{CLOSED} Ascending Butterfly Monthly Book Club: Unlikely Friendships Book + 2012 Calendar Giveaway!

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This giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks so much to our wonderful sponsor Unlikely Friendships! Entries are being processed. Once the winners have been notified and upon winners confirmation, follower names will be posted both here and on our homepage. Remember: There are great giveaways active on the upper right hand side of the page!

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Ascending Butterfly's Monthly Book Club with special Holiday Surprise!

Have you ever seen a squirrel cuddle up to the family dog? Or a vicious snake, making friends with a hamster? How about a cat and a rat, playing around like they’ve been friends forever?

Author and National Geographic senior writer Jennifer S. Holland brings together these stories plus 44 more unlikely accounts of animal friendship in UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIPS: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom.

I am super happy to bring back the monthly book club with a special holiday twist!

I had the pleasure of reading the book Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer Holland, a book that I truly enjoyed from begining to end! Trust me when I tell you that you will try your best to put this book down, and go back to it, but you are going to have to read this when you have time to devour it in one sitting, it's that heartwarming that you will NOT want to put it down!

Get a sneak peek at some of the Unlikely Friendships featured in the book:

Unlikely Friendships documents one heartwarming tale after another of animals who, with nothing else in common, bond in the most unexpected ways. A cat and a bird. A mare and a fawn. An elephant and a sheep. A snake and a hamster. The well-documented stories of Koko the gorilla and All Ball the kitten; and the hippo Owen and the tortoise Mzee. And almost inexplicable stories of predators befriending prey—an Indian leopard slips into a village every night to sleep with a calf. A lionness mothers a baby oryx. Ms. Holland narrates the details and arc of each story, and also offers insights into why—how the young leopard, probably motherless, sought maternal comfort with the calf, and how a baby oryx inspired the same mothering instinct in the lionness. Or, in the story of Kizzy, a nervous retired Greyhound, and Murphy, a red tabby, how cats and dogs actually understand each other’s body language. With Murphy’s friendship and support, Kizzy recovered from life as a racing dog and became a confident, loyal family pet.

These are the most amazing friendships between species, collected from around the world and documented in a selection of full-color candid photographs.

and just when I thought it couldn't get better, there is a companion calendar that goes along with the book!

 My Take:

The book and the calendar are an amazing gift for animal lovers of all ages! I really couldn't put this down, and I'm sure you are going to have trouble doing the same. I love the 2012 companion calendar as well, I'm actually looking forward to the new year even more now because I can't wait to put this calendar up!

The book is a celebration of friendship in all it's forms. It didn't surprise me that even in the animal world, friendship is not always based on similarities. Which is oftentimes what happens with human friendships, sometimes our best friends are our total opposites. Where we are sometimes quiet, our friends are loud, or where we are shy our friends are outgoing. I think those friends come into our lives to bring us balance. And it's funny to see the same happens in the animal kingdom.

This is truly a light-hearted, warm and fun read, the story of the snake in the book didn't come as much of a surprise to me, I have witnessed something similar myself!

I know you are going to love this book, and if you have a child or teen who is animal lover I am sure they'll love it just as much!

You didn't think I'd forget about you right? Who loves you butterfly?

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - WIN IT! - Ascending Butterfly and our friends at Workman Publishing would like to give 2 lucky winners an Unlikely Friendships Prize Pack of their own! Your prize pack will contain 1 copy of the book Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer Holland and 1 2012 Wall Calendar!

Don't you just ♥ Workman Publishing (and Unlikely Friendships)? I know I do!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - How to Win: (1) You must be a PUBLIC follower of Ascending Butterfly to be eligible for this and all giveaways. Indicate in your entry that you follow (if your 'comment name/user id' differs from your profile id, please let me know what name you follow under) and (2)MANDATORY ENTRY: Visit Workman Publishing and link us to anything other than Unlikely Friendships that catches your eye!  (3) You must also leave your email address somewhere in your comment. (You can format it this way for security, example: ascendingbutterfly AT mail host DOT com). (If your email is clearly visible in your profile, you can just say so, that's OK!) Please follow the easy 1, 2, 3 steps to winning (or in this case, the A,B,C’s of winning!) This giveaway is open to USA residents who are 18 years of age or older. No PO Boxes. No purchase necessary. One entry per Household, see Ascending Butterfly Giveaway Rules and Disclosure Policy HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Please follow directions or you will be disqualified! All comments are moderated, they may not appear on the site right away (comments like "I want this" or "I want to win" will not be entered). You have from Tuesday, November 01, 2011 until Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 03:00 PM (EST) to comment and be entered for a chance to win. You will have 48 hours to confirm if we do not hear from you we will be forced to move on to an alternate. (We only notify winners DIRECTLY via email, so if your profile or your comment does not have an email your entry will not be processed)

EXTRA CREDIT:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - To celebrate Friendship, tell us about an unlikely friendship in your life. Be it human or animal!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Blog about this giveaway, linking to this giveaway post. Leave the URL in a comment. (If your blog post contains more than just a pic and link you'll get 5 extra credit entries!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Grab our NEW Button and put it on your Blog. Leave the URL where we can see it in a comment (if you have our old one, please swap it out, our URL address has changed!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @Tracy_Iglesias on Twitter (this is ascendingbutterfly’s editor) and give me your twitter ID in a comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @Ascending1 on Twitter (this is Ascending Butterfly's new account, we will soon be hosting twitter parties which necessitates having a second account so you can make updates throughout the entire party!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @WorkmanPub on Twitter

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Tweet this:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - @Ascending1 + @WorkmanPub  Unlikely Friendships Prize Pack #Giveaway! Book + 2012 Wall Calendar 2 winners! http://tinyurl.com/3cxopvx

(Leave a comment with the tweet’s url so you can get a valid entry (click on the time your tweet was sent to get the direct URL and then copy and paste it here). You can Tweet TWICE per DAY. If you Tweet more than that, that entry will be disqualified.)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Digg about this giveaway and leave your digg username in your comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Fave this blog on Technorati and leave your Technorati user name in your comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow Ascending Butterfly on Facebook HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow Ascending Butterfly on Networked Blogs HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Join Ascending Butterfly's NEW Community/Real Time Chat, Group HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Vote for Ascending Butterfly on: Fuel My Blog <-This is ONE time per giveaway, NOT daily.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Have you entered another active giveaway on Ascending Butterfly? Let me know which one and you’ll get more extra credit!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Have you commented on a non-giveaway entry? Let me know which one here and you’ll get more extra credit!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - NEW! Here's a win/win extra credit entry if you join Scorebig from my affiliate link you will be entering for the chance to win a $100 ScoreBig Gift Card AND a $100 Amazon Gift Card (yes both) and if I get the most people to sign up via my link, I get a shot at a prize too! How cool is that? ScoreBig is the members-only place to save up to 60% on sports, concert and theater tickets. (Unfortunately if you have already signed up on your own or under someone else, you cannot claim the extra credit here) - tell us which email you used to sign up.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Press the button below and join, you get an extra entry for this giveaway and a shot at more great prizes, lets win together! (one time extra credit, will be verified before entry can be accepted)

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FTC Disclosure Info for this Giveaway:  The Unlikely Friendships prize pack has been provided free of charge by Workman Publishing. No monetary compensation has been received. The sponsors are fulfilling directly to prize winner(s), this in no way influenced my opinion of the products. Once a winner is selected and their information has been forwarded to the sponsor, the responsibility of prize fulfillment rests with the sponsor.