Tuesday, July 1, 2014

"Destiny and Faith Go To Twincentric Academy" by Teddy O'Malley

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY
Destiny and Faith
Go To Twincentric Academy
(Destiny and Faith Book 1)
by Teddy O'Malley


Destiny and Faith Go To Twincentric Academy is recommended for children ages 6 to 10. It is currently ON SALE for only $0.99. Also available: Destiny and Faith's Summer Adventures.


This book blast and giveaway is brought to you by Mother Daughter Book Promotion Services. They are pleased to be coordinating this book blast on behalf of author Jourden Cleghorn who writes under the pen name of Teddy O'Malley. Jourden was recently involved in a serious automobile accident resulting in severe injuries just days after her new book, Destiny and Faith Go To Twincentric Academy, was published in May 2014. The indie author community has come together to support this young author/illustrator during this challenging time. Please read below to see what you can do to help in a small way.



Description
Destiny and Faith are going into second grade and their mom has a great idea. She's going to send them to a school for twins! They're not sure whether to be excited or terrified. Come join them and see what happens!

Excerpt
Chapter 1: The Academy
“Destiny! Faith! I have something important to tell you girls!” my mother called from downstairs.
“What do you think she wants?” I asked.
Faith shrugged. “I just hope it's not something I did. Race?”
“Yeah!” I agreed. Faith and I raced down the stairs. She won only because she cheated.
“Girls, please sit.” Mom pointed to the chairs. Our four-year-old sister Olive sat near her, crashing her toy airplane into her muffin.
“Your father and I have made an important decision. We wanted to let you girls know about it and see what your thoughts and opinions are.”
Faith and I turned and gave each other an “uh-oh” look. When Mom wanted our thoughts and opinions it usually meant something not-so-good was coming up like her deciding to send us to our old Aunt Hazel's house.
The only thing Aunt Hazel let us eat was chocolate chip pancakes. I love chocolate but that was a little too much pancake for me!
Mom must not have known how to word it because she simply pushed a brochure towards Faith and me.
The headline read
Twincentric Academy
Where twins reign supreme!
I grabbed the brochure, opened it and read, “Give your twins the benefits they deserve. Twins are not like singletons. They have special twin needs. Our school supports important twin issues such as twin bonding, twin telepathy, and twin development. No other school pays special attention to twins like Twincentric does!”
“What do you think, girls?” Mom asked.
Before Faith and I could give our opinions she threw in, “I have already enrolled you girls for second grade in Twincentric so I hope you'll like it.”
“I don't know,” we both said. We looked at each other, both of us contemplating a school that paid special attention to twinship. It was true our first school did not.
There teachers had made a few attempts to separate us. They even asked us to “please stop dressing alike”.


The Buzz
"Anyone who's tried to buy a book or birthday card for a child who isn't white will know how few are available. Golden hair and blue eyes rule. I was delighted by Destiny and Faith, who are mixed race/bi-racial, perfect for some children very close to me. However, let me quickly say that this is a story for all children. A school for twins is such a great idea and Destiny and Faith's adventures have a universal message about friendship and learning how to get along with each other. This would also be a good book for actual twins as some of the issues that arise in twin relationships come up in the story." ~ 5 Star Review, Mary Josephina Cade, Amazon
"I just finished reading this book. I got it for my daughter and decided to read it myself. It is so ORIGINAL and totally ADORABLE! A MUST READ for young children looking to read their FIRST CHAPTER BOOK! My daughter LOVES it!! I highly recommend this book!! " ~ 5 Star Review, radams, Amazon
"A great story for young girls, with lots of fun dialogue. Accompanied throughout by black and white drawings. These capture the body language and expressions of the different characters perfectly. Looking forward to more in the Destiny and Faith series." ~ 5 Star Review, M.J. Kinsman, Amazon

Guest Post by Renee of MDBR
How You Can Help Jourden Cleghorn
On Thursday, 15 May 2014, Jourden was the passenger in a small car when a much larger truck turned in front of them. She suffered severe injuries as a result of this accident, including a cracked sternum, punctured lung, broken arm, and broken foot. Unfortunately, the nature and severity of Jourden's injuries have limited her ability to promote her books effectively. I was very moved when I was approached by a member of the Facebook group, "Fun-tastic Children’s Books" (of which Jourden is an active member) to help this young author. This wonderful group took it upon themselves to promote Jourden's books on her behalf. They bought, reviewed, tweeted and shared her books throughout social media and are sponsoring (along with MDBR) the giveaway below.
If you should choose to enter the giveaway below (open worldwide), you will see an option to earn 10 extra entries in the giveaway by purchasing a copy of Teddy O'Malley's latest book, Destiny and Faith Go To Twincentric Academy from Amazon for only 99 cents. I hope you will consider helping out the author in this small way.
Of note, during her recovery, Jourden found the inspiration for another children’s book. It will be about a child recovering from a car crash and having to cope with learning to write with the opposite hand, and other hardships that must be overcome during the healing process. Jourden usually writes with her right hand, but plans to illustrate the book using her left. She wants to show that hardships can be overcome if one does not give up.

About the Author
Jourden Cleghorn, who writes and illustrates children’s books under the pen name Teddy O' Malley, was born in Saint Louis, Missouri. She has traveled all over the United States and enjoys learning about new things and other cultures. She dreams of visiting a foreign country. She has enjoyed studying Spanish, German, and now Italian as well.
Jourden paired her language skills with pictures of puppies to write Tell Me How You Say Good Night, a bedtime story. And a childhood friendship with a biracial girl named Hope influenced Jourden to make the Destiny and Faith characters biracial in her series about twins. Many of her books include a thread about friendship and acceptance of others. Jourden previously worked part time as a nurse assistant helping the disabled and elderly.

Giveaway
Enter the blast-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card or PayPal cash.

Links