Book Dreaming is just that. It’s a feature I use to highlight those books that make you dreamy or possibly just end up making you dream about them. It could be anything from newly released books to one’s that are already out that I can’t get out of my head to those I can’t seem to get my hands on soon enough!

Today’s Book Dreaming pick is Shadows of the Silver Screen by Christopher Edge. Last week I had the opportunity to share my review for the first book in this series, Twelve Minutes to Midnight. It was an incredible read and one I cannot wait to read more of. Christopher Edge is new to the middle grade novel scene and the Twelve Minutes to Midnight series is an absolute favorite of mine. As soon as I finished the first book I immediately asked if there was more and there is!

Publishers Summary for Shadows of the Silver Screen:
A mysterious filmmaker approaches The Penny Dreadful with a proposal to turn Montgomery Flinch’s sinister stories into motion pictures. With Monty installed as the star of his production, filming begins but is plagued by a series of strange and frightening events. As Monty pleads with Penny to help him, she is drawn into the mystery, but soon finds herself trapped in a nightmare penned by her own hand. Can Penny uncover the filmmaker’s dark secret before it’s too late?

Here are the upcoming release dates for the series (Remember this is a UK based series currently, so if you live in the US you’ll have to pick it up off of somewhere like Book Depository.):
Twelve Minutes to Midnight (The 1st in the series): February 2nd, 2012
Shadows of the Silver Screen (#2): August 2nd, 2012
The Black Crow Conspiracy (#3): January 10th, 2013

Pre-order Twelve Minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge at the following spots:
Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Shadows of the Silver Screen by Christopher Edge is not yet available for pre-order. It’s not even on Goodreads yet! But can be found on the Nosy Crow website. As soon as it is I’ll update this post with the info!

Today’s post is part of our month long celebration of all things Nosy Crow. Make sure to stop by the Nosy Crow site for more information about this title and more. For more information about our Book Publishers 101 feature take a look at this month’s opening post.

Also be sure to enter our Nosy Crow Giveaway for a chance to win some fantastic titles by Nosy Crow!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Nosy Crow, for coordinating many of this month’s features and reviews! Connect with them on Twitter and on Facebook!
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our various affiliate relationships.

This is my first year participating in the Virtual Advent Tour hosted by Kailana from The Written World and Marg from Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. For those of you who may be wondering what all is involved in the tour, take a look…

The Virtual Advent tour first started when we pondered why should the kids get all the fun of opening a box on the advent calendar and finding a treat in there, and how could we have some blogging fun with a similar concept? So the Virtual Advent tour was born.

Each day anyone who wants to participate takes turns sharing a treat with our friends here in blogland. For example it could be something about your family traditions, recipes, your country’s holiday traditions, or a favourite Christmas memory, movie, book, song…anything you like. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas we would like to hear about what your family does during the holiday season, whether it be celebrating Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever it is that you do during this time.

As a parent I’ve rediscovered my childhood love of this fantastic holiday and sharing that new found joy sounded like a wonderful idea. Especially when it meant sharing with a huge group of bloggers that I’ve grown to love and admire over the last few years. Now the dilemma is what to share…after reading a few of the other posts I decided I’d share some of my favorite traditions and of course the ones I’m most looking forward to passing on to my children. So here goes!

Reading
This is an obvious one, but I’ve found an increased love of all things Christmas and bookish these past couple of years. First and foremost is the story as told directly from the King James version of the Bible of the Savior’s birth, which has been a Christmas Eve tradition in my family since I can remember. My husband grew up ringing the bell and reading The Polar Express and it has always been a tradition in my family to read The Night Before Christmas. My favorite version of The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore would have to be the one illustrated by Robert Ingpen. It’s gorgeous and captures the life of this wonderful story beautifully.

In addition to those two books I definitely plan to continue reading a few current favorites and add to those as the years go by. Yes, Virginia: There Is a Santa Claus by Chris Plehal and Illustrated by James Bernardin is one that we’ve been reading since last year and the entire family loves it. For me, it never fails to remind me of my mom who has always loved the phrase the book is named after. And don’t even get me started on the illustrations, they’re marvelous! Another favorite is actually a classic retold through the beautiful illustrations of Allison Jay, The Nutcracker. I’m a huge fan of Alison Jay’s and to have her illustrate such a beloved classic is beyond perfect. This is actually a story my children are already in love with and continue to ask to be read night after night.

Do you have any Christmas stories you love reading to your children? I’d love to add to our growing list!

Food
Without a doubt our family is a family of bakers. My husband loves to bake, but also loves the long list of holiday goodies I brought with me from my own family. From spritz cookies to log jams to a new cookie tradition, coconut cookies, there are so many that we’re all bound to gain a few pounds this coming season. Not to mention all the See’s Candies and Lindt truffles we will inevitably inhale over the next few weeks. I take leave of any and all dietary restrictions during the holidays and say to heck with it, I’ll start worry come the first of the new year!

Gifts
As our extended family grows the gifting has become tricky, but is still one of the things I most look forward to. A tradition I hope to continue from my grandparents was one that began with the decorating of their Christmas tree each year. Each of the grandchildren received a brand new, sometimes homemade, ornament to decorate my grandparent’s tree with. On Christmas day you could take it home or leave it for the following year, but by the time I was in my teens I had accumulated a nice collection. I hope that as my children grow up with their cousins that we will be able to start and continue a similar tradition.

Our other big gift tradition each year is called the “White Box” tradition. Each year before we open any of our other gifts we package and open a gift that is specifically for our Savior. It could be anything, a small toy or our time throughout the coming year, but it’s always meant to be something to give back to the person who has given us more than we could ever repay. It’s always been a tradition that’s helped me to center my thoughts on why I value the holiday and what it really means to me and my family. Christmas simply wouldn’t be the same without it.

So, what Christmas or holiday traditions do you celebrate? What are the traditions you value and hope to carry on to future generations?

Please make sure to stop by the Virtual Advent Tour site for the full list of participating sites and then make sure to visit my fellow bloggers for today!

I’m thrilled to be a part of the group of book bloggers selected to reveal the cover for the first book in the Embrace series by Jessica Shirvington! Isn’t it gorgeous?! I love the purple and hint to the main character’s name Violet Eden. Her “wings are also so tastefully done, I can’t help but love everything about this cover and I can’t wait to share my review of this spectacular book.

As an added bonus I also have the video of the behind the scenes making of the cover itself! It’s so neat! I love being able to see how they put it all together and now I can’t wait for the remaining books in the series! Enjoy!

Embrace Cover Shoot from Sourcebooks Inc on Vimeo.

What do you think? Is this a book you’ll be picking up in the future? Do you love the cover as much as I do?

Pre-order Embrace by Jessica Shirvington at the following spots:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell’s Books | Indiebound | Book Depository | Goodreads

Thank you so much to the publisher, Sourcebooks, for providing a copy of this book for review and giving me the opportunity to be a part of the reveal! Connect with them on Twitter and at the Embrace the Series site!
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our various affiliate relationships.

Book Dreaming is just that. It’s a feature I’m using to highlight those books that make readers dreamy or possibly just end up making them dream. It could be anything from newly released books to ones that are already out that I can’t get out of my head to those I can’t seem to get my hands on soon enough!

Today’s Book Dreaming pick is Small Blue Thing by S.C. Ransom. I’ve been reading Nosy Crow children’s books for the last few months now and loving them. So when I found out they also had a young adult novel as well I was beyond thrilled, until I found out it isn’t published here in the US, yet. I may be checking into the possibilities of picking it up via Book Depository because I really must read Small Blue Thing very soon. Take a look at the synopsis to see for yourself…

Celebrating the end of exams with best friend Grace, 17 year-old Alex rescues a swan caught on a wire in the Thames mud and finds an extraordinary bracelet. Through its disturbing and compelling powers, she finds Callum, a soul locked in a half-life of sadness and mystery following a terrible accident, and his persuasive and sinister sister, Catherine. As Alex and Callum grow closer despite the enormous obstacles to their love, the dangers mount until Alex must risk everything to save Grace and Callum must risk everything to save Alex.

I’m so intrigued by the bracelet and it’s origins! It sounds so much like a hint of a classic fairytale mixed with today’s time period which sounds fantastic! What do you think?

Find Small Blue Thing by S.C. Ransom at the following spots:
Amazon | Powell’s Books | Book Depository | Goodreads

Today’s post is part of our month long celebration of all things Nosy Crow. Make sure to stop by the Nosy Crow site for more information about this title and more. For more information about our Book Publishers 101 feature take a look at this month’s opening post.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Nosy Crow, for coordinating many of this month’s features and reviews! Connect with them on Twitter and on Facebook!
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our various affiliate relationships.

It’s no secret around here that our family are big fans of Candlewick Press and of course their adorable Candlewick Bear:

So, when we saw via Facebook and Twitter that Jon Klassen, the author of another favorite of ours I Want My Hat Back, was reading with our beloved bear at first we were very excited.

Quickly that excitement turned to concern when Littlebug began to wonder what happened to her bear? Yes, Littlebug believes that not only is Jon “Team Bear”, but he’s crossed over into “Team Rabbit” territory by kidnapping her bear. Well, she thought she’d send Mr. Klassen a little message…

(Those viewing via RSS or email subscription click through to see the video clip, you don’t want to miss this one!)

So, Mr. Klassen…where is Littlebug’s bear? Hmmmm?

(Update: Littlebug’s Bear has been found though the location of Mr. Klassen has yet to be discovered.)

With so much going on and with such a great response last week I thought I’d keep doing the “Round About the Interwebs” to give my readers a little bookish news happenings I’ve stumbled on during the week. These are just a few of the posts I’ve found and loved. Did you find one you loved? Please tell me in the comments, I’d love to take a look!

First up!

Did you know the holidays are right around the corner? What I mean when I say “right around the corner” is actually that they are banging down the door to get in! After joining the Book Blogger Holiday Swap last week I started to notice the other many book blogger related holiday festivities that will be happening over the next few weeks. They are all amazing and I think I’ve signed up for the majority of them, but I wanted to make sure everyone else knew about them as well. Here goes:
The 2011 Virtual Advent Tour
Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange 2011 (Open Internationally!)
Thankfully Reading Weekend, 2011 Edition!

Second!

It’s that time of year when Reading Challenges for the next year start popping up. Well, there are a couple I’m planning on participating in and some I’m considering. Of course, I’ll be posting my Picture Book Challenge coming up in the next couple of weeks, but until then take a look at these for the 2012 year:
Sophomore Reading Challenge! – A follow up to the Debut Author Challenge and a way to continue reading those fantastic debut authors you loved the previous year. (Plus it’s hosted by the fabulous Shanyn from Chick Loves Lit!)
2012 Debut Author Challenge – Speaking of debut authors…here’s Kristi’s brand new and revamped debut author challenge. Every year it gets better and better and this year is no exception! Sign-up!

Third!

Next, did you hear about all the crazy awards being announced so far this time of year? It’s crazy! Instead of posting about each individually I thought I’d share a few I stumbled across and let you take a look.
Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2011 – Fabulous list and YES! it includes covers! Wahoo!
Amazon’s Best of 2011 – From every category imaginable!

Last, but Certainly Not Least – A few favorite links from this weeks perusing.

Danielle Sharing The Books She LOVED This Year at Book Journey – Yep! You read that right! Sheila went away to Honduras for the week and asked that I guest post over at her site. I was so so so honored! I love her site and had so much fun with this post! Don’t miss it!

“Better grab an umbrella I make it rain”: On Monetization – April has a fantastic post about monetizing your book blog and her reasons for going that direction. Well worth the read!

Debut Novel Cut for Plagiarism – Miss this? Don’t! It’s crazy and I can hardly believe it was done by someone who owns a bookstore. Wow! There’s also a post that highlights exactly what he plagiarized and you won’t believe what you’re reading, take a look.

Approaching Book Reviewers – Not only did I have my interview with Anne R. Allen, but Pam from Bookalicious had a very interesting encounter with a publicist that you have to read about to believe.

Behind the Scenes: Meet My Publicist at Penguin, Milena Brown! from Sarah Jio – Speaking of publicists…this is a fantastic post about a publicist who knows what she’s doing and is also working with a favorite author of mine.

Kobo, I’m Breaking Up With You – Buying an eReader for the holidays? You may just want to read this excellent post from Jenn’s Bookshelves.

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez – A book review from one of my favorites, Jamie The Perpetual Page Turner/The Broke and the Bookish. This was a favorite read of mine and I love how Jamie wrote about her feelings about the book. Fantastic review!

Oh! So that I don’t post too much I thought I’d include my Interrobang YA vlog here instead of in it’s own post. Enjoy!

That’s it! I know, crazy good week, right? That’s not even the tip of the iceberg, there are so many more I just didn’t get to. Make sure to check out these links and enjoy finding some great new blogs to love.