Back to School Book Giveaway! Win 10 Free Books!

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

The contest is over and the results are in! My daughter has scrutinized the entries and picked her winner for one of Hachette's boxes o'books. She selects:

M. Shaun, whose entry, she explains, was both well-written and funny.

Of the remaining 14 entries 4 were selected in a random drawing conducted by daughter #2. And the winners are:

Christa Allan
Anne
Marilyn
Amy

I'll also be notifying them by email. Thanks for entering!

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Hachette Book Group has very generously offered to give away FIVE sets of TEN FREE BOOKS through a contest hosted here at the-deblog.com. That is, five of my lucky readers will have a hefty package of ten Hachette titles delivered to you. Here are the books:

1. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World -- By Vicky Myron, Bret Witter ISBN: 0446407410 $19.99

2. The Book of Calamities: Five Questions About Suffering and Its Meaning -- By Peter Trachtenberg ISBN: 0316158798, $23.99

3. Say You're One of Them -- By Uwem Akpan ISBN: 0316113786 $23.99

4. Bo's Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership -- By Bo Schembechler, John Bacon $13.99 ISBN: 044658200X

5. Knowing Right from Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience -- By Fr. Thomas D. Williams $19.99 ISBN: 0446582018

6. Titanic's Last Secrets: The Further Adventures of Shadow Divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler -- By Brad Matsen $27.99 ISBN: 0446582050

7. A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative -- By Roger von Oech (25th Anniversary) $16.99 ISBN: 0446404667

8. Ethics 101: What Every Leader Needs To Know -- By John Maxwell $9.95 ISBN: 0446578096

9. The Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance -- By Polly Young-Eisendrath $25.99 ISBN: 0316013110

10. Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey -- By William Least Heat-Moon $27.99 ISBN: 0316110256

--- --- --- --- HOW TO ENTER --- --- --- ---

Today was the first day of school in these parts. My older daughter started 7th grade and my younger daughter 1st grade. This being a back-to-school contest, here's all you need to do:

1. Leave a comment describing some memory you have from either first or seventh grade. It can be funny, poignant, what have you, but certainly the more interesting the better, because it will give you an edge in the contest (see below).

2. Entries must be submitted by 12:00 PM Eastern Time September 5th, 2008. The five winners will be selected on Saturday, September 6th.

3. One winner will be selected by my older daughter, Rebecca, who will have sole discretion in deciding based on how much she likes the entries. (She will not be told the identity of the authors.)

4. Four winners will be drawn at random from the remaining entries.

5. I'll notify the winners by email on September 6th and will ask then that you provide your shipping address.

6. Contest open to U.S. and Canadian residents only. No P.O. Boxes please.

Comments

[Holly]

I remember being really nervous to start 7th grade. At that time (a really, really long time ago!) K-6 was at the elementary school and 7-8 was at the junior high. There was no such thing as "middle school". I had loved elementary school and was afraid of feeling like a little fish in a big sea at junior high. One of my friends who was a year ahead of me, called me the day before school started and we went over to the school together so she could show me where everything was and how it all worked so I could get a feel for it. In those days we didn't have special orientations or anything. I remember feeling so grateful to her for her thoughtfulness.

[Christa Allan]

I was the shortest kid in first grade. The teacher told us to keep our feet on the floor, and our backs against the back of the desk.

I couldn't do both. She brought in a brick, placed it on the floor, and told me I had to put my feet on it.

Can you spell humiliated? I couldn't then, but I certainly experienced it.

[M. Shaun]

Oh, first grade, how well I remember you. It was the year that I would learn my place in the school hierarchy. You see, it was in Grade 1 that I would learn that my position in the educational totem pole was to forever be "loser."

Elementary schools, and to a lesser extent, high schools, were always coming up with "days" to make even the most intellectually malnourished kids think that school was a fun place where no one ever judged you. You know - most people are familiar with "pizza days," but I'm sure anyone who's gone to a school in Toronto knows about "Beach Day," second only to "Hat Day" in the record of exposing the true nature and level of your peers' weirdness.

"Beach Day" was a day, usually one situated in the depths of the Canadian winter, where students would participate in the delusion that it was actually, somewhere beyond the brick walls and barred windows, a hot, sticky summer day. Students were to wear shorts, swimsuits, stupid looking hats that no one under forty would ever wear outside, and sunscreen. I remember seeing the kindergarten students at the school I attended in Grade 4 having so much fun with it, even going as far as to come decked out in goggles and flippers. FLIPPERS. Like scuba divers. We even had a "beach day" in high school, and everyone had fun with it. Of course, by that time I could never participate in any beach day. I could never have the fun time that they seemed to be having, because although I knew about the days well in advance of their arrival, there was always the nagging neurosis rearing up in the back of my head, whispering: what if it happens again?

What if what happens again? Well, here's my story of first grade trauma. It was beach day, and I was excited - mom had washed a pair of shorts for me on this gloomy, snowy January. The shorts possessed a depiction of Bart Simpson with a way-cool surfboard; it was the early nineties, and surfing and Bart Simpson were considered the last word in radical.

When I arrived at school, I lingered behind in the coat room, my super awesome shorts hiding beneath a pair of grey snowpants. I wanted to take it all in - to see the sea of summer in the dreary winter classroom. I also wanted to make an entrance in what I considered to be enviable fashion. When I emerged from the coat room, shorts in full view, I learned my first hard lesson of schooling: if you think something is cool, it isn't. It really, really, really, isn't.

The laughter and ridicule contained such forceful glee behind it that I literally jumped back into the coat room as soon as I had emerged. I returned with my grey snowpants covering my once-awesome testament to cool. No one else was clad in shorts. No one else had worn sunscreen. No one else was trying vainly to pretend that it was not ten below outside.

I had learned my lesson. I had seen myself for the loser that I was, and would never outgrow the cynicism that the experience engendered within me with regards to school-organized "fun." I would not aprticipate in "hat days," "pajama days," "backward days," or, god forbid, another "beach day." I had learned first hand that all of it was just a ploy to get me to look like a fool - I couldn't ever join in, because last year's "day" was just a ruse to get me to go for it this year, and be put in my place all over again. And I became suspicious of anything that the school's staff decided would be "fun." I knew that it wouldn't be. I would not fall for their trap a second time.

So that's my story of First Grade Embarrassment.

[Nicole (ikkinlala)]

I've forgotten most of grade 1 and blocked out most of grade 7 (I hated school right up until university), but one thing I do remember from grade 1 is the day the class came to my place for a field trip. We looked around at the pigs and piglets, chickens, cows, and garden, which was boring for me because I lived there, and we ate a big bowl of the dried apples I had helped make.

[Angela Moore]

Oh, I've had tons of embarassing moments in school. I wish I could say they were limited first and seventh grade, but I don't have that kind of luck. Probably the worst was in seventh grade when I was a cheerleader and we had a back to school pool party with the squad. It looked like it was going to rain, so there weren't many people at the pool and we were having a blast with just us girls. Then, it started to rain. We grabbed our clothes from our poolside chairs and ran for shelter sopping wet. We were all getting dressed and I realized I didn't have a rather essential piece of clothing with me. I couldn't find it. I looked outside beside the pool and didn't see it there either. Just then one of the lifeguards (rather cute I might add) walked up with my personal item in his hand. "Is this someone's that you know?" Thinking quickly, I grabbed it and said "Yeah, my friend's looking for it. I'll go and give it to her" then I disappeared into the locker room again. Let's just say that wasn't the last time my girlfriends and I snickered about that little moment.

[Adam M.]

I had Ms. Mizzia for first grade and I will remember her as the second best teacher of all time, because Mrs. Webb was her married name when I had her in third grade and she was the best teacher of all time.

I kind of broke the contest rules by including a first and third grade memory, but either way I can say let your teachers inspire you rather than bore you.

[Anne]

I was sitting in Home Ec class in 7th grade when the loudspeaker came on and the Principal announced that President Kennedy had just been shot. She also said that therefore the sock hop scheduled for that night would be cancelled. I found both of those pieces of information quite distressing.

[Becca Adler]

Aw, seventh grade was such a hard grade for me. It was the year my parents moved my family two states away. I was so heartbroken to leave my friends just as we started off on the big adventure of Jr. High and High School. Starting over was really tough at that age, but I managed. And the best part? Even though I moved away from those friends at such a young age, we were able to stay friends. One of my best friends from elementary school became my roommate in college. She and another friend from that time are two of my closest confidants to this day.

[Alyce]

When I think of the seventh grade, two memories come to mind.

I remember tucking a love note into the locker next to me which happened to belong to a very cute boy. The problem was I also put my name on that note, so the next day the entire school was laughing at me saying, "You know he doesn't like you." The guy was so classy he showed the note around the entire school. Amazingly everyone forgot about it within a day or two.

I couldn't give that memory without balancing it with a good one from 7th grade. I remember when two of my teachers called me into their classrooms at the end of the year and told me I was doing so well that I would be in the advanced/college track courses the next year. It was the first time I really considered going to college a possibility.

[yessenia]

okay well here goes my story from first grade (i'd tell you my story for seventh grade but i've tried hard to suppress it i just hated middle school!!) from what i can remember because that was quite a few years ago : )

i do NOT remember my first day or anything like that but i do remember quite a few embarrassing things i had been through.

i was starting a new year in a completely different school than the one i had attended for prek and kindergarten b/c my family and i had been on vacation a little to long so they didn't allow us to go back to the same school since we got there too late for registration --i had to start school in a place where i knew no ONE so it was very very very scary. i probably would have gotten lost b/c i tend to do that a lot, but i had a teacher accompany me to my class. the teacher had everyone stand up next to their seats and introduce themselves to the class --i have no idea why a teacher would do that to a small innocent little nervous child!!!--when it came to my turn to say something about myself and my summer i had gotten sooo nervous my palms were all sweaty--i have a genetic problem where my palms get sweatier than most, it's horrible--which just made me even more nervous, what was worse was that i really really really had to pee, please don't laugh at me, okay i guess you can laugh : ) i was too nervous to ask the teacher to allow me to go to the restroom, i was too nervous to even move! soo...i guess you can guess what happened --yeah i peed on myself on my first day of first grade in a school full of people i had never seen before in my life : ( what was even more embarrassing than that was that i lied and told the teacher i hadn't peed on myself, i was a horrible liar i should not have said what i said which was this, "um..i had a bottle of juice in my pocket, which kinda opened and spilled" because i said that so quietly the teacher didn't hear me so she asks "what?" i had to repeat that dumb lie again she looked like she didn't believe me but i was too scared and nervous and EMBARRASSED to even care or notice at the time, well the teacher made me clean it up and another thing that was really horrible and embarrassing was that she had someone else help me clean it up god! it was the worst day of my life--kind of-- i felt like crying because i felt soo horrible then later on my dad came to bring me a pair of ugly looking pants to change in i had waited for him at the office just thinking over and over how crummy i felt and how i needed to NOT cry. my dad asked me if i had you know what on myself but i was too embarrassed to admit it so lied and said no i just spilled juice all over myself he also looked at me like "sure you did" but didn't say anything just kind of laughed at me-my dad is not the nicest dad in the world- i remember wishing he would just take me home with him because i did NOT want to go back into that room full of strangers. i had to go back i don't really remember anything about what happened afterwards i do remember that no one laughed at me and how glad i was for that, people just pretended like it hadn't happened at least that made me feel better i know for sure i was quiet for like the whole week or month after that

you're allowed to laugh at me if you like that was a LONG time ago but i still remember it like if it were yesterday, wish i could forget it completely though it was just so bad of a first day : (

[Wendi Barker]

Oh - the first day of 7th grade!! How I worried. . . top of my worries was getting a locker - we had to sign up with two friends for a locker. Then, we had to find the locker they assigned us, and figure out how to open it - drat - I was never good at that! I then worried that I would forget where it was, or wouldn't be able to open it . . . EVER!

I can laugh about it now, but I thought life was going to end - I thought everyone would laugh at me, and that I would not enjoy it. I was wrong - I ended up having some of my favorite memories from my 7th grade year. I LOVED art classes, chior and math - silly me.

I had to walk to school, so catching up with friends on the way was always fun. We walked in the rain and the snow - and yes - sometimes the 1/2 mile felt like I was going up-hill both ways . . . LOL

That was the year that I met some of the friends I've stayed in contact with the most. I have very fond memories from that year.

The only embarrasing thing was that my Mom started working there later that year in the math department, and some kids were afraid to be friends with me because of that, others loved it because we could sneak into her room during lunch when it was cold outside.

I hope your daughter really enjoys 7th grade! (Here, that was the first year of Junior High, so it was a new school, with new kids to meet, and new teachers)

:)

[Rene]

One memory really stands out from this time - and I can't for the life of me remember for sure if it was 7th grade or 8th grade. But we were working in class, and someone pointed out that a grasshopper was hopping around between the aisles. The teacher asked if someone could let it go, and some of the girls didn't want to touch it, but I had no problems with it. I caught it, and took it to the window.

Now, these windows were the most basic model. They were a very large single pane of glass with a metal strip wrapped around the bottom edge, with a little lip to raise it up. So the bottom edge was quite thin. I pushed the window up with one hand, let the grasshopper go, and BAM! The window slammed down on the tip of my finger and sliced it right open. It was bleeding pretty freely, but it didn't bother me that much right away. It really freaked my teacher out when I showed it to her, though. Once I had a good look at it, I was feeling a bit more squeamish, and I'm afraid I kicked up a bit of a fuss after the principal drove me to the clinic and I found out I had to get shots AND stitches. After it stopped hurting, though, it was very nice showing off the huge bandage encasing my finger and telling people how it happened. ;)

[Marilyn]

First grade, going to school all day, falling asleep and getting in trouble for talking too much. Recess when the boys commented on our "undies" while we twirled on the bars.

[Karen]

I was by far the best speller in first grade (some of the kids weren't even reading or writing yet), and the teacher used to praise me to the skies, much to my embarrassment (and the other kids' resentment). So I started deliberately misspelling words just so the teacher wouldn't make such a big deal out of me. Isn't that a shame?

[Amy]

In first grade my cousin and I got in trouble for giggling loudly while spelling what we thought was "bra" with our letter cards (small, salmon colored cardboard letters contained in a small cardboard box). Since this was Catholic school, we thought we were being racy. When I was older, I realized we were spelling"b-r-a-l-l."
Now I wonder why we got in trouble.