Summer is for sweet tea and for swimming pools and for blockbuster movies and for picnics and for fireworks and for lightning bugs and for sundresses and for late sunsets and for sandals and for early mornings at the farmer's market and for road trips and for festivals and for the wind in your hair and the sun in your eyes but most of all, more than anything...

summer is for reading

For me, summer will always be about books. When I was a little girl, I couldn't wait for our local library's summer reading program. Every time I checked out a book between May and September, I'd get a little stamp in a passbook. And if summer is for reading, when I was a little girl, every Saturday afternoon was for the library. Every summer, my sister and I collected our stamps, three or four at a time, and at the end of summer, and we got a prize. The prizes were small: free ice cream cones, little trinkets or meals at a local burger place. Curling up on the sofa with a couple of shortbread cookies and a good book... the perfect summer afternoon.

Which is why I'm so stoked about the Summer Reads Giveaway. No more little tokens of participation and appreciation, this CONTEST is HUGE. The first prize is beyond impressive: a Kindle, a $500 Amazon gift card AND a stack of 79 books from participating authors (including yours truly). Yep, I'm sending a lucky reader a copy of my newest book, i am a telescope: science love poems. Along with a couple of little surprises tucked inside the package. Because I love reading, and I love you.

The contest is over on July 15, so register now at the giveaway page.