There's a lot of stressful stuff going on here this week. It has me in a time crunch...but there's always time to give away something, right?
So...who wants Listening Library's newly released Flipped audio book?
It's six CDs in a nifty case and it's been awarded an AudioFile Magazine Earphone Award, which means that Tara Sands (who voiced Juli's parts) and Ryan Gesell (who did the voice of Bryce) are amazing in this...and they are!
Closing things out on Disc 6 is the new bonus material, which addresses demands for a sequel, and shares some behind the scenes stuff about the book-to-movie experience.
Since I wrote that part for the anniversary edition like a long letter to my readers, Listening Library thought it would make sense to have it narrated by, well, me, which I wrote about back in November.
I was afraid to listen to that part, but today I finally did. And you know what?
I made myself laugh a few times!
So that's a good, right?
If you want to enter the drawing, all you have to do is leave a comment at this post (below) where you share one of your favorite scenes or a quote from ANY of my books. It doesn't have to be long or fancy--just tell me what made you laugh, cry, think, whatever. If you have two favorites, leave two separate comments, but no more than two entries per person. It'll be fun for me to see what resonated with you, so please do enter!
Deadline is midnight (PST) on Friday, March 10th. I'll print the comments, cut them into strips, and pick a winner "from the hat." The winner will be announced right here next weekend and I'll get that person's mailing address afterwards via email. (Due to shipping complications, USA residents only, sorry!)
Oh, and you know me -- I'll cram the box full of an assortment of signed books, and I'll make sure that a copy of the Flipped anniversary edition is among them.
Thanks for checking in and for playing along. Good luck, and I'll see you in the comments!
31 comments:
OMG, it has to be when Juli overhears Bryce and his best friend busting on Juli's institutionalized uncle. Coward!
I still love the Party scene from Sammy Keyes, it really captured the feeling of many a party I went to and left. I loved Sammy's practical and simple way to view the stupid things some teens do.
Hi Wendelin!
I hope your week isn't too stressful! This is such a fun contest though--its hard to choose just two scenes!! To help myself, I decided to choose scenes from non-Sammy books, because they are just as much fun and just as powerful in my life as Sammy is.
One of my favorite scenes from your books is when Jessica tells Rosa her plan to race with her--to help her across the finish line. I used to read The Running Dream every cross country season, because it really gets what running is, what it requires, and what it gives back to you. Now that I'm (a little) older, this scene really resonates with me. It's not the act of crossing the line that matters, its the fact that she was willing to try.
Leah Lam
And since you said we could post two...
"Scraps of love
torn and tattered,
faded, scattered
trashed
threads of hope
frayed and tangled
broken, mangled
dashed
backing buttons
yarn and batting
quilting tenderly
wrapped up in
this warm repair
my patchwork family"
Runaway, pg 242.
My little sister and I cried our eyes out when we read this book together, mostly because the poems were so heartfelt that we felt like we were in Holly's shoes. Your poetry skills are just as good as your story telling :)
Leah Lam
The first book I ever read of yours was Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception. The scene that made me fall in love was when Sammy first sees the painting at the gallery. Her reaction to it made me want to know more about her and her relationship with her mother, since I was coming in midseries.
For the second: Dot's dream about Holly in the Sisters of Mercy. Where she's on one side of the glass door and they can't open it. I remember being really affected by that description and ended up writing a (bad haha) poem inspired by it. It's one of the scenes I remember the clearest from the series, even though it's really just a little blurb said by Dot. It stood out to me, and I think it really captures that feeling of seeing someone needs help and feeling like even when you're trying you're not succeeding in helping them. Really great metaphor/dream symbolism.
I really enjoyed the character Rosa in The Running Dream. I like how you addressed her disability but still made her a strong and smart girl. She gave Jessica a friend and hope when she needed it most.
the scene in flipped where Bryce finds out he had the cord wrapped twice around his neck and could've ended up in the same condition as Julie's uncle.
In Shredderman when the series bully Bubba decides he wants to be a sidekick instead. It shows how people can change and deserve second chances.
There are so many scenes in your novels that are important to me but the escape scene in Snake Eyes is a scene in a book that I know will stay with me forever. The girls had so much bravery in this scene and I honestly do not believe that there will never be a better bad guy take down than cementing him in a wheelbarrow. This book had so much in it that made me think, that still makes me think. Sammy was so brave in situations where I would have no clue what to do. I mean she took in and took care of a child and found the man who kip napped the child's mother, who was a major drug dealer. Sammy does an insane amount of brave things during the series, but I don't think anything matches what she does here. She is held at gunpoint, but she still takes the man down. Man oh, man, these books are truly something.
The second scene that has stayed with me is when Rose passes away and leaves Sammy the box of money to help pay for college. I read this at a major turning point in my life and the letter Rose wrote for Sammy really hit home. If I was at home I would put some quotes for it in, but the wording of it really resonated with me. Even as an eighth grader Sammy was having the same thoughts that I was having, a high school junior, and I connected to it. Also at the same time my grandfather had just passed away so with Rose passing and the thinking about college I don't think I had ever cried this much while reading a Sammy Keyes book. There are so much from these books, all of your books, that have resonated with me. I think I am going to have to do a re-read of the series over Spring Break, I just miss them all so much.
I hope everyone has a glorious week!
Kylie
The Running Dream--ALL OF IT, but especially how real her journey through the stages of grieving was. I love the message of hope that we CAN keep on trying and keep on fighting and find something to work towards. I have read the book many times, but the time it really really spoke to me was after I had a bad miscarriage a few years ago. I journeyed through the grief right along with Jessica and it felt like when she started coming out of her low point, I finally truly started healing myself too. Incidentally, starting to run again after months of weakening morning sickness and then the final blood loss really made the journey with Jessica so powerful for me. I may have just convinced myself to go back and read it again! And all of my Wendelin books, as I call them. They take up a satisfyingly long section of my overflowing bookshelves. :)
And for another memory, I really enjoyed laughing about Bubba's Big Butt on the worldwide web with my 7 year old son.
I was delighted to hear granddaughter Madison ask why the bird was upside-down on Flipped. That is a GREAT question from a 5-year-old!
Oh, wow. These comments. I thought I was giving something away, but it turns out I'm the one getting gifts. Thank you for this happy heart!
How am i supposed to pick only two. First, there's 18 sammy keyes books and i have at least 20 scenes in each so this is cruel but I'll try.
I think I might have to pick a Cammy scene just because theyre too cute not too. 99% of my favorite Cammy scenes revolve around... feet??? From tying the horseshoe on her hitops to giving her his socks while they were backpacking. But COOL YOUR HEELS. That is iconic. Also when Sammy drooled on Casey's leg. You had me laughing and cringing on her behalf but it was worth it when Casey peeled her hands away from her face and they just stood there. Man wild things is my favorite. I know these don't have to be long but I can't help it.
I'm coming back for a second moment once I figure one out.
Yusa
I just read some of the comments and scenes in Running Dream and Runaway are also so dear to me, but it's been a while since I read them, so I'm gonna stick to Sammy Keyesta for now.
Dead Giveaway when at the end they went to the dance and sang in the limo and were pirates and when ice blocking down a hill in a graveyard. It was just such a nice scene. All of it. I mean they were so happy and chill.... until the dead body that is. And that scene had a lot of my favorite characters like Billy, Sammy, Casey, Marissa, almost the whole gang, ya know.
Well this is my second post. But I could write something about every scene. Maybe another time. Thanks for Sammy and Runaway and Flipped and the Running Dream and all the others...
Yusa
P.S. finished Lincoln Jones!! loved it
I love the fist couple of chapters of Flipped where Julie falls head over heels in love with Bryce and poor Bryce is like ???? I actually really love all of flipped, it is such a great story on so many levels.
Oh, I also love the scene where Julie decides to save her tree by not getting out (not the one where the bus kids are horrible), but her pluck and determination is so great.
Well, you know my first favorite has to be from the Running Dream. Really, that entire work is so inspirational, so cathartic, so hope-giving... But if I had to pick one scene, it's where Jessica was in the race, talking about how she was making it through "step by step by step by step."
When I finished reading the book, I put the book down and had the courage to try running again (after years of dealing with patellar tendonitis, the latest in a series of knee injuries since high school, including two surgeries), literally taking it "step by step," only running twenty steps that first day.
My journey back to fitness hasn't been easy. It's been riddled with setbacks, but each time I focus on what I can still do, pay attention to the progress I've made from my new "starting line" so I don't get discouraged. And right now, I'm preparing to "Conquer the Gauntlet," a four-mile, twenty-five-obstacle race (in May) in preparation for applying to be on American Ninja Warrior.
Even if I never get to be ANW-strong, I'm already stronger and fitter than I ever hoped to be again, thanks to the Running Dream. That book is proof that you really can put hope in a box. Because for me, the Running Dream "made me believe that there's nothing I can't do. [It was] my new starting line."
Okay, I was supposed to end it there, with that killer line of Wendelin's, but writing this has made me cry tears of gratitude, so I need to say thank you (again and again and again). Wendelin, I don't know if you'll ever truly understand how much you have changed lives with your writing. Thank you. Thank you. Go raibh céad míle maith agat. A hundred thousand thank yous.
Since my last comment was long, I'll cover my favorite funny moments in this one: pretty much any bad guy takedown in Sammy Keyes, from the dumpster dive to the toasterman, from delivering them with a crash at the police station to wheelbarrow butt... Sammy has the best baddie takedowns of any detective.
One of the most impactful comments from Runaway was after Holly forgives her mom.
"I had a talk with my mom last night. I don't know if she heard me, but I felt like she did. I told her I was sorry and inside I believe that she's sorry too.
I cried a lot while I was talking to her but you know what?
Today I feel kind of peaceful inside.
Like the calm after a big storm. "
I love love love love love the Running Dream. It was one of the things that inspired me to join my school's cross country team, which was one of the best decisions of my life. It's my go-to book for birthday gifts. I just love that book so much. My favorite part of the book is probably when she decided to race with Rosa. It's just such a beautiful idea and then she goes and does it and I don't know I just love it and it makes me cry every time.
I don't know about favorite (there's too many to choose just two), but I have to highlight the scene in Dead Giveaway where Sammy confesses to Marissa. It is so well written - every time I read it I can feel Sammy's anguish, how desperate she is to fix the mess she's in without any idea how to do it. And then Marissa's just like, "well duh, you have to tell her!" Problems all feel so big from inside them, and sometimes it just takes a trusted friend to reveal the obvious.
It’s funny, because this should be so easy, but it’s really hard to pick just one favorite quote or scene because I have so many favorites (a hazard of reading all your books I guess!). I think one of my answers has to be from Flipped, when Juli talks about what drew her to Bryce and she says “It's his eyes. Something in his eyes. They're blue, and framed in the blackness of his lashes, they're dazzling. Absolutely breathtaking.” That quote is funny because, at the time that the book came out, I had a huge crush on a boy with eyes just like that (and his eyes were part of the appeal). I remember my best friend (who also read the book) laughing about how accurate that quote was to my own situation.
As for my 2nd favorite, I wish I could answer that the entire Sammy Keyes series is my favorite scene/moment, because I enjoyed every minute of the series ever since I discovered them in 5th grade. The entirety of Sammy Keyes and the Kiss Goodbye made me cry; as much as I didn’t want the series to end, I sat down and read the entire book the day it came out, and I was in tears through most of it. I loved how many things came full circle, so I guess my favorite moment is the very end, where the book ends with a wave, which is perfect because that’s how the series started.
I finally decided what to give as my second favorite moment, though they are so different it is hard to compare. I absolutely love the story of Julianna and the sycamore tree. I can just see the sunrise through the branches, the whole so much more than the sum of the parts. I cried with Julianna when it was cut, because I am that weirdo who sits up in trees and begs others to join me, to catch a glimpse of the beauty I see.
From Sammy: her thoughts while searching for a certain small Runaway Elf. You share details of her thinking, which makes me feel I am thinking right along with (but with keener observational skills and more humor!). Sammy’s thinking about and with Elyssa, about Mrs. Graybill, and in the final chapter is memorable. The last chapter makes me think of an iconic chapter yet to be published. Runaway Elf is the point in Sammy (for me) where the series transcended mystery, and become something far more powerful.
From Sammy again: in Showdown in Sin City, the amazing resolution of many series-long mysteries. I thought about this section today, found a library copy, and found someone else’s bookmark left behind as this section starts. As Sammy is getting to her lowest point—her thinking and actions from there. The compassion and insight (and the humor) are so memorable for so long… right through the end of the book. The conversation with Candi. The Elvis Army. The showdown that becomes… something else. Reopening any of your books and resuming from any page is easy… putting them down again is not.
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