Sunday, December 20, 2009

Think Tank

I have some serious ground to cover! As if December isn't busy enough, our son had a birthday on Friday (and we gave him a surprise "retro" party, which was quite a trick to pull off), and I only today got my head into the fact that Christmas is less than a week away. But concerning this blog, I really need to celebrate the contributions of people who participated in the Exercise the Right to Read campaign, as this cycle comes to a close at the end of the calendar year, and I have some spotlighting to do! But I've also promised the Sammy fans following this blog that I'd present them with an idea this week, so for this entry, I'm going to focus on that. The people at Random House are looking at different ways to generate sort of a drum roll about Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher. After all, it's the 13th book in the series, and there are some pretty major developments in the overarching storyline. RH has some cool ideas, but I'd be interested in hearing what would appeal to you, or what you think might help spread the news that there's a new Sammy Keyes book coming out. Now, let me make really clear that "dumb" ideas can lead to good ideas, and believe me, I've had many dumb ideas...but you have to start somewhere, right? So if you think something's "dumb", maybe it'll spark an idea for something better--which means that the original idea wasn't really dumb at all, but a catalyst for something cool. Also keep in mind that ideas will only work if they are practical and affordable. If it's not both, it won't fly with my publisher. So to get the ball rolling, let me give you some of the ideas I've had: My awesome sister-in-law has given me a charm for every SK book that has come out. I have this amazing charm bracelet with a charm that symbolizes each title -- binoculars for Hotel Thief, a jack o' lantern for Skeleton Man...you get the idea. I've always thought that having a charm that went with each book would be very cool... But how would they get distributed? Packaging them with the book is not practical....mailing them to readers is not practical...distributing them at the POS (point of sale) could be...but the whole idea is a little fussy. and really, are charm bracelets even in style for teens? I don't think so. Which brings me to an adjustment on the idea. How about a leather band that you could add beads to? A bead for each book? Does the idea have any merit at all? What would YOU think was a cool thing to have / collect? Another idea: shoelaces. I've thought it would be so cool to give away Sammy Keyes shoelaces with the purchase of a book -- ones you could lace through your own high-tops ('cause, of course you've got high-tops, right?). It's more practical than a charm bracelet (because it's a one-time thing)...but I don't know if other people will think it's as fun as I do. And what would you want to see printed on the shoelaces? A string of all the titles? Or just "Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher"? (Seems too "commercial" to me.) "SK" repeating? (Don't say SK + CA, 'cause much as I love him, there's more to Sammy Keyes than Casey Acosta :-)) When it comes to practical and affordable, the Internet is king. So Random House has tossed around ideas about maybe having "Sammy" tweet, or blog, or...have some sort of Web presence which was more personal than the sammykeyes.com website. My reaction to this is that it might be more interesting to hear "tweeting" or on-line comments from Sammy's friends...Marissa and Holly and Dot and Billy and (especially) Casey. And of course we'd have to include Heather :-) Does that idea have appeal to you? Do you think people would follow? And anything that could be downloaded from the website...that would be practical and affordable...but what? Educators (and publishers) tend to think in terms of bookmarks and test-your-knowledge quizzes...but I'd like to know what YOU think would be a cool thing to find you could download from a website. Maybe you like the idea of a bookmark...maybe you've got an idea that's new and unique and, you know, more Sammy. So send me your brainstorms, your preferences, your "that's cool" and "that's lame". I want to hear what you think. I'm excited to invite you to be part of this process--from the comments some of you have posted, I know you're the right people to ask! If you don't want your comments / ideas to go public, you can always send them to me via the "Contact Us" button at the Exercise the Right to Read website (www.exercisetherighttoread.org). So get on your idea skateboard and ride!

46 comments:

Jinnyd said...

I personally think that charm bracelets are cool...but my style is the "oh no i look like someone else quick don't ever wear this outfit again" type. (Where did your sister get those charms?)

So...the leather band idea would be cool, but how would the beads be distributed?

Shoelaces--also awesome. Maybe if they had little icons for each book--you know, like little picture "charms" on a shoelace. THOSE WOULD BE SO COOL! But i don't know about the printing costs...

Hmmm...to include something totally cool and free w/the purchase of a TOTALLY AWESOME SK book...

I'm still thinking about the Sammy icons idea--if you could somehow generate a little picture for each book on something...

But to generate a "drum roll", I think something BIG has to happen. Like a major public service announcement (okay...maybe not that big).

Maybe a Sammy blog (even though I can't picture Sammy blogging...).

Anyway, there's my brain on virtual paper. Hope something helps!

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

Dear Jinnyd,
You are quick! My son's way into thrift stores because he finds things no one else has. We always have a blast shopping at Goodwill -- it's also so Sammy, so I totally get where you're coming from. Anyway, keep thinking!(Are you thinking icons from the book art run up the laces? Like the binoculars, high-tops,...that sort of thing? I like that. Black on white might look really cool. Color would too.) (Oh, and she lives in a big city where they have things like charm stores...if you can imagine that!)

Anonymous said...

:D I already hve too much to say. First- shoelaces = amazing idea. I have Converse, so I think all's good for me, lol. ;) I think the SK books should have a catchy phrase... like, on book titles it has the title (Ex: THE CLIQUE) and then it has a "phrase" (ex: "The only thing harder than getting in is staying in") So what if you made the Sammy books have a phrase for the shoelaces? And the idea of the book cover pics on the shoelaces is really good, too. =)
I know *I* would follow a Sammy twitter! and I know other people who would too (Heck, I bet if I announced this on Fanfiction Sammy would get over a dozen followers =)) Blogging would also be cool. :) Haha: heres a craaazy idea that popped into my head for fun: A blog from Dorito's point of view. Hehe.. I should makea Fanfic! :) But anyways, yep.
Or on the shoelaces you could put quotes from the books, the most important quotes that sort of show the 'point' or moral, impact of the story. For me, I think the most important lines are usually at the end of the story. Like when Sammy says 'I really am rich after all' and stuff like that. Those could be on the shoelaces.
And I think you should completely scratch out the charm bracelet ideas because remember, you do have male fans =)
Other than shoelaces you could also do posters, and yeah, bookmarks. I remember I had this cloth/beaded bookmark that exactly matched the colors of Wild Things so it became the Wild Things official bookmark, lol.
Here are some of my middle-of-the-night ideas. I'll probably come up with better ones when I'm not suffering from insomnia, in the morning.
Woot! Winter break! Be back in the morning!
xo

Anonymous said...

Okay! I've reread your whole post and thought of some things.
You can have a contest. And to make it extra-easy, you can make it an online contest. =) I mean, what you want to contest to be could be up to you, but here are some of my ideas- a contest for people to write their best poem relating to SK, for people to send in a picture made/taken+edited by themselves relating to SK, but if you want something easier it can be as simple as writing a short essay about "how Sammy creates an impact on her community" and blahblah (all that good old teacher stuff =)). I'd be willing to write an essay, I know. :) And the winner of the contest could win.. a t-shirt or something, I dont know.
I know some of this may sound unreasonable (I mean, normally kids arent dorks like me who waste time Photoshopping their pictures =P and sometimes people arent even good at writing (did I mention I want to be an author one day?) and some people would rather die than write an essay thing for something thats not school.
Also, the contest winner could get, like, a signed copy of SK13 when it comes out..
So, yep :) I'm excited, too! For everything. And the fan-quote thing. This is going to be a riot (in a good way) =)
xo

Nicole said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicole said...

I like the idea of the characters tweeting! I know it wouldn't be stuff that would give away a plot or anything but just hearing little comments from them every now and then would sure brighten my day :) Also the shoelaces and leather band ideas sound good too. And I think the shoelaces should have either icons or quotes, although I'm not sure what kind of quotes you could use...I know my favorite quotes from the books are things like when Casey says "You gotta ask nice" and...well, Casey quotes haha, which don't really go with the whole idea of adding hype for the next book.
Oh! Or you could make little charms for shoes! Yeahhh! Like the horseshoe charm in Psycho Kitty Queen! Because I'll admit it, after I read that book I found a charm for my shoe because I wanted to be like Sammy. haha. It could be in the shape of something relating to the new book, or all the books, or just a horseshoe :]
hope this helped!

Jinnyd said...

I was on the computer almost ALL NIGHT Sunday, simultaneously doing my English project and checking your blog (hee hee hee procrastination).

Yeah, icons like binoculars, high tops, skateboards, elves, mustaches, mummies, etc. Maybe a whole string of them in order of the books (like a tiny binoculars, then a skeleton, then a nun, etc.). I think both guys and girls would go for the shoelaces. I think.

*busily racks brain for other ideas*

Hmm...ummm...like... making a trailer for the book? You know, like the kinds some book series have, like the Sisters Grimm series and...well, you get the picture, right? Maybe like have the synopsis of SK 13 and put it to music and add cool images...

Ack. My brain is dry and devoid of ideas.....

Jinnyd said...

Oh! And about Ayn Rand--we read Anthem for English when we did our science fiction unit. It was pretty good! It reminded me of The Giver, actually. After that I was going to read Atlas Shrugged, but it was too think and high school is drowing me.

Jinnyd said...

Sorry! I meant "thick" instead of "think".

Have you read Ayn Rand's books?

watermelon11 said...

I promise to help spread the word about Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crashers. and i already have a plan about how i'm gonna do that:

when i get back to school, i'm gonna ask if they can announce on the school morning broadcast that Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crashers is in process and everyone should go buy a copy when it comes out. if they don't do that, i can always take over the P.A. system (like Sammy did in Skeleton Man) and announce it then.

then i'm gonna ask my P.E. teacher if i can borrow his megaphone and go around at lunch and shout BUY SAMMY KEYES AND THE WEDDING CRASHERS!!! I DON"T KNOW WHEN IT COMES OUT EXACTLY BUT BUY IT WHEN IT DOES COME OUT!!!

and when i get home.... i'll make a bunch of flyers for Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crashers and distribute them all over town. and i'll email everyone i know to tell them to do the same. don't worry, they already know i'm crazy.

i can't wait to put my plan into action! this is gonna be fun. (:

Pooja D. said...

Charm Bracelets ARE COOL!
The idea of characters tweeting are cool, because I know kids who only read the Sammy Keyes Series for the "Casey Factor" the idea of Casey tweeting about I don't know his life.. will make more people (girls who are in love with Casey Acosta Sammy Keyes) read the books.
And a Converse High Top Brand Shoes with like a picture of One of the Sammy Keyes books on it is cool because its all personalized and all that stuff, I would definitely buy that to spread around the Sammy Keyes pride.
Oh and Sammy Keyes Posters like how they have those Junkie posters for Twilight (UGH) and other stuff well I think that'll spread Sammy Keyes stuff.
Or you could come to my school in Sunnyvale California and talk about Sammy Keyes?
Haha Just Kidding.... :)

Pooja D. said...

Oh and in school I tell everyone about you like I yell out randomly that Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crashers is coming out waay better than Twilight Garbage GO BUY It! And stuff.
And in the movie theaters my friends dragged me to New Moon in the Beginning of the movie I was all like Sammy Keyes Rules!!!! Go Buy Sammy Keyes 13!!! Yay!
Yeah I was surprised I didn't get kicked out.
Hmmm... Oh yeah and on my high tops I wrote SK #13 so hopefully that'll have some impact! :)

Anonymous said...

Or, being the music-obsessed geek that I am, you could make an iSammy iPod playlist? On a seperate blog or website. Em... yeaah =) That would be amazing. Speaking of which, I think I should do that on my SKfan blog right naowww :)

Anonymous said...

Oh and not just iSammy. You should do all the main characters.
Just a suggestion!
Xo

Anonymous said...

I had a dream last night that I had a preview of SK & the Wedding Crashers! Unfortunately, I woke up before I could read it. I'm really disappointed. I was looking forward to reading that all night.

Anonymous said...

Woah! Levina, the same thing happened to me for Cold Hard Cash! But in my dream, i was actually reading the preview. Of course the preview in my dream was totally different than the real book when it came out lol. I'm not pyshic hahaa xD

Pooja D. said...

To xxCammyLoverxx and Levina, I feel the same way every night before I sleep. LOL! :)

Tracy Marchini said...

Hi Wendelin!

What about:

-some sort of funny Sammy Keyes/Wedding related video that could go up on YouTube, etc. (I haven’t read WEDDING CRASHERS yet… but I’m sure there’s a scene in the book that would be great for this!)

-Publicity materials that look like wedding invites. “You are Cordially Invited to join Sammy Keyes…” etc. Send in the RSVP card for a special (something?)

-Also, now that RH is doing iphone apps for some of its best-sellers, why not build an iPhone app that celebrates all the Sammy Keyes books? Perhaps an “A to Z of Sammy Keyes” with an exclusive “bonus chapter” for Wedding Crashers?

-Or, an augmented reality iPhone application, where the user holds up their iPhone and it transposes the world of Sammy Keyes onto the image of their own street! If you turn the iPhone, you see more of Sammy’s world as if you are standing in it!

Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

Also, you could put make a poster with collage pictures from the book and quotes from the book and stuff. ;)
Xo

Pooja D. said...

:)
Hmmm.. I'm kind of stuck.
See if Sammy Keyes becomes too popular kids can photo-shop the book covers and make them showing hatred to the Sammy Keyes series like how some people did to the Twilight Books (not that I dis-agree with Twilight haters)!!
So yeah.
But more and more people will like Sammy Keyes because its going to become more popular.
Which is AWESOMELY FANTASTIC!

neonina05 said...

Haha. It's really a pity, but no. Charm bracelets really aren't in style -- you're right. :/

I like the idea of shoelaces. I don't know who started it, but that would be like original and something anyone could do.

As for the problem of distributing the beads, or charms, or whatever would be used, it could all be sold on amazon, or maybe you could get a page on your website labeled "merchandise". I've seen plenty of less/more popular authors than you go crazy selling hoodies, T-shirts, jewelry, hats, etc. to advertise their books while at the same time keeping their readers satisfied until the new book comes along.

The problem with a merchandise page or amazon is that it wouldn't be free, which was -- from what I can tell -- your intention.

Hope this helps. =) It's fun to think about.

Lastly, tweeting would be AWESOME! I'm not all that in to twitter, but it's a great technique to boost popularity, and besides, who would pass up the chance to read comments from Sammy, Casey, and Heather? NOT ME!

P.S. Whatever happened to Dot? My sister and I were talking the other night and we were wondering why she hasn't appeared in the books since Mustache Mary -- or at least not with a big role like the rest of Sammy's friends.

Anonymous said...

You know how you said the 13th book was special? :P Well I thought of a good reason :] is it sort of because Sammy repeated her 13th year?
I know its dumb, but.. I was thinking. So thats why I thought maybe it would be good to bring up, because it could *spark* some ideas. :)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays! *2 more days! You should post an entry on Sunday about your Christmas. We all still care about whats going on in your life! :]*
Xo,
xxCLxx

Anonymous said...

WHOA! I want Sammy Keyes shoelaces! I swear, I would never complain about my running shoes again lol. Though I don't think including a free gift with a book is going to help much. (that includes the charm bracelet and the leather band) That's not going to tell a lot of people about SK; it's going to get the people who DO know about it to want the book (a little) more.
If you really want to include a free gift, I think it should be something that appeals to all ages. A bookmark? Maybe. I don't know if a free bookmark makes people want to buy a book more.

You know, I helped spread the word simply by recommending a SK book yo one of my (popular) friends. I'm sure she'll like it. And since she knows a lot of people, she might tell them about Sammy herself!

Or...maybe a commercial? (There's a stupid idea for you) That would REALLY get people's attention, which is why I'm suggesting it. I know commercials cost a lot. Even an ad on a popular website, like Twitter, would help.

I remember once Eric Walters came to my school. He talked about his books, and for months people were buying them, checking them out from the library. They knew about them...because he told them about them. So the best way to get people interested in Sammy would be...to tell them how awesome she is! And there's gotta be a million ways to do that, isn't there?

An SK fansite! with games and blogging. How about that?

Anonymous said...

And songs! And songs! Lol, I finally got aroundto posting my Fanfics. :) I make drabbles and I just made one for asong called Love Drunk by Boys Like Girls. Love Drunk is my favorite song and I'm gonna post the SK Drabble on Fanfic tomorrow. :) I'm BaddaBam-AlexIzHerrre on FF! Your fansite could have songs! If it doesnt, I'll cr xC I'm obsessed with music so much I think I'm kill myself if I could never listen to it or write it again. :)
"I used to be love drunk, But now I'm hungover, I love you forever, Forever is over. We used to kiss all night, Now its just a bar fight, Girl dont call me crying, Say hello to goodbye."
Hope our ideas help! I like that everyone is connecting to each other's ideas and grouping them and helping each other out.
I think, by far, this team wins. Epic.

Xo

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Whitted Family said...

Wow there are a lot of comments!!! I had a few ideas!!! I was thinking that you could have some of those little pins/buttons that some people have on their purses and on them have stuff like I <3 Casey Acosta and cool Sammy quotes!! My other idea was that you have a drawing or an essay contest like xxCammyLoverxx said..... but have the grand prize be all the Sammy Keyes books plus the new and all of them could be signed by you and/or maybe just have the signed Wedding Crashers be the grand prize or the other smaller prize. Anyway those were my ideas. Hope they help a little! Kailey
P.S. Oh and I like the shoelaces idea! That sounds really cool!

Anonymous said...

I love The Whitted Family's idea! The contest could also be a drawing one! Oh, and that leads to more ideas... You could have a fan art section of your website or blog or whatever new website you'd make, and we (the fans) could send in drawing of how me imagine Sammy (and other characters to look) and you guys at RH can post them on the website. It wouldnt be a 'prize' but it would be really cool for the fans to see their drawing on the website! :)
Xo

Pooja D. said...

Merry Christmas Sammy Lovers and Casey Lovers! :)


Happy Holidays, too! :)

Pooja D. said...

Merry Christmas Sammy Lovers and Casey Lovers! :)


Happy Holidays, too! :)

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

Wow! I leave for a few days and come home to this flurry of comments. How nice! It's Christmas Eve and I still have wrapping to do, so I'm going to have to read them more carefully later (first chance I get, though!), but meanwhile, I want to thank you for your ideas and comments and wish all of you a merry, magical Christmas!
Sending out holiday hugs,
Wendelin

Anonymous said...

Feliz Navidad! haha, Merryyy Christmas to you too. :] i'm still learning Spanish ;)
xo

Unknown said...

I like all the ideas, the shoelace, the website, the twitters, everything. Except I think that the charm bracelet idea should be just a keychain, like take the charm and put it on a keychain.

Also, an idea is a keychain mini book with the same exact cover as the 13th book, except that maybe it might have an extra that says like "your own thoughts" because on the inside it could be all blank, just for someone to write they're favorite quote or something. (Sorry, this is a terrible idea, and it's not very economical either.)

Also, they're could be a sort of like "pass-around" book sorta thing. Maybe it could be just like the mini book idea thingy except on a larger scale, and on the inside it has the address of a certain place and it would work like this: Someone buys the book, and writes in it, writes either a continuation of the rest of the book sort of idea, or sort of fanfiction stories, or like some kind of thought of the book. After they're done, they leave it somewhere else visible to wait for another person to take it (for example, leaving it at the airport, so someone can leave with it) and so on, until the book is filled. Then the book could be sent to the address ( i have no idea what it would be) and it could be like read through. Sorry!!!!! THis idea makes no sense it seems like, and is really bad + non-economical. I'm just posting it cause......I dont' know.

Also maybe a "message in the bottle" type of thing. There would be a small (maybe mini) plastic bottle attached to a key chain, and inside could have something exclusive, like an author's signature (heheh) and maybe a sneak peak quote from the 13th book on a slip of paper inside the bottle. and then maybe filled with other goodies. I'm sorry, this idea is terrible too.........


Anyway, I really like everyone's ideas on this and I love the Sammy Keyes boo........A LOT! (like everyone else) So thanks soooooo much Wendelin! :D (I wonder if there is ever the chance that fans get to read the unpublished yet book.......and read the edited versions and things like that.....hehehe....)

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Unknown said...

Oops sorry, in my last post, I typed a lot of "also"'s. And I meant Sammy Keyes boo*ks*not boo.
And I know they're probably a lot of typos, sorry I was rushing.

The Whitted Family said...

Hope everyone has an awesome Christmas!!! Kailey

Anonymous said...

It's Christmas day and I'm so bored...My family isn't Christian so we basically spent all day eating and watching TV and reading. I know atheists celebrate Christmas too, and we would...If all the stores and restaurants in our area weren't closed.

I wonder what Sammy's doing right now?

Hope everyone else is having fun

Mry X-Mas =)

Anonymous said...

I cant wait for the book of Sammy's eight grade Christmas. Its my favorite holiday, and if Casey and Sammy DO finally kiss in SK 13, then the Christmas book would be so cute haha if they got each other gifts! Kind of like that new SK fanfic for Secret Santa's where Casey got Sammy haha. Anyways, hope everyone had happy holidays! I know *I* did! Tomorrow our family and the guests who are staying over are going to go alllll over Chicago (we live there) and then watch 2 movies (Avatar and Sherlock Holmes.. Sammy is *so* much better lol haha) and then go around practically the whole state of northern Illinois. And THEN arrive back home to go to dinner at a friend's house. Talk about a day! All I really wish for next Christmas, though, is for SK 13 to come over before June or May becaue if it comes out later I'm going to literally burst. I think to contain myself while waiting this blog is GREAT. :] It really helps fulfill my NFSK (need for SK) lol. So, WVD, hope you had a Merrrryyyy Christmas :]
Oh, and another suggestion: You guys at RH could make a boxed-set SK thing from books 1-13. I think someone already said that though but I totally forgot.
Oh? And I know this is random but people on FF say Sammy's dad is Officer Borsch. I think its..
BRANDON!
Okay, okay, okay, okay. No I dont lol. But I just dont think its Officer Borsch. I'm a bad guesser.. :\ Lol.
And.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS! Merry Christmas! Happy Almost-2010! Sammy's 12th year of being written right? Or 13th? Or 11th? I forgot...
Bye!
Xo

Anonymous said...

PS- Woah! I comment a LOT! Maybe its cuz I'm your bigest fan ever? *tries to act calm and collected*
Oh well! Cant wait til you pick the Fan-Quote thing! If I did get to be on it then [insert happy blubbering].
:]
Xo

Unknown said...

Hey Wendelin! I hope you had a good Christmas because I had a blast =D!!
I like the shoelaces idea the most and the idea about the contest for the autographed books is cool too! Too bad I can't draw!

Anonymous said...

On my new Mac!! anyways tomrrow new blog post! an using the mac is so much easier than my phone cuz thats what i usually use=]

Anonymous said...

Hai! I just thought I'd be that 40th comment. Happy Saturday-afternoon! And almost 2010. ;D

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

Okay! I've had a chance to read over all the comments and suggestions--thank you all so much for your input! I'll share the ideas with the people at Random House after the first of the year and see where it take us. It looks like shoelaces is the hands-down winner among this group, but there are some other excellent ideas presented--I'll let you know as things progress, and please do chime in with new ideas if you come up with any.

And now for some miscellaneous answers / comments:

Male fans. Yes, lots of them actually. (Which is why a leather band seemed cool.) I think they're looking for a girl like Sammy. Gives me hope for this world!

RE: Dot! My son says the same thing! "Why is she even in the books?" Well, gee. She is in Wedding Crasher (no "S" on the title), although not in a big way, but come the next December book (2 books from now) she will have a BIG role. I love Dot 'cause she's sweet (and Dutch, which I am, too).

I do school visits a lot--some schools have the budget to bring in authors, lots don't (especially now, with budget cuts, etc.). Get your school to do the Exercise the Right to Read program and you might win one! (Really, check out the website--it's a cool program.)

Tracy--you are so cutting edge! I need a translation sometime!!

Thank you for saying you wanted to know about my Christmas. That's part of why I wrote this week's entry (Ghost of Christmas Past).

Also, the music thing--my husband, sons and I have a rock band (if you can believe that!) and we're putting the finishing tracks on a new song. I'm thinking about sending y'all a link to our "secret site" when it's uploaded 'cause I think you'd think it was fun even if rock isn't your thing. I wonder if you'd think my songs would belong on Sammy's playlist :-)!!!

All for now--thanks again for all the comments -- you "guys" are great!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to go check out the ETRTR website right now so maybe I can reccomend it to our school :] I know exactly what teacher would wanna help me out. :]

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

The right teacher makes ALL the difference. I have met some of the best teachers through this program. Their enthusiasm is amazing (and the results are impressive, to say the least). Lots of "what worked for us" suggestions on the site. The whole "School Program" portion is chock full of good (free!) stuff. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, he's a great teacher. This year he worked on programs for alzheimers, he did a "Memory Walk" for the school to walk a whole mile wearing purple clothes for alzeimers on a saturday and donate money. He was *really* enthusiatsic so I hope he will be for this too :]

Michael Cotter said...

i live for these books and 13 is my lucky number so the idea of there being a collecting item in this book is amazing. i like the bracelet idead, but as a boy i know that its not exactly the most unisex idea. the shoelaces are a good idea that also tie well to sammy. i personally think that it would be cool if you gave out a Sammy Keyes membership card that could link to a new site with sammy. or if you could give out the rubber "livestrong" bracelets. they were popular and unisex. also i think it would be amazing to get "tweets" from sammy, marissa, holly, dot, even heather. that would be a fun way to "keep up to date" with the characters.

Keep writing as amazingly as you do!

your #1 fan

Michael [mjcdotty@sbcglobal.net]

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

Thank you, Michael! Welcome to The Tank :-)