Yes, there was a surprise quiz tucked away in there, so I hope you were paying attention. First two people to answer correctly in the comments box below get a copy of the book. The rest of you get personal satisfaction. Godspeed, young human.

// josh

Review written by Kim

The first and only word that came to mind after reading this book was, “Whoa!”

Ok, you’re probably thinking I need to expand my vocabulary, but Willow is easily one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. 

I admit that when I first heard about this book from Josh Shipp and read the synopsis, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be reading a 342-page book about cutting. It’s a touchy subject and it wasn’t something I would normally read about, but my curiosity won out in the end.

The book pulled me in from the first chapter and held my attention through the very end. The imagery was so vivid; I could see and hear the razor on Willow’s skin. The characters of Willow and Guy felt real and relatable; I could imagine them as two of my friends. The relationship between them and the situations that brought them together were amazing and well-written. The emotions were raw and powerful. I loved it all.

Looking back, my favorite part of the book was when I realized how people are never really alone. We’ve all experienced situations where we’ve felt completely isolated. I, for one, lost my mom to cancer last year and it hurt a lot. It still does. But as much as that hurt, this book reminded me that there’s always someone there to listen, who will be there and understand, no matter what.

Willow had its up, down, happy, sad, jaw-dropping, heart-wrenching, and everything-in-between moments. It was definitely a lot to handle cover to cover but I would reread it in a heartbeat. 

Have you read Willow? What did YOU think of it? Sound off below.

Interested in writing for ‘Hey Josh?’ Email us at blog@heyjosh.com.

Forgive me.

My buddy Kirk put LITTLE BROTHER in my hands, I hoped on a flight to New Hampshire and finished it by the time I landed.

I loved this book. You will love this book.  You will not smell of radishes.

I’m giving away a free signed book to the first five people who can complete the online scavenger hunt below.  Good luck!

HERE’S THE TRAILER:

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

CORY DOCTOROW SLINGS ADVICE:

JOSH: What advice would you give to a 17 year old wanting to be a published author?

CORY:  Writers write. You can’t be a writer unless you write. Write every day.
Finish what you write. Find a group of other writers who are at your level and read each others’ work on a regular basis. Find fiction you like online and in magazines and find out what the rules are for submitting to the markets you like, and send your work in. Work every day and break off mid-sentence, so you’ll know where to start the next day.

HERE’S HOW TO WIN A FREE SIGNED BOOK: CONTEST OVER!

Book contest was over in less than fifteen minutes.  Crapola. I’ll make it harder next time. Congrats to Megan, Rhonda, Jean, Kim & John! CORRECT ANSWER: This was future

You are forming a 3 word sentence.

Word one: What is the 7th word in this video?

Word two: What is the 17th word in Grace’s comment on this post?

Word three: What is the 41st word in the EMAIL I send you, after you write me and ask me for the final clue?

To Win: Comment below with the correct three word answer.

I cannot WAIT until the next book this year! What do you think will happen? Will Bibwit and his old buddy from tutor school face off? Will Redd and Arch have a lovechild that looks uncannily like Jack of Diamonds? Will the scenes, wicked inventions and weapons, and characters get even more intense than they did in Seeing Redd? What do you think?

Are you as stoked as I am? What do you think about the argument critics give about the characters being too one-dimensional? I think if Beddor stuck in THAT many interior monologues, we wouldn’t get those tons of epic battles and weapons and cool stuff… that, or it would be way too long to read in a couple hours, which would be painful, as you die to know how it’s gonna end and MUST know before the sun rises!

According to the official website, LGW folks are “meeting with directors” and a script is complete! Who would you cast to be in the Looking Glass Wars films? Johnny Depp as Hatter? Daniel Radcliffe for Dodge? Maybe even Kristen Stewart as Alyss? Share your picks—or predictions—here!

The film version of Coraline (trailer), directed by Heny Selick, comes out in February, and the footage looks, well, completely incredible. Selick directed the smash-hit A Nightmare Before Christmas (I know, I know, it’s Tim Burton’s movie… but Selick actually directed it), and Coraline is done in a similar stop-motion process that sucks you right into the world of the film. Oh… also it’s in 3-D, so… be prepared to be awed. But before you go running out to the theater, you should check out Neil Gaiman’s original Coraline, the book that the movie is based on. It’s the sometimes silly, sometimes scary, and always eerie tale of a girl named (duh) Coraline, who moves into a new (old) house, and discovers an alternate world where everything is a bit… strange. She finds odd versions of her mom and dad, and while they seem nice at first, Coraline soon learns that they don’t want her to go back to the “real world.” And did I mention they have buttons instead of eyes? Spooky.

Here’s the trailer:

But then it occurred to me, vampires would make the worst pirates in the world. First off they can’t be out in the day. That makes sailing anywhere very hard. Secondly, there are old vampire myths about how they can’t cross water by themselves. In Bram Stokers’ book Dracula had to stay boarded up on his way to England. They tend to freeze up and are unable to move. So now I’m thinking, bring it on. I could take on like fifty of these guys.

So I have two questions for you:
1. Are these guys awesome or lame?
2. How many vampirates do you think you could take?

Here is a link to the official website. You can read excerpts from each of the four books online.

Hunger Games is set in the not-so-distant future, and America is now a dictatorship  overrun by reality television.  The most popular event is the Hunger Games, an annual kill-or-be-killed contest.  Each year, teens are chosen by lottery to participate in a fight-to-the-death match.  It’s like The Super Bowl meets “Survivor,” only there is literally only one survivor.  Yikes!  Katniss, our heroine, steps up to the plate when her younger sister is chosen.  Her fighting partner is Gale and, of course, he is in love with Katniss.  Tension and potential heartbreak run rampant among the action.  Their district hasn’t won the Hunger Games in over 30 years, so the pressure is on here.  And you thought a pop quiz in math class was bad!

Have you read it?  Let us know what you think.  Any thoughts for who should play Katniss and Gale in the movie?