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Notes from a Children's Writer -
Author of Shante Keys and the New Year's Peas.
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Egon Spengler said in Ghostbusters what we writers have feared for 24 years: "Print is dead." From the look of things, it's on it's last leg in the newspaper world.
The Chicago Tribune changed its format last week. As an author of books for young children, I recognized the format right away: this is PBJ--picture book journalism. And bad picture book journalism.
The pictures and the ads are HUGE in every section. The words are made to be insignificant by their size or placement. And almost everything has a smart alecky comment attached to it, or some stupid sidebar. Have all of the real journalists left the ship? I would hate to be a sales rep trying to sell this paper to an advertiser who needs zone coverage. Where the heck does your ad belong? Where the heck is anything? Saturday the comics were in the back of the already abused BOOKS section.
A piece on NPR on the redesign said, "It's another sign of the turmoil in the industry, as papers try to draw young readers and hold onto others." This format, however, could only appeal to the
very young or the
very old to whom the accompanying words make no matter. We people stuck in the middle of ages 9 to 90 are cursed with a nonreadable mess.
Thank goodness I didn't cancel my New York Times subscription. I considered doing so as I looked for places to cut back expenses, but it just seemed too much a part of my good ole "liberal left-wing media" lifeline to eliminate.
Twins? The new front of the Tribune looks an awful (and I mean awful) lot like the Sun-Times. Did they think people really liked what the Sun-Times has become?
At first, I was going to do Laurie Halse Anderson's 15 minutes a day writing challenge for July. That sounded like a minor miracle to someone who's been away from writing for what seems like forever. Nobody tells you that when your book comes out, you become an *author/press agent* and you don't get to write anymore. Bummer.
But then my friends in the African American Children's Book Writers & Illustrators threw down the gauntlet--write two pages a day for two months. I took the challenge, and selected to resurrect my dormant middle grade novel. While I'm not writing every single day, it all evens out. Some days I'm doing research, some days I'm at the library, and some days I have a pencil in my hand writing for my life. But most importantly, I'm thinking about it every day and looking forward to my next writing session.
We just finished Week 5. My count so far: 67 pages.
And the process has been rewarding already. I'm looking forward to revising it when I'm finished because I already know where it doesn't make sense, doesn't have enough meat, and needs the story arc fixed. This book may get finished yet!
School is starting around here next week. Where did the summer go?
For teachers facing a new year of lesson plans, visit my web site, www.gpdavenport.com, to download a FREE activity and curriculum tie-in guide for my picture book, Shante' Keys and the New Year's Peas. The guide is written to correlate to the state of Illinois learning standards, which should approximate standards in other states.
And don't forget to enter my cap contest! 
http://gpd853.livejournal.com/2008/08/07/
Do you love New Year's? You can show it with my "I Celebrate New Year's All Year Long" cap! The back of the cap says "Shante' Keys and the New Year's Peas" in red. I'll draw a winner in each August and September in honor of back-to-school.
Please email the following info to contest*AT*gpdavenport*DOT*com.
Name
Address
City/State
Email Address
School or Business Name
The Name of Your Favorite New Year's Dish
Winners will be notified by email. One entry per person per month, please!
Please note: Your personal information will never be sold, distributed, or shown to others. You must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
At first, I was going to do Laurie Halse Anderson's 15 minutes a day writing challenge for July. That sounded like a minor miracle to someone who's been away from writing for what seems like forever. Nobody tells you that when your book comes out, you become an *author/press agent* and you don't get to write anymore. Bummer.
But then my friends in the African American Children's Book Writers & Illustrators threw down the gauntlet--write two pages a day for two months. I took the challenge, and Selected to resurrect my dormant middle grade novel. While I'm not writing every single day, it all evens out. Some days I'm doing research, some days I'm at the library, and some days I have a pencil in my hand writing for my life. But most importantly, I'm thinking about it every day and looking forward to my next writing session.
And the process has been rewarding already. I'm looking for to revising it when I'm finished because I already know where it doesn't make sense, doesn't have enough meat, and needs the story arc fixed. This book may get finished yet!
WOW! Last week I was a guest at the Illinois Reading Council conference in Springfield. This was a big deal for two reasons:
1. I was invited to be one of the Illinois authors at the luncheon and dine face to face with Illinois educators.
2. I was leaving home by myself.
There is no better tonic than being able to talk to teachers and get direct feedback on your work. These are the great ladies I was privileged to dine with. Thanks for picking my table at which to eat! Each of them left with a copy of Shante' Keys and a hot-off-the-press copy of my new Activity Guide for classroom teachers. (You can download a copy at my website.)
Getting to leave home by myself may sound like I was a desperate housewife, itching for peace and quiet. No--I'm just a middle aged woman who has been having a bout with sometime debilitating muscle spasms, which made my husband particularly nervous about me going anywhere alone. He had good reason to be nervous, I guess, because I've only been able to keep these monsters under control via medication. Hopefully, physical therapy will solve that. (He couldn't accompany me because HE had to go to p.t.)
But my optimism prevailed. My body has lately been cooperative and let me do things that I absolutely had to be able to do. The chart of my recent life illustrates:
November 19--terrible muscle spasms send me to the Urgent Aid for eight hours. (If you've ever had back labor with your kids you understand why I couldn't walk.) It takes two weeks to get better.
November 30--my Dad goes into the hospital.
December--my Dad dies, we have a private burial, and then a memorial service at his residence center. Three days after that my husband has his knee replaced and comes home the same day. I have to keep my house clean because nurses and physical therapists are coming to my house for the first three weeks. Yikes.
January, February--I drive my husband to therapy 30 minutes away three times a week. I drive everybody everywhere they need to go. I drive, drive, drive. . .
February--I fall at a literary event, trying to get out of someone's way. My spasms return. I get my doc to give me more of the meds that eventually stopped them in November.
March--My sister and I with hubbies and my son move our mother to a smaller apartment. So our crew was one man who had recently had a total knee replacement, a man who has had two knees replaced, my 17-year-old, and two women with lupus. (And tell me again why didn't we get movers??) It takes us two weeks to finish because in the middle I had some bad days with my back and my sister had some lupusy days.
March 13--I drive 3 hours to IRC by myself!
Okay, so I took my cane with me and looked like an old lady. But I didn't have any crippling pain, end up in an E.R., or fall in the middle of the street. Springfield is actually pretty handicap friendly with blue handicap spaces in almost every block downtown. (Hey, Mayor Daley--take note!) And I lived to finish up moving my mom yesterday. Tomorrow I start physical therapy. I am so hoping we will be able to solve this problem so I can stop taking these meds, build up my strength, and actually use my puppet theater and puppets on school visits.
While at IRC, I got to hear some AWESOME authors--Judith St. George, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Brian Selznick, in addition to sessions by Illinois authors and friends Heidi Roemer and Patricia Hruby Powell. Brian was particularly funny at the dinner I attended where he spoke. He and Hugo are so cool!
Brian autographing copies of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
Food writer Fred Ferretti has an interesting op-ed piece on "Chinese" food in today's New York Times.
"A Rat in the Kitchen"
Happy Lunar New Year! The Year of the Rat began yesterday and to celebrate, I put on my best red blazer (my only one, actually) and my husband, son, and I went to our local Chinese restaurant and actually dined in! We are good carry-out customers of the establishment, but we felt the holiday called for a celebration. The food was great, the service top-notch, and the restaurant was almost empty. Where was everyone?!
Anyhow, if you feel blue during the year and need a cause to celebrate, you can always look to New Year's as the cure. Celebrations go on throughout the year in different cultures and different countries. Check out the dates for 2008 here: http://www.celebratetoday.com/newyears.html
My husband just went back to work this week from his knee replacement surgery so it was kind of a double celebration. He's driving on his own so I'm not the main chauffeur for physical therapy, etc. Now I just have to figure out where I left off in my work. Has anyone seen my pen. . . ?
We have just under three hours until midnight here in Central Time, but already my eyes are getting blinky. It's been a busy day, an incredible month, and an undescribable year. My husband is making progress on his recovery from knee replacement, but I think he thought having a minimally invasive procedure meant he'd be doing the cha-cha after 11 days.
The most amazing part of this week has been my mother-in-law's insistence that she's bringing my husband black-eyed peas tomorrow. Now my mother-in-law is a very good cook and we get along, but I had to get an att'tude that she thought she should bring peas up into my house on New Year's Day. I did hear my husband on the phone saying, "You know, Gail wrote a book about black-eyed peas." In fact, at this moment, I have frozen black-eyed peas, canned black-eyed peas, and refrigerated black-eyed peas. I think I'm up to the task. Now don't YOU forget to eat those peas!
So I look forward to the new year, making black-eyed peas for my family, and the new challenges a new year will bring. So Happy New Year, all! May January 1st be just the beginning of a year full of good luck and incredible love for everyone!
Oh, and GO, ILLINI!
This Christmas will be very different, not just because my father died just a few weeks ago, but because we'll be celebrating at home--just the three of us. Normally we'd see my in-laws on Christmas Eve and go to my sister's house on Christmas Day. But this year we're confined to quarters because my husband had knee replacement surgery last week.
Avoided by my husband for years, this surgery had been scheduled for months when Dad died so I wanted no part in any kind of delay. The recuperation period is hard for my husband, not because of any pain or swelling, but because he is used to being the one to take care of all of us. So now I get to repay all of the years of consideration and care by cooking for him, keeping track of his meds, and running the household. He is one of a kind--most guys would be happy to lie on their butt and be waited on, but he is trying to do everything he can to shorten his recovery time.
Our older son is away for the first Christmas, living on his own in L.A. That's very different also.
So Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and here's hoping you get the thing that matters most--love.
When most of us think about leaving this world, we frequently think about all of the things we have not gotten to do yet. 
The fun we want to have with our friends, the children we want to have and see grow to successful adults, the travels we want to enjoy with our spouse, the grandchildren we want to see born, and the hobby we want to take up are all things that might cross our minds.
At 90 years, 6 months, and one day old, my dad had none of those thoughts. When he died on December 5, he had had a grand life. He did the things he wanted to do and always did them his way.
As a youth and young adult, he enjoyed fun and family in his native New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Following World War II, he and Mom moved to Chicago and he graduated from Loyola University. He fathered three girls--Lawana, Pat, and me--and saw us grow to successful women. He took immense pride in the accomplishmens of his four grandchildren, Adam, Zachary, Douglas, and Lisa. As a sales rep he traveled across the country, and even to Cuba. On journeys with Mom during their 63 years of marriage, he visited Bermuda, Haiti, Hawaii, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, and Argentina. His love of golf took him to challenging courses across the country with his golf clubs, the Tee Birds and the Nomads, and during the winter he bowled in two leagues--with the Tee Birds and with his fellow members of the Harvey Optimist Club.
Along the way, I'm sure he did some things that surprised even him. Military service and community service were probably experiences he couldn't have foreseen. But when called, he served. During World War II he served in the United States Navy. In Harvey, Illinois, he was a member of the Human Rights Commission and was elected to the Thornton Township District 205 school board from 1970 - 1984, even serving as president. After a 23-year career in sales for Sperry Rand, he entered public service in the 1970s and was the City Sealer and then City Clerk of the City of Harvey.
"I never thought I'd live this long," he commented to my sister in the last year and from his medical history you would have thought that, too. But like the Energizer bunny, Dad kept going and going through hospitalizations, emphysema, heart attacks and triple bipass surgery, multiple incidents of pneumonia, and macular degeneration. Anyone who can withstand all of that and still live in his own apartment with my mother as support would never have wanted to go to a nursing home. He was hospitalized with pneumonia on November 29 and when things started going downhill, the social worker talked to me about starting to look for a nursing home. But this was not an option for Leo. Dad's last words to me two days before he died were, "Get me out of here," and I believe he figured out how to exit the hospital on his own.
People have different visions of heaven. For Dad, I think heaven has an 18-hole championship golf course. And of course in the club house between rounds, he listens to great jazz and gets to see my sister Lawana, his mother Blanche, and lots of friends and relatives who helped him live a grand life with no regrets.
R.I.P.
Leo F. Piernas
June 4, 1917 - December 5, 2007
Dad always looked handsome, especially in a tux. Here is at my late sister Lawana's wedding in 1970.
Here he is at my wedding.
Dad with me and sister Pat.
Dad, front left, and family and friends at Christmas 1987.
Dad, standing, second from right, at my son Adam's high school graduation in 2002.
Dad (in chair) at his 90th birthday party in June.
SHANTE KEYS can be ordered via your local bookstore or online at the following book sites.
ONLINE BOOK SITES:
Book Sense Independent Booksellers
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble.com
BOOK DETAILS:
If you are going to your local bookstore to order the book, or want to recommend this book for purchase by your school or library, take this information along for easy ordering:
Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas
Albert Whitman & Company
ISBN 13: 978-0-8075-7330-3
$16.95 • $21.95 Canadian
Age Levels: 5-9
Grades: K-4
Pub. Date: November 2007
Pages: 32 • Size: 10.75 x 8.5
Illustrations: Full color
Library Binding
From Anne Boles Levy's BOOK BUDS:
Suspense builds quickly and we move at a brisk pace, thanks to Piernas-Davenport's taut rhyming couplets. It was almost over too quickly, but end notes describe some other customs around the world.
Eldridge's acrylics are cheery and upbeat, in pleasing pastel shades, adding all the right ingredients for some lighthearted fare.
Rating: *\*\*\
_________________________________________________________________
From the November 15, 2007 BOOKLIST:
In rhyming text and vibrant illustrations, this upbeat story celebrates family, community, and multiculturalism, highlighting an African American family’s New Year’s food traditions, including “lucky” black-eyed peas. Grandma has prepared a delicious meal, but something is missing: “‘Mercy!’ cries Grandma. ‘I’m weak in the knees. I cooked lots of food, but forgot black-eyed peas!’” Young Shanté is sent to check with the neighbors: Miss Lee, who is Chinese; grocer MacGhee, from Scotland; Shanté’s friend Hari, who is Hindu. None of them have peas, but on her visits, Shanté learns about their celebratory food traditions—from dumplings to haggis and cheese. Finally, she finds peas, which Grandma prepares, and the neighbors happily share at the festive dinner. The story, with abundant dialogue, is written in couplets, with all lines ending in a long “e” sound, and the expressive art warmly portrays characters’ interactions in bright, rich hues and lively detail. Notes on a few other culture’s special New Year foods and a recipe for Grandma’s hoppin’ John are appended.
— Shelle Rosenfeld
_______________________________________________________________
From Susan Thomsen's CHICKEN SPAGHETTI:
Their joyful picture book celebrates family, community, and diversity. It imparts a few facts about New Year's customs in different cultures as Shanté goes from neighbor to neighbor looking for a missing ingredient for her family's feast.
_______________________________________________________________
From PAPERTIGER.ORG, a Pacific Rim Project:
Shanté Keys, the first book from author Gail Piernas-Davenport, will join Norah Dooley’s Everybody Cooks Rice series and Marjorie Priceman’s How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World as a fun and informative story about what and how people eat all over the world. And when you’ve finished reading, take your kids to the kitchen and cook up some of Grandma Louise’s delicious Hoppin’ John, recipe included.
Abigail Sawyer
November 2007
______________________________________________________________
Shanté Keys is also a Book Vine Top Pick 2008!
Good news and a welcomed distraction from my back spasms arrived with the nominations for the Cybils, the awards given by the kid lit bloggers. There are a fine list of nominees in the categories of middle grade fiction, YA fiction, picture book non-fiction, picture book fiction, graphic novels, poetry, science fiction/fantasy, and MG/YA non-fiction. Check them out at The Cybils Blog. It's mind-blowing to see my name and my book on a list of nominees for anything!
Also, I'm very proud that the book has been selected for inclusion in the Anti-Defamation League's Multicultural Bibliography.
The 2007 Cybils
Today is one of those days that reminds me, "Hey, stupid! You have lupus!"
I'm in a fog, I'm exhausted, and I feel bad. What did I do? I did a little house cleaning yesterday. Bad idea.
The way I feel, though, has reminded me of the limitations I'm have with promoting a book. "Are you having any booksignings?" "Do you want to come to our school?" These are questions I wish I could say a resounding YES! to, but the truth is I can't do too much on a regular basis. So I haven't been as arduous about pursuing signings because there is just so little energy to go around. After last week's appearance at the NAEYC convention, I was exhausted.
So today when I started beating myself up mentally for not wanting to call people, visit bookstores, send out mail, or update my web site, I remembered Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit. Laura suffers from CFS--chronic fatigue syndrome. I found this quote from 2001:
Right now my exhaustion is bad enough so I'm 100% housebound.
I've only been out of the house three times since my book came out two months ago.
Laura didn't do the book tour thing--she just couldn't. She fought her illness just to be able to finish her book--public appearances just weren't on the horizon. So I'll have to be happy for the things I can do. I'm blessed to have been able to get my book published and see it make children, their parents, and teachers smile.
The very first time I visited McCormick Place, it was the original McCormick Place's grand opening and I was in the fourth grade. My class had studied Chicago history and the book had a drawing of the new convention center. I just had to go. I don't know how I got my dad to take the family but we all went. And who did we run into? Well, Mrs. Bacon, my fourth grade teacher! Talk about getting brownie points!
McCormick Place and I have had our ups and downs through the years (the original building was devoured in a fire and sat in ruins for years before being rebuilt and expanded). But yesterday we were both having a grand time. The site of the old center, now dubbed McCormick Lakeside or East, is hosting the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. I was there to sign books in the Albert Whitman booth.
It was fun to meet the editors, marketing people, and even the president with whom I had only emailed and spoken with on the phone. Here I am in my New Year's best with my editor Wendy McClure.
I signed a fair share of books and got to speak to folks from all over the country. Even folks who didn't purchase were nostalgic about their New Year's meals. And folks who ate black-eyed peas knew my roots were in the South!
As a bonus to the day, Whitman's Denise Shanahan walked me over to meet The Book Vine's Isabel Baker. I learned Isabel is a big fan of Shante' and has been teaching the book in sessions around the country. It has even been named a Book Vine Top Pick in the2008 catalog! Awesome!
Thanks to the misinformation presented in the very first review my book received from "the review source that shall not be named," I've launched an education campaign for black-eyed peas.
Here's the short report on the truth about black-eyed peas:
--They're considered a bean.
--They are high in nutrients.
--They do NOT have to be soaked before cooking.
--And, they make a great story!
In the activity guide for my book, there is a section on nutrition. Beans should be an important part of our diet and there are tons of great recipes on the Internet.
For specific information on the nutrition, storage, and preparation of black-eyed peas, check out the
Cheney Brothers web site. And if you
still don't believe black-eyed peas do not require soaking, get the word from the people who grow the beans, the
California Dry Bean Board. (The scroll bar on that page is to the left of the main information.)
Holy cow! Has it been three weeks since I last posted? I've been so busy writing press releases and brochures, and finishing my activity guide to go with my picture book that I guess I just haven't had time to stop by.
More reviews are starting to pop up for Shante, and these feel good. Take a look at:
Book Buds by Anne Boles Levy reviewed the book with 3 Stars. Sounds good to me!
Chicken Spaghetti had an interview with Shante's illustrator, Marion Eldridge, about Robert's Snow. Good stuff!
I'll be signing books at the National Association for the Education of Young Children on Thursday at Chicago's McCormick Place, 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm. I know working a booth at a conference can be dreadfully slow, so if there's anyone out there in cyberspace reading and you'll be at the conference, please stop by!
I have to admit I was bummed. I received the first review of my book in the mail Friday. It was in an envelope from my publisher and arrived without warning so I opened. Our state chapter SCBWI leader, Esther, has always told us not to read reviews. But I had no idea what was in the envelope.
Part of the review was unkind--it said my "verse often falters annoyingly," which annoyed me to no end. But I was prepared to receive a less than favorable review because everyone doesn't like rhyming books and they are often held to a higher standard.
The part of the review that was just plain inaccurate, however, is the part that sent me to depression. "Bright colorful illustrations portray Shante's energy and determination to save her family tradition, but, of course, these seem to be miracle peas that don't need soaking overnight." DUH! These are FRESH peas, explained in the accompanying recipe, but even if they were dried peas, this is a misconception about soaking peas overnight.
So after about only an hour and one Dairy Queen ice cream cone, I figured out how to turn this lemon-filled review into lemonade. I'll keep you posted.
If you want to buy my book and judge for yourself, check it out on Amazon.com or contact your local bookseller.
Shante Keys and the New Year's Peas
Here's a great contest that gets kids to read and write while connecting them to their favorite authors:
"The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves."
Info here: http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/letters.html
It made me think about the books I read as a child and wondered who I would have written. As an elementary student, I read Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and books of similar ilk. But then I also read every book on World War II and being a Catholic school girl, I read a lot of books about the saints. Then in high school, I read a lot of political fiction (Allen Drury, Fletcher Knebel), and then Arthur Hailey books plus sci-fi writers like Isaac Asimov. I also read a lot of scripts from Broadway plays, checking out the Best of Broadway book from the library each year.
But I'm pretty sure the person I would have written would have been Gwendolyn Brooks. Her poetry really resonated with me, and as a student in the 1950s and 1960s, she was one of the few African American female writers I knew. Literature today is so much more diverse and I hope students will take advantage of this opportunity to tell the writers who speak to them how much they matter.
Hey, if you're an elementary school teacher and you like free things, boogey on over to my web site (
www.gpdavenport.com) to enter to win a free copy of
The Teacher's Calendar. This book is so cool--it has historic events, birthdays, and current happenings for each day of the school year.
The contest ends at 12:01 a.m. on October 8, 2007. Please spread the word around! Thanks!
Well, I didn't have Biff to announce it as he did for George McFly in "Back to the Future," but there was indeed a box delivered to my house Thursday with, you guessed it, books! Copies of MY BOOK! The UPS guy must never have rung the doorbell and I only discovered the box when I went out for the mail.
As Mal and the crew of Serenity would say, "Shiny!" (Can you tell we like movies in my house?)
I had mentioned to my friend Jacky back in July that I had no idea what I was going to do for my school visits. Other writers I know play instruments and sing to their young audiences. I play a mean grits box, but that's about where my musical talent ends. Jacky, however, didn't hesitate and said, "PUPPETS!"
Now Jacky and I have worked on some big projects over the years. When I was the community relations director of the elementary school in which Jacky taught art, we installed gigantic murals in the gym that told the history of the school district. We also coordinated a huge art show each year with our four schools and four more private schools. Jacky and I had to "invent" the display boards we used each year because we didn't have money for real display boards.
So when Jacky said PUPPETS! she probably didn't realize that something so small could be so hard to do. First I explored buying the puppets. I searched every online catalog and retail store in sight. Either the puppets were the wrong size, had the wrong hair, were mouth puppets (much harder to do than hand puppets) or were not in enough different skin tones, plus none of them had the right clothes on! I realized even if I purchased puppets, I would be making clothes for them to resemble the attire in the book.
Next I embarked on a journey to find a good puppet pattern and searched the Internet. I found several, but none of them had the size or detail I wanted for my characters. I tried making my own with miserable results. My husband said the first one looked like a voodoo doll. Boo hoo. (He was right, actually.)
The quest became immensely easier when I discovered Kwik Sew pattern 3322 (available online or at Hancock Fabrics--not JoAnne). I have spent the last six weeks transforming the characters from my picture book to hand puppets and having a lot of fun. I still have to get or make a puppet theater but that should be a piece of cake compared to making ten puppets! I have two puppets left to make but I should be able to finish next week.
Drum roll please. . .Presenting Shante' Keys and Friends!
This was an incredible experience. My appreciation of Marion's detail and personality bestowed upon the characters grew. Now I can only hope (and practice like crazy) to be a worthy puppeteer. Shante' and the gang deserve only the best!
We writers all dream our characters will turn into literary super heroes and earn us a lottery full of money. But do we ever dream they can fight disease and help for a brighter future? Hardly ever.
I have to admit I never even imagined that was possible. How on earth could little Shante' do something like that? I got the surprise of a lifetime last week when I found out that she will contribute in the fight against cancer.
The illustrator of my picture book, Marion Eldridge, used Shante' in her snowflake design this year for Robert's Snow. (http://www.jimmyfund.org/eve/event/roberts-snow/default.html) If you've never heard of Robert's Snow, it's an auction of snowflakes designed by children's illustrators to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. It was started by illustrator Grace Lin as her husband Robert fought cancer, a battle he lost last month. I actually got teary eyed when I saw Shante' in that snowflake. I hope some wealthy person (are you reading this Oprah?) will fall in love with her, as Marion and I have, and bring in tons of money for cancer research.
You can see the snowflake on Marion's new blog:
http://marion-eldridgenews.blogspot.com/
I haven't updated my journal lately because things have just been so busy. I've been building a mailing list for my publisher to send out some additional ARCs, working on my secret school visit project, writing an article for our state SCBWI's newsletter The Prairie Wind (http://www.scbwi-illinois.org/PrairieWind/), and getting my teenager back to school. It's hard to believe he is a junior. And the most recent thing I did was celebrate my mother's 90th birthday!
I can only write this here because I know my mother will never see it. My mother never tells her age.
I can never understand why my mother has always been so secretive about disclosing her age. If I make it to 90, you had better believe that I am going to tell everyone how old I am and really celebrate it.
My mother no way looks 90. My son didn't take a lot of shots at her party, but if you could see her whole face you would know it's true. Happy Birthday, Mom!
Trivia alert--My mother shares her September 4th birthday with another favorite subject of mine--Daniel Burnham.
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