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I was going to write a general piece on some of the notebooks I've bought, so I decided to have a look for some images on Google when I stumbled upon an interesting related website. I go through paper like you wouldn't believe, the house is filled with old versions of chapters which I can't bring myself to throw away - partly out of sentimentality and partly out of copyright paranoia (ha) - and I don't want to imagine how much shredding I'd have to do. I buy standard A4 paper, Asda's Smart Price version for general use and a heavier weighted one for sending out - but I tend to be a bit Scrooge-like over prices, although I will pay more for green products. I also buy quite a few notebooks especially when starting a new project. I prefer to write in school exercise books or A5 notebooks - I find ring-bound ones easier to use, especially when I'm forever flicking back and to checking my plotting etc is consistent. Well here's some notebooks with a difference - they are made from bananas. They are made by 'The Banana Paper Company' which based in Costa Rica and they make paper from - as you've probably guessed - banana fibres along with coffee and tobacco fibres. Their notebooks look fabulous especially the bright yellow funky monkey one and they also make A4 paper and envelopes and they are all good value - although there is an extra charge for shipping. I'm tempted I can tell you. The company use agro-industrial fibres from the waste of processing common agricultural products which is then mixed with a base fibre made of recycled paper including office paper, tetra pack containers, magazines and newspapers. The Banana Paper Company explains: "Packing of bananas: as a result of pulling apart the bunches of bananas from the main stem, we have the pinzote left over and it contains 5% of usable fibre to manufacture paper. "Processing coffee: peels, leaves and small beans are separated from the coffee that will be processed, all this are used to manufacture our coffee paper. "By-products of tobacco: the leaves are separated from their veins during the processes involved in the tobacco industry, and they are used to make our tobacco paper." Their Research and Development Department is also studying new fibres from pineapple, orange and palm hearts. The full paper-making process is detailed on the company's website - www.ecopapers.com - is really interesting and of course you can order their products there too.

I'm back home after a trip to Delaware (the maligned state of children's literature,) on the occasion of a baby shower. One of my college roommates and her husband has recently returned from Vietnam with their brand new baby boy. I've become fairly well-versed in the process and procedure of international adoption, as I have not one, but two friends, who are adopting from Vietnam. And sort of like the case that when I was pregnant I suddenly noticed how many pregnant women there were in the world, now that I have a vested interest in adoption, I have noticed a lot of books around on the subject. Three recent ones that come to mind are:

Motherbridge of Love (Anonymous and Josee Masse, illus.)
The Red Thread: an Adoption Fairy Tale (Lin, Grace)
We Belong Together: a Book about Adoption and Families (Parr, Todd)

And a few that are not strictly about adoption but about the fact that some families are made up of unexpected pieces:

The Thunderstruck Stork (Olson, David and Lynn Munsinger, illus.)
And Tango Makes Three (Richardson, Justin, Peter Parnell and Henry Cole, illus.)
Owen and Mzee: the True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (Hatkoff, Craig, etc.)

Owen and Mzee have become a bit of a cottage industry (sort of like Bunnicula and Good Night Moon.) You can choose the original book, a sequel (of sorts--it rehashes a lot of the original,) a board book edition, and an easy reader--not to mention Mama: a True Story in which a Baby Hippo Looses his Mama During a Tsunami, but Finds a New Home and a New Mama, by Jeanette Winters, wherein the title is longer than the book!

Anyways, the weekend was lovely, the shower was impressive, the gifts were literary (I've never seen so many board books in one room this side of my local Barnes and Nobles--and there were only two duplications!) and the baby of the hour himself was a charmer. Congratulations!