Draw Rainforest Animals by Doug DuBosque, a years-ago gift to Jane from her aunt, has been seeing a lot of action around here lately. Excellent tutorials and such fun material.

Boa by Beanie

Sloth by Rilla

Quetzal, Spider Monkey, Kinkajou by Rilla

I’m writing like crazy—everywhere but here. Not to mention spamming my Facebook friends with wedding photos today because Scott & I are celebrating our 19th anniversary.

He wrote a post about his proposal. Spoiler alert: I said yes.

Here’s my Mother’s Day present from Rilla: a quetzal, a spider monkey, and a kinkajou. (Tried to upload it here but WordPress is being persnickety.)

Happy mid-May already! Sheesh!

…a neighbor down the block finds a dead mole in her yard and strolls down to show it to your kids. “I brought you a teachable moment!”

In truth, she brought us dozens. We examined the mole, which looked nothing like the velvety-black Wind-in-the-Willows English mole of my imagination, but really very much like a mouse. It was her exterminator who’d told her that what she thought were rats in the attic were actually a species of mole. When she found a dead one (dead how, no one is quite sure—caught by something, knocked on the head but left unmauled on the grass), she thought my gang might like a look at this surprising creature, this species that confounded expectations. She was right. Just last week, Rose completed the (virtual) owl pellet dissection at Froguts.com and assembled a mole skeleton from the virtual bones. The lab included shrew and vole skeletons as well, and we’d studied the differences in paw bones and teeth. Beautiful timing, this poor dead mole, demonstrating its digger characteristics for us: the long, pointed front teeth; the strong back paws; the sturdy front claws.

Our neighbor, whom we’ve nodded at on many a walk but hadn’t had a real conversation with until today, was fascinated to hear of these computer dissection labs Rose is doing. Our talk wandered from amazing modern technology to the many staggering innovations her grandmother, born in 1899, experienced in her long life—99 years, her lifetime spanned, a century that brought telephones, indoor plumbing, automobiles, airplanes, television, and computers. “She saw man walk on the moon,” pointed out Miss Joanie.

And more stories: of her father, graduate of a one-room schoolhouse in Kentucky, who earned two PhDs: one in physiology and one in nuclear physics. Her mother, a graduate of Cornell, who suffered a stroke her 80s and reforged her lost access to language by way of crossword puzzles and incredible perseverance. She died a year ago at age 98, solving puzzles till the last. “She was such an inspiration to me,” said Miss Joanie, holding all of us rapt, wishing we’d met her mother. “I could tell stories about her all day.”

We wanted more, all of us. Decided there are tea and stories in our future. Rose was born the year Miss Joanie’s grandmother died. Joanie’s son must be about my age, because his first computer, like mine, was a Commodore, that fabulous box with the blinking green dots. I felt extremely cutting edge—mine was the 128, not the 64. Now my cellphone could kick that old thing around the block.

Remember when people used to look at you like you had multiple heads, when they heard you were going to homeschool your kids? Nowadays they just look at you and think, there’s a person who’ll be genuinely delighted if I show up in her driveway with a dead insectivore in hand. And they’re right!

We’ve added a new mug to the Thicklebit shop, just in time for Mother’s Day.

Companion to last month’s Galloping Horse. She’s still working hard on getting those legs just so, as you see. I’m loving this chance to watch a young artist hone her skills. She’s made big strides (so to speak) already.

I believe next up is Trotting Horse. All three are from the horse page in the Usborne Book of Drawing.

Three times I’ve been asked by lovely writer friends to participate in the Next Big Thing, a blog hop in which writers talk about their upcoming books. Tanita Davis and Gail Gauthier caught me in busy spells and I had to pass, with regrets—but I loved reading their posts and appreciated the invitation. This time, my SCBWI pal Andrea Zimmerman asked if she could tag me, and third time’s the charm. Gail, Tanita, Andrea—thanks, all of you, for thinking of me!

I’ll work on my answers soon, but for now, do hop over (it’s a blog hop, after all) and read about The Warthog Smoked (Andrea), Saving the Planet & Stuff (Gail), and Favorite Son (Tanita). And then you can follow their links to the other folks they tagged. Books books books books books, there is nothing better.

All right, now that the homeschooling-teens blog is up and running, Bonny Glen can get back into its groove. I’m in another minor reading slump—brought on not by lack of interesting choices (heavens no) but quite the opposite: my usual combination of option paralysis and a busy life.

What I’m reading right now, when I’m able to read:

Too Much Happiness, a collection of short stories by Alice Munro—a gift from one of my favorite people, who loves Munro’s work and was surprised I’d missed her along the way. I’ve been savoring the stories slowly these past many weeks, not wanting to get to the end—though I know there is much more Munro waiting for me when I do.

“When Dickens Met Dostoevsky”: I mentioned on Facebook that I’ve been chipping away at this long TLS article for two weeks, but don’t let my slow pace suggest the material is plodding. Quite the opposite: this is one of the most fascinating things I’ve read all year. It recounts the gradual untangling of a mystery surrounding a letter, quoted in several recent publications, purportedly written by Dostoevsky and describing in great detail a conversation he had with Dickens in 1862. The letter, it turns out, is a hoax. Who concocted it, and how it came to be accepted as authentic by respected scholars, is as gripping as any detective novel I’ve ever read.

***

If you missed my April bookletter, you can view it on the web here and subscribe to the May edition at this link.

All righty, I’ve moved things over to a password-protected blog at Typepad to get around Blogger’s invited-reader limit. I’ve tried to sort through the previous comment threads and send login info to those of you who didn’t make it into Blogger, but if I’ve missed you, feel free to leave a comment on this post and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Thanks!

(If you DID make it into the Blogger site, the new info is posted over there too.)

Turns out there’s a reader-limit to invitation-only blogs at Blogger! We’ve reached the cap, so I’m looking at other options. I’ll find a way to include you all, so if you’ve requested an invitation and haven’t received one yet, stay tuned.

I think I’ve sent invitations to all who’ve requested them. If you asked for one and didn’t get it, check your spam filter. Or drop me a note and I’ll try again.

In case you’ve missed the discussion in yesterday’s comments: I’m reviving my old learning-notes blog and taking it to invitation-only so we can chat about homeschooling/unschooling teens (among other topics) in a more private setting. If you’d like an invitation, drop me a line or leave your email addy in the comments.

Cal Poly is amaaaaazing, is all I can say.

Testing the Pocket app from my phone

Where do you enter the title?

Oh, the broom, the bonny bonny broom…*

Yesterday we had our Journey North Mystery Class wrap-up party. Huge fun all around: each family revealed its Mystery City location and we celebrated with a feast of dishes from the far-off locales. (Even the one American city in this year’s batch is far-off from us here in San Diego.) I won’t say more about the secret locations, since I know some of you are participating in your own groups and may not have had your big reveals yet. But ohhhh, was the food good.

I’ll give this much away: Beanie’s and my contribution were these Icelandic pancakes (pönnukökur).

(Beloved Carl Larsson print hiding a snarl of electrical cords.)

Here’s the recipe we followed, and here’s a delightful video demonstration by Icelandic cook Margret:

How to Make Icelandic Pönnukökur from Iceland on Vimeo.

At the end of the video she demonstrates the most common ways to serve the pancakes: sprinkled with sugar (as we did above) or spread with jam and a generous dollop of whipped cream. I didn’t think the cream would hold up at a potluck, but you can be sure we’re going to give that version a go very, very soon.

*My sweet broom is in bloom, lightening my heart not only with its sunny blossoms but also the way it puts one of my favorite Scottish ballads into my head every time I glance its direction.

Tomorrow Jane, Rose, and I are off on a new adventure—a Peterson family first: open house at the university Jane plans to attend in the fall. Talk about blinking. Seems only last week this happened:

Remember yesterday when this happened?

Seven, you guys. She’s SEVEN.

No new post tonight because I spent my blog-time working on my new Just for Kids page. What do you think so far?

I’m reviewing some new apps for GeekMom, including one I think is going to be quite popular: Mystery Math Town from Artgig. You may recall that I gave high marks to Artgig’s Marble Math & Marble Math Jr. over at Wired a while back. I’ll link to my Mystery Math Town review when it goes live, but I thought I’d give you a heads-up. Fun, absorbing, and is proving an engaging way to slip in some math-fact practice for my Beanie-and-under crew. Including Huck. You can customize for addition, subtraction, multiplication, single digits, double digits, etc.

Yesterday Rilla and I needed to choose our next read-aloud. We decided to spread all the contenders out on my bed. Turned out there were a lot of contenders. I see a couple of repeat-requests snuck in there. (Odd Duck, for example—a graphic novel by Cecil Castellucci, art by Sara Varon. Rilla adores it.)

(I rotated the photo so the titles would be easy to read, and Facebook friends thought I was displaying a giant wall display. I wish!)

After much deliberation, Rilla chose a new arrival, The Big Bad Wolf Goes on Vacation (which I’ve now read aloud three times in two days—once each to the 9yo, 6yo, and 4yo), and then settled in for Ramona the Pest. Her first acquaintance with Ramona. That perfect first sentence—”‘I am not a pest,’ Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.”—had her at hello.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter and you’ll get news about my books, giveaways, appearances, and more delivered right to your inbox. (But not too often, don’t worry.) I’ll also share recommendations for books my kids and I have enjoyed together—you know I can never resist a nice juicy bookchat!

I’ll also include links to fun learning resources, games, and apps. Basically, it’s a little taste of Bonny Glen distilled down to a monthly newsletter for kids, parents, teachers, and homeschoolers. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

And a promise: I will never, ever share your information with anyone else.

Click here to subscribe.

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to my new newsletter so far!

I sent out the April edition to the first wave of subscribers last night and will send it to a second wave this evening. Please feel free to share it anywhere you like!

To subscribe, click here.

Question for you: I’ve added a link to the newsletter in the sidebar (see “For Your Inbox” under the book-reading bee). Right below it is the form that has always been there—the one that lets you sign up to receive individual Bonny Glen posts via email. The newsletter is something different, separate. Do you think that’s clear in the info I put in the sidebar? Monthly newsletter, click the link; daily blog emails, enter name in the box? Or is it confusing? I’m still playing with this and would love your feedback.

Thanks, o ye most faithful of readers.

Rilla: I’ve been thinking. We should have an art club for kids who want to be artists when they grow up.

Me: I love that idea!

Rilla: I wonder what we should call it.

Me, having a Jane Andrews moment: Um, the Art Club?

(Somewhere, Anne Shirley shakes her head in disgust.)

Rilla: No…I know! How about the Art Bassoon?

Me: *blinks*

Rilla: What is a bassoon, anyway?

 Me: It’s a musical instrument—here, I’ll show you. *reaches for Google*

Google, beaming: You’re going to love this.

YouTube, modestly: This old thing? Why it’s just a little something I threw together.

We watch in delight as a bassoon quartet plays a Super Mario Galaxy medley. Rilla’s excitement cannot be described. She marvels over the size of the bassoons, their rollicking sound as they play the familiar melodies.

Rilla: Bassoons are awesome.

A pause.

Rilla: But on second thought, I don’t think Art Bassoon is the right name for our club.

She thinks.

Rilla: I’ve got it! Art Sardine.

I guess this frees up Art Sardine for my new band name.

Rilla discovered the search and request features at our library website. Here are the topics she looked up:

BIG BAD WOLF

X-RAY

LION

FIELD TRIP TO THE ZOO

FLEA ON MY BACK

FIFTY HUNDRED FLEAS

FIFTY HUNDRED BALLS

FIFTY HUNDRED

KIT

Books she put on hold as a result of these searches:

The Big Bad Wolf and Me by Delphine Perret

My Mom Has X-ray Vision by Angela McAllister, illustrated by Alex T. Smith

Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex

Stay in Line by Teddy Slater, illustrated by Gioia Fiammenghi (turned up by the zoo query)

There Was a Coyote Who Swallowed a Flea by Jennifer Ward,  illustrated by Steve Gray

(Publishers, clearly you are missing the boat in the FIFTY HUNDRED market.)