Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are FIVE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, a pink team, and a purple team, each give you a chance to win a whole different set of books!
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, April 9, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
EXCLUSIVE SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Today, I am hosting C. Lee McKenzie for the YA Scavenger Hunt! She writes realistic, contemporary young adult and she’s traditionally published four novels. Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative and Sudden Secrets. She also dabbles in magic and fantasy when she writes for middle graders. Some of her middle grade fiction titles include Alligators Overhead, The Great Time Lock Disaster and Sign of the Green Dragon.
Find out more about C. Lee McKenzie by checking out her website! You can also catch up with her on Amazon. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram.
C. Lee McKenzie’s featured book is DOUBLE NEGATIVE and she’s got some awesome stunt casting and a few character insights to share…
Double Negative
After the fun of seeing Double Negative in print, I decided to have some fun and create a cast for my characters. If I could make a movie of my story, here are some of the players.
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| Brant Daugherty |
The MC was easy. Brant Daugherty’s the perfect Hutchison McQueen. He’s a bright kid who’s virtually illiterate.
Here’s the first time you meet Hutch:
Kranski’s office might as well be home. I spend more time with him than I do with Dee Dee, and for good reason: the principal’s friendlier than my mom.
Casting Nyla and Maggie was challenging. I imagined them as strong, unique females characters.
Here’s a Nyla line after one of the “mean girls” tries to embarrass her in class:
“I would take the time to tell you exactly how inane, how deplorably bad your taste and sense of propriety are, but since you do not have the capacity for processing more than a single syllable or a single idea at a time, I won’t waste my breath.”
Yay for Nyla!
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Maggie was a joy to create. Smart, feisty, 70, and now facing a final challenge in her life. While writing this story I wondered who was saving whom. Was Maggie saving Hutch or Hutch saving Maggie? Here’s Maggie as I imagined her, and one short scene where she’s describing her appointment with a psychiatrist.
“Oh, he meant well, but that last question made me snap. ‘Who’s the president?’”
“Uh oh.” The priest leans back in his chair, his hands behind his head. “And you told him, right?”
“You bet. A tax and spend liberal who shouldn’t be licensed to drive a car let alone run a country. That’s who.”
Heather’s rubbing her eyes.
“Of course, then I backed up because I realized this kid had voted for him.” She turns to her daughter. “I gave him the answer, Heather.”
One Reviewer Says: “I really loved Nyla and Maggie. They’re very different, but both brilliant and—in Maggie’s case—hysterical, and I am literally sitting here at my computer grinning just thinking about them.”
Jimmy, Hutch’s dad, isn’t a bad guy, he’s just disillusioned by the cards he’s been dealt. When he realizes he can actually do something to help his son, he does.
Meet Jimmy:
“So what’re we gonna do about this school thing, Hutch?” Dad’s “thing” still comes out “thang” even after twenty years living away from Texas.
When I answer him, I’ve already picked up that sound and Texas is in my voice, too. “I guess I’ll have to stop ditching?”
“You get to Kranski’s office and talk over the problem. If he wants a conversation, you best give him one.”
Extra special bonus giveaway from C. Lee McKenzie!
Visit C. Lee’s website for a 6-Book-Giveaway only during the #YASH. To enter, click here: The Write Game
And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by me, Lea Nolan, and the rest of the Blue Team authors! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is NINE (9). Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the Blue Team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to visit the awesome Shaila Patel at her website!
