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Wow, this is great! cyber kid 303 has left us a message and a new book comment:

Carl,

I did see Wendelin Van Draanen at Novello, along with all the other authors. I even got to eat breakfast & talk to Jeff Smith, author of Bone, who I know Darth Bill likes. I am not part cyber, but I love computers (and books).

P.S. Your Pegasus program was great!

Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl -- Danny, a boy whose mom died when he was 4 months old, was left with his dad who swore to himself that he would not go poaching (illegally hunting) again until Danny was old enough to stay home alone at night in the gypsy caravan where they lived. His dad broke the swear and Danny woke up in the middle of the night worried. Soon, Danny becomes more interested in poaching and wants to do it himself. There are interesting things that happen in this book and it is perfect for a book club.Roald Dahl has written many other good books...The Magic Finger, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Twits, The BFG and others. I'm going to see The BFG at Imaginon this month!

Whew, I'm glad you're not part cyber. I'd hate to think a Borg was coming into the library regularly. Thanks for the compliment about the Pegasus program. I had a really good time too. Hope you can come to Bill's program on Beowulf next Tuesday and the Heroes and Villians festival on the 22nd.

Well, you're now in the lead for the free T-shirt contest, but don't rest yet--I bet there are other guys out there, itching to write and get that shirt. How about it, guys?

And if you all want to find out the Childrens' Theatre production of The BFG, (which ought to be very cool) click here.
And if you want to learn more about Roald Dahl, check out the extremely cool and fun site, click here.
Take it easy,
Carl

I’m having a thoroughly chaotic couple of weeks, mostly not writing related. School finishes in two weeks, and I’m in the midst of writing reports, rehearsing for three presentation night items, ferrying the Murphlets to various events, attending end of year functions and so on. I counted eight functions I need to attend in the next two weeks – more than I’ve been to in the whole year to date.

Found this on the Times (that's, of London) website. American director Wes Anderson is directing a feature length adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox, with George Cloony. What I want to know is, does The Fantastic Mr. Cloony speak West Country?

It would have been Roald Dahl's 91st birthday yesterday - and as some of you know, my brain currently resides in the Whoniverse, so I thought this poem would be apt:

Television

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set –
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.

* * * * * *
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK – HE ONLY SEES!
"All right!" you'll cry. "All right!" you'll say,
"But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children! Please explain!"
We'll answer this by asking you,
"What used the darling ones to do?
How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?"
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY... USED... TO... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
TO READ some more.

You'll find the poem in full here.

Oh, and in case you're wondering - I AM still reading - I'm not spending all my spare time in watching Doctor Who, but I've just got very lax about posting reviews because all my writing energy is going into my Tenth Doctor/Martha Jones stories. I was slightly appalled to discover this week that I've completed 26 of them since mid-July, at a total of nearly 70, 000 words (that's actually the equivalent of a novel in three months!) But writing these stories is helping me to stay a bit saner whilst I'm working from home so I guess it's not that surprising that I've written so much !

See, Roger? I can purloin it and make it my own title. That's the beauty of blogging.

So. Funny story. I wrote an article for Horn Book aaaaaaaaand... they printed it. Really top drawer of them. I am now a "blogonatrix" according to Roger. I can live with this. It's easy to live with words that don't, but should, exist (though a Google search came up with at least two other people in the world who have used the term "blogonatrix" in the past). In related news, there's a cool new History portion on the Horn Book website at the moment. I'm kinda hooked on the letters section. Did you see the Roald Dahl exchange with Eleanor Cameron? Aw, snap!