MotherReader

Winter Blog Blast Tour: Pam Bachorz

2009-11-20T07:58:00.002-05:00

I’ll admit that I read Candor because the author is in my DC Kid Lit Book Club. I didn’t really think that the sci-fi, mind-control theme was going to be up my alley. So wrong! Once I started, I couldn’t put the book down. The storyline is gripping, the characters are compelling, and the town of Candor is so perfectly conceived. Plus the book made me think. And not teen angst stuff like girl trouble or rotten parents or a dead brother — though all of those elements are included — but about the constitution of an individual, the obligations of a parent, the nature of man. As I read this book about a town where the teens are controlled by subliminal messages that make them behave perfectly, I was questioning the role that our mistakes, hardships, and choices have in making us individuals. That’s a good book.

For the Winter Blog Blast Tour, I am excited to ask author Pam Bachorz questions about her first novel and her writing life.

As a parent of a teen, I have to admit that there was a part of me that was intrigued by the idea of a society that could give me a kid who’d do her chores, study for tests, and not kiss boys. How did you find your instincts of parental protection rearing up in writing this “ideal” society?

I will admit that there’s some temptation there, even as a mother of a pre-schooler! Being a parent made me understand how parents could end up moving their families to a place like Candor, Florida. You just want to give your child everything you can — and some people go overboard. In the case of Candor, that would be way overboard! But I think my biggest “mama moments” in writing this story were in portraying the relationship that Oscar had with his mother, and the longing he still has for her. I know I wouldn’t have written it that way if I didn’t have a son.

The kids who listen to the messages in the town of Candor lose their individuality and become, as Oscar suggests, “like robots.” In pulling together the brainwashing concept, how did you consider the various roles that losing their painful pasts, not being able to learn from mistakes, and not actively making choices play in forming the “Stepford Wives” results?

Since these kids can’t grow from their own mistakes or make their own decisions about how to behave, they’re left with a default: whatever the Messages tell them to do. I think that’s true even without brainwashing: If you don’t let kids live their own lives and make their own mistakes, they’re left with behaving like the people around them (which sometimes isn’t the best thing...!).

There are a lot of interesting ideas and messages in the book, but it’s not preachy. What did you do as a writer to keep from crossing that line?

Ugh, I hate preachy stories (don’t really like hanging around preachy people either!). And I hate being told what to do — just ask my mother. So for me, it’s a simple sniff test. If I write anything that makes my toes curl, it’s got to come out. It also comes from motive, I think. If you’re writing a story to “teach kids a lesson,” that’s how it will come out. I like to write stories that entertain and introduce readers to new worlds, so hopefully that’s what I end up doing.

In essence, Oscar controls whether he’ll lose the one person who might make his existence in Candor tolerable. Can you interpret this as a sort of final exam in free choice for the character? How about for the reader?

Yes. The final few chapters of Candor are a crucible for Oscar. He’s grown since he met Nia, and he’s made some decisions about what — and who — is most important to him. But is he brave enough to follow through on those revelations, no matter what the consequences are? I don’t want to spoil the ending for those who haven’t read it, so I will stop there! For the reader, sure, I hope that they’re asking themselves, “What would I do?” throughout. And when you consider Oscar’s family ties, and loyalty, you see that there’s no easy answer for him.

What did you use of your own experiences in writing Candor?

Candor was inspired by the time my family lived in a planned community in central Florida; anyone who’s visited that spot is sure to find some areas that helped to inspire my settings — like the boardwalks, the lake with rocking chairs, the ice cream shop. But of course my real-life neighbors hadn’t been brainwashed (or maybe that is just what I’m supposed to say!). There are lots of small parts of my life that found their way into my story, of course... like my father’s penchant for pointing up in the sky and shouting, “Look! A dead bird!”

Generally, I think I used my personal experiences in feeling like a “hidden outsider”: someone that everybody thinks fits in, but actually feels very much on the outside. That’s how the main character in Candor feels, too. I’d bet that most people have felt that way at some point in their lives.

Why did you feel the need to write this book?

I have loved the idea of writing about brainwashing since I first thought of it, and I am just too stubborn to quit something once I start... no matter how many times I threaten to! I hadn’t read anything quite like this, and I hadn’t encountered a character quite like Oscar or with his problems. So I figured it was worth it: The idea fascinated me and it wasn’t going to be like a dozen other books already out there.

When did you start writing?

I dictated my first picture book, featuring Winnie the Pooh, to my mother when I was four. I wrote my first novel on my father’s old electric typewriter when I was in middle school. It was hunderds of pages long and had something to do with mermaids and mazes. Mercifully, it is lost. Although I hear mermaids are the next hot thing in YA. *head smack*

Where do you do your best thinking?

I do most thinking in my study; I am lucky enough to have my very own workspace (complete with door and lock!) and a desk that I can devote just to my writing. But I find that my biggest breakthroughs happen when I am not at all thinking about writing. The trick is to truly drop it from my mind. I can’t count how many breakthrough ideas I’ve had while I’m watching the opening credits for movies. My brain must really relax then, I suppose.

Who inspires you personally or professionally?

My grandfather, Charles Hockford, is a big inspiration to me. He played piano almost every Friday and Saturday night, in clubs and restaurants, into his eighties. But he also raised a family with my grandma Grace and held down a full-time job. He found a way to balance family, art and paycheck. Of course my grandmother deserves huge credit for keeping things running smoothly... just like my husband, who I like to call The Patron of The Arts (POTA)! I am also inspired to see my other grandmother, Carolyn, pursuing her painting even in her nineties.

How do you balance novel writing and social media needs?

Ha! Very good question. Well, I schedule my novel writing every week: I commit to my writing time on a calendar and post it on my study door. And that is solid writing time; no e-mail, no Internet, nothing. On the other hand, social media is something I fit in “whenever,” and usually that means when I have two minutes to spare. It helps to have a blackberry with the Twitter and Facebook apps installed so I can catch up with social media while I’m at the post office, etc. If I drop off the social media planet it’s probably because I am totally absorbed by writing and too exhausted to do the fun extra stuff.

As a bonus, here’s the answer for the question that I forgot to ask — what’s next? Pam is working on another Young Adult book for Egmont’s Fall 2010 list.

For more Winter Blog Blast Tour:

Lisa Schroeder at Writing & Ruminating
Alan DeNiro at Shaken & Stirred
Joan Holub at Bildungsroman
Pam Bachorz at MotherReader
Sheba Karim at Finding Wonderland
R.L. LaFevers at HipWriterMama

(Note: Post updated to reflect complete schedule.)

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Giving Books, Booklights, NBA, and WBBT

2009-11-19T10:07:00.006-05:00

The holiday shopping has already begun in earnest, so let me point you to my suggestions for 105 Ways to Give a Book with updated shopping links. You'll find vetted books along with toys and other gift suggestions for children, teens, and adults. I'm working on new additions for 2009 and looking at making one huge list to make it easier to promote across the blogosphere. Stay tuned.

I'm talking turkey at Booklights today with Thanksgiving picture books. I went with my old favorites, so I'd love newer titles that you'd recommend. Head over to make suggestions in the comments.

Raise your hand if you were following the National Book Awards on Twitter last night. Me too. Well, at least for the Young People's Literature award. I was rooting for Laini Taylor as a friend and fellow KidLitospherer, but hold no grudges for the winner, Phillip Hoose for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. I am still happy for Laini for being nominated - a great honor - and for being able to attend the weekend's festivities as a guest of honor. We're all stinking proud of you, girl.

Speaking of Laini, her interview is up today at Shelf Elf as part of the Winter Blog Blast Tour. Here's the schedule for today. Go. Read. Comment.

Sy Montgomery (Part 2) at Chasing Ray
Laini Taylor at Shelf Elf
Jim DiBartolo at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Amanda Marrone at Writing & Ruminating
Thomas Randall at Bildungsroman
Michael Hague at Fuse #8

Tomorrow I'll have an interview with Pam Bachorz of the new, hot book Candor. Sure, I could link to the book, but I'd rather show you the gift she got from her friends - a purse made from the book. You can browse the craftperson's Rebound Designs catalog, or special order a title. I like the ones with great covers - like this Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature - but I'm also partial to my favorite book, The Hobbit. What I need is The Hobbit with an illustrated cover. Bam! said the lady.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Winter Blog Blast Tour 2009

2009-11-18T15:25:00.004-05:00

Today’s Winter Blog Blast Tour interviews:

And yesterday’s, since I forgot to post them:

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Bargain Books for Holiday Shopping (or for You)

2009-11-17T13:36:00.005-05:00

So with a million things to do last night, I turned to an old time-waster — hunting for bargain books at Amazon. You can browse — and buy — for hours. How so? From the Amazon Books department, choose the tab at the right that says Bargain Books. Then in the Browse Bargain Books list to the left, select Children’s Books (or whatever you want, I suppose). You’ll get an amazing amount of stuff that also includes anything from resellers. I’ve found that you can eliminate most of these by selecting — in the left-hand column — Shipping Option: Free Super Saver Option. Now you can browse by bestselling, publication date, or cost until you get sick of it. Or you can further narrow your search by choosing age range, price, rating, and subject.

Or you can skip the whole thing and rely on some of my suggestions of books I’ve heard good things about or have enjoyed myself. Buy quickly though, because they don’t always stay on discount for long. They aren’t always closeouts, because often the books will come back to the listings later at full price. I don’t know what that’s about, but I’ve seen it happen often enough.

The Lump of Coal, by Lemony Snicket, $5.20
If you buy one thing from this list, make it this hilarious take on Christmas. Not to be missed — especially at this price.

We Belong Together: A Book About Adoption and Families, by Todd Parr, $6.40
A nice, bright picture book featuring a diverse collection of families along with sweet words about adopting.

Move! by Steve Jenkins, $4.18
Amazing illustrations by Steve Jenkins (duh) are the centerpiece of this picture book about how different animals move.

Stella, Queen of the Snow, by Marie-Louise Gay, $4.08
Funny and sweet at the same time, this is my go-to book for winter storytimes.

Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, by Mo Willems, $6.80
It’s a Mo book. Need I say more?

South, by Patrick McDonnell, $3.50
A wordless story of a dog that helps a bird find its way back South. I gave it as a present one year as a token to a teacher, an amazing guiding force.

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, by Lenore Look, $6.40
An early middle grade book that isn’t short on fun or meaning.

The Talented Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker, $5.24
Ditto for Clementine.

Do You Doodle? or Beautiful Doodles: Over 100 Pictures to Complete and Create, $5.18
I haven’t seen these personally, but after the look inside I bought two for my daughters.

Frankenstein Takes the Cake, by Adam Rex, $6.40
Funny poetry, monster-style with brilliant illustrations.

First Light, by Rebecca Stead, $6.40
I may have missed out on raving about When You Reach Me, but I was there at the beginning for her first wonderful book.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians PB Boxed Set (Books 1-3), by Rick Riordan, $11.69
Why not buy the boxed set and include...

Heroes and Monsters of Greek Myth, $2.03
I bought this too, hoping for more back story on all those monsters.

Treasure Island (Kingfisher Classics), by Robert Louis Stevenson, $2.80
I don’t know if this is the best edition of this classic, but under $3 made it worth a purchase for me.

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming (adapted), by Al Gore, $4.41
This is the version adapted for youth, with all the photos and charts and less of the gab.

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer, by Laini Taylor, $7.20
Another book of the we-knew-her-when from possible National Book Award nominee for Lips Touch. Fairy-licious.

A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray, $6.80
Okay, I haven’t read it — yet. But I will when it comes in my order.

Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, by Michael Davis, $11.18
With the hype on Sesame Street turning forty, this seems like the perfect book to read now.

I’ve also updated my links in 105 Ways to Give a Book, for those of you ready to start your holiday shopping. The list includes books along with toy or other gift suggestions to go with the titles. I’ll be reposting them soon — along with a new list or two for 2009.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Literacy Projects for the Win

2009-11-16T20:17:00.006-05:00

With more than five hundred dollars raised with the charity raffle at KidlitCon, we gave two projects at Donors Choose a huge boost. Now with additional contributors, both DC school literacy projects have been fully funded! Here are the teachers’ notes to us:

Dear KidlitCon09,

I am most grateful for your generosity. My students will continue to develop their love of reading and curiosity with your gift. The picture dictionaries and thesauri will be a tremendous help in developing students’ vocabulary. The Washington D.C. books are going to provide additional support in teaching the third grade social studies standards whose focus is on our nation’s capitol.

Our library is in desperate need of additional books. The books will be a fantastic addition! We are looking forward to starting the new year with our book club with the Harry Potter series that you have provided.

With gratitude,
Ms. S.

That project, Literacy is Fun-damental, purchased Spanish language materials for a mostly immigrant classroom population.

Dear KidlitCon09,

There are few words that I can say that would be better than THANK YOU!, but I will try. I began teaching in Brooklyn, New York, after being a loan officer for a bank for eight years. My education process was so fulfilling that I wanted every student to have the opportunity that I have had. The first thing that I learned as a classroom teacher is that “IT ALL BEGINS WITH READING!” I have taught in many classrooms and the first question that I ask is, “What are we going to read?”

I was very disheartened when I learned that my current classroom had no library provided for it by the school system. I tried to provide books on my own and it became very expensive. One of my fraternity brothers has donated 75 books to my classroom, but we are still in need of more materials.

This donation of books will allow my students to begin to have the opportunities that I want for my students. I cannot thank you enough! My students will benefit from your generosity, and gain valuable learning experiences. I am sure we will keep in touch through the program and maybe even after. On behalf of my students, and myself, THANKS A LOT!

With gratitude,
Mr. S.

That project, It All Starts With Reading, funded a classroom library for a middle school in a high need area.

If you are inspired to continue giving, Adam Rex is currently running a mustache... thing for Donors Choose. You can also use the search feature at the site to find a project of interest or a school near you. Maybe you could include this charity in your holiday giving this year with a book for a friend, along with a donation to buy books for a classroom. Trust me, it’s a much better present than a gift basket from Meat N’ Things.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Nonfiction Monday: Zero Is the Leaves on the Tree

2009-11-16T13:51:00.004-05:00

I’d seen the book Zero Is the Leaves on the Tree mentioned elsewhere, so when I saw a copy at my library I had to see what the fuss was about. Let me say that there is some well-earned fuss. Taking the reader through the seasons, zero is represented in many ways, including the number of sleds on a slushy hillside or the kites in a windless sky. The beautiful and slight wording on each two-page spread makes the book close kin to poetry.

Zero is...
the leaves on the bare,
brown arms of the oak tree.

I can’t think of another book that gently and beautifully tackles math, seasons, and poetry. Heck, through the lovely illustrations, the book even includes a story of sorts about a diverse groups of four friends going through the school year together. Honestly, it’s such a perfect book that it should not be missed. (Nonfiction Monday is hosted today at Tales from the Rushmore Kid.)

The Winter Blog Blast Tour begins today with some awesome authors appearing at:

Check Chasing Ray for the full week’s schedule.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Poetry Friday: Home (Again)

2009-11-13T09:32:00.005-05:00

How’s 2009 working out for you? Not great, huh? You’re not alone.

I’ve had some nice things happen in this year, but for the most part it’s been a bumpy road. Things that have should have been easy had obstacles, things that looked like luck faded away. Everything seems to be a struggle.

What’s odd to me is that everyone I talk to seems to be in the same kind of muck. Family members with health issues, new jobs that are hard adjustments, school schedules that stink, projects that are overwhelming. I can’t think of anyone I’ve chatted with in the last few months who hasn’t given at least these last few months of 2009 an unqualified “Meh.”

Certainly the economy is a factor in a bad feeling. In my case, I haven’t talked to people who’ve lost a job — though many of them worry about their employment. Swine flu has taken down some friends and family, but not enough to make the impact I’m seeing around me. The anger and anxiety in political matters may be taking a toll, though no one has mentioned it specifically as they talk — nicely, gently — about being ready for this year to just be over.

It’s in that feeling of malaise that I’m bringing today’s stretch of a Poetry Friday entry. See, in July my fifth grader did a performance for a summer theatre program and knocked it out of the park. She’s going to sing the same song at tonight’s Girl Scout talent show and was chosen to close the show — a big honor when you consider that there are high school students performing as well.

In thinking about how this song hits everyone who hears it — including even the high school girls who choose the order of the show — I suddenly saw how well it captures this... thing I’ve noticed around. This feeling of being trapped by circumstance, of being unlucky, or being far from comfort. And in the song, the sense of hope in impossible situations. Watch it all, if you will, for the full impact or notice the lyrics and performance at the 2:30 mark:

HOME
Is this home?
Am I here for a day or forever?
Shut away
From the world until who knows when.
Oh, but then
As my life has been altered
Once, it can change again
Build higher walls around me.
Change every lock and key.
Nothing lasts,
nothing holds
All of me.
My heart’s far
Far away,
Home and
Free.

If you are having the kind of months or year I talked about, than let me remind you that nothing lasts, and nothing holds all of you.

Poetry Friday is hosted today at Gotta Book.

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Booklights, NaNoWriMo, and NYC (Redux)

2009-11-12T10:52:00.004-05:00

Today at Booklights, I’ve got three great books for nighttime. One is sweet and lovely. One is silly and adorable. One is clever and funny (and a little bit creepy.) Go see, and suggest a nighttime favorite of your own.

NaNoWriMo has been bit of a bust for me so far, but I’m gearing up to tackle the second part of the month with more energy now that I’ve found it again. (It was behind the couch.) I’ve noticed the KidLitosphere seems a little quiet, and I wonder if more people are taking advantage of this month of writing than I thought. Or it could be all that Cybils reading is taking up a lot of time formerly spent blogging.

I’m going to start with some New York City stuff, and come back with my full-on State of the KidLitosphere speech in a separate post. Because I can. First, I must suggest the different charter buses from DC to NYC. They are an absolute steal. I’ve liked Washington Deluxe, but tried Tripper Bus this time because it left from Arlington. I didn’t think that the bus itself was quite as nice and you have to pay up front. But for forty or fifty dollars, you’ve got a round trip to the Big Apple.

On this trip, I was headed right to the library for our panel on the KidLitosphere and the Cybils. I felt disoriented at first, stepping off the bus in the city, and having to mentally adjust to speaking in front of people within about an hour. I thought that our discussion went well, and we all spent an additional hour after the session talking to authors and bloggers in attendance. While Betsy was finishing up work, I went shopping in the craft stores set up in Bryant Park behind the library. Got some gifts, too. Then we all met back up for dinner at a Spanish restaurant in the Village. (Tip: sit on the end next to the sangria pitcher and the waiter will fill up your glass far more than anyone else at the table.) The conversations of five, enthusiastic kidlit folk felt like that of twenty people. The concepts, ideas, suggestions, thoughts on all things kidlit- and blogging-related were flying. I couldn’t keep up. Well, except for the sangria.

At the end of the evening, Betsy and I send the commuters on their train rides home while we headed uptown. Betsy was kind enough to loan her futon for my Saturday night stay, but before bedtime there was still a lot more talking to do about blogs, books, and writing. And a little bit of agents, publishers, and screenplays too.

In the morning, I took the subway — all by myself — back to the Village to meet a long-time friend and her family. We had a great day together, with astonishing beautiful weather and — yeah! — another craft show. Then it was the bus ride back, which was less pleasant given that I just wanted to be home. That whole transporter technology can’t come soon enough for me.

I alway enjoy my trips to New York City, and am already thinking of when I can fit in another. I’ll definitely go for Book Expo America, but maybe before then too. Somebody plan something I can’t resist in January or February, okay?

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

ABC Storytime: H Is for...

2009-11-11T11:21:00.002-05:00

Yes, I was going to talk about the New York trip yesterday, but a period of annoyance blocked my brain. Then today another project grabbed me and wouldn’t let go, at least not until it was time to join my daughter for the annual parents’ lunch at school. So it looks like Thursday will be yet another day I headline with NYC (and Booklights and probably NaNoWriMo). For now, you can enjoy Anne’s summary at the Cybils page, which actually frees me from having to describe the event later, so instead I’ll be able to share my Intro with you — or as I like to think of it, my State of the KidLitosphere Speech. (In case you’re wondering, the state of the kidlitosphere is strong — and I did indeed open with that.)

For now, let’s go back to ABC Storytime.

For the letter H, you could do a whole program on horses or houses. Depending when you start in the school year, a Halloween program often lines up quite nicely, though apparently less so when you can’t seem to get your weekly feature up each week. (Bad MotherReader.)

The Letter H

Book: Harry’s Home, by Catherine and Lawrence Anholt

Fingerplay: “Houses”

Here is a nest for robin
(Cup your hands.)
Here is a hive for bee
(Put your fists together.)
Here is a hold for bunny
(Form a circle with hands)
And here is a house for me.
(Form a peak with hands)

Book: Happy Bees, by Al Yorinks

Song: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”

If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it
And you really want to show it
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.

(Repeat with... stomp your feet, shout hooray, do all three.)

Book: I Call My Hand Gentle, by Amanda Haan

Fingerplay: “Open, Shut Them”

Open, shut them,
Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, creep them,
Creep them, creep them,
Right up to your chin, chin, chin.
Open wide your little mouth
But do not put them in!

(Follow the directions of the song and you can’t go wrong.)

Book: Hamsters to the Rescue, by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Rhyme: “Hickory Dickory Dock”

Hickory, Dickory Dock
The hamster ran up the clock.
The clock struck one
And down he run.
Hickory, Dickory Dock.

(I tell them I’m replacing the traditional mouse with a hamster.)

Alternate Books: Little Hoot, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal; Hiding Hoover, by Elise Broach; Hungry Hen, by Richard Waring

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Randall, The Warm Frog

2009-11-09T13:25:00.014-05:00

Sure, I need to write about my great trip to New York City to talk about the KidLitosphere and Cybils with Betsy Bird, Liz Burns, Anne Boles Levy, and Susan Thomsen. It’s true that I’ve ignored my NaNoWriMo obligations for a long time. Yes, there is indeed a pile of unfolded laundry in the middle of my living room, along with neat stacks of clothes that apparently won’t be taking themselves to the appropriate rooms. But what have I done so far today? Followed the lead of 100 Scope Notes and created my own picture book cover — and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattgarrett/ • CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Create Your Debut Picture Book Cover!

Go to The Name Generator. Click Generate New Name. The name that appears is your author name.

Go to Picture Book Title Generator. Click Create Title. This is the title of your picture book.

Go to FlickrCC. Type the last word from your title into the search box followed by the word “drawing.” Click Find. The first suitable image is your cover. It will give you the option to go to Picnik.

Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Gettin’ creative is encouraged.

Post it to your site along with this text. (Remember to include any legally required attribution for the FlickrCC image.)

(Comment at 100 Scope Notes for the Cover Round-Up.)

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Booklights, NaNoWriMo, and NYC

2009-11-05T10:02:00.008-05:00

Today at Booklights I’ve got three Cybils-nominated picture books that are worth a look for the toddler set. That said, I’m pretty sure that the French one will be staying on my personal shelf for a long time to come. And I’m no toddler, though I occasionally cry like one. Generally on election day. (Stupid Maine.)

My progress in NaNoWriMo has been stalled by my supremely annoying life. I believe I have made some necessary adjustments in some areas and made my peace with other aspects, and hope to get back on the writing bandwagon today. I’m still having trouble finding my Buddies, and I know that my KidLitosphere peeps are out there. So please find me with my other user name, Mreader, and urge me on. I can say that I’m very proud of two of my buddies, Abby and Sarah, with more than seven thousand words so far. Great job!

In two days, I’m going to New York City to participate in The Children’s Literary Café on Saturday, November 7th, at 2:00 p.m.: Cybils Kick-Off: Blogging in Style. I’ll be joining with the heads of the other five families — Betsy Bird, Liz Burns, Anne Boles Levy, and Susan Thomsen — for the panel and then afterward. It is possible with all of us in the room at the same time that we may change the face of kidlit blogging as we know it to be. Fair warning. If you want to reel in the face of our power, I’d suggest that you join us at 2:00 at the main New York Public Library. You know, the one with the lions and all the officialness.

I believe I’ll be hanging with Betsy on that Saturday night in the city, so um, whatcha doing then? I also may have a lot of free time on Sunday as one of my go-to friends in the city may be tied up with a sick kid. So, um, whatcha doing on Sunday? Yeah, okay, I could have planned this trip much better, and I am feeling like the world’s lamest person for not making plans of any kind. But seriously, after KidLitCon, the Cybils, Family Issues, Halloween, and NaNoWriMo, I’m even taking my underwear needs on a day-to-day basis.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

ABC Storytime: G Is for...

2009-11-03T10:41:00.004-05:00

Does anyone have songs or rhymes for giraffes or gorillas? Seems like there should be one or two floating around. I'll have to use my back-up song for any letter, now featuring...

The Letter G

Book: Giraffes Can’t Dance, by Giles Andreae

Book: Gorilla! Gorilla! by Jeanne Willis

Song: “What Begins With G?”

(to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)
What begins with G?
What begins with G?
We all know, we’ll tell you so.
What begins with G.

Giraffe begins with G...
Gorilla begins with G...
Girl begins with G...

Book: The Three Silly Girls Grubb, by John and Ann Hassett or Goldilocks and the Three Bears, by James Marshall

Book: Grandmother Winter, by Phyllis Root

Action Rhyme: “Grandma’s Glasses”

These are Grandma’s glasses.
This in Grandma’s hat
This is the way she folds her hands.
And lays them in her lap.
Here are Grandpa’s glasses
And here is Grandpa’s hat,
And here’s the way he folds his arms
And takes a little nap.

(Add motions to the rhyme — dainty for Grandma, bigger for Grandpa.)

Book: The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldon

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Poetry Friday: Folloween

2009-10-30T10:10:00.004-04:00

Yesterday at Booklights I talked about monster books that are perfect for Halloween but aren’t shelved in the holiday section of your library in case, say, you were supposed to get a book for reading to your child’s class and somehow put it off until the last minute and then realized that the only thing you had in the house was Clifford’s Halloween and you were not using that because okay, he’s a BIG dog and you so get it already and there has to be something better and there totally was except all the moms who were doing their job correctly made it to the library when they should have and left the shelves empty except for one beat-up copy of Clifford’s Halloween which would make you scream, but with a deep breath you remember the monster books at Booklights — with some additional suggestions in the comments from Abby (the) Librarian — so you can pick out something very appropriate and fun for the kids.

In that post, I mentioned the two poetry books of Adam Rex, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Frankenstein Takes the Cake. Amazing, funny, brilliant, books with incredible artistry. A better blogger would now spend some time reviewing one or the other of them, but I expended all of my energy on that run-on sentence above. So instead you’ll get a poem. And not even the whole poem, because now I’m getting freaked out by the legality of that. Plus the whole poem really needs the illustrations to make it work to its full potential. But in any case, here is the beginning and you can get the book to see how Girl Scouts fit in.

Folloween
No ghosts are seen on Halloween,
except for kids in sheets.
No zombies ring for anything
apart from tricks or treats.
Though people say
today’s the day
when bogeymen
come out to play,
November first is when the worst
of monsters hit the streets.

And in disguise the dead arise
to sell us magazines.
In ties and slacks
they hand out tracts
as fine, upstanding teens.

Before I got to the second part of the poem, I was absolutely certain that he was going to talk about election campaigners. I don’t know how it’s been in other parts of the country, but in Virginia the election is huge, with the Republican candidate for governor leading by double digits in a state that went blue in 2008. I’ve been getting tons of calls and campaigners coming by and flyers at every local event. Obama even came to a rally in Norfolk, but a little late, I think. The only thing that could really help the Democrats now is if people take the new health care legislation seriously and don’t want Virginia to opt out of a public health care choice. In any case, they’ll have to campaign without me on Folloween because I need this weekend to catch up on things I let go for the last two months.

I also need time to prepare — possibly — for National Novel Writing Month. I’ve never been interested before, but I do have a book in my head and maybe this is the time to let it out. I don’t know. Is it crazy to go from being consumed by KidLitCon to committing to writing a novel in a month? Are you doing it this year? If you did it before, was it worth the pressure?

Oh, Poetry Friday is hosted today by Jennie at Biblio File. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Booklights, Monster Books, and NYC

2009-10-29T11:15:00.005-04:00

I am slowly making my way back to the land of the living. Or at least the land of the living online. After the KidLitosphere Conference and the week of wrapping up — both posts and other tasks — I was off to the Internet-free world of my mother’s house to help in her recovery from surgery. She’s doing fine, and I’m now back at home with piles of laundry, stacks of books, loads of activities, and my beloved Internet... family! I meant, beloved family!

Anyway, these are the days when frantic parents hit the library looking for a Halloween book to read at their child’s school and find that the Halloween books are gone. This may be you. But have no fear — there are some great monster books around that will fill the Halloween gap and that are often overlooked by parents heading only to the shelf with the big pumpkin sign. I’m talking about three — actually four — over at Booklights. Head over and make your own suggestion of monster or spooky books that aren’t actually Halloween books. You know, like Goodnight Goon or Bedtime at the Swamp — two books I didn’t profile.

It’s a good time to announce that I’m making my way back to New York City to participate in The Children’s Literary Café on Saturday, November 7th, at 2:00 p.m.: Cybils Kick-Off: Blogging in Style. Please, please come see me and the gang. Here’s the press release. (I mean, I guess it’s a press release.)

Pam Coughlan of the sublime MotherReader children’s literary blog headlines a panel of representatives from the greater KidLitosphere. Each year the online children’s literary community bestows child and teen novels their own awards: The Cybils. Pam and other bloggers will discuss the state of children’s literature online today including ethics, publisher/blogger relations, transparency, influence (or lack thereof) over published titles, and what it means to represent an online community of children’s literary enthusiasts.

Elizabeth Burns is the Youth Services Consultant for the New Jersey State Library Talking Book & Braille Center. She blogs at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy. She is the co-author of Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect with your Whole Community. She blogs about children’s and young adult books, television, and movies.

Susan Thomsen writes about children’s books at her blog, Chicken Spaghetti. A freelance writer and onetime editor, she is the mother of a fifth-grader and owner of chickens.

Anne Boles Levy is the co-founder and director of the Cybils Awards. Her day job is as a news writer on the National Desk for Metro Networks, a radio newswire based in Scottsdale, AZ. She’s married to another starving journalist and they’re raising two bookworms.

The Children’s Literary Café is a monthly gathering of adults who are fans of children’s literature. Professionals, librarians, authors, illustrators, publishers, booksellers, teachers, and anyone else interested in the field are welcome to attend our meetings. The Literary Café provides free Advanced Readers galleys, a rotating series of talks with professionals in the field, and great conversation. This program is for adults only.

New York Public Library
Children’s Center at 42nd Street, Room 84
42nd Street and 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10018

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

ABC Storytime: F Is for...

2009-10-27T15:10:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I know it happened again with ABC Storytime. I’m all off schedule. Let’s just say that I’m going rogue.

Anyway, back to the letter F. Yet again there are so many good picture books to use for this letter that I’ve done whole programs on just fish, farms, or friends. Oh, and food is a good one too. Here is a nice combination.

The Letter F

Book: Ten Little Fish, by Audrey Woods, or The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark, by Ken Geist

Song: “Once I Caught a Fish Alive”

One, two, three, four, five.
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Then I let him go again.

Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so.
Which finger did he bite?
This little finger on the right.

Book: Punk Farm, by Jarrett Krosoczka, or Farm Flu, by Teresa Bateman

Song: “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”

Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee-i-ee-i-oh
And on this farm he had a cow
Ee-i-ee-i-oh
With a moo-moo here
And a moo-moo there
Here a moo, there a moo
Everywhere a moo-moo
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee-i-ee-i-oh.

(Continue with farm animals and sounds until you get sick of it.)

Book: Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, by Melanie Watt, or Ned’s New Friend, by David Ezra Stein, or Bear’s New Friend, by Karma Wilson, or if you want to do a British accent — and who doesn’t — a Charlie and Lola book, You Can be My Friend, by Lauren Child

Song: “Make New Friends”

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver and the other’s gold.
A circle is round. It has no end.
That’s how long I want to be your friend.

Book: Fox and Fluff, by Shutta Crum

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

KidLitCon Round-Up

2009-10-23T08:21:00.004-04:00

Here’s quick round-up of bloggers who’ve posted about KidLitCon09. I had hoped to stop by and comment at every post, but it looks like I’m heading off to help out my mom for a few days in a house without Internet. Keep me in your thoughts. Since I’m leaving Bill at home, if you post about the conference and comment here, he will update this entry. Because he’s all cool like that.

KidLitCon09 by:

Abby (the) Librarian
Biblio File
Book Nut
A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
(and here and here)
Charlotte’s Library
Confessions of a Bibliovore
(and here)
Dog Eared and Well Read
Ellsworth’s Journal
Galleysmith
Gotta Book
Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup
(and here)
Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Joan Holub
Literate Lives
(and here)
Not Enough Bookshelves
Read Write Believe
Reading Tub
(and here)
Shelena Shorts
Shrinking Violet Promotions
Sonderbooks
Under the Honeysuckle Vine
Wendie’s Wanderings
Wendy on the Web
WriterJenn
A Year of Reading
(plus a special video here)

And that’s a wrap, folks. At least until Minneapolis.

KidLitCon Report: Part III

2009-10-22T10:39:00.008-04:00

In organizing the Kidlitosphere Conference, the one aspect that I really enjoyed working on was the charity raffle. In our previous two conferences, we had a charity component and I was excited to continue that tradition. As I talked to my teen daughter about the concept, we came up with the idea of gift baskets made up of donations from our attendees to put up for raffle. During the week, I pulled together baskets, bags, and boxes along with little “extras” for the prizes — pens, journals, candles, etc. My teen daughter crocheted decorative scarves and tiny book pillows to contribute.

On the afternoon of the conference, my husband brought in my daughters and two friends to pull the donations of the attendees into fun packages. I missed big parts of the last two sessions of the day to help, because it was a bit overwhelming. While we expected to make about ten baskets, we ended up with enough donations to make twice that many! It was tons of fun to put things together, though, and we got to exercise our creative juices in the process.

Before and during the cocktail hour, attendees looked over the prizes, bought raffle tickets, and put their tickets in bags for the ones they wanted to win. This picture is a pretty good summary, showing the tickets in one corner, the party bags to collect the tickets, the array of prizes, and the happy shoppers.

TeenReader was particularly fond of the Black & White Package, which featured a scarf she made, one of my homemade necklaces, bead jewelry made and donated by Maureen, and some super cool books. Her best friend and helper put her raffle tickets in this package and won — quite gleefully, I might add.

I loved the Read to Me Package (even if the kid’s shirt appears to say “Ead to Me” in the photo), which included a shirt donated by Terry, book pillows crocheted by my daughter, a tin of hot chocolate I bought at Ross, and numerous books to share with a child. I’m trying desperately to remember who won that, so please let me know. You can also see a bit of the Halloween Basket, which featured a painted basket, a stuffed black cat, a box, and Halloween picture books.

My fifth grader worked very hard on the Holiday Package, which included books from Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It also had snowman soap, candles, and a wooden candlestick. (Liz, this would be some of the “stuff from my home,” as opposed to the stray socks you supposed I threw in the mix.) My daughter convinced Jen to put her raffle tickets in for this prize and she did in fact win it.

With all this talk of winning, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, because before the winning there was the dinner. It was a lovely chance to celebrate the day of fun and relax with friends. My husband took pictures of every table, and I’ll post them to Facebook later if anyone wants to grab them. (Unfortunately, my camera isn’t great in dim light so they aren’t stellar.) I will share one representative picture of lovely ladies Laura Lutz, Caroline Hickey, and Sara Lewis Holmes. Don’t they look happy?

After dessert, my husband and the girls drew raffle tickets and gave away the prizes. I’d love to know more of the winners, if you’d care to leave your name in the comments. I do remember Tricia winning the Bearport Bear donated by Bearport Publishing and Greg winning the Electric Company bag donated by PBS. Many of our attendees donated books and journals and jewelry and more, which gave us an amazing raffle! We ended up collecting $550 for our two selected projects at Donors Choose! They haven’t reached their goals yet, so you can still contribute to Literary is Fun-damental and It All Starts with Reading. Tell them that KidLitCon sent you!

After everything was done, we stopped for a group photo. Again, not the best camera for the job but a fun reminder of a wonderful day.

The conference weekend continued for some with an evening at the hotel bar, a Twitter-talk/post-game breakfast, or a stop at Hooray for Books! for an author signing party. For some of us, it included all three. Overall, I was glad I got to spend so much time with so many amazing people over the weekend. It was an awesome event and I’m honored to have played a part in it.

So much so that I’ve signed on for another year. Not organizing in its entirety this time, but as consultant, promoter, and registrar for KidLitCon10, which will be in Minneapolis and will be headed by Brian Farrey of Flux and Andrew Karre of Carolrhoda Books! Welcome to the team!

Thanks to everyone for helping, speaking, donating, supporting, and most of all coming to KidLitCon09!

(Oh, I’m still collecting posts for a Round-Up tomorrow and I’d love to know more of our raffle prize winners. Cheers!)

KidLitCon Report: Part II

2009-10-21T10:31:00.011-04:00

Saturday morning, the day of the Kidlitosphere Conference, and several kind souls were stuffing folders while I greeted attendees and pushed the breakfast buffet. The buffet did not reach my goal of looking “ravaged by wolves” (btw, that is a band name), nor was I able to persuade people to stuff their pockets with bacon, but it was a great start to the conference. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

I started the meeting proper off with my session The Blogger Within: An Interview with Your Inner Blogger. I’m quite proud of this session, which involved only six questions and two homework assignments, thus I will repeat it here. You will only need to supply the three-minute pauses between questions to give yourself time to answer:

Why are you blogging?
Who do you see as your audience?
What is unique to you that you can bring to your blog?
Where would you place your blog within the larger community?
When will you schedule time to check back on your blogging mission?
How do the answers to these questions support or change what you are doing now?

Your homework: Look at the last six months of your blog and choose five posts that you like the most and five posts that represent your blog the best. What do they show you about your passions, interests, direction, and style?

Second homework: Put a date on your calendar to look at these questions again.

Good, huh? Next I worked with Michelle of Galleysmith on Building Your Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips. I talked about Purpose (which I’d already covered in that exercise above), Passion, and Professionalism. Later I came back with Participation and Perseverance, which completed my mastery of the Five Ps. Passion referred to writing what you love, supplying quality content, and channeling your voice. Professionalism touched on giving credit, disclosing relationships/products, avoiding conflicts of interest, watching your online behavior, and having responsible review policies. Participation involved going outside your own blog to be involved in the community with comments, memes, links, and events. Perseverance is, you know, “steady persistence in a course of action or purpose, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.” (Thanks, Dictionary.com.)

Michelle did the heavy lifting on this session with topics of Involve/Engage Audience, SEO, Social Media, Marketing, and Design. We’ll post her much fuller notes on KidLitosphere Central soon, but for now check out Liz’s summary at Tea Cozy.

The next sessions were split for book reviewers and authors. Liz also has a good writeup of the book reviewers’ part, and Sara Lewis Holmes has notes from her author session. I attended the first session and took some notes, but honestly my mind was occupied by the coming visit of the Federal Trade Commission representative.

Speaking of which, the FTC session was covered throughly at Galleysmith and Tea Cozy. It was picked up by GalleyCat and Publishers Weekly, where I talked to author and conference attendee Sue Corbett about the whole FTC vs. Book Blogger Death Match. I’m going to save my final thoughts on the topic for a separate post, but I’ll say now that it was amazing to have FTC representative Mary Engle talk to us, and it raised the profile of the conference and our community.

Lunch was on our own, and I took the opportunity to sit quietly for a bit and dip my toes in the #KidlitCon Twitter stream, which later was tied up nicely by Greg Pincus.

The Meet the Author session came next and gave me a chance to mix and mingle with many more people. Simon Pulse provided author Elizabeth Scott with gift bags of her books Living Dead Girl and Something, Maybe. Sharon Hancock from Candlewick Press brought ARCs of many books, though I only took the leftover copies of The Ask and the Answer and Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots. (I later gave one copy of the first to our hotel housekeeper, who has a teenage boy.) Joan Holub signed a copy of Shampoodle for my three-year-old niece and Shelena Shorts signed a copy of The Pace for, well, me. I brought my own copy of Operation YES for Sara Lewis Holmes to sign, and now it’s first on my list of books to read when I have a brain again. I also grabbed Laurel Snyder to sign last year’s Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains after waxing poetic about her new book — which I did not have with me — Any Which Wall. I managed to grab an ARC of Paula Chase’s Flipping the Script and received a copy of Wendie Old’s The Halloween Book of Facts and Fun. I was excited to talk to Candice Ransom and meet Ellsworth — who has a totally weak handshake, by the way. I didn’t take nearly enough pictures, but fortunately Jama Rattigan did.

Okay, this is getting really long. It was a fuller day than I thought. Oh, and that picture above was Elizabeth Scott and me. Moving on.

Greg Pincus talked to us about Social Media and connection and showed us slides on our laptops. (So, I didn’t spring for the $1,000 LCD hook-up — sue me.) During the next two sessions — Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation and Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message — I was distracted with some “Being in Charge of the Conference” things, so I missed big parts of both. I’ll provide links to summaries as I find them. Sorry.

I was going to plow through with this post into the cocktail hour and charity raffle and dinner and drinks, but now I’ll leave that for Part III. If you have a post about the conference, leave me a comment and I’ll be rounding up at the end of the week. Of course, I’ll continue to accept comments about KidLitCon itself or even my awesomeness.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

KidLitCon Report: Part I

2009-10-20T10:04:00.013-04:00

The weather sucked. I think we can all agree on that. It didn’t affect much at KidLitCon except for the scheduled Library of Congress tours, where the rain made for bad traffic and delayed arrivals of our out-of-town guests. It also made some of our DC natives look outside and decide against trudging through the rain to join us at a local institution. It was a shame, because those who came for the tours were all blown away.

It did start out slowly, with a tour guide who preferred to give great detail on a piece of artwork rather than give us time with the original Thomas Jefferson Library. But we still enjoyed walking the halls of the Jefferson Building, peering down into the impressive reading room, and strolling past the Gutenberg Bible. The real stuff began when we went to the Children’s Literature Center. There, Jacqueline Coleburn showed us some rare children’s books from the collection. We saw a first edition of The Wizard of Oz, original sketches by James Marshall for Fox Be Nimble, and an early primer book.

It was hard to take good pictures without the flash (which might hurt the books over time), so I didn’t take many photos. I’m partial to this children’s book from the 1600s, which is A Token for Children: Being an exact account of the conversion, holy and exemplary lives and joyful deaths of several young children, by James Janeway. Joyful deaths. Yep, they don’t write them like they used to. Click on the picture to enlarge if you don’t believe me. (Though it should be said — and was said by our host — that such books were made to help in accepting death, since so many children didn’t live to adulthood.)

We also spent time walking around the Children’s Literature Center, which is a small library and research center as opposed to the holdings of every children’s book ever published. However, our host was kind enough to bring over a few of our KidLitCon attendees’ books for display. Here you’ll see Joan Holub along with some of her titles. Sara Lewis Holmes was excited to see her Letters from Rapunzel displayed as well.

Our group was also treated to a visit to see books from the Rosenwald collection of rare books. The curator of this collection, Daniel De Simone, had a display of several illustrated books starting from a title from the 1400s! Then, using the Aesop’s fable of the city mouse and the country mouse, he showed us the changes in woodblock printing and artwork over time and nationality. I believe the one in the photograph is from Italy in the 1500s. I know, I should have been writing that sort of thing down, but I was too mesmerized by these old, rare books right in front of me. I just found at least two more of the books we saw in the details of the Library of Congress exhibition. Our host was very knowledgeable about the collection and captivated us with the stories behind these rare books. We were all sorry to leave, and it’s possible that one of us hid behind a bookshelf where an old Charlotte’s Web was held.

After the Library of Congress tour, we went our separate ways, knowing we’d meet up again at dinner along with thirty or so of our blogging friends. We had two large table at Arlington’s Tortoise and Hare, quickly took over a third, and then proceeded to make more room on the corners and ends as bloggers continued to arrive. People were introduced around, and where the proper names might draw polite smiles the blog names often brought gleeful squeals. Biblio File! LibrariYAn! Miss Rumphius! The conversation was lively and loud, ending only when it looked as if we would soon be overtaken by a lively and loud band. The folks who weren’t quite done for the night headed to the hotel bar, for what Liz Burns would soon dub by the hashtag #drunkkidlitcon. But even though the topics of funny tweets, Girl Scouts, Facebook friends, and of course books seemed like they could go on forever, we did clear out at a reasonable hour, knowing that a special KidLitCon breakfast awaited us at 7:00 a.m. and that bacon wasn’t going to eat itself.

I’ll continue with the day of KidLitCon tomorrow. For now, leave me a comment if you’ve got a post about the conference and I’ll do a round-up at the end of the week.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.

Nap Time!

2009-10-18T15:37:00.004-04:00

I am hoping to write about KidLitCon later, but for now, a nap is in order. Quickly, I can say that it was amazing, wonderful, fun, educational, and many more positive adjectives. I am looking forward to reading everyone else’s posts, so I thought I’d leave this one as a placeholder — as you write about KidlitCon, leave the link in the comments and I’ll do a roundup later in the week.

Thanks to everyone who spoke, who helped, and who came. I had a great time with all of you and can’t wait to do it again...

Oh, hold up! I meant that I can totally wait to do it again. In a good way.

KidlitCon09: NOW

2009-10-16T10:02:00.003-04:00

So guess what? A representative from the Federal Trade Commission is coming to KidlitCon to talk to us about the new regulations for bloggers! Now do you wish you were coming?

Well, you still can. Shoot me an email so I’ll know to expect you, and plan on attending the Kidlitosphere Conference only for $50. Total deal — especially if your kid’s soccer game is going to be rained out anyway. Email me at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.

Here’s the info, yet again and for the last time. The conference is open to bloggers, wannabe bloggers, and the blogger-curious, along with YA/Kidlit authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers. The meeting is at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and will cover:

The Blog Within: An Interview With Your Inner Blogger
Building a Better Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips
Split Reviewer/Author Sessions:
It’s All About the Blog: Approaches for Book Reviewing Bloggers
It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors
FTC Regulations and You
Social Networking with Gregory K.
Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation
Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message

There will also be a “Meet the Author” time during the day, where writers and illustrators can share their books.

I’ll be checking in online, but will mostly be occupied with, you know, the conference for a few days. Hope to see you there.

KidlitCon09: Four Days Away

2009-10-14T10:31:00.004-04:00

This is about the time I usually get Conference Envy. You know what I mean, that feeling that everyone is going to this really cool event and you’re missing out because you couldn’t decide if you should put another activity on your schedule, but now it seems stupid that you opted to take on the dance rehearsal carpool again instead of asking your neighbor to do it so that you could do something for yourself for a change because Lord knows you DESERVE IT!

Or something like that. Perhaps instead you’re an author or editor realizing that the opportunity to present your new titles to forty book-reviewing bloggers isn’t something you should pass up in this dicey economy and saturated book market.

If you are experiencing Conference Envy after hearing about our Library of Congress tours, Friday night dinner, amazing conference panels, Meet the Author session, fun charity raffle, Twitter breakfast, and bookstore visit, well… I can still take a few more people for the Kidlitosphere Conference. Email me at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.

If you live in the area, and absolutely can’t make it Saturday, let me encourage you to come out to our author event at Hooray for Books! in Old Town Alexandria on Sunday, October 18th, from 1:00–3:00 p.m. Bring the kids. Bring the neighbor’s kids. Bribe a teen to join you. We’re going picture book to middle-grade first, and then tweens to teens second with:

1:00 p.m.
Cynthia Cotten presents Rain Play
Jacqueline Jules presents Unite or Die!
Sue Corbett presents Last Newspaper Boy

2:00 p.m.
Caroline Hickey presents Isabelle’s Boyfriend
Elizabeth Scott presents Something, Maybe
Paula Chase-Hyman presents Flipping the Script

Let people know about this wonderful chance to greet bloggers, meet authors, and buy books, all while supporting an independent bookstore and the Kidlitosphere Conference.

You can also join us in supporting Donors Choose for our KidlitCon09 charity, and specifically two projects at Washington, DC, schools — Literacy is Fun-damental and It All Starts With Reading!. If you’d like to send something for our charity raffle on Saturday, email me soon at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.

If you’re still reading because you want to be convinced to come to the KidLitosphere Conference, then I’ll remind you that the conference is open to bloggers, wannabe bloggers, and the blogger-curious, along with YA/Kidlit authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers.

The meeting is at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and will cover:

The Blog Within: An Interview With Your Inner Blogger
Building a Better Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips
Split Reviewer/Author Sessions:
It’s All About the Blog: Approaches for Book Reviewing Bloggers
It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors
Social Networking with Gregory K.
Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation
Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message

There will also be a “Meet the Author” time during the day, where writers and illustrators can share their books. A fun dinner to mix and mingle is scheduled for 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. with the continuing party moving to the hotel bar. The registration fee for all of this — including the breakfast and dinner — is only $100. Can’t make the dinner? Email about a reduced conference-only fee.

Here’s who’s coming so far:

Abby — Abby (the) Librarian
Sarah — Archimedes Forgets
Jennie — Biblio File
Melissa — Book Nut
Rachel — BookPikks
Anamaria — Books Together
Kim — Bugs and Bunnies
Liz — A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
Charlotte — Charlotte’s Library
Maureen — Confessions of a Bibliovore
Carrie — Dog Eared and Well Read
Amanda — The Fictionistas
Michelle — Galleysmith
Greg — Gotta Book, Happy Accident
Lara and Julie — Grow Up with Books
Jen — Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Alicia —LibrariYAn
Bill and Karen — Literate Lives
Tricia — Miss Rumphius Effect
Pam — MotherReader
Alexa — Not Enough Bookshelves
Gina and Ann — PBS Booklights
Paula — Pink Me
Laura — Pinot and Prose
Terry — Reading Tub
Wendy — Six Boxes of Books
Sondy — Sonderbooks
Dawn — Teaching with Picture Books
Sheila — Wands and Worlds
Jill — Well Read Child
Wendy — Wendy on the Web
Susan — Wizards Wireless
Kelly — Writing and Ruminating
Mary Lee — A Year of Reading

And authors and publishers including:

Sally Anderson — Mother Goose Programs
Pam Bachorz — Candor
Ernestine Benedict — Reading Is Fundamental
Mary Bowman-Kruhm — The Leakeys: A Biography; Busy Fingers; Busy Toes
Tami Lewis Brown — Soar, Elinor!
Paula Chase-Hyman — Who Are You Wit’? That’s What’s Up! Flipping the Script
Susan Cheng — Tor Books
Sue Corbett —Last Newspaper Boy in America, Free Baseball, 12 Again
Cynthia Cotten —Rain Play, Some Babies Sleep, Fair Has Nothing to Do With It
Moira Rose Donohue —Penny and the Punctuation Bee, Alfie the Apostrophe
Tracey Daniels — Media Masters Publicity
Dee Garretson —Escape from Camp David
Olgy Gary —Children Come First
Sharon Hancock —Candlewick Press
Helen Hemphill —Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, Long Gone Daddy, Runaround
Joan Holub — Groundhog Weather School; Shampoodle; Knuckleheads
Caroline Hickey — Cassie Was Here; Isabelle’s Boyfriend
Sara Lewis Holmes — Letters for Rapunzel; Operation YES
Jennifer Hubbard — The Secret Year
Varian Johnson —My Life as a Rhombus, Saving Maddie
Jacqueline Jules —Duck for Turkey Day, Unite or Die, No English
Wendy Martin —Mother Goose Programs
Diana Peterfreund — Tap & Gown, Rampant
Wendie Old —To Fly; The Wright Brothers;
Lisa Paul —Lands Atlantic Publishing
Candace Ransom —Tractor Day, Giant in the Garden, Magician in the Trunk
Jama Rattigan —Dumpling Soup, Woman in the Moon, Truman’s Aunt Farm
Madelyn Ruth Rosenberg — Freelance writer
Justine Rowden — Paint Me a Poem
Marisa Russell — HarperCollins
Elizabeth Scott —Something, Maybe; Love You Hate You Miss You; Living Dead Girl; Stealing Heaven
Wendy Shang — Freelance writer
Shelena Shorts —The Pace, The Broken Lake
Laurel Snyder — Any Which Wall; Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains; Inside the Slidy Diner
Sarah Sullivan — Passing The Music Down; Root Beer and Banana; Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother
Amy Thomas — Burning Money

I Am a Mother Reader

2009-10-12T14:00:00.003-04:00

I originally wrote this for ForeWord, but as they are dropping their old blog posts I’m copying it here. I’d like to hold onto it anyway — but I’m inspired to put it up today to make sure that it can be part of the National Gallery of Writing, organized by the ladies of A Year of Reading.

At the time I was a guest blogger — I had written two posts as a reviewer and two posts as a librarian. But I hadn’t addressed the roles nearest and dearest to my heart, the duo of roles that inspires my blog title. I am a Mother and I am a Reader.

Here’s one of my favorite MotherReader stories: When my oldest daughter was five, she asked me to play house. “I’ll be the mommy and you’ll be the little girl,” she said. I agreed and prepared myself for my role. Meanwhile, she sat down on the couch, opened a book to read and, looking over the top, said, “Go play with your sister.”

Never have I felt so much angst and pride at the same time. Of course, my mother guilt kicked in. Did she think that all I did was read? Did she feel so neglected? What kind of mom was I? But at the same time, I felt proud of the lesson she had picked up from me — namely that Moms read, and reading’s important.

As a mother of two (now) school-aged girls, I get asked occasionally how I find time to read. I can only pat the questioner on the head with an air of pity (well, mentally), and answer that one doesn’t find time to read, one makes time to read. Looking at reading as something that’s done when everything else is finished means that you’ll never even crack open a People magazine. (Not that I read this particular journal, understand.) And this goes double, maybe triple for mothers. Every minute I read, I’ve carved that time away from something else. Sometimes I don’t put the laundry away. Sometimes I don’t shower, but I make the time to read.

While I’m taking time for myself in a self-care, Oprah kind of way, I’m also conveying an important message to my kids. Moms read books for fun. I couldn’t talk to them about reading being important and then never open a book myself. My actions speak louder than my words ever could, and believe me, I can make my words LOUD.

I’ve also been asked by parents that with today’s busy lifestyle, how can I find time for my kids to read? For this question, I allow a quick wide-eyed expression of shock so the questioner realizes the very seriousness of the inquiry. For me, it’s as if they’ve asked how I find time for my children to eat dinner. In my family, reading is a necessary and vital part of our day. We formed the habit early, and rarely break it.

Since my daughters were babies, the last part of every evening has been given over to reading. When the girls were younger, my husband or I read to them. Then each child went through a stage where we would alternate fun picture books with the beginning-reader series of the month. Now sometimes we read a book to them — a great picture book or chapters from a harder book — and sometimes we all read our own books. Often one daughter and I will recline on the couch, each leaning against the opposite side arms, our legs sharing the space in the middle. It’s comfy. It’s fun. The dishes can wait.

Want to raise a reader? Then read. Read to them, read with them, read beside them. Take it from a MotherReader.

ABC Storytime: E Is for...

2009-10-09T10:59:00.004-04:00

Okay, I’m a little late this week, but I’ve been kind of busy.

The Letter E

Book: Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, by Mo Willems

Book: Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss

Fingerplay: “Eggs”

Eggs for breakfast, eggs for lunch
In a carton, in a bunch
Boiled or scrambled, cooked or fried
How many eggies have you tried?

Book: Ella the Elegant Elephant, by Carmela D’Amico

Song: “The Elephant”

The elephant goes like this and that 
(stomp around)
Cause he’s so big and he’s so fat!
(make arms in big, wide circle)
He has no fingers and has no toes 
(wiggle fingers, point to toes)
But goodness, gracious, what a nose!
(put arm in front of nose and move it like trunk)

Book: Elephants Cannot Dance, by Mo Willems

Book: Edward the Emu, by Sheena Knowles, or Epossumondas, by Coleen Salley

Mo, Webcasts, Booklights, FTC

2009-10-08T15:13:00.005-04:00

The webcasts from the National Book Festival are up, including the one of Mo Willems with my daughter as Piggie! If you want watch that part — and of course you do — it is about halfway through the webcast, at the twelve-minute mark. You’ll also see Mo’s daughter Trixie of Knuffle Bunny fame. Watch it and come back and be excited with me.

Today my post over at Booklights covers picture books about babies. Go add some favorites to the comments.

The interpretations of the Federal Trade Commission guidelines are making things look either HUGE or no big deal for book bloggers, so we’ll be waiting to see how it shakes out. There is a great post at Boston Bibliophile with a lawyer’s viewpoint, and Chasing Ray is asking for — and receiving — responses from publishers. What are you hearing around the interwebs?