nancy_v

 

These crazy-fun books showed up at my door today.
Can you smell them? They smell reeeeeeally good.

jkrbooks

http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/growing-bookw-2.html

This afternoon I will be sending out the new issue of the Growing Bookworms weekly email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's books and raising readers. There are currently more than 350 subscribers.

This week I have three book reviews (all aimed at young adults), a Kidlitosphere round-up with links to useful posts from the past week, a Children's Literacy Round-Up, and an edition of my reviews that made me want to read the book feature. I have no other posts this week besides the ones included in the newsletter.

Hope that you're all enjoying the last few weeks of summer, and reading whatever it is that gives you joy. I'm currently finishing up an adult novel: Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher mystery: Nothing to Lose. I've just started listening to the latest title in Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre series (also for adults): Rebel Island. Next up will be the advance copy of White Sands, Red Menace, the sequel to The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages. What are you reading?

Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms!

beckybooks

http://blbooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/found-missing-book-1.html

jkrbooks

http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/reviews-that-ma.html

Welcome to the latest installment of my reviews that made me want to read the book feature, in which I highlight that well-written reviews that draw my attention towards intriguing books.

TadMack reviewed The Other Sister, by S. T. Underdahl, at Readers' Rants. The book is about a girl who, as a teenager, learns that she has an older sister who was put up for adoption when their parents were very young. TadMack says: "S.T. Underdahl records the realistic and turbulent changes of a family stretching to include one more. It's her own story, in more ways than one." Something about the premise, and the fact that TadMack liked it, caught my eye.

I'm intrigued by the picture book M is for Mischief, written by Linda Ashman and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Nancy Arruda reviewed it Bees Knees Reads, calling it: "a hilarious read-aloud written in rhyme with a ton of alliteration and word play." She concludes "I like to keep this book handy when I need a pick-me-up good belly laugh. This one is really worth giving to your friend with a Nagging Nora, a Zany Zelda, a Mischievous Martin or .. " Not that any of the children I know are mischievous, of course, but I think it would be a good one to have around.

The BooksForKidsBlog's recent review of The Totally Made-up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish by Claudia Mills also caught my eye. It's a dual storyline about a modern-day girl named Amanda whose family is breaking up and a Civil War era farm girl named Polly. GTC says "Claudia Mills carries off a real tour-de-force. Skillfully balancing the dual story lines of Amanda and Polly within the framework of a fifth grade class working toward a performance at the end of its Civil War unit, Claudia Mills reveals Amanda's growing understanding of the meaning of her family's split as much through her journal writing in Polly's voice as through her own experiences."

Kidliterate reviewed an upcoming title (no cover illustration is available yet): Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury. "Scott O’Dell award-winning author Graham Salisbury turns his hand to elementary level humor and absolutely succeeds. This is the first book in a series about a 4th grader named Calvin who lives in Hawaii with his mother and younger sister (his father, an island one hit wonder, now lives in Vegas where he makes his living as a lounge singer)." It sounds fun to me!

Karen from Literate Lives reviewed Dog Gone by Cynthia Chapman Willis. She got my attention when she said: "I realized the book it most reminds me of is Me and the Pumpkin Queen, another book I love. Both of these books deal with a mom who dies, and how the child (in both of these cases, a daughter) learns to grieve and deal with the loss". I loved Me and the Pumpkin Queen, too, and I'm prepared to give this one a look.

Also at Literate Lives, Bill reviewed the first book in Tracy Barrett's new Sherlock Files series: The 100 Year-Old Secret. Here it's mostly the premise that gets me: "The story is based on two main characters, Xena and Xander Holmes, a sister and brother who are distant grandchildren of the famous detective." But Bill plans to add it to his library, and I think that it sounds like a solid mystery.

I've seen references to the Luxe series before, but Jennifer Schultz from the Kiddosphere is the first person to inspire me to want to read these books (The Luxe and Rumors by Anna Godbersen). She says "So....I'm a little crazy about The Luxe series. Picture The Gossip Girls set in late 1890s Manhattan, and you have a pretty good idea of what it's all about." Now, I enjoy the Gossip Girl TV show, and I also tend to like turn of the century society novels. Which makes me suspect that I might like these, at least in certain moods. I think this enough that I'll be interested to give the first book a look when it comes out in paperback next month.

Colleen Mondor's latest YA column is now available at Chasing Ray (after originally appearing at Bookslut). She features several interesting titles, but the one that particularly caught my attention was The Postcard, by Tony Abbott. I've seen this book around, but Colleen's conclusion made the difference for me: "The Postcard is a book I have not heard nearly enough about. It is a classic mystery but has a decidedly modern style. I also give Abbott a lot of credit for getting Florida so right; I know my Sunshine State and clearly so does this author."

The Book Witch got me interested in Oisin McGann's Small-minded Giants by comparing it to Julie Bertagna's Exodus (reviewed here). The book is about a futuristic city called Ash Harbor. The Book Witch says: "This is a well written thriller, combined with a good look at what may be in store for the world if we don’t do something soon. Living in Ash Harbour is not something to aspire to, except that the alternative - of being left on the outside - isn’t very attractive either." But she really had me at "(Ash Harbor is) slightly reminiscent of Julie Bertagna’s Glasgow, except this is in the South Pacific, and it’s very, very cold." Sadly, this book isn't published in the US, but it looks like there are some used copies available.

And that's it for books for this edition. I am also intrigued by an ergonomic backup that Cheryl Rainfield recommended recently. I have no need of another backpack right now, especially after buying the KidLit Conference messenger bag last week, but I'm saving the link.

2k8

http://classof2k8.blogspot.com/2008/08/day-2-getting-to-know-terri.html

2K8: Where do you do most of your writing, Terri?

TC: I write at home, usually in one of three places—my desk, the dining table or my bedroom. I have a pre-teen and teen in my house and both are computer hogs so I have to fight to get on either the desktop or laptop. My son and his friends are usually taking up two of the computers playing World of Warcraft. We finally buckled down this week and bought another desktop so the laptop could be mine, all mine!

2K8: How’d SLEEPLESS come to be? What inspired the idea?

TC: I’ve always been fascinated with dreams. I think they’re revealing and powerful. Sometimes they’re just nonsensical stories our brain makes up, but sometimes they’re much more. Then you add the old wives tale into the mix and things get really hairy. Will you die in real life if you die in your dreams? That’s a question I wanted to play with.

When I first started doing research for SLEEPLESS a series of articles ran in the Denver Post about dangerous criminals who pretended insanity so they could get locked up in a mental hospital instead of jail. I was horrified and found myself wondering what would happen if the bad guys got more than they bargained for in the hospital. Maybe it wasn’t Easy Street like they imagined. I researched inhumane mental health “cures” from history and that was just the twist I needed to give birth to my villain.

2K8: We hear your sale story is a little out of the ordinary. What happened?

TC: My agent, at the time, was shopping a paranormal series around for me. I’d written book one and a partial on book two. While we waited for feedback I started to write a new proposal for this gritty idea I had. I mentioned it in passing to my agent. It was a lot darker than the more comedic series we were sending out. She happened to hear that Harper was looking for edgy work and asked how fast I could finish the proposal. I ended up writing the synopsis at a conference and emailing it to her with the chapters. She loved it and sent it on. They asked for some rewrites, which I did right away and I ended up selling on proposal six days before Christmas.

2K8: Did anything surprise you or catch you off guard when you were writing this thriller?

TC: I discovered I’m really able to take an idea and run with it, but still keep it my own. I had a lot of editorial input on SLEEPLESS and I was proud of the way I could take their suggestions and strengthen the story without compromising my vision.

2K8: Imagine you have an offer from your dream press to publish your dream book, no matter how insane or unmarketable it might be (though of course it might not be). What story would you want to write and why?

TC: My big dream is to write a successful paranormal series. I’m a HUGE fan of series. I love revisiting characters, seeing them grow and sharing more time with them. I want my own series!

2K8: What question won't most people know to ask you? And what's your answer?

TC: Do you collect anything? Yes! I collect fairies. I love them. My two favorite artists are Amy Brown and Jasmine Becket-Griffith. I also love Tinkerbell, especially the Goth Tinkerbell. I have fairy prints hanging over my desk (see above), statues, pins, jewelry, stickers, shirts, basically anything I can find. I do believe in fairies. I do, I do.

beckybooks

http://blbooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/interview-with-mary-ann-rodman.html

Tell us a little about yourself and your road to publication.

I don’t remember when I didn’t want to be a writer. I grew up telling myself my own bedtime stories, and drawing story panels before I could write. I published my first story when I was seven, and I was off and away, entering every writing contest I could find, and writing weekly school columns for the local newspaper from 9^th grade through 12^th.

With a short detour through the drama world in college, I ultimately became a children’s service librarian in schools, universities and public libraries. I have always had a passion for children’s writing, and over time, I transitioned from writing “deep and bleak” short stories for adults, to writing for the twelve-year-old inside me. (This is one of the few professions where having an immature side is an advantage!)

My writing career really took off when I enrolled in the MFA in Writing for Children program at Vermont College. Halfway through my MFA I sold my first book, MY BEST FRIEND (ill. by E. B Lewis, Viking, 2005), although the book that became my creative thesis, YANKEE GIRL (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2004) was published first.

What do you love about writing? What do you find the easiest? What do you find the hardest?

Ever the librarian, I love researching my historical fiction novels best. I always have one book that I am actively writing, while I am researching the next one. When I feel that I have covered as much as I need, I begin writing…and usually discover I need some more research! And once I have “finished” the research (it’s never really “finished”), I love the feeling of falling backward in time to the 60’s or the 40’s, and immersing myself in another time and place. (I am currently writing a book that takes place in 1925, and researching one for 1908.)

I find revision with my editors (I have three of them in three different publishing houses) to be both easy and enjoyable. By the time I have reached this point, I have been working on the book for at least two years, and sometimes as much as five. By now I have lived with these characters a long time, and its great to have someone else who can help me go deeper into my story or characters.

The hardest part is hammering out that first draft. I try to remember the E.L. Doctorow line that writing a novel is like making a car journey at night; you can only see as far as your headlights allow you, but you can make an entire journey that way. I allow myself to write out of sequence, to write whatever is clear to me at the moment, and skip was it not. I know that when I come back around to that scene or chapter or character again, it will be there. But I do not allow myself to go back to anything until the first draft is done.

Some days it feels like flying…and others like shoveling coal.

What inspired you to write Jimmy’s Stars? (Or how did this novel come to be…)

This book has been through a couple of incarnations. It began as the first book I ever COMPLETED, twenty five years ago. It was terrible, but I held on to it because the characters were based on family stories and letters from WWII…and I had done all that research. Then I recycled one of the chapters into a picture book. That didn’t work either, but an editor who saw it said “I love these characters. Why don’t you turn this into a middle grade novel?” This time I found a story for them that worked. I guess it was bubbling on the back burner of my mental stove for the last twenty five years.

Do you have a favorite character, a favorite scene, a favorite quote?

From my own books? I can give you a million from other people’s work! Seriously, if you do mean from JIMMY’S STARS, I like the scene where the neighborhood kids are playing “Commando Kelly.” Not only was Commando Kelly a real person, a Medal of Honor winner from Pittsburgh’s Northside, but twenty years later, when I was a child, we STILL played Commando Kelly, “shooting” Nazis at the town picnic park. That scene was straight out of my own early ‘60’s life, when we still “played war.”

Music plays (at least from my perspective) a big role in the novel—so far as providing context and emotional background—what songs are on Ellie’s playlist? As the author, what guided you to choose certain songs and artists over others?

Thank you for noticing!

I grew up in a household where music played during all my waking hours…my mother with her Tijuana Brass and Perry Como, and my dad at night with classical music. I have lived my life with a soundtrack in my head, and I always write first drafts with music from the time period playing over and over. For JIMMY’S STARS I listened to a lot of vintage Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and early Sinatra, as well as a collection from the Smithsonian of “propaganda music”…some really awful stuff like “You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap. I also had some compilations with titles like SONGS THAT HELPED US WIN THE WAR.

What would be on Ellie’s playlist?

(What a fun question!) She was a big fan of “Pistol Packin’ Mama” until she heard Toots sing it! She’s a little young to be a bobbysoxer, so while she can appreciate Sinatra, he is really more Sal’s obsession. Ellie does NOT like Bing Crosby, as you can probably tell. Ellie is more of Glenn Miller girl…the peppier songs like “Little Brown Jug”, “In the Mood”, “Tuxedo Junction”. Her favorites are “Pennsylvania 6-500” (of course!) and “American Patrol”. She shies away from the ballads and sad songs if she can help it.

Why did I pick certain songs?

Beats me! No, really, my mother and aunts were always singing these old songs around the house when I was kid, even though none of them could carry a tune in a bucket. Ellie’s embarrassment over Jimmy’s bursting into song echoed my own when my mother went around singing “Mairzy Oats” and “Three Little Fishies” and “The Hut Sut Song.” My mother had a silly streak a mile wide, and I gave it to Jimmy in his love of nonsense songs. And the first time I heard “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” I knew that was practically Toots’ theme song.

What do you hope readers gain from reading Jimmy’s Stars?

I don’t write with an “agenda” in mind. I am usually writing for myself, or at least that inner twelve-year-old. I began writing this book (the third time!) around the time of the Iraq invasion, and I was meeting kids whose lives were being turned upside down by war.

I want kids to know that kids during WWII experienced some of the same emotions and situations that they are today. And that love and courage and memory triumph death and evil.

You have a great first line—in my opinion—“The two people Ellie McKelvey hated most were Adolf Hitler and Victoria Gandeck.” Did this line come easily or did you struggle with getting it just right?

Boy did I struggle! The first line is the most important…and usually it’s the last thing I write. My husband (who has a very short attention span) always lets me know if the first line doesn’t “grab him.” After about a dozen false starts, matched with a dozen “You can do betters” from my spouse, I finally snapped and yelled the most over-the-top opening I could think of. Which became that first line!

What was your first impression of the cover art for Jimmy’s Stars?

I love this cover because I pretty much told the art department at FSG EXACTLY what I wanted on the cover. I think it gives the impression of hopefulness and melancholy, without giving away the story.

How do you find time—do you find time—to keep reading? Do you have any favorites of the year?

Oh yes, I’m a compulsive reader…in the carpool line, while I sit through my daughter’s figure skating lessons, at very long red lights. My big indulgence is subscribing to Publisher’s Weekly so I can keep track of who is publishing what.

I just finished MAO’S LAST DANCER by Cunxin Li, an autobiography, only realizing toward the end of the book that I saw him dance in the International Ballet Competition in Mississippi twenty or so years ago. I also enjoyed Andrea Cheng’s WHERE THE STEPS WERE, a multi-voice verse novel (that 1925 book I mentioned is a verse novel with three voices), BENEATH MY MOTHER’S FEET by Amjed Qamar, KEEPING SCORE by Linda Sue Park. I have BIRD LAKE MOON by Kevin Henkes (a writer who has never written a false line, IMHO) at the top of my “to read” stack. At the insistence of every adolescent I have had in my writing workshops this summer, I also have the FIRST Stephanie Meyer book in that pile as well. Anything that can make a twelve year old keep track of the number of hours until a book’s publication has to be worth my time!

If you had twenty-four hours, a time machine, and a limitless supply of money, what would you want to do?

Spend a day talking to Anne Frank. She was my earliest writing role model, and as a young teen, I literally read my paperback copy of DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL to shreds. I want to know how she kept her optimism and idealism in a time when such emotions (or any other emotions) were a luxury. Minus the time machine aspect, I would like to simply visit her attic in Amsterdam. My mother has been there, my husband has been there…but I haven’t. It is the one place I want to go that I have never been.

brian_ohio

 Why did the chicken cross the road? 

BARACK OBAMA : The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change ! The chicken wanted change !

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON : When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure  right from Day One!  that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH : We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY : Where's my gun?

COLIN POWELL : Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON : I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY : Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON : Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR. PHIL : The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to gi ve this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE : That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty ! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN : To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART : No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dr opped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS : Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEM INGWAY : To die in the rain, alone.

JERRY FALWELL : Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth? That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay, too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side.' That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough. 

BARBARA WALTERS : Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE : It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES : I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN : Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS : Did I miss one?

jkrbooks

http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/childrens-lit-1.html

Here is some recent children's literacy and reading news from various sources.

• The Sun News (Macon, GA) has a nice article by J. Randolph Murray (the paper's editor) about sharing the thrill of reading. Murray describes in detail his history as a young bookworm, and explains "All of this is why I jumped to say "yes" when asked to participate in a "Celebrity Read" later this month at Parkwood Elementary School to kick off the Warner Robins school's Reading is Fundamental free paperback distribution program." My favorite part of the article is this: "She (my sister) also introduced me to the most enchanting place in our little hometown of Quitman, Georgia. I still remember the sense of awe I felt when I pushed my way through the heavy double doors to enter the Brooks County Public Library."
• The Storm Blog (Seattle's WNBA team) has a post by Jayda Evans about how guards Sheryl Swoopes and Katie Gearlds will be reading to children at a local art museum. "The players will read Impressionism-inspired stories and take participants on a tour of their favorite paintings". Here is a quote from Sheryl Swoopes in the press release: "As a child I never really had an opportunity to interact with adults and culture in a stimulating environment. This program shows kids how important it is to read, to be inspired by art and to excel in new areas. As athletes we know that we can play a powerful role in showing how these experiences can be both enriching and exciting."
• Care2 carried a recent press release about the partnering of the READING Pawz and Reading is Fundamental in Marion County, T