Win-It Wednesday: Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab
Last week's winner of two great Alyson Noel books is... Jamad! Send me your address, J!
This week, I'm giving away an oldie-but-goodie. Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab is the story of city-girl Matisse who finds herself in rural upstate New York after her dad gets sick. She has to adjust to hayrides, cheerleaders and small-town gossip, all while she deals with her father's illness.
It's a lovely book that I recently picked up again, and I thought it would make a great Win-It Wednesday!
To enter, leave a comment answering these Qs: Did you ever have to move while you were in school? What was the new place like for you? How did it change you?
I moved for 4th and 5th grade--from Chapel Hill, NC to Philadelphia, PA to help my grandparents when they were sick--and then we went right back to Chapel Hill (same house even!). I hated it at the time, but I think it made me a more adventurous person on the whole. That's my experience. What's yours?
I'll choose a winner at random next Wednesday.
PS-Trailer!
Comments (13)
Nope, never moved. Still live and work in the same little rural area. Love to travel and have seen almost every area of the U.S. and several countires, but still want to return home!
Posted by Torey | March 2, 2011 11:36 AM
No. I moved, though since my school was in the same city, I didn't change schools. LOL!
Posted by Aishah | March 2, 2011 12:58 PM
1. Yes I had to move while I was in school. I was a military brat so there for a while I moved every year to a new state until I was in 3rd grade. Then the next time I moved was right after my 9th grade year.
2. At the time I thought it was terrible for me to move since I had to make new friends and find new stuff to do. I thought it was terrible and the end of the world but after I made friends I actually came to like the places.
3. I believe it made me a better person. I'm not exactly sure how though. I know that changes will always be around and you must accept them because there is no way to stop the changes.
Posted by Kayte J | March 2, 2011 2:50 PM
my big move as a kid was from Michigan (where I went to a very small private school w/ like 200 kids) to Ohio (where I went to a large public high school w/like 2000 kids) in 10th grade. Pretty much shaped my whole high school experience for the good and bad.
Posted by Liana | March 2, 2011 3:10 PM
I was 9 when I moved from upstate NY to Fla. Talk about a culture clash. My parents divorced soon after. I came back to NY same general area when I turned 18. I always felt like my life had been displaced for those 9 years. I never understood the concept of Palm trees with Christmas lights. Befuddled me for years.
This books sounds like an intriguing read. Curious what the book thinks of my general area. (Hugs)Indigo
Posted by Indigo | March 2, 2011 4:29 PM
Like Indigo, I moved from New York (Long Island) to Florida. I was 12, so it was a bit scary, having to make new friends. Everyone made fun of my accent. Halfway through 8th grade in Florida, they closed my middle school and I had to go to a new one. Then, halfway through high school they closed my high school, so I had to go to a different one. Thankfully, my friends came with.
Posted by Lauren | March 2, 2011 6:53 PM
I moved to Japan when I was in second grade. I had a hard time since the kids weren't very welcoming and bullied me. Japan is very different from the US that I had a hard time adjusting to their lifestyle. I became fluent in Japanese so that is definitely a plus though!
Posted by Sheena | March 2, 2011 9:03 PM
I'm kind of boring. I've lived in the same place all my life.
Posted by babygirlG | March 2, 2011 10:52 PM
I love this cover and title. I was instantly drawn to it - it's definitely going on my to-read list!
I moved to Hong Kong from Toronto when I was in 8th grade and stayed through high school. It completely and totally changed my life. I had total culture shock, I missed my friends, but I also got to go to an international school and really broaden my world view.
I definitely think it gave me wanderlust - it's hard for me to "settle down." I think I also care about bigger things than I cared about before. I call myself a realistic idealist (I will be using that in a YA book someday!). I think moving showed me that the world is smaller than it ever has been (and getting smaller and more connected), but because of that, I really believe that anyone can change the world with small actions and little steps.
Posted by Tiff | March 2, 2011 11:29 PM
I didn't attend public school, I was always homeschooled so no, I never had to change schools. But I did move. My family moved around so much that I was never able to make any friends. We always stayed in the same state and general area but it was still crazy how much we moved! It wasn't until I was 11 that we "settled down" and even then we moved again when I was almost 13. Then we moved again when I was 16. Somewhere along the way I managed to make a few friends. But now that I'm "grown"? (20) I want to move. Move and keep moving and never stay in one place for more than a year for the rest of my life. I'm a wanderer and I can't stay in one place very long without feeling suffocated. I wonder if that's because of how much we moved when I was a kid...? Sometimes it's a curse but mostly I see it as a blessing because I love learning about different coltures and meeting as many people as I possibly can. So always wanting to move around and change is a good thing, I think. This book sounds great, good luck, everyone!!
Posted by Anna C. | March 3, 2011 10:35 AM
Moving. I've had to get used to it, even to this day. We are in Oregon and we moved twice in 2 yrs, and will move cross country again in a few months. In my childhood, I did a lot of moving after middle school. I moved each year for 3 years from freshmen to junior - each to different locations. Then I took college in another island (4yrs) Then after completing my coursework, I moved again to another different island to take a final graduate examination refresher course (2yrs). (Philippines has 7,107 islands) All these transient moments in my life were in different places and provinces. It was always a new adventure to me, but I never found a circle of friends that I kept for a long time. My friendships were always physically temporary ones that once I was gone, I would continue to communicate via emails. All this moving was never really a hassle, except moving my things in the latter years became burdensome once I had acquired so many clothes and shoes. I have so many friends in so many places. Looking back, I have discovered that I love change. It's always a new design, a new experience, a more challenging quest and new friends. This book makes me want to read how moving is felt in another person's life.
Posted by Dear Girl | March 3, 2011 10:31 PM
in the third grade i moved from the philippines to maui. my family and i left behind all of our immediate relatives and maui took some getting use to, especially the language. but the move definitely changed me. now, i can't hardly speak my first language anymore and i'm not as close to my relatives in the philippines as i was when i was young.
Posted by chelleyreads | March 8, 2011 11:29 PM
I never had to moved to go to a new school. My elementary school was and is still approximately five to ten minutes by foot from my house. I'm glad I didn't have to move; I don't know how I would of cope with the change and being the new kid in school. It was bad enough being a freshman! I'm glad I didn't move anywhere because I met my best friend on the way walking to my first day of third grade. And now still, we are still best friends. We are both 22. I think I got out of topic, sorry. :)
Posted by Marynellie | March 9, 2011 1:19 AM