Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Guest Blog & Giveaway: Lucky Phoo by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon


Thank you so much for having me as a guest blogger today. I am shy that my book is about a lucky dog, and think that I should probably come back as soon as I write the sequel about a lucky cat. I’ll get on that right away.

Should I duck for cover as I admit I am a dog-lover? When the idea for LUCKY PHOO came to me, I discussed it with my writing partner Rhody Cohon. She has a strange array of pets, ranging from turtles to guinea pigs. I guess, the dog won out because for our books, I do most of the writing and she does editing, research and marketing. I knew the most about dogs and had just adopted one from a shelter for my mom.

This is a book of my heart. I love writing for young tweens and am a very girly girl at heart. A story about three girls, a magical dog, fashion, movies, and romance – I couldn’t wait to get started.

The characters were kids we knew. The complexities of their lives felt familiar. This cute little dog comes in and seems to make everything better for a while. Who wouldn’t want a little Phoo?

The book was actually much more difficult than I ever thought. In fact, in many ways it was the hardest book I’ve written. I wanted the magic to be clear, but vague. I wanted the girls to feel Disney-esque and the action to move quickly. I wanted so many things at the same time – the book took well over a year to finish and went through many drafts.

That said, you should know I generally write very fast. In the past ten years, I’ve worked with Rhody on more than sixty books. I take ideas and spin them out as fast as my fingers can type. Together, we’ve been published for more than ten years and have been on the New York Best Seller List twice.

This one moved slowly for me. I wanted to get it in a certain way and I knew, once I finished the book, it was going to go out as my first small press eBook.

Although the book is available in paperback, I am really hoping to attract young readers to it electronically. The electronic market is exciting and it’s my hope that this book will break barriers for younger readers who are just starting to find eBooks. The 7-11 market is a tough one for electronic reading and I was warned before I started this venture that it would be an uphill climb, so I did a little research. I asked my friends if their kids were reading electronically – like my daughter. The answer was a resounding “Yes” and gave me the motivation to press through with my plans for the book.

I really love this story. It’s fun and filled with adventure, friendship, and a touch of magic. I hope the tweens in your life enjoy it too.

The book is on sale for 0.99 cents for the month of August. Find out more at www.staciadeutsch.com. Or www.luckyphoo.com. Find the book on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Phoo-ebook/dp/B00E6SOHQK



Lucky Phoo
Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon
Genre: Children’s Mid Grade (ages 7-11)
Publisher: Imajin Books
Date of Publication: August 1, 2013
Number of pages: 109
Word Count: 43,000
Cover Artist: Ryan Doan

Amazon

Book Description:
Seventh grade best friends, Caylie Jiang-Kahn, Lauren Blindell, and Sabrina Robinson have busy middle school lives.

Sabrina wants to make a movie about their friendship, but a stray dog shows up and ruins the day. In frustration, Lauren curses, “Oh Phooey.” The name sticks. The crazy mutt will forever be named Phoo.

Sabrina pieces together bits of the footage she shot. She highlights Phoo’s silly antics and puts the video up on a movie contest website.

The video goes viral and suddenly, Lauren, Caylie, and Sabrina are celebrities at school. When a volunteer at the dog shelter sees the film, she assumes the dog belongs to the girls and calls them to come collect Phoo.

The girls arrange to take turns caring for Phoo until he can be adopted.

While sharing Phoo, Caylie, Sabrina and Lauren begin to notice that if the dog is around, lucky things seem to happen. The moment he’s gone…the luck disappears.

When they all need the dog’s magic at the same time, it’s up to the girls to decide once and for all: Is Phoo truly a lucky dog?

Review blurbs for LUCKY PHOO
“With punchy dialogue and a fast moving pace, LUCKY PHOO takes readers on a wild adventure as three friends try to share fostering duties of a lovable stray dog.” —Marianne Mitchell, author of FIREBUG

“Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon are two very best friends who write books together, which is very lucky for their readers. You’ll want to share LUCKY PHOO with all your friends, too!” —Jennifer J. Stewart, author of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A THIRD WORLD KIND, Connecticut Nutmeg Book Award List; Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award List; Arizona Grand Canyon Reader Award List

"LUCKY PHOO is a great story about friendship, love and responsibility--Phoo, the lucky dog who wanders into Sabrina's, Caylie's and Lauren's world is indeed lucky--although maybe not as lucky as these girls whose life he changes." —Terry Trueman, Printz Honor Author of STUCK IN NEUTRAL

"Okay, full disclosure: I LOVE good, strong, dog stories--Lucky Phoo is precisely one of those!" —Terry Trueman, Printz Honor Author of STUCK IN NEUTRAL

About the New York Times Best Selling Authors:
Rhody Cohon wishes she could adopt a million pets! Until her house is big enough she'll pamper the few she has and help others find the perfect home.

Find Rhody at www.rhodycohon.com.

Stacia Deutsch sits at the keyboard crafting stories all day and then, plays with her own crazy, lucky, dog at night. She and her three kids live in Southern California. You can visit Stacia at www.staciadeutsch.com or on twitter at @staciadeutsch.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


5 comments:

Avalon Cat Cartoons said...

What an adorable book/dog. Would love to read this.

Brooke Showalter said...

Oh how sweet! This story sounds wonderful. :)

Unknown said...

This looks like something Vlad would love our 6th grade grandskin to read to him! He loves being read to no matter what she sits down with.

Stormy Vixen said...

Thanks for sharing Lucky Phoo and the giveaway. Sounds like a good book. evamillien at gmail dot com

LAWonder said...

Your blog giveaways are so generous!! Thank you.
I hope to be able to read/review these for my site. It would be a great addition.