May 25, 2021

Brave in the Woods Blog Tour: Manicure + Giveaway

Hello, dear readers. I am very excited to be a part of the Brave in the Woods Blog Tour today. Brave in the Woods by Tracy Holczer is a beautiful and imaginative novel about family, grief, and adventure. It was a super fun read and I am excited to be on the blog tour to promote it today. This post will give you more info on the book and will have a giveaway at the end also. Be sure to check out the other blog stops on the tour as well. There will be both blog posts and Instagram posts and you’ll have more chances to win if you visit the other stops.

Read on to learn more about Tracy Holczer’s latest book, Brave in the Woods. Use the Rafflecopter widget or link at the end of the post to enter to win a copy of the book and other goodies. Check back each weekday of the tour for a new post and/or a throwback post to a recent review of or article about the book.

BRAVE IN THE WOODS
by Tracy Holczer
Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
on February 9, 2021

Critically acclaimed Tracy Holczer returns with a heartrending tale about a girl descended from the Grimm brothers who sets out to break what she thinks is a family curse.

Twelve-year-old Juni is convinced her family is cursed. Long ago, her ancestors, the Grimm Brothers, offended a witch who cursed them and their descendants to suffer through their beloved fairy tales over and over again–to be at the mercy of extreme luck, both good and bad. Juni fears any good luck allotted to her family she used up just by being born, so when she wakes up in the middle of the night with the horrible feeling like antlers are growing from her head, she knows something is wrong. The next day she learns her older brother Connor has gone missing during his tour in Afghanistan.

Her family begins grieving his loss in their own ways but Juni can’t help but believe that his disappearance means the family curse has struck again. Juni is convinced the only way to bring her brother home is to break the family curse and so she sets out on a quest to do just that.

From Charlotte Huck honoree Tracy Holczer comes a stunning new novel about the power of stories, the enormity of grief, and the brilliancy of hope.

Today’s post is a special one for me. If you didn’t know, years ago I used to do a somewhat regular feature on my blog called Manicure Monday. Basically it was me doing nail art to match book covers. It was a lot of fun but also took a lot of work and I stopped doing them awhile back. However, I could not think of a better occasion to bring the nail art supplies back out than for this post.

Brave in the Woods in a beautifully written story with a main character who is smart, empathetic, and headstrong. The woods and nature play a large part in the story, giving the novel a fairytale feel not unlike the Grimm’s fairytales that it references. The illustrated cover perfectly captures the mood of the book – dark and mysterious, full of danger but also full of adventure and magic.

I decided to focus on the woods and some key elements of the cover for this manicure. Picking out shades of blue and dark green, I created the trees of the forest on my index and middle fingers. I then added splatters and dots of white and yellow to mimic the fireflies found on the cover. For my middle finger, I painted on the image of the stag and horns, which features prominently in the book. It was a little difficult to fit all of the antlers on my nail but I was able to make it work – I think.

On my pinkie nail I tried to create an image of some of the little sprigs of greenery that pop up on the forest floor of the cover. Unfortunately I think my base color and foliage cover were a bit too similar so the design gets a little lost (also my pinkie is tiny).

For my final nail, I decided to recreate Juni as depicted on the cover. I used a nail brush to outline her hair and ponytail and use a beige colored polish to fill in her face. I added a bit of her stripy shirt to finish it all up.

Overall I was pretty happy with this manicure. My skills were a bit wobbly but I think I captured the tone of the cover and some of its key elements. So there you have it! I hope you guys enjoyed today’s manicure. What do you think? Should I try to bring this feature back occasionally? Read one for the Rafflecopter giveaway and check out the blog tour schedule and follow along for more chances to win.

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct link to the giveaway http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/076ab5cc205/?

GIVEAWAY RULES

This giveaway is open to the US only, except where prohibited by law. The giveaway starts at 12:00 AM Pacific on 05/17/2021, and ends at 12:00 AM Pacific on 06/05/2021. By entering you are agreeing to all the rules.

The winners may not provide a PO Box as a mailing address.

One (1) winner will be chosen on 06/05/2021 to receive 1 copy of Brave in the Woods by Tracy Holczer and a $25 gift card for Once Upon a Time Bookstore in Montrose, CA. One (1) winner will be chosen on 06/05/2021 to receive 1 copy of Brave in the Woods by Tracy Holczer and a mystery gift pack. One (1) educator winner will be chosen to receive 2 copies of the book (must complete a special entry “Thanks, teachers and librarians!” on the Rafflecopter).

We (the blog tour hosts) are not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged items.

One set of entries per household, please.

If you are under 13, please get a parent or guardian’s permission to enter, as you will be sharing personal info such as an email address.

Winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter widget.

Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their shipping address, otherwise we will pick a new winner.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at readnowsleeplater@gmail.com.

PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY PERSONAL INFO IN THE COMMENTS. Sorry for the CAPS, but we always get people leaving their email in the comments.

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

Mon May 17 – Kid Lit Frenzy
Tue May 18 – Instagram post by @the_readers_antidote
Throwback Post: Unleashing Readers – Review and Discussion Questions
Wed May 19 – Librarian’s Quest
Thu May 20 – Instagram post by @pasadenalovesya
Throwback Post: Teach Mentor Texts – Writing with Brave in the Woods
Fri May 21 – Read Now Sleep Later
Mon May 24 Throwback Post: Mrs. Knott’s Book Nook
Tue May 25 – Nite Lite Book Reviews
Wed May 26 – Instagram post by @readnowsleeplater
Throwback Post: ReadWonder – Review and Reflections
Thu May 27 – The Windy Pages – Interview with Tracy Holczer
Fri May 28 – Instagram post by @jeninthebookstore
Throwback Post: Nerdy Book Club – Guest post “On Found Objects, Creativity and Beginnings by Tracy Holczer