Short & Sweet #3 - EDWARD THE VAMPIRE or A VERY FROST KISS MISS by Carolee Dean

I would like to start by congratulating GoofyJ who won the book giveaway, In The Trees, Honeybees, for our November 18th post by Lori Mortenson. You should have received an email asking for your snail mail address. 

Here are a few more photos from the Twinkle Light Parade. Did I mention that while Caroline and I were taping lights onto each other, we almost passed out from the exhaust fumes coming from the trucks surrounding us? Directly behind us was a low rider that kept turning on its hydraulic lift and directly behind the low rider was a group of cyclists. Check out this one below:

I was nearly run over by a cyclist who kept yelling, "Watch Out, Candy Cane." I lost Caroline very early in the evening, which was a little disconcerting since she was my ride home. I kept running to catch up to the float but I eventually lost them as well. I eventually found Caroline and made it safely to my dinner date with my husband.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Multi-Author Book Signing at Alamosa and for those who helped us sing our Christmas Carol Spoofs. Several local authors, as well as random people from the audience, joined in the fun. I would like to offer special thanks to the kids who volunteered to play bells and other instruments. I'm the one in the jester's hat.

Here is the third and final installment of our songs. WARNING - There are spoilers, so if you haven't read all the books in the Twilight series, you might want to wait on this one:

EDWARD THE VAMPIRE or A VERY FROST KISS MISS by Carolee Dean
Inspired by the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer
(Sung to the tune of FROSTY THE SNOWMAN)

Edward the vampire
is a boy without a soul.
He has a sparkly smile
and a GQ style,
but his eyes are black as coal.

“Edward the Vampire
is a school girls dream,” they sigh.
But Bella's knows
that he's white as snow,
because he's dead inside.

Her heart goes
Thumpity, thump, thump,
Thumpity thump, thump
when he walks the hall.
Thumpity, thump, thump
Thumpity, thump, thump
watch her trip and fall.

Edward the Vampire
is a vegetarian.
Though the Voluri
are much more scary,
they claim to have more fun.

Edward’s a Vampire
but Bells is not afraid.
Though she is a clutz,
and her friends are nuts,
Edward loves her away.

Her heart goes
Thumpity, thump, thump,
Thumpity thump, thump
halfway through Book Four.
Then she gets wed,
becomes undead,
and her heart will beat no more.

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY EVERYONE - WE WILL SEE YOU JANUARY 14 WHEN WE RETURN FROM WINTER BREAK!

Short & Sweet #2 - HUNGER GAMES HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

This was the float Alamosa Books created for Albuquerque's Twinkle Light Parade. See the Christmas tree in the left hand corner? Now check out the closeup below...

Sean and Elizabeth, the owners of Alamosa, decorated the tree with books. Notice the titles by the Spellbinders?

We will be at Alamosa Books in Albuquerque, along with several other local authors, on December 11 from 6-8 p.m. In addition to mingling with librarians and conducting a multi-author book signing, we will be collecting books for the Albuquerque Public Schools - Title One Homeless Project. This project has already served over 400 students this year alone. A book is a gift a child may treasure forever. If you are not located in the Albuquerque area, consider donating books to your local homeless shelter, or better yet, partner with a local bookstore and start a book drive of your own.

As part of the evening's entertainment, we will be singing Christmas Carol Spoofs. I must give kudos here to the staff at Alamosa (Chris Warner, Megan Herceg, and Corey Bowen) for helping me brainstorm these wacky songs. They were the ones who suggested zombies and brought out a host of Jonathan Maberry books (see last weeks post for the Zombie song as well as for tips for creating your own holiday spoofs).

Here is our second song in the series:

HUNGER GAMES HOLIDAY TRADITIONS by Carolee Dean
Based on The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
(sung to the tune of "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire")

Rabbits roasting on an open fire.
Tributes shooting at your rear.
Mockingjays singing songs like a choir.
Kids dressed up in combat gear.

Everybody knows some arrows and a few berries,
are what you need to win this fight.
But mutant mutts with their eyes all aglow,
make it hard to sleep tonight.

You hope that medicine and soup is on its way,
and Haymitch didn't drink the sponsors pay.
Though probably he's passed out now and sleeping.
This happens every time that there’s a reaping

And so I'm offering this simple tale,
about a bunch of kids with bad behavior.
Though its been said many time many ways,
"May the odds be ever in you favor."

Remember, for suggestions on how to create your own book based Christmas Carol Spoofs, check out last week's post.

Short and Sweet #1 or Have a Very Zombie Christmas

Two of the Spellbinder Authors (Carolee Dean and Caroline Starr Rose) dressed up in lights and marched in the Twinkle Light Parade on Saturday, December 1, in downtown Albuquerque to promote our upcoming SCBWI winter party and multi-author book signing. For entertainment at this notorious event, we will be singing Christmas Carol Spoofs based on young adult novels. For the next three weeks we will be sharing the spoofs along with some hints for how you may create your own unique songs.

ROT AND RUIN THE HOLIDAYS by Carolee Dean
Based on the Rot and Ruin series by Jonathan Maberry.
(sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells")

Dashing through the snow
with my brother Tom
I had to get a job,
so I'm out hunting Zoms.

They used to be our friends,
but watch out for their bite.
The eve the zombies rose is what
we normies call First Night.

Oh...
Rot and Ruin,
Flesh and Bone,
Death and Decay,
Fire and Ash,
Lets make a dash,
We need to get away.
Hey!
Rot and Ruin,
Flesh and Bone,
Death and Decay,
You can have fun
on a zombie hunt
in a one horse open sleigh.

Find the missing girl.
Defeat Charlie Pink Eye.
Your brother's not a coward.
He's really a swell guy.

Try not to lose your cool.
Hold on to your head.
Even if they're ruthless Zombies,
please respect the dead.

Oh,
Rot and Ruin,
Flesh and Bone,
Death and Decay,
Fire and Ash,
Let's make a dash,
We need to get away.
Hey!
Rot and Ruin,
Flesh and Bone,
Death and Decay.
You can have fun
on a zombie hunt
in a one horse open sleigh.

If you are in Albuquerque, NM on Tuesday, December 11, please stop by Alamosa Books from 6-8 at 8810 Holly Avenue NE where you can hear songs like this performed LIVE by the Spellbinders!

Classroom Teachers - Consider assigning a song spoof for your next book report, or better yet, write a collaborative song with your entire class based on a novel everyone has read. Here are some tips to help you get started:

1) Make a list of characters, locations, key phrases, etc. from the novel.
2) Explore a variety of songs and decide which one might lend itself to a spoof of that particular book.
3) Study the song you have selected, line by line, and see if any of the original lines of the song can be retained in part or whole.
4) Look back at your list of characters, locations, and phrases and see if any of them rhyme.
5) Go through the song, line by line, substituting your own lyrics.
6) Sing and Enjoy!

Watch for the following titles in our Three-Part Holiday Series:
December 10 - HUNGER GAMES HOLIDAY TRADITIONS or RABBITS ROASTING ON AN OPEN FIRE
December 17 - EDWARD THE VAMPIRE or A VERY FROSTY KISS MISS

After that we will be taking a break until January 14, 2013!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS