S. Smith's Blog, page 8
June 24, 2019
Every School & Library Should Own the Seed Savers Series
The what? If you aren’t a regular follower of this blog, chances are you haven’t heard of the Seed Savers series by Sandra Smith (Flying Books House). The series straddles the line between middle grade and young adult. The first book is younger and as the series continues–as one reviewer stated of the fourth book–Keeper, “this book seems to move out of Middle Grade territory into full-blown dystopia.”
“She was having a hard time understanding what she read. How did seasons relate to food? What did ‘ripen’ mean? What did it mean to ‘grow’ food?”
Like much of Paolo Bacigalupi’s work, Seed Savers is a book series about a future we’re creating today. In Seed Savers, corporations and government have merged and taken control of the food supply. Real food as we know it today is completely gone from store shelves and gardening and seed saving against the law.
The future will thank you.
The series stars children because children are the future.
The first book in the series is Treasure. Treasure has been lexiled at 660. The ISBN is 978-1943345052 it’s available through Ingram in paperback. It’s also available as an ebook and audiobook. Seed Savers-Treasure is a Benjamin Franklin and Mom’s Choice award winner.
“Smith’s Seed Savers books are great reads for young people on many levels. The action is packed with secret acts of civil disobedience, escape from evil GRIM thugs and independent cross-country treks. Plus, teens will both recognize and learn about issues surrounding food sources. Seed Saver books have something for everyone: diverse characters, themes of empowerment, revolution, and even a little romance.”
“I can’t wait for the movie!”
Check out the Seed Savers series today. Available in paperback and ebook. Seed Savers-Treasure also available in audiobook.
FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY THE FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE SERIES ARE SALE-PRICED AT 99 CENTS (EBOOKS) TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF BOOK FIVE, SEED SAVERS-UNBROKEN, THE FINAL BOOK IN THE SERIES! OUT JUNE 26.
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter . Sign up for the newsletter!
June 19, 2019
Still Celebrating: Giveaway #2
Because the final book in my five-book Seed Savers series is releasing NEXT WEEK, after lo these many years, I’m super excited!!! In the giveaway I started last week, I gave away a signed copy of the winner’s choice of one of the first four Seed Savers books. (The winner was Eleanor, by the way.)
This week, I’m drawing 3 random winners! The prize: a code to download FREE the audiobook of Seed Savers-Treasure, redeemable at audible.com. To enter, leave your comment below.
Read more about the incredible narrator, Julia Farmer, here.
To hear a sample, go here.
Good luck! And don’t forget to preorder Seed Savers-Unbroken! Does the underground group Seed Savers prevail in the end? Find out soon in book 5, the final book of the series.
Seed Savers – Unbroken — Anakalian Whims
Reblogging this review of Seed Savers-Unbroken:
Title: Unbroken Author: Sandra Smith https://authorssmith.com Genre: Teen/ Young Adult Length: 339 pages “Had Smith been right? Was the U.S. headed for disaster?” This line in Sandra Smith’s latest installment of the Seed Savers series made me laugh out loud. In Unbroken, Caleb Smith is a whistleblower who sent the government a 23-page letter regarding […]
June 18, 2019
Last Day To Enter Giveaway
Just a reminder that today is the last day to enter to win your choice of a signed paperback of one of the first four Seed Savers books. I’ll be doing the random drawing tomorrow and posting the winner and maybe starting a new giveaway for the final countdown to the release of Seed Savers-Unbroken!
Please see the previous post for all the ways to enter to win.
Seed Savers is set in a future where gardening is illegal and real food unknown. Three young friends must decide what to do when they discover the truth about the “old ways” of food. Out to stop them is GRIM, the government agency controlling the nation’s food.
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter.
June 10, 2019
Celebration and Fan Giveaway!
In fifteen days the final book of the Seed Savers series will finally be out!!!
For those of you who have been fans of the series since the first book was self-published back in 2012 this has been a long wait. If you found the series last year when Flying Books House began republishing them . . . not so long. 
June 4, 2019
What’s in Your Pantry? Politics of Food Called into Question in New Novel
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
What’s in Your Pantry? Politics of Food Called into Question in New Novel
SALEM, Ore., June 4, 2019 — The final book in author Sandra Smith’s Seed Savers series, Seed Savers-Unbroken, out later this month, immerses readers in a future where the government dictates the nation’s food supply. Seed Savers-Unbroken is the fifth and final book in the middle grade/YA series that asks readers to imagine a future where growing food is a crime and where real food is eaten only by the elite.
Similar to other environmental fiction, Smith’s series paints a possible future born from decisions made today. The Seed Savers series explores what could happen if intellectual property rights concerning patenting of seeds remain unchecked. The story also brings into question the inherent dangers of relying on large monoculture crops.
The author notes that Unbroken, like the previous books in the series, is not a bleak and hopeless dystopian. Smith frequently describes the Seed Savers books as “Little House on the Prairie meets Fahrenheit 451.” In an earlier interview, Smith stated that the first Seed Savers book was “a love story starring homegrown food.”
About the final book Smith said, “It took me a long time to figure out how to wrap this series up, tie together the multiple storylines, and hopefully have the Seed Savers come out on top. Even as I stalled in finishing the series, more and more of what I had written as fiction was becoming reality.”
Smith is a former middle school teacher, a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association, an OSU Master Gardener graduate, and a seed saver with her local seed/food bank. She grew up on a small family farm and still grows and saves many of the vegetables and fruits her family will eat for the year.
Seed Savers-Unbroken, ISBN 9781943345144, Flying Books House, releases June 26, 2019, and is available in print and digitally. For more information visit SeedSaversSeries.com or FlyingBooksHouse.com. Other books in the Seed Savers series include SeedSavers-Treasure, Seed Savers-Lily, Seed Savers-Heirloom,andSeed Savers-Keeper.
For More Information Contact:
Flying Books House
Anastasia@FlyingBooksHouse
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To schedule an interview with Sandra Smith, author of Seed Savers, email her at sandrasmithauthor[at]gmail.com or visit her website, SeedSaversSeries.com.
May 30, 2019
A Reflection on Baby Chicks
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Eleven days ago I brought home four baby chicks. Oh, they were so adorable. This is the third time we have brought in chicks in the last ten years. Any of you who have raised chickens know that chicks literally grow overnight. So if anyone ever announces they have chicks, would you like to come see them, you’d better get over there quick!
When it comes to choosing which variety to get, I usually start by browsing what’s available at my local Wilco store. From there I choose ones that I had before and liked, and I also like to try a new breed. I look for ones described as calm, docile, or friendly and good egg-layers. If the eggs are a special color, that’s a plus.
So far we have owned Buff Orpington, Plymouth Barred Rock, Auracana, Red Sex Link (Novogen), and Speckled Sussex. The two new ones we got this time are a Blue Australorp and a Dominant Copper Maran. I had intended to get a Blue Wyandotte and a Rhode Island, but then we went to a different Wilco and the selection wasn’t quite the same.
Why do I have backyard hens? I find that my backyard is rather lonely without the little ladies. Usually we choose three chicks, but we’ve always had a bit of back luck, like one will be a rooster or one will be too aggressive, and too soon we are down to two. So this time we started with four.
Click to view slideshow.
Yesterday was warm and we brought them out (they are still living indoors) to the yard. It won’t be long now that I have to fence off the garden.
May 23, 2019
Seed Savers-Keeper to Release May 28
Now that I’m back to blogging, I may be breaking a personal record by posting a whopping three days in a row! Don’t worry, it’s not a new trend, just a way to get back at it.
Since the decision has been made (for now) to keep Seed Savers direct to wholesalers (and the public), the final two books are no longer in limbo. So if you’ve been awaiting the shiny new Seed Savers-Keeper, it goes on sale next week, yes, next week!
Here it is again in case you forgot:
Isn’t the cover just, “Wow,” to quote just about every character in Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse?
On the cover are Clare and Dante looking down at the hidden underground bunker. Most of the book is set in Forest Park located in Portland, Oregon. You can see thimbleberries, red huckleberries, salmonberry blossoms, ferns, wild iris and more on this awesome cover.
In Seed Savers-Keeper, the pace picks up as a food revolution is brewing across a future United States where all seeds have been corporately and government-owned for years.
From the back cover:
“Smith has a great writing style that has a way of making it all seem real and possible.” –Erik Weibel, This Kid Reviews Books
“Rich in detail and extremely well-imagined politics.”–Jemima Pett, author of the Princelings of the East series
“In Seed Savers-Keeper, Lily learns the lesson of the hummingbird: to do whatever we can, no matter how big the task.” –Joyce Yoder, former educator, Salem-Keizer Schools
I’ll be back next week. Thanks for reading!
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter.
May 22, 2019
My Spring Garden
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Today’s post is a bit of an extension from yesterday’s post.
I mentioned that I had a couple of big decisions and outcomes I was facing. These dilemmas happened to coincide with unseasonably warm, dry weather. Nice, right? So I basically avoided social media and direct contact with the big decisions to be made and prepared and planted my backyard garden instead.
It was a good move on my part. By the time the nice weather ended, my garden was completely planned and most of it planted. And I was ready to face those decisions. And now I’m slowly getting back in front of the computer. In the meantime, I also get to watch my garden grow, and now that the rain is back, it is growing!
A few photos from this year’s garden:
Click to view slideshow.
I got new strawberry plants this year and they are looking great. The grate is protecting them from birds and squirrels.
The lettuce I planted before we left on our trip to Chicago in April. The artichoke plant is super old. I think it would do better if we separated it, but I don’t know anyone who wants starts.
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These beans are from my most recent planting. And did I mention that it was actually so hot that we opened our tiny pool early? Way early. But next time it’s in the 80s we will be ready!
May 21, 2019
Carry On and Blog
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It’s been too long since my last post. I’m going to try to get back on a schedule of posting once a week. Maybe I’ll even do a few this week to make up for it.
I have no excuse other than a topsy-turvy life of late. Postponing the release of the last two Seed Savers books while Flying Books House made a distribution decision; deciding whether I should go back to teaching full-time or not; financial decisions; family decisions; you know the drill.
And then just as I was feeling good about knowing some of the outcomes for the above quandaries, I came down with a dreaded cold. I felt it coming on and did my best to stave it off. I took a special bath that usually helps me get well quick and I sipped a hot toddy. I tried, I really did. But my strategies didn’t work this time. As I type, I am on day three of said cold. Let’s hope it runs a quick course. Already, I sent a few terse-bordering-on-rude emails that I partially blame on how I was physically feeling at the time. My better self tells me I’m going to send an apology email. Or at least watch myself on future emails.
For today, I’m sharing my get-well recipes, even if this time they didn’t work their magic. Really, they usually do. And both are very soothing.
Here they are. Enjoy.
Get Well Hot Bath
1 cup Epsom salts
1/2 cup baking soda
4 Tablespoons ginger
essential oils ( I use tea tree oil)
Run the water as hot as you can stand and submerge up to your neck 20-40 minutes.
I love hot baths so this is great for me.
Hot Toddy
11/2 oz. bourbon
1 Tablespoon honey
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup of boiling water
Obviously you can vary these amounts.
Good luck!
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter.
