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Sam Bennett's New Shoes, ©2006 Jennifer Thermes
Have you entered the contest to win a signed copy of
Sam Bennett's New Shoes by Jennifer Thermes yet? There's still time. In fact, after it was brought to my attention that some of the auction dates have changed, I'm changing the rules! Anyone who posted on the original
Behind the Snowflakes- Up Close and Personal post will be in the drawing. Whether you answered correctly or not! If you haven't entered yet you still can. Just go
here, and read all about it. The new date for the drawing will be November 19th. The first day of the Robert's Snow
auction.
Like to enter contests?
Paradise Found has put together a list of all the
Blogging for a Cure bloggers who are giving away books and art . Check it out!
I sure enjoyed reading all the bloggers posts last week featuring illustrators who created snowflakes for Robert's Snow. What great interviews and contests and photos and snowflakes. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Blogging for a Cure is up to this week!
Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift and supports an important cause.
Where to find this week's Illustrators
Monday, October 22
Mark Teague at The Miss Rumphius Effect
Sharon Vargo at Finding Wonderland
Christopher Demarest at Writing and Ruminating
Rose Mary Berlin at Charlotte's Library
David Macaulay at Here in the Bonny Glen
Tuesday, October 23
Carin Berger at Chasing Ray
Marion Eldridge at Chicken Spaghetti
Sophie Blackall at not your mother's bookclub
Erik Brooks at Bildungsroman
Brian Lies at Greetings from Nowhere
Wednesday, October 24
Elisa Kleven at Rozzie Land
Consie Powell at Becky's Book Reviews
Jimmy Pickering at Shaken & Stirred
Frank Dormer at What Adrienne Thinks About That
Sheila Bailey at Lizjonesbooks
Thursday, October 25
Julia Denos at Interactive Reader
Rebecca Doughty at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Brian Floca at A Fuse #8 Production
Margaret Chodos-Irvine at readergirlz
Friday, October 26
David Ezra Stein at HipWriterMama
Juli Kangas at Sam Riddleburger's blog
Ginger Nielson at Miss O's School Library
Margot Apple at Jo's Journal
Saturday, October 27
Julie Fromme Fortenberry at Your Neighborhood Librarian
Sarah Dillard at The Silver Lining
John Hassett at cynthialord's Journal
Abigail Marble at Please Come Flying
Sunday, October 28
Ashley Wolff at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Barbara Garrison at Brooklyn Arden
Kelly Murphy at ChatRabbit
Remember 7-Imp has a special
Blogging for a Cure page that includes a list with links to all the posts that have featured the
Robert’s Snow artists and 2007 snowflakes to date.
Note to Blog Readers about Blogging for a Cure: When
Jules of
7-Imp put out her call in September for
bloggers to interview/feature artists who had created snowflakes for
Robert’s Snow 2007 at their blogs, a number of artists had not yet sent in their snowflakes to Dana-
Farber. As time was of the essence to get
Blogging for a Cure underway, we worked with the list of artists whose snowflakes were already in possession of Dana-
Farber. Therefore, not all the participating artists will be featured. This in no way diminishes our appreciation for their contributions to this worthy cause. We hope everyone will understand that once the list of artists was emailed to
bloggers and it was determined which
bloggers would feature which artists at their blogs, a schedule was organized and sent out so we could get to work on Blogging for a Cure ASAP. Our aim is to raise people’s awareness about
Robert’s Snow and to promote the three auctions. We hope our efforts will help to make
Robert’s Snow 2007 a resounding success.
Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.
Image used with permission; thanks to The Miss Rumphius Effect for doing all the code. I am participating in the blog project to highlight all illustrators who are involved in the Robert's Snow auction, but mine are later on in the process.
Please note that hundreds of illustrators are participating, and not all illustrators are being highlighted by blogs. See the Wild Rose Reader for an explanation of the process. The main point of Blogging for a Cure is to bring the auction to the attention of more people, so that money can be raised.
And now, this week's schedule:
Monday, October 22
Tuesday, October 23
Wednesday, October 24
Thursday, October 25
Friday, October 26
Saturday, October 27
Sunday, October 28
"There are things I think people have a need to know . . . I want them
to look around more — to pay attention to the world around them, to
take an extra moment to look at things, to think about things."
—David Macauley
Ten and a half years ago, when our 21-month-old daughter was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Scott and I were told to be thankful it was ALL and not some other kind of cancer. We were thankful, strange as it was to feel glad about anything related to a cancer diagnosis. We knew that the prognosis was better for kids with ALL than with other types of cancer.
But we were a full week into treatment before we found out how very good the prognosis actually was. Jane had started the week with two complete blood exchanges, purging her body of all the cancerous white blood cells that had escaped her bone marrow and were coursing through her tiny veins. She had made it through the first terrible week of chemotherapy—the fevers, the vomiting, the countless needle sticks. One week down, years to go. The head of the hem/onc department came in to meet us, and he asked us, rather professorially, what our goal was with Jane's treatment.
"Remission?" I asked. He smiled in obvious amusement.
"Yes, of course," he said, shrugging. "We will get her into remission, and very soon. But that is just the beginning. Our goal is to keep her in remission. Our goal is a cure."
Scott and I stared at him. I started to cry. A week earlier, during the nightmarish hour between leaving our pediatrician's office and arriving, per his urgent instructions, at the children's hospital emergency room, we had swung by our apartment to restock the diaper bag. On the way out the door, I had grabbed an old (but not that old) medical reference book we happened to have on the shelf. In the car I read aloud to Scott in horror. If the pediatrician was right, if the baby had leukemia, the best-case scenario, according to this tome, was a five-to-seven-year survival rate.
Until that moment when the Chief Oncologist said the word "cure," Scott and I had believed our best hope at the end of putting Jane through the torture of chemotherapy was that she would live to see her ninth birthday.
"I didn't know," I croaked. "I didn't know there was a cure for cancer."
"For this kind, there is," said the doctor.
We all know that ALL is but one of the many, many kinds of cancer. The treatment—the cure—doesn't work for everyone, but it works for a lot of people, especially children. Ten years later, Jane is still in remission and spilling joy everywhere she goes. If you find joy on this blog, she is a large part of the reason why. I threw that old medical reference book in the trash long ago, because the hard work of doctors and researchers, and the courage of patients who came before my Jane, had rendered its somber pronouncements inaccurate.
At the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, researchers are working on more, and better, cures. This research is paid for by the Jimmy Fund, named after a 12-year-old cancer patient who made a radio appeal in 1948 that brought in some $200,000 in funding for research that first year. Jimmy, like Jane, survived his cancer. It's possible that Jane survived because of breakthroughs in chemotherapy protocols developed by the doctors at Dana-Farber—I don't have any idea who all the people were whose work saved my daughter's life. I only know that I am thankful to the very marrow of my bones. And hers.
Children's book illustrator Grace Lin wrote a picture book called Robert's Snow during her husband's fight against bone cancer. Robert Mercer was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma just months after he and Grace were married. Grace tells the story on the Robert's Snow site:
Nine months later, Robert was declared cancer-free. "Robert's Snow"
was accepted for publication. We felt that our good luck had finally
arrived. But, in March 2004, Robert's cancer returned. We were
devastated. Our doctor told us that Robert's best chance for long-term
survival was a breakthrough in cancer research.
So we decided to help the doctors the best we could. Because
"Robert's Snow" had meant so much to us the first time, we decided to
use it as an inspiration for a fundraiser. We recruited children's book
artists to paint wooden snowflakes and auctioned them off — the
proceeds going to cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The response was tremendous. "Robert's Snow: for Cancer's Cure" snowballed greater than we ever dreamed.
To date, the Robert's Snow snowflake auctions have raised over $200,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This year's auctions will begin in November, and you can bid on a stunning array of snowflakes illustrated by some of the most talented artists in children's books.
Starting last week, bloggers all over the kidlitosphere joined in an effort to spread awareness of the upcoming Robert's Snow auctions. Encouraged by Jules and Eisha of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, who dreamed up the "Blogging for a Cure" event, dozens of bloggers are featuring snowflakes by some of the participating illustrators. There are many, many more snowflakes being auctioned in addition to the ones you will see in these posts. I encourage you to go explore the auction site and feast your eyes on all these beautiful pieces of art.
Here is one of them. What an honor it is to be able to feature David Macaulay's snowflake here at Bonny Glen. I mean, David Macaulay! Caldecott winner! Author of The Way Things Work! The man who taught Jane what a laser is, and how parking meters work, and what is the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion!
David Macaulay painted a snowflake for the Robert's Snow auction. Here it is:
Ten years ago, when Jane was diagnosed, David Macauley's books already had pride of place on our living room shelf. I first saw The Way Things Work in the children's bookstore I worked at during grad school. I bought a copy with my employee discount. I hoped to have children one day, lots of them, and I knew they'd want to know how stuff worked.
Now here it is 2007 and I've got those children, a lot of them!, and they are indeed full of 'satiable curtiousities. David Macauley's books have helped show them the world. Sit down with one of his black-and-white "Building Books" masterpieces, and you're likely to spend the whole rest of the day immersed in the details of another corner of the world. Here are some of the books he wrote and illustrated, a homeschooler's dream library:
City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction
Cathedral
Pyramid
Mosque
Ship
Underground
Mill
He also wrote the Caldecott winner Black and White, a stunner of a picture book, as well as the charming Angelo.
There will be three rounds of snowflake auctions, beginning November 19th. If you'd like to see David Macauley's snowflake hanging on your Christmas tree or in your winter window, it will be sold in the second auction, which starts on November 26th. (Trivia time: one of the other snowflakes in that auction was made by the illustrator of one of my books. Do you know who?)
Many thanks to Mr. Macaulay and all the illustrators who donated these gorgeous works of art for the Robert's Snow auction, to Grace Lin for founding the event (view her own snowflake here), and to Jules and Eisha for organizing the Blogging for a Cure effort. And many, many thanks to the folks of the Dana-Farber Institute for continuing to work toward cures for other people like Jane.
Here are the rest of this week's Blogging for a Cure snowflake features (thank you, Tricia and Jen, for the list!):
Monday, October 22
Tuesday, October 23
Wednesday, October 24
Thursday, October 25
Friday, October 26
Saturday, October 27
Sunday, October 28
Related links:
Blogging for a Cure page at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
David Macauley page at Houghton Mifflin.
Robert's Snow main page.
Main auction page.
David Macauley's snowflake auction page.
Robert's Snow was founded by children's book illustrator Grace Lin and her husband Robert as a fundraiser to benefit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The story is a touching one and you can read all about it here.
I first heard of Robert’s Snow while doing my daily reading at 7-Imp, one of the blogs I read religiously. Eisha and Jules had a fantastic idea, get the kidlit bloggers to pitch in and feature an illustrator or two or five to drive traffic to the Robert’s Snow Snowflake auctions. The response was terrific (who wouldn’t want to pitch in?) and I eagerly threw my hat in the ring.
My first illustrator/snowflake feature landed on a Friday and I was torn. I couldn’t miss Poetry Friday! I love Poetry Friday and I loved the idea of featuring an illustrator. I was committed to the feature and determined to have my Poetry Friday cake too. But how? At 7:15 a.m. just before running out the door to work, an answer landed right into my laptop with the name Roald Dahl. I know! You’re mystified. Well, stay with me and you’ll see what I mean.
My illustrator today is Jeff Mack. Born in Syracuse, New York, Jeff Mack spent most of his childhood drawing monsters, writing horror stories, and building haunted houses in his basement.
Having spent five years as a full-time muralist, he began illustrating children's books in 2001, starting with Linda Ashman's Rub-a-Dub Sub, a Junior Library Guild selection and Bill Martin Jr. Award nominee. Since then he has illustrated thirteen picture books, including James Howe's Ready-to-Read Bunnicula series and Eve Bunting's Hurry! Hurry ! He has also written and illustrated Hush Baby Polar Bear to be published by Roaring Brook in 2008.
Now at home in the high peaks of Western Massachusetts, he continues to write and illustrate books, paint murals, and talk with school groups about his work.
Jeff is currently in Buffalo, NY visiting elementary schools but he still managed to take time from his busy schedule to write me a nice email about Robert’s Snow and a bit about his snowflake.
I chose Jeff’s snowflake for the title alone – Pensive Pig. Anyone who reads me here at AmoXcalli knows my granddaughter Jasmine has a thing for pigs. Together, we occasionally review books about pigs so when I saw a snowflake with a pig in the title, well I just had to choose it. When I saw it, I wanted it for Jasmine. I’ll be bidding but I hope I have lots of competition. Here are Jeff’s own words about his snowflake and Robert’s Snow below his very Piggerific snowflake.
About a year ago I heard someone on the radio talking about the structural similarities between pig and human brains. I starting imagining pigs using their brains to have some of the same moments of epiphany that humans sometimes have (like the ones pictured in old Renaissance paintings). I made a few portraits of pigs involved in deep concentration. When the snowflake project came along, I thought that the snowflake may someday be used as a Christmas gift. So I decided to put one of the thinking pigs on the snowflake to remind the receiver that "it's the thought that counts".
What brought me to Robert's Snow was meeting Grace Lin at the Smith College Campus School Book fair in Northampton, MA. We talked about illustrating books, and she asked me if I'd like to be involved in the snowflake project.
You can find out more about Jeff Mack’s work on his website. I’m especially fond of his murals.
When I read this email from Jeff this morning and his words about the thinking pig, I remembered that Roald Dahl wrote a very dark little poem about a thinking pig and that’s when I knew I had not only a post about Robert’s Snow, but my Poetry Friday post as well.
The Pig
In England once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn't read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn't puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, "By gum, I've got the answer!"
Read the rest of the poem here.
The round up is over at Kelly Fineman’s today. Thanks for hosting Kelly! This post will also post on Cuentecitos.
Now through November, Blogging for a Cure 2007 will feature over 70 bloggers who will be highlighting many of the beautiful snowflakes created by children’s book illustrators as part of Robert’s Snow: for Cancer's Cure. Visit the handful of artists featured each day, and get to know each one of them up close and personal. Bid on your own original art snowflake while helping to fight cancer.
Today I have the privilege of featuring author and illustrator and snowflake creator Jennifer Thermes. Jennifer writes books about life in the colonial time period. Her stories are inspired by events that happened in her 280-year-old family home. The old farmhouse was once owned by poet and editor Louis Untermeyer. She is convinced "his spirit still infuses the place with a love of stories and ideas." Be sure to check out her website. Like her books, it's chock-full fine detail and historical information.
Interview with Jennifer Thermes
How did you become involved in Robert’s Snow and what was your inspiration for your snowflake, The First Snow?
I had heard about Robert’s Snow in previous years, and when the call for interested artists came out, I sent in my name. So many people’s lives have been touched by cancer, and I thought it was a very worthy cause.
As for the inspiration for my snowflake, I still get excited with the first snow of the season, and I’m sure that children in colonial times did, too!
Who had the most influence on your work?Many people– my first art teacher, my writing group, something I’ve read, other artists’ work. It’s always changing. I try to stay inspired by new things. I have always liked that saying about “thinking like a beginner,” in order to keep learning and growing.
What is your all-time favorite picture book?Another tough question, because my favorites change all the time! (I will say, my favorite Dr. Seuss story is “What Was I Scared Of?” There’s something about that “pair of pale green pants with nobody inside them” that gets me every time!) But seriously, I love the work of Peter Sís, David Small, Garth Williams, Barbara McClintock, among so many others.
For “Sam Bennett’s New Shoes” what was the time line between when you first found the boot and shoe hidden within in the framework of your 1720's farmhouse house, and when the book actually became published?
I knew right away there was a story in the boot and the shoe, but it was about three years before I put pen to paper. Between putting the story and the pictures together took about a year, and then another year before a publisher picked up the idea. Then, of course, another two years working with the editor, doing the final artwork, and completing the whole production process. It’s probably not a good idea to think too hard about the time it takes to make a book!
Do you have the original boot and shoe on display in your home?Yes, they make a great conversation starter.
Tell us what it’s like working from your office in a home with such a colorful history!I probably have the same distractions as anybody who works from home, though with a lot more dust! I think the thing an old house really teaches you is that life isn’t perfect, but it can still work just fine, and even be wonderful. In an old house things break, paint peels, floors creak and nothing is level- but there is a certain charm that is hard to reproduce. Also, I find it oddly comforting to think about all of life’s ups and downs the different people who lived here must have experienced.
Working as an author/illustrator, for you, which comes first, the pictures or the words?It depends on the project. Sometimes an idea will come to me visually, and sometimes a line of text will come whole, seemingly out of nowhere. I’m convinced it’s a gift from the subconscious when that happens! More likely is that I’ll work on the words first– struggling through a first draft and trying to figure out what the story is about, and then shifting back and forth between the words and pictures to meld it all together. I think with each new project I crawl before I walk, and walk before I run. Once I get into the “groove” of an idea it seems to flow quickly.
Tell us a little bit about your illustrative process.
I do a lot of scribbly-sketches before a picture’s composition takes hold, and then refine the drawing from there. It’s helpful to keep a thumbnail layout of a book project in front of me as I work so that I can keep in mind how the pictures and story will flow from page to page. Once I start the finished art I have to remind myself to take frequent breaks– otherwise I get too nit-picky with the color and, actually, everything! I’m never completely satisfied with the finish, but I suspect many artists would say the same about their work.
Your stories are such a part of the life you have lived, or inspired by the lives of those who lived before you, what do you have planned next?Right now I have several stories out for consideration, one is a picture-book biography and all with historical themes. Since my “day job” is creating illustrated maps, I’ve been working on an idea that incorporates them into a story. It’s still in the early stages.
What were you thinking with that 1980's hairstyle? Just kidding! (All you curious readers can see what I’m talking about on Jennifer’s website bio.)Oh, come on, I was SO COOL!! (But really quite shy, believe it or not!)
Thank you Jennifer for letting us get to know more about you! And a special thank you for donating a signed book to be given away to one lucky reader of this blog. That's right! Just post a reply on this blog telling me if Jennifer is in auction 1, 2, or 3, and your name will go into a drawing. The winner will be selected on the first day of her auction. (You can find the auction details
here.)
Be sure to check out the other snowflakes being featured today:
Brooke Dyer at
Bookshelves of Doom
D.B. Johnson at
Lessons from the Tortoise
Erin Eitter Kono at
Sam Riddleburger
Sherry Rogers at
A Life in Books
Children's writers and artists are collaborating to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. More than a hundred well-established and new artists have each created a snowflake art piece for this year's event, and each snowflake will be auctioned on-line starting November 19, 2007.
You can read more details at Jen Robinson's blog here.
The art reminds us why children love picture books, and how a little bit of beauty can work wonders.
Here are a few samples from the many lovely choices. Whether you like dogs or cats, traditional snowy holiday scenes or tropical treasures, amusing or serene, there's a snowflake for you!
This Chillax might be my personal favorite!
But of course, I love Paddington Bear, too!
I hope everyone in Saipan with any cash to spend for the holidays will participate in this on-line auction. The treasure is not just the art, but the gift of giving.
Tomorrow's the big day. I'll be featuring Jennifer Thermes and her snowflake. Be sure to check back in. There will be a drawing involved. You could win a signed copy of one of her books!
In the meantime take a look at who's been featured in the last two days...
Wednesday, October 17
Rick Chrustowski at
laurasalas
Diane DeGroat at
Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup
Ilene Richard at
Something Different Every Day
Brie Spangler at
Lectitans
Don Tate at
The Silver Lining Tuesday, October 16
Selina Alko at Brooklyn Arden
Scott Bakal at Wild Rose Reader
Alexandra Boiger at Paradise Found
Paige Keiser at Your Neighborhood Librarian
Janet Stevens at The Miss Rumphius Effect
For a comprehensive list of snowflake and illustrator features, written by over 65 bloggers and coordinated by 7-Imp, in the 2007 Blogging for a Cure, click
here.
PLEASE NOTE! Not every illustrator involved in this project will be featured on our blogs. Some are still working on their snowflakes! That means to see all of them, you'll have to go to the
Robert's Snow Site.
Blogging for a Cure, has begun! Starting today, more than 65 bloggers will be highlighting snowflakes and the illustrators who created them. Thank you Jules and Eisha, at Seven Impossible Things, for organizing such a huge event. Here are today's features:
Monday, October 15
Randy Cecil at ChatRabbit
Kevin Hawkes at Cynthia Lord's Journal
Barbara Lehman at The Excelsior File
Grace Lin at In the Pages
This year Robert's Snow has rounded up, more than 200 well-known children’s book illustrators from around the world to create a unique, original art snowflake. And you can own one! The 2007 online auctions for bidding on these hand-painted snowflakes will take place in three separate auctions, from November 19 to 23, November 26-30, and December 3-7. You can read all about it here .
The artists I will be featuring are:
Jennifer Thermes: Thursday, October 18
Chris Gall: Sunday, November 11
Special thanks to Elaine at Wild Rose Reader for not only sharing more photos of the gallery exhibit featuring the snowflakes, but for having a contest with the very special price of a a limited edition Robert’s Snow giclee print created by Grace Lin! This is going to be fun! In fact, many of the feature blogs are running contests with prizes, so be sure to check each one, each day.
If you enjoy great children’s illustrations and picture book illustrators; if you love Christmas or winter, and want to own a unique ornament created by a children’s illustrator; or if you care about helping make the world a better place or have known someone in your life affected by cancer, then you’ll want to check out the snowflakes created by children’s illustrators which are being auctioned off to raise money for Robert’s Snow: Cure for Cancer. The money will go to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Robert’s Snow was created by illustrator Grace Lin and her husband Robert Mercer.
All this month, the more-than 200 illustrators who participated in this drive, and the snowflakes they created, will be featured on four to five kidlit blogs a day, with interviews and more. To view the schedule, or to visit one of the participating blogs, visit Jen Robinson’s post about it.
To bid on a snowflake (starting in November; bids start at $50); to take a look at all the wonderful snowflakes available; or to learn more about the Robert’s Snow: Cure for Cancer drive, head on over to the Robert’s Snow website. You can also look at the two previous years’ snowflakes.
You also have a chance to win a limited edition Robert’s Snow giclee print, over at Wild Rose Reader, if you read the articles about the illustrators participating in the Blogging for a Cure, and leave a comment.
This is a worthy cause, and also ties into children’s books and illustrators, which is a nice combination.
It rained all last night and off and on throughout the day. The grandkids and I were cheated out of our walk but we're happy to have the rain here in sometimes too sunny California. My Grandma Lupe's long-standing tradition was always to make either caldo de rez (beef and vegetable soup) or caldo de pollo (chicken soup) on the first rainy day. It's a great tradition and I've done a darned good job in keeping it. My children always knew the first rainy day meant soup and some kind of baking and now my grandchildren are learning. Traditions are important to me.
It's Saturday. If it had been a Saturday when I was growing up, I'd have been lying under piles of blankets smelling the morning baking my grandmother was doing, smelling chiles roasting, hearing my grandfather banging out tortillas with his big rolling pin. If I had been at my mom's it would have been cartoons, cold cereal and a blanket on the couch. In my house now, Saturdays mean the grandkids are here. Cartoons? Once in a great while. I do work in animation... But mostly, Saturdays - rainy ones mean cuddling on the bean bags and reading stories. Today we read the first chapter of The Wind in the Willows. Isn't that a great book?
After reading, we piled into the car at the first break in the rain and headed to the Mexican market to get groceries for soup. I meant to do chicken but ended up wanting beef instead. I had a great time teaching my granddaughter Jasmine how to pick out the right vegetables. We had so much fun smelling herbs, squeezing lemons, looking at tomatoes, discussing chiles and laughing at the funny sounds of words in Spanish, English and Nahuatl. Words like loroco, flor de calabaza, tomatl, tomate, tomato. She has a good sense of what we need and she's only four. She knows that we want the juiciest, darkest red tomatoes for salsa, the firmer Romas for Spanish rice and things like salad. She knows the difference between the smell of oregano and thyme, can tell you what we use it for and that spearmint tea will take away a tummy ache. She's steeped in tradition and in her culture and that makes me happy to know that things like my grandmother's recipes won't be lost.
We bought chamorros de rez (beef shanks), soup bones, loroco, mexican squash, chayote or chayotl squash, squash flowers, fresh thyme, fresh oregano, chiles of four different varieties, lemons, new potatoes white and purple, tomatoes, carrots, white Mexican corn on the cob, celery, cabbage, cilantro, garlic and onions. We bought fresh Mexican white cheese (queso fresco) that crumbly mild almost ricotta-like wheel of cheese that is my favorite and Monterey Jack. We also bought huge pink and white marshmallows and a big pumpkin.
At home again, we set the soup bones and chamorros to mingle with fresh thyme, cilantro, oregano, a head of garlic and two quartered onions in boiling salted water while we read more about our friends Toad, Mole and the rest. I got in some crocheting while the grandkids napped and thought about next weeks Poetry Friday (yikes I'm hosting), Robert's Snow and the upcoming Cybil Awards. I have the honor of featuring four illustrators on both Cuentecitos and AmoXcalli for Robert's Snow - Blogging for A Cure organized by Jules and Eisha of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Those two are the most organized people I've run into in a while! I also have the honor of being a panelist again for graphic novels with the 2007 Cybil Awards. I'm going to be a busy girl!
Several hours later, we had a great beefy stock going. We pulled out the herbs, garlic, meat and bones and strained out the stock. We then added quarted potatoes in their skins and the carrots chopped into chunks. We let that get halfway done, then added chopped celery, chunks of chayote squash and fresh Mexican white corn on the cob and while that was cooking we sliced into paper thin wheels, the zucchini and Mexican squash which we carefully laid on top to steam along with a quartered cabbage. We put the lid on the pot and let that simmer for five minutes just long enough for the cabbage to wilt and change color.
I had made fresh roasted salsa earlier along with squash flower and loroco quesadillas and Spanish rice. We cut quesadillas into little crispy triangles oozing the mix of cheeses with little green and yellow flowers cascading out and arranged those on a plate with a little bowl of salsa in the middle. I stirred the meat back into the soup and served it out into each bowl making sure everyone got an ear of corn. The traditional way is to scoop out a spoonful of rice in the middle of the bowl then serve the soup right over it. We sat down to squeeze lemon over the hot soup and rice, nibbled quesadillas along with the soup and most of us scooped the salsa right into the soup as well. For dessert I had made hot Mexican chocolate with cinnamon covered by the huge marshmallows in pink and white and the fresh pumpkin empanadas that are my son Albert's favorites. My grandchildren are sleeping now full of stories, food and tradition.
Aren't rainy days wonderful?
The snowflakes for Robert's Snow project are now up!
You can see all of the snowflakes here. And don't forget about Behind the Snowflakes. I'm continuing to update my list of artists who posted blogs about their snowflake. Some even show how they created them!
Soon, more information will be coming your way on Blogging for a Cure, your chance to learn more about each one of these talented artists!
Thanks Julie from Children's Illustration for the heads up!
I interrupt this work-in-progress for the following announcement:
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast had a great idea to help promote and drive traffic to the fund raising effort of Robert’s Snow: for Caner's Cure during their online auction of special snowflakes, created by children’s book illustrators. They are using their organizational expertise and kidlitosphere popularity to put together Blogging for a Cure, a collection of blogs that will be participating in an upcoming multi-blog effort to highlight the illustrators, and display each unique snowflake they have created for the ’07 auctions!
I am proud to say I will be involved in showcasing two of these illustrators! Special thanks to Jules and Eisha for all their hard work in putting this together.
Stay tuned for more information.
Last month, Robert Mercer, Grace Lin's husband, died. He had battled cancer for several years. Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has this post, explaining a bit about an upcoming fundraiser:
By now, you have probably read the very sad news of the death of Robert Mercer, Grace Lin’s husband, at the end of last month, due to cancer.
You may remember from our May ’07 interview with Grace that she was the driving force behind the Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure fundraising effort after Robert was initially diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma and after writing Robert’s Snow (Viking Books; 2004) soon after that diagnosis. The fundraising effort entailed the auctioning off of special snowflakes, created by children’s book illustrators, whom Grace had gathered together in the name of raising money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). The auction raised a great deal of money in its first year after the publication of this book, which features these illustrators, many of them award-winning, and their creatively and uniquely designed wood snowflakes for the cause. One hundred percent of the royalties from the book’s sale went to the DFCI to support sarcoma research. Robert’s Snow is in its third year and has already raised more than $200,000 for Dana-Farber. (You can see the 2005 snowflakes here).
This year, more than 200 well-known children’s book illustrators from around the world have been given a five-inch wooden snowflake to decorate at will. Like actual snowflakes, each design is unique. The 2007 online auctions for bidding on these hand-painted snowflakes will take place in three separate auctions, open to everyone, from November 19 to 23, November 26-30, and December 3-7. You can read here for more information.
Jules goes on to explain how we in the blogosphere can help make this auction a success:
What we in the kidlitosphere community want to do to help drive traffic to the site for this year's auctions and help raise money for the cause is highlight at our blogs the illustrators who have created snowflakes for these upcoming ’07 auctions'; as well as post the unique snowflakes they have made (one at a time at each blog, which the DFCI has graciously given us permission to do), ultimately driving as much traffic as we possibly can to the Robert's Snow online auctions. Many bloggers have expressed a desire to do something, and we think this can be our unique contribution.
Please, head over to
Seven Impossible Things... to get the information on how this will work. For this to be as successful as possible, we need to be coordinated in our efforts, and Jules at
Seven Impossible Things... is keeping track of everything: what blog is highlighting which illustrator, making sure we don't duplicate efforts, and also compiling a master list of the illustrators and the blogs posting about them. So
Seven Impossible Things... has some simple rules and guidelines for those blogs wishing to participate.
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That pig is not only adorably elegant, but wise and witty too: "It's the thought that counts." How about a whole book of this pig's pensive musings? I want it!
Hah! I don't know how you found such a great poem to go with the picture. The pig is totally thinking of the meaning of life, you just know it!
Great post!
"It's the thought that counts." LOL! The back stories on these snowflakes make me want EVERY one of them!
You are so clever remembering that Dahl poem and pulling this all together! I love the thinking pig.
What a great poem! So very "Dahl-ish." Wonderful tie in and feature of Jeff Mack's snowflake.
Gina, this is GREAT! I recently reviewed his illustrated Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting. I love his art work in that.
And I not only love how you tied it in to Poetry Friday, but I love that Dahl poem. I'd love to read that to a group of kids.
That snowflake really is great, too. Good luck bidding on it!
Geesh! At first I thought you were joking about the poem being "dark." My bad!
Great snowflake ... that pig is nothing if not pensive!
How great to tie in the snowflake and poem. I LOVE the poem. Dahl has always been a favorite author but somehow this one passed me by til now.