The Grimmtastic Girls Book Blast

About the Books: The Grimmtastic Girls

Book #1

Title: Grimmtastic Girls #1: Cinderella Stays Late | Authors: Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams | Publication Date: March 25, 2014 | Publisher: Scholastic Inc. | Pages: 192 | Recommended Ages: 8 to 12 Summary: The authors of the hit Goddess Girls series put a fun and girly twist on another super-popular theme: fairy tales! Once upon a time, in faraway Grimmlandia... A Grimmtastic girl named Cinderella is starting her first week at Grimm Academy on the wrong foot. Cinda's totally evil stepsisters are out to make her life miserable. The Steps tease Cinda, give her terrible advice about life at the academy, and even make her look bad in front of her new friends, Red, Snow, and Rapunzel! But when Cinda overhears the Steps plotting a villainous deed that could ruin Prince Awesome's ball, Cinda, her new friends, and a pair of magical glass slippers have to stop them--before the last stroke of midnight!
     

 

Book #2

Title: Grimmtastic Girls #2: Red Riding Hood Gets Lost | Authors: Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams | Publication Date: March 25, 2014 | Publisher: Scholastic Inc. | Pages: 192 | Recommended Ages: 8 to 12 Summary: Red Riding Hood might have a terrible sense of direction, but her grimmtastic friends are always there to help! Once upon a time, in faraway Grimmlandia... Red Riding Hood is thrilled to try out for the school play. Acting is her dream, and she's great at it--too bad she has stage fright! After a grimmiserable audition, Red decides to focus on helping her friends Cinda, Snow, and Rapunzel save Grimm Academy from the E.V.I.L. Society. But when Red gets lost in Neverwood forest and runs into Wolfgang, who might be part of E.V.I.L., she needs her magic basket and a grimmazingly dramatic performance to figure out what's going on!
     

 

About the Authors: Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams

Joan Holub has authored and/or illustrated more than 130 children's books, including Little Red Writing (illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet) and Zero the Hero. She lives in NC and is online at www.joanholub.com

Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

 

 

       

Suzanne Williams is the author of nearly 50 books for children, including the award-winning picture book Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg). She lives near Seattle, WA and is online at www.suzanne-williams.com

Author Blog | Goodreads

 



 Co-authors Joan and Suzanne have written the Goddess Girls, Heroes in Training, and Grimmtastic Girls series. Though they live in different states and hardly ever get to see each other, they spend lots of time together in Grimmlandia.

Facebook (Grimmtastic Girls) | Facebook (Goddess Girls Books)

Online Author Visits

 

$50 Book Blast Giveaway

Prize: $50 Amazon Gift Card or PayPal cash (winner’s choice) Contest ends: April 23, 11:59 pm, 2014 Open: Internationally How to enter: Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. A winner will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored by the authors, Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams and is hosted and managed by Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send and email to Renee(at)MotherDaughterBookReviews(dot)com. a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Meet UK Children's Author Rosen Trevithick

Carpinello's Writing Pages welcomes another UK author Rosen Trevithick and her Smelly Trolls series.

First, a bit about Rosen:

I’m a wild-swimming, chocolate-loving, hairspray-dousing writer of fiction for children and adults. I’m Cornish and currently living in Devon.

Note:  Rosen sent in this photo of her at Tintagel, supposedly the birthplace of Arthur, since my books are based on Arthurian Legend.

Why did you pick to write books for children?

Writing for children allows you to really stretch the boundaries of reality and be completely over the top, in a way that’s frowned upon in most adult genres. I wanted to write something funny and silly that I could share with my nephews.

What types of books do you like to read?

I enjoy reading humorous fiction and crime thrillers. The work of Ben Elton is particularly appealing. I also enjoy reading independently published titles because I love being able to interact with writers about their work. Also, because I run a daily eBook newsletter, I like to keep a feel for what’s out there.

When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

I spend a lot of time out of doors: swimming, cycling, jogging and sometimes just sitting beneath a tree with my Kindle. I’m also part of a local amateur dramatics group and a writing group.

Tell us about Trolls on Ice and how the story came to be.

Trolls on Ice is the third book in my Smelly Troll series. It features the Winter Trollympics – the biggest sporting event on the troll calendar. However, because trolls are stupid, smelly and built like potatoes filled with rocks, they are not particularly strong athletics. Events include the ‘troll vault’ (troll pole vault), in which the pole usually snaps under the competitor’s enormous weight.

I came up with the idea for putting trolls on skis because I knew it would give rise to all manner of exciting disasters. However, a school class who were doing a project on my first troll book, The Troll Trap, came up with the idea of Trollympic. They kindly let me use a winter version of their idea in my book.

Here's a peek at Trolls on Ice:

Brawnulator Powerknees picks other people’s noses, smells like mutated tuna and eats small children. He is the strongest, fastest, most desirable man on the planet – to a troll.
When Rufus and his friends go on a skiing holiday to the Craggle Alps, they have no idea that the Winter Trollympics – the biggest sporting event of the troll calendar – is taking place nearby.
Sporting a wide variety of dangerous athletes, including Brawnulator, the Winter Trollympics is a hazardous place for children to be. But an avalanche blocks the railway line, leaving Rufus and his friends stranded amongst the hungry beasts.
A slippery, icy adventure packed with hideous trolls, winter sports and lots and lots of snotacular calamities.

Have you written other books? If so, tell us a bit about them.

I started off writing books for adults. In fact, my current bestselling title is for adults. It’s called My Granny Writes Erotica and is about a 65-year-old pensioner who finds herself in debt and needs a way to raise some cash quickly. She ends up eroticising her life’s work – a romance novel. However, being somewhat naïve, inexperienced and conservative, writing about kinky sex does not come easy to her, resulting in some hilarious disasters.

What’s next for your writing? Are you working on a new story?

In November 2013, I launched three books: Seesaw Volume II, my second short story collection for adults; Trolls on Ice; and The First Trollogy, a collection containing Troll books 1-3. I also have a short story from the Smelly Trolls called Gourment Girl Burger.

The Troll Trap







                  Mr. Splendiferous and the Troublesome Trolls


What advice do you have for other authors?

If you plan to publish, allow yourself to have big dreams. Writing is an incredibly difficult field in which to get noticed and most authors experience dozens of knock backs before getting anywhere. The skill is not in avoiding rejection, but bouncing back from it. Have a goal in mind and keep working at it. Big dreams will help you keep going.

Where can readers find you and your books?

My blog, Facebook and Twitter are good places to interact with me.

My Adult Blog
My Children's Blog
Facebook
Twitter

The best place to buy my books is Amazon.

A smaller selection of my titles are available from other stores, such as Waterstones and Smashwords.

Kid Lit Blog Hop #35

Welcome to the 35th Kid Lit Blog Hop where twice per month (the 1st and 3rd Wednesday) we continue to develop a dynamic and engaged community of children's books bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists. So, you are always more than welcome to join us by popping in a post and hopping around to meet some of your fellow Kid Lit bloggers and authors!

Carpinello's Writing Pages interviews two authors from the UK:

Rosie Morgan and Rosen Trevithick.

We are pleased to welcome our friends from Wigu Publishing, publishers of the When I Grow Up I Want To Be... book series this week co-hosts.  Please do take a moment to check out these fabulous books.  Big welcome to Wigu Publishing!

Happy Hopping everyone and enjoy the Hop!

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Co-Host:

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Interested in co-hosting the Kid Lit Blog Hop? If you've joined us before, you are welcome to join us again!  Please email renee @ motherdaughterbookreviews (dot) com and put Co-Hosting Blog Hop in the subject line.

Happy Hopping!

Meet UK Middle Grade Author Rosie Morgan

Carpinello's Writing Pages welcomes Cornwall's own Rosie Morgan. Rosie introduces us to her MG fantasy series The Camelot Inheritance. Bet you can't guess what legend this series revolves around!

First, a bit about Rosie in her own words:

Hi, I’m Rosie Morgan, and I live in beautiful Cornwall, in the UK, with my husband Pete and our two attention-seeking cats Oz and James. Our kids are all grown up, and now we’ve got mini-grand-kids. For many years I taught some wonderful young people in Cornish village schools. The smallest school had just two classes – and an outdoor toilet! The spiders liked the toilet but I didn’t like the spiders.

Teaching taught me that EVERYONE has a talent. One of the boys I taught could mend a tractor when he was nine years old; he was also pretty good at driving a quad bike but not all that interested in reading.

Oh and I’ve got a very old sports car, she’s nearly seventeen, and she’d feel very left out if I didn’t mention her – she’s called ‘Purr’.

Why did you pick to write books for MG?

I taught middle-grade kids and loved it and writing for them is an absolute delight. For me it was a natural choice – my favourite audience!

What types of books do you like to read?

My own reading is so varied that it’s hard to put it in a nutshell. So instead I’ll give you a few of my favourite authors. CS Lewis was a wonderful writer, and how about Roald Dahl? If I’m reading something a little deeper I enjoy Louis de Bernières. Jane Austen was way before her time and one of my all-time favourites. h and I’ve just discovered Pietro Grossi, an inspirational Italian author. I could go on and on!!

When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

Apart from teaching I paint and draw, run our church youth club and brush up on my French. When Pete and I want to get away from it all we go to France, you can see the photos on my blog.

Tell us about The Golden Sword (Book I of The Camelot Inheritance) and how the story came to be.

The story is a contemporary fantasy with a dash of time travel and magic. It’s set in Cornwall which has strong connections with the legendary King Arthur; we have many ancient sites, even a castle!
The idea for the book started to percolate through into my imagination, the characters took hold and before I knew it, I was writing and I couldn’t stop!

We meet Arthur Penhaligon on the day his life changes – forever. On the day he skateboards into the past and into a world of magic and mystery. Because a long time ago - a VERY long time ago - Arthur was Chosen.

Join Arthur and his friends, Nick and Tamar, as they journey into the unknown and find themselves in the grip of powerful forces. Follow them as they travel into a world where there are those who are determined to rob Arthur of his birth-right – at any cost.

Here's a peek at The Golden Sword:

At the end of the street the mist swirled and shifted, a shape flew out of the enveloping cloud and circled before settling on a gate post. Moments later a dark, tall shadow silently followed, his long coat flowing out behind him, a wide-brimmed hat pulled down low over his face. He strode purposefully along the street before coming to a halt outside the house where the bird waited.

The stranger examined the house intently, starting at the top and shifting his gaze downwards. Then he nodded towards the bird and, taking something out of his pocket, tossed it to the ground before spinning around and retracing his steps to disappear, once more, into the mist. The bird cawed once, spread its wings and followed.

What’s next for your writing? Are you working on a new story?

The second book in the series The Time Smugglers was just released in October 2013. Also, I excited to announce that in the paperback version of  The Golden Sword should be released hopefully by the end of this March!

What advice do you have for other authors?

Whilst writing I’ve learnt that I have to be self-critical and be prepared to edit and edit and edit.
I read it out loud, just as if I was reading it to an audience – or a class. And I ask other people to read and criticise it.

BUT I take heart from praise because we all need that!

Anything else you want readers to know?

To find out more about The Golden Sword (The Camelot Inheritance – Book 1), you can read the first two chapters FREE on Amazon.
 

Where can readers find you and your books?

Please drop by and say 'Hi' at these sites!

Blog

Twitter

Goodreads

To Buy The Camelot Inheritance Series

Amazon US
Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ANP31XA