February Roundup: Loyalty

Here are our February discussions, just in case you missed anything!

Loyalty:

A Conspiracy of Kings with Megan Whalen Turner

The True Meaning of Cleavage with Mariah Fredericks

The True Meaning of Cleavage: Friendships betrayed

Broken Soup with Jenny Valentine

Broken Soup: Family Secrets

Independent Dames with Laurie Halse Anderson

Independent Dames: Are women's contributions still marginalized?

February Community Service: Charity:Water

February Playlist

Independent Dames: Are women's contributions still marginalized?

This week's featured title is INDEPENDENT DAMES: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution by Laurie Halse Anderson. It tells the stories of the women who fought behind the scenes in all sorts of fierce ways, women who are finally getting a spotlight. Cool!

Certainly in Revolutionary times, women's roles were marginalized. Do you think women are still kept out of the light at all? Do they get their due in terms of the ways they help shape today's world?

What Loyalty Means to Me by 4 Cool Kids

February's theme at readergirlz is loyalty. When discussing loyalty, these teens thought of their friends, their families, and their pets, among other things.



If you can't see the video above, click here.

What does loyalty mean to you? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Broken Soup: Have you ever kept a family secret?

This week's featured title, Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine, shows main character Rowan taking care of her family after the death of her brother.

To "keep it all together," Rowan ends up keeping some family secrets--for better or worse.

Have you ever kept a family secret? Was it the right thing to do?

The True Meaning of Cleavage: Friendships Betrayed

This month's theme is Loyalty, and our Featured title this week is The True Meaning of Cleavage by Mariah Fredericks. In Monday's post, Mariah shared the real story that the book is based on -- one where she and her best friend in high school parted ways, slowly losing each other as their social worlds separated.

Loyalty is a beautiful thing, but even in the truest of friendships, it is sometimes tested.

So how about you, readergirlz: Have you ever knowingly betrayed a friend? Or has a friend betrayed you? Were you (or s/he) ever able to forgive?

Win THE THIEF by Megan Whalen Turner!

Megan Whalen Turner shared her thoughts on the difficulties of Loyalty on Monday, and today she's generously offered to give away 20 -- yes, twenty -- copies of her first book in the featured series, The Thief, to 20 lucky readergirlz!

Here's how it works: Send an e-mail to Megan at meganwhalenturner AT harpercollins DOT com including your mailing address and a description of how you will share the book if you receive a copy (through a blog or by sharing with a friend or librarian or anyone!).

The first 20 emailers will receive a paperback copy of The Thief with the understanding that they will somehow pass it on to a new reader after they've read it.

Sound good? Good! Now get to emailing Megan, readergirlz!

****UPDATE: Megan has well over 20 entrants now, so the winners are chosen! (But if you just want to say hi and tell her you love her books, I'm sure she's still open for that.)****

charity : water

February Community Service Spotlight

One in eight people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water. charity : water is a non-profit organization which brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations to charity : water goes directly to funding water projects.

Their research states: "By 2050, the world's population is estimated to grow by three billion and 90% of this growth will be in the developing world. Unless sustainable water solutions are scaled fast, regions already stressed for safe water sources will be over capacity. We’re expanding our reach to meet these demands and will not stop until every person has safe water to drink."

Help hydrate the world. Learn more at http://www.charitywater.org

February Playlist

When we asked you to suggest songs about loyalty for our February playlist, the music recommendations came pouring in! This month's playlist includes:

Stand By Me by Ben E. King
Don't Leave My Mind by Azure Ray
I'll Be There by The Spinners
Just When You're Leaving by Joanna Pacitti
Lean On Me by Al Green
I'll Stand By You by The Pretenders
Mordred's Lullaby by Heather Dale
At Your Side by The Corrs
I Will by The Beatles
Touch Me by The Doors
Sway by Bic Runga
I'll Be by Edwin McCain
I'll Be There by The Jackson 5
For Good from the musical Wicked
Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne
Stay by Lisa Loeb

Suggest Songs for Our February Playlist

Hey rgz!

We are building the playlist for February. Our theme is Loyalty. Give me your suggestions in the comments below, and I'll create the playlist.

Suggestions so far:
Stand By Me by Ben E. King
Don't Leave My Mind by Azure Ray
Just When You're Leaving by Joanna Pacitti
I Will by The Beatles