Work in progress: What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe?

After months and years of sketching, research, and revising, I am at last beginning the paintings for my craft/recycling/poetry book titled What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? This is always an exciting step, pulling out the first piece of paper and laying down the first brush strokes in what is going to be months of painting!

Here is a peek at the first painting in progress, I'll post the latter half of the process next week...

The sketch:



Sketch transferred to paper:



Laying down the first washes:



Building up color:



Begin to layer pen and ink outlines:



Building more color:

on vacation...

Hi all, no substantial post today, I've been on vacation since the 4th. Am now in San Diego on a family reunion (my mom's side of the family). But I'll be observing lots of real kids--many of my cousins have kids now, ages ranging from 4 months to almost 6 years. Kids everywhere! And I'm determined to make readers of them all.

A PS to my last post

Since no one else has posted today, and I have a lot to say about the comments on my last post, I'm adding a PS to it.

I agree with Alvina and Meghan that sometimes "I think I can" is a good thing to tell yourself.....

I loved Meghan's "of course" -- of course there are times when you can't do it -- but that isn't at all obvious to some of us: people like me who are over-optimistic and ever-hopeful, and kids, too. When adults in charge of children say believing you can do it and persistence are all that's needed and they AREN'T, the kids struggling feel even worse -- not only are they dumb but lazy (or whatever). Books with simplistic messages do make it easy for adults to apply the message even when it isn't helpful.

This may be way too much to be putting on one little book! What I probably should do is write a post on my personal blog about what's been going on in yoga class and the difference between letting go and giving up. But everyone's comments really made me think and I wanted to talk about it.

Jump the tracks!

I've never liked this book and on the way home from yoga this morning I decided that it actually sends a really BAD message....one is the image of life as an uphill struggle with only one track and two choices.


Sure, sometimes persistence is a good thing, but at other times, it's just plain dumb.

I think fairy tales actually have emotional messages that are lot closer to the psychological truth: persistence and hard work, courage, kindness, presence of mind -- they're all necessary. But they're not enough all by themselves -- most happy endings in fairy tales come about as a result of these PLUS help and dumb luck.

In The Uses of Enchantment Bettleheim writes about this a lot more eloquently; he tells about a child who reminded herself of THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD when she was trying to do something....she kept trying and trying, but she never did succeed at whatever it was and thinking of the book actually made her feel worse.

So, I say, write books that are realistically hopeful...and I wish someone would do a rewrite of this with the little engine jumping the rails or turning itself into a flying machine.

POETRY FRIDAY: A New Poet

I love discovering a new voice in poetry—the voice of a writer whose books I’ll want to read and savor…and recommend to my one friend who shares my passion for poetry.

Finding a “new poet” whose work you love is like opening a wonderful surprise present—one that dazzles you with its beauty or fits you like a glove or opens you to new worlds. Here is a poem by Linda Pastan that expresses my feelings about this subject better than I could ever do.


From A New Poet
by Linda Pastan

Finding a new poet
is like finding a new wildflower
out in the woods. You don't see

its name in the flower books, and
nobody you tell believes
in its odd color or the way

its leaves grow in splayed rows
down the whole length of the page. In fact
the very page smells of spilled

red wine and the mustiness of the sea
on a foggy day-- the odor of truth
and of lying.


You can read the rest of the poem here at Poetry 180.

Over at Wild Rose Reader today I have some thoughts about the Cybils and the children’s poetry books I’ve reviewed this year to date at Blue Rose Girls and at my solo blog.

when the crap of life gets in the way

Lately I must admit that I haven't had much time to post... to update my website... to write on my personal blog... and worst of all, to work on my books.

First I had a "friend" who ended up being a conman who was stealing people's SS#s and taking out loans in their names.. my FRIENDS names.... maybe my name! I freaked out about that. Then I got diagnosed with an untreatable nerve condition. Basically for the rest of my life (unless a dr. finds the cause) my nerves will continue to be damaged by either a virus, a poison, or autoimmune... which means my entire body will feel pain from the nerves misfiring... and numbness... and pins and needles... and weakness... and god knows what else. As long as I don't progress further, I'll be okay. If my symptoms progress, I don't know what will happen to me. It could be bad. Of course I freaked out about that. I'm still freaking out. It's consuming me. My parents were supposed to go on a bike trip across Colorado last week... my father went in for a routine dr. check-up a few days before leaving... and just like that the trip had to be cancelled and my father had to emergency quadruple bypass surgery. The Dr. said he wouldn't have made it. I freaked out about that. There's always the possibility of something happening (obviously). I went to RI to see him in the ICU. Thankfully, my dad is okay although it's been rough.

So there you have it. Lately there's always something IN THE WAY of creativity. To be creative your mind has to be free of clutter. Mine hasn't been.

My parents decided to move and sadly sold their house (my childhood home) a week before my father found out he'd have to have surgery. Yes, more drama. While in RI I took some photos... for the memories. These places mean a lot to me. This is where I grew up. This is where I played. This is where I used my imagination.





Yes, there's a deer in this picture! Look closely.





And now I will end by sharing one of my almost finished pieces for my astronaut book. This is for the title page. FINALLY I think I'm back on track!

Behind the Book

Since the blog has been so slow lately (we all must be way too busy basking on the beach all day... uh-huh) thought I'd share this great web site I just discovered. Its called Behind the Book, and its just the sweetest web site, and company, ever. They pair up author/illustrator visits with low-income schools to promote literacy. Hurray! If any of you author/illustrators out there living in New York want to volunteer a visit, this seems like a fine organization to work with.

The highlights of ALA

**PICTURES ADDED**

I was working on a very detailed wrap-up of ALA, but it seemed so daunting and exhausting to attempt. So here's an abbreviated version of some of the highlights. Pictures to come!

1) Congratulations for Justina Chen Headley for winning the Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association Youth (APALA) Literature Award for Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies), and to BRG Grace Lin for winning the honor for The Year of the Dog. Justina and I attended the awards breakfast on Sunday morning at ALA. I accepted on Grace's behalf. Grace, you were missed. Then Justina accepted her award and called me out as the editor for both her book and Grace's, and afterwards everyone congratulated me on my "sweep".

Congratulations Justina, Grace, and all the winners!

Justina and me, holding the newly "stickered" books

2) Saturday night was our fiction dinner, featuring authors Sara Zarr (Story of a Girl), Sherman Alexie (Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian), and Jerry Spinelli (Eggs). This type of dinner was new to me, and I thought the format was great. Basically, there were three tables filled with librarians. Our publisher Megan Tingley made a little introduction, and then our amazing, tireless (as long as she has her Diet Coke or Tab) library marketing manager Victoria Stapleton explained how the dinner would work. Each table featured one author. First Sara Zarr read 3-5 minutes from her book, then everyone sat down for salad. Then the authors rotated to sit at a different table, and Sherman Alexie read from his book. Then we ate our entrees. Then the authors switched tables again, and Jerry Spinelli read from his book, and then we enjoyed our dessert. Afterwards, the authors signed copies for everyone there. So, a bit like our librarian previews. Overall, it was a fabulous evening: I was delighted to meet both Sara and Sherman for the first time, the conversation flowed, and the food was delicious, too (salmon).

Jerry reading from Eggs with Sherman Alexie looking and listening on

3) Sunday afternoon was our picture book lunch, featuring author/illustrators Peter Brown (The Fabulous Bouncing Chowder), Patrick McDonnell (Hug Time), and Jerry Pinkney (Little Red Riding Hood). We featured original art from all of the books, and then the format was similar to that of the fiction lunch, except instead of reading from their books, the illustrators all talked for a few minutes about their books and illustrations. And I'll add that once again, the food was delicious (I had the vegetarian pasta option that was great, because the meat entree was chicken with a mango salsa, and I'm allergic to mango), as was the company. I listened in on a fascinating conversation between two Texan librarians who explained to me to process of challenging a book in their library system.

Art on display from The Fabulous Bouncing Chowder

4) I attended the Newbery/Caldecott dinner on Sunday night for the first time. Peter Brown and Jerry Pinkney joined us, as well as Jerry's agent Sheldon Fogelman and author Cecil Castellicci who, along with Holly Black, is working on an exciting short story collection for us (but I'll talk about that more in the future). I had a FANTASTIC time. I sat next to librarian Nina Lindsay aka Martha (I'll add an amazing picture of her in her outfit, homage to James Marshall, soon.) David Wiesner's speech was solid--funny, touching, thought-provoking, and I thought Susan Patron's speech was absolutely amazing. An editor friend of mine warned me beforehand, "Did you see the CDs? The Newbery speech is 25 minutes long!!" and we were afraid it would drag. We also took bets on whether "scrotum" would be mentioned. Thankfully, the speech didn't drag at all. It was hilarious (she collected foam shoulder pads and planned to sew them together into a quilt), touching (she told of how she met her husband), fascinating (it was great hearing about the whole scrotum controversy from her point of view), and inspiring. And she mentioned Fuse#8 in her speech! (Betsy looked dashing in her red dress, by the way.)

Nina Lindsay dressed as Martha (as in George and Martha)

And that's my wrap-up for now. I had a post last week on my personal blog about the books on my Spring 09 list, so check it out here.

And on a personal note, I'm celebrating my fifth-year anniversary of moving to NY. Oh, NYC, how I still love thee, even five years later. May our relationship last longer still.

More pics:

Senior Editor Jennifer Hunt and Sherman Alexie after his book signing on Saturday

At the Kidlit Drinks Night, our host MotherReader on the left

(and can someone identify the blogger on the right?)

the dessert at the fiction dinner--a very light citrusy thing

with Jerry Spinelli after his signing Sunday morning

Lisa triumphant with her amazing spiral of ARCs for Betwixt.

more party pics!

This is my friend Julia and her wonderful cake pre-party! Julia, you rock!



This is what the whole party looked like to me--one big red blur. From left to right--Grace, Rebecca (my agent), and... Anna? Is that you Anna?



This is a good one of Grace!

oh geez!

This is mine for my Fireside Chat:

² -

Oh dear, I'm a BAD author. BAD, BAD, BAD.

meghan

this is fitting

Mingle² - Online Dating

Us being a children's book blog and all...

POETRY FRIDAY: The Summer Day

Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets. I was introduced to her poetry more than twenty years ago when I attended a Writers’ Conference at Salem State College. Oliver, one of the conference speakers, read from American Primitive, her collection of poems that won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984. I have been an admirer of her work ever since then. I love American Primitive and House of Light. One of Oliver’s poems that I read again and again is The Summer Day. It can be found in House of Light and at the Poetry 180 website.

From The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

You’ve got to read the end of this poem. Just click here.

___________________________

Today at Wild Rose Reader I review two pictures books about the sea.

sorry

I didn't have time to come home and make a brilliant post and this is because my S&S editor took me out for a wonderful dinner. I just love being wined and dined! Now I'm off to RI to see my father in the hospital... well, later in the day anyway.

Yes, it's nothing but busy stuff for me lately!

Perhaps I'll post something before I go since it is only 5am at the moment. I do want to do a topic on handy things to keep in the home office/studio if time permits. I would also like to show you all the new painting I'm working on. It has lots of wires in it!

meghan

party pics part one

Hello all,

I've got to run but I promise to post tonight! It will be something exciting... maybe... maybe not. That's the fun thing about me--boring or exciting. You decide.

anyhow, here are a few party pics to tide you over!

Thank you!

It's not my turn to post today, but as Meghan says -- it has been quiet lately. So here is a thank you to everyone who reads this blog, especially those of you who comment: I wish I could send everyone REAL flowers (these are the ones I planted in my garden with the landlords' kids as described in one of the Real Children posts). Emily, your comment and post about your views on Mr.Darcy and Mr.Rochester when you were ten made me laugh out loud.

When *I* was ten, I thought that Rhett Butler was completely terrifying, especially in the scene where he tells Scarlett that he could squash her head like a walnut. I thought she should have married one of the Tarleton twins -- and not just because it would have been fun to go galloping around the countryside with them and their dogs.

Ten year olds may have the right idea: how much fun would those brooding romantic types really be to live with, anyway?

A memoir

Wow it's been quiet! I must say I've been busy myself... lots of book stuff to do!

Anyhow, because I'm ADD, I've decided to write a memoir about my childhood... or rather a particular individual in my childhood and the dramatic incident that happened involving her. Yes, dear friends, this will be a story about abuse. I was not the one abused (and no one in my family was) so I think this will be a fresh take on things, don't you think? Then I got another idea--to get my sister and mother to write parts as well... the stuff they remembered.

Okay, so here's what I"ve got so far (I have NO idea why I'm sharing other than the blog is silent and I don't feel like posting photos of the party just yet or talking about what I'm working on).

Introduction

I’m obsessed with stories about child molesters. I came to this realization last week when I wanted something to watch. I bought Deliver Us From Evil. It’s a documentary about a Catholic priest, who for twenty years molested children. The other priests knew and did nothing. The man got away with it. All of it. And there he was, on film, going on about it like he was reminiscing about what he ate for breakfast.

One of my friends asked, “Why would you want to watch a movie about THAT?”

“Uh…I don’t know,” I said.

I really didn’t.

Then, I thought about it…and I knew.

This brings me to my memoir. OUR memoir. I’ve tried for years to write about it, but only spurts came out. My sister, who is also a writer, wrote about the same thing. Why were we both so obsessed? Why did we both write short stories about the same incident? Then the idea came to me. Why don’t we write the story TOGETHER.

----


At Dinner
“Vicky stopped by a few weeks ago,” my father said.
Vicky…Vicky Adams Vicky?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
My father paused to stick some more shrimp and pasta onto his fork.
“She uh—“
“I thought she was in jail,” Bridget said.
“Obviously WAS,” I said. “What did she say?”
“She was real polite… how are you doin’ Mr. McCarthy…she shook my hand…”
“She was always polite,” my mother added. “They ALL were.”
My father swallowed his shrimp, took a swig of beer and continued. “She said she’s in the army…doing really well. She said one of the other boys is married with two kids…still living in Reedsville.”
“Yeah RIGHT,” Bridget said. “I’m SURE she’s in the army.”
“I think both boys were in the army. She probably stole the story from one of them. I wouldn’t believe a thing she says.” My mom added.
“Yeah, something wasn’t right with her. Everyone in the neighborhood tried to shoo her away. No one wanted her in their yard.”
“That’s right, I remember that,” mom said.
“Everyone but YOU,” dad said to mom. “You felt bad…wanted to take her in…pooooor little Vicky.”
“Well. Michael. She was so little when she first showed up at our doorstep. Only four. The kids were locked out of the house all winter long in the cold!”
“Whatever happened to that man…Mr. What’s-his-name? Mr. White…”
“Committed suicide,” my mom said.
“No WAY!” Bridget’s fork dropped onto the floor.” I didn’t know that.”
“Well,” Mom said, “all those accusations of abuse…”
“Yeah, I remember,” Bridget said. “Vicky would go into that man’s house to get candy and wouldn’t come out for hours!”
“What abuse? What man?” asked my little sister Kaila. She had been silent the whole time, quietly picking at her meat. I’d almost forgotten that she didn’t know. We all opened our eyes wide and gave each other The Look. The DON’T SAY ANYTHING look. How could we tell her now? After all this time…

My Town
My mom said they moved to Reedsville for the tranquility…the wholesomeness… Reedsvlle was nature overload––glistening ponds, fluttering butterflies, trees quietly rustling in the wind. Most of the houses were antique, with white picket fences and window-boxes and dogs nuzzling their owners on porch steps. But looks can be deceiving. At night there were shotguns and motorcycles and beer bottles crashing into cracked roadways.

Before I Was Born
I was born a year after my parents moved in. They’d bought a fixer-uper. My mom said the kitchen had wood paneling and linoleum covered the floors. The bathroom used to be where the study is. My dad ripped out the toilet and installed a new one where the birthing room used to be. Yes, the birthing room. The house is two hundred years old and that’s what my parents were drawn to––the history of it. But old houses need help. Lots of it. A nice white ceiling will start to show small yellow circular spots. The spots will grow and grow until it’s clear that there’s a leak coming from some pipe that’s been neglected for longer than Lincoln was president. The house wasn’t the only thing that needed help. So did the town. The pretty little houses with their white fences held secrets. Secrets passed on from generation to generation.


----
so that's all I have. I have to go paint now! I hope I don't have paint poisoning. All of you painters need to be careful of that!

meghan

My Keene State Owl

Today a short "whats on my desk" kind of post...

As some of you might have read in this post, Keene State College is collecting owls from children's book illustrators for their 100 year anniversary.

Here is my contribution, just shipped off:



Since it is going to be 96 degrees in Boston today, thought I'd post a little snow!

Lizzie or Jane?

Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre are still in the children's section of most bookstores I've visited lately...Who would you rather be, Elizabeth Bennet


or Jane Eyre?



For me the answer would have been a complete no-brainer if I hadn't seen the new (and to me, definitive, far better than the book) Jane Eyre on TV. But that started a whole new train of thought about this character and how really revolutionary she was, in her passion and insistence on her own equality. I even went back and reread big chunks of the book....and in the introduction it said that when Jane Eyre was first published, one reviewer suggested that it not be left lying around where young girls could find and read it.

So now I'm not sure (especially since Jane gets Mr.Rochester as played by Toby Stevens). I think she'd also probably be quite a bit better at supporting herself than Elizabeth, too. But I know which character I would rather have created: Lizzie. What about you? And why do you think these books are in the children's section?

yesterday

Yes, yesterday was my day to post and yes, I did not do so. I was busy cutting my foot and going to my publisher and being sick on the subway and then going to the gym.

I have my camera back so I'll be posting some more party pictures soon! I have some other things to share, which I'll do so shortly.

Now, I must ask, is this idea crazy? I want to do a graphic novel on "the dark side" of thomas edison. It would be for teens. I think. For example, did you know that Thomas Edison tortured animals? Yes, I know, this is some serious stuff... and I'll be crushing the little notions that Edison was a hero. But I still want to do it! Weak-stomached people be damned! I want to take history writing to a new level here folks. True, my idea will probably never see the light of day. Sob.

meghan

off to ALA

I'm off to ALA--I'll be working at the Little, Brown booth on Saturday and Monday from 1-5, so stop by and say hi! At other times I'll be around, attending various lunches and dinners (including the Newbery-Caldecott dinner, which I'm really excited about...but what should I wear?!) and having barely an ounce of free time. I get back late late Monday, and Tuesday is our Focus meeting at work. Joy joy. I doubt I'll have a chance to post on Monday, but I promise to have an ALA wrap-up soon thereafter. Have a great weekend, everyone!