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This morning parents all over the land were slapping their heads with annoyance at having forgotten about World Book Day until being reminded that a costume would be needed five minutes before setting off to take their children to school. Or maybe that was just me.

Lack of preparation necessitated a fudge - a Nemo mask instead of a proper costume - but once inside the school gates there was little need to be embarrased. Sure, some parents (who are these people?) had really gone to town - I saw a passable Oliver Twist, what could have been a Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island and what looked like a refugee from Les Miserables. But these literary pretenders were seriously outnumbered by the Spidermen, Sportacuses and Disney Princesses, which I did feel was a little bit of a sad indictment of what our 4-6 year olds consider as characters from books.

Still, World Book Day cannot be a bad thing - children will spend the day listening to, reading and talking about books which is a cause for celebration. And, speaking personally, to make up for forgetting a costume and thinking that Nemo is a literary character, tonights' bedtime story will be a scene from Crime and Punishment.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

PS Over the next few days I'll be at the annual SXSW interactive festival. If you happen to find yourself in Austin, Texas on Sunday, come watch me try to sound intelligent talking about Stories, Games and Your Brand.

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Here is a picture of my fabulous husband cleaning out my kayak from the winter.


And here is a picture of the fabulously enormous spider that crawled out from under the seat.


EEEEK!!  At least he was cooperative enough to hang around while we went to get the camera and a quarter for perspective.  But still...EEEEK!!  I can guarantee I would have leaped out of the kayak if I'd discovered him out on the water.

After a thorough check under the seat for this guy's friends and relatives, we went out for a lovely paddle on a calm lake before the winds picked up. Also got the vegetable garden in today, planted flowers by the mailbox, and finished reading TRACKING TRASH by Loree Burns and THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selznick.  Both amazing and unique, in amazingly different ways.  I'll post reviews soon, but I'm being summoned for a bonfire now.  Virtual s'mores to my LJ friends!