EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL: SKY JUMPERS BY PEGGY EDDLEMAN AND GIVEAWAY

Today I'm so excited to be a part of Peggy Eddleman's exclusive cover reveal for her debut book, SKY JUMPERS. When I first heard about this dystopian middle grade book, I immediately contacted Peggy to set up an interview when it releases.

To help us celebrate Peggy's agent, Sara Crowe is going to share why she loved SKY JUMPERS.

But first, I'll share Peggy's awesome cover.

Don't you love it? It makes me so want to read about the world Peggy created.

Click below to add this to your Goodreads list.

And here's Sara.


WHY I FELL FOR SKY JUMPERS
by Sara Crowe, Peggy’s agent

I had the pleasure of meeting Peggy in person before she queried me, and I had liked her in-person pitch enough to ask her to send along the full ms when it was ready. I met her in May, and she was ready to submit the following September, so she smartly included her full query when she sent it. I use Peggy's pitch when I talk about pitches that worked on me because it has all of the elements of a fabulous pitch:

Twelve-year-old Hope Toriella lives in a town of inventors struggling to recover from the green bombs of WWIII that wiped out nearly all the earth’s population. Inventing has made life possible in White Rock, and it’s how the town views a person’s worth. But Hope would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath— the deadly band of compressed air that covers their valley— than fail at yet another invention. The town is filled with excellent inventors; they even invented Ameiphus, the medicine that cures the deadly Shadel’s Sickness that has run rampant since the bombs.

When bandits not only discover White Rock has the cure for the sickness, but find a way into their protected valley, they invade. With a two day deadline to finish making this year’s batch of Ameiphus and no ingredients to make more, the town is left to choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from Shadel’s over the next year, or die fighting the bandits now. Help lies in a neighboring town, but the bandits count everyone fourteen and older each hour. Hope realizes that she and a couple of friends might be the only ones who can leave to make the dangerous trek through the Bomb’s Breath and over the snow-covered mountain. Inventing won’t help her make it through alive, but the daring and recklessness that usually gets her into trouble just might.

Why this pitch is awesome: Peggy sets up a hook, conflict and character in her first paragraph: a girl who hates inventing in a town where invention is everything. Also, who would not be pulled in by the third sentence, and want/need to know what it means to dive into the Bomb's Breath? And then she follows a great first paragraph with an even more exciting second paragraph, telling us enough about what is going to happen to make us want to find out more, and setting us up for the big adventure.

Like many children's agents, I have read a lot of post apocalyptic fiction over the last five or so years. (Enough to be sure that I have none of the skills needed to survive one.)

I have been lucky to work with a few great ones, too, including Jonathan Maberry's ROT & RUIN series, Jeff Hirsch's THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE, and Dan Wells's PARTIALS. What excited me most when I read Peggy's SKY JUMPERS was that I knew that it was ultimately hopeful, even when things got very dark, like the YAs I mentioned above. I was also excited to read a post apocalyptic story for MG readers that has a lightness to it that YAs usually do not have when covering an apocalypse. There was something Goonies- like in this story of three kids fighting bandits to save their town, and who can resist the Goonies? I also appreciated that White Rock is a world I might fare better in, though I doubt I'd be brave enough to sky jump.

When I start a manuscript it is all about voice, and Hope's is a voice that holds on and doesn't let go. This is a story of nonstop adventure, and you know that from the first page. But it is also full of characters you cannot help but root for from the start, and like the best MG stories, it is about family and all that family can mean, especially in a unconventional world. It has the perfect amount of danger to keep the stakes high, and Peggy's vast imagination was clear to me when I read the first sky jumping scene and I was hooked.

I am so happy that so many others will soon get to read SKY JUMPERS!

Thanks for having me!

Sara

About Peggy:

Peggy Eddleman lives at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah with her three hilarious and fun kids (two sons and a daughter), and her incredibly supportive husband. Besides writing, Peggy enjoys playing laser tag with her family, making dinner, reading to her kids, toilet papering friends’ houses, doing cartwheels in long hallways, trying new restaurants, and occasionally painting murals on walls. SKY JUMPERS is her debut novel.

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Peggy is giving away two more books! For more chances to win, go to her BLOG.

And be sure to enter all my other awesome contests, including LET THE SKY FALL, THE CULLING, and THE RUNAWAY KING, listed at the top of the blog.

Hope to see you Monday when I interview Mindee Arnett and give away a copy of THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR.

COVER REVEAL: ICE DOGS BY TERRY JOHNSON

Happy Valentines Day!

Today I'm thrilled to share the cover of Terry Johnson's new book, ICE DOGS, which releases on February 14, 2014. I'll be interviewing her when it comes out.  I have a super soft spot for Terry because she was the first debut author I interviewed when I joined Casey as her blog partner.

So here's Terry's awesome cover!

Isn't it amazing? And here's a description of ICE DOGS:

Sometimes I wish I could trade places with the dogs. They only have to worry about running and eating. They love fiercely and don’t worry about things they can’t control. And when someone dies, they can sit on top of their house, throw their head back and howl.

Lost.

That’s how 14-year-old dogsledder Victoria Secord as felt ever since her father dies. A champion musher, Victoria is independent, self-reliant, and thanks to her father, an expert in surviving the unforgiving Alaskan bush. When an injured “city boy” and a freak snow storm both catch Victoria and her dog team by surprise, however, a routine trip becomes a life or death trek through the frozen wilderness. As temperatures drop and food stores run out, Victoria must find a way to save them all in this high stakes, high adventure middle grade novel of endurance, hope and finding your way back home. 

And here's some information about Terry.

 I write outdoor adventures for young adults. When I'm not writing, I work as a Conservation Officer, and before that, I was a Park Ranger and a musher. I love living in northern Ontario where I can snowshoe, kayak, and fish—all in the same month!








Hope you'll all let Terry know how much you like her cover.

And I hope to see you on Monday when I have an interview with a high school teen for my ASK THE EXPERT series and will be sharing and giving away THE CADET OF TILDOR, a fantastic debut fantasy, and OBSIDIAN MIRROR, another fantastic fantasy by Catherine Fisher, one of my favorite authors. Even if you're not a fantasy lover, I think you'd enjoy both of these books..