We’re almost at the end! The following people can now let go of that breath they’ve been holding:

Jennifer Raymond-Bhatt: Calgary, AB
Ffiona Barnett: Whitby, ON
Deanna Hemsley: Milton, ON
Krista Hewitt: Cavan, ON
Sara-Jane Whitaker: Toronto, ON
Victoria Wighton: Mississauga, ON
Calvin Gaspar: Parry Sound, ON
Kerianne Cass: Markham, ON
Alyse Murray: Toronto, ON
Jowella Mendoza: Edmonton, AB

ONE MORE CHANCE!!!

There are now, officially, only 10 more slots left for the Raincoast winners. Today is the very last day to enter. The draw for today happens on Monday and try not to waste your time: we’re only drawing names from today, NOT from Saturday and Sunday.

This is it.  Hold on tight to your luckiest charm and enter here: http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/

It’s nearing the end of the contest and tension is high. I’m going to relieve 10 people from the stress today, but for the rest of you, there are still two days left. It’s not over!!!

Tyler Greig: Burlington, ON
Len Kay: Dundas, ON
Michael Milakovic: Toronto, ON
Allison Mcdonald: Ottawa, ON
Jessica Batenburg: Beamsville, ON
Amanda Charlesworth: Toronto, ON
Donna Yee: Toronto, ON
Cecilia Manuel: Markham, ON
Amanda Lee: Markham, ON
Valerie Honey: Elliot Lake, ON

So there you have them. The rest of you, make sure you enter today and tomorrow! http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/

And for those of you who are frustrated that only Ontario seems to be winning, let me shed some light on it for you. Out of 3499 entrants, only 293 were from outside of Ontario (AB 50; BC 58; MB 14; NB 10; NF 11; NS 19; PE 2; QC 121; SK 7; YT 1). But don’t lose hope, because five of our winners so far are from other provinces. There are two days left. There is still hope!

Hang in there everyone!!!

It’s great being the bearer of good news for 10 people each day, but it breaks my heart to see how many people I disappoint every time I post these names! Don’t lose hope everyone! You still have a chance! Remember, these names are drawn randomly, so it’s nothing personal!!!

Out of 3596 entrants, here are the lucky 10 for today:

Sam Coghlan: Embro, ON
Jessica Worobess: Toronto, ON
Shaidah Dehghan: Richmond Hill, ON
Shannon Taugher: Etobicoke, ON
Dania Najam: Mississauga, ON
Eric Wu: Thornhill, ON
Sue Pitts: Milton, ON
Laura Schlee: Toronto, ON
Aryan Ganji: Toronto, ON
Rosalina Lo: Scarborough, ON

Congratulations!

And PLEASE don’t despair if your name isn’t up! You still have THREE more chances!!!

http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/

The list is up! A little sooner than yesterday, thankfully. Mostly due to a smaller amount of entrants, which, to remind you, increases everyone else’s odds! Yay!

So, out of 3635 entrants, here are the 10 winners:

Athena Trastelis: Toronto, ON
Anthony Ironside: Ajax, ON
Vince Gonzalez: Mississauga, ON
Sidney Labbe: Ottawa, ON
Arielle Amacker, Toronto, ON
Tammy Morrison: Dunnville, ON
Renee Abbott: Barrie, ON
Sara Rabiei: Toronto, ON
Tamara Grahn: Dartmouth, NS
Holly Strach: Oshawa, ON

Don’t lose hope! There are still four days left!

http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/

Here it is! The list! So sorry to keep you all waiting!!! 

And the winners are...

Jake Kalbhenn: Toronto, ON
Anneli Desroches: Penetanguishene, ON
Elinor Fridman: Toronto, ON
Katrine Chiu: Toronto, ON
Erin Greenizan: Ridgeville, ON
Derek Vittie: Innisfil, ON
Dominique Holmes: Scarborough, ON
Jessica Lewis: Toronto, ON
Lesley Antle: Toronto, ON
Joni Brunton: Etobicoke, ON

Five more chances left! Enter here: http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/

Wow! Even I’m feeling the anxiety!

I know a lot of Harry Potter fans are anxiously checking the blog today… so I just wanted to post a quick not to say sorry that it’s taking so long to post the contest winners’ names today! We got an AVALANCHE of entries over the weekend, so it’s taking a while to sort through them all and remove the duplicate entries. We just want to make sure it’s fair for everyone. So be patient! We will be posting the winners’ names as soon as muggley possible today!

It’s been awesome to be hearing from so many HP fans - thanks for all your comments! I know the wait is hard… but keep your fingers crossed for a little while longer!

And if anyone knows the spell for making time pass more quickly, feel free to use it now!

He’s as skillful as Wayne Gretzky, as charismatic as Pierre Trudeau and as arrogant as Don Cherry... He’s Raincoast’s newest picture book character Clancy from Chris Mizzoni’s hit book Clancy with the Puck!

This is the first of many collaborations between Raincoast Books and Canada’s leading animation house Studio B Productions! Studio B bring you hit shows on YTV and Nickelodeon like Being Ian, Class of the Titans, George of the Jungle and Yvon of the Yukon!

The idea for the book started as an animated cartoon and Studio B loved it so much they thought it would make a great book. They approached Raincoast Books and the rest is history. Bob Cole the legendary voice of Hockey Night in Canada narrated the animated cartoon that comes on DVD for free with the book!

Visit the Clancy with the Puck page to listen to a podcast with Chris Mizzoni the author of the book. Also download your free Clancy with the Puck hockey cards and avatar. Check back often because we have lots of fun additional content that we’ll be adding!

In the meantime score an autographed copy of Clancy with the Puck as well as an autographed set of Clancy hockey cards. We’ll give away two sets. All you have to do to win is either leave a comment about why you love to read -OR- email a drawing of you as a Clancy Hockey Card Character to .

Good Luck!

Visit our MySpace Page and add us as a friend to be notified about all kinds of great giveaways!

Next Saturday marks the beginning of Banned Books Week, held this year from September 29 to October 6, 2007.

What is Banned Books Week all about?

Banned Books Week (BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.—ALA (Source)

Read more about Banned Books Week on the ALA website. There is also a similar event that happens in Canada: Freedom to Read Week will be celebrated from February 24 to March 1, 2008.

* * *

To celebrate Banned Books Week, I’d like to announce a giveway contest here on the Raincoast blog! The prize: a set of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Annals of the Western Shore trilogy: GIFTS, VOICES, and POWERS, which was just published last month.

These books are great for teen readers who love fantasy and magic. POWERS recently received a glowing review from Sarah Ellis in the Globe and Mail:

“POWERS is rich with action, with battles, escapes, strategy and skulduggery, but it has a still, quiet place at its heart, a place of moral complexity. [. . . ] There is no chicken soup in Ursula Le Guin, no answers you can print on a T- shirt. Instead, she provides a convincing and fully realized narrative that gives the teen reader hope that the huge tasks of growing up, of finding work, love, your people and your self, can be successfully accomplished.”

--Sarah Ellis, Globe and Mail

I’m giving these books away in connection with Banned Books Week because the second book in the series, VOICES, is set in a time and place where reading and writing are considered to be acts punishable by death. It is believed that there is one place where that the last few undestroyed books are hidden, but it is seething with demons…

Enter the Banned Books Week contest by leaving a comment below. Tell us what Banned Books Week means to you… Are you planning to celebrate by reading a controversial book? If so, which one? What would you do if all books were banned? Do you think people have the right to speak out against books they object to?

The contest closes October 4th and is open to Canadian residents only. Good luck!

It looks like the odds are turning in everyone’s favour: there were fewer entrants to yesterday’s contest than the previous days. Only 4536 people entered for a chance to see JK Rowling at the Wintergarden theatre on October 23, compared to the day with the most entries (a whopping 7306!). And out of that smaller number, here are the 10 names that floated to the top of the list:

Tyffany Patrier: Oakville, ON
Sarah Wall: Walkerton, ON
Carlee Hallarn: Bradford, ON
Twylla West: Regina, SK
Mitchell Sutton: Conception Bay South, NF
Alicia Giansante: Hamilton, ON
Sarah Farwell: Waterloo, ON
Lara Dietl: New Lowell, ON
Amy McGarvey: Oshawa, ON
Jay Hanuschak: Etobicoke, ON

Yay!!!

And, to remind the rest of you, there are still 6 contest days left. All of the entries from today (Friday the 21st) until Sunday the 23rd will be counted as one day and drawn on Monday. Enter here: http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/

I hope the suspense won’t kill anyone over the weekend!

Design experts Ellen and Julia Lupton are interviewed about their new super-cool project D.I.Y. KIDS on Babble today: 

Ellen and Julia Lupton are designers, professors, mothers and identical twins who grew up finishing each other’s sentences. They’ve put their collaboration to work in D.I.Y. Kids… In this latest joint project, the Luptons teach design to kids through amazing projects using the stuff of daily life: paper, cereal boxes, pencils, pens, everyday clothing. More than a craft guide, D.I.Y. Kids teaches kids to design their own fun and to work art into their lives.

But design’s not just for the kids! If you’re more experienced, you can graduate from D.I.Y. KIDS to Ellen Lupton’s excellent DIY - DESIGN IT YOURSELF, which is awesome for just about anyone who designs from their kitchen table!  She also has great books for design students and professionals like SKIN or THINKING WITH TYPE!

Click here for The Babble interview with the Luptons

Click here for the great D.I.Y. KIDS website

Click here for the Lupton’s Design Your Life blog

AND REMEMBER: “Design is not just about making stuff. It’s about making stuff happen."

Ten more lucky people have been chosen to attend a reading with JK Rowling on October 23rd!
Out of 5261 entries these ten people managed to make it onto the list:

Trevor Jarvis: Toronto, ON
Madalaine Muscat: Toronto, ON
Alex Snider: Toronto, ON
Laurie Barron: Toronto, ON
Nikyla Talgoy: Russell, ON
Lauren Barbieri: Mississauga, ON
Jeff Davey: Toronto, ON
Graham Joiner: Aurora, ON
Tait Billings: Holland Landing, ON
Scott Bowles: Sudbury, ON

Have a great time at the event!

And to the rest: 7 more chances to win…
http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/

Oh the suspense!!!

Sorry to make you all wait! Here is the list of winners for those who entered the JK Rowling contest on Tuesday September 18. Drum roll please!

Heather Burns: Toronto, ON
Aileen Sarmiento: Mississauga, ON
Lesley Kempson-Marsh: Toronto, ON
Jakob Tanner: Toronto, ON
Lisa Douris: Mississauga, ON
Christy Bain: Mississauga, ON
Genevieve Provost: Montreal, QC
Elaine Morton: Cambridge, ON
Jessie-May Rowntree: Newmarket, ON
Danielle DuBay: Toronto, ON

Congratulations!!! These lucky 10 have won two tickets to see JK Rowling at the Wintergarden Theatre on October 23, as well as complimentary copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

And for a note of encouragement to the rest of you out there, biting your nails, there are still 8 more chances to win! Enter at http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/. Good luck!

Yarrrr! Today be the day that we all talk like pirates. ‘Tis truly a day for celebratin’. We here at Raincoast have put together this here fine list of swashbuckling tales to help ye cherish the day. Worth a chest full of Spanish doubloons, this list be!

The Princess and the Captain
Treasure Island
Under the Jolly Roger
The Wave Traveller
Go Saddle the Sea
Sea Stories
The Mutiny on the Bounty
Beware, Pirates!
Prison Ship
Powder Monkey
In the Belly of the Bloodhound
Captain Raptor and the Space Pirates
Backbeard and the Birthday Suit
Backbeard: Pirate for Hire
Captain Wag Pirate dog
How I Became a Pirate
Pirates Don’t Change Diapers
I Love My Pirate Papa
Space Pirates and the Monster of Malswomp
My Pirate Ship
History in Action: Pirate Ship

My humble advice to thee: Reading be the finest of adventures, and if ye think yerself a pirate, ye ought to be living a life of adventure. Savvy?

The JK Rowling Winter Garden Theatre contest launched yesterday and what a start it has been! Out of 3969 contest entries yesterday, September 17, ten have been randomly selected to win a pair of tickets to see JK Rowling on October 23rd.

Here are the winners:

Stephanie Bueler: Markham, ON
Lindsay Kortenaar: Waterdown, ON
Shannon Handy: Courtice, ON
Josi Smit: Ottawa, ON
Deniz Koc: Brampton, ON
Susan Vieira: Montreal, QC
Jesse Marshall: Etobicoke, ON
Susanna Ip: Unionville, ON
Graham Silnicki: Toronto, ON
Mukesh Joshi: Pickering, ON

Congratulations you ten!

And to everyone else: remember, you still have nine more chances to win. Enter to win at http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/.

Watch this space for tomorrow’s winners!

Yesterday we announced that we are running a contest on the Raincoast website to win tickets to the J.K. Rowling event in Toronto.

Now Canadian teachers and librarians have another chance to get tickets! In another contest (separate from the one on Raincoast.com), the Ontario Library Association (OLA) will be giving away tickets to Canadian schools and public libraries through two initiatives. Here’s more information from their press release:

OLA is making tickets available to OLA members and participants of the Forest of Reading from around Ontario. The focus of these ticket give-aways is on children and young adults. Schools and public libraries can request up to four tickets (one adult chaperone and three youth) per school or branch library. Application for these tickets can be made through www.accessola.com and follow the links. From the qualified applications winners will be chosen randomly by regions of the province.

In a separate initaitive OLA is working with the provincial and territorial library associations across Canada, know as The Partnership (www.thepartnership.ca) to ensure tickets are available throughout the country. Each participating library association is going to work to ensure two pairs of tickets per jurisdiction are distributed to a child and their chaperone to attend in Toronto on October 23. OLA’s Jefferson Gilbert says of the initiative, “the willingness to be involved from groups as far away as the Yukon has been overwhelming and certainly speaks to the appeal of JK Rowling”.

Get all the details and apply to get tickets on the OLA website.

And for everyone else, you can enter daily for a chance to win tickets the event on the Raincoast website.