for those who like a shot at free books

Here's a contest from Lauren Barnholdt.

It is TIME for the CATCHING FIRE contest!!!

I am giving away a signed ARC of CATCHING FIRE, the sequel to THE HUNGER GAMES. AND you will also get an audio sampler of the book as a SPECIAL BONUS.

I thought I was going to do something fancy, but in the end, decided to just keep it simple.

To enter, just link back to this post, and then comment and tell me where you did so. If you link in multiple places, you will get multiple entries, but please leave separate comments so that I can keep track.Also, for even MORE entries, follow me on twitter, because if you retweet when I say, you will be entered again. You can find me at www.twitter.com/laurenbarnholdt

Contest will run through Wednesday July 8^th . Good luck

The link back to post on your own blog if you enter is here: http://laurenbarnholdt.com/2009/06/30/catching-fire-arc-giveaway/trackback/

And don't forget to comment on her blog to enter (not mine).

Vierte Juli

Did you know that the Declaration of Independence was also published in German? There were huge numbers of German colonists--in New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland, to name a few areas of high concentration. Apparently there was even a question over which should be the official language of the new United States, German or English. A quarter of all Americans today are of German descent. So, ein froehlicher Tag der Unabhängigkeit!

P.S. And I hope you all enjoy your fireworks. A little poking around confirmed the strange gap in the newspaper: due to lack of funds, our (not so tiny) town is not having a fireworks display at all. And the sale of and the setting off of any fireworks that go into the air are prohibited within city limits. (Of course, I'm listening to fireworks outside at this very moment, so I suspect there will be some illegal ones regardless...) Still, this is totally the weekend we should be visiting my parents, whose small town has a huge display and who live out in the country where you can set off anything you want.