Thought I’d share a few of the books I’ve tossed/will be tossing Beanie’s way during our 20th Century History studies…

Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy’s family, ever supportive of her writerly dreams, sends her on a trip to Europe in 1913. Venice, Germany, England. She’s in London when the Great War begins.

Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery. Always and forever one of my favorite books. Life on P.E.I. during WWI, with beloved brothers…and Ken Ford…away at the front.

Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. When you hit the Roaring 20s, you gotta read Cheaper by the Dozen. That’s practically a Law of Homeschooling.

A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller. This was one of my favorite reads during the CYBILs 2014 judging: the story of an English girl who gets involuntarily (at first) swept up in the fight for women’s suffrage.

Lost by Jacqueline Davies. Wrenching story (how could it not be?) about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Oh, guys, I have GOT to get caught up. Here I’ve been back from the Deep Valley Homecoming since TUESDAY and haven’t written about it. And now Comic-Con is peering around the corner in the most alarming way! Next week! Good heavens! Or O di immortales, I should say—not yet having mentally emerged from Betsy-Tacy land.

I had such a wonderful time visiting the houses and connecting with members of the B-T crowd. (The Crowd, capital C, you say if you’ve read the books.) I thoroughly enjoyed the children’s author panel on Sunday, answering questions with fellow writers Pat Bauer and Eileen Beha; and my talk about the Betsy-Tacy publishing history went very well. Plus I got to hear the inestimable Kathy Baxter speak—she’s captivating.

This is how I feel whenever I’m with Kathy. Photo by Margaret Berns in 2010.

Of course I had to reread as many of the Tomes as possible before and during the trip. Began with the high-school books this time around and made it through Betsy’s Wedding. Actually, I read Wedding twice—I always skip ahead to it straight from Betsy and Joe. I read Betsy and the Great World on the plane ride home and then tore through Betsy’s Wedding a second time that evening, happily back in my own bed.

I swear my children gained multiple inches during the three nights I was away.

Our author panel made the front page of the Minnesota Free Press:

I have yet to see a panel photo of myself in which I’m not making a goofy face. And if you tied my hands I’m not sure I could speak…

Discussing our writing processes at Deep Valley Homecoming. Photo swiped from Nancy Piccione, with thanks!

I’m not doing justice to the Homecoming with this hasty post—I so enjoyed all the other talks and made some wonderful new friends. And on my first evening in Mankato, of course I had to walk all over town past Betsy and Tacy’s bench and Tib’s chocolate-colored house and Carney’s sleeping porch and Lincoln Park and the Carnegie Library, trying not to make a whole nother series of goofy faces. I am 100% fangirl at heart.

Major props to Julie Schrader and the rest of the organizers for hosting a perfectly marvelous event.

Today begins the Deep Valley Homecoming, a celebration of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books in her hometown of Mankato, Minnesota (the real Deep Valley). I won’t be joining the fun until tomorrow—can’t wait!

I have visited Mankato once before, after the 2010 Kidlitcon in Minneapolis. The awesome Kathy Baxter took my pal Margaret and me around town, showing us All the Important Places From the Books, and I just about died of excitement (as Margaret chronicled in her photos). The brass bowl! Winona’s wall! Carney’s sleeping porch! Lincoln Park!

THE BENCH, for heaven’s sake!

Betsy and Tacy’s bench on the hill. Photo by Margaret Berns.

Yes, I looked exactly that goofy the whole time. What can I say? I’m a fan.

My Deep Valley Homecoming schedule

Sunday, June 28th
12:15pm: Children’s literature panel discussion at the Book Festival
2:15pm: I will read from one of my books

Monday, June 29th
11:30am: Presentation at the Historical Society. Topic: the publishing history of the Betsy-Tacy series.

I hope to see you there!

Related posts:
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
The Betsy-Tacy Songbook
Interview with Mitali Perkins, Jennifer Hart, and me about Maud’s books
Betsy-Tacy booksigning at ALA Midwinter
Photos of my visit to the real Deep Valley, as chronicled by Margaret in Minnesota
Why I love Carney
Why I love Emily
A Reader’s Guide to Betsy-Tacy

Attention Betsy-Tacy fans!

2015 Deep Valley Homecoming

A Celebration of Maud Hart Lovelace & the Betsy-Tacy books!

June 26 – 30, 2015

Make plans to attend this event. Fun for the entire family!

Activities include: Betsy & Tacy House Tours, Betsy-Tacy Neighborhood Tour, Narrated Horse-drawn Trolley Rides, Discover Deep Valley Bus Tours, Deep Valley Victorian Tea, Book Festival, Fashion Show, Play, Living History Actors, Programs, Speakers & Re-enactments, Gift Shop & Exhibits & Music, Vintage Car Show, food & crafts and more!

Registration form and schedule is in progress and will be posted very SOON!

 

DVH NEWS!

We are excited to announce that Melissa Wiley will be the feature speaker at the Deep Valley Homecoming (DVH) this summer. Melissa Wiley is the author of The Prairie Thief, Fox and Crow Are Not Friends, and the Inch and Roly series, as well as Little House in the Highlands and seven other novels about the ancestors of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Melissa wrote the forward to the HarperPerennial ModernClassics 2010 edition of Carney’s House Party and Winona’s Pony Cart by Maud Hart Lovelace.

Joining Melissa Wiley as featured speaker will be Nancy McCabe, author of From Little Houses to Little Women. Her book is a memoir about her return to the beloved books of her childhood and travel to places related to her favorite authors, including Laura Ingalls Wilder, Maud Hart Lovelace, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott.

Melissa and Nancy will participate in the Deep Valley Book Festival on Sunday, June 28 and will each speak during the DVH programs on Monday, June 29. We’ll have more details about what you can look forward to from these authors and all of our other speakers and presenters in the coming days.

For more information, visit the Betsy-Tacy Society website. Hope to see you there!

Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

Reading this story, my heart is in my throat.

The Battle of Gettysburg, Day 2, July 2nd, 1863.

“The scene is the center of the American line. Most of the attacks on the flanks have been repulsed by now, or nearly so, and the sun is near to setting. The American lines are now almost set into the famous ‘fish-hook’ formation that one can find on so many maps. But the operative word is ‘almost.’

“In the center, there is a gap…”

The writer is Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, and his recounting of the events in the weeks leading up to Gettysburg has had me enthralled for days. I’ve followed him from Fredericksburg, Virginia—the town, incidentally, where I graduated from college, and where I met Scott—north to Pennsylvania, his posts spanning the months of June and July, 1863, just over 150 years ago. I don’t particularly want to be in Gettysburg right now; my attention ought to be far to the south, in Alabama. But I can’t look away. Lt. Col. Bateman’s account is riveting.

“In the center, there is a gap because one American Corps commander took it upon himself to move well forward earlier in the fight. The rebels are now finishing crushing that Corps. But ever since that audacious Union Corps commander created that gap in the first place, a succession of recently arriving units have been fighting to keep the middle from collapsing. Now, as the sun sets over Seminary Ridge, the game is almost over. But there is a half-mile opening in the remaining American line, and two whole rebel brigades are headed straight to it.”

You’ll have to read the entire post to get the full thrust of what’s on the line in this moment—heck, you ought to read the whole series—but some of you will understand why this next passage made me gasp.

The American Corps commander now in charge of the section of the line closest to the hole, a fellow named Hancock, sees what is about to happen. The rebels are moments away from breaking the center of the Union line. His own Corps line ends several hundred yards to the north. The next American unit to the south is a quarter mile away. Hancock can see the reinforcements he has called for, as can others on the crest of the hill. Those troops are marching at full speed up the road. By later estimates, the relieving troops are a mere five minutes away from the ridgeline. But the Confederates are closer.

I talked about psychology yesterday. I wrote about how sometimes something that can only be described as moral ascendency (or perhaps morale ascendency) can make it possible for a smaller force to defeat a larger force — first emotionally, then physically. Rufus Dawes and his 6th Wisconsin Infantry pulled that off on the First Day, albeit at a horrendous cost. General Hancock understands in an instant the bigger picture. This is not some small slice of the field. He sees that if the rebels make it to the ridge, they might gain the psychological advantage over the whole Army of the Potomac, much of which is still arriving. So the rebels must be stopped. Now. Here.

And now, what I am about to describe to you transcends my own ability to explain. Hell, it is beyond my own understanding, and I have been a soldier for decades.

General Hancock sees a single American regiment available. But, though it is a “regiment,” this is in name only at this point. A “regiment,” at the beginning of the war, would be roughly 1,000 men. Before Hancock stand 262 men in American blue. Coming towards them, little more than 250 yards away now, are two entire brigades of rebels. Most directly, half of that force — probably about some 1,500 men from a rebel brigade — were coming dead at them. Perhaps a thousand more, at least two entire additional regiments, were on-line with that main attack, though probably unseen by Hancock. But what does that matter? The odds were, already, beyond comprehension.

“My God! All these all the men we have here…What regiment is this?” Hancock yelled.

“First Minnesota,” responded the colonel, a fellow named Colvill.

First Minnesota.

That’s right, Lovelace readers. The very regiment Emily Webster’s grandfather fought in, the one Carney’s Uncle Aaron (her great-uncle, surely) died in—in that charge on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

“When Colonel Colville told us to charge,” [Grandpa] said, nobody ran out on that field any faster than Aaron Sibley.”

“You ran fast enough to get a bullet through your arm.”

“Only winged, only winged,” he answered impatiently. “It might have been death for any one of us.”

It was for a good many of them, Emily remembered. She had heard her grandfather say many times that only forty-seven had come back out of two hundred and sixty-two who had made the gallant charge.

—from Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace

Every single man of the 1st Minnesota,” writes Lt. Col. Bateman,

“placed as it was at the crest of the gentle slope, could see what was going on. All of them were veterans, having fought since the beginning of the war. Each of them understood the exact extent of what they were being asked to do by General Hancock. And, it would appear, that they all understood why.

“On this day, at the closing of the day, there was no illusion that they might win. There was not any thought that they could throw back a force more than seven or eight times their own size. Not a one of them could have entertained the idea that this could end well for them, personally.

“I suspect, though of course nobody can actually ‘know,’ that there was only a silent, and complete, understanding that this thing must be done. So that five minutes might be won for the line and the reinforcements and that their widows and children might grown up in a nation once more united, they would have to do this thing. Then, as men, the 262 men of the 1st Minnesota followed their colonel as he ordered the advance, leading them himself, from the front.

“They charged, with fixed bayonets, to win 300 seconds for the United States. Union and Confederate sources agree on this next point: There was no slacking, no hesitation, no faltering. The 1st Minnesota charged, en masse, at once alone and together. One hundred and fifty years later, those 300 seconds they then won for the United States have proven timeless. Because it worked. They threw a wrench into the rebel attack, stalling it, before the inevitable end.

“And, as Fox’s Compendium pointed out in cold, hard numbers, it only cost 82 percent of the men who stepped forward.”

Grandpa Webster and Aaron Sibley are fictional characters, but they are based on real people, just as Emily and Carney were. In the afterword to HarperPerennial’s 2010 edition of Emily of Deep Valley, Lovelace historian Julie A. Schrader tells us that Grandpa Cyrus Webster represented a man named John Quincy Adams Marsh, the grandfather of Maud’s classmate Marguerite Marsh, the “real” Emily. He was not, however, a Civil War veteran. Schrader writes,

“Maud appears to have based Grandpa Webster’s experiences on those of Captain Clark Keysor (Cap’ Klein)…. General James H. Baker, a veteran of the Dakota Conflict and the Civil War, was the basis for the character of Judge Hodges. In 1952 Maud wrote, ‘Old Cap’ Keysor and General Baker used to visit the various grades on Decoration Day to tell us about the Civil War…’”

Emily is, as I’ve often mentioned, not only my favorite Maud Hart Lovelace book, it’s one of my favorite novels period. Grandpa Webster is very real to me. I can’t describe my astonishment to find him there, suddenly, in Lt. Col. Bateman’s account, rushing unhesitatingly toward that gap in the line. 262 men made the charge. 47 survived. One of them was Cap’ Clark Keysor, who visited Maud’s school classrooms and told her stories she never forgot. Nor shall I.

***

For Lt. Col. Bateman’s entire Gettysburg series, click here.

For more background on the real people who inspired Maud Hart Lovelace’s characters, I highly recommend Julie Schrader’s book, Maud Hart Lovelace’s Deep Valley.

Related posts:
Why I love Carney
Why I love Emily
A Reader’s Guide to Betsy-Tacy

A doozy! You guys! The Betsy-Tacy Treasury (that’s the first four books in the series) is $2.99 on Kindle right now!

Here’s an older post of mine about the books.

Sorry so brief today. Busy busy day! We took the kids to the mountains to see snow. Was Huck and Rilla’s first encounter with it. Oh my little Southern California children.

But I finished re-reading Ballet Shoes for the Streatfeild read-along and I should be able to get a post up about it tomorrow afternoon. Are you reading? Are you ready?

BETSY-TACY is $1.99 on Kindle right now!

“The Lovelaces seem to do the impossible. They are writers who can actually work together day after day without the lightning of clashing temperaments…Maud does all the historical research, Delos all of the plots.”

via Betsy-Tacy’s Deep Valley, a wonderful new blog for Maud Hart Lovelace fans, written by Julie Schrader, author of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Deep Valley. I loved this article about one of my favorite (perhaps my very favorite!) literary couples. Julie’s new blog is a treasure trove for Betsy-Tacy fans—don’t miss it!

#52 Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
41 points

This is also part of a fabulous series. The stories are engaging and also give a great window into a past time, while making it feel real and alive. - Laurie Zaepfel

Number one because every time I read it, I discover something new, and it’s about the best friendship in the world. – Teresa Gibson

It’s wrong that I never read one of these as a kid, isn’t it? But honestly, though my name was Betsy, I sort of eschewed any books that toted my moniker.  Understood Betsy.  Betsy and the Boys (note to self: Use this title in a blog post at some point).  And, best known of all, Betsy-Tacy.  Actually, I didn’t even know about these books as a kid.  It wasn’t until I started taking classes in children’s literature so as to get my MLIS degree that I discovered the name Maud Hart Lovelace at all.

The description of this book from the publisher reads, “There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy’s age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do–a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy’s fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy become such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person–Betsy-Tacy.  Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise–a new friend named Tib.”

By the way, I’ve been a Betsy all my life and in that time I have never EVER met a Tacy.  Not one.  No Tibs either, now that I think of it.

According to Anita Silvey’s 100 Best Books for Children, the books in this series (Betsy-Tacy was the first of ten) were always based on Lovelace’s own childhood growing up in Mankato, Minnesota.  She would tell her own daughter stories of growing up there, later writing them down.  Then, “Lovelace submitted Betsy-Tacy to a publisher’s children’s book contest, but it failed to win.  She then became a client of the New York literary agent Nannine Joseph, who also represented the illustrator Lois Lenski.  Joseph asked Lenski to prepare illustrations for the book, and Lenski then brought the book to her longtime friend, the editor Elizabeth Riley.  In 1940 the first of the ten-book Betsy-Tacy series appeared.”  She also would set three additional books in the same location (called Deep Valley a.k.a. Mankato, Minnesota): The amusingly titled Carney’s House Party (1949), Emily of Deep Valley (1950), and Winona’s Pony Cart (1953).

It’s fun to compare and contrast what did and did not happen in Maud Hart Lovelace’s life that is reflected in the books.  Her entry in Contemporary Authors Online states that, “Lovelace did live in a small yellow house on a street that ended at a big, green hill. Her father (like Betsy’s) owned a shoe store, but later became the treasurer of Blue Earth County. Her sisters, Kathleen and Helen, appear (slightly disguised) in the books as Julia and Margaret. Kathleen, who studied singing, performed in many concerts and operas, and Helen, the youngest, became a librarian. Almost all her characters were based on old friends.”

A proto-feminist?  Could be.  In Feminist Writers Norma C. Noonan suggests that Lovelace, “can perhaps best be described as an unconscious feminist for most of her life. Growing up in the era of the suffrage movement, she supported the fem

Today’s a big day for Betsy-Tacy fans:

First of all, it’s Maud Hart Lovelace’s birthday…

And second, many of the Betsy-Tacy books are available as e-books for the first time today!

Yes, I’m excited. The more ways we can spread the Betsy-love, the better. Here’s what’s available so far for Kindle, Nook, iPad, and other e-readers:

• Heaven to Betsy / Betsy in Spite of Herself (together as one volume, just like the recent reissues)

• Betsy Was a Junior / Betsy and Joe (ditto)

• Betsy and the Great World / Betsy’s Wedding

• Carney’s House Party / Winona’s Pony Cart (Have I mentioned I wrote the foreword for that?)

• Emily of Deep Valley (Please, treat yourself to this one. It stands alone, and it shines.)

The four “younger” B-T books will be released as e-books on May 17th. You can pre-order them now if you like.

New to Lovelace? Here’s a A Reader’s Guide to Betsy-Tacy (and Carney and Emily).

Saturday at Midwinter was a happy day for Maud Hart Lovelace fangirls like me…HarperPerennial hosted a booksigning, giving away tote bags and copies of Carney and Emily to a crowd of happy conference-goers. Mitali Perkins and I signed our forewords in the gorgeous reissues, and I loved getting to meet so many fellow Betsy Ray devotees, including several lovely women I know from the Maud-L discussion list.

With Maud-L listren Nancy Downing and Kathleen Waldron, a happy meeting!

The lovely Mitali Perkins

Me, HarperPerennial’s Jennifer Hart, and Mitali Perkins

Delightful lunch company. All of us are card-carrying members of the Betsy Tacy Society. (Well, I guess baby Lucy isn’t carrying a card…yet.)

Where: Readers Inc Bookstore in La Mesa, CA

When: 3pm today

What: A Betsy-Tacy Celebration! I’ll read from one of the books and we’ll discuss all things Betsy (and Carney, Winona, Emily…)

Who: You and your kids, I hope!

At 7pm Eastern time, 4pm my time, Mitali Perkins and I will join Jennifer Hart (aka BookClubGirl) on air for a discussion of all things Betsy-Tacy. Emily of Deep Valley! Carney’s House Party! The true color of apple blossoms!

You can even call in and ask questions. I am really hoping you will call! From Jennifer:

Be sure to register on the site before 7 on Monday so that you can participate in the chat from the beginning. You can also call in and ask questions directly by dialing 347-945-6149 during the show.

Click here for more info.

Now I just have to figure out what to wear.

(Kidding!)

(Although actually there is a right way to dress for radio, or a wrong way at least. On my first radio interview ever, back in 1998—this was before internet radio, so I mean radio-radio in a radio station—I happened to be wearing a bead necklace and when I leaned forward, the beads clickety-clacked against my mic and made a horrible racket. Fortunately we weren’t live. They had me take off the necklace and redo that part of the interview. So note to self: no beads tomorrow. Hahaha. As if any necklace could survive the grabbyhands of Huck.)

Margaret just posted the most awesome recap of our Betsy-Tacy tour with Kathy Baxter. Do you see how lucky I was to visit Mankato in the company of two such warm and wonderful women?

(And I think I need to bring Maggie along on all my trips—her photos are a wonder in themselves.)

Margaret & me outside Betsy’s house. Of course she couldn’t take this one herself—I think Bob Brown had her camera for this one?

Heading into a busy season here!

October 23rd, Minneapolis, MN—KidlitCon 2010. I’ll be discussing Blogging the Backlist with fellow panelists Jen Robinson, Charlotte Taylor, and Carol Rasco of RIF.

(And after KidlitCon, the incomparable Kathy Baxter is treating me to a visit to Mankato, stomping grounds of Maud Hart Lovelace, and maybe, possibly, if we can work out the logistics, Walnut Grove as well! Plus? I get to spend the night with Margaret and family.)

November 15th, 7pm ET—I’m joining Book Club Girl and Mitali Perkins for a radio interview about Carney, Winona, Emily, and all things Maud.

November 20th, 3pm—this one’s for San Diego locals. Betsy-Tacy Re-Release Party at Reader’s Inc bookstore in La Mesa, CA. Come see me!

January 8th—ALA Midwinter here in San Diego. Mitali Perkins and I will be signing books at the HarperPerennial booth.

Plus also? I’ve been holding onto some booksy news which I’ll have leave to announce very soon. Did I mention I got back to work last spring? After a longish hiatus following our move here? I’ve got some exciting (to me at least) things bubbling and can’t wait to be able to tell you all about them.

Dawn reviews Carney’s House Party and Winona’s Pony Cart at She Is Too Fond of Books:

The Foreword, by Melissa Wiley, looks at character development and assesses how Wiley herself has been impacted by these books.  She says that she hopes her daughters “will become … the heroines of their own lives, facing life’s challenges with Carney’s integrity, Betsy’s determination, and Winona’s sense of fun.”

Related: Carney and Winona are in the building

A very small taste of what I had to say about Caroline Sibley, aka Carney, in the foreword to HarperPerennial’s scrumptious new double-volume edition of Carney’s House Party and Winona’s Pony Cart:

At times her present seems maddeningly full of unanswerable questions—Larry Humphreys is coming for a visit! Will they click, after all these years? What if they don’t? And what is she to make of that happy-go-lucky Sam Hutchinson, who zooms around town unshaven in his Locomobile, recklessly lavishing generosity upon his friends and then, horror of horrors, telling shopkeepers to “put it on the book”? Carney faces each question with frankness and interest, even in painful circumstances. It’s that combination of honesty and enthusiasm that makes Carney one of Lovelace’s most likable characters. She’s a real girl, rapidly becoming a real woman: a woman with integrity and vision, who doesn’t look to others to solve her problems for her, but instead faces them head-on, confident in her own ability to untangle muddled thinking.

Oh, I just love her. There’s lots more—when I get started talking about Carney (and Winona! and Betsy!) it’s hard to stop.

Okay, you know you get a lot of books when an entire box arrives—a box you’ve been waiting for with a thrill in your heart—and you miss it. Don’t ask me how it happened. It seems Carney, Winona, and Emily landed in the Bonny Glen days ago, and I wasn’t waiting at the station to greet them.

Well, here they are. Could they be any swoonier? No, they could not.

Maud Hart Lovelace’s “Deep Valley” companion novels: Emily of Deep Valley, with a new foreword by acclaimed author Mitali Perkins, and (in one volume) Carney’s House Party and Winona’s Pony Cart, with a foreword by me. Both books contain, in the back, photos and biographical information about Maud Hart Lovelace and (for the first time ever) illustrator Vera Neville by Betsy-Tacy experts Julie Schrader, Amy Dolnik, and Theresa Gibson. That’s Vera’s classic art you see on the covers.

Appearing on the shelves October 12th! As in: tomorrow!

Have you signed up for the Maud Hart Lovelace reading challenge yet?

Not sure on where Carney, Emily, and Winona fit into the Betsy-Tacy series? Here’s a walkthrough.

Mitali Perkins and I will be discussing Maud’s books with HarperPerennial’s Jennifer Hart on BlogTalkRadio, November 15th at 4pm.

This afternoon, Jennifer Hart (aka @bookclubgirl) posted a picture of the Carney’s House Party/Winona’s Pony Cart and Emily of Deep Valley reissues with those gorgeous Vera Neville covers. The official pub date is less than a month away. Squee!

I got a sneak peek at Mitali Perkins‘s foreword for Emily of Deep Valley, and it is quite moving: an account of her discovery of the Maud Hart Lovelace books—and Emily in particular—as a young newcomer to America, “wandering the stacks of the children’s book section in the Flushing Public Library.”

My own foreword for the Carney/Winona double volume was a joy and an honor to write. But having Carney, Winona, and Emily back in print is the greatest joy of all. If you haven’t yet read the Deep Valley novels—companions to the Betsy-Tacy series—you are in for such a treat!

Related posts:
Emily of Deep Valley
Heaven to Betsy
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill

Sometimes I feel like a children’s literature news lint ball.  I just roll about my merry way, picking up the stray bits of ephemera that happen to fall within my purview.  Alternate metaphors: We would have also have accepted lint roller and/or dust bunny.

• Let us begin today with some movie news.  If you’re like myself, you’re desperately searching the horizon for signs of the impending children’s/teen book-to-film adaptations so that you won’t be caught unawares when they hit theaters.  A show of hands of all the librarians who had enough copies of How To Train Your Dragon in stock when that film took off.  Yeah.  I know.  Me too.  In any case, as far as I can tell the only things I’ve heard of lately are:

- Eclipse due out June 30th
- Ramona and Beezus (putting the “loose” in “loosely adapted”) due out July 23rd.
- Beastly due out July 30th
- Flipped due out August 6th.
- Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole due out September 24th.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One due out November 19th.

If you can think of any others, please let me know and I’ll add them accordingly.  I should probably make this a permanent reference list.  Then we could all stay on top of things.

• In other movie news director Neil Jordan has started to open up about the cinematic adaptation of Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.

• And finally, from Cynopsis Kids, some good news about Greg Taylor’s novel as well:

“Chris Columbus’ 1942 Pictures and South Korea’s CJ Entertainment unveil their production slate of three movies, two of which are targeted to kids/tweens/teen, per Variety .  1942 Pictures and CJ Entertainment entered into a three-year development deal in fall 2009.  The two kid/tween/teen projects are feature film adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s (Coraline) novel The Graveyard Book and Greg Taylor ’s book Killer Pizza .  The Graveyard Book movie will be written and directed by Neil Jordan.  CJ Entertainment is set c0-finance and distribute Graveyard in South Korea and Japan.  Wayfare Entertainment, Framestore and Gaiman. Killer Pizza is being written by Adam Green and will be projected by Raffaella de Laurentiis.”

Jasper Fforde is one of those authors who is so popular with children’s librarians and the like that I tend to forget half the time that he’s writing for adults.  Well, apparently my confusion is soon to increase as he is penning his first children’s book.  It’s going by the name The Last Dragonslayer which, understandably, bring to mind this.  In any case, Monica Edinger at 7 Comments on Fusenews: Warning – Lint Ball Metaphor Approaching, last added: 6/11/2010