Blog Tour: Meet Marmalade!

A New Friend for Marmalade by Alison Reynolds and Heath McKenzie, The Five Mile Press 

Drum roll, please! Here he is, Marmalade, the loveable cat featuring in his second book, A New Friend for Marmalade (The Five Mile Press). Welcome to Buzz Words Books Marmalade and thank you for disturbing your nap time to answer Seven Purry Questions:

1. Favourite Movie?

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

2. Favourite Book?

Cat in a Hat

3. Favourite TV show?

Purrfect Match.

4. What is your typical day?

Read fan emails. Take a nap. Eat sardines. Take a nap. Do public appearances up and down the street. Take a nap. Practise my cat walk twirl, in case I’m offered my own fashion label. Take a nap. Play with Ella, Maddy and Toby. Take a nap. International feline stars need plenty of beauty sleep.

5. Has fame changed you since your starring role in A New Friend for Marmalade and A Year with Marmalade?

I can’t go out in public anymore. Dogs always chase me for autographs. I spend forever grooming myself in case the purrparrazzi snap my photo. But I do get upgraded when I stay at the boutique cattery, so it’s not all fur balls.

6. There is a Beyonce doll, a Jennifer Lopez doll and now a plush toy, Marmalade. How did you feel about the likeness?

My legs are longer in real life, but apart from that it’s purrfect.

7. Do you have a personal mantra?

No matter how famous I become, I’ll always keep my four paws on the ground. Especially if Toby, Ella and Maddy aren’t around to rescue me.

Please don't forget to enter the competitions below to WIN books, manuscript assessments or even a chance to jump the slush pile and land on an editor's desk!

Pet contest for all ages!
Marmalade the cat is full of personality. Do you have a pet with personality? Win a piece of artwork by Heath McKenzie. Send along a photo of your personality-plus pet to www.alisonreynolds.com.au, alrey@msn.com.au or upload to https://www.facebook.com/alison.reynolds.524

Random book giveaways!
Just leave a comment on one of the posts in the blog tour, comment on facebook, or even email Alison letting her know you want to enter the competition to win A New Friend for Marmalade.

Jump the Slush Pile!
Option 1 - Win a free pass to a Children’s editor’s desk
Just comment on this blog post or any other blog during the A New Friend for Marmalade blog tour and add the initials CB. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win the draw.

Option 2 - Win a free pass to a Non-fiction commissioning editor’s desk
Just comment on this blog post or any other blog during the A New Friend for Marmalade blog tour and add the initials NF. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win the draw.

Win a Manuscript Assessment!
Option 1 - Win an assessment of Chapter One of a chapter book with Dee White
A wonderful opportunity to have an assessment by the fabulous mentor extraordinaire, Dee White.
Just comment on this blog post or any other blog during the A New Friend for Marmalade blog tour and add the initials DW. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win the draw.

Option 2 - Win a free picture book assessment by Alison!
Just comment on this blog post or any other blog during the A New Friend for Marmalade blog tour and add the initials PB. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win the draw.

A New Friend for Marmalade is available now in Australia at all leading bookstores and online. Published in Australia by The Five Mile Press. Released March 2014. Published in the USA by Little Simon. Released July 2014.

A New Friend for Marmalade

A New Friend for Marmalade by Alison Reynolds, illustrated by Heath McKenzie (Five Mile Press)
HC RRP $ 14.95
ISBN 9781743466599
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

After the extraordinary success of A Year with Marmalade, another new adventure is here with Marmalade the cat, and best friends Ella and Maddy, carrying themes of friendship and tolerance.

The girls decide to build a cubby house while Marmalade keeps an eye on their activities. Toby from across the road scooters over and their pink cloth is swept off its stick poles. They try again. This time they build an elaborate sandcastle city. But here comes the disruptive Toby again.

It seems that catastrophe follows where ever Toby goes, for that’s not the end of it. The incident with the tap follows, which scares Marmalade into a tree. How will they ever get him down?

Toby shows that he has good ideas and proves to be very resourceful. After finding the ideal solution to getting Marmalade down, Ella, Maddy and Marmalade discover that new friends are found when you least expect it.

The illustrations by Heath McKenzie are delightful. His impressive style of minimal colour to the pictures is very effective. It allows the characters individuality and expression, while accentuating the main features of the story.

Blog tour: A New Friend for Marmalade

Buzz Words is thrilled to be joining the blog tour for Alison Reynolds and Heath McKenzie's new book, A New Friend for Marmalade (The Five Mile Press). On Saturday 15 March, none other than the star of the show, Marmalade himself, will be popping by to answer seven purry questions.

There are also plenty of competitions with the chance to win books, manuscript assessments and more.

Find out about the book, its characters and creators at these other great kids' lit sites throughout March.

11th Dee White – Review and Post http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/
11th Chris Bell – Post http://christinemareebell.wordpress.com/
12th Angela Sunde – Interview with Heath http://angelasunde.blogspot.com.au/
12th KBR – Book giveaway http://www.kids-bookreview.com/
13th Boomerang Books – Post with Dimity Powell
http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/author/dpowell
14th KBR Guest post http://www.kids-bookreview.com/
14th KBR Review http://www.kids-bookreview.com/
14th Sally Murphy – Meet my book http://aussiereviews.com/reviews/blog/
15th Buzz Words – Interview with Marmalade http://www.buzzwordsmagazine.com/
17th Ask the Bean Counter – Mr X http://www.alisonreynolds.com.au/
17th Pass-it-on Post and Review – Jackie Hosking
http://jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com/school-magazine/
18th Ask the Publisher – Kay Scarlett http://www.alisonreynolds.com.au/