The Thirteenth Summer Went on Tour!
On December 11, 2010, we sent 50 copies of The Thirteenth Summer on tour around the country. We gave copies of the book to 50 teens, and then the books began traveling the nation, just like Rage and Crystal did on their memorable summer together. We kicked the book tour off with a fun party at Dog Ear Books, in Athens, Georgia. I gave 14 copies of the touring books to girls from Athens-area schools, and we had a blast! Books also went out to teens in major cities across the U.S., including Boston, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, New York, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta.
The rules were simple: If you got a copy of one of the books on the tour, you could keep it for 7 days, read it (and fall in love with it, of course!), then you passed it on to someone else… and round and round it went. We tracked the books’ travels around the nation, and it was so fun to see them crisscrossing the nation. One book even made it all the way to South America!
The Lucky 13—er, 14
The Lucky 14 with Their Touring Books!
My favorite part about the book tour was the way we kicked it off. On December 11, I gave 14 of the 50 books to girls here in Athens, Georgia! The plan was to give out 13 books to local girls (The Thirteenth Summer, 13 books… get it?!), but we had so many girls who wanted to participate that we ended up giving out 14 books! We all converged on Dog Ear Books, a new, funky bookstore in downtown Athens, and kicked off the book tour there. If you’ve read my Facebook page, you know the hilarious story about the girls who sang to me at my first book-signing, right in the middle of Barnes & Noble… in their bunny slippers. Well, I flew one of them in to sing again! Micah Walker, sixteen-year-old singer-songwriter extraordinaire, was on hand to perform… ’cause any Thirteenth Summer event has to have music, right? Rage wouldn’t have it any other way!
Songs from The Thirteenth Summer Muse, aka Micah
I heard great things from readers of the touring books. Several girls emailed me and called me to tell me that The Thirteenth Summer is their new favorite book. Thanks, girls, your comments mean the world to me! If you’ve read the book and want to keep up with me, you can submit comments on my website, or post on my Facebook page! I love, love, love hearing from you! You are the reason I write for teens.
Showing off those snazzy Thirteenth Summer bracelets
