Congratulations to Ame Dyckmanon for her new picture book – READ THE BOOK, LEMMINGS launching November 7th. Ame has agreed to give one book away. All you have to do to get in the running is to leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you did to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Check back to discover the winner.
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The team behind the New York Times bestselling Wolfie the Bunny and Horrible Bear! is back with with new Arctic characters in this hilarious learning-to-read adventure!
Aboard the S.S. Cliff, First Mate Foxy reads an interesting fact: “Lemmings don’t jump off cliffs.” But Foxy can’t get the lemmings on the Cliff to read his book, too. They’re too busy jumping off.
After a chilly third rescue, exasperated Foxy and grumbly polar bear Captain PB realize their naughty nautical crew isn’t being stubborn: The lemmings (Jumper, Me Too, and Ditto) can’t read. And until Foxy patiently teaches his lemmings to read the book, he can’t return to reading it, either!
BOOK’S JOURNEY:
Hi, Kathy! THANKS for having me! Hi, Kathy’s “Writing and Illustrating” readers! So, you wanna know the Book Journey for READ THE BOOK, LEMMINGS!?
Okay. Just between us, I started writing READ THE BOOK, LEMMINGS!…
In a bar!
I know that sounds funny! But you see, there was a normally quiet bar in Pennsylvania I used to write in once a week or so.
Comfy stools. Cool tunes. Nice staff who’d let you nurse a beverage forever. It was a near-perfect Secret Writing Spot.
However, on that day in March, 2015, my normally quiet Secret Writing Spot… wasn’t.
It was St. Patrick’s Day.
AND THERE WERE INEBRIATED PEOPLE IN MY SECRET WRITING SPOT!
I opened my laptop anyway. There was a story idea I wanted to tinker with.
Some of you might remember an old nature documentary featuring lemmings, those little rodents who live in the Arctic. (Arctic hamsters, if you will.) I saw the documentary when I was little.
In some of the most famous scenes, lemmings inexplicably fling themselves off cliffs into the icy Arctic waters below!
Turns out, THOSE SCENES WERE FAKED! The lemmings were “encouraged” over the cliff. I found out when I was a “grown-up,” and I was indignant.
I knew I had to write the book that explained lemmings DON’T jump off cliffs.
For the past generation. For the next generation. FOR THE LEMMINGS!
I tried. But for the longest time all I’d written was the line:
It was a mighty big cliff.
Then I’d read that line, laugh myself silly, and never get any further.
This went on For YEARS!
But that St. Patrick’s Day, watching festive folks—in MY Secret Writing Spot!—who’d already had one too many festive beverages wobbling on their comfy barstools made me think of lemmings on a cliff again.
Only this time, I wasn’t thinking about it from the lemmings’ perspective. I was thinking about it from the new perspective of an Arctic fox—I like foxes, and illustrator Zachariah OHora likes foxes, and I wanted to do a third book with him—having to make sure the lemmings (celebrators) didn’t jump (fall) off a cliff (barstool) before they could go back to reading (WRITING!) their book that said lemmings don’t jump off cliffs!
I banged out the first few lines right there:
Foxy found a quiet spot to read his book about lemmings. “Huh!” Foxy said. “Says here, lemmings don’t jump off cliffs.”
And there we had it! Thanks to a bunch of rowdy St. Paddy’s Day revelers raising the wrist, I had the beginnings of READ THE BOOK, LEMMINGS!
It took a few weeks to finish the first draft, a few weeks more to polish it up for submission by my Super Agent, Scott Treimel, and then my amazing editor Mary-Kate Gaudet and Little, Brown team said, “We love it! LET’S DO THIS!”
So, we did.
Hope you love it, too! CHEERS!
AME’S BIO:
Ame Dyckman reads and writes when she SHOULD be sleeping. She’s the award-winning author with the little blue-hair (sometimes green! OOPS!) Ame Dyckman is short, loud, mischievous, and often dresses like her book characters. (SEE?!) She’s also the award-winning, internationally-translated author of the fantastically illustrated (THANKS, illustrators!) picture books BOY + BOT, TEA PARTY RULES, the New York Times bestselling WOLFIE THE BUNNY, HORRIBLE BEAR!, YOU DON’T WANT A UNICORN! and now READ THE BOOK, LEMMINGS! and more picture books and board books in the works!
Ame lives in central New Jersey with her family, ridiculously big-eared cat, book collection, closet full of hair dye colors, and of course, the characters from her stories. (For reals! She’s currently building a homemade swimming pool for the protagonist of her upcoming series, MISUNDERSTOOD SHARK—mostly so she can have her bathtub back.)
Follow Ame on Twitter (@AmeDyckman), where she posts picture book reviews, goofy poetry, and pretty much everything that pops into her (usually blue-haired, sometimes purple-haired, occasionally green-haired) head. Here is the link for Ame’s website: http://www.amedyckman.com
Thank you Ame for another fun book and sharing its’ journey with us. Everyone loves reading those. You are one hot picture book writer. Can’t wait to read this one. Keep in touch.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
OMG — LOVE! I am a big Lemmings fan and a big Ame Dyckman fan! XO
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By: Lynne Marie on October 24, 2017
at 9:14 am
Big fan of Ame too, and this one’s a keeper. I learned something about lemmings too. Pretty upset here too, about them being lured. A tweet for the Lemmings too.
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By: Wendy Wahman on October 24, 2017
at 10:21 am
This looks SO FUNNY! Can’t wait to jump off a cliff–er, read the book!
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By: Lindsay Hanson Metcalf on October 24, 2017
at 11:42 am
Ha – this looks hilarious! And love your story about how it came to be, Ame – thanks for sharing! I Tweeted about this too! 🙂
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By: Jen Bagan on October 24, 2017
at 11:48 am
What a fun story. I’ve always wondered about that lemming thing.
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By: Betty Vanderwielen on October 24, 2017
at 12:17 pm
Ame, this is one of the BEST “book journeys” I’ve ever heard, and leave it to you—it would be YOU! 😀 I had a peek at this book and I WANT this book so of course, I’m commenting/tweeting/facebooking (well, even if you weren’t giving away a copy, I’d be doing that anyway 😉 ) 😀 😀 😀
P.S. You forgot “sometimes magenta” 😉
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By: writersideup on October 24, 2017
at 12:19 pm
I love Ayme. That is a hilarious story! 😀
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By: thehungryartist on October 24, 2017
at 12:36 pm
I watched the KidLit TV video of Ame reading “Read the Book, Lemmings!” It’s terrific, like all her books. I’d love a copy of my own!
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By: Janet Sheets on October 24, 2017
at 3:11 pm
Fantastic the lemmings are finally vindicated!! YAY!! I posted on FB and Twitter. We love Amy and Zach’s books so happy we have a new one to add to the collection.
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By: Chrissa Pedersen on October 24, 2017
at 3:44 pm
This sounds like another winner of a book and a vindication of lemming lifestyle everywhere. I’d love to win a copy.
For extra entries I’ve tweeted a link: https://twitter.com/carlrscott/status/922924194446241792, and pinned an image on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/336573772143339161/. Thanks again, have a great week everybody!
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By: carlrscott on October 24, 2017
at 4:36 pm
I have not been this excited about an book launch ever! Having loved your Wolf Bunny book only increases my awe of your storytelling ability! The fact that you have paired up with what seems the perfect illustrator is extra awesome sauce on your quirky – love it – stories!
Of course, teachers are going to LOVE that this is about reading a book.
I was totally blown away by your back story of how the story came about.
As an author/illustrator, I have somewhat similar experiences, but this one has me already laughing off my seat! Way to go!!!
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By: fireurchin on October 24, 2017
at 4:44 pm
I have loved Ame’s work since I met her when she won her Ezra Jack Keats Award. This one looks intriguing.
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By: Virginia McGee Butler on October 24, 2017
at 5:02 pm
Looks like another hilarious one from Ame. Can’t wait to read it!
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By: Heather Stigall on October 24, 2017
at 5:36 pm
Can’t wait for this one! These two are a great team!!
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By: Ryan Swanson on October 24, 2017
at 6:09 pm
Love Lemmings! Must Read the Book! This looks way to fun to pass up.
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By: Sue Heavenrich on October 24, 2017
at 6:29 pm
This book looks funny the lemmings look cute. I cant wait to read it soon.
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By: mansfieldweb on October 24, 2017
at 6:53 pm
This looks very amusing!
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By: John Smith on October 24, 2017
at 7:00 pm
So excited for this book!
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By: asiacitro on October 24, 2017
at 7:06 pm
Ame’s books are fun and imaginative! My students love how creative they are and always look forward to reading them!
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By: Denise on October 24, 2017
at 8:21 pm
CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS! Hooray for more from Ame and Zachariah!
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By: katrinamoorebooks on October 24, 2017
at 9:06 pm
Sounds hysterical! I want….
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By: Ms. Pauline Ts'o on October 24, 2017
at 9:25 pm
I would love to add this book to our school library collection!
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By: Tracy Scaglione on October 24, 2017
at 9:44 pm
Love this! Ame is remarkably talented and my younger two love her books.
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By: Lisa Schulz on October 24, 2017
at 10:07 pm
Ooh sounds fun. We used to play a Lemmings Nintendo game as kids that was built on this lie! Retweeting to spread the word!
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By: Tasha on October 24, 2017
at 10:10 pm
looks like a great book!!!
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By: catherine Mottola on October 24, 2017
at 10:15 pm
LOVE Ame’s stories and this one sounds hysterical!
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By: Gabi Snyder on October 25, 2017
at 12:14 am
This book looks great, and this team have been among the faves in my library for some time. Thanks for the giveaway and great blog post!
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By: aaroncleaveley on October 25, 2017
at 1:16 am
I love getting this behind-the-scenes peek!
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By: tammisauer on October 25, 2017
at 4:22 am
Writing in a bar? Genius! I may have to try that, but after noon of course. Congratulations on another fabulous book, can’t wait to read it!
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By: Jodi McKay on October 25, 2017
at 7:32 am
I love the story behind the story! Those lemmings are adorable. Congrats on another fun story.
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By: Mary Worley on October 25, 2017
at 8:47 am
I love Ame’s books!
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By: supermario6 on October 25, 2017
at 2:42 pm
What a fantastic story! I loved hearing about your secret writing spot and unexpected inspiration!
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By: LaurenKerstein on October 27, 2017
at 5:21 pm
This book looks so fun! I want to read it. I love all of her books:)
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By: Ashley Bankhead on October 27, 2017
at 6:30 pm
Here’s another list suggesting what to read to everyone who doesn’t know what to read? https://ashukishore007.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/books-i-will-suggest-to-everyone-to-read/
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By: Harry Caulfield on November 6, 2017
at 1:29 pm
This one looks great, I would try to read it. If you want more suggestion about what to read, there’s a link https://ashukishore007.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/books-i-will-suggest-to-everyone-to-read/
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By: Harry Caulfield on November 6, 2017
at 1:42 pm