Jamie Allen, come on down!!

Jamie Allen, you are a Hallowinner!

Jamie posted her favorite villain over on our Facebook page. And gosh, we wholeheartedly agree that Ursula from The Little Mermaid is pretty darn great. Who wouldn't want lovely lavender skin? And just think how many candied apples you could eat with all those tentacles! It boggles the mind and stomach!

So Jamie, please email us your address so we can send you your prizes! Congrats, ghoulfriend!

More Villains, Please!

We love hearing about your favorite villains for our Halloween Contest! (Kelly, we actually agree with your first vote--hee hee.) We want to hear more! Remember, peeps, you can win three books! THREE! All you need to do is tell us your favorite villain. And hey, it's okay if it's already been mentioned. Great minds and blah blah blah, don't ya know.

Points will be given for people who think outside the villain box to include their sixth grade nemesis, mother-in-law or cranky neighbor. We'll never tell!

Contest Alert! Contest Alert!

Calling all Halloweenies! Would you like to win three new Chick Halloween books? It's easy peasy peeps! All you have to do is tell us who your favorite villain is and then we'll pick a name out of our big witch's hat!

As for us, well, we're partial to Cruella DeVille. Seriously, the woman has enough style to make Anna Wintour jealous. And that hair! Do you suppose she uses Clairol to get that look?

We'll choose a Hallowinner at random by next Monday. The lucky person will receive Andrea's Hush, Baby Ghostling and Carolyn's Where's My Mummy? and Boris and Bella.

What fiendish fun! Good luck!

Debbie Diesen...Come on Down!

Debbie Diesen, former Reese's Peanut Butter Cup lover, current Junior Mints aficionado, and children's book author from Michigan, is our Trick or Treat winner! Debbie, please send your snail mail info to three_silly_chicks AT yahoo DOT com...and thanks to everyone for playing!

Now that we have that important business out of the way, the chicks are ready to rock the VOTE tomorrow! All three of us are proud supporters of the Authors & Illustrators for Children campaign to put our fellow Illinoisan in the White House. Come tomorrow night, we hope to bring down the coop with some big-time celebratory chicken dancing.

See you at the polls!

Trick or Treat Contest!

We chicks take Halloween very seriously. In fact, we take our costumes so seriously, it's not even funny. It's seriously funny. Like that one Halloween when we dressed like pigeons and rented a bus to trick-or-treat around the barnyard. (The cows are still a bit traumatized, but WOW, the memories!!!)

We also take our candy seriously...seriously enough that we've had to establish some ground rules after a big night of trick-or-treating. Namely: Andrea has dibs on Snickers and Whoppers. Julia has dibs on Butterfingers. Carolyn has dibs on Mounds. And then Julia and Carolyn engage in an all-out Kung-Fu Smack-down for the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. (This is a ticketed event. Please call the Barnyard Box Office for more info.)

So here's our question for you: Which candy do you call first dibs on at your house?

Leave your answer in the comments section below, and on Sunday, November 2 (after waking from our candy-induced comas), we will randomly select a winner.

What will you win? A book, of course! But not just any book. You will win your very own autographed copy of Carolyn's latest monsterpiece, Where's My Mummy? And who knows, maybe we'll throw in some treats as well! Or are we tricking you? You'll never know unless you play!

And the Winner is . . .

Hurray!

We have a winner to our contest! Jim, come on down! You're the winner of a copy of Andrea's new book, DOCTOR TED! Please send us an e-mail at Three_silly_chicks@yahoo.com with your snail mail and we'll send it right out for you!

Kara/Jenna, Donna, Tammi, and Kramerchronicle, e-mail us with your addy's, too, and we'll send you a token of our esteem. Or a steamed token. Or a steamed Tolkien!

Thanks to everyone who entered! We enjoyed your videos and jokes!

The Chicks

April Fools' Contest!

It's April Fools' Day!

We LOVE April Fools' Day. It makes us feel all clever and sly and like such tricksy Hobbitses.

Who knows what mischief we might get into here at the Coop with our fresh vat of nacho cheese and a carton of stink bombs at our disposal!

But we're not the only clever ones around!

As readers of our blog, you have proven yourselves quite the smartcicles.

So, are you up for a contest?

Here's the deal: Leave us a message and tell us about a clever trick you have pulled on someone or had pulled upon you or even just one that you heard about.

Or . . .

Tell us a joke or a riddle! We love jokes and riddles!

Or . . .

Leave us a link to a silly website or video! You know how we love silly!

On April 8, 2008 we will pick winners from all those who entered. The grand prize (drawn randomly) will be an autographed copy of Andrea's Brand-Spanking NEW picture book, DOCTOR TED!!!!!!


(Note: While saying that DOCTOR TED is brand-spanking new, we do not in any way imply that he spanks any brands. However, he does administer fine medical advice and has been known to administer cookies as needed and can diagnose measles, gingivitis, and foot odor.)

Here's a great review where you can learn more about Ted. This one includes some fabulous pics from DOCTOR TED. Here's another. And a podcast, too! But wait... we digress! That happens when we get to talking about bears with stethoscopes. We'll post more about DOCTOR TED very soon!


Meanwhile, back to the contest . . .

Five other lucky winners will receive mystery prizes to be named when we figure out what that stuff is in the back of our refrigerator and if it can be legally shipped via the US Postal Service!!!!

These winners will be selected by being funny, clever, or just lucky that everyone else was playing bunco and forgot to enter. Hey, it's all good!

You can play early and play often!

Survey Says...

Andrea had the pet chicken and does the Popeye.

Carolyn had the Uncle Bobby and channeled Snoopy, Templeton, and Jesus on stage.

Julia had (and still has) selachophobia and JackBlackalacka.

(If you have no idea what we're talking about, scroll down a few posts or click here!)

As such, thusly, and therefore, the official CHICK PICK winners are:

1st place: Sara
2nd place: Jo Knowles
3rd place (3-way tie!): Brenda Ferber, Carol Grannick, and Wild About Words

Winners, please send an email to three_silly_chicks AT yahoo DOT com and let us know where to send your fowl prizes!

WHICH CHICK? A New Year's Contest

Happy New Year, dear Readers & Friends
of all that is Silly!

After spending the first few days of 2008 downing the eggnog before it expires, we are hereby getting off our tail feathers to ring in the New Year with a very silly contest!

Here's how it goes. We will list a half dozen amazing and undisputed silly chick facts below. Your challenge is to guess WHICH CHICK the fact pertains to. Is it Andrea? Could it be Carolyn? Or might it be Julia?

Leave your answers in the Comments section below, then check back on Sunday, January 13th, to see if you're a winner! Prizes include autographed books by the Chicks, chick magnets, rubber chickens, and other random poultry goodness.

Ready...set...blast off!

1. Which chick called the tennis player Bobby Riggs "Uncle Bobby" because he was, in fact, her uncle by marriage for the first twelve years of her life?

2. Which chick actually had a pet chicken named Chico when she was a kid?

3. Which chick was always on stage in her youth and who, despite being a girl, played such challenging roles as Snoopy in YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, Templeton the rat in CHARLOTTE'S WEB and Jesus in GODSPELL?

4. Which chick once ate a shark for Thanksgiving and now has nightmares that a shark will one day eat her on a major U.S. holiday?

5. Which chick does a mean Popeye impersonation? (Note: The impersonation is mean. Not Popeye!)

6. Which chick thinks Jack Black was robbed (again!) of the Sexiest Man Alive title from People Magazine in 2007?

Happy Birthday, Chicks! And the Winner Is . . . .

Happy Birthday!

Three Silly Chicks!

Dear Readers,

It's our first blogging birthday, and we want to thank you for coming to visit our coop during our first year. We've had so much fun and can't wait to keep on rolling with lots of wonderful book reviews, contests, pie fights, pie eating, bean dip, and of course wonderful interviews with super-talented funny authors and illustrators!

We hope you've enjoyed the year, too, and will keep stopping by the coop to visit!!!

Thank you so much!

The Three Silly Chicks


--------
And now, it's time to reveal our Mystery Guest! Drum roll . . . . .

The Mystery Guest is the Amazing Mo Willems!

But wait! Can we prove it? Why yes we can! Let's consider the evidence:


1. Mo Willems is bigger than a breadbox. This is true. We actually placed Mo in a breadbox to see if he would fit. He did not (in one piece). He did, however, leave footprints in our Wonder Bread and complain that we needed a bigger breadbox. Preferably one with airholes.


2. Mo Willems has more hair than Kenny Chesney and less hair than Chewbacca. See for yourself:



3. Mo Willems is living. (Though he is a little bit squished up and now has bits of Wonder Bread stuck between his toes. Sorry, Mo!)


4. Mo Willems writes and illustrates kids' books. And the world is a better place because of it!

5. Mo does not write in rhyme. At least not at this time. At least we haven't seen any rhyming books by him. (But then, we didn't really check, so maybe we were cheating a bit on this one!) Bad Chicks.


6. Mo Willems is for the birds. And our favorite bird is the Pigeon.


7. Mo Willems is not a grouch (except when stuffed into a breadbox), but he probably knows one! And of course, we're talking about Oscar the Grouch here! As many of you know, Mo has 6 won Emmy Awards for his writing on Sesame Street. And you know we Chicks love Sesame Street! Big Bird is our hero.


We're so excited to welcome Mo to the coop! We will post our interview on Monday! (And it's a hoot!)

And now, the MO-ment we've all been waiting for!

It's time to announce the winner of our Mystery Guest Contest!

There were so many good guesses from our lovely readers. (And some less good ones, but we loved them all!) Six of you guessed correctly: Tammi, Linda Skeers, Jenny, Renee, Lisa Yee, and Pamela.

Your names were entered into a drawing conducted by the same people who pick the winners for the Oscars out of a hat! (And you thought someone voted on them!)

And the Oscar (or the Super Duper Bag O'goodness from the Three Silly Chicks) goes to Jenny!

Congratulations, Jenny! Just send us your snail mail addy to Three_Silly_Chicks@yahoo.com, and we'll send you your prize!

Also, Chris, Lisa Yee, Linda Skeers, Joann, & Cyn all win Chick Magnets for being the first five folks to enter our contest! Send us your addresses, folks! And thank you for playing!!!!

Final clue!

Just a quick little note to remind everybody that today is the day we announce our Mystery Guest!

We've had some wonderful guesses so far. Some of them may be wrong. Some of them may be right!

If you haven't guessed yet, do it now!

If you have guessed, guess again!

We will pick the winner from all the correct guesses.

And for one final clue: Our mystery guest is not a grouch, but probably knows one!

Hmmm. Who could it be? Just leave us a message with your guess!


Winners will be announced tonight when the Chicks are done with dinner. That means about 6:30 central time (Or longer if we eat taffy for dinner. Which we often do.)

Good luck!

Mystery Guest Contest: Clue Three!

Sing along, everybody:

Mystery Guest . . .
Are you ready for our Mystery Guest?
Will he be a dream? Hmmmm?
Or a dud? Awwww!

No way our guest is a dud. No way at all!

Though we didn't think we would tell before the contest ended, we have changed our yellow brains and decided to say that no one has yet guessed our guest! Say that five times fast!

So, it's time to break out some new clues, one or two. (Typed up in blue.) We love a rhyme. Don't you?

Just post a message to enter your guesses! Contest ends on Friday!

Mystery Guest Clues:

1. Bigger than a bread box.
2. More hair than Kenny Chesney but less than Chewbacca
3. He's living (at least the last time we checked)
4. Writes AND illustrates kids' books
5. Does not write in rhyme. At least not at this time.
6. He's for the birds.


Good luck!

Mystery Guest Contest: Clue Two!

Remember folks, this contest is like a Chicago election. You can vote early and vote often. Heck, you can even vote if you are dead! Everyone else in Chicago does!

Here's Clue Number Two!

Clue Two: Our Mystery Guest has more hair than Kenny Chesney and less hair than Chewbacca (see scientific figure 172.3)


Scientific figure 172.3:









Pretty obvious who it is now, eh?

A Celebration and a Contest, too!

What's going on?

The Three Silly Chicks are fluffin' up our feathers, cleaning off our glasses, breaking out the tortilla chips, and getting ready to celebrate!

"Why?" you ask. "Because," we answer, "our anniversary is almost here!"

We began our blog on September 14, 2006 and what a year!

We've read so many great & funny books and interviewed some of our favorite funny writers and illustrators: Lisa Wheeler, Lisa Yee, Aaron Reynolds, Cyn & Greg Leitich Smith, Kevin O'Malley, Esme Codell, David Lubar, Kara & Jenna LaReau, John Manders, Dori Chaconas, Margie Palatini, Kelly DiPucchio!

Interviewing fantastic, funny people is our favorite thing (next to bean dip), so we can't wait to interview more fantastic, funny people!

But first, we feel like having a party and nothing puts us in the party mood faster than bean dip! Sadly, nothing ends a party in a small coop faster than bean dip.

So we're going to have a contest, instead! And here it is:

Mystery Guest

Are you ready for our Mystery Guest?

1. Contest begins NOW!
2. Guess the secret identity of our Mystery Guest! (Click on "comments" down below to leave your guess.)
3. All correct guesses will be entered in a drawing for the grand prize*
4. Grand prize winner will be announced on September 14!
5. First five entries will win a Chick Magnet**
6. First Clue: Our Mystery Guest is bigger than a bread box

* Grand Prize is one of the following:

• A vat of bean dip
• An emu
• An emu in a vat of bean dip
• A super-duper-bag-o'-goodness from the Three Silly Chicks. Bag includes autographed copies of books by Andrea Beaty, Carolyn Crimi, and Julia Durango. Also includes assorted items from our drawer of silliness (not to be confused with our silly drawers as shown here.)

** Chick magnets are not guaranteed to attract chicks, hot babes, hot Emus or hot tamales. May present a choking hazard to Emu, ostriches, and other humorously large birds. Chick magnets are guaranteed to look extremely cute and hold scraps of paper on your refrigerator door so you can ignore them while searching for bean dip.

Pest Fest Winners!

Congratulations to Silvia Hix and chatrabbit! Please send your snail mail information to three_silly_chicks @yahoo.com and we'll get these buggy books out to you ASAP!

Our thanks and pest wishes to everyone who played!

Chick Alert! And a Contest!

PEST FEST
by Julia Durango
Illustrated by Kurt Cyrus
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ISBN-10: 0689855699
ISBN-13: 978-0689855696

It's here! It's here! PEST FEST, the wonderful new picture book by Julia Durango, is here!

Oh that talented Silly Chick! How we do love her!

In her funny, new rhyming book, the creepy, crawly, buzzy, and buggy critters among us hold a talent show.

"Pest Fest! Pest Fest!" the Carpet Beetle barked.
"The talent show is set to go.
The best are placed; come on, make haste!
Let's start the annual Pest Fest!"

So begins the call to all bugs far and wide to show off their best talents. Who will win? The beautiful butterfly? The lovely ladybug? The Queen Bee? Or possibly the lowly little fly? Surely not!

Kurt Cyrus captures the fun in his slightly creepy, very pesky, and simply beautiful illustrations. Kids who love bugs will be overjoyed by this book. Kids who hate bugs will be drawn like moths to it!

Just thinking about a critter contest makes us want to have one of our own!

So . . .

We are having a contest! (And boy is it an easy one!)

Tell us your favorite (or not so favorite) bug** and we'll put your name in a drawing to win an autographed copy of PEST FEST! (We don't need real names, just enough info to contact you.)

On July 1, we'll post 2 winners here in the coop!

Congrats and thanks to Julia and Kurt for this wonderfully buggy book!

** Here at the Silly Chicks, we are aware that the word "Bugs" in fact refers to a limited number of insects from the order Hemiptera which includes cicadas, aphids, and other "true bugs." (We know this because one of us accidentally spent 4 years in college studying biology.)

However, we prefer to use the Kindergarten definition which means anything that crawls and makes your mother scream if it touches her foot. Though we reserve the right to omit from this definition the following: snakes, furry critters, and Mick Jagger.

Good luck!

We have a winner!!!!

Hurray! Hold on to your red-and-white-stripish hats!!! We have a winner for our Dr. Seuss Celebration Contest!

Come on down Bookbk!!! You win!

And what do you win, you wonder? A plethora of prizes! A bounty of booty! A mother lode of loot!!!

Yes, Bookbk, you win your very own copy of A HATFUL OF SEUSS, your very own Three Silly Chicks Coffee Mug which we didn't even use to drink from (though it made a nice temporary bowl for our goldfish while we cleaned out the tank), and an assortment of unexpected and inexplicably small silly surprises which we would enumerate, but we don't know what that word means.

Congratulations to you and special thanks to all the others who entered, even though they lost and are now very, very sad people but we still love them. And we know that they won't be sad for long because we are sure to have more contests for them so everyone can be a winner!!!!

Bookbk - please e-mail us with your snail mail addy and we will mail your bounty of booty right off to you! Three_Silly_Chicks@yahoo.com

Contest! (Deadline March 10th)

I know it is wet
And the sun
Is not sunny.
But we can have
Lots of good fun
That is funny!*

Happy Bird-day,
Dr. Seuss!

In honor of the Cat, the Lorax, the Grinch, and the Man himself, Theodor Seuss Geisel, the chicks are throwing a party in the coop!

WHO'S INVITED? All sneetches (star-bellied and otherwise), whos, obsolete children and YOU!

WHEN? Today through March 10th (midnight, CST).

WHERE? Down below, in the comment section.

HOW? Surely you don't need us to tell YOU how to party, but might we suggest sharing one of your favorite Seuss books, characters, or quotes?

THEN WHAT? Hop on over here to send a birthday card to the Cat. (For every card sent, Random House will donate a book to First Book!)

IS THERE A DOOR PRIZE? Of course! Everyone who comments will be entered in a random drawing. The winning entry will be pulled out of our fantabulous party hat (see above) and announced on Sunday, March 11th, as soon as the chicks wake up and spring ahead. The prize is a surprise. (But if you're one of those people who likes to peek, take a look here and here.)

*lifted from The Cat in the Hat..but you knew that already!

And the winner is . . . .

Bwock! Bwock! Bwock!

We have a winner in our first ever caption contest! And boy was it tough to decide! The entries really cracked us up. Thanks to all who entered and all who dropped by just to get a good laugh.

And the winner is ............ drum roll, please .........

"Happy Hollandaise, everyone! And now I'd like to introduce the panel of speakers at our first annual Christmas Chick Lit Writers Conference: Shell Silverstein, Yolko Ohno, Egger Allan Poe, Al Bumen, Ben Laid, and Ova Ezee." -- Elaine Magliaro

Congratulations, Elaine! (Please send us your snail mail addy at Three_Silly_Chicks@yahoo.com and we'll send you some snails. . . oops . . . some yummy peppermint bark).

Thanks to everyone who brightened our holidays just a bit with your very funny entries.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays!!!!

The Three Silly Chicks

Contest Deadline LOOMING!

Hey Lovely Readers!

Remember, the deadline to enter our Caption Contest is tomorrow at midnight! We have some mighty fine entries and choosing will be tough!

The winner will be posted by Monday!!!! (Maybe sooner!)

The Management

P.S. Bribes will be accepted until the winners are actually posted. Enormous bribes will be accepted ANYTIME!