A Guest Post by Daisy Whitney

Today is my (14th) birthday! In honor of this occasion I have one of my favorite people here with a guest post, Daisy Whitney. Enjoy!

If Life Were Like a Musical

As a lover of old Broadway, I've been known to break out in song many times throughout the day. I sing to my dog, to my kids, and yes, sometimes to the teapot. But mostly to myself.

Which is why I don't understand when people who don't like musicals criticize them on account of them not being realistic. They say "But people just don't break out in song every day."

Fine, people don't usually outrun assassins, rocket to Mars or perform spells every day either. But we still enjoy movies, books and TV shows on those topics.

Breaking out in song is actually much easier than any of the above. In fact, even the most mundane things in life can be sung about. You can break out in song any day, even an average ordinary day when all you do is walk the dog and make the toast and wait for the post....

Here we go....

Morning, I wake up I yawn once,

And it's time to walk the dog

So I say get up, dog! Get up!

But she just lies there, lies like there like a log!

A log!

A sleeping frog!

A frog on a log in a bog!

A dog log!

You're not a frog dog!

C'mon Dog!

Or we'll blog dog!

There! She's up now

A stretch, a shake, she's wide awake and FRISKY!

Oh so frisky!

Then we walk so so briskly

And you want to know the best part of the walk?

It's that the dog doesn't talk...

And she also doesn't talk back,

Oh no, she doesn't talk back,

She doesn't talk back.

Not so hard, is it? Throw in a few hip shimmies for good measure and you're getting there. Then it's time for breakfast and doesn't yummy food make you want to sing!

Toast!

Toast!

You might say it's just crispy bread

But toast to me is true luxury

It's warm and crunchy

And the butter oozes through

And it goes with so many other things too

Like yummy peanutbutter

And oh so luscious honey

Swirl them both together

It's almost like edible money...

(aside) But it tastes good!

Then I sort of jete over to my desk and do some work. But by mid-afternoon it's time to sing again. Because that's when the mailman comes and what promise does the mailman bring? Of that let us sing....

It's that time of day

The possibility of pay

Oh mailman, please bring me a check...

Today can only get better

If I see dollars signs in a letter

Oh mailman please bring a check

Please say you've got one today

I filed the invoice in October and now it's May!

Which means it's really time to pay, wouldn't you say?

With checks

Yes

Please checks

those lovely slips of paper

cash them into dollars

today, and not tomorrows

Oh mailman please bring me a check

But when I open the mailbox

I still can't buy new socks...

Because the mailman brought no check.....

See? Why don't you try it today? Just burst out in song and see if it doesn't make your day go better even if the checks don't come...


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Thank you Daisy!
Daisy Whitney is the author of The Mockingbirds, which is coming out November 2010, you should buy it.

Books You Should Read (both now and in the future)

Hey everyone! I'm here compiling a list of some of my favorite books that are already out and that have yet to come out. I would also like to share them with you. So, here we go-


Already Out
The Naughty List by Suzanne Young
So Many Boys by Suzanne Young
Any book by David Levithan.
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
Sea by Heidi R. Kling
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
and many more, there may even be a second part to this list at some point.

Not Out Yet
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney*
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn**
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer***
I probably forgot some books, sorry. My mind is kind of everywhere today.

*An amazing book. Too amazing to believe. Daisy let me borrow an early copy of it, and I was the first teen to read it. (Thanks Daisy!) When this book comes out, you should get a copy as soon as possible.

** Do I need a reason? Rachel Cohn and David Levithan are one of the best writing duo's ever. This book takes place in New York and starts in a bookshop. So basically, I was in love.

*** Nightshade is emotional and has action and werewolves, which are all good things in my book. It was also unbelievably addicting.

Palooza Music Day 2 *not actually music, but still awesome*

Today I only have one video to show you. It's from Josh Berks Master Berk Theater. He is reading a passage from The Naughty List #2 (So Many Boys).

A Guest Post by Khy!

This guest post is by Khy of Frenetic Reader.

TOP FIVE REASONS TOAST AND I LOVE DAVID

(or at least my top 5)

1. His books make my ~heart sing and dance~ Even when they're totally depressing (Love is the Higher Law) I feel happy when they're over. They're just so beautiful and lovely and smart that I can't help but feel happy when they're over.

2. His books are always different even if sometimes multiple books feature similar elements (like a nauseatingly happy ending.) He's able to be creative with all his books. His half of Will Grayson, Will Grayson are written in all lowercase letters to reflect his character's view of the internet and such (he puts it better than I do).

3. He's the only author I don't want to stop reading at book signings. Usually author readings make me want to fall asleep but he's the best reader ever.

4. He is always insanely nice, even to people like me, who wear clothing inspired by his books, like a creeper.

5. Because he's amazing. End of story.

Palooza Music Day 1 *Jonathan Groff edition*

Sarah and I decided to also post video's of some of our favorite song(s) every day on our blogs as a part of our Birthday Pallooza.
Today I am sharing with you two of the most beautiful songs I have heard. They are sung by none other than Jonathan Groff, Jesse St. James from Glee and Melchoir from Spring Awakening on Broadway.
He sings both songs with amazing intensity and emotion.



Song Title- Now


Song Title- Sailing

Birthday Pallooza Giveaway!

The first givewaway for Birthday Pallooza consists of the winner receiving-

1 signed copy of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer *this book is beyond amazing*
1 signed copy of Fairest of Them All by Jan Blazanin

To enter this giveaway, all you need to do is fill out the form below.
You don't get any extra entries for being a follower or linking, but I appreciate it if you are/do both.

A Guest Post by Sarah!

This is a guest post written by Sarah of Sarah's Random Musings.


When I got sick, I lost most of my friends. They didn’t want to deal with the drama that an illness has with it or all of the pain and anguish that you suffer. Especially when you have to deal with relearning to walk and many other things. I found the book blogging community about eighteen months after being so sick, and after a month I got my first follower. Her name was Zoë Alea. I was like wow, someone likes what I have to say. I started getting emails from Zoë later that month, asking questions and such. Then I got addicted to Twitter and started talking to her. A little over a year ago, we both got Skype and swapped cell phone numbers. We have talked hundreds of hours through calls, IM, and random texts. I am glad to call her one of my best friends that I have ever had.
Seriously I honestly don’t know what I would do with out Zoë. She is very sweet and nice. She is also not afraid to be honest when you ask for it. She is my personal cheerleader, when it comes to writing and other things like getting better. She also has a lot of the same interests that I have. Zoë loves Doctor Who, Musicals, Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and books. I actually introduced her to Doctor Who, which she loves a lot.
Anyways, I hope that you have an amazing birthday and that it is full of fun and happiness. I can’t wait to meet you later this summer. We can fangirl David Tennant and Jonathon Groff in person and search for books at Powells. I also wish you luck with your freshmen year and have tons of crazy fun in High School.

Birthday Palooza (what it's about)

These next two weeks are going to be pretty busy on Zoe's Book Reviews. In honor of Sarah's birthday(25rd of June) and my birthday(17th of June), both of us are having tons of guest posts on our blog's for two weeks. We are calling this the Birthday Palooza.
There will be a few contests, occasional reviews, and a lot of guest posts. A shindig of book sorts. So, grab some cotton candy and enjoy the palooza!