miss.”

As you may know, recently I’ve called upon the very reliable, ever steady Mr. Random Integer Generator to pick giveaway winners to avoid any ~~jealousy~~ ~~riots~~ ~~strikes~~ ugly kerfuffles involving the furry kitchen helpers. They all love giveaways and they all want to pick the winners.

Calling upon Mr. Generator therefore makes perfect sense. He is perfectly objective and does not wear fur, nor does he ever hold a grudge. Usually it is easy to spot him in his meticulously groomed mustache and stylish bowler hat.

But I don’t recall Mr. Generator ever sporting moose antlers (I did like that he called me, “Miss,” ever so polite). Before I could question him further, I was confronted with this:

bears — “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Generator reporting for duty!”

And then this:

Mr. Generators crawling out of the woodwork!

Wait! (I came to my senses.)

If any of you really are Mr. Generator, where are your bowler hats??!!

“We took them off. It’s impolite to wear hats indoors.”

Hmmmmm. Good point.

Then one of them tried to bribe me with this:

He looked strangely familiar. Excellent mustache.

I decided to ponder further while eating the bribe.

I knew that if I singled out any one of these rascals I’d have a riot on my hands for sure. Oh, Mr. Generator, the real Mr. Generator, please give me a sign!

Knock knock!

Why, hello. Yes, a nice mustache AND a bowler hat. Thank goodness you’re here at last, Mr. Generator!

I gave our wayward guest the names of all the entrants and their ice cream flavors. The information was processed with an extra helping of panache. After precisely 4 minutes and 28 seconds, one lucky commenter was selected.

*Drum roll, please!*

I’m happy to announce that the winner of a brand new copy of See You at Harry’s is —

WOO HOO!! CONGRATULATIONS, KELL!

Please send your snail mail address to: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com, so we can get your prize out to you.

A BIG THANKS to everyone for entering the giveaway. Great choice of ice cream flavors — I imagine all of them are available at Harry’s. ☺

pad — “Hey, wait a minute! That’s not Mr. Generator. That looks like my Aunt Lucy!”

Oh no, here we go . . .

————————————————-

chatting with candice ransom about iva honeysuckle discovers the world (and a giveaway)!

May 15, 2012September 4, 2017 ~ jama ~ 30 Comments

Cornelius and I are thrilled to welcome award-winning children’s author Candice Ransom to the Alphabet Soup kitchen today.

As you may know, we’re in love with her latest book, Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World (Disney Hyperion, 2012), which was just named to the Summer 2012 Kids’ Indie Next List, and which Kirkus describes as, “A breezy, wide-open window into the turbulent heart of a dramatic third-grade adventurer and her small-town Virginia community.”

I was instantly captivated by spunky and supremely self-assured Iva Honeycutt and her quest to become a world famous discoverer. With great-grandfather Ludwell’s treasure map in hand and her not-so-trusty canine companion Sweetlips by her side, she paces and dowses her way around her hometown of Uncertain, Virginia, searching for General Braddock’s war chest. But as all great explorers eventually learn, sometimes you end up finding something entirely different, and by golly, it’s even better!

Continue reading →