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       In The Guardian Julian Barnes recounts My life as a bibliophile.
       He seems to have long been a pretty diehard one, recognizing (just) how far his obsession went (goes ?):

I also bought books it made no sense to buy, either at the time or in retrospect -- like all three volumes (in first edition, with dust-wrappers, and definitely unread by the previous owner) of Sir Anthony Eden's memoirs. Where was the sense in that ?

       In The Guardian Stuart Jeffries has a solid profile of John Banville: a life in writing.
       Banville's Ancient Light is just out in the UK (get your copy at Amazon.co.uk) but only due out in the US in October (pre-order your copy at Amazon.com) -- though look for that date to be pushed up if it gets Man Booker-shortlisted, as Banville (tongue quite deeply in cheek, no doubt) is certain it will:

"I think they may as well call the whole thing off and give me the prize now !"

       The second volume in Deborah Harkness' 'All Souls Trilogy', Shadow of Night, is due out shortly (pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), so I've finally gotten around to the first volume: the most recent addition to the complete review is my review of A Discovery of Witches.

Leeza Hernandez’ debut book hit the bookstores the week of June 10th.  That Friday night we celebrated in NYC with Leeza at her book party.  It was so much fun getting to see Leeza shine.  The picture on the left is Leeza and Connie Colon.  Notice the necklace that Leeza is wearing?  The ornanment on the chain is a dog bone – so cute!  She even had rice crispy treats made up in the shape of dog bones.  And the dress she wore was a knock out.  The whole thing should have made the society page or the book section of the New York Times.  Anyway, I thought I would show off Leeza a little on Illustrator Saturday to help you get to know the next New Jersey SCBWI Regional Advisor a little better.

I asked Leeza to share the journey to getting Dog Gone Published.  Here’s Leeza:

Dog Gone! has been in the making for almost three and  half years, so it’s wonderful to see it out in the world now. Early in 2009, I was invited to the Putnam office at Penguin to meet with art director Cecilia Yung, publisher Nancy Paulsen and editor Nicole Kasprzak. The meeting was a result of winning the Tomie de Paola portfolio award at the New York SCWI winter Conference that same year. I remember being so excited but crazy nervous, too! 

I shared my portfolio and we talked about ideas that I had for picture books. Cecilia pointed out a dog sample in the portfolio and asked if there was a story to go with it.

It just so happened I had with me what I call an ‘ideas’ book. It’s like a small portfolio but filled with loose sketches, notes and random papers. Luckily, there was a copy of the story tucked in the back. Nancy, Cecilia and Nicole read it. I sat quietly for what felt like hours and then Nancy said “Let’s take it.” It was that pinch-me moment when a good poker face can come in really handy. I gave a silly, goofy grin and managed to suppress the girlie squeals, but inside I was running round the office as if I just scored a hat trick at the World Cup! 

Writing a story wasn’t the plan, but thanks to an art director who requested a dog sample from me a year prior (there were only cats in my portfolio at the time), an idea germinated from simple word play on dog terms—“Hot Dog” became “Top Dog” which led to “Doggone it” then a-ha,“Dog Gone!” a story idea appeared about a puppy who runs away.

While working on the book, I have made a number of revisions, mostly to the illustrations; had the book release pushed back twice; saw a change in publisher and switched to a new editor. All par for the course apparently, although at the time I had no idea what to expect throughout the process, especially when a publication date gets changed. That’s hard to take when you are so excited and have to wait another six months or maybe a year before you get to see the book in hand.

Working with Susan and Cecilia has been great. Marikka Tamura was the designer on the book and nailed the type design to suit the illustrations perfectly. Everyone helped shape the book into what it is now and I could not have done it without them, for sure. You learn to appreciate very quickly that making children’s books is a collaborative team effort.

 Some other things I learned during the creation of this book:

Communication is key. Anything and everything is as simple as a conversation, so don’t be afraid

The coming week’s bookish radio delights to listen out for include:

Sunday 1 July

Monday 2 July

Tuesday 3 July

Wednesday 4 July

Thursday 5 July

Friday 6 July

Saturday 7 July

All these radio programmes are available to listen to online worldwide, usually for one week after initial broadcast in the UK.

So you’re at a writers’ conference and you have a chance to sit down with an agent.  This encounter is basically like speed dating because you have about five minutes to get the person across the table from you to want, if not to commit to a relationship, at least to try one out.

You have probably 15 seconds to make a lasting first impression.  Another 30 to build curiosity.  A mere few minutes to captivate, inspire and intrigue…

GIVEAWAY: Merry is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before.

Guest column by Merry Jones, author of the Harper Jennings thrillers,
SUMMER SESSION and BEHIND THE WALLS, as well as the Zoe Hayes
mysteries, THE NANNY MURDERS, THE RIVER KILLINGS, THE DEADLY
NEIGHBORS, THE BORROWED AND BLUE MURDERS.  She has also
written humor (including I LOVE HIM, BUT…) and nonfiction (including
BIRTHMOTHERS, Women who relinquished babies for adoption tell their
stories.) Jones is a member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, Mystery Writers
of America and The Authors Guild. Visit her at MerryJones.com.
Find links to all her books here.

These time estimates don’t apply just to hooking agents.  They apply to meeting people in general.  In our culture, we first impressions matter a lot—consciously or not.  And when you approach an agent with your banging book concept, you’re the hundredth person she’s seen that morning.  So you have to make her hear you.  Which means, somehow, you have to get her attention.

And that’s where creativity comes in.  I know authors who have gone far to get agents’ attention.  One woman wore an extravagant, oversized elaborate hat.  Another went dressed as her main character: a prim Victorian lady.  One guy wore his parrot on his shoulder.  And someone actually admitted to hobbling in on crutches, feigning a broken leg, just to make an impression.

They all made, I’m sure, lasting first impressions.  But was that enough?

Apparently, it wasn’t, as not one got agents that way.  Getting attention is good, but it’s just the first step.  It isn’t enough to shock with costumes or win sympathy with a limp.  Even if you wear neon tights and arrive by trapeze, you’ll probably need something more.

So prepare. Find out what other books that agent has represented

Last week-end, many of us enjoyed beautiful weather in California while learning more about libraries, librarianship, and how to improve services to children. We also made time to visit the Exhibit Hall, network with colleagues, and celebrate quality children’s literature.

Ten bloggers volunteered to “live-blog” from the conference. Unfortunately, a serious hardware outage at our provider prevented us from from doing this.  Tomorrow and Monday,  some of us hope to share some of the things we learned and experienced at the ALA Annual Conference last weekend.

Feel free to add YOUR thoughts about what you learned at the Midwinter Conference in the comments below.

Bird Talk: What Birds Are Saying and Why
By Lita Judge
Roaring Brook Press (an imprint of Macmillan)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-1-59643-646-6
Ages 6-10
On shelves now

The older you get the more facts seem to change. For example, when I was a kid I remember that some facts were as of yet unprovable but were told with a certain ring of truth. Take the dinosaurs as an example. As a kid I “knew” that they had all died out probably because of a big nasty meteor. Talk to a kid today and ask them what killed the dinosaurs and you will receive a very different interpretation. The dinos? Why didn’t you know? They all turned into birds! Which is to say, there’s a working theory at the moment that says that the dinos evolved into the birdies we know and love today. With that new theory in mind I can think of few author/illustrators better equipped to write a factual illustrated bird picture book than Ms. Lita Judge. Having wowed the masses already with her fantastic Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World it seems only appropriate that she should turn her sights on the next stage in evolution: those with some avian flair.

How much do you really know about birds? They’re our neighbors, after all. Even if you live in the most busting of metropolises, you’re bound to catch a glimpse of them here or there. Yet are they the brainless twittering nobodies we sometimes take them to be or is there something else at work? Are they, in fact, capable of communication? Turning her attention to twenty-eight different kinds of birds, Ms. Judge separates her book into the ways birds choose to stand out amongst one another, how they greet each other, how they find one another, how they protect one another, encourage each other, listen, and learn. Accompanied by Ms. Judge’s gorgeous lush watercolors, kids get short sweet glimpses into the lives of birds, common and otherwise. Back matter includes a listing of the birds in this book (with additional information about their habitats and geographical locations), a Glossary, References, a Web Site, and an Author’s Note that explains how Ms. Judge came to write her book.

How does nonfiction get used by kids on a day-to-day basis? Basically it splits into two segments. Either they pick up a nonfiction tome for a class assignment or they do it out of love for the subject. And because there are as many distinct individual obsessions as there are fishies in the sea, no matter what the subject matter is you can count on some kid somewhere loving that topic to death (example: When I was a kid I wanted to know everything there was to know about albino animals… of which there was nada). Birds seem like a pretty straightforward choice, though. Usually a kid will obsess over a particular type of bird, rather than the species a whole, but I’m confident that if talked up correctly this book could prove as popular with the penguin and macaw fans out there as it is with kids assigned the standard “animal book” requirement in school.

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