Winner of the 12/12/12 Giveaway

Thank you all for participating in the 12/12/12 A Star in the Night giveaway. I have randomly drawn a name from a hat and am thrilled to announce Donna S. Is today's winner! Enjoy the book!

And Merry Christmas!!

A Star in the Night Giveaway!

 A STAR IN THE NIGHT CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY! 

A Star in the Night, a Christmas story about the true meaning of Christmas and recipient of the Catholic Writer's guild Seal of Approval, is having a giveaway! 

Usually, an author doesn't like numbers as much as words, but today I just can't resist. With the numbers 12/12/12, and it being so close to Christmas I decided to hold a giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment here, AND like my facebook page Jen Gladen . On December 12, 2012 I  will randomly draw a winner and send the winner a FREE AUTOGRAPHED COPY of A Star in the Night! 


Please be sure to share this post with anyone you think may be interested. This is a great gift idea for that someone special! 

Christmas Coloring Page

Thanksgiving has passed and we are entering in the center of the Christmas season.  My family and I spent this weekend decorating and welcoming the season. Those who know me well probably have guessed already what the first decoration up was. (Did you say Nativity scene? Ah - you do know me pretty well.) We had Christmas music on from our local radio station, and later while Dad and the kids set up the artificial tree, I made some home made Christmas sugar cookies.

 My oldest decorated the cookies with sugar as I rolled out and cut the dough. And so, since my family and I are in the Christmas spirit full force, I want to share some of that with you.

For those of you who are fans of A Star in the Night, my Christmas book about a little boy who discovers the true meaning of Christmas, enjoy this coloring page! Illustrated by K.C. Snider.  Color it in and send me a photo- or just color and enjoy. If you do color it and send a photo, I'll feature it on my blog. Parents: send photos to jennifer_gladen5@msn.com . Click on the picture here for a larger photo.

Book Review: Chances Are

"Chances are you'll never see animals as strange as these..." Thus begins the great adventure with Author Sue Bangert-Wood and Illustrator Jack Foster in the comical alphabet book titled Chances Are.

This light-hearted book displays unique animals wearing a swimming suit, driving or even playing guitar. I love the creative animals Sue Bangert-Wood comes up with in this fun A-B-C book. The rhyme in story flows smoothly and adds a nice rhythm as you read. As someone who has worked in the classroom, I see this book as one that would engage the readers and invoke  some fun reactions out of the readers.

The activities and puzzles at the end of the book are sure to be a hit with teachers everywhere. The bright, energetic illustrations done by Jack Foster breathe even more life into the story. He illustrates well the essences of the characters and their fun, energetic antics.

This is an all around great book which I recommend reading to kids of every age. 

A FUN-tastic Author Event

I attended the Pennypack Woods Home Ownership Association's Bazaar and Flea Market this Saturday as a way to sell some books and get the word out about them. 

 While I was there I did some shopping of my own. I saw and fell in love with this statue of Santa kneeling at the manger of Jesus. I only had about $1.50 in spending money left and although the Pennypack group Friendly Neighbors were asking $3.00, they gave it to me for the $1.50. 

The Friendly Neighbors is a group which sponsors many events that contribute to the community of Pennypack's neighborhood. When I heard how they were counting on the sales and the Bazaar to further their work for the community, I decided to give back to them a little bit. I went to the leader of Friendly Neighbors and donated an autographed copy of A Star in the Night for them to sell as they wished. 

Toward the end of the event, the group auctioned off the book and earned $21.00 ! I was thrilled and honored to help in such a way. 

In addition to this great experience, and selling more of the books, my daughters were there with me and my oldest ran into two of her best friends she had since preschool. When my daughter went into first grade, we went to a different school. The "Three Musketeers", as I call them, haven't been able to see each other much. The girls were thrilled to see each other. They spent the day hanging out and catching up. 

This was a great day and a exciting experience for everyone. Can't wait to visit again!

Literacy Opens Minds

I just returned from an amazing conference at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, PA. It was titled Literacy Opens Minds. What a great concept. The keynote speaker was the renowned author of countless books, Sneed Collard III. I thoroughly enjoyed his keynote presentation as an author and a teacher. So much of what he said hit home about writing. It is always interesting to learn how a fellow author spent time writing in journals as a child, much in the same way I did. He is an entertaining presenter and children are sure to love him.

With author Sneed Collard III 

I was also a presenter at this conference and I titled my presentation Exploring the World through Reading. We discussed many fascinating things about reading such as how books can take you to far away places without even leaving your back yard. We talked about how important it is to use books to support your material in your classroom. Getting just one side (and usually the textbook side ) of nonfiction can sometimes drain the children. But when you add a fun book to reinforce the concepts, now their world is expanding.
I had a great time with the lovely people at Holy Family and am excited about the kind of teachers Holy Family is preparing for our children.

My book display at Holy Family University Library

During my presentation we discussed ways to make reading interesting for the resistant reader. I promised a link to one of my favorite authors who creatively writes for these readers in mind. Check out the facebook page of Max Elliot Anderson.

After the presentations, I was able to sell and sign my books. The whole day was a bunch of fun. I would help out Holy Family University anytime.

Me and Dr. Quinn at Holy Family University

Checking up on your Work

So, you finally did it. You got your book published and you are preparing for sales, promotions and author visits. You're getting materials ready, thimking of that next book and making sure all your contracts are signed.

It is an exciting time. As the weeks and months go by you'll be following your book and probably (if you are anything like me) checking your book's stats. But there's one thing I've discovered you might want to add to your list of things to do. Check up on your book - not just with the stats, but google your book's title or even your name for that matter. You may be surprised what you come up with.

Authors have reported finding  their books in illegal markets, or worse, pirated.  I recently did a Google search on my name and was surprised to see it for sale on e-bay for double the publisher's price. I've assumed being signed up for Google Alerts would let me know of new internet activity in my name or my books' names. Howevere, when I did an actual Google search, I found out much more.

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of good news to find out about your work by doing a search every now and then, In fact you'll probably find much more good internet activity than bad.  I've found blogs about my work or my magazine that I didn't know about before. I've seen how authors and illustrators are supporting one another.

So, no matter what your motive, it's always  good to check out your platform every now and then to see what others see if they were to search for your name or book title. After all, it's your baby we're talking about here.