Guest Post: Department 19 by Will Hill + Competition

Possibly one of the biggest fans of Will Hill and Department 19, KamzKool is a young school-aged blogger and motoring fanatic. Will Hill's novel instantly captured him, and his super-fan-status was sealed when he was able to attend the secret event to celebrate the second book in the series, The Rising.  KamzKool has been kind enough to share on EBT a few words on his favourite book and the event he loved so much. Also there's a competition at the end to WIN YOUR OWN COPY!

Review: Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty + Giveaway

Feeling Sorry for Celia
Author: Jaclyn Moriarty
Published by Macmillan Children's Books, Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9780330397254 (2010 Paperback Edition)

Visit Jaclyn Moriarty's Website
Feeling Sorry for Celia on the Pan Macmillan website

"Dear Ms Clarry,
It has come to our attention that you are incredibly bad at being a teenager.
Yours sincerely,
The Association of Teenagers"


It isn't just the story, but also is the pleasure of reading this book due to how it was written, that makes this book wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I want to share it with you and have included a giveaway at the end of this review.

Feeling Sorry for Celia is a beautiful story about being a teenager, looking at friendship, family, love and school life. It is fun to read, for the most part non-judgemental, and most of all it shows that real life and real people are just not perfect. It was a real pleasure to read: funny, heart-warming and very honest. I think many people will recognise some part of their teenage self in this book and its characters.

The Eclectic Bookshelf's 2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Last year I began to read a lot more Young Adult fiction and enjoyed a number of brilliant titles and series, including Michelle Harrison's 13 series published by Simon and Schuster UK, Hayley Long's Lottie Biggs series and Amy Kathleen Ryan's Glow, published by Macmillan. This year I wanted to keep that going and get through some of the YA titles on my shelves, as well as some of the exciting new titles coming out this year.

I needed a challenge that was not too specific about the type of YA and would be good for non-expert YA bloggers like me (I have seen such accomplished YA blogs!). Then I found The Eclectic Bookshelf's 2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge. There are four levels:

1. The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.
2. The "Fun Size" YA Reading Challenge – Read 20 Young Adult novels.
3. The Jumbo Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 40 Young Adult novels.
4. The Mega size YA Reading Challenge – Read 50+ Young Adult novels.

I will be taking the "Fun Size" Challenge. While I am being cautious about not overstretching myself with reading challenges this year, as I wish to focus on my blog and on maintaining the "fun" element of blogging and reading, I have decided that 20 YA novels, based on my shelves and some of the titles publishing this year, is manageable. Also, as I have made a target of 50 blog book reviews at least this year, and have dedicated almost half to another challenge, this will help me almost complete the other half.