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#TheUnlikeliesChallenge

IF YOU HAD $1,000, HOW WOULD YOU CHANGE THE WORLD?

Author Carrie Firestone Offers $1,000 Grants to Teens in “The Unlikelies Challenge”

 January 15, 2018 | Avon, CT – If you had $1000 … how would you use it to change the world? That’s the question young adult author Carrie Firestone is asking teens in her newly launched “Unlikelies Challenge.” Five winners will each receive a $1,000 grant to build a unique community service project.

 “I’ve always been interested in altruism and good samaritanism,” says Firestone. “What drives people to help others? What motivates them to fight for a person or an animal or an entire planet?”

 Inspired by characters in Firestone’s latest novel, THE UNLIKELIES, The Unlikelies Challenge presents young people the opportunity to build innovative projects to improve their communities, address social issues, and potentially change the world.

 The characters in THE UNLIKELIES are all “homegrown heroes.” They’re brought together at a luncheon and end up spending a summer of do-gooder vigilantism, throwing kindness at bullies, seeking out charitable ways to spend a found fortune, and helping a heroin addicted friend. Sometimes they get it right; sometimes they fail. Ultimately, they realize that, while “no good deed goes unpunished,” good deeds are still worth the effort.

 The Unlikelies Challenge is simple. It asks teens in grades 7-12 to answer this question in 1,000 words or less: If you had $1,000, how would you use it to change the world? Teens are encouraged to think carefully about the issue they’re most passionate about and devise a project that has potential to grow, but takes into consideration the financial limitations of $1,000.

 “I encourage participants to get creative,” says Firestone. “They can submit an essay, a business proposal, a graphic organizer, or anything that best conveys their vision. Essentially, it’s a great exercise for those dreamers who have lofty ideas, but need to learn to practice effective, efficient altruism.”

 Firestone wants young people to dig deep and consider how their vision will impact their target community and beyond. She will recruit experts from the non-profit world to judge the entries based on creativity, potential impact, and effective use of grant money. Five winners will each receive a $1,000 seed money grant and a coach to bring their winning projects to life.

 “We have numerous ways to showcase young athletes, musicians, writers, and artists, but what about those kids who are always thinking of ways to improve their communities, address social issues, and change the world?” Firestone asks. “Let’s give them a platform. Let’s help them focus on the issue they care most about and transform their innate gifts into fantastic win-win projects that inspire others to serve.”

 The deadline for entry is March 30, 2018. For more information, visit www.CarrieFirestoneAuthor.com.

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Morgan has been raising money for pediatric cancer for years. I hope she inspires YOUR #UnlikeliesChallenge project! #1K4Good

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Do You Know A Teen Who is Determined to Change the World? Introducing The Unlikelies Challenge. Do Something Noble.

Keep reading

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Do You Know A Teen Who is Determined to Change the World? Introducing The Unlikelies Challenge. Do Something Noble.

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Baddiewinkle, A Vivacious 89 Year Old Woman With a Love For Bright Colors and Form Fitting Clothes

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Meet The Unlikelies

by Carrie Firestone

In The Unlikelies, Sadie, Val, Alice, Jean, and Gordie play the First and Last game. For example, Alice asks the first time your heart broke, Gordie asks the last time you kissed someone, and Jean asks the last time you felt really happy. The answers help the new friends get to know each other a little better.

What didn’t make the book was the Favorites game. I interviewed the Unlikelies at our favorite place to listen to music (I’m not going to say where because it’s a secret venue). Here are some of their answers:

Now that you know more about Sadie, Val, Alice, Jean, and Gordie, I’d love to see your answers to the Favorites questions!

Thanks for stopping by NOVL, Carrie– and thanks for the inside look at your writing process! After reading all these favorite things, we can’t help but think about which characters sound the most like us. Who sounds the most like you? If you need a little more info to decide, you’re in luck– The Unlikelies is out now! It’s the perfect summertime staycation read.

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The June NOVLbox

Happy summer, NOVLers! And what better time than the beginning of summer to debut our new NOVLbox look? Are you as big a fan of the dancing books and turquoise popsicles as we are?

This month, our box is curated by Carrie Firestone, queen of the prettiest watercolor covers and seaside settings– AKA, the perfect books for a June staycation. Her newest novel, The Unlikelies, comes out in just six short days. It tells the story of a group of teenagers in the Hamptons who become unexpected friends and launch a crusade to do good in the community… only to realize that being a “good person” can be much more complicated than it sounds. With a touch of romance and plenty of ice cream, we hope you’ll love this read. And we’re sure you’ll love all the goodies Carrie’s picked out for the box!

What’s a NOVLbox? It’s a care package curated by one of our favorite authors. What’s inside? It’s a mystery! If we told you, we’d ruin the fun. But… we’ll give you a hint of what to expect. Check out the archive to see what curators have included in the past!

How It Works:

Enter HERE for a chance to win.

We’ll select & notify 10 lucky winners at the end of the month.

A surprise will be waiting in the winners’ mailbox!

Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

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They say no good deed goes unpunished, and that may be true. But the Unlikelies will take our chances. Every. Single. Time. 

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We can’t let the trolls bring us down. It’s time to fight back. Explore THE UNLIKELIES by Carrie Firestone!

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#book #bookclub #the unlikelies

Book Club Pick: The Unlikelies

“We’re bringing down the trolls. You’re one of us now.” 

Hilariously irreverent and unflinchingly honest, Carrie Firestone’s new novel shines with a fresh voice as it explores the dark underbelly of a bright summer of paradise, and we think that it warrants a discussion. Because no good deed goes unpunished.

Learn more about The Unlikelies and download the book club guide HERE.

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Join Sadie and her four new friends in the Hamptons to try and choose kindness all the way. THE UNLIKELIES by Carrie Firestone tells a captivating coming-of-age story.

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#TheUnlikelies #UnlikelyRevolution #UnlikelyHeroes

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#TheUnlikelies #UnlikelyRevolution #HomegrownHeroes #AmReading #Superhero

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My Special Guests This Election Day

This year I will invite my daughters to the polls with me. I will also invite two extraordinary women. I will hold them close as I exercise my right to vote. I will celebrate with them as I cast my ballot for the first female president of the United States. And I will talk to my daughters about our special guests and about the scores of American women who dreamed of this day.

Sojourner Truth, I extend this invitation to you for dedicating your life to African American justice, to making the lives of ex-slaves better, to fighting tirelessly for equality for all of your sisters. I don’t have to tell you how hard your life was, how you suffered through the unthinkable pain and anguish of brutal physical and sexual abuse at the hands of your owners. I don’t have to remind you of the struggles you faced, the demeaning remarks, and the humiliating treatment, as you marched from church to church, group to group, preaching YOUR truth. I think you know that you were heard, that your message brought crowds to their feet, that despite your inability to read or write, you won lawsuits and made lives better and turned even the most jaded souls toward your light. You showed the world that black lives matter, and that YOU mattered. I will take you to the polls on Tuesday and hold you close and tell my daughters about your legacy and celebrate your famous words, the words that still ring true today. “Ain’t I A Woman?”

Inez Milholland, I extend this invitation to you for dedicating your life to fighting for justice, not only for privileged women, but for all women. I will picture you leading the parade on your horse with your cape and crown and  Sojourner and I will laugh with you because we all know how annoyed you were when people paid attention to your pretty face and not your fierce mind. I will tell my daughters about your fancy upbringing and explain that you could have spent your time shopping in Paris and dining in fine restaurants, but you CHOSE to march for the rights of women, and African Americans, and child laborers, and prisoners. And despite being suspended from college for speaking out, despite being rejected from Harvard and Yale Law schools for being a woman, despite being talked down to by men for being pretty, you just kept going. You led the parades. You mobilized throngs of young women to join your cause. And one hundred years ago this very month, you died at age thirty, but not before uttering your last public words: “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?”

This Tuesday, I will proudly hold you close, Sojourner and Inez. And we will tell my daughters all about you and those sisters who came before you and those who marched behind you, the women of my mother’s generation in their pantsuits with hammers smashing one glass ceiling after the next. I will talk about the men, the ones who walk beside us. The ones who cheered you and will cheer my daughters, too, as they join the next generation of women fighting to end abuse and suffering and the myriad forms of misogyny happening across this beautiful planet.

But first we, Sojourner and Inez and my daughters and I, will cast OUR ballot for Hillary Clinton. And we will celebrate. And we will remember the words from your sign, Inez, as we remember you:

Forward, out of error Leave behind the night Forward through the darkness Forward into light!

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BARCELONA, 2015

There’s nothing better

Than gelato on the street

In any country.

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Joy. 1993

I cut through the park

my first morning in New York.

it was a clean cut.