Hola, duckies!!!!  I have added more CONTEST SWAG to the gigantoid coffee cup of love.  Wanna see?

First, courtesy of the luverly Ally Carter, one copy of the much-coveted NEW GALLAGHER GIRLS book.  It's not even out in stores yet, people!  The copy I'm adding to the contest swag is a galley, which means it's an early version given ONLY TO VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE.
Also, one (gently worn) Ally Carter "Gallagher Girls" t-shirt!  Limited edition, babes.  I'm talking collector's item. 




But wait!  There's more!  Y'all know John Green, right?  Coolness personified and dude of the moment, whose fab book, Paper Towns, just won the frickin' Edgar Award?!!!!  Well, Mr. Dude is throwing a copy of Paper Towns my way...signed to the lucky contest winner. 

  
Let's take a closer look at that inscription, shall we?


That John, such a sweetie.  That Ally, such a sweetie.  Together, they make...Jally!

Challenge number seven:  SEND JALLY SOME LOVE.  But you gotta make it fun.

For Ally, go to her diary and leave her a SNEAKY comment, since she writes about SNEAKY SPIES and stuff.  Leave it in code.  Make it mysterious.  Refer subtly to duckies *or* peace *or* love.  Oh, and throw in a reference to me in some oblique way so that Ally will know whom to throw marshmallows at, heh heh heh...

For John, go to his blog, tell him congrats on winning the Edgar Award, and share with him some words of wisdom in the form of your favorite cheesy inspirational quote.  Like, I want serious cheez, peoples.  But play it straight and don't let him know that *you* think it's cheesy.  For example, you could post a picture like this:

Oh, BABY!

Do I have news for YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Y'all know John Green, right?



Oops. Wrong pic.

Well, that's okay, I'll get the right one inserted in a second.

But the great news is that his fabulous new book just hit the New York Times Best-Sellers List!!!!!!!!!


Glitter Graphics




Oh CRAPOLA. I did it again. I pasted in the wrong book...what is wrong with me?

Let's try again. The book that hit the Times list is, of course, John's marvelous Paper Towns, which is just so wonderful and heartbreaking and hilarious.




It's always lovely when the world sends happy treats to those who deserve them, and John's happy treat is a big whomping #5 on the most prestigious book listie thing in America. Go, John!!!!!!

And you know what else is super cool? Books don't get written by themselves. Editors get in there and drive writers crazy lovingly help writers make the books better.

And in THIS case, the lovely editor in question is one of my own dear editors, Julie Strauss-Gabel. So everyone say to Ju-Ju, too.

They drank champagne all night together, of course, and then let me film them doing a celebratory dance. Enjoy!

(P.S. Stay tuned for Ally Carter gets down and funky with poopcake...coming soon!)

This one's just to celebrate GOOD things in this crazy world of ours. Well, MAINLY the good things.

Good thing #1: remember that bad girl I told you about named Ally weenie-head Carter? Who refuses to read BLISS because she is a big weenie-head afraid a giant Scooby Snack will leap out from under her bed and tempt her with its deliciousness?

WELL. My thugs darling book fairies paid her a little visit, and though she didn't come around, she did send lovely pressies in an attempt to appease me.




Yes, I'm holding an early copy of her new book, You Can't Judge a Girl by Her Cover!!!! Can't judge a girl by her *cover*, get it? Cuz Ally's books are all about spies? And spies have covers, like how Sarah pretended to work at a weiner stand in the first season of CHUCK?

I love the title of Ally's new book, and I'm sure I'll love the book even more--and you know how I'll know? BECAUSE I WILL READ IT. Hey, I'm afraid of spies (cuz, um, "spies" rhymes with "flies," and, um, flies vomit all over things...like Scooby Snacks...).

But I will conquer my fear and READ ALLY'S book. Oh yes I will.

And the adorable shirt I'm wearing in the photo? It is so cute. I actually think a fan designed it...? (Ally, if you're not quivering behind a cactus or something, feel free to jump in and clarify.) Anyway, it says, "If My School Were Normal, Then It Wouldn't Be A Secret." I love it!!!! And it has to do with the whole secret spy school thing and all that. Am I afraid of secret spy schools? HECK yeah. But I Put. On. The. Shirt. :)

Ally send me the garden gnome, too. I don't know why. It probably startled her, and so she decided to banish it from her sight--that's my best guess.

Good thing #2: the coolest E. Lockhart in the world is now a National Book Award Finalist!!!!! Are you getting that, people? This is huge! Her wonderfully amazing and funny and tender and moving novel, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks is one of five books on the short list for this year's National Book Award. The official winner will be announced...some time. And I hope it's E.!!!!!!!!!

As an interesting side note: Ally Carter *has* read Disreputable History. I'm just throwing that out there as interesting conversational fodder. La la la.

Good thing #3: I like all of you guys and gals, so I am giving treaties to my sweeties. Have a great day!!!!!




Only, Ally doesn't get any.

JUST KIDDING! Ally, you can have this:


It is called a Poopcake. I don't know why anyone would invent a poopcake, but someone did. As soon as you read BLISS--the very second!--I will turn your poopcake into fruitcake. Just cuz I love ya.


P.S. Don't forget to go win yourself a BLISS shirt! It's not too late...yet!

Once upon a time there was a little girl. Let's call her...Jennifer Barnes, since that's her name. She was very cute (and still is). Here is her picture. Everybody say, "Hiiiii, Jen!"




ANYway, Jen writes super terrific books for teens about cheerleaders who were really undercover government agents and stuff like that.

Well, one day, Jen read a super-spooky book (says me--AND says Jen!) called BLISS, and she blogged about it!

Here's my favorite bit:

I should probably confess up front that I am quite fond of Lauren, because she always makes me laugh and she's just about the kindest person you could ever hope to meet. But my pleasure in BLISS had nothing to do with my fondness for Lauren. In fact, my fondness for Lauren makes BLISS shocking, because it's SCARY, it's CREEPY, and it FREAKING GETS UNDER YOUR SKIN.

Isn't she sweet? Oh, I love getting under the skin of sweeties like Jen.

So Jen went walking--tra la la--and she ran into her friend Ally Carter.

Like Jen, Ally is adorable and a total doll. Here is her picture:



Everybody say, "Hiiii, Ally!"

Ally is the brilliant mind behind the stupendously fabulous Gallagher Girls books. You know the ones. About the girl spies? And they all have shiny flipppy hair and wear cute plaid school uniform skirts? (I was the model for those book jackets, btw. Except not really. But I wish!)

WELL. Jen said to Ally, "Ally! You need to read BLISS!" And Ally said, "No, I will not! Because I am a wIMP-O-LA!"

Only when she said it, it sounded more like this:


"I have not read BLISS. I will not read BLISS. Because I do not enjoy having nightmares and jumping out of my skin every time a tree limb blows against the house.

Seriously. When I was a kid Scooby Doo gave me nightmares--Scooby-freaking-Doo.

So I will NOT be reading BLISS."

+makes a sad face at Ally+

Now, is that nice of Ally to TOTALLY DISREGARD JEN'S RECOMMENDATION like that?

Nooo-oooo-ooo. She tried to get away with it by challenging all of you to read it in her stead, but is that any sort of an acceptable response?

Let's just pretend your teacher said, "Read Moby Dick!" And you said, "No, cuz I'm scared of whales. But Ally Carter will read it instead!" Would that go over????

So *I* say, go to Jen's site and tell her how fabulous she is and all that, maybe give her a cookie, and then go to Ally's site and say, "Weenie-head! Weenie-head! Ally is a weenie-head!"

Or, no. Hmmm. We're all mature here. How about:

"Ms. Ally of the fabulous books. Dare I suggest you s-t-r-e-t-c-h yourself as a reader and TRY--just *try*--reading a slightly possibly freaky book? You will love it! You'll see!"

And then tell her that if she *doesn't*, you'll be forced to throw Scooby Snacks at her.

That'd be great. THANKS!!!!