Archives at Zinester: October (short!) newsletter from YABC. Young Adult & Kid's Books Central. Books & Publishing

Okay, this is going to be a short newsletter because I honestly didn't realize I hadn't sent an October one until I just took a gander at the newsletter archive for a completely different reason! Ack! I guess vacation (we went to Scotland) completely put it out of my mind! So this will be just an abbreviated version so that I can announce the monthly newsletter winners (you actually had a chance for extra entries for the October Boy Book contest earlier, so at least I don't have to feel bad about that). I promise there will be a normal November newsletter, one way or another (though the details on how to get an extra entry for the contest are already below....hint, hint)!

Alan Gratz was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the 1982 World's Fair. After enjoying a carefree but humid childhood, Alan attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing, and, later, a Master's degree in English education.

In addition to writing plays, magazine articles, and a few episodes of A&E's City Confidential, Alan has taught catapult-building to middle-schoolers, written more than 6,000 radio commercials, sold other people's books, lectured at a Czech university, and traveled the galaxy as a space ranger. (One of those is not true.)

Samurai Shortstop (Dial 2006) is his first book. He is also the author of the forthcoming Something Rotten, a contemporary young adult murder mystery based on "Hamlet" (Dial, 2007) as well as an untitled generational baseball novel for middle grade readers (Dial 2009).

You can read my full review of Samurai Shortstop at YABC or check out the author's website.

Without further ado...the winner is...Jennifer Wilker! If you're the lucky one, send me an e-mail with your address and I'll get your prize out to you!

Free Books, Free Books, Free Books!

If you were paying attention, you already know that the October publisher-sponsored giveaway was for E. Lockhart's The Boy Book and that YABC had a special Lemony Snicket giveaway to boot.

In November, we've got a hot new title to giveaway: Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's Haters. It's been marketed as "chica-lit" (i.e. chick-lit with a Latina take), but there's lots going on in this book you don't normally see in chick-lit. You can check out my full review or just go ahead and enter the contest.

Want an extra entry? E-mail me at kim@yabookscentral.com with the subject line "Haters Extra Entry" and you're in like Flynn!

This Month's Prize Bucket Winner

So...the Prize Bucket winner for this month's newsletter is...Patr?cia Almeida! If you're the lucky winner, just email me with your top 3 picks from the Prize Bucket and your address! That's it! Couldn't be easier!