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Welcome to today's destination on the global tour for AMADI'S SNOWMAN, a picture book from Tilbury House by Katia Novet Saint-Lot, beautifully illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo.

One of my standard rants is about books set in Africa that don't name a particular culture or language. AMADI'S SNOWMAN is not one of those irritating stories. From the first sentence, we are taken to a particular village where we meet the one-and-only Amadi, a self-described "Igbo man of Nigeria."

In the first scene, our hero is “crouched in the shrubs, stalking a red-headed lizard." Talk about evoking a sense of place and conveying character with a single economical phrase!

Understandably, Amadi is wondering why in the world he would need to read if he plans on being a businessman like his father. But when he glimpses a snowman in an older boy's book, he's snared by curiosity about this foreign carrot-nosed creation and decides to learn to read.

Novet Saint-Lot has written a universal story about the power of literacy without losing sight of the delightful particulars of one boy's life. Dimitrea Tokumbo, whose father was raised in Nigeria, widens our world with bright and beautiful illustrations.

I was reminded of Plato's cave allegory as I read Amadi's Snowman, because by the end I found myself completely smitten with Mitali's Amadi.

And so will you.

News from the award-winning PaperTigers website ...

After our July/Aug literacy focus, we now make way for Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration of the cultures and traditions of US residents who trace their roots back to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. There are all sorts of events happening throughout the country, and right here at PaperTigers you will find lots of great features and children's books to help you make the most of it - in your classroom, library or at home.

Interviews

Highly-acclaimed author Pam Muñoz Ryan talks about her heritage, her new book, Paint The Wind, and her commitment to writing good stories, no matter the theme.

Bilingual coordinator of youth services at the Houston Public Library, Rose Zertuche-Treviño talks about the joys and challenges of her work, and offers some advice for those considering a career in children's librarianship...

David Diaz's fiesta-inspired colors lend themselves to a variety of media, styles and themes.

Personal Views:

My Childhood Readings: A Short List to Grow On
by Yuyi Morales

Heritage Apartment
by Juan Felipe Herrera

We, Latinos by F. Isabel Campoy

Book Reviews:

Check out the new reviews from PaperTigers, Resource Links, CCBC and Books for Keeps. In addition to them, we have compiled a celebratory list of previously featured titles that relate to Hispanic Heritage by way of theme, author or illustrator.

Lists & Links:

Here you will find a wide range of reading lists, annotated resources and links to online material. And for even more inspiration, take a peek at how we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month in 2006 and 2007. There's plenty of pride, information and fun to be gained from going deeper into this celebration. So dive in, and have fun!... and hop on over to our blog, too, as we continue the fiesta of "Hispanic Heritage Month" through October 15.

Following up on yesterday's blurb discussion, I was struck by the Top Ten Series hosted across the Atlantic by the Guardian, where "authors choose their favourite books on their chosen theme."

Focusing on children's literature, authors like Joanne Harris and Meg Rosoff have shared their ten favorite kids' books with kick-ass heroines (Harris) or adult books for teens (Rosoff).

Does anybody know of a similar "authors' favorite children's books" resource here in the States that's more current than the (interesting) features at Salon, Great Schools, Cynsations, or Education World?

Dad and I have always been tight. He taught me how to relish a habanero chili, hit a topspin lob, and tease Mom without getting in trouble. In my book Rickshaw Girl, one of the easiest parts to write was Naima's sweet relationship with her father.  

In honor of Dad and all the other fathers about to eat burned toast in bed on June 15th, here's a baker's dozen of books featuring the special relationship between fathers and daughters, ranging from picture books to middle readers to books for young adults.  Thanks for your suggestions, and feel free to add more titles in the comments below.

PICTURE BOOKS

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. Trixie, Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny take a trip to the neighborhood Laundromat. But the exciting adventure takes a dramatic turn when Trixie realizes somebunny was left behind.

A Place To Grow by Soyung Pak.  As a father and daughter work together in their garden, he explains what a seed needs to flourish and the reasons their family immigrated to a new country--looking for hope, like sunlight, and peace, like good earth.

Night Shift Daddy by Eileen Spinelli. When the narrator of this rhyming story is sleepy, her daddy reads to her, tucks her in, and switches off the light. Then he goes to work on the night shift. When he returns, the next morning, the same bedtime routine is repeated--but this time the daughter puts Daddy to bed.

Don't Let Go! by Jeanne Willis. Megan is nervous about learning to ride her bike. What if the bike goes too fast and she falls? Daddy is patient and encouraging, letting her know she can wait until she's ready. And then it's time -- Daddy lets go and Megan is off. Now Daddy is the nervous one. What if Megan doesn't come back?

My Father's Hands by Joanne Ryder. A father working in his garden finds a delicate worm, a beetle in shining armor, and a leaf-green mantis and shares these treasures with his daughter.

Visiting Day by Jacqueline Woodson. As a little girl and her grandmother get ready for visiting day, her father, who adores her, is getting ready, too. The community of families who take the long bus ride upstate to visit loved ones comfort each other.

TWEEN BOOKS

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket -- and comes out with a dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive.

Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown. When her mom runs away from home, Rachel is left behind with her father and many questions she cannot answer. Over time, she learns the truth about her mom. But, it's only when she learns the truth about her dad, the rock -- always there for her to lean on--that Rachel can move toward understanding.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. Ten-year-old Zoe Elias has perfect piano dreams. She can practically feel the keys under her flying fingers; she can hear the audience's applause. All she needs is a baby grand so she can start her lessons, and then she'll be well on her way to Carnegie Hall. But when Dad -- who is scared to leave the house -- ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe's dreams hit a sour note.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate, and "father" her kittens.

TEEN BOOKS

Squashed by Joan Bauer. As sixteen-year-old Ellie pursues her two goals--growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself--she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.

Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks. When Sib asks her Dad to take her to meet her mother for the first time, she knows it might mean breaking away from the man who has raised her. Yet as she and her dad wind their way across the country to San Francisco, Sib learns more about the man she thought she knew, and finds out it's not simply her music that makes her special, but also the love from the parent she might have to leave behind.

Going for the Record by Julie Swanson. Seventeen-year-old Leah Weiczynkowski, about to begin her senior year of high school, is on the brink of realizing her dream — playing soccer for the under-eighteen national team, her gateway to the World Cup and the Olympics. She can't wait to tell her dad, her biggest fan and faithful chauffeur to games and practices. Unfortunately, her dad has news of his own. And it's not good.

EXTRAS

I only gave myself room to offer a baker's dozen in the original post, but I'll add additional titles suggested by Fire Escape visitors as I receive them. Here they are: 

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (Picture Book)
  
• Monkey Soup by Louis Sachar (Picture Book)
• Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban (Picture Book)
  
• The Summer Night by Charlotte Zolotow (Picture Book)
  
• Father Bear Comes Home by Else Holmelund Minarik (Easy Reader)
  
• Ramona And Her Father by Beverly Cleary (Tween)
  
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Tween)
  
• Beige by Cecil Castelluci (Teen)

And here's one last bonus -- a grownup non-fiction book showcasing the bond between dads and daughters:

Daughters of Men: Portraits of African-American Women and Their Fathers. Author Rachel Vassel has compiled dozens of photographs and personal essays about African-American women and their fathers. Whether it's a father who mentors his daughter's artistic eye by taking her to cultural events or one who unwaveringly supports a risky career move, the fathers in this book each had his own unique and successful style of parenting. Daughters of Men provides an intimate look at black fatherhood and the many ways fathers have a lasting impact on their daughters' lives.

Sal Bose getting choked up as he watches
daughter Mitali during her television debut.
Photo taken by his grandson ... on the sly.

Today is book launch day for author and fellow writing group member Karen Day (TALL TALES / Wendy Lamb Books). Like the first novel, her second (NO CREAM PUFFS / Wendy Lamb Books), features an unforgettable twelve-year-old protagonist growing up in the Midwest. While the stories are quite different, a fan of Meg in TALL TALES (a Texas Bluebonnet book) is sure to enjoy befriending Madison, the down-to-earth hero of NO CREAM PUFFS. Karen's on the Fire Escape today to answer a couple of quick questions about NO CREAM PUFFS, a book about baseball that's also a universal tale about leaving girlhood to join a circle of strong women -- a circle that surprisingly includes a girl's own sometimes bewildering, often irritating mother.

Afternoon workshop. Fantasy and World Building. Leda Schubert. 

I'm sitting in the back trying to keep my blogging low-key, next to writing buddies Wendy Nystrom and Mordena Babich (who knows the correct pronunciation of Rick Riordan), both in my critique group, both authors of excellent stories in the fantasy genre. Leda gets started (I did ask her permission to live-blog, and she graciously gave it, so relax and read on. Here's a disclaimer, though: these are rough notes, they don't include Leda's precise words, and the quotes are incomplete.)

What is the wrong reason to write fantasy? Because it's what's selling. The right reason? It is the best way to tell the story only you can tell. We're born with the need for story.

Leda goes over the classic book, Harold and the Purple Crayon. Study this book! It shows all that's right about fantasy, she says. The heart-stopping moment of fantasy is when you wonder if it's going to be okay. If you scare yourself as you're writing, you're doing your job. Sometimes as you write you don't know where you're going.

Motivations? We want to believe that something exists outside of what we see.

Where to begin? Read, read, read. Take notes. Hard analysis. Develop a list of things to look for. What kind of world has this author created? What are the elements? Are there moments when you're jarred out of the fictive world of fantasy?

After you've read the books, turn to folklore and mythology. Try retellings and re-imaginings. We all have stories we're "doomed to write."

Know story structure. Discover the myth of the hero all around the world.

Fantasy is not escapist literature. It is a journey in instead of out. "Myth may not be real," says Susan Cooper, but it is true. "Fantastic conditions must speak to our real one," said Lloyd Alexander.

Leda recommends The Tough Guide To Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. "It's a hoot," says Leda, making us laugh with a couple of quotes she reads aloud.

I was glad to see that When The Shadbush Blooms, the only "multicultural" book on IRA-CBC's list of nominees for the Children's Choice Awards, was lauded by Debbie Reese and Oyate.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by the list -- the books were donated by publishers and chosen in six cities of the country not particularly renowned for a diverse demographic: Chico, California, Middletown, Delaware, Crete, Illinois, Starkville, Mississippi, Bellevue, Nebraska, and Omaha, Nebraska (here's a .pdf describing the process.) Of course, I've only been to Chico, which does have a fair share of immigrants, so maybe the other cities are home to all sorts of kids.

Unfortunately, on the official Children's Book Choices site, there's no explanation of selection criteria to be found -- or maybe I'm missing it. The nominees are great, I'm sure, but this award reminds me that for kids and adults to venture outside the story comfort zone, we often need a nudge from a trusted source.

Scholastic editor Sandhya Nankani is guest-blogging at the always stimulating Sepia Mutiny site this month, and tells us about Disney's plans to diversify and update Enid Blyton's beloved Famous Five characters.

Among other innovations, the Mouse Factory is inventing a hip anglo-Indian character named Jyoti who is the daughter of the original hero of the books. Mutineers' comments reveal the impact that Brit Kid Lit, and especially Ms. Blyton (who wrote 800 books in 40 years!), had on South Asia and mixed feelings about this new venture.

Sandhya ends her post with a quote about Kahani magazine, a children’s literary magazine illuminating the richness and diversity that South Asian cultures bring to North America:

I feel so lucky that we have publications like the South Asian children’s literary magazine Kahani which ... just won the highly respected 2008 Parents’ Choice Award for magazines for the second year in a row. That’s a huge deal. This is a prestigious award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation which has been reviewing mainstream children’s media since 1978.

Anybody catch Randy Jackson's America's Best Dance Crew this week? The show is down to fifteen great dancers, including nine Asian Americans who are rocking Planet MTV. This type of fusion hip makes the embarrassment of William Hung a distant memory -- in fact Asian American teens today can hardly remember that American Idol contestant.

As usual, I read like a deprived addict while on hiatus, which is otherwise known as basking on my favorite Kona beach. Here's the list, not in order of consumption and unexpurgated (a word I've always wanted to use):

Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery (in honor of Anne's centennial) for the twentieth time
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Slam by Nick Hornby
Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman
Entertainment Weekly
People
Wired
Coastal Living
Christianity Today
Leadership
the Bible
my own manuscript, The Secret Keeper

Introducing a host of fresh voices -- the class of 2008 and their debut middle-grade and YA novels.

This year, the Library of Congress, the Children's Book Council, and Cheerios hope to see more guys read. Author of "fractured fairy tales" like The Stinky Cheese Man, Jon Scieszka (pronounced "SHEH-ska") was born in Flint, Michigan in 1954 and is known as a fierce and funny advocate for reluctant male readers. 

A new compilation from the Cooperative Children's Book Center at University of Wisconsin-Madison:

Global Reading
Selected Literature for Children and
Teens Set in Other Countries

Check out this great interview via Literary Safari with Katherine Applegate of Animorph fame, who released her debut literary novel this month, Home of the Brave (the Fire Escape's glowing review coming soon). My tiny quibble was the attribution of one of my favorite quotes to Jean Rhys, a Caribbean novelist who wrote in the middle of the twentieth century:

“Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but most importantly, it finds homes for us everywhere.”

From the New York Times Corporation:

A list of New York's Top 20 All-Time Favorite Children's Books was specially selected this year by children's librarians from the three public library systems of New York City: Brooklyn Public Library, The New York Public Library and Queens Library. Celebrities from film, TV and Broadway will read from the 20 books on the list at The Great Children's Read (on October 14th).

• Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger, illustrated by Michael Hays
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• The Bossy Gallito by Lucia M. Gonzales, illustrated by Lulu Delacre
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Bunnicula by James Howe
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything by Lenore Look, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
• The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron
• The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne

Here's the skinny, people: I'm not going to feel like I have to feature an interview with you, even if (a) you're in my writer's group, and (b) you mention me on the acknowledgments page (full disclosure.)

You've still got to write a novel that (a) fills me with hope, as it will for the tweens who'll read your book again and again, (b) gets me choked up with that mix of sadness and joy only a skillful storyteller can induce, OR (c) earns you a two-book contract from a Legendary Master Editor.

Karen Day, author of Tall Tales (Wendy Lamb Books, May 2007), fulfills all five of these requirements. I invited her out to the Fire Escape for a chat about the terrifying, amazing process of writing and publishing her first novel, due out this week.


Tell us about the journey to getting the book published. What was a high point? A low point?

I finished the first draft of Tall Tales in 2000. Almost instantly I had interest from an editor who saw the first 10 pages at an SCBWI conference. Over the next two years I worked on three revisions for her, without a contract, until she finally declined. I was heart broken but by then I had a different editor interested. More heartbreak followed when she declined after two revisions! Not long after this I got a particularly brutal rejection from an agent to whom I’d asked for representation. He literally brought me to my knees (and to tears!) with his harsh assessment of my novel. Definitely the low point in my struggling career! But after a couple of days of licking my wounds, I realized that his critique, while harsh, was right on. I did a major revision, eventually found a different agent and she got me into a bidding war. The most exhilarating part of this whole process was the two weeks when we went back and forth between these two houses. So exciting! In the end I signed a two-book deal with Wendy Lamb at Random House.

YA books are renowned for being edgy, but you're writing about an alcoholic and abusive family for a younger audience. What advice would you give writer wannabes who want to explore more difficult issues for upper elementary readers?

It’s tricky business, portraying a dysfunctional family in a middle grade novel. Sixteen-year-olds are typically more mature, more reflective and certainly more willing to be okay with being different. A typical twelve-year-old doesn’t want to be different nor does he/she have the necessary tools to analyze the situation. Yet feelings of pain, suffering, guilt, longing, desires, anger – they’re all there. So, you have to be extra vigilant in finding ways of showing these often unconscious fears and desires. In Tall Tales Meg and Grace write a book about two girls who start a business solving mysteries. Grace desperately wants the two characters to have “really cool moms who are also best friends.” Meg focuses on finding a “home” office for the two girls to stay in between jobs. Both of these desires speak to dominant issues the two girls wrestle with. Also, to an outsider looking in, the horrors of an alcoholic, abusive father might seem all consuming. But in reality, people living in this situation “get used to it.” Life goes on. You aren’t in crisis every moment. So there has to be a balance in writing a book like this, between the every-day matters that affect most 12-year-olds and the crisis moments.

What was the biggest (hardest) change you made in response to an editorial suggestion from Wendy?

After I signed my contract, Wendy came back to me with a 14-page, single space e-mail outlining changes/suggestions she had for the book. This WASN’T the most daunting part of the revision process because she was so astute and so careful that I was truly grateful. The hardest change came early on, when she initially rejected the book. She thought I left the family too vulnerable and wanted to see a happier outcome. She said she’d look at the novel again if I made these changes, but I wasn’t sure. I wanted to be realistic. I couldn’t see how to change it and stay true to my realistic conception of the novel. I fretted over this for months until finally I found a solution that satisfied me but also, I hoped, would satisfy Wendy. It required drastically rewriting the mom’s character and the last 100 pages. But I did it and Wendy loved it.

Describe a fear you have about this book that can keep you up at night.

Tall Tales is deceptively simple, with its short chapters and sentence structures, and even in what Meg wants, which I come right out and say in the first line. “I want to make a friend.” So, will readers see and appreciate what’s under the surface? Did I pull it off? Will they see and feel how Meg’s desperate and often unconscious desires for a “safe home” infiltrate the dialogue, descriptions, even the story that she and Grace write together? Will readers understand that Teddy, Abby and Dad’s static personalities were done intentionally, to illustrate how normal development is often stymied in families like this? Will they believe Meg’s conflicted feelings about her father? So, as you can see, I stay awake quite often at night, worrying!

Finish the sentence twice, first from an idealistic "literature changes lives" point of view and then give the savvy marketer's take.

Tall Tales will be a successful book if:

1. Just one kid reads it and feels empowered to make changes in his or her life.

2. If, if, if … I don’t know! I wish I had something savvy to say! All I can think about is that I want to make a difference in a kid or kids’ lives. And then I will forever feel blessed and gratefully and know that this journey was well worth it.

What's next for Karen Day?

My next book, No Cream Puffs, is another middle grade novel with Wendy Lamb and it will be published in the summer of 2008. I’m really excited about this book. Set in the 1970s, it’s the story of 12-year-old Madison who is the first girl in Michigan to play little league baseball with the boys. I use lots of themes that are important to me. My love for Lake Michigan. Mother-daughter relationships. How kids respond to intense pressure and expectations. I also toy with some of the adolescent development theories I explored in graduate school, specifically post-Freudian relational and gender issues that women like Carol Gilligan and Nancy Chodorow wrote about. One of Madison’s biggest conflicts in the book is how she reconciles her desires to win and play baseball (she’s the best player in town!) with her intense need to be liked and accepted. I don’t mean to make this novel sound too stuffy and academic. Most of these themes fly under the radar. It’s actually a very funny and poignant book and Madison is a great, quirky character.

Karen, thanks for coming out to the Fire Escape. I know firsthand what a disciplined writer you are; you inspire me daily with your dedication, craftsmanship, and energy. Many blessings to Tall Tales, to the readers who will love and root for Meg, and to you.

Here's the skinny, people: I'm not going to feel like I have to feature an interview with you, even if (a) you're in my writer's group, and (b) you mention me on the acknowledgments page (full disclosure.)

You've still got to write a novel that (a) fills me with hope, as it will for the tweens who'll read your book again and again, (b) gets me choked up with that mix of sadness and joy only a skillful storyteller can induce, OR (c) earns you a two-book contract from a Legendary Master Editor.

Karen Day, author of Tall Tales (Wendy Lamb Books, May 2007), fulfills all five of these requirements. I invited her out to the Fire Escape for a chat about the terrifying, amazing process of writing and publishing her first novel, due out this week.


Tell us about the journey to getting the book published. What was a high point? A low point?

I finished the first draft of Tall Tales in 2000. Almost instantly I had interest from an editor who saw the first 10 pages at an SCBWI conference. Over the next two years I worked on three revisions for her, without a contract, until she finally declined. I was heart broken but by then I had a different editor interested. More heartbreak followed when she declined after two revisions! Not long after this I got a particularly brutal rejection from an agent to whom I’d asked for representation. He literally brought me to my knees (and to tears!) with his harsh assessment of my novel. Definitely the low point in my struggling career! But after a couple of days of licking my wounds, I realized that his critique, while harsh, was right on. I did a major revision, eventually found a different agent and she got me into a bidding war. The most exhilarating part of this whole process was the two weeks when we went back and forth between these two houses. So exciting! In the end I signed a two-book deal with Wendy Lamb at Random House.

YA books are renowned for being edgy, but you're writing about an alcoholic and abusive family for a younger audience. What advice would you give writer wannabes who want to explore more difficult issues for upper elementary readers?

It’s tricky business, portraying a dysfunctional family in a middle grade novel. Sixteen-year-olds are typically more mature, more reflective and certainly more willing to be okay with being different. A typical twelve-year-old doesn’t want to be different nor does he/she have the necessary tools to analyze the situation. Yet feelings of pain, suffering, guilt, longing, desires, anger – they’re all there. So, you have to be extra vigilant in finding ways of showing these often unconscious fears and desires. In Tall Tales Meg and Grace write a book about two girls who start a business solving mysteries. Grace desperately wants the two characters to have “really cool moms who are also best friends.” Meg focuses on finding a “home” office for the two girls to stay in between jobs. Both of these desires speak to dominant issues the two girls wrestle with. Also, to an outsider looking in, the horrors of an alcoholic, abusive father might seem all consuming. But in reality, people living in this situation “get used to it.” Life goes on. You aren’t in crisis every moment. So there has to be a balance in writing a book like this, between the every-day matters that affect most 12-year-olds and the crisis moments.

What was the biggest (hardest) change you made in response to an editorial suggestion from Wendy?

After I signed my contract, Wendy came back to me with a 14-page, single space e-mail outlining changes/suggestions she had for the book. This WASN’T the most daunting part of the revision process because she was so astute and so careful that I was truly grateful. The hardest change came early on, when she initially rejected the book. She thought I left the family too vulnerable and wanted to see a happier outcome. She said she’d look at the novel again if I made these changes, but I wasn’t sure. I wanted to be realistic. I couldn’t see how to change it and stay true to my realistic conception of the novel. I fretted over this for months until finally I found a solution that satisfied me but also, I hoped, would satisfy Wendy. It required drastically rewriting the mom’s character and the last 100 pages. But I did it and Wendy loved it.

Describe a fear you have about this book that can keep you up at night.

Tall Tales is deceptively simple, with its short chapters and sentence structures, and even in what Meg wants, which I come right out and say in the first line. “I want to make a friend.” So, will readers see and appreciate what’s under the surface? Did I pull it off? Will they see and feel how Meg’s desperate and often unconscious desires for a “safe home” infiltrate the dialogue, descriptions, even the story that she and Grace write together? Will readers understand that Teddy, Abby and Dad’s static personalities were done intentionally, to illustrate how normal development is often stymied in families like this? Will they believe Meg’s conflicted feelings about her father? So, as you can see, I stay awake quite often at night, worrying!

Finish the sentence twice, first from an idealistic "literature changes lives" point of view and then give the savvy marketer's take.

Tall Tales will be a successful book if:

1. Just one kid reads it and feels empowered to make changes in his or her life.

2. If, if, if … I don’t know! I wish I had something savvy to say! All I can think about is that I want to make a difference in a kid or kids’ lives. And then I will forever feel blessed and gratefully and know that this journey was well worth it.

What's next for Karen Day?

My next book, No Cream Puffs, is another middle grade novel with Wendy Lamb and it will be published in the summer of 2008. I’m really excited about this book. Set in the 1970s, it’s the story of 12-year-old Madison who is the first girl in Michigan to play little league baseball with the boys. I use lots of themes that are important to me. My love for Lake Michigan. Mother-daughter relationships. How kids respond to intense pressure and expectations. I also toy with some of the adolescent development theories I explored in graduate school, specifically post-Freudian relational and gender issues that women like Carol Gilligan and Nancy Chodorow wrote about. One of Madison’s biggest conflicts in the book is how she reconciles her desires to win and play baseball (she’s the best player in town!) with her intense need to be liked and accepted. I don’t mean to make this novel sound too stuffy and academic. Most of these themes fly under the radar. It’s actually a very funny and poignant book and Madison is a great, quirky character.

Karen, thanks for coming out to the Fire Escape. I know firsthand what a disciplined writer you are; you inspire me daily with your dedication, craftsmanship, and energy. Many blessings to Tall Tales, to the readers who will love and root for Meg, and to you.

Well, you can stop shopping right now because here's the perfect gift for Mother's Day: Mama's Saris, a new picture book by Pooja Makhijani from Little Brown, gloriously illustrated by Elena Gomez. Don't worry if the mother in your life doesn't know what a sari is — this is a story about every young girl's desire to be as glamorous as Mom, and the tender mother-daughter bond that transcends cultures.

Pooja herself sometimes comes out to chat on the Fire Escape, so I seized the moment to ask her some questions. Here's the scoop on the launch of this fabulous book, her first for kids (she's also the author of the anthology Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America -- read the introduction here.)

Tell us about the journey to getting the book published.

Such a long journey!

I finished a final draft of my manuscript in February 2004 and began the arduous process of writing query and cover letters. Because I used to work in publishing, I also pulled out my Rolodex. The latter approach worked well. My manuscript made it into the hands of Sangeeta Mehta (then at Little, Brown; now at Simon Pulse) who worked with me over several revisions.

Once Little, Brown bought the manuscript, I did several more revisions. All in all, I think I revised the manuscript over nine [9] times before the manuscript was passed onto Elena Gomez. (How Sangeeta and Little, Brown secured Elena I don't know, but I am over the moon with the results! See more below.)

Elena worked on the illustrations for well over a year and I had the opportunity to see her vision of the book from the sketch stage. Through Sangeeta, she was definitely open to suggestions regarding cultural appropriateness and cultural accuracy. She even asked for photographs of my wedding festivities for reference!

As you know, Mitali, producing and printing a book can take a while, and Little, Brown, wanted to time the release of Mama's Saris with Mother's Day, so it's taken some time for the book to hit bookshelves. And now, it's here. It feels great to share it with the world!

What was the biggest change you made in response to an editorial suggestion?

Mama's Saris is a "quiet" book. ("Quiet" isn't necessarily a compliment in today's competitive picture book market). While the story didn't change much from draft to draft, Sangeeta had a number of wonderful suggestions for tightening the text and making it more active. A few weeks ago, I looked at the draft to I sent to Little, Brown for consideration for publication. It had definitely come a long way.

What is your favorite aspect of the art created by Elena Gomez?

Oh, where do I begin? When I was shown Elena's final art, I was struck that her visual interpretation of Nanima (the narrator's maternal grandmother) was identical to the vision of Nanima that I had in my head while I was writing. We were really on the same proverbial wavelength.

Describe a fear you have about this book that can keep you up at night.

That it will go out of print tomorrow!

Finish the sentence twice, first from an idealistic "literature changes lives" point of view and then give the savvy marketer's take.

1. Mama's Saris will be a successful picture book if ... little girls everywhere (regardless of age and ethnicity) connect with the universal experience of dressing up in their mother's (or mother figure's) clothes.

2. Mama's Saris will be a successful picture book if ... it earns out.

What did your mother say when she first saw the book in print?

My mother saw this book in so many incarnations--the manuscript (5 pages, 12pt Courier, double spaced); the jpgs of Elena's spreads, the F&G; the final book--and she's been supportive, curious, and encouraging through the whole process. She is thrilled that the book is dedicated to her; she gleefully pointed this out to my father when I gave them their copy :).

Thanks, Pooja. The Fire Escape gives Mama's Saris a five-star recommendation, and wishes you many blessings on the launch of this lovely story.

Other links and reviews: A teacher's guide for the book, Fuse No. 8's rave, Chicken Spaghetti's review.

Two books about Japanese-American girls in internment camps during World War II have won the 2007 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards.

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy-Lee Tai (Children's Book Press), illustrated by Felicia Hoshino, won in the Books for Younger Children category.

Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (Atheneum / Simon & Schuster), won in the Books for Older Children category.

Honor Books for Younger Children:

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom by Tim Tingle (Cinco Puntos Press), illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges, tells the story of the Choctaw people who live on one side of the river Bok Chitto and the plantation owners and African American slaves who live on the other.

Night Boat To Freedom by Margot Theis Raven (Melanie Kroupa Books / FS&G), illustrated by E. B. Lewis, tells of an enslaved boy who repeatedly risks his life to row others across the river to Ohio.

Honor Books for Older Children:

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman (Holiday House) and Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop (Wendy Lamb Books / Random House), a novel about a French-Canadian girl who has to leave school to work in the mills of Vermont in the early 1900s.

Kahani (which means story in Hindi), a South Asian literary magazine for children, has won a 2007 Parents’ Choice Foundation Approved Award. Other winners in the same category include Sesame Street Magazine and American Girl.

Published four times a year, Kahani is an ad-free children’s literary magazine that features a vibrant mix of original short stories, nonfiction articles, biography series, interactive activities, comics, and book reviews. The editorial mission is simple: empower, educate, and entertain. While focused on the experiences of South Asian children raised in North America, “…this literary magazine reflects unique life experiences from which each of us can learn,” announced the Foundation.

The magazine won a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers last year and also received the 2006 Multicultural Children’s Periodical Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education. Why all the buzz about Kahani? Go there and see for yourself — it's fantastic.

Here's the list of 2007 notable children's books in the language arts. Hooray for The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin!

Just One More Book! podcasts Little Brown editor Alvina Ling about her progression in the book publishing industry, the role of an editor, and the risks she took to bring Jimmy Liao’s The Sound of Colors to North America.

Editor Daryl Grabarek, who attended my Books Between Cultures presentation at ALA's convention in New Orleans, invited me to write an article for School Library Journal's Curriculum Connections spring 2007 issue that would be loosely based on that talk. Here it is: No Place Like Home: Books Can Create a Strong Sense of Place.

Cybils Middle Grade folks will no doubt recognize most of the titles I laud -- we were in the throes of the nominating process when I wrote the article.

I just discovered La Bloga, a group blog that features posts on "Chicana Chicano Literature, Chicana Chicano Writers, Chicana Chicano Fiction, Children's Literature, News, Views, and Reviews." Children's literature is covered by René Colato Laínez, author of bilingual picture books like I Am René, the Boy / Soy René, El Niño (Piñata Books), which won the International Latino Book Award for Best Bilingual Picture Book of 2006 and a special recognition in the 2006 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, and a forthcoming book from Boyd's Mill Press called My Shoes and I. Here's an excerpt from his bio:

Colato Laínez is a graduate of the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults. He was born in El Salvador and was inspired to be a writer by his great uncle, Jorge Buenaventura Lainez, at whose house he first learned the word "escritor/writer." He has been a bilingual elementary teacher at Fernangeles Elementary School, where he is known by the students as "the teacher full of stories."