Elana Johnson's New Book Covers!

Elana Johnson has new book covers!

For fun, she's asked her friends to announce and (ahem, honestly) critique them. So, to refresh your memory, here's the hardback cover for Elana's book Possession.

When Elana first revealed her cover, I thought it was unique, trendy, and awesome. But unique doesn't last for long in the publishing industry. Cause once something cool comes out, everyone wants to jump on the band wagon with their own versions. Browsing through the YA section, I've noticed more and more mostly white (or a light, mixed shade of white) covers. For example . . . 

Here's another series I love which as a white theme & funky captured image on the front cover.

 Then there's the facial close ups . . . When done well, they aren't nearly as freaky as this one is.

An everyday object to break up the stark white.

The white, washed out cover where the model wears clothes that blend into the background. You know what I see here - weeds.

And pictures of headless people - some of which just involve the lower portion of the body, other covers actually show shoulders down, and make me think of poor Marie Antoinette.

For as many white covers out there, there are just as many black, dark themed books too. It's like a clash of good and evil on the shelves. And in between those light and dark cover are super bright "happy teenage girl" color covers. And generally an eye-popping pink color.

Now, Elana has new covers. First, an updated cover for Possession's upcoming paperback release.

And the cover for the release of Surrender . . .

So, Elana wanted honesty. (No take backs, Elana. You're not allowed to hunt me down at the next writers conference and harass me.)

I have a love-hate reaction to the covers. Personally, I love the colors, but they are so NOT Vi and the society in my opinion. Although they really are excellent complementary choices for the images on the front cover.

I liked the original font better. This one seems too YA romancy to me.  I really like the graduated background coloring, but the layout reminds me a lot of Allie Condie's Matched series. I'm not so hip about that. I like being able to tell my friends' books apart at first glance. I admit to occasionally seeing either Elana's or Allie's covers and accidentally saying, "Oh that's Allie's book. Wait, no Elana's. Oops." and vice verse. But that has more to do with the captured image on the front than the background. Although Allie's series had more color with the graduated tints, while Elana's was stark white.

My overall opinion - I like the covers. I think they'll stand out on the shelves between all the white and black covers. But I think they went from looking distinctly dystopian YA to romance YA.

And now, I believe I'll send a bacon themed e-card to Elana so she'll forgive me.  =)

What do you think of Elana's new covers? Or the trend of YA covers in general?

I've been published internationally!

Today, I received this awesome package in the mail . . .

It's the advance copies of my article, How Do I Help This Child: Seven principles for helping Primary children who have cognitive disabilities, which will appear in the international LDS magazine, Liahona, in February 2012. Six whole pages about how to help kids ages 3-12 during Sunday school classes. Six pages! That's huge in the magazine world!!! And the article is featured on the front of the magazine! We need more exclamation points!!!!  =)

I was sent copies in English, Spanish, and French. But the magazine is sent world-wide and interpreted into all sorts of awesome languages, like Chinese, Portugese, and so many more. It's so exciting to realize something I wrote is helping people all over the world!

And isn't that an awesome picture of me and my son? Thanks to the fabulous Erin Jensen. Oh yeah, and our guest reader, Mr. Blue Rock Monster, courtesy of my son, Isaac.  LOL!

What a WOW moment!

Help Us Learn, Give Us Hope - Part 1

Two of my munchkins are in the QUEST gifted program at school. This year, they are participating in a service project called Help Us Learn, Give Us Hope. They plan to sew 100 backpacks and fill them with school supplies for troops to hand out to kids in need in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa.

I have been lucky enough to get to see these incredible kids in action. I was asked to talk to the older QUEST kids about how to ask companies for donations. I worked with them for a few days, giving tips and guidance when needed. I have been so impressed with their excitement, organization, and leadership! The kids have worked together, made phone calls to local businesses to introduce themselves and ask for information to send a donation request, then followed through by writing letters, answering questions and gathering donations. I know first hand how scary it is to call someone to ask for a donation - even as an adult, it makes my heart race and my hands shake. You never know if the person on the other end will be kind, rude, or even hang up on you. The 4th & 5th graders experienced every single one of those reactions. It made me just want to gather them up into big hugs. They were so brave!

But their work has paid off. One local business has generously donated all the supplies (except thread) the kids need to sew 100 backpacks. WOW! The kids were absolutely thrilled and are excited to schedule our sewing nights to get to work. As we work on this project, I am going to post updates and pictures of my munchkins as they continue to gather, sew, put together, and deliver the supplies for Help Us Learn, Give Us Hope.


If you or the company you work for would like to donate, please contact me for more information (queenoftheclan@gmail.com). Donations need to be received by January 16th.

Here's a list of supplies needed. 

sewing thread
pens
pencils
erasers
scissors
pencil sharpeners
glue
rulers
calculators
tape
staplers
staples
notebooks
chalk
chalkboard erasers
crayons
coloring books
sports balls
small toys
toothbrushes
toothpaste

Question for my readers - In what ways do you or your school teach your kids to give back to other kids in need?

Plumbers & Water

Over Winter Break, I took some time to think about my blog and some changes I'd like to make. There are so many things I'd like to blog about, but don't. Something I love about Facebook is when friends post about stuff they love or good experiences they have. I decided to add that to my blog and call it Friday Faves. Sometimes I spotlight a charity, share a funny story, or talk about products I love. Lots of random favorites. My hope is that we'll share ideas and discover new faves together.

Today, some of my favorite things are plumbers and running water.

Late last night, my hubby discovered our basement had flooded. So. Not. Fun. A plumber came out, snaked the line, ran a camera when that didn't work and discovered a break in our water line. A really nasty break. So there's no water for food, cleaning, or hygiene. YIKES! It's going to be about a week before our plumber can get everything arranged and fixed, but man, I'm so glad there are experts out there to help when emergencies like this occur.

It's so true that you don't appreciate something until it's gone. I never realized just how much water we use and how dependent our lifestyle is on the ability to access it. It makes me grateful for where I live and also much more empathetic to those who live without the conveniences my family has.

My question for you today: What experiences have you had with plumbers, floods, or water disasters - and what did you learn? Did you laugh your way through the stress (like I'm trying to)? What advice do you have for me as I wait out this craziness?

A Family Circus Christmas

Isn't that just the best Christmas comic ever? Mostly because it's so true. Kids can picture baby Jesus so much better than God. And baby Jesus is much less intimidating too. I just love this comic strip!

Have a happy holiday everyone!

A Quest for Organization One Room at a Time

I'm totally not a homeschooler, but I love this comic!!!

This is the first week of winter break. Which means I don't have to do preschool drop-off & pick-up, no running this or that to the elementary school, no after school car pool. All of these things that interrupt my day every few hours have gone Poof! What will I do with all this uninterrupted time (minus the four kids tugging on me, asking when lunch is, if they can watch tv, or call a friend).


My goal is to start organizing the spaces in my house that are driving me NUTS!

The first room to get tackled is my bedroom.

But wait! I can't even just say "I'm going to clean my room." Cause it's such a huge mess, it needs to be broken down even more than that. You see, my bedroom is the catch-all spot for everything - laundry that needs folded or put away, kids art projects, boxes of cub scout stuff, clothes to go to Good Will . . . and the list goes on and on.

So my goal is to begin with my walk-in closet - which I'd love to be able to actually walk into without stuff packed everywhere, making me feel claustrophic. Hopefully, I'll get that cleaned out and organized in one day.

Hopefully. We'll see. When it does get done, I'll move on to step #2 - my half of the bedroom. If I still have time after that . . . well, we'll just see. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. If I put too much on my to-do list, then I'll be disappointed when I don't get it all checked off. But for now, I'm happy to get into the cleaning mode.

UPDATE: I actually got my closet and half of the room cleaned Monday and Tuesday. I'm so totally shocked! It took all day both days to get them done, but my room is mostly happy again. Now I'm just waiting for hubby to get his side of the room done. What's next on my list? To organize my desk & kitchen pantry, some general cleaning (the bathrooms - oh the horror!) and a little holiday baking. YEAH!

What's Your 2012 Book Reading Goal?

Books rule the roost at my house. Picture books, middle grade, YA, gobs of fiction, and yes, there's non-fiction in there too. Our family loves it all.

Between judging for the Whitney Awards, editing manuscripts, reviewing books and devouring novels for my own enjoyment, I know I read A LOT. But I've never tracked HOW MUCH. But Book Chick City has inspired me . . .

Book Chick City's goal is to read 100 books in 2012. She hasn't quite reached her goal for 2011 yet - she's on book #79 right now. But hey, she has winter break to catch up. If she reads like me, I bet she can totally do it!

She's also hosting a reading challenge. In 2011, she had over 630 people participate. How fun is that? I've decided to join her 2012 challenge.

Will I reach 100 books?

Maybe. I guess we'll see!

Who wants to join me?