The Fall 2016 YA Scavenger Hunt is HERE!!!

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Hi there, all you book-loving Scavengers! Ready to win some books?  I’m Kristi Helvig, your hostess on this stop: Welcome to TEAM GOLD!!!

 

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The Fall YA Scavenger Hunt goes live on Tuesday, Oct 4th at 12 pm Pacific Time and comes down on Sunday, Oct 9th at noon Pacific time.

Make sure to read this whole post, and then enter to win an extra bonus prize of my own by commenting below! Also, check out my top-secret bonus material where I share a true tale from the other side over on fellow gold team author’s site, Sharon Biggs Waller.

This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: Enter by Sunday, October 9th, at noon Pacific time.

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE 

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve hidden my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the gold team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter.

 

I am so excited to be hosting fabulous author, E. KATHERINE KOTTARAS. How excited? So excited that I did 6 cartwheels across my lawn.

Here is lovely E. Katherine Kottaras:

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E. Katherine Kottaras is originally from Chicago, and now she writes and teaches in the Los Angeles area. She is interested in the stories we tell, the stories we are given, and the ways we can redefine our worlds by discovering which stories are true. She is the author of the YA contemporary novel, HOW TO BE BRAVE (2015) and the forthcoming THE BEST POSSIBLE ANSWER (2016), both from St. Martin’s Press/Griffin Teen.

Find out more about Katherine here and you can buy her book here!

Katherine’s latest book is THE BEST POSSIBLE ANSWER:

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Ultra-high-achiever Viviana Rabinovich-Lowe has always had a plan—and no room to be anything less than perfect. But her quest for perfection comes to a screeching halt when her boyfriend leaks racy pictures of her to the entire school. Making matters worse, her perfect family is falling apart. For the first time, Viviana feels like a complete and utter failure.


Then she meets a new group of friends who know nothing about her past, including Evan, who makes her want to do something she never thought she’d do again: trust. For the first time in her life, Viviana realizes she can finally be whoever she wants. But who is that? While she tries to figure it out, she learns something they never covered in her AP courses: that it’s okay to be less than perfect, because it’s our imperfections that make us who we are.

She tells her story through a series of exam questions that point to her awareness of the complicated ironies of her life. In that spirit, here are some multiple-choice practice questions for you to answer as you listen to the playlist and read the book.

Katherine’s Bonus Material: FULL PLAYLIST for THE BEST POSSIBLE ANSWER. Click here for the link:

https://open.spotify.com/user/12132835764/playlist/7epMdfXwT6FGDZsp7Dx05h

From the opening page of THE BEST POSSIBLE ANSWER:

AP Physics Exam: Sample Question

 A girl is traveling home from the AP Physics exam on her bicycle. She is travelling at x m/s and can stop at a distance d m with a maximum negative acceleration. If the bicycle travels at 2x m/s, which of the following statements are true?

  • The girl is so stressed, exhausted, and overworked that she falls asleep while riding her bike.
  • That’s right; she loses momentum after taking a three-hour exam on the laws of gravity.
  • The girl won’t know for a few months how she did on the actual test.
  • But it couldn’t have been good considering she couldn’t get from point A to point B without falling on her face.
  • All of the above. 

You know the answer. 

(Hint: Test prep research shows you should actually always pick E.)

DATE OF EXAM: November 1, 2016

Be sure to study hard!

 

PRACTICE QUESTION #1:

Which of the following songs BEST speak to Viviana’s feeling of utter betrayal, the sheer loss of trust that is irreparable?

 

(A) Sia’s “Elastic Heart.” Viviana a fighter. She’s been hurt, but still, she’s got thick skin and a heart that is willing to be open, despite everything she’s weathered.

And let’s be clear, I trust no one…

And I want it, I want my life so bad

And I’m doing everything I can

Then another one bites the dust

It’s hard to lose a chosen one

You did not break me (You did not break me, no, no)

I’m still fighting for peace

Well I’ve got thick skin and an elastic heart

 

 

(B) Lorde’s “Biting Down.” For the first time, Viviana feels like a complete and utter failure. As a result, Viviana is experiencing severe panic attacks that are so bad, when the book opens, she has landed in the hospital. The heavy rhythm of the song is like the pounding of a heartbeat inside a head, which echoes Viviana’s deep panic about her present situation, as well as her future.

Breathed so deep I thought I’d drown

 

(C) Feist’s “The Bad in Each Other.” Viviana’s father has suddenly disappeared and now her perfect family is falling apart. Viviana starts to discover truths about her father – terrible truths, worse than anything she could have ever imagined, ones that threaten to tear her family apart forever.

Where to love to find it now

When we’ll become two

Floating into the blue and the neon river

The sadness can move either without or with him

 

(D) Alicia Keys’s “Falling.” Viviana thinks she failed her AP Physics exam, not only on paper (after falling flat on her face while riding her bike home from the test), but also in life. And now, once again, she’s falling: this time for a cute and nice and incredibly sensitive guy named Evan. Is she doomed to fail a test of the heart once more?

 

(E) All of the above.

 

PRACTICE QUESTION #2:

Evan knows nothing about her past and who make her want to do something she never thought she’d do again: trust. But she’s been hurt by so much.

Which of the following songs BEST speak to Viviana’s confused, hurting heart?

 (A) Arctic Monkey’s “Do I Wanna Know?”

(Do I wanna know?)

If this feeling flows both ways

 

(B) First Aid Kit’s “Stay Gold”

What if to love and be loved’s not enough?

What if I fall and can’t bear to get up?

 

(C) Jon and Roy’s “Every Night”

I want your love/ Every night

 

(D) Sia’s “Dressed in Black”

 

You found me dressed in black

Hiding way up at the back

Life had broken my heart into pieces

 

(E) All of the above.

 

PRACTICE QUESTION #3:

For the first time in her life, Viviana realizes she can finally be whoever she wants. But who is that?

Which of the following songs BEST speak to Viviana’s future that, if she opens her heart, will be filled with love?

 

(A) Santigold’s “Disparate Youth.” Thankfully, Viviana has her best friend, Sammie, remind each other of their strengths and compel each other to move forward.

Don’t look ahead, there’s stormy weather

Another roadblock in our way

But if we go, we go together

Our hands are tied here if we stay

 

(B) Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful.”

I know you will, I know you will

I know that you will

 

(C) First Aid Kid’s “My Silver Lining”

There’s no starting over, no new beginnings, time races on

And you’ve just gotta keep on keeping on

Gotta keep on going, looking straight out on the road

Can’t worry ’bout what’s behind you or what’s coming for you further up the road

I try not to hold on to what is gone, I try to do right what is wrong

I try to keep on keeping on

 

(D) Pink’s “Fucking Perfect”

Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel

Like you’re less than fucking perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you’re nothing, you’re fucking perfect to me

 

(E) All of the above.

 

NOT-SO-SECRET ANSWER KEY:

Viviana learns something they never covered in her AP courses:

that it’s okay to be less than perfect,

because it’s our imperfections that make us who we are.

GIVEAWAY: In addition to a copy of HOW TO BE BRAVE, Katherine is giving away a copy of her second book, THE BEST POSSIBLE ANSWER, hot off the presses! (Note: Publication is November 1, 2016, so the books will be sent after that date.) Check out her blog for details!

 

BONUS GIVEAWAY at this host stop:

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I’m giving away a copy of our award-winning speculative fiction anthology, TICK TOCK: 7 Tales of Time from Wicked Ink Books. Seven science-fiction and fantasy authors present their takes on time in these stories involving romance, horror, and the supernatural.

TO ENTER: Simply leave a comment below to enter. For 5 additional bonus entries, just sign up for my author newsletter (sidebar on the right, or through the pop-up), then leave the name you used to sign up in the comment box. Good luck!

NEXT STOP ON THE HUNT: Go check out ERIN E. MOULTON and best of luck scavenging! 🙂

 

 

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