Pirates! Penguins! Prizes!

No matter how colorfully you paint one, a penguin will never be a parrot.

I have another book coming out!

About a pirate!

And a penguin!

It’s titled Pirate & Penguin! (Titles are hard.)

The story is about a penguin who slips off his iceberg onto the poop deck of a passing pirate ship. The captain, perhaps a bit dotty from his many months on the high seas, mistakes the stowaway for a parrot and expects his new companion to govern himself accordingly. Penguin’s well-meaning efforts to talk, perch on Pirate’s shoulder, and keep things ship shape leads to mayhem. In fact, things get so out of hand, someone might end up walking the plank.

There is no feeling that can quite replicate the joy of opening a box of author copies.

Pirate & Penguin was the most fun I’ve ever had writing a picture book.

More importantly, I love the way the book turned out. (No one can do a better job at depicting seafaring chaos quite like illustrator extraordinaire, Jenn Harney.)

Pirate & Penguin has gotten good reviews, too!

“A pirate searching for a parrot and a clumsy penguin collide in this lively tale about friendship…. Inventive pirate speak and bright colors compliment this whimsical story.” —  Foreword Reviews

“An amusing romp that will have landlubbers and scurvy sea dogs alike giggling.” — Kirkus

“Although children’s library collections are not lacking in pirate stories, this fresh and funny tale makes its case for inclusion by using a pirate-ship setting to explore the nature of friendship.”  Booklist

And Page Street, my publisher, believes in this book so much, they made up a batch of P&P buttons!

Cute, right?

But here’s the best part:

YOU CAN WIN A FREE COPY!

All you gotta do is head over to Kathy Temean’s blog and enter the giveaway.

And who knows? You may just receive a wonderful work of kid lit—a prize at least as valuable as a medium-sized chest of buccaneer booty.

So go. Good luck. I’ll be rooting for you.

Let’s Send Out Freebies!

In my last post, I pesteringly plugged a super special giveaway.

Anyone who purchased and/or reviewed my picture books Scampers Thinks Like A Scientist and/or Everybody’s Favorite Book would receive:

An Official Yer Awesome Promo Par-T Pak!

Each Par-T Pak includes:

  1. An Official Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist Bookmark (while supplies last)
  2. An Official Everybody’s Favorite Book Bookmark (while supplies last)
  3. And An Official Mike Allegra Three-Minute Doodle (That is to say, I take three minutes to draw a doodle—and then I send that doodle to YOU!

A few of you were kind enough to buy and/or review, so I started doodling.

Here is the doodle I’m sending off to a lovely blogger named Boo. I’m told she likes giraffes, so…

I took an extra couple of minutes to add some color highlights because Boo has purchased and reviewed pretty much everything I’ve ever written. You earned it, Boo!

Wanna piece of this action? It’s easy! All ya gotta do is buy my book and/or leave a review on Amazon. (You could also promote the books in different ways if you’re so inclined—so feel free to be creative!)

Once you do that, let me know in the comments and I’ll send a Par-T Pak to YOU!

Thanks! And YAY!

 

Shameful Self-Promotion (AND FREEBIES!)

Like many writers, I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the self-promotional end of the biz. I just have a hard time repeatedly and relentlessly saying:

LOOK AT ME! I HAVE BOOKS! BUY MY BOOKS! BUY BUY BUY!

If left to my own devices, I would just write and doodle and do laundry.

But sometimes a writer has to do these things.

*sigh*

So look at me, okay? I have books. And, well, you should very much consider buying them. That is, if you want to. 

My picture book, Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist, has won a few awards, most recently the top prize from Learning Magazine’s 2020 Teachers Choice Awards. So that’s cool.

It was also a finalist for the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, received a 2019 Purple Dragonfly Book Award (STEM category), and got a 2019 Creative Child Magazine’s Preferred Choice Award. So that’s cool, too!

My other picture book, Everybody’s Favorite Book, didn’t win anything, but that’s because the world is jealous of its super-awesomeishness. After all, EFB is the only book on Earth that features a mastodon-sized guinea pig.

Peek-a-boo!

So both books are worth buying.

***

If you already did buy these books, thank you! But, um, could you also please write up a review on Amazon? Because that would help out this writer/doodler/laundry master a heckuva lot.

Now, as most readers of this blog know, I don’t usually ask anything of you unless I’m also willing to give something in return. So…

HERE’S SOME FREE STUFF!

If you buy, review, and/or otherwise do something groovy and helpful on behalf of Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist and/or Everybody’s Favorite Book, I will mail you

An Official Yer Awesome Promo Par-T Pak!

Each Par-T Pak will include:

  1. An Official Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist Bookmark (while supplies last)
  2. An Official Everybody’s Favorite Book Bookmark (while supplies last)
  3. And An Official Mike Allegra Three-Minute Doodle

What is a Mike Allegra Three-Minute Doodle? Well, I take three minutes to doodle something of my own choosing. Then I send that doodle to you!

Will this doodle be suitable for framing? Sure, if you don’t discriminate much when it comes to framing things. The point is, it’ll be yours.

I drew the above frog in two minutes—so your doodle would be about 50% percent better than this. (I originally thought it would be only 33% better than this, but my math teacher spouse set me straight. This is why I draw silly pictures instead of handling the household finances.)

And here are the bookmarks! Aren’t they nice? They have stuff written on the other sides, too!

How to claim your Official Yer Awesome Promo Par-T Pak

Just leave a comment below telling me what you’ve done to support Everybody’s Favorite Book and/or Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist!

That’s it! I’ll be in touch!

Thank you in advance for whatever you’re willing to do to generate some interest in my humble picture books! I am very grateful.

I look forward to sending some freebies to YOU!