Cathy Cassidy

COULD YOU BE A COVER GIRL?

I hope you are liking the new photo covers for my paperbacks! And now the hunt is on to find a model for the paperback version of Marshmallow Skye, out in April 2012. We need a COVER GIRL – could it be YOU?

Puffin and Girl Talk are launching a nationwide search for the perfect girl… what are you waiting for? If you are quirky, cool, smiley and individual like Skye, you could be the model we are looking for… click the COVER GIRL link on my website and find out how to enter! The winner will be invited to a special photo-shoot at Girl Talk HQ – and will also get to meet up with me for tea and cakes on my September tour!

If the COVER GIRL comp is not for you, don’t panic – there is still time to enter the 2011 MY BEST FRIEND ROCKS COMP... click the MBFR link on the website to find out how. All of our comps have a cool cover flavour this year, and for MBFR we are asking you design a book cover with you and your best friend on it, plus a blurb for the back telling us why your friendship is so fab. You can download a template on the MBFR page. Go for it!

We seem to have gone COMPETITION CRAZY this month… but remember that both comps close on June 30th so don’t waste any time! You have to be in it to win it, so give it a go… and GOOD LUCK!

xxx

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MARSHMALLOW SKYE...

You heard it here first… the next book in the Chocolate Box Girls series has had a title change and will now be called Marshmallow Skye! The new title fits the story much better, and is just as sweet and cool… so I am hoping you will like it just as much!

I’ve almost finished the edits for Marshmallow Skye now, and the story has a slightly spooky flavour… I think you are going to like it! Marshmallow Skye will be out on 1st September, but first watch out for Strike a Pose Daizy Star out on 2nd June… and brand new covers for all of my paperbacks! They look VERY different but VERY cool, trust me!

There are some SERIOUSLY awesome comps in the pipeline too. MBFR 2011 launches in June, and so does a top secret but ultra-cool extra comp… sign up to the free online newsletter to be the first to hear about it! I’ll be doing school visits for most of May, but before I pack that suitcase I’m going to settle down with a mug of hot chocolate and marshmallows and add a few finishing touches to the book. And I can’t wait to hear what you think about the new title… I hope you like it as much as I do!

xxx

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DREAM TEAM PLACES UP FOR GRABS...

Are you a CC superfan? Have you converted your friends to the books and helped to spread the word? There are THREE places up for grabs in the UK CC Dream Team, and for the first time ever, readers in Ireland will be added to the team too… there are FOUR places available for Irish readers!

Ever since we started the Dream Team two years ago we’ve had lots of requests from readers who’d love to be in it… if you are one of them, click DREAM TEAM and see how YOU can send your entry in. What are you waiting for? Remember, to be considered you must enter via the DREAM TEAM link.

At the moment, readers aged 11+ are eligible for the Dream Team… if you are younger, don’t panic… more places will become vacant as time goes on, so you will still have your chance to try out later on! Also, the places are only for readers in the UK & Ireland at the moment, but who knows, maybe Puffin/Penguin Books in Aus, SA & Singapore will launch a Dream Team too some day!

Dream Teamers have to spread the CC word, but in return they get lots of cool sneak previews and freebies… and they get to work with me and with the fab Puffin team as well! What are you waiting for? Check out the DREAM TEAM page and send in your entry now!

xxx

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1000 PAPER CRANES

My book Cherry Crush is about a girl who is half-Japanese, and a Japanese theme runs all through the story. For me, as for all who love Japan and its culture, the recent earthquake, tsunami and threatened nuclear disaster has been shocking and scary.

I wanted to do something to help, and found myself thinking of the story of the 1000 Paper Cranes. In Japanese legend, anyone who makes 1000 paper cranes is granted a wish. In 1955, a Japanese girl, Sadako Sasaki, became ill with radiation sickness after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Sadako planned to make 1000 paper cranes, but she had folded only 644 cranes when she died aged just 12. Her friends made the remaining paper cranes and buried them with her… one of the saddest yet most beautiful stories of friendship ever. In Japan, the paper crane is a powerful symbol of peace and hope.

What better way to send your support, good wishes and prayers to Japan? Find yourself a square of paper, click the link and make your own paper crane for Japan – then send in your pics through any of the website links. Tell your friends, family and teachers and spread the word. Together, we can make 1000 cranes… and show Japan that we care.

If you’re able to raise money for those made homeless by the disaster, you can donate to the Red Cross.

Look out for more ideas of how you can help on the Secret Page and in the April online newsletter… with comps to reward all your hard work. If you haven’t signed up for the free online newsletter, you can do it here – you’ll find a clue for the password to the Secret Page in the newsletter, too.

Get folding… and send your thoughts and prayers to Japan.

xxx

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