I came across a clever reworking of the Jack and the Beanstalk tale recently, Thea’s Tree. This picture book by Alison Jackson turns the appearance of a mysterious beanstalk in Thea’s yard into a science project. She records the tree’s amazing growth and does research by corresponding with a botanist, natural history museum curator, zoologist and others to try to identify the source of the tree and the strange things that come from it (like a giant golden egg).
Thea
Hats off to author Alison Jackson. I tried to write a modern update of a fairy tale and it isn’t that easy to be fresh and interesting when the original material is so well-known. (Another re-telling of a fairy tale that rocks is Falling for Rapunzel. Love it!) Janet Pedersen’s cheery illustrations remind me of Ard Hoyt’s work, who–I might mention, has illustrated my friend Carol Brendler’s upcoming book Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer. Look for that totally cool book in September of 2009.
On the same library trip I found Thea, I picked up Susan Orlean’s Lazy Little Loafers. Susan Orlean is not a celebrity in the sense that Madonna is a celebrity so I can’t call this a celebrity book. Susan Orlean is the well-respected adult author of The Orchid Thief (and was depicted by Meryl Streep in the utterly wonderfully insane movie Adaptation). The premise of the book as presented on the book flap is, “This book sets out to answer the question why don’t more babies work? The truth may shock you.” Getting to the truth kind of bored me. If the book was intended to help younger children understand the important developmental activities of babies, who only look like they are doing nothing, I think the story could have been told with a lot fewer words and a better structure. Just my HO (humble opinion)–who am I to critique Susan Orlean? The illustrations by G. Brian Karas were enjoyable.
Since today is Halloween, when I have a free moment I will be reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. It came yesterday and from just the little bit I read, friend AJ’s enthusiasm for the book is well-founded.
Enough blah-blah from me. Go eat some candy and enjoy the day!
There’s an interesting article in the I.N.K. (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids) blog on whether writers prefer to be superstar/writers or just plain writers. Read the article and then take my poll!
Are you a sucker for a stage or is your life your laptop? Take the poll!
What am I? I’m pretty happy to be a hermit and hide out in my office, but I will answer the call if someone contacts me to appear. Partly because of my health issues, I prefer to market my book at a distance and not one-on-one as with signings. I am a sit-and-write type. I think preferring that to the hoopla and p.r. (even though my whole pre-writing life was in p.r. and marketing) helped me immensely when my editor asked me on a Monday if I could have my NF book done on Friday when we were just then agreeing on format. I may never be famous, but I will make my deadlines!
Election craziness was getting to me today so I am doing something I haven’t done for a really long time–I’m playing CDs. It’s not that I haven’t played CDs because I have an iPod. No, sir. I haven’t listened to any recorded music because I am tuned into public radio ninety-five percent of the time. But right now, while I’m working on a nonfiction bio, having the voices of News Present in my head was not helping.
So I’ve listened to Prokofiev and now I’m listening to David Benoit. I’ve always loved piano jazz. I’ve forgotten how much I love David Benoit. (He’s the modern day interpreter of Vince Guaraldi’s music.) Music is wonderful. Back to the book now. . .
Most of us will check the web at some point when we’re researching a writing project. Here’s a quick way to limit your results to sites with more authority–university and government sites. Just add “site:edu” after your search term to find only university sites, or “site:gov” for government sites.
Duh, but I didn’t know this until I read it in WIRED so I figure some other folks might have search-glut-disorder. It also works when you’re Googling images.
News of two catalogs in my mail, one weird and one with a good deal. First the weird one.
The $4,750 Altier Simoni ID pen with gold and diamonds. Really.
It’s the Fahrneys Pens catalog and I suppose they thought since I’m a writer I’d be nutty for good pens. Good assumption, but they forgot that I’M A WRITER AND THUS I HAVE NO REAL MONEY. I have money called “royalties,” which is like dealing in writing futures. (I’m surprised they haven’t tried selling these on Wall Street. Hey, then we writers could have been bailed out.) I thought the Levenger pens were expensive–one of these Fahrneys pens cost $4,750 and it must be popular because it’s out-of-stock!
Second catalog in my mailbox yesterday was the Writer’s Digest Book Club. If you’re a member and you haven’t been reading your mail from them, open it up! The club has announced that it’s going out of business at the end of October and the last catalog has some good deals on writing books. More importantly though, they are giving all members a FREE one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com! So open that mail!
From time to time, I’ll share things I’ve found to make life as a writer easier (besides a husband to subsidize my existence). Today I’m bringing news of a cart that makes it possible for me to get from point A to point Talk.
The Compact Sit-Down Cart
It’s the Compact Sit-Down Cart, which I purchased through Footsmart.com. It’s great–it folds up when you don’t need it or are in transit. When you easily pop it up, there’s a good amount of storage for your books and other supplies. And if you’re working a convention and have to stand in a long line for lunch, flip the seat down and grab a seat while you wait.
I’m not an agent of Footsmart–I’m just someone with lousy feet and legs who uses their site and catalog. The cart is lightweight but relatively sturdy. Since the handle folds up, it doesn’t have a really firm feeling, but it does the job. Check it out if you’ve been using a big rolling suitcase or cart to get to your speaking or signing engagements. In addition to getting a place to sit when I purchased this, I just didn’t think I looked real professional using the shopping cart I use to take my mother’s groceries up. (Hmmm, wonder why?)
Here are the results on the National Book Award poll. I hope that people are busy writing (or voting for more important things!) since there wasn’t an overwhelming response:
I am really behind on my reading. While you’re researching a NF book, that’s really all you read. So I’m going to have to play catch-up since I haven’t read a single title on this list of finalists in the YA category of the National Book Awards. The winner will be announced November 19.
Young People’s Literature Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (Simon & Schuster)
Kathi Appelt, The Underneath (Atheneum)
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic)
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion)
Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now (Alfred A. Knopf)
Today I read “Mr. Granite Is from Another Planet” by Dan Guzman (HarperCollins, 2008). This is the third book in the My Weird School Daze series, but it’s the first one I’ve read. These are chapter books for kids in grades 2 – 5. It’s total fantasy and mayhem at Ella Mentry School (real name!) when a class thinks their new teacher is an alien, but it’s funny. And if I think it’s funny, any 3rd grader is sure to love it. I especially smiled when I read this part:
“St. Patrick’s Day is in March, dumbhead,” said. Neil. “So is your face,” I replied.
My son D (who is now 17) used to make me crazy at that age saying, “So’s your face.” As a parent, it made NO sense to me because it, well, made no sense. But now as a reader and writer of nonsensical fiction, it makes perfect sense to me.
Maybe the presidential candidates could work it into the debates tomorrow.
“Your economic plan taxes people, my friend.” (Guess who said that!) “So is your face.”
You've stumbled across or been tricked into visiting the blog of children's author Gail Piernas-Davenport, The Riant Writer.
Dedicated to Mirthful Truth in Writing and in Life. Honest.
