A Request from Janet Wong

Now…I really hate “talkin’ trash” on the Blue Rose Girls blog—but I just got an email from Janet Wong asking me if I would help spread word about The Dumpster Diver’s Junk Is Good contest being sponsored by All for Kids Books in Seattle.

There are two categories in which contestants may submit entries: Build It and Imagine It.
The top prize in each category is a school visit from Janet Wong. A visit from Janet is a great prize. She is a dynamic presenter!

Contest deadline is March 31, 2007.

For information about the contest, go to Junk Is Good.

THE DUMPSTER DIVER

is a picture book that Janet wrote.

It will be published by

Candlewick Press in March.

Fatal Distraction

In Meghan’s “no resolutions for me” post, she lists her best “thinking” spots and asks readers to tell about theirs. Her query led me off on a tangent—not about places and times when writing ideas bubble up to the surface of my consciousness, but about my actual process when I go about writing my blogs.

So here it is:
The Id, the Ego, Those Infernal Impulses, and the Elements of Style

I love children’s poetry. It would follow that I also love children’s poetry books. Because I love children’s poetry books—I buy children’s poetry books. I have lost count of how many I own—but you can believe me when I tell you that I have hundreds of them. The same holds true for picture books—and all other kinds of children’s books. I don’t have to run down to the public library or visit a school library to find children’s poetry books or picture books or any other kind of books to review. One might think that having so many books at hand would make writing for a children’s literature blog easy for me. Think again!

There are two things I find difficult to do each week: decide what to write a blog about for Friday—and then to write a blog about it. At the beginning of my brainstorming process, I always end up asking myself lots of “Should I?” questions.

Should I review a poetry book that is hot-off-the-press?
Should I write about a wonderful book that was published years ago that has not found the readership it deserves?
Should I write an in-depth review of just one poetry book?
Should I review two or three books?
Should I review picture books written in verse—or picture books with lyrical texts?
Should I go searching for another old moldering poem that’s stuffed inside one of dozens of folders?
Should I write something serious and thought-provoking?
Should I don my wise guy persona and write a funny post?
Should I write something personal about the way poetry has affected my life?
Should I write about a controversial subject in the hopes of getting a discussion going?

Should I? Should I? Should I?

Next, the figurative gears in my gray matter start turning. There are times when I get so many ideas they all buzz around in my brain like bees flitting from flower to flower in search of nectar in summertime. And then I think: “This is a good idea for a blog. No, wait…this is a better idea.” And as the ideas spark electrical impulses in my frontal lobes and my left hemisphere sends messages to my right hemisphere and my right hemisphere signals “Right back at ya, Lefty” via my corpus callosum, I start pulling books off shelves and putting them on the table: a pile of moon books here, a book of poetry for very young children there, a bunch of snow stories written in verse at one end, poetry books that are beautifully illustrated at the other end, and on and on and on… Soon I am overwhelmed with different kinds of books and can’t see the top of the table, can’t decide which book(s) to write about. Then I invariably ignore the books I have spread across the tabletop and write about something else that has captured my fancy just before I sit down to compose my post.

Sometimes, after I finally decide what to write my blog about, everything in the writing/reviewing process goes smoothly from start to finish. Other times, I will spend a day or two on a post and then decide that it stinks or that it didn’t say what I really wanted it to say or that it would be better to post it on some Friday in the future. Sometimes I’ll find that the piece I am working on takes me where it wants to go—not where I want to take it. Sometimes another idea—or several ideas—will pop into my head after I have nearly finished my blog for the week.

I really do envy people who live their blogging lives in a straight line. They get one idea at a time, sit down and write about it, and post the piece the same day. No questions reverberating inside their craniums. No second-guessing their topic choices. No little nerve impulse gremlins jumping synapses in their brains and steering their conscious thoughts away from the writing task at hand or tempting them with new ideas. No little monologue bubbles hovering above their heads like rain clouds in April, whispering to them, and distracting them. Me? I try to remain on track—but I usually end up a modest train wreck of a writer almost every time I sit down to compose a post. So I think: Maybe it would be a good idea for me to write a book about my affliction and call it “Fatal Distraction: The Saga of a Kidlit Blogger with an Attention Disorder.” (Do you think any human being on the planet would be interested in reading a book like that?)

I believe that the mental health community should begin training special therapists who would be qualified to give advice to bloggers like me. Yeh, I could really use a bloggochologist—or maybe a bloggochiatrist. You know…someone knowledgeable about the inner workings of the human brain and psyche and subconscious who is also wise in the ways of topic sentences and paragraphing, main ideas and the clever turn of phrase, the independent clause and the pregnant pause, the ellipsis and the syllepsis, the subjunctive mood and gerunds. Someone who can distinguish an oxymoron from a blogging moron. Someone who is familiar with the works of Dr. Freud and Dr. Seuss. Someone who can make sure I don’t split literary hairs…or infinitives. Someone who can help me learn how to remain focused while I am writing and who can also keep me from dangling my participles in public.

If you know of any such professionals who would be interested in helping an old lady with ADBD— Attention Distraction Blogging Disorder—and also in collaborating on a nonfiction book about the disorder, please leave their names in the comments section for me.

Thanks for listening to my writing process rant, fellow bloggers. May Freud, no Jung, no Freud be with you.

And in other book news...

Check out a preview for my book coming out this summer here--

www.meghan-mccarthy.com/strongman1.html

the cover vote continues...

Dear blog readers--

Keep voting! And thanks for doing so.

I find everyone's comments to be quite interesting and helpful. Soon we all will know which cover goes to print. Don't worry, I'll announce it here.

Don't forget about "Drink Night" this Thursday! January 11th, Sweet and Vicious, 6pm--thanks to Fuse #8!
(fusenumber8.blogspot.com)

Stay tuned for some City Hawk bloopers. As usual, I turned in the artwork with some parts not quite finished. Oops!

meghan

one of these covers will be on the final book!

Out of curiousity, I'd love for you all to pick which one you like better. Tell me why. Be honest!

(the colors are a bit off and in one image, the clouds need to be fixed... but you get the idea)

Here's one more. I don't want to make things confusing. Consider this one along the same lines/same concept as the 2nd. (yes, I know some of you have already voted. Sorry!) The basic thing to consider is--type on bird or type away from bird? Type one color or type two colors?

Conferences and Festivals

My post today is more of a question to everyone out there... as I posted here, I've been doing more speaking events and festivals recently and I'm curious about other people's experiences out there with this kind of thing.

Authors/Illustrators/Editors and publishing folk:

-If you attended or spoke at any conferences/festivals in recent past, which ones stand out as the most interesting, organized, and all around great venues to promote your books and connect with the librarian/school community?

-How many roughly do you attend in a year?

-In what specific ways do you feel they benefit your work/books?

Librarians/Teachers/Reviewers:

-Which conferences and/or festivals have been the most interesting and helpful for you, and why?

-Do you prefer smaller or larger events?

-How many would you say you attend in a year?

Thanks in advance for indulging my little quiz. There are no wrong answers, promise! I just thought it might be helpful for all of us to talk a little nitty gritty about how the people who create books are able to connect with the people who read, buy, and get the word out about whats new in the kid lit world... thoughts anyone?

Writing versus Editing

Happy New Year, everyone! I've been somewhat out of practice posting here, missing my last two weeks because of the holidays. But I'm back, and raring to go. And I've been updating and upgrading my personal blog in the meantime.

Speaking of my personal blog, in response to this "Why do I blog" post, I was asked the following question which I'll use as the topic of my post here:

Here are some questions, possibly for the BRG blog, but personal, too, and inspired by your admission that you are currently better equipped to edit than to write.

What is the essential difference in skills required for writing and editing? Specifically, what are your strengths as an editor and weaknesses as a writer? As you see them, of course.

I'll admit that that admission was somewhat of a throwaway statement on my part, maybe just an excuse for why I'm not writing a book even though I'd like to someday, but after thinking about it (great question!), here are my conclusions. First of all, although I think that writing and editing require different skills and practice, the skills involved complement each other, which is why I think there ARE many editors who also write, and why most writers can edit (although not usually their own stuff). Editing is all about being a reader, being able to identify problems and recommend solutions, to predict issues that other readers may notice. It doesn't involve being able to craft an amazing sentence, to come up with that beautiful metaphor or imagery, to create living, breathing characters. It just requires you to be able to identify when a sentence or passage isn't working, to recommend where or when that beautiful metaphor or imagery may need to be inserted, to point out when a character's personality isn't coming through.

I think another of my strengths as an editor comes because I'm not a writer, because I wouldn't even begin to try rewriting an author's work. I think for some editors it's a temptation, or even a practice to be very heavy-handed with line editing, but I see this as being disrespectful of the author. But maybe it's because I know my weakness as a writer that I tend to acquire very literary writing--where the actual writing/voice needs less guidance, and I'm able to focus more on the big-picture issues, and making sure moments are working, the plot makes sense, believability issues. Then again, and this is where the whole "finding the right editor-author fit" is important--I think some authors want/need editors who are more hands-on, and others prefer not.

I think one of my strengths as an editor is that I'm able to ask the difficult questions of the author, and push them to take the work to the next level. I think (I hope!) that I'm also able to ask the questions in a way that doesn't offend, to balance the recommendations with praise.

In terms of my weakness as a writer, I also tend to be long-winded, and I tend to overuse adjectives (at least in my marketing writing). I also think I lack subtlety in my writing. And although I can see all this, I can't really seem to solve it for myself. It's like relationship issues--it's so much easier to understand and solve someone else's problems, but when it comes to your own issues, you're blind to them. And this, of course, is another main difference. I think most writers can edit, but nobody can truly edit their own work. Oh, and one more weakness? I don't have any good ideas for books. I think one of the reasons it would be hard for me to write as well as edit is that I read SO MUCH in my job, that I would be afraid that I'd steal an idea that I've read without realizing it.

As I said, I think both writing and editing require skill and practice. I honestly don't know what talent/skill for actual editing that I already possessed when I came into the job--although I've always been a voracious reader, especially as a child, when I started my job I felt at a disadvantage because I wasn't an English major and did not have four years in college to focus on critical reading. But I think years of reading submissions and focusing on editing and writing editorial letters, and reading other editors' editorial letters in my company (I mentioned this in my "How I Edit" post), have allowed me to continue to acquire the skills to do my job. If, instead, I had focused on writing all of these years, perhaps I could be as confident in my writing skills as I am in my editing skills, but that is not the path I have taken.

Of course, talent doesn't hurt, either, and when I read the works that my authors' write, I respect them so much and am in awe. And I honestly don't think I have that level of talent in me, no matter how hard I worked at the craft. I don't have the writing bug in my soul like most of the authors I know.

I think I have many strengths as an editor that do not involve the actual skill of editing, but as I think the latter part was the intent of the question, I won't go into that here.

This was a very tough question, and I'm not sure if I haven't answered it to my own satisfaction. And, ironically, I'm not sure if I edited this post to my satisfaction! But this is a blog (not a book), and I wanted to post this on time this morning.

I'd love to hear what other authors and editors think. And heck, what do the authors I've worked with think? I've edited two of the BRGs: so Grace and Libby, what do you think my strengths as an editor are? We can save the weaknesses for another time. :) Because I certainly have those as well, and it's easier for me to list those off, so I won't.

on my desk

I've been distracted lately, so I thought I'd just post what's on my desk. This painting is really on my desk as the paper is taped onto the table as they don't make watercolor block large enough for the image. It'll be a special gatefold (three page spread) in my "Bringing in the New Year" book. I'm quite proud of it, as it took forever...

Here's a better image of it with the folder I made for the art. It is roughly 8x 30 inches, water-soluable gouache (I can't use acrylic, I take so long thinking about what colors I'm going to use it that dries up on the paintbrush). The book will be published (if I get it all done in time, hopefully!) Jan or Feb of 2008.

Here's a detail of it:

And a closer detail of it. This is why it took so long, I put pattern over pattern on everything:

Epiphany

I like to celebrate Epiphany. One year Alvina and I celebrated it together with a drink together in Bemelman’s which could be the most beautiful bar in the world – all the walls are painted with designs that look like Madeline (Bemelman made the murals in exchange for living rent free at the Carlyle!).

Epiphany is the twelfth night after Christmas, when (in the story: I’m trying to say this without sounding religious, which I'm not!) the wise men recognized the divinity of that baby. I think it’s a great holiday for writers to celebrate,--James Joyce said that every short story should be an epiphany – a sudden recognition of the divine nature or essence of something. I think of it as having something in your writing that suddenly SHOWS readers something, makes them think or notice something they haven't thought of or appreciated in that way before.....maybe something little but still something interesting and even important (universal maybe is a better word). Reading can part the curtain between the everyday and its meaning, and I hope my writing does, even if just for a minute, even if only in a few places within the whole book. Funny and lighthearted stories can do this just as well (if not better, when you're writing for kids especially!) than serious ones,I think - but that's another topic.

Epiphany or Twelfth Night was also the last day of Christmas in England in the Middle Ages – and that’s worth celebrating, too. Someday I’d like to give a big Epiphany party with a yule log and feasting and dancing and everything(maybe even a Lord or Lady of Mirsule!), but for now I’ll settle for a quiet celebration alone or with good friends, something to mark the real end of the holidays and the beginning of a new year of writing.

More on that new year of writing in my next post. For now, may the New Year bring us all many epiphanies – in our reading and in our writing!
--Libby

First Poetry Friday Roundup of 2007

Okay! I can't go through a Friday without all our Poetry Posts rounded up in one corral. So here goes:

Nancy at Journey Woman gives us Next Day, a poem written by Randall Jarrell.

Gregory K. at Gotta Book has written a search Fib for us. And it's about time!

Susan at Chicken Spaghetti provides a link to a funny essay about children's poetry.

Becky at Farm School has a mouth-watering post with a poem--and a recipe-- for fudge cake. Yum!

After Jules at Seven Impossible Things got slapped upside the head into Poetry Friday and her brain cells regrouped, she posted a quote from a little-known poet by the name of Emily Dickinson.

Sylvia at Poetry for Children announces the five Cybil poetry finalists and gives a nod to publishers for their generous book donations.

Michele at Scholar's Blog has a poem by John Keats and Hamlet's soliloquy.

Here at Blue Rose Girls, I have a review of the poetry and art in Winter Poems, an anthology illustrated by the late Trina Schart Hyman.

Cloudscome at A Wrung Sponge has two posts for Poetry Friday: an original haiku and Maya Angelou's A Conceit.

"More, more, more!" said the poetry enthusiasts.

Miss Erin has an excerpt from Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy as her contribution to Poetry Friday.

Emily at Whimsy Books gives us Daddy Fell into the Pond by Alfred Noyes for a few end-of-the-week chuckles.

Betsy at A Fuse Number 8 Production teases us with a tidbit about a weasel. (She knows better than to tease a weasel!)

WEB at Blog from the Windowsill has a review of My Very First Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie. (It's her son's very first book illustrated by Rosemary Wells.)

Liz B. at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy has a classic children's poem for us: Keep a Poem in Your Pocket by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers.

Andrea has a podcast of a talk about the rhyming picture book Safe and Sound at Just One More Book.

We're not done yet! Little Willow joins the Poetry Friday posters with Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter.

Still adding Poetry Friday posts on Saturday!

Karen at Lighting the Fires brings us John Walsh's The Christmas Tree, a poem about a tree after the holiday season has passed.

Franki at A Year of Reading has the introductory poem from Sandra Pinkney's READ AND RISE. It's a poem about reading written by Maya Angelou.

At Mitali's Fire Escape, Mitali presents Wordsworth, Bengali-style.

Kelly Fineman at Writing and Ruminating has Exercise Your Brain, a post about rhyme's effect on memory.

Lisa at Passionately Curious brings us A Snowflake Fell, a poem by Jack Prelutsky, our new Children's Poet Laureate.

Check out Check It Out for the Poetry Friday post The Seasons. MsMac has got a high haiku fever!

Let me know if I missed your Poetry Friday post.

POETRY FRIDAY: Winter in Poems & Paintings

WINTER POEMS
Selected by Barbara Rogasky
Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Published by Scholastic (1994)
Paperback Reprint (1999)



Last Friday, in A Gift of Poetry, I wrote about A CHILD’S CALENDAR, a book of children’s poems written by John Updike and beautifully illustrated by the late Trina Schart Hyman. I believe her illustrations in the 1999 edition breathed new life into that book of poems, which was first published more than forty years ago. After writing that post, I thought about Hyman’s picture book art and her contributions to children’s literature. What a legacy she left behind. What a great loss to the world of children’s literature when she passed away in 2004.

Today, I have decided to write a review of WINTER POEMS, another poetry book Hyman illustrated. WINTER POEMS is an anthology compiled by Hyman’s best friend and housemate, Barbara Rogasky. It is a poetry book for people of all ages. It would be just as fitting a gift for an adult as it would be for a child. The anthology contains twenty-five works—many penned by great writers of both adult and children’s poetry: Shakespeare, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, William Wordsworth, Carl Sandburg, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Lilian Moore. You will not find most of the poems included in this book in any other anthology for children.

In a note to readers, Rogasky explains why she and Trina Hyman made the book. First, Rogasky tells of her love of winter: “In the country, where I live, all the seasons are beautiful. But winter is the best. A hard walk with a breath a frosty cloud is much more refreshing than a sweaty walk in the hot sun. The color and light over the snow’s whiteness are ever-changing and glorious.” (And Hyman’s illustrations, done in acrylics, definitely capture both the glory and the chill of this season.) Next, she writes about her love of poetry: “A poem is a kind of miracle of words. It can tell a story, flash scenes to the mind’s eye, and use many fewer words than any other kind of writing.” She speaks, too, of the music and rhythm inherent in the genre. Rogasky provides a third reason for this anthology: She and Hyman could not recall a collection of winter poetry that did not include poems about Christmas or Hanukkah or New Year’s Eve. They wanted to produce a “nonsectarian book for people with different religious calendars.”

WINTER POEMS is a true collaboration between the anthologist and the artist. In the book, Rogasky takes us through the coldest season of the year with poems about such things as the steady winter rains in Oregon; a howling snowstorm; a child explaining his knack for skiing; the moon, the stars, and other lights that “punctuate” the winter dark; and poetry about animals—birds, a cat, and Edna St. Vincent Millay’s A Buck in the Snow. She begins the anthology with Rachel Field's Something Told the Wild Geese and ends it with an excerpt from Carl Sandburg's Blossom Themes. Hyman, for her part, brings us into the soul of winter with her evocative paintings of falling snow; of someone shoveling out a path after a big storm has left the yard, the car, the rooftops of the house and barn pillowed with snow; of two people (Rogasky and Hyman) walking “in velvet shoes” under a canopy of leafless trees in a town stilled by downy whiteness; of skaters gliding across an icy pond as the last remnant of pink sky hovers above dark hills at twilight.

The illustrations in WINTER POEMS were definitely a personal and intimate artistic creation of Hyman’s. They were “based on real things.” The house pictured in the book is the one in which Hyman and Rogasky lived. The dogs, the cat, the sheep were all their animals. The young boy is Hyman’s grandson, Michou; the young mother is her daughter, Katrin; and the man is Katrin’s husband, Eugene.

As in A CHILD’S CALENDAR, Hyman’s illustrations in this book do not overwhelm the text—rather they draw the reader into the heart of the poems, into the colors and cold beauty of this season, into the mountainous countryside of New Hampshire where the artist and anthologist lived—a place where nature herself writes poetry across the landscape with a white and wintry hand.

WINTER POEMS is a special book. It is a perfect marriage of fine poetry and fine art. Although the book is no longer available in hardcover, there is a paperback edition that is still in print.




For information about the life and art
of Trina Schart Hyman visit her page
at Children’s Book Illustrators,
a website developed by Denise Ortakales.




Visit the Horn Book website for a remembrance of Trina Schart Hyman written by Lois Lowry (January/February 2005 Horn Book Magazine) and for a portrait of her written by her daughter, Katrin Hyman, (July/August 1985 Horn Book Magazine).

painful

I'm supposed to give a talk tomorrow. I know everyone wants to hear about the book process, etc. Here's the problem. I don't want to talk about it! It's painful. Making a book is so exhausting and I put everything I have into it. No author or illustrator can say that a book goes smoothly from beginning to end. There are disagreements whether we like it or not. Some editors make the disagreements more like easy discussions while others don't. Either way, it's hard for me to rehash it.

Anyone else feel as I do or am I out there in left field?

meghan

p.s - I don't understand the saying "left field" since it's the right fielder who never gets the balls and can be completely out of it. I know since I was a super star leftfield softball player for years. Yes, I think very highly of my abilities.

Back to work

Happy new year friends!

Nothing like a nice long stretch of time away from the studio to recharge your batteries. I spent the past couple weeks traveling to Virginia and St. Louis visiting family (and their dogs- note the sleigh bells on their collars). There was so much to do with shopping and logistics that I actually managed to forget about work for a few days and think about other things (though I am not a fan of rampant consumerism in general).

About half way through though I started to get antsy and feel like something was missing... I laughed when I read Meghan's post about not being capable of relaxing because I think I am the same... I like the IDEA of relaxing, and plopped on a hot beach for a few days I can usually manage to forget just about everything, but it takes a lot. By the time I got back this weekend I couldn't wait to paint again, whenever I question if I'm doing the right thing I guess the solution is to just stop and see how I feel. Usually the urge comes back twice as strong.

no resolutions for me

(the photos throughout were done after I wrote my "bored" comment on the blog while visiting the family. I need to keep busy so I carry the camera with me. I was going for spooky night theme. I'm putting these photos on here because the blog is better with pictures. When I have the time I'll put the whole series on my website.)

As I'd mentioned before, I have some book talk to do here that's past due. I'll do that soon. Right now I need some help. I'm working on yet another nonfiction book for kids called Astronaut Handbook. This book will tell kids how they can become an astronaut, what it's like to be one, etc (yes I'll answer the bathroom question!)

I want this book-to-be to look like a handbook... whatever that looks like. I keep thinking about the Worst Case Scenario handbooks but those are jokes. Do any of you know of any serious ones that I might use as models? Throw them all at me now! I need to get going!



On another topic this is the first of the new year. This is the day people start listing their new year resolutions. I, for once, don't have any. I'm trying the best I can. I'm perfect, gosh darn it! No, no, I'm really not at all. My biggest issue is my lateness. I'm late for EVERYTHING. I suppose I should work on that but I don't want to commit just yet. This brings me to a question--can artistic people get away with more bad behavior--lateness, dressing down, etc?





And now, for now particular reason, I will list the best "thinking" spots.


1) the bathroom. NOT while I'm sitting on the toilet. I'm talking about just standing in any bathroom--it's the quiet spot. The lighting is different. Perhaps this is why I'm late for things. I stand in front of the mirror and "dry" my hair while actually dreaming up new stories

2) Trying to fall asleep.

3) While driving -- I suppose I shouldn't try to write while driving in traffic but whatever...

4) the subway when I'm not in a rush to get somewhere and I have my headphones on

Those are my "spots." What are yours?

meghan

p.s- did anyone listen to my audio version? Should I package it with a nice CD and pamphlet? Have I gone too far and should stick to what I do best?



pps- I'm speaking this thursday at the GAG in NYC. It's free so stop by! Of course I'm not AT ALL prepared. I shouldn't take on things I know I don't have time to prepare for!

Thank You!

On this first day of 2007, I would like to send my thanks to the following people—many of whom are bloggers I have never met face to face.

Thanks to the Blue Rose Girls—Grace, Alvina, Anna, Libby, Meghan, and Linda—for inviting me to be a regular contributor to their great blog.
Thanks to Grace for being such a good friend and for all her support.
Thanks to Janet Wong for her advice and encouragement.
Thanks to Kelly Herold and Anne Boles Levy for the Cybil Awards. I appreciate all the hard work they undertook in organizing the nominating panels and judging committees and in providing the Cybils with such a great website.
Thanks to Kelly Herold again. Big A little a is often the first blog I visit every morning. Her list of links to other wonderful children’s literature blogs is like a treasure map on the Internet.
Thanks to Betsy for A Fuse Number 8 Production—one of the first children’s literature blogs I came across last year. It helped hook me on blogs. Hmmm…I wonder: Should I thank her for that?
Thanks to the four bloggers who served on the Cybil poetry nominating panel with me: Wordswimmer, Farm School, Seven Impossible Things (Eisha), and Poetry for Children. It was great to find other individuals who share my passion for children’s poetry. I enjoyed the in-depth and thought-provoking email discussions we had about poetry.
Thanks to Susan at Chicken Spaghetti for taking charge of the Cybil poetry panel and for getting its members off to a good start. Thanks to Susan, too, for her excellent blog.
Thanks to Three Silly Chicks, Journey Woman, and Book Buds for their great contests in 2006. I enjoyed submitting entries. It was fun. I hope they’ll hold more contests in 2007!
Thanks to Gregory K., The Big Fibber, for welcoming me to the blogging world and for writing all those clever Oddaptations.
Thanks to all the other wonderful children’s literature bloggers—too numerous to mention without fear of leaving someone out—who spend their time writing about children’s books. You have been an excellent resource for me.
Thanks to all of you who have left comments at my posts at Blue Rose Girls. I appreciate your thoughts and responses. Writers always hope they will find an audience for their writing. Your comments let me know that some of you have taken the time to read what I have written.
Thanks to Pat Purdy, owner of the Banbury Cross Children's Book Shop in Wenham, Massachusetts--and to her two able assistants, Gwen and Diane. I know I can always trust their advice and suggestions. They love and read children's books. (Both Pat and Gwen are former children's librarians.)
Thanks to my wonderful husband (the fellow with the white beard sitting next to Grace in the last picture) of thirty-seven years who never once asked me: Do you have to spend so much money on children’s books? Don’t you think you already have enough kids’ books? Can’t you find a better way to spend your money? Shouldn’t you put a little more money aside for your old age? Thanks for understanding my passion for children's literature.


Thanks again, everyone…and Happy New Year!

On the Pulse of a New Year

To welcome the New Year: Here is an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s poem On the Pulse of Morning, which she read at the Inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton on 20 January 1993.


Lift up your eyes
Upon this day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands,
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For a new beginning.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space
To place new steps of change
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out and upon me,
The Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes,
And into your brother’s face,
Your country,
And say simply
Very simply
With hope—
Good morning.

(Go here for the full text of On the Pulse of Morning.)


GOOD MORNING and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Don't forget to visit The Cybils 2006 website.

The five finalists in each book category will be announced today. Hooray!


The posting of the five-book shortlists will occur at the following times:

9:15 Poetry
9:30 Non-fiction Picture Book
9:45 Fiction Picture Book
10:00 YA fiction
10:15 MG/YA Non-fiction
10:30 MG fiction
10:45 Graphic Novel
11:00 Fantasy/Science Fiction

Thanks to Kelly at Big A little a for the posting times listed above.

May 2007 bring us many wonderful new children's books!

one more thing...

I should also add that I will be posting sound bits from the actual broadcast on my website since I added a lot of stuff to my version. I want kids to know what it actually sounded like!

I should add in addition that Mona Lisa will be on audio next. The most fun part for me is finding music for these things.

meghan

aliens on audio sneak peek!

I swore to myself I'd finish it before Jan 1st. I'm close... so, so close. There are sound issues to be fixed and some pieces missing, noises to add, etc., but since I told myself I'd post something about it so here it is--

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8546853252152139759

I don't know why I keep giving myself huge projects!

Happy New Year everyone.

meghan

What are your resolutions?

It's almost a new year! What are your writing resolutions? Here are some of mine:

1. I will not use reviews, royalty statements, marketing budgets or amazon rankings to determine the quality of my book(s) or ability.

2. I will not feel icky for marketing and promotion, I will accept it as part of this career. Emphasize "part." Meaning, I will not get down on myself for not doing more, as well.

3.I will be more patient with my beloved husband and remember that it is hard for others to realize that when you are staring out the window, you are working.

4. I will back up my files and keep all drafts of my writing.

5. I will celebrate small victories. An e-mail from a fan, a publication, a shiny foil cover are achievements that should be remembered.

6. I will not be late for any of my events, and will remember my tendency to get very lost more than 15 minutes before my expected arrival time.

7. I will not feel guilty about making money. Book sales, school visits, speaking fees, advances and royalties is how I make a living and support myself (and my husband). Just because it's for children doesn't mean I should do it for free.

8. I will spend less time blogging!!

POETRY FRIDAY: A Gift of Poetry

A CHILD'S CALENDAR
Written by John Updike
Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Published by Holiday House (1999)







One of my grandnephews was so excited on Christmas Eve when he handed me the present he said he had picked out especially for me at my favorite children’s bookshop. When I visited the shop a few days later, the owner—who is a friend—told me how my grandnephew had spent time talking to her and getting her advice about the kinds of books I liked best. He also explained to her how he had to keep within his budget.

George looked so proud of himself Sunday night when I unwrapped the paperback copy of John Updike’s A CHILD’S CALENDAR. His mother, my niece, told me the owner of the bookshop said I could return the book if I already owned a copy. Well…I did have two hardcover copies—one of them signed by the author. I didn’t care. My new paperback copy of A CHILD’S CALENDAR holds a special place in my heart. It is a gift of poetry from someone who is dear to me. My second hardcover copy holds a special place in my heart, too. It was given to me several years ago by one of my second grade students—a young girl who had come to love poetry over the course of the school year.

I own duplicates of dozens of children’s poetry books. Some I have bought. Some of them were gifts from family, friends, and students who appreciated my love of poetry. I was actually happy to receive a second copy of favorite poetry books I already owned. That meant I could keep one copy of each of them at home where they wouldn’t get battered and worn from use in my classroom.

Now I can look at all the books of poetry I have received from others and remember their givers. I think of sweet little blond-haired Julie, the daughter of our school’s head custodian. I can picture Caroline—the tall, broad-shouldered, tough-as-nails-on-the-outside girl who was really tender and sensitive on the inside. I remember energetic Nicky who got hooked on poetry, especially the poems of Karla Kuskin. I remember, too, how my good friend and teaching colleague Dotty got my poetry collection started about thirty years ago with gifts of THE RANDOM HOUSE BOOK OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN and Shel Silverstein’s A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC. And I have fond memories of the late David McCord who gave me the gift not only of his poetry books for children—but also of his friendship and his support for my dream of becoming a children’s poet one day.










I was fortunate to have chosen a career in teaching—a career that brought me to children’s poetry. It was the reading and writing of poetry across the curriculum with my students that brought me closer to them and strengthened the teacher-pupil bond. The wonderful poetry my students wrote in class was a true reward for me. It was a reaffirmation of my belief that poetry should not be considered a subject apart from other curricula. I observed how it provided my students with a heightened vision of the other subjects they were studying in class. It also gave them an outlet for creative expression of their inner feelings and thoughts.

In looking into the past and thinking about my years of teaching young children, I see how poetry gradually became such an important part of my life and of my students’ educational experience in my classroom. Poetry enriched our days. It was a gift we shared—a gift I hope they will keep for a lifetime.


(NOTE: The original edition of A CHILD’S CALENDAR was illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1965. I own a copy of that book, too. Trina Schart Hyman illustrated the 1999 edition. She received a Caldecott Honor Award for her art in the book. Updike made a few minor changes to some of the poems in the newer edition—but for the most part the poetry remains true to its earlier edition.)


POEMS FOR A NEW YEAR

Here are two poems written especially for a “new year” and a poem by Sara Coleridge that takes us through a calendar year from January to December.

NEW YEAR’S DAY
by Rachel Field

Last night, while we were fast asleep,
The old year went away.
It can’t come back again because
A new one’s come to stay.


RING OUT, WILD BELLS
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.


THE MONTHS
by Sara Coleridge

January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes, loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children’s hands with posies.

Hoy July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit;
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant;
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!