Saturday, May 29, 2010

And the winners are...


I had so much fun this week. Thanks to everyone who joined in the contest and who promised to howl at the full moon (you kept your promise, right?).  I'm glad the moon finally came out that night here in NJ.  It was touch and go for a while. The photo above is the moon over NYC taken by my amazing editor, Nancy Mercado.  She arroooed too!

 If you haven't seen this post from the fabulous Mike Jung, here he is, howling at the moon.  (I'm so touched that he thought to make this video. It's wonderful. Please go take a look). I only know Mike virtually but he is a fun, friendly guy.  Follow him on twitter. Friend him on Facebook. He'll make you laugh. (I'm telling you this because I believe it, but also because I'm going to have to give Mike some bad news soon...some very bad news).

So here's how we chose. I indulged my occasional Luddite tendencies and did this in a very low tech way. I printed out the blog post comments, cut and folded each comment till it was the same size, put them all into a box, shook the box (a lot), and then let my librarian friends pick the winners.

The librarians picked two names, one for each of the big prizes (one name was quite a surprise and we had a conversation about that too... but more about that later). 
After they were done, the librarians wanted to pick some more:
Librarian 1: What kind of a celebration is it if only two people win?
Librarian 2: Do you have anything else you can give away?
Me: Um, I suppose I have an extra hard cover book & a CD audio & an MP3 CD version.
Librarian 2: And didn't you get some soft cover books from when your book was part of the Scholastic Book Club?  
Librarian 1: And wouldn't it be fun to throw in a Slinky?

Who am I to argue with a group of librarians? (btw, what do you call a group of librarians? A shelf? A catalog? Is there a name for a bunch of librarians? okay.. I digress..)

Here are the winners:

SCBWI One Year's Membership:  Serenissima

Hard Cover Book:  Stephanie J Blake
CD Audio version:  salarsen
MP3 CD:   Thea Miller Ryan
Scholastic Paperback Version:  Suzanne
Scholastic Paperback Version:  Dana
Scholastic Paperback Version:  kcharman
Scholastic Paperback Version:  Deb
Scholastic Paperback Version:  Rosa
Slinky: Llehn

Did you notice I didn't mention the Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me Gift Package yet?
The winner is: 
 Susanjsteward   
( Mike, take a deep breath here. To fill everyone in, it seems that Susanjsteward and Mike Jung have a friendly competition going on. It is friendly, right? There was a little tough talk on the blog and on twitter. And frankly with all the entries, I'm surprised at this too. Mike, if you look at this in the right context, it's kind of humorous. Of all the people who could have won, it went to your arch rival. That's kind of funny. Right?)

I can't change what the librarians picked (and I wouldn't want to because of course I'm happy for Susan -- as I am for all of the winners). 
 I did mention the rivalry to the librarians. And with all due respect to Susan, when a person risks getting mugged to create a moon howling video, you have to feel a little bad that his major competitor won. They thought I should send a hard cover book to Mike Jung for his extreme support in the birthday bash contest. After all, it's the first video for Neil Armstrong is My Uncle... Are you seeing a pattern here? Librarians like to give away free things. But who am I to argue with the librarians?

To all the winners, congratulations. Please send me your contact info. My email is on the right.

19 comments:

Vijaya said...

Librarians are the best ... Congratulations to the winners!

Deb said...

Thanks for the contest, Nan! Looking forward to your book. And love that Mike is getting a copy, tooooOOoaaRoooo!

Larissa said...

Congrats to all the winners.

(((hugs))) Mike. It'll be okay.

And, Nan, those librarians are a hoot! (a howl?) Tell them they are awesome from us. :)

Anonymous said...

Yay! Thank you Nan and librarians!! and congrats to all the winners! :)

Mike Jung said...

Congratulations to all the winners, especially Susan J. Steward! Who better to win the gift bask--WAIT, I MEAN CURSES, I MUST DESTROY HER

Mike Jung said...

Really, if I can't be the randomly selected winner of this contest, why not Susan? She's as deserving as anyon--ARRGH, NO, WHAT AM I SAYING, DEATH, DEEEEEAAAAATH

Mike Jung said...

In all seriousness, I am happy for all the winners, including Susan and her sister! And thanks to you, Nan, and all your librarian friends for being so generous with my special prize, I'm touched. Just so you know, my participation alone was well worth it - I had a lot of fun.

susanjsteward said...

OMG, I did?? I won? I did?? I am so happy! ::happy dance::

THANK YOU! Thank you, librarians! And Mike . . . I must applaud your video entry, which I loved!

S.A. Larsenッ said...

That's awesome!! Thank you, Nan and librarians!! Aawwooo....(Yeah, my version of howling sucks.) Now, I must go check out this Mike and Susan. Hmm...sounds like loads of fun!!

(Oh, I'm having a psychic contest on my blog if you're interested.)

nanmarino said...

Vijaya, Larissa, kcharman,Mike, Susan, I forward your thanks to the librarians. They are a great bunch.
Deb, hope you enjoy the book.
salarsenッ Mike and Susan are fun & a psychic contest..now that's cool.
Thanks so much for entering this contest. Your comments and participation made this so much fun.

Jeanne Ryan (Serenissima) said...

Woohoo! I mean, Aaaarroooooo! Think I'll be howling at every new moon during my SCBWI membership! That's what members do, right?

Thanks Nan and librarians! You guys know how to throw a great celebration!

Jeanne Ryan (Serenissima) said...

Ooops, I meant every FULL moon!

nanmarino said...

Congratulations, Serenissima!

Stephanie J. Blake said...

Oh !!! Thank you! I have a soft arc! So, a hard cover will be awesome!

Congrats to all the winners!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to all the winners.

nanmarino said...

Stephanie, can you email me with your address?
Thanks for your comment, Medeia.

Dana Carey said...

Congratulations to everyone! Thanks to Nan (& the Librarians) for a very generous giveaway. My daughter & I can't wait to read this book.

BTW, that howling guy in the parking lot is pretty funny!

nanmarino said...

Dana,
Thanks for sending me your address. I'll forward the book asap. Yes. The howling guy in the parking lot (aka Mike Jung) is funny. Do you follow him on Twitter? He will make you laugh.

Anonymous said...

Hello again and thank you for this. I rec'd the book and have read it and oh my gosh, step back in time, for me. I was ten that summer, as well. I remember watching the t.v. and hearing those fuzzy first moon words. What makes this book even better ? It's timeless, kids are going to relate to everything that happens. Can't wait to book talk it? Thanks again. Deb