Happy Haul-idays – Win up to $500 in Books!

I am a “Book-o-holic”. I love books. I might not always have the time to read as much as I’d love to, but I always try and sneak in a few pages here and there whenever possible. Even if it takes me weeks, or months to finish a book I will finish it.

I love going to garage sales and looking through the books. You never know what sort of “gem” you will find. Many years ago I found a very old copy of Nights of Arabia. The artwork in the book is beautiful.

If you look in one of our many bookcases you’ll find books from my childhood. They are the actual books that my mom read to me and I read to my own children. I am looking forward to reading them to my grandchildren some day.

Last year I entered a contest from Chronicle Books. The grand prize was $500 in books for both the winning blogger and one of the commenters on the blog post about the contest. Sadly I didn’t win . Thankfully Chronicle Books is doing it again this year so I have another chance to win.

Entering is easy. If you are a blogger you are welcome to enter too. All you need to do is visit the Chronical Books website, www.ChronicalBooks.com and compile a list of books you would love to win, valued up to $500. Then submit your blog post on their entry page (CLICK HERE). It’s that easy! You can even get an extra entry by tweeting about the contest (once per day) using a special hashtag.

If you don’t have a blog, don’t worry! You can still win up to $500 in books. Simply leave a comment on THIS blog post. Any comment will do. You can also visit Twitter (www.Twitter.com) and search for the hashtag #HappyHaulidays to find other bloggers who are participating. Visit their blogs and comment on their post too. That will give you more chances to win.

This year they are doing something different. Not only will a lucky blogger win $500 in books, as well as commenter on their blog post, but also a charity of the blogger’s choice will also win $500 in books. The blogger and commenter will win the books that the blogger listed, however the charity will be allowed to select their own books.

I don’t know if this qualifies as a charity or not but if I won I would like the $500 in books to go to our school district, specifically the reading programs.

Like many school districts across the country our school district has been hit hard with budget cuts. Unlike other school districts our school district has had a “double whammy”.

To make a long story short a local foreign company felt that they were being over taxed for many years, so they demanded $$$$$ back from the town. The town didn’t think they were wrong about the taxes so the company sued the town I live in and the next town over – AND WON! Now the town I live in and the other town have to pay this company $275 MILLION dollars. The only way the two towns can pay this is to force the RESIDENTS to pick up the bill.

For reasons I don’t fully understand they increased both our property taxes and school taxes to compensate for the money the towns have to pay out. The bulk of the increase was on the school taxes. We went from paying around $600 a year in school tax to close to $2,400 in school tax (and it keeps increasing!). Keep in mind we don’t own any property (we live in a 900 square foot condo). We know people who own houses who pay upwards to $16,000+ just in school taxes. OUCH!

Because the tax money that is suppose to go to the schools is really going to pay off this lawsuit our school district has suffered greatly. So much so that they are closing down schools and squeezing kids into fewer buildings. I won’t be shocked if we have 40+ students in classrooms.

They have had to cut so much including laying off teachers and staff and cutting a lot of school programs. My daughter WAS in a special advanced art program which would have helped her in college but that program was cut. My son used to get one on one math help but now the only math help he can get is in after school classes with 30+ students. There is no way one teacher can give students the one on one help they need.

If I won the Happy Haul-idays contest I would want to donate books to the reading programs in our school district. Both of my children required extra reading help when they were in elementary school. Their lovely reading teacher (she is such a great lady) told me how there are so many students whose parents cannot buy their children books. She also has to pay for books out of her own pocket. She loves to let students borrow (and in some cases) keep books to help encourage a love of reading as well as help them to read.

The reading program helped both of my children become good readers, so I would love to donate $500 in books to the reading programs so more children can learn to read and develop a love and appreciation for books.

I’m sorry for such a long winded explanation.

Back to the contest…

If I won these are some of the books I would love to have from Chronicle Books.

The Fashion Sketch Pad – My daughter is taking textiles and design in school and wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. She would love this book.

Boyology – I have a teen daughter. Need I say more. LOL!

Classic Horse Stories – My niece LOVES horses. This would make a great gift. 

Magic Scratchers – My son loves magic. I think he’d like this book.

The Story of Snow – My son is OBSESSED with snow! He wants to be a Weatherman when he grows up.

Eye Popping 3-D Pets – This looks like a cute book.

3-D Atlas and Tour – This book also looks pretty cool.

The Ultimate Book of Jokes – My kids love to tell jokes. I think they need to learn a few new ones. Ha Ha. 

The Big Book of Pot Luck – Mmm… looks good!

The Big Book of Breakfasts – I’m very interested to see what kinds of recipes are found in this book.

Fast Breads – I’ve always wanted to make my own homemade bread.  

All Cakes Considered – Read about some of the recipes in the book and you’ll see why I’d love to have this.

Time for Dinner – Sometimes I really need some inspiration for dinner.

The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever – 500 recipes! WOW!

Better Each Day – This looks interesting. Sometimes we just need a little something to start our day.

1,001 Ways to Live in the Moment - Another book that looks interesting.

Why Did I Buy This Book? – My Dad has Dementia. I want to make sure to exercise my brain often.

1,001 Pears of Buddhist Wisdom – I find some of the teaching fascinating.

Secrets of Longevity – I’m all for living to be a ripe old age.

1,001 Pearls of Wisdom – I love things that make you think.

Lucky Cat – I can use some luck when it comes to winning this contest.

Dead Inside: Do Not Enter – What can I say. I love Zombies. LOL!

The Life and Love of Trees - This looks like an amazing photo book.

Window Seat – I love the idea of seeing the US from up in the air.

Food Play – Love these pictures.

These are the books I’d love to win if I was the lucky winner.

If by some miracle I am the winning blogger ONE lucky person who leaves a comment will also be selected to receive the nearly $500 in books that are listed here.

If you would love the chance to win these books simply leave a comment. Maybe you can tell me which one of these books that I’ve selected sound interesting to you, or maybe you can comment on the types of books you like. Or, you are welcome to leave me a compliment comment or simply just say “I’d love to win!”. You get the idea.

Wish me luck!

Kimberly

*I was not compensated for this post, nor was I asked to post this. I posted this because I want to enter the contest.

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