Wednesday, March 10, 2010

15 Lovely Blogs



What fun! Thank you Jan von Harz of EatingYABooks for giving me a One Lovely Blog Award this week. It's always gratifying when a reader leaves a comment - and encouraging to get peer recognition. In the nine months since I began this blog, I've realized the kid lit blogosphere is a most supportive and inspiring community.

Now it's my turn to honor 15 lovely kid lit blogs. If your blog is on my list - here's the drill:

1. Mention this award in your blog - as a new post or on your sidebar.

2. Give the award to 15 other lovely bloggers.

3. Send them a message or comment to let them know.

Okay - here goes - links to my list of 15 lovely blogs:

1. Picture Book Report















Please check back soon. Coming up - a Q & A with Seth Grahame-Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the new release, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

Also - the next in my continuing series of interviews with two witty teens on what books they've read and why!

While you're here - why not leave a comment? Better yet, become a follower. Thank you, lovely readers.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Keeping the Olympic spirit alive through books



When I arrived in Vancouver during the first week of the Olympics, my intention was to write about the excitement here and weave in some relevant notes on children's literature. I didn't anticipate the Winter Games would be so all consuming that I would abandon my pending projects - including this blog - to immerse myself in the once in a lifetime experience.

Now that the games are over, there's an anti-climactic lull in the city. The Olympic buzz has fizzled out with the torch. Why not prolong the aura of friendly competition, awe inspiring athleticism, and international goodwill - through reading. Pursuing this idea, I stopped by Kidsbooks, a wonderful independent Vancouver children's bookstore, to find books on themes related to the Olympics.

For the picture book crowd, the display in one of the windows was devoted to Tacky and the Winter Games (Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger). This funny story is about the antics of a group of penguins training for the Olympics.

Next on my list - a book on sports. Men's and women's hockey were high profile events during the Olympics. How about a book that would be both informative and fun for middle graders? A helpful staff member at Kidsbooks directed me to a display of books on Olympic sports, including, The Biggest Book of Hockey Trivia by Don Weekes - full of games, puzzles and fun.

Canada has been in the center of the world stage recently, rekindling the pride many of my countrymen and I feel in our Canadian heritage. In the aftermath of the games, it seems appropriate to include some contemporary YA fiction by Canadian authors. A few recommendations by the Kidsbooks staff: Alice I Think by Susan Juby, set in Smithers, British Columbia, is a funny story about a girl with an eccentric mother. Last December (Matt Beam) is about a 15 year-old who tries out for the school hockey team. Perhaps more serious, Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka, is the story of a girl who escapes the polygamous lifestyle in a small British Columbia town.

Finally, why not gear up for the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia by reading some classic Russian literature? Leo Tolstoy's short stories fascinated me when I was a kid. A new translation of his stories has just been released: Stories. Tolstoy is accessible to younger readers as well. The lovely picture book, The Three Questions (Jon J. Muth) is based on a Tolstoy story originally published in 1903. Muth's beautiful watercolor paintings make this book special.

Any comments or suggestions on books with relevant themes - fiction or non-fiction - please send them my way.

Coming up soon - the next in a continuing series of interviews with two witty teens on the books they read and why. Do check back!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Books for black history month

February may be past the midway mark - still not too late to check out some books in celebration of black history month. I'm taking advantage of the event to fill a big gap in my own familiarity with the canon. What's on my bedside table? It was a coincidence, but one of the writers in my critique group recently gave me Toni Morrison's Beloved, in which I'm now immersed.

While living in the Bahamas for several years when I was growing up, I encountered some great literature by authors of African descent. I remember stumbling on an dog-eared copy of Chinua Achebe's masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, in the College of the Bahamas library. That classic made an indelible impression on me. Then there were pivotal historical works by Americans like Malcolm X (The Autobiography of Malcolm X), Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice), Alex Haley (Roots) and Maya Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). My mother gave me some of these, others I sought out myself. It was thought provoking, often disturbing reading - and it helped raise my consciousness during my own coming of age.

For a West Indian POV, my friend Marie Sairsingh, a PhD candidate in Caribbean literature at Howard University, recommends Edwidge Danticat's Brother I'm Dying and Merle Dodge's Crick Crack Monkey.

Add to that a dusting of poetry - while my son was enrolled in a wonderful enriched English program in grade school - he found time to read Langston Hughes for extra-curricular pleasure. I would recommend all of these to young adult readers.

Looking for more contemporary literature on the theme of black history - for kids of all ages? Here's a great list posted by Bianca Schulze in the blog, The Children's Book Review: blackhistorybooks.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Girl at the Getty - pictures and stories



A friend and I wandered around the Getty Center this weekend, on a mission to achieve cultural fulfillment in three courses. Beginning with a generous amuse bouche to inform our own art - we study the drawings of Rembrandt and his students, in a brilliantly curated exhibit. Like a comfort food entree, we explore the unexpected and curiously scented flora in the Central Garden. Then dessert - three captivating collections of photography.

Satiated, we're ready to leave except for one thing. A visit to the Getty is not complete until we venture to the upstairs gallery with its selection of 19th Century masters. It's a small group of paintings - a smattering of exquisite Monets - one each of the lily pond at Giverny, the haystacks and the cathedral at Rouen, along with a few delectable morsels by Renoir, Gauguin, Degas, Van Gogh, Pissarro and Cezanne. I forget we've been in the museum for hours when I enter this room.

In the adjacent gallery is the last painting of the day - an after dinner mint? Portrait of Jeanne Kefer by Fernand Khnopff. The girl stands alone in front of the adult-sized door - its scale capturing her smallness and delicacy. The bonnet with its pink bow tied to the side, the stockings a little rumpled, her timid gaze combined with the subtle gesture - a tiny hand tucked into the front of her coat - enough to suggest so much about her character. Like all great art, a story. We walk away inspired.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The kid lit blogosphere fancy ball

For the past few days, I've been in acute withdrawal. In the aftermath of the kid lit blog Comment Challenge, hosted by Mother Reader and Lee Wind, the buzz of kid lit bloggers faded to a whisper. It was my blogosphere event debut - the first time I've participated in a challenge since starting my blog last June. What a revelation. I was thrust into a virtual social whirl for which I didn't even need to buy a new dress. The only requirement was to visit other kid lit blogs and make five comments a day. I did so with diligence. It was time consuming - and in the process I treated my writing and painting WIPs with callous disregard, ignoring their screeches for attention.
As I plodded through a list of kid lit blogs, leaving comments like dropped glass slippers at so many balls - I noticed something. Visitors were stopping by my own blog. Many left their calling cards. Several of them began following me too. I gathered valuable insights about the Kidlitosphere, met new people and joined in the party. No downside involving rags or pumpkins - most often I was in pajamas.
Now I know - I need to continue to make the effort to sustain that community. Thank you Lee and Mother Reader for the invitation.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

And the winner is

In the spirit of awards season, I'm happy to announce that Tiana Lei has won a copy of Thereby Hangs A Tail, the new Chet & Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn. This is my first book giveaway - a random draw of everyone who commented on my recent two-part interview with New York Times bestselling author Spencer Quinn - below.

Many thanks to Spencer Quinn for providing the book - with his signature and Chet the dog's paw print. I will send it off to Tiana as soon as I receive her mailing address.

Congratulations, Tiana and happy reading!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Part 2 - The Spencer Quinn interview continued


Here's part 2 of my interview with Spencer Quinn - bestselling author of the newly released Thereby Hangs A Tail - second book in the Chet & Bernie Mystery Series. As Peter Abrahams, he has written numerous books for adults and children. His most recent YA novel, Reality Check, was just nominated for an Edgar. His next YA novel, Bullet Point, comes out in April. Part 1 of the interview appears in the previous post (see below).

In the second half of the interview, Spencer talked about his daily writing routine, advancing the story, and his blog - written from the POV of Chet the Dog, Bernie's partner in the Little Detective Agency:

ChettheDog is a unique blog and a lot of fun to read - sort of a fix for your readers until the next book comes out. How do you go about writing it? Is that how you start your writing day?

I don’t think of it as part of my writing day – I think of it as part of what you have to do as a writer now. In today’s publishing world, there’s not a question in my mind that most writers have to pitch in and help. I actually enjoy doing this. It doesn’t take me long. Today there’s a thing about Martin Luther King and part 2 of a contest – the winner gets a copy of Thereby Hangs a Tail signed by Spencer Quinn and stamped with Chet’s paw print.

A redesign is happening. There’s a little button – Friends of Chet – where readers can post pictures of their dogs and whatever they want to say. I wanted to make it more prominent - the picture of the latest friend of Chet will appear on the home page. The default friend is my dog, Audrey. That’s part of the redesign. There’s another video being made now. It looks like a late night cheesey TV ad for a detective agency. There’s a business card for the Little Detective Agency - right now there’s no card but we’re having it made up.

I did a kind of mini-story on the movie Greed. When I do a book I have all the set-ups but with the blog, I almost lost track – very Chet-like. But it’s about the time. If all I did was the Chet and Bernie stuff – but I’m doing young adult too. So you have to be disciplined about the time.

How much do you write each day?

I have a goal – it’s not big. I’m a piece-maker (not a peacemaker - I’d be the very last person you’d want as a peacemaker ) but a piece-worker, as in an old fashioned factory. I try to produce a thousand words a day. At least, I try to produce something to advance the story. I think it would be depressing to sit down and not advance the story - I try to advance the story doubly.

What do you mean?

Every sentence has to push the story forward in some way – not necessarily in terms of plot – but move forward or add something. And if it doesn’t, it has to be cut. I never sit down to write and get up and leave it for the day with nothing done.

I remember you once saying you try to do something original on each page. I loved this idea. Can you talk about it more?

I try to have no boiler plate, ever - but without attracting attention to it – not the kind of being original that is just out there to show off originality - because everything has to advance the story. But that’s just me – it’s a protestant attitude. (And I’m Protestant to the core – High Church.) For example, with Chet and Bernie, the originality’s in the point of view, not the material. I’m not trying to do something where you’d say of the material, “that’s never been done before,” like I did with the earlier novels for adults, like Oblivion, and End of Story too - and some of the others.

With Chet and Bernie, I took the familiar music of classic mysteries but I played it on an unusual instrument. If I tried to take cutting edge material with a dog narrator, it just wouldn’t have worked.

Any inspirational advice for new or aspiring writers?

I just don’t know. There are two sides - one is the technical how to do this, and the other is character-related – which has to do with the amount of effort you’re willing to put in, how tough your skin is going to be and how good a judge you are of your own material. Those are the issues.

Publishers, readers – at least some of them - are always looking for something fresh and original, and I think there’s a disconnect there. Readers aren’t always looking for something new - they’re often looking for comfort. If we’re coming to the end of the gatekeepers, I’m not sure that’s a good thing in terms of the right stuff getting out there. It sounds a little paradoxical but that’s my opinion.

What are you working on now?

I’m almost finished The Peanut Case, the third Chet and Bernie book. I’m on chapter 29 now. It’s circus- related. The background of the book is the illegal trade in exotic animals. Peanut is an elephant.

When does The Peanut Case come out?

Early winter, 2011.

I can’t wait to read it - and Bullet Point, too. Thank you, and congratulations on the Edgar nomination.

Leave a comment, and you could win a copy of Thereby Hangs A Tail - signed by Spencer Quinn and stamped with Chet's paw print. Winner to be chosen by a random draw of all the names of people who commented on both parts of the interview.