Well, my birthday is coming up at the end of November, so maybe by then???

I'm bummed I missed this! I just joined the group today. Looks like you all have been having fun. I'm curious what the winners bought with their prize money. Some great new YA books?

Laura, I'll be thinking of you tomorrow. Aaron moves back to school on Thursday.

Really!?!! Wow!! I expected to be second. I thought Kristen had it by about 100 pages.

Congratulations to our winners!!! Great job everyone!

My baby's moving tomorrow to her dorm, hopefully life will be back to normal soon.

Congratulations Luann, Kristin and C!

Good job winners!!!

Woot! I was dying of curiosity! Thanks JG! :-D

Laura must be busy. I sent her the results, thinking she might want to be the one to announce the winners. You guys must be dying of curiosity though... I hope this is okay...

#1---LUANN
#2---KRISTEN
#3---C

Congratulations, everyone!

Any word yet on official results?

I messaged you back JG! Thanks for being so thorough! :)

I finished the tallies and I have sent the top 3 private messages with my totals.

30.1 I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (2003 CBCA (Australia), 357 p.), Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (2006 Alex award (US), 416 p.)
30.2 A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (WT group read, 380 p.)
30.3 Briar Rose by Jane Yolen (Fairy tale, 239 p.)

25.1 Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (Fantasy, 499 p.), The Freedom Writers Diary by the Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell (Nonfiction, 304 p.), Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (Historical Fiction, 316 p.)
25.2 Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt/Girl in a Cage by Jane Yolen (Random YA, 368 p., 240 p.)
25.3 Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman (Asian culture, 536 p.)
25.4 Eldest (704 p.)/Brisingr (763 p.) by Christopher Paolini (YA series)

20.1 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (Book & film, 336 p.)
20.2 Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull (Recommend to young person, 535 p.)
20.3 These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner (Setting: Arizona, 384 p.)
20.4 The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Pub: 1967, 192 p.)
20.5 The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray ("Thing" in title, 819 p.)

10.1 Savvy by Ingrid Law (New book by new YA author, 342 p.)
10.2 Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Given 5 stars by Allison, 471 p.)
10.3 Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr by Garth Nix (WT discussion, 705 p.)
10.4 Watership Down by Richard Adams (1972 Carnegie Medal, 496 p.)

5.1 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Top YA Novel, 485 p.)
5.2 Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (Classic Juv. book, 304 p.)
5.3 Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (Reread, 276 p.)
5.4 Sabriel by Garth Nix (Father/child relationship, 496 p.)

Total Points: 350
Total Pages: 10,963

Laura wrote: "WOW! I can't believe we had 12 finishers and 39 participants in our very first Challenge here at Wild Things. A whopping 181,658 pages were read!"

That is very impressive! Congrats everyone!

I did and it's a huge help! Thanks for doing that!

Did you find mine JG? :)

Big congrats to Kristen, Luann and C!!!!!!!

*throws confetti*

Thanks, I'll wait for yours while I look for Kristen's. That will be a lot easier!

Give me a bit and I'll post a full list here. That way you won't have to do too much clicking around. I know Kristen posted one in the Tasks & Discussion thread.

Thanks. I'm hoping it'll keep any homesickness away.

:(

Thanks so much for your help JG!

I'll get on it, and good luck with the quilt! That sounds like a really special thing to have from your mom when you're away at school.

Hi JG and THANKS!

We're taking the first GR listing for the book in terms of the page counts. Of course, it's possible the first listing edition could have changed between now and when the person reported their page totals, so we'll have to make allowances there. Hopefully this won't happen.

It's just Kristen's, Luann's and C's page totals that we'll be verifying, assuming that they match, because they are our winners.

So yeah, you'll have to browse this thread for their postings, and verify their information.

THANK YOU JG!!!!

Air Kisses to you. Maybe I can actually finish my daughter's dorm quilt now!

:D

I have time tonight and I didn't even try to participate. I'm willing to help with verifying page counts. Do I just comb through this thread for who read what book and check the page count of the most popular edition? Or is there an easier way I'm overlooking?

Well, maybe you can slip a bribe to someone else ;)

If everyone doesn't mind waiting a couple of weeks, I'll eventually be able to do it myself. I just didn't want everyone to have to wait so long.

I'd volunteer, but I'm in the top three, and well.. I don't think that would be completely fair. :)

Woo-Hoo!! Everyone did awesome!
I loved the challenge and read several books I typically wouldn't have. I came across some great ones, too!

Now...on to the next phase...the prizes!

My life, personal and business-wise, have kind of exploded since the Challenge began. Among other things going on right now, we are preparing for my daughter to move in to college and start her Freshman year a couple of hours away from home.

So, what I'd like to do is to ask for volunteers to verify the page numbers read for the first thru third place finishers, so prizes can be awarded. Once winners are verified, they will need to send me a private message with their email address so I can email their Amazon gift certificates out to them.

Any volunteers??

WOW! I can't believe we had 12 finishers and 39 participants in our very first Challenge here at Wild Things. A whopping 181,658 pages were read!

Congratulations to all of our participants. I hope everyone had fun with the Challenge and read some great books they may not have otherwise read.

AND THE WINNERS ARE.....

*drum roll, please......................*



(UNOFFICIAL and UNVERIFIED as of 8/5/09)

FIRST THRU THIRD PLACE FINISHERS:
Kristen: 350 pts., 11070 pages.
Luann: 350 pts., 10963 pages.
C: 350 pts., 10847 pages.

Misty: 350 pts., 10347 pages.
Alisha: 350 pts., 9839 pages.
Linda Grace: 350 pts., 9710 pages.
Beth: 350 pts., 8755 pages.
Jennifer W: 350 pts., 8221 pages.
Allison: 350 pts., 8154 pages.
Michelle (sunflowers): 350 pts., 7772 pages.
Natalee: 350 pts., 7331 pages.
Amanda: 350 pts., 7011 pages.
Jennifer: 335 pts., 7308 pages.
Ashley: 275 pts., 4676 pages.
Linda: 245 pts., 4648 pages.
Kathy: 240 pts., 4863 pages.
Jamie: 190 pts., 4268 pages.
Haley: 175 pts., 4185 pages.
Josie: 160 pts., 5352 pages.
Alexis: 160 pts., 2602 pages.
Bird: 155 pts., 2875 pages.
Nirmala: 150 pts., 2000 pages.
Jen B: 140 pts., 2854 pages.
Fiona (Titch): 135 pts., 3347 pages.
Heather: 135 pts., 2384 pages.
Leora: 135 pts., 2330 pages.
Becky: 130 pts., 3823 pages.
Stephanie: 115 pts., 4291 pages.
Cheryl: 75 pts., 1789 pages.
Lynlee4: 70 pts., 946 pages.
Liz: 60 pts., 1534 pages.
Camerandi: 50 pts., 1080 pages.
Katrina: 50 pts., 836 pages.
Fiona/Tweety: 45 pts., 1174 pages.
Michelle: 45 pts., 993 pages.
Kandice: 45 pts., 480 pages.
Lisa Julianna: 30 pts., 312 pages.
Arynne: 30 pts., 256 pages.
Adam: 10 pts., 432 pages.

I'm curious to see the official results as well!

Who won?!? Who won?!? I'm so excited to see! Some of y'all had crazy amounts of pages read. Really impressive! :-)

Haha, I was not sure what it would add up to in the end. I just kept trying to find thicker books to read. :)

So you can see your name shining at the top? =D

I think I got book overload towards the end there. I swear it felt like I was reading the Name of the Wind and Tamar for WEEKS. Hehe. I've started another clunker of a book - over 500 pages! (I'm a glutton.. I swear)

The Kindling of GreenFyr Book One of the Reunification Conspiracy

I want to see the line up too! :)

Wow! I'm so glad I finished the challenge. Congrats Kristen for getting over 11,000 pages read! That is amazing!! :)

So is this where we will see the final winner announced? And the final line up of everyone who participated?

Thanks for clarifying on Matilda, Kathy! I'm not surprised - books are almost ALWAYS better than movies, IMO!

Alright, just barely finished before my sister came over this afternoon (around 1sh) and then things were a whirlwind and I couldn't post until now.. she just left. We spent 8 hours reorganizing my living and bed rooms. It looks so much bigger now!

So. For my last task I just finished Tamar A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal and earliar I had read I Am the Messenger. These books were for task 30.1 Tamar was the winner of the 2005 Carnegie Medal and I am the Messenger won the 2003 Australia's Children Book of the Year. I thought they both deserved these awards. These books were AMAZING!

So my totals.

350/350 points
11,070 pages

Whew. I made it! I can't wait to start the new challenge tomorrow! :) I have all but the last section pretty much figured out.

Yay! I finally finished my last task - by carrying Brisingr around with me at a family reunion so I could read at every odd minute I got. My final task was 25.4, the YA series. I read Eldest (704 p.) and Brisingr (763 p.) by Christopher Paolini. So, unless any of the first GR totals for pages have changed since I read the books, that brings my final results to:

Total Points: 350
Total Pages: 10,963

Hehe, get down with your bad selves ladies!

Congrats to all who finished and all who gave it a go!

I'll take a snort over further challenge. I'm tapped.

*pants heavily, rubbing Hammer-hurt thigh...*



(congrats to us both)

Thanks Misty.

I love the 'dancing'!

I am sitting at my desk cracking up! I might have snorted but I can't confirm or deny.

Oh, you don't want to go there, Natalee!

*hustles, raises the roof, sees your sprinkler and raises you a Carlton, and caps it off with some Hammer, cause Natalee, you can't touch this*



( ! =D !)

Oh really?? Is this a dance off?

*busts out the Charlie Brown, adds the sprinkler (ohhh yeah!), and finished with an MJ tribute by successfully moonwalking*

WooHoo! We finished!

Nice variety, Ashley. Great job!

I finished a few more books, and I figured I would post my total since today is the last day-

I read:

30 pts-
1. (UK) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime- Mark Haddon and (US/NB) A Wrinkle in Time- Madeline L'Engle (really liked both)
2. The Graveyard Book- Neil Gaiman (loved it!)
3. East- Edith Pattou (great)

25 pts-
1. didn't finish, but I read Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier from fantasy (loved!) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from Christian Lit. (no points...)
2. didn't finish, but I read The Last Grail Keeper (didn't like at all.)
3. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- C.S. Lewis- England (and Narnia... ;))- different from the US.
4. The Horse and His Boy and Prince Caspian- C.S. Lewis/Narnia


20 pts-
1. n/a
2. The Silver Chair- C.S. Lewis
3. The Family Under the Bridge- Natalie Savage Carlson- Paris, France
4. Spinners- Donna Jo Napoli- 1999 (my little brother)
5. Wildwood Dancing- Juliet Marillier (great!)

10 pts-
1. Savvy- Ingrid Law (Great book!)
2. The Magician's Nephew- C.S. Lewis- 5 stars on Mel's shelf.
3. The Last Battle- C.S. Lewis
4. Adam of the Road- Elizabeth Janet Gray (NB Award)

5 pts-
1. The Wednesday Wars- Gary D. Schmidt (loved it!)
2. Kidnapped- Robert Louis Stevenson
3. n/a
4. Haveli- Suzanne Fisher Staples

Total Points- 275
Total Pages- 4,676 (I think...)

Let's have a party Natalee. Ready?
*does the cabbage patch, then throws in a little John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever-ness*

Misty wrote: "Woo hoo!"

Double Woo-Hoo! Told ya you'd finish! :-)

Ashley wrote: "Kathy, I think Linda meant to clarify that you liked the Book better than the Movie- your post says Book better than the Book... "

Lol. I did, didn't I? Oops! Sorry, guys. The book was better than the......movie! :)

Kathy, I think Linda meant to clarify that you liked the Book better than the Movie- your post says Book better than the Book...