Why YA authors are the BEST!

February 24, 2011 Uncategorized 6

I am re-posting this from yesterday evening since it is still going on.


When YA author Maureen Johnson woke this morning she decided she wanted to do something good. At about nine AM she tweeted about it saying, “Today, I want to do something good, and I need your help. Today, we are going to provide someone in a crisis with a safe temporary home.” Johnson then proceeded to tell her followers about Shelterbox, an organization that provides supplies and a temporary shelter to those in need. Her goal was to have followers donate enough money to fund one shelter (about $950) by eight PM. At eight she was going to total up donations, make up the difference and then give a random donator her last ARC of The Last Little Blue Envelope, the companion novel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes. **Sidenote, her books are FABULOUS. You should check them out!** 


Donations were given the tag #lastlittleshelterbox so that a total could be tracked. It took off from there. One of her Twitter followers asked if she would donate a second box if we raised enough money for one. She said yes. About three hours after her first tweet she posted this to her blog explaining everything. At 1:30 her agent donated another ARC of The Last Little Blue Envelope and pledged to make up the difference on a second shelter. About FOUR hours after starting the donations people had given enough to send one box PLUS about $200 towards a second. 


Then things got even crazier! Other authors joined in and began donating ARCs of their books to help raise money. Libba Bray and Barry Goldblatt donated and ARC of Bray’s upcoming book Beauty Queens and Holly Black’s Red Glove as well as an ENTIRE SHELTER!  Scott Westerfeld donated an ARC of his upcoming releases Goliath. Carrie Ryan donated an ARC of her book The Dark and Hollow Places as well as a monetary donation. Beth Revis (Across the Universe) , Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson Series), Rachel Hawkins (Hex Hall), and others donated money. Many authors retweeted the information to their followers. And what wonderful followers they are… by 4:30 there was enough money raised for FOUR SHELTERS! That’s $3800! Wow. I am so impressed. This is yet another reason why I chose to work in a field where I can promote YA authors. Not only do they write amazing books, they do amazing things. 


*** NOTE: According to Maureen Johnson’s website, yesterday ended with $6000 raised! You can enter today (2/24/11) until 8 PM Eastern time to win one of these FABULOUS prizes! Check out Maureen Johnson’s blog for more info.***


One more ARC of The Last Little Blue Envelope (from @DaphneUn)
An ARC of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
An ARC of Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
A signed copy of Across the Universe by Beth Revis
A signed copy (and poster) of Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margi Stohl
An ARC of Pink Boots and a Machete by Mireya Mayor

Related Posts

6 Responses to “Why YA authors are the BEST!”

  2. Maggie

    That’s incredible, and why YA authors are amazing. It’s not all about themselves and their books….it’s more than that! I’m glad you posted this on your blog, I had no idea! 😛

    Reply

  4. Carrie Ryan

    Thanks for the shout-out 🙂 I’m with you — this whole day has just reinforced how much I love this community — EVERYONE in it, from writers to readers to librarians and booksellers and bloggers. It’s a pretty awesome group to be associated with! Thanks!!

    Reply

  6. YA Bibliophile

    Kelsey, It’s SO good! I loved book one The Devil’s Kiss and this one is even better! Sarwat Chadda does an amazing job with the history and mythology that go in to the books.

    Reply

Leave a Reply