102 & You! BBAW, Dictators, VMAS & Winners!

So I reached 102 followers! Wow. I'm so amazed, I honestly didn't think I would gain even 100 followers. I planned on having a celebration for reaching 101 followers (I thought having one more than 100 would be even cooler than 100), but between the time I took a shower this evening (about an hour ago) and started writing this post I got 102! Thank you so much everyone who follows me!! I have the most awesome readers in the world, someone always leaves a comment on a post so I know that I'm not talking to anyone (before I became a blogger I rarely commented on blog posts even if I agreed with them, now that I'm a blogger I try to always leave a comment on a blog I visit, especially if there is none on the post yet!) I'm going to have to think of something special to do. I'm not really sure since I already have contests going once a week throughout the month. Maybe I'll just throw in extra books for more winners, after all everyone loves good free books! So THANK YOU (best early birthday present from the book blogging community :)

My guest-post for BBAW is up! Please read it (and if you have time leave a comment sharing your thoughts). I'm so behind in all the BBAW festivities. Hopefully, I can catch up on a few tonight and Thursday.

I'm going to get the Rogelia's review up later tonight (after I finish my homework. Science and math are killing me!!)

Also, Kanye's behavior at the VMAS? Grrr. For the record I love his music (I can't think of a single song of his that I haven't liked). His personality, not so much. I don't like Taylor Swift's music, but she seems like a really sweet person. I agree with Katy Perry (I think she said it, I'm paraphrasing) "Attacking Taylor Swift is like kicking a kitten." I agree. Where is the civility in the world? First Rep. Joe Wilson interrupting the President of the United of the States, now this!

Oh my goodness I can't believe I forgot to post the winners of Gringolandia!

Here we go....
Da winnahs!!!!!!

1. book weirdo

2. barbrafl

Congrats you guys! I'll be emailing you shortly for your address. Thanks for everyone who entered and stay tuned for the next giveaway.
The most common response for dictator that you would work to defeat was Fidel Castro of Cuba. Osama Bin Laden came in second.
Sadly, there are way too many evil dictators to choose from. I would have to say that if I could work to defeat any dictator, I would choose Josef Stalin of Russia (he had over 20 million people killed) and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe (treats his country terribly, inflation is high and there is so much rape and killing going on over there). Oh and unhonorable mention goes to Omar al-Bashir (hello genocide in Darfur!)

Here's Lyn's (the author of Gringolandia) choice
It is a tough decision to come up with one dictator, because they're all evil in their own way. I ended up going with Pol Pot not only because of the scale of his massacre in terms of Cambodia's population, but also because of his use of child soldiers and his destruction of the Buddhist holy sites. Others that made the short list for me: the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti, Anastasio Somoza (father and son) in Nicaragua, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in North Korea, Idi Amin in Uganda, and reaching further into the past, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, responsible for the Spanish Inquisition.

I agree with all of them, except King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. It was interesting seeing everyone's various responses.

Finally, I've decided (based on an unanimous vote in my poll) to have a Middle Grade Book of the Month feature. I would like to have one up for this month, but I want it to have a Latino/a main character. Any suggestions? I'm excited about this new feature because many of these I will be reading for the first time since I started reading YA so young.