Ann Brashares Q&A!

A Short Q&A With Ann herself!:

Who pwns everything?

My kids, in my life they rule...me...and my dog.

If someone suddenly threw a wad of twenty thousand dollars at you, how would you respond?
It's a goody-goody answer I admit. I'm part of this program that sponsor's students to go to a school. That could sponsor 4 students, so I'd do that.

If 'they' decided to make a movie of your life, which actress would you want to play you?
I've been told I look like the actress from Weeds, so her. It's hard to see yourself as an actual actress.

What's the most random question you can think of? Answer it.
Did you ever have a Barbie Dream Boat? Yes.

Can you do the Time Warp again?

I've watched it many times, but I don't think so. I could sing it for you though.

Why connect 3 Willows with the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?
At first I was avoiding it. But then I liked the idea of them to follow in the shadow of the sisterhood, for the girls to be aware of the sisterhood and think that they have no problems... that it would be interesting for them to live in the same town and be like "why can't our friendship be like that." It (3 Willows) really stands on its own, but I like the idea that all fictional worlds coexist.

Are you self conscious of what people would think of your book?

Yes, definitely. More for memoirs, but all fiction is putting yourself on paper and there's the fear of if others do not like it.

Tell us about America Ferrer and the Ugly Betty prop.
Someone called the publisher for the four books because America wanted them on the night-stand in her room on Ugly Betty.

3 Willows Signing- RECAP

Brought to you by Erika. With comments by Julie in green.

I’ll start from when I got home from school. A little while later Julie (That's me :D) and her friend (Sasha) came. We put on our super cool painted jeans and Books & Books t-shirts and at 4:30, we all hopped into my dad’s SUV (my mom needed the extra room for the way home, more on that later) and were on our way.

Once we got to Bal Harbour, we immediately went to the store. Debra wasn’t there yet, so we just put our stuff in the back. Then, we found a café and ate. Debra found us and said how she had been stuck in traffic coming from a school event. FOR ONCE WE WERE THERE BEFORE LORENA AND BRIGITTE!!!!!!! (See miracles happen)

When we were done, we went back to the store and soon Lorena, Brigitte, and Lorena’s cousin came. (After we were waiting FOREVER) We just kind of stood around and looked at the books in the YA section. I also went over what I was going to say in my introduction. Julie wanted me to do an April Fool’s that Ann wasn’t here, but: 1. She would be coming through the front so everyone would see her and 2. That was pretty mean considering how it was cancelled in January. I still think it would've been a good idea...

Then, people started coming, Catherine (my friend) came with her neighbor (Ann’s cousin), so I went over and started talking to them. When I went back they were looking at pop-up books… COOL pop-up books.

Since the newspaper had said 7:30, we decided to wait a little while just in case. Then, Ann came in and Debra introduced her to us. As I thought the plan for our joke wouldn’t have worked since she past everyone. Whatever...

So, Debra introduced us. Lorena introduced our contest winner and gave her the book. Here's a picture of the contest winner with Ann:

Then, I introduced Ann. We all went to the back and stood as we listened and filmed.:

Once she was done talking and answering questions, Debra announced how when Ann was supposed to have come in January Julie was going to have her birthday party and since it was also Brigitte’s birthday the week before that she got a cake. It was blue for 3 Willows. Though I had given up sweets for lent... And I found out Catherine did too, so we were resisting the cake together. It was really thoughtful...

We started post-it-ing and stacking up the chairs. Once everyone was finished, I got all my books signed (notice how she said "my" books. She still won't let me get any signed to me...3 Willows was signed to both) and we asked her our Q&A questions (The Q&A will be up in the next week).

She started signing stock and we were still just talking. We asked our typical Q&A question if she could do the timewarp. Since she said not really, we did it in front of the table while she was still signing.

A while later, Debra came up to us and said, “Have you heard of Kevin Rudolf? Apparently his song is number 3. He’s the guy in the black back there.” (Referring to near the front door behind us.)

We all went, “Nope, never heard of him.” After going home I looked him up and realized I’ve heard his song countless times… (I WAS/AM SO MAD WE DIDN'T GET HIS AUTOGRAPH!!!!! IT WAS SUCH A GOOD OPPORTUNITY!!!!)

Ann finished signing stock and then we said our goodbyes, piled into the car (there were now 6 of us plus my mom) (it was a tight fit) , and headed to my house where everyone was being picked up.

Ann Brashares Tomorrow!

This is no April Fool's joke. Now recovered from illness, Ann Brashares is well and ready to enjoy an evening of traveling pant fun with us tomorrow, April 1st.

The event will be held at Books & Books Bal Harbour Shops at 7P.M.

Books & Books Bal Harbour Shops
9700 Collins Avenue
Bal Harbour, FL


"You made friends for life with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. And what better way to make new friends than at a party? Put on your favorite jeans and join our
Traveling Pants Party
It’s a great way to start a new sisterhood and meet news friends – like Polly, Jo and Ama – and grow with them in 3 Willows. Click here to read an excerpt from the new book.

It is a new summer. And a new sisterhood. Come grow with them.

And come meet Ann Brashares to hear all about the 3 Willows (ages 12 and older) and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series."

Hope to see you all there tomorrow.

-The YAthenaeum Team

Contest Winners!

Now that our two contests are over we'd like to announce those who will be receiving autographed copies of either Wintergirls or 3 Willows.

Receiving 3 Willows
Chelen "Set the Birds Free"

Receiving Wintergirls
Nicole "Is That Better"
Bianca "Speak Up"
Donald "I Was OK Until Today"

Congratulations to all the winners. Remember if you didn't win, you are still welcome to share your short story or poem at the corresponding events later this week.

-The YAthenaeum Team

3 Willows CONTEST - Extended

We've decided to extend our 3 Willows contest till this upcoming Monday March 30th, at 6p.m. Eastern Time. Guidelines can be found on the contest page.

Please remember you must be in attendance at the event to be eligible for a prize. Sorry to our non local readers.

Ann Brashares! Event & Contest!

We've finally rescheduled Ann Brashares event after illness didn't allow her to come in January.

So, put on your favorite jeans and join us on April Fools day, April 1st, at 7pm!:

Books & Books

9700 Collins Ave.

Bal Harbour, Florida

Now for the contest:

*Note* Sorry, but this is only for those who can come to the event.

Details:

• Think about where your jeans have traveled and what memorable moments of friendship you've shared while wearing them.
  
• E-mail us with your name and answer to this prompt at yathenaeum@yahoo.com
• Deadline is March 27, 2009 at 6pm
• Winners will be notified shortly after
• We’ll share the winning stories at the event
• You must be present at the event to redeem your prize

Prizes:
3 Contestants will each receive:

• 1: Autographed copy of 3 Willows by Ann Brashares.

We can't wait to read your entries and look forward to seeing everyone on April 1st!

-The YAthenaeum Team

3 Willows Event -RESCHEDULED

Bad news everyone. Ann Brashares, author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, has fallen ill. Hence her publisher has asked to reschedule her Miami event from this Thursday, to sometime in February. Terribly sorry to those who already had their tickets, but it's all for the good of Ann's health. We'll let everyone know as soon as we have word on a fixed event date.

-The YAthenaeum Team

3 Willows- REVIEW

Erika’s Review of 3 Willows

Whether you’ve never picked up The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books or you loved them dearly, Ann Brashares new book will not disappoint. Aimed at younger readers, it’s definitely not the same maturity-wise as The Sisterhood, but that was the point. It takes place in the same town, the Sisterhood is a legend to the girls now, and there are also those character similarities that give a nod to the readers of the previous series, but this is a new sisterhood. 3 Willows is about a group of three girls and their summer between eighth grade and high school. Though the girls had previously been the best of friends beginning in the third grade, the day they were each given a willow, the past year they had slowly grown apart. This summer is about their individual adventures and struggles in different parts of the country where at the same time coming closer together.

3 Willows will be an opening door for many girls who may have been too young during the time of the sisterhood. It will begin their love for Ann Brashares and the friendships she writes about. It will also be a delightful read for the older readers who mourned the end of the pants. Brashares knack for creating realistic characters and friendships that everyone can connect to has not gone away. Whether you connect to Ama- the intelligent, straight-A girl stuck on a wilderness trip, Polly- the one who stays home, decides she wants to try to be a model, and tries to change herself because of it, or Jo- the girl who stays at her family’s beach house, gets a summer job, and then has some family and friendship problems along the way, there is something that can connect to every girl. Brashares succeeded in giving them each a distinct voice that helps adding to the realism and connection. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, that I’m sure many tweens and teen girls will not be putting down anytime soon and will be eagerly anticipating the next one to come out.

3 Willows- Contest (Winners)

Now that the contest is over we'd like to announce the three winners of the first YAthenaeum Book Giveaway Contest!

The 3 winners who will be each be receiving an advanced readers copy of Ann Brashares' 3 Willows are:

• Elizabeth
• Megan Lipsky
• Linh Tran-Phuong

Congratulations to all the winners, and many thanks to all of those who entered!

Winners, please check your e-mails with instructions about claiming your prize.

-The Yathenaeum Team

3 Willows- CONTEST!

This contest has ended.

Pretty exciting news to report, Ann Brashares recently wrote a new novel, 3 Willows, which will be out in stores on January 13th. Even better though, just 2 days after it’s release, on the 15th, Ann herself will be coming down to Miami for an event! This is pretty big stuff going on. So how can this get any better?

With the first ever YAthenaeum Book Giveaway Contest!

We here at Yathenaeum got our hands on 3 Advanced Reader Copies of Ann Brashares’ 3 Willows. That’s right, THREE! And we want to hear from you why you think you should have one! But we also like to have fun with out contests, so we want you to be creative.

So here’s the catch. You must tell us why you deserve a copy of 3 Willows. In a haiku.

What’s a haiku? A haiku is an un-rhymed poem having three lines containing five, seven, and five syllables respectively.

Here is an example:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator
-Rolf Nelson

So don’t worry if your entry doesn’t make sense, we like those best anyway!

RULES

• Entry must either be submitted as a comment below or e-mailed to us at yathenaeum@yahoo.com.
• Entry MUST be a haiku, following the 5-7-5 rule.
• Name & E-mail required with entry.
• Contestants are limited to 1 entry.
• Deadline is Friday, January 9th 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
• No cheating/copying or anything along those lines.
• Have fun!

PRIZES
Top 3 entries will each receive:

• 1: Advanced Reader Copy of 3 Willows by Ann Brashares

But here’s our little added bonus! We will try to have your book arrive as soon as possible. But, if you think you can wait a few days, we can have your copy signed & personalized by Ann herself! This is up to you of course, but we will need a reply no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern on the 10th, this is to ensure those who want their copy early get it fast.

Winners will be announced Friday January 9th at 10:00 p.m. Eastern or later based on judge deliberation.

-The YAthenaum Team