Ingredients of a typical day in my house
Thanks to everyone for the comments on last week’s post. It was fun to see what you’d like to hear more about. I think I take some of those topics for granted and assume people are tired of hearing me chatter about tidal homeschooling and whatnot. 
I really appreciate your feedback and look forward to diving into the topics you raised.
I’m coming up bust on the most pressing question, though—details on the washi tape in that photo. I can’t remember where it came from! I’ll see if I can track it down.
I finished reading Ace, the Very Important Pig to Huck and Rilla last week. They really enjoyed it, although they didn’t find it quite as engrossing as our last pig book, Charlotte’s Web. I mean, it’s kind of hard to compete with Charlotte. But Ace is fun and funny and was a lighthearted, enjoyable read. It works really well as a readaloud, too, which can’t be said about every good book. It’s a funny thing that some truly wonderful books just don’t take off when I try to read them aloud. That happened with The Gammage Cup, which is a huge favorite with my older kids—all of Carol Kendall’s books are winners. For sheer enjoyability, her writing style ranks up there with L. M. Montgomery and Elizabeth Goudge, as far as I’m concerned. Delicious prose and endearing, quirky characters. But…I think the very thing that makes her prose so magical—long, complicated sentences with rich description, and a lot of interior life for the characters—renders it difficult to the listening ear.
My older girls tore through Gammage and its sequel, The Whisper of Glocken, on their own. (The Firelings is my personal favorite of Kendall’s books, but I think my girls would vote for The Gammage Cup.) But as excited as I was to begin reading it to Huck and Rilla, and as excited as Rose and Beanie were for them to experience it, we bogged down after a couple of chapters. Then came a busy week and we didn’t make time for it at all, which is generally a good indicator that I haven’t picked the right book. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen, and I never have qualms about abandoning a book that isn’t making them beg for more. I’d rather they read it alone, later, and really enjoy it. I’m sure that’s what will happen with Gammage, because it’s so darn good.
Anyway, long story short (ha!), we had fun with Ace—lots of great voice fodder among the animals. Yesterday I again faced the exhilarating, momentous decision of The Next Book. I mean, this is just a huge event in my life, over and over. My next read, our next read—oh the agony of decision!
I didn’t dither overlong this time around…a particular favorite had been on my mind, and it’s one I’m not sure I ever read aloud to the other kids. I think most of them beat me to it.
Actually, I’ve always thought of this as sort of a private book, one meant for solo immersion. But…it felt right. Huck may be a little young to care much about the quest Claudia is going to undertake. But he’s into it so far—the big sister/little brother dynamic, the exciting running-away plan, Jamie chewing up Claudia’s instruction note and having his teeth turn blue. Rilla, of course, is enchanted. Running away to an art museum (as Jamie ungrammatically puts it, to Claudia’s disgust)—well, if Rilla could live anywhere but home, an art museum would likely be her pick. She’s impressed with Claudia’s good sense.
I had to decide whether to let Rilla meet the Met as I did, through this book, or to show it to her on YouTube. Would a glimpse of the vastness of the building and the extent of the collection enhance her mental picture of Claudia and Jamie’s adventure, or is it better to create that picture completely in your own imagination? If you’ve not been to Manhattan yourself, I mean. In the end, conversation made the choice for me. We finished our chapter today and Rilla had questions, and next thing you know we were all watching Sister Wendy tour the museum.
I haven’t been to the Met since the 90s. I’m a bit NYC homesick now.
Ace, the Very Important Pig by Dick King-Smith.
Ace is a descendant of that famous sheep-herding pig, Babe, we all know and love. Unlike the other farmyard animals, Ace can understand people talk. This leads to just the kind of comic intrigue we enjoy. Lots of fun character-voice potential, too. Her Lowness, Megan the Corgi gets my best Queen Victoria impression, naturally. (Er, that is, Queen Victoria as portrayed in the Horrible Histories English Monarchs song.)
Trying a little experiment here: I’ll leave this post pinned at the top of the blog until we finish the book. Check below for new posts! (P.S. If you’d like to sign up for email delivery of my posts, there’s a link in the sidebar.)
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| Dick King-Smith |
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| Brian Jacques |
We're only five weeks into the new year, and already the children's book world has lost two giants.
Dick King-Smith died on January 4th at the age of 88, and on Saturday,
Brian Jacques, was felled by a heart attack. He was 71.
After learning that King-Smith had died, I went to my bookshelf and started rereading my favorite series of his, early chapter books that feature a small, but determined girl named Sophie. Yes, King-Smith is justifiably famous for his animal stories, most notably
The Sheep Pig, which was made into the movie
Babe, but the Sophie books, while not as well known, are just as good, at least to me.
The series starts with
Sophie's Snail (when she's 4) and ends with
Sophie's Lucky (when she's 8). Throughout all six books, the reader sees Sophie mature, yet her essential nature remains the same. Of small and of stocky build, she is determined, forthright, and as unstoppable as a bulldozer. She does not approve of lying or crying. And, from book one, her strongest desire is to be a lady farmer. In
Sophie's Snail, she has to content herself with her herds and flocks of wood lice, centipedes, and other creepy crawlies. By book two, she has a pet cat named Tom (later changed to Tomboy after she produces a litter of kittens); book three brings not only a rabbit named Beano, a gift from Great-great Aunt Al, but a terrier puppy christened Puddle lands on her lap on Christmas Day. The series ends with her much closer to her dream of owning a farm than she--or her readers--might have imagined.
I devoured the books one after the other. At the end it was sad to realize that they'll be no more books from Dick King-Smith. I suppose now I'll have to start Brian Jacques' Redwall series. That one does have a final book,
Roque Crew, due out in May.
King-Smith was a soldier in World War II and a farmer for 20 years before he became a teacher and author. King-Smith's first book was The Fox Busters, published in 1978. He was one of
Britain's most prolific authors and wrote over a hundred books, which have been translated into twelve languages. In later life he lived in Queen Charlton, a small farming village near
Bristol, contributing to the maintenance and conservation of the local area as the vice-president of the Avon Wildlife Trust. He married his first wife, Myrle, in 1943. They had 3 children and 14 grandchildren. Myrle died in 2000, and King-Smith subsequently married Zona Bedding, a family friend.
He had many pets including rats, mice, ornamental pheasants, dachshunds, geese and guinea fowl, and bred guinea pigs and English rabbits.
He presented a feature on animals on TV-AM's children's programme Rub a Dub Dub.
King-Smith died on 4 January 2011 at the age of 88. You can find out more about Dick King-Smith and his books by visiting the the
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 1/9/2011
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I am writing this post today around 9 p.m. on Sunday. As such, many of you will read this, knowing full well who the Newbery and Caldecott winners are. I will be a little behind you in this respect. Amusingly, I realized too late that I scheduled my latest sonogram for the PRECISE moment the ALA Media Awards will be announced. I blame time zones. Or, rather, my apparent lack of understanding about time zones. So just picture me on the doctor’s table, Android phone in hand, watching the Twitter updates scroll past. That’s priorities for you, eh?
- Speaking of Caldecotts and Newberys (I always come this close to writing “Newberies”), Elizabeth Bluemle over at ShelfTalker recently figured out how many men vs. women win those two awards. In short, boys get lots of Caldecotts, girls get lots of Newberys. Harold Underdown points out in the comments that when he did similar research ten years ago he pretty much got the same results. The more things change, the more things stay the same. For her part, Kyra Hicks at Black Threads in Kid’s Lit calculated similar stats a year ago for male to female winners of the Coretta Scott King Award. She’ll have to update those stats after today, of course. Fingers crossed for Rita Williams-Garcia (I want her to win everything).
- I was talking with an author the other day about the books that I’m working on. Infinitely lucky, I’m publishing books with two of my favorite companies/imprints: Greenwillow of Harper Collins and Candlewick. When I mentioned this and that I was trying to get all my favorites under my belt (I’m eyeing you hungrily, Chronicle) they replied, “Ah. How about Abrams?” Well, I’ve been very impressed with Abrams over the last two to three years, and not just because they know how to raise a Wimpy Kid. They just do good work. So it was with great pleasure that I learned that one of my husband’s fellow screenwriters, Jonathan Auxier, has a book with Abrams due later this year in the fall called Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes. Keep that title in your brain for a while and check out Jonathan’s new blog The Scop if you’ve a chance to do so.
Yes my husband Matt is a screenwriter and he sports a jaunty blog of his own called Cockeyed Caravan. From time to time he’ll allow friends and folks in the field to write posts there with their own cinematic recommendations. Not too long ago our best buddy Geoff went on with his own, and danged if one of films he came up with wasn’t Sounder, based on the 1970 Newbery Award winning novel by William H. Armstrong. I swear he didn’t do that film for me, as (I’m ashamed to admit) I’ve never seen it. I want to now, though. A nice continuation of our Newbery themed day, eh?
- Hey, do you remember a couple months ago when I asked you guys to mention any books about Afr
Well, here's a kick in the teeth. I just read in School Library Journal that British author Dick King-Smith died on Tuesday, 4 January. He was 88. It's not right to feel cheated by the death of an 88 year old man--that's a long life (and if you read his autobiography, Chewing the Cud, you will know that it was a varied life which he enjoyed to the fullest.) But Dick King-Smith is an author that I
Last night before bed I quickly read through The Twin Giants by Dick King-Smith. I needed a break from the currently disheartening Chains (Laurie Halse Anderson), and at a mere 68 well-illustrated pages, TTG fit the bill. I have to admit, it didn't do a whole lot for me. I'm not sure this tale of twin giants who marry a pair of twin giantesses was a compelling enough read. There was plenty of
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on 6/17/2008
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We’re delighted to hear from two British boys who responded to our plea for information about books that children love. Alistair, who is nine and a half, says that books he has recently read for fun are books in the Young Bond series by Charlie Higson, Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon, and The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. His favorite authors are Michael Morpurgo, Charlie Higson, and Francesca Simon, with Hurricane Gold (in the Young Bond series) and Tiger of the Snows by Robert Burleigh among the books that he has discussed with his friends. Morpurgo’s The Wreck of the Zanzibar is one of the books he has read for school that he enjoys and among his favorite books in a series are The Chronicles of Narnia, the many adventures of Harry Potter, and Young Bond. Books he has read more than once are volumes of Tintin, Asterix, Harry Potter, and The Making of Monkey King and Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in Heaven, both by Debby Chen. A book that he found in the library that he longed to keep is one about BMW motorcycles–and, he assures us, although he’s a boy, he does enjoy reading books in which girls are central characters!
Ben, who is seven and a half, loves to read pop-up books, encyclopedias, stories with pictures, and Adam Frost’s Ralph the Magic Rabbit. Books that he has read more than once are Tintin books, Steve Parker’s Larger than Life, which he says is amazing and has recommended to his friends, Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies, and If I Didn’t Have Elbows by Sandi Toksvig. His favorite writers are J.K. Rowling, Julia Donaldson, Herge, Francesca Simon, and Dick King-Smith. When it comes to books that he has borrowed from the library and wishes he could keep, he simply admits there are “loads.” He too enjoys books about girls, but not ones about sports!
Thanks to Alistair, Ben, and Evan for responding to our questions, which can be found at The Tiger’s Bookshelf: Asking the Kids
We would love to hear from more readers–perhaps a girl or two?
Dick King Smith is such an inspiration. He started his writing career later in life, after having already tried his hand at farming, teaching, and TV presenting (and doing them all well, I might add, although he claims in his biography, Chewing the Cud, that he was not a very good farmer.) He has written dozens of books, all of them effortlessly readable, giving the impression that anyone with a good story to tell can sit down and crank it out. His most recent offering (at least on this side of the pond) is Hairy Hezekiah, about a Bactrian camel who is lonely in his zoo environment and sets off to find friendship and adventure in the big world. His journey takes him to the Safari Park, Shortseat, located in the English countryside. I have a sneaking suspicion that Shortseat is modeled after Longleat Safari Park, in Wiltshire. The fact that Longleat is the ancestral home of the Marquess of Bath, and the aristocrat in this book is called The Earl of Basin supports my theory. I have visited Longleat--long time ago, now--so perhaps I've actually met Hairy Hezekiah himself. King-Smith uses a friendly, conversational voice for his story, and this tone is reinforced by Nick Bruel's humorous black and white illustrations. This is just right for early chapter readers and will get them primed for some of King-Smith's meatier books, such as Babe: The Gallant Pig and (my personal favorite) Martin's Mice.
Happy new year! I've been doing some thinking about this blog recently and the direction I want to take it in. I've rounded up some of my favorite posts... and I've thought a lot about the topics I'd like to write more about.
Here are my blog resolutions for 2008:
- To write more about comic strips. I have a few profiles up about comic strips so far, such as this one about Unshelved and this one about Doonesbury, but I'd like to write a lot more about the comics. I'd also like to start reviewing comic strip book collections.
- To try to create comic strips myself. I discovered a wonderful web tool called ToonDoo that allows even the artistically challenged (such as myself) to make their own comic strips. I've written two strips (this one and this one), but I want to do much more with it.
- To become more involved in the Kidlitosphere (the group of bloggers who write about children's literature). I've been reading and commenting on many wonderful kidlit blogs and I'd like to do much more of that. I've started submitting posts to Poetry Friday, which has been great fun, and I've written three original poems so far: A Good Mom, Freedom and Book of Memories. I'm also hosting the January Carnival of Children's Literature and am enjoying seeing the submissions come in and discovering new blogs.
- To write more about the back stories of children's books that I love such as this post about Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. There are so many books that have fascinating histories such as Curious George and The Little Engine that Could and I'd like to write more about them.
- To start providing links to Book Sense, Powells and independent bookstores instead of (or in addition to) links to Amazon. See my next resolution for an example.
- To continue blogging, to continue connecting with wonderful people in the kidlit community, to continue to talk about children's books, comic strips and Harry Potter and to continue to have fun sharing my thoughts.
As for personal resolutions, I like
the ones that Adrienne posted at
What Adrienne Thinks About That. Particularly resolutions #5 and #8. Now, those are goals that I'll have no trouble achieving.
Wizards Wireless is going out of town for a few days to a place which might (gasp) not have an Intenet connection... if you can imagine such a thing. Blogging will resume when we return.
In the meantime, be sure to vote for which Harry Potter character you would NOT like to have dinner with.
Grawp is currently in the lead... quite understandably. Aragog is a close second (also understandable because you'd probably like to eat dinner, not be dinner.) Also in second place are Fenrir Grayback and Dolores Umbridge. Third place is currently a rather large group containing Barty Crouch Sr., Mundungus Fletcher, Morphin Gaunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, Percy Weasley and Lord Voldemort. Definitely not a charming group of dinner guests.
I thought I 'd share the answers to a few questions that have come my way recently.
Question: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published in July. It's currently October. WHY are you still putting spoilers on the top of the Book 7 posts? Surely everyone has read the book by now and the plot details are fair game?
Answer: Every week at least one person tells me that they haven't finished the 7th (or 6th or 5th) book yet... and even though it's been months since the book was released, they're still trying as hard as possible to avoid spoilers. I feel that the Harry Potter books (like every other book) are best if you find out the plot by reading the story and not because someone told you. I found it magical to read the Harry Potter books for the first time, and I respect those who want to find out the ending for themselves. There is information about the 7th book on this blog, but I try mightily to put spoilers on all posts that might give away significant plot details. Book Six was spoiled for me... see this post... so I try not to do that to anyone else.
Question: What happened to the chapter synopsis posts you were doing of Book 7?
Answer: Grad school happened. But I plan to start writing the chapter posts again, hopefully starting next week. If you've missed them so far, (I'm up to Chapter Ten) click on the topic heading on the sidebar titled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
Or follow these links:
And, although it's not a formal chapter summary yet, I did do a post on the epilogue:
I also started a new series of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows discussion questions. Feel free to add your opinions in the comments section, or you can use the questions for a book group or class discussion. And they work great as conversation starters with other people who have finished the book (not that I've ever done this, or anything. =)
You can find the discussion questions either by clicking on "Harry Potter discussion questions" on the sidebar (aren't I creative?), or by following these links:
No one has replied to Question 3 yet... which surprises me because I thought it was a nice, meaty topic.
I love seeing which Google searches cause people to click on my blog.
The two most popular searches that seem to keep reappearing are "knuffle bunny pronunciation" which I explain in this post, and "parsley grinder" which I briefly mentioned in this post about The Higher Power of Lucky.
And then there are questions I'd be happy to answer, but I find out about them after the person has already clicked away. For example, there was a search done for "the substance that burns Hermione when she opens her hate mail." The answer is Bubotuber pus, if anyone's looking for it. By the way, you haven't lived until you've heard Jim Dale say "bubotuber pus" in the American audio version of the 4th Harry Potter book.
My favorite search is the one that just showed up today: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom controversy." There's a controversy about Chicka Chicka Boom Boom? The book or the rhyme? What on earth is it about? I'm dying to know. (I even googled it myself and came up empty).
The only thing that I can think of that should be controversial is the board book version of this fabulous title. It's titled Chicka Chicka ABC, and only 5 spreads are included (the hardcover book has 12 spreads.) Even my son (when he was one and a half) recognized that over half of the book was missing and asked for the rest of it. The poor alphabet falls down from the coconut tree but never gets back up. How depressing.
By the way, if you've never read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with a child, I can't recommend the experience highly enough. It's a compulsively readable book about the alphabet. (You didn't know there was such a thing, did you?) It's got an addicting rhythm structure and is a surefire hit with the 1 to 3 year old crowd.
And if you know about the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom controversy (sure to be being debated in the great halls of academic learning at this very moment) please tell me what it could possibly be. Any theories?
UPDATE: I've now gotten 10 hits for "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom controversy" after I mentioned my curiosity about it on a listserv. There's no issue with the book that I know of. I didn't mean to create a controversy where there wasn't one!
My blog is a teaching tool!
My friend Cate (who is a computer teacher) used Wizards Wireless as part of webquest she put together for her students.
And author Esme Raji Codell was kind enough to include Wizards Wireless on a post recommending teacher friendly websites.
What a compliment! Aw shucks. I'm blushing.
"I haven't finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet. Are your posts about the book safe to read or will it spoil the whole book for me?"
Sincerely, Harry Potter fan
Good question! I know there are lots of people who haven't finished the book yet.... because work or kids got in their way, or they are slow readers, or they're reading the other books in the series or... they're just not done. And I have to say that I admire all of you who have been able to slowly savor the book and not gulp it down in one weekend like I did. If you are in the "currently reading HP7" category, here's how I've organized the posts on this blog:
Posts labeled "Harry Potter" are general comments and news items about the Harry Potter series. They don't contain spoilers (or at least, I don't think they do). If they do, there is a spoiler warning at the top.
Posts labeled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" are part of my chapter by chapter commentary about the seventh book. Yes, there are spoilers, but only for the specific chapter the post is about. For example, if you read the post about Harry Potter 7: Chapter Five... it would only include information about the book up until (and including) the fifth chapter. So, these posts are safe to read if you haven't finished the full book yet. Since I haven't finished the commentaries yet... there is currently no information past the tenth chapter.
For those of you looking to avoid Harry entirely, there are lots of other posts on this blog about children's books and comic strips. More to come!
![The Gallant Pig [BABE GALLANT PIG M/TV]](http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B002E9MV7U&tag=thrthelooglab-20)
, on which the movie Babe was based. He was awarded an Honorary Master of Education degree by the University of the West of England in 1999 and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours. 
Betsy’s OB: Congratulations, Mrs. Bird. You’re having twins.
Betsy: WHAT?! Oh, my God. Tell me you’re joking. For the love of God, tell me you’re joking. I cannot believe this. They picked THAT BOOK?
I’m sorry, did you say something? My mind was just totally blown.
Ahem. I actually MET Bob Graham, who has the most spontaneous teeth this side of Austin Powers (or me) and is as charming as his books, which is saying a VERY great deal. Our pick at the bookstore was always Let’s Get a Pup! Said Kate.
And ah, Dick King-Smith. His guinea pig book (maybe I Love Guinea Pigs?) illustrated by Anita Jeram, the woman who can do Cute while maintaining little beady eyes (on her critters) almost made me love guinea pigs. Almost.
FYI…the link to your older entries does not work. I wanted to reread your Newbery/Caldecott predictions, which I knew were in a recent post. Newcomers to your blog will miss out on your excellent older posts! However, I was able to search for the post. Looking forward to your thoughts on the winners. I ordered Moon Over Manifest several months ago for our library, but haven’t read it yet. That will be corrected ASAP!
Actually, it does but it’s annoying. What you have to do is to reload my blog’s page with a / at the end of the web address. Once that’s there you can click on the “Older Entries” message and be taken to earlier posts. Failing that, just type “Newbery” into my Search box on the right and it comes right up.
Post on the winners shall go up tomorrow!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Betsy! You were missed at ALA.
Interesting news about Candlewick and NetGalley, I’m fascinated to see how all of that will play out and what things will look like.
LOVE the comic too!
Why don’t you check out Netflix and find Sounder? I remember it being a good movie. Better do it soon, though–speaking from experience, you won’t have much time for movies in about eight months.