June New Release Giveaway Hop (INT)

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Armchair BEA 2013: Wrap-Up

My first Armchair BEA had been a blast! Enough said, so here are my answers for today's questions:

Did you learn something new?

One thing I learned from this Book Blogger Convention is to connect better with fellow bloggers and readers. I am fairly new to this community and I haven’t had the opportunity to interact with them prior to BEA. Read question number 2 for more info.

Did you connect with a new-to-you blogger?

Absolutely! I’m really thankful to have stumbled upon BEA since it helped me a lot to adjust with the Blogging community. You could say I’m a bit of a “wallflower” before this, and I’m really glad to have met new friends from this event!

What was your favorite discussion topic?  

Truth be told, I enjoyed reading and writing about every single topic but Children’s / Young Adult Literature is (arguably) my favorite among all since this blog is centered on Children’s / Young Adult Literature after all! I also enjoyed the Introduction Questions and it was so much fun learning about different bloggers.

Do you have ideas for future years?

Everything on BEA is perfect. I loved every single topic, giveaways (though I didn’t get the chance to join the Instagram contest) and all the Twitter parties and if there’s something I’d suggest, it’d be to have a lot more Twitter parties and giveaways! (And I’ve won two finished copies of my choice from Strange Chemistry! Oh yes!)

I’ve gotten around 1500 estimated page views and a hundred lovely comments from this event. I know it’s not that much, but I want to thank everyone who dropped by! I hoped you enjoyed reading my discussions! And yes, I also hosted an International giveaway and it had 271 entries. Winner will be announced shortly so make sure to stay tuned!

If I’m not too busy for college next year, I might be on Armchair BEA again or maybe on the real live Book Blogger Convention at New York. Who knows? But then again, I might get too busy  but I’m really looking forward to BEA 2014 and even if I won’t have the opportunity to participate next year, I’ll make sure to read every single discussion so I won’t be feeling left out.

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Armchair BEA 2013: Day 5 (Children’s/Young Adult Literature)

I've been really looking forward to this topic since the center of my blog is on Children’s and/or Young Adult Literature. YA and Children’s books are just awesome! My mom has been reading them to me since I was in diapers and I’m still reading them until now! One of my all time favorite authors, C. S. Lewis, once said:

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally - and often far more - worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.

I guess that’s pretty self-explanatory. So, let’s proceed with the questions:

What are the top 5 (or more) books that every child should have on his shelf?  

My list of favorite’s changes from time to time and these are my current faves:

Top 5 Classic YA/Children’s Series:

1. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
2. Redwall by Brian Jacques
3. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
4. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
5. The Time Quartet by Madeleine L’Engle

Top 6 Modern YA/Children’s Series:

1. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
2. Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan
3. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
4. Maximum Ride by James Patterson
5. Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
6. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Top 5 Stand Alone Classic YA/Children’s:

1. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
2. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
3. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Top 5 Stand Alone Modern YA/Children’s:

1. Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
2. Dear Life, You Suck by Scott Blagden
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (haven’t read this one though)
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Top 5 Classic YA/Children’s Authors:

1. Charles Dickens
2. Jean Craighead George
3. Lois Lowry
4. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
5. Roald Dahl

Top 5 Modern YA/Children’s Authors:

1. Cassandra Clare
2. Cornelia Funke
3. Neil Gaiman
4. Scott Westerfeld
5. Veronica Roth

If you are an adult who reads YA, why do you keep going back for more?  

I’m a young adult myself (I’m 16 years old) and I think it is natural for every teenager like me to keep going back for more. Well, I ADORE YA since they feature awesome characters that are of my age. I love the storytelling too since they’re very appropriate to my age group and very easy to understand. In simple words, I just find them very easy to bury myself into. I don't think I'll ever stop reading YA. PERIOD. But if I was an adult, I'd probably read YA to feel young again and to reminisce my teenage years.

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Make sure to enter my International Armchair BEA giveaway here!

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