Beyond The Smoke Contest

Beyond The Smoke - Contest and Promotion

A $100 CASH PRIZE IS OFFERED to the young person who best responds to the questions below and posts that responses through the email link at the author website http://www.terryburns.net – the winner will be selected by a committee of authors. ALSO, A $200 PRIZE ($100 to the school or library and $100 to the teacher or librarian) is offered in a drawing open to the teacher or librarian who has shelved the book and enters by posting a short review or comment at the same email link. Home-school teachers qualify for this contest as well. The only entry is to get a copy of the book at your local library or bookstore or at BJU Press.com ChristianBooks.com Soon at Amazon.
There was no such thing as a teenager before World War II. Kids were expected to go to work on the family farm or in the family store as soon as they got whatever education they were going to get which often was the equivalent of today’s middle school. The purpose of this book is to make history come alive by getting young people to wonder how they would fare if they had been forced to live in this environment.

Discussion Questions

· Think of the movie “Back to the Future,” if you knew you were going to be transported back to the frontier in the late 1800’s what would you do to prepare? What would you want in your backpack to take with you?

· Today young people have a “growing up period” they didn’t used to have. They can’t be prosecuted in their early teens for certain things, yet in the days of this book a youngster old enough to kill a man faced the same consequences as an adult. What are the consequences of this change of attitude, good and bad?

· These young people were faced with a number of challenges? What would you have done differently? What are some of the things young people have to face today that they did not have to face then?

· What careers do you think were open to young people in this time period, including Native Americans?

· The larger than life Texas Ranger dispensed justice with a firm hand. In many places the only law was what they brought with them. What actions did he take that would not be allowed today? How do you feel about the difference?

· The bright and shining period in history in England was King Arthur and the Roundtable, the days of Camelot. It has been said that that period for the United States was the settlement of the frontier and the days of the old west. Do you feel that is true? If it is do you feel young people today do not know much about this period nor have much interest in it? Why?

· Would you like to see more books about what life for a young person who is a teen today might have been like in earlier years?

Program suggestions for librarians and teachers:

Ø Suggested snacks at program: beef jerky and root beer

Ø Idea for promotion: make the cash prize available as part of the promotion – should draw participants. Help them submit or submit for them.

Ø Individual book order link: http://www.bjupress.com/product/261057?path=1672

Ø Organization or corporate: The book will be available through Ingram/Spring Arbor, CBD, and Appalachian. The Corporate Accounts department is taking pre-orders from the Revelation Group now, so any retail store or organization served by Revelation can go directly through them. Other organizations can go through the one of these distributors or they can contact our Corporate Accounts directly at 888.262.9915