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.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday was thought up by MizB at should be reading

"Joyce studied Uhmma's eyebrows, which had begun to look slightly off center and crooked now that the swelling had receded. Joyce didn't want to say anything to make Uhmma more upset." The Fold by An Na pg. 149

Oh and I got my first award! How cool :) It's from Jessica at Eat Sleep Dance Read (the title of her blog pretty much sums up my life as well!) Thanks so much! This is probably the first time I've ever been called creative!
I'm supposed to list 7 of my fav things and nominate 7 bloggers.

These are a few of my favorite things
1. Reading
2. Hanging out with my friends (and laughing with them)
3. Dancing
4. Sleeping in
5. Watching my fav TV shows (So You Think You Can Dance, Gilmore Girls, Greek, Bones, The Closer & Lincoln Heights)
6. Not having to drive
7. Playing field hockey, soccer or basketball.

And the nominees are (*Oscar presenter voice* in random order)...
1. Taste Life Twice
2. The epic rat
3. The HappyNappy Bookseller
4. The Dreamer Reader
5. Steph Su Reads
6. The Shady Glade
7. Stop, Drop and Read!
Yay nominees! Yay Jessica! Yay Creativity! :D

Oh and I got to be a guest blogger at authorslatino.com for author Jo Ann Hernandez!. Check out my post!

Also storycasting.com is a lot of fun to play with! It's a website where you pick a book and then select various celebrities to play various characters in the book. A Wish After Midnight is there as well as Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith and So Not the Drama by Paula Chase (I recommended Flygirl & SNTD, they are really good about finding the books/actors you request!). I highly encourage everyone to check out the site!

*Update on Black weblog Awards: I am not a finalist. I'll take down the image in the sidebar so as not to cause any conufsion. So that's why no one could vote, I didn't make it to the finals. No worries, there's always next year!

Teaser Tuesday and Guest Blogging

Thanks to Should be Reading for this idea! Grab the book you are currently reading and open to a random page. Type two sentences that are on the page.

"Mattie squirms on the bed and rolls her lips together, trying to keep her questions inside. I can tell she has waited a long time for this moment."
-A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott pg. 93
It's really good so far! :D

Also I guest blogged for Justine Larbalestier! So cool, and generous of her to allow me to do that while she traveled :) You can read my posts here and here I got such a wonderful and positive response! A great feeling of hope swelled within me, due to all the warm comments about white people trying to diversify their reading. And I have enough books in my tbr pile to last me the whole first semseter of school so thanks for that everyone! I met some great people while I guest blogged and learned about some new fabulous websites and blogs that will be added to my blogroll asap.