Erin Bowman Takes the Dare!

This fabulous dare came in from Andrea, one of our readers, and it sounded like too much fun to pass up:

Write a short Dr. Seuss-inspired poem version of your book and post it on the blog.

I absolutely adored Dr. Seuss as a child. These stories were some of the first read to me, and the first I was able to read on my own. (Did you know Green Eggs and Ham has just fifty words, only one of which is more than one syllable?) And even with such a simplistic vocabulary, these books were drilling some very important lessons into my little head.

If Dr. Seuss books were titled according to their subtexts, via Buzzfeed

Ahem. Moving on to my dare...

I spent a little time browsing through a bunch of Dr. Seuss books, and finally settled on the one I thought I could rework to represent my debut novel, Taken.

So now, here is my Dr. Seuess-esque poem for Taken, inspired by Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!

Your birthday’s come.
Your birthday’s now.
You’ll go, go, go!
We’re not certain how. 

You will go by Heist.
You will go, ciao!
Gray Weathersby, you’ll be going now. 

You can try to fight it.
You can kick and scream.
But it’s still coming for you.
So don’t struggle,
Please! 

We don’t care.
You can’t escape that light.
You can’t escape that light even if you like.
If you try to run, it will still find you.
Just go, go, go.
Accept it, please do. 

Gray Weathersby, I don’t know how.
Gray Weathersby, you’ll be going now. 

You will go in a flash.
You will go in a blink.
You will go in a burst of light, I think.
If you wish not to, alas you’re stuck
Your birthday’s here, you’re out of luck. 

Don’t run away,
Please, Gray,
You’ll be going either way. 

Gray Weathersby
We don’t know how.
Gray Weathersby
You’ll be going now! 

We said go and go we meant.
The time had come.
So Gray…went.

Yeah, I might have had a little too much fun doing this. Another Thirteener will be up next week to answer a new truth or dare, but until then, you can always get your book-nerd fix on our Thirteeners tumblr.

Thanks again for the fun dare, Andrea!

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Erin Bowman is a YA writer, letterpress lover, and Harry Potter enthusiast living in New Hampshire. Her debut novel, TAKEN is now available from HarperTeen, and FROZEN releases 4/15/14. You can visit her blog (updated occasionally) or find her on twitter (updated obsessively).

Erin Bowman Takes the Dare

The dare I'm tackling today comes from our very own Megan Shepherd: Write three haikus about your book. I thought this sounded way too fun to pass up.

TAKEN is split into four parts, and I'm going to use the titles of the first three sections as jumping points for the poems...

Of Heists

for boys of eighteen,

an unavoidable fate:

gone, vanished, taken

---

Of Walls

to climb would mean death

but it's beckoning, calling

the promise of more

---

Of Rebels

a boy named Gray stands

among trees, his bones aching

for answers, for truths

Okay, this turned out to be way more fun than I expected. Perhaps it was just the creative break I needed from all the promotion/marketing I've been doing leading up to TAKEN's release. (Just a little over a week to go!)

Jenn will be up next week to answer a truth or dare, but in the meantime, check out our brain new Thirteeners tumblr! Our love of books and pop culture doesn't sleep over there, so don't miss out. :)

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Erin Bowman is a YA writer, letterpress lover, and Harry Potter enthusiast living in New Hampshire. Her debut novel, TAKEN, comes out from HarperTeen in April 16, 2013. You can visit her blog (updated occasionally) or find her on twitter (updated obsessively).

Ellen Oh's First VLOG Ever! and dare...

The dare - Write a ridiculously bad poem and videotape yourself reciting it.
The foolish one - Ellen Oh aka Ello aka Speakswithbadcold
Unfortunately, this video transmission will NOT self-destruct in five seconds...

The poem - a really really bad burrito poem repeated here for your endless amusement:

I love you, she said,

with tears in her eyes.

But we can't be together,

we must say our goodbyes.

How can you do this?

he cried in agony and pain.

How can you leave me

standing in the rain?

You said that you'd love me forever,

but it was all untrue

All it took was one burrito.

What's a man to do?

Should I have gone to the bathroom?

Should I have held it in?

Was it really so bad?

Was it such a big sin?

She nodded quite sadly

as she said with a sigh.

It's pretty bad,

I nearly died!

My mascara has run

and my nose is still burning.

My contacts have melted,

and my stomach's still turning.

We can't be together,

this much is true.

You fart like an elephant.

You stink like a zoo.

With that she turned away

and quickly departed.

Leaving the boy and his burrito

completely brokenhearted.

Duh End