Quick! There are still 3 days left of National Independent Bookseller Month- go buy a book at your local INDEPENDENT bookstore!

But before you do, head over to the Shrinking Violets blog and check out my independent bookstore profile!

They've been profiling bookstores all month and I had the honor of doing one for Crocodile Pie in Libertyville, Illinois- the closest thing I have to a hometown. It is one awesome store and my reporter-for-a-day gig was so much fun to do- children's bookstores rock!!

:)

If you know me, you know I love word games- I'm a Scrabble freak, but I'll play any word game I can get my hands on, electronic or otherwise- Banagrams, Boggle, WordJong, TextTwist, Moxie, Wurdle, you name it, I'll play it.

And I love spelling! Akeelah And The Bee and Spellbound are both awesome movies. Did you know this is the week of the national spelling bee? It's so much fun to watch. Thursday night is the finals on ABC- I already have it set to tape!

So when I saw yesterday that Mother Reader was hosting Anna Alter's blog tour and giving away a copy of her new book, Abigail Spells, I got a little excited and commented. And I won!!


Isn't it adorable??! And it's about spelling! I can't wait to get it- thanks Pam!

I bought Anna's other new spring release, What Can You Do With An Old Red Shoe? which came out last month. It's a lovely crafty take on recycling old things for new uses- very fun! I bought it because it sort-of ties in with, and has a theme similar to, a future book of my own that will be out, oh, someday... and I'll be able to use it when I do school visits and storytimes for promoting that book. Yay for recycling! I can't wait to promote that book.

:)

p.s. I won Abigail Spells by commenting on Mother Reader's post with the word I most frequently misspell or am confused by- "similar". Word Nerd that I am, you'll notice I worked that very word into my own post here. Ha! I am so easily amused...

When I was a kid, I thought, "Landing on the moon? Big deal." It didn't impress me. I'm not really sure why. Maybe I didn't know what an amazing accomplishment it was. My parents weren't big fans of the space-race and I don't remember much talk of it in our house. Maybe I didn't know enough about it to understand how amazing it was. You have to have some knowledge, some frame of reference, to be able to judge things and their import.

Now? I think the fact that we landed on the moon is AMAZING. It chokes me up when I think about it. I can't even fathom how it was done. But I have been doing some reading up on the subject- with the anniversary this year, there are some lovely picture books on the subject being published. Beautiful art, poetic, filled with facts and information- great books to share with kids.



They are all terrific books- the last one made me cry.

I am now HUGELY impressed by landing on the moon. And happily, so are my kids!

:)

I haven't done a "books I'm looking forward to" post in a while, but I had to drop everything I was doing (see, I'm too darn busy with all this stuff I'm doing to make one of those posts- they're time-consuming!) and alert everyone to THIS:



Egg Drop by Mini Grey

Drops in July. Looks fabulous. Sounds fabulous.

And it's Mini Grey.

Ahhh.... I can't wait!

:)

The final results are in, tabulated, and listed.

The Fuse #8 Top 100 Picture Book Poll.

Eye-opening? Yes. Heck yes. Every current children's writer should study this list until their eyeballs can no longer focus.

Of the top ten, only 2 are from this decade. The next ten? None.

Wow. Yeah, I WRITE in THIS decade.

I mean, I guessed just fine. Eight of the top ten- I was on the money. I'd love to bat .800 in real life- ha!

It was my votes that were irrelevant. As I said in a comment on Betsy's blog, the final top ten justified my market knowledge (I'm not ignorant about what books people like), but MY favorites put me squarely outside the mainstream taste-wise.

Does that BOTHER me? Hmmm... no. I mean, yes, I think people are too rooted in nostalgia, which ultimately widens the chasm between generations, because what appeals to the parent in one (and appealed to that person as a child) does not always appeal to their child. My kids like five of the top ten, but they are not favorites.

But I also read older titles with the express intent of seeing how they are exactly irrelevant to today's children and how to change or update them to make sure they CAN BE relevant in some way for those kids who don't see nostalgia. Who want books written FOR them. Change the outsides, while keeping the insides. The heart.

I think I have more to say on this topic, but not tonight. Tonight I need sleep!

:)

I don't usually share what I'm working on (my WIP) with anyone before it's done, and then it's usually a second-or third-time through rough draft. But lately, I've been trying new things, testing the writing-method waters, so to speak- just a tiny tiny bit. And I am deeply suspicious that some, if not all, of my children will end up being writers, so I try to share process and information with them- but not usually my actual work until it's done.

But the WIP I'm working on, which is not the thing I'm supposed to be working on for my editor (which makes me work on it even more and avoid the thing I don't know how to write for my editor- ha! I'm such a child, really....) is about twins, so I let my son, the one who's half of my twins and my most-likely future writer, read what I've got so far- which is barely a finished rough draft.

Yes, the anxiety.

However, his reaction?

"Hey, wait a minute- that's the stuff we do! How did you know? You've been spying on me and Lily, haven't you?!"

I think I'm on the right track- ha!

:)

The Top 100 Picture Books Poll over on Fuse #8 is gettin' down to the nitty gritty- five left. I made my top ten guess and so far I'm 3 for 5. Not a bad batting average, I suppose. (Sorry Madeline- I forgot all about you dear! Egad. But Millions of Cats??? Never even HEARD of it! In the Top Ten, seriously? What are you people thinking?? I better get over to the library...)

Anyway, since I've never been one of those people who's afraid to look stupid, I'm going to call out the Top Five, right here, right now, in order:

#5- The Snowy Day
#4- Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus
#3- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
#2- Goodnight Moon
#1- Where The Wild Things Are

And now we wait and see.....

:)


Edited 5/9, a few short hours after I put up this post, to say : Okay, I got the slot wrong right off the bat (Pigeon's in at #5), but I'm still 1 for 5 on the actual books, said she, with glee :)

Also, I am now certain beyond a doubt that only 2 of my own personal Top Ten list I originally submitted for this are on the Top 100 List- The Stinky Cheese Man and Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus.... so eight of my other faves didn't even make the Top 100- a little bit of wow there, huh?

On the heels of last week's exciting news, I have something that might, just might, be even BETTER!

Drum roll please.....


The snow is gone.

:)