Giveaway: Sonny With a Chance (with Jo from Facts of Life!)

UPDATE: The winners are Cristie, Keli, Whitney, Tricia, Olivia F., John, Jordan, Julia, Kelly W. and BSweet.



I've got 10 copies of another Disney series DVD for teens and tweens, Sonny With a Chance: Sonny's Big Break.

Maybe your daughter loves Demi Lovato, another brunette teen queen from the Disney machine. (She's actually a completely watchable and promising comedic actor.) Or maybe your kid likes Megan Fox and you need to find her a squeakier clean role model or star crush - someone who drinks pop with the Jonas brothers, rather than engaging in dark adult antics with David Silver. Or maybe you just like yourself some free stuff and are already planning your Christmas or Hanukkah attack.

You know why I like Sonny With a Chance? Nancy McKeon - Jo from Facts of Life - plays the mom! After all those made for TV and then straight-to-Lifetime soft focus cringefests, Jo's back! I'm a proud owner of this DVD because I just like to see a sister succeed, especially one who drove a motorcycle and Mrs. Garrett crazy, gave Blair a run for her (piles of) money and got to hang out with an unknown George Clooney.

Your kids won't get it, but Jo's presence will help you have fun when watching the Sonny show with your kids.

Oh yeah, plot. Sonny is a good girl from Wisconsin who comes to LA with her mom to star in a teen sketch comedy show, So Random! She tries to navigate the mean girls and vapid hot guys of Hollywood...while charming everyone along the way of course.

Sonny With a Chance - Four Episodes + 1 Bonus Episode on DVD
Cost: $14.99

The Facts of Life - The Complete First & Second Seasons
Cost: $26.49 + FREE shipping

Leave a comment and be entered to win one of 10 copies of Sonny With a Chance! Winners will be drawn in one week.

Emily Osment (from Hannah Montana) Prizepack Giveaway

Congrats to Nadia and her daughter, the randomly drawn winners of the prize pack!

Out of all the giveaways I've offered (or, rather the p.r. peeps that love mom blogs have offered), the Hannah Montana stuff has received some of the most excited responses.

And you know how I love to oblige.

This time Hannah's sidekick on the Disney show, Lilly Truscott - real name Emily Osment - is breaking free from Miley's shadow with her new tweeny pop single, All The Way Up.

You can listen to the song on Emily's website, and if you dig it, purchase it at Rhapsody. My kids like its high-energy drive, and I will confess I've been running to it...it's a good fast workout song and sort of Belinda Carlisle-ish.

And in honor of All The Way Up's release, her label Wind-Up Records is giving away to one APISS reader a cool prizepack that contains

• An autographed photo from Emily Osment herself
• A fan-tastic t-shirt in your child's size
• A tote bag to carry around her loot with pride
  

Know a kid that would be stoked by this stuff? Then just leave a comment below and I'll draw the winner in one week.

Giveaway - Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic by Whoopi Goldberg

UPDATE: Grace is the winner! Thanks everyone for your comments.

Here's the first of two reviews and giveaways I will have this weekend on great books for tweenage girls. And I'm not being anti-feminist or genderist when I say these books are for girls only - the covers of these titles are blindingly pink and frilly.

Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic by Whoopi Goldberg, yes, Whoopi!, and Deborah Underwood is a great book for all girls age 6-10. This first book in the series about best girlfriends at a Harlem ballet school was engaging and fun for me to read and reminded me of The Babysitters Club books I loved as a girl [aside: Amanda sent me the BEST LINK EVER: What Claudia Wore, a nostalgia blog for BC devotees.] But back to the Ballerinas - The characters are real, sweet, believable, utterly un-boy crazy and focused on friendship, teamwork and wholesome passions like dance and ice skating.

And the best part? It's about young black and multi-racial girls but is it's not overly focused on their race. They're just girls having fun and living their middle school lives, with pals and problems and parents, just like other fun series reads that feature mainly white girls with maybe a token friend of color. In this book, the African-American girls get the leading roles, with a token friend that is "part Puerto-Rican, part-Italian and all fabulous." Love it! Whoopi herself describes the novels as “wonderfully inclusive stories about little girls being little girls. They’re gentle and warm and funny.”

Thanks to Disney Books and Jump at the Sun for sponsoring this great giveaway!

Leave a comment below for a chance to win one hardcover copy of Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic for the darling dancing queen in your life.

The Twilight Series is Bloody Good

Reading is my therapy and my addiction, and fiction is my drug of choice. And although I love a deep, intellectual tome it's been awhile since an author has invaded my mind like Stephenie Meyer's vampire romance series Twilight. I recommend it to everyone. Yes, it's young adult fiction but it's so goooood. Like Harry Potter, Bridge to Terabithia, Wrinkle in Time, Witch of Blackbird Pond goooood.

The always amazing site alpha + mom has a great piece on why moms of teens in particular should pick up copies of the series: How To Be A Cool Twilight Mom

But even if you're a strict, adamantly uncool mom, don't be put off by the occultish implications of vampire love. Without giving too much away, the main characters are extremely moral when it comes to meals and make outs. However, the four books get progressively intense as the main characters' relationship matures. Previewing the adult content for your teen is the perfect foil!

P.S. The movie premieres in theaters November 21 (squeal!)

Cost for first two books in paperback: $6ish on Amazon, $11ish at bricks and mortar bookstores
Cost for the third and fourth books hardcover: $12ish on Amazon, $20ish at bookstores