Monday, April 18, 2011

Celebrate Lois Duncan with Us! And win a set of LD books!

So many generations have enjoyed Lois Duncan's eerie mysteries -- her tales of suspense and horror that kept us up at night reading, hoping that the good guys would maybe catch a break on the next page.

This week another generation gets the chance to read Lois Duncan. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has redesigned the covers and the author herself has updated the text to add things like CDs and digital photography and cell phones to her novels, most of which were published in the 70s and 80s.

I recently read, oddly for the first time (I think -- I read so much LD as a tween it's hard to say) SUMMER OF FEAR, in which a Rachel's home is invaded by her cousin Julia -- a cousin who has recently lost her parents and to whom Rae is meant to act as a sister. Everyone seems to love Julia. She is charming and sweet and when Rae's dog attacks her cousin, her parents don't hesitate to exile him to the backyard. Rachel sees what the others don't see though -- there is an evil about Julia, and Rae is determined to figure out what she's really up to. And when Julia steals her boyfriend -- a boy who Rachel has known since childhood -- it's the last straw. Rae begins to suspect that Julia is practicing witchcraft, and when she starts to find evidence that she might be right, Rachel begins to fear for her life.

If you want to take a look at these gorgeous reissues of Lois Duncan's classic thrillers, make sure you leave a comment! Litte, Brown is sending a set of the three novels that come out this week to THREE of our readers. I'm super psyched to see some of the classics I grew up with making it into the hands of another generation. So if you'd like to read DOWN A DARK HALL, SUMMER OF FEAR, and STRANGER WITH MY FACE, just leave a comment below and make sure to include a way for us to contact you! One caveat: US addresses only, please!

8 comments:

~Enamored Soul~ said...

OMG Lois Duncan is pure genius! I want to win these books SO bad, because I love mysteries so very much! Thank you "The YA 5" and Litte,Brown for this amazing giveaway and opportunity.

And although they say it's usually not a good idea to be the first commenter if you want to win - I don't care, I cannot contain my excitement! :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! :D

~Hira~

Email: Enamoredsoul(at)gmail(dot)com
Twitter: @inluvwithbookz

SiS said...

Lois Duncan scared the pants off of me regularly in junior high and high school. I am anxious to see how the updates worked out.

Did you know someone made a tv movie of Stranger with My Face in 2009, I think it was? Anyway.

Anonymous said...

Can I just say that those covers rock so hard I want to marry them?

Absolutely AMAZING

Jeanette said...

I love Lois Duncan! One day, while working in Mesquite Public Library, a young woman walked in to ask if we had any books by "mother." Her mother was Lois Duncan. One of the most tragic stories is the true one she wrote.

Jeanette said...

oh, in case I win...jeanette@jeanettelarson.com will reach me.

Maggie Desmond-O'Brien said...

Dying to read this and LOVE the cover redesign. Especially STRANGER WITH MY FACE! =) Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

mdesmondobrien(at)yahoo(dot)com

Ed DeCaria said...

Agree with the previous comment; those covers look terrific (i.e., terrifying).

Interesting decision to modernize the text; is that a standard reissue move in YA to stay relevant? I can't recall another example of that in the book world, but I'm guessing that the YA-5 has done a bit more reading within this genre than I have.

-Ed

Twitter: @edecaria

Movie Passenger said...

I loved her books as a kid. Would love to re-read them and pass them on to my own kids!

Encgolsen@gmail.com

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