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When I arrived in Houston on Sunday - Paula Morgan knew exactly how to make sure she picked up the right person at the airport. (I can only imagine what the other travelers at baggage claim were thinking!) Paula is the librarian at Sampson Elementary School and the woman who coordinated my 10 day/20 school Pond Scum blitz.

Starting Monday (bright and early) I immediately learned that the CyFair Independent School District is a unique fantastic system of schools with librarians filled with joy and excitement, which makes an author-type feel like a million bucks. I also learned that not only was I being hosted by amazing educators - but I was mingling with Librarian Royalty because these CyFairians are none other than the BOOK DIVAS of TLA and ALA synchronized book cart fame! (I know many of you have had the pleasure of seeing them in book cart action)

I am sure the video below does not do them justice - but I have seen the official Book Divas Calendar in one or two offices - and maybe I can get one as a parting gift of my author visit! Check them out - then imagine these fantastic folks are my hosts!!!



I visit 2 schools a day and do 2 presentations at each. After 4 full days I can tell you that these kids are fantastic (mostly 4th and 5th) and so full of energy and eagerness. I'm trying some new ideas and it's all been going very well (so far) and I'm having a great time integrating my cartooning and Pond Scum in a fun, interactive talk about writing and creativity.


I've got lots more to talk about - but I have to gear up for the Red Sox's last hurrah (oh, how I've been here before).

I'll post more over the weekend and report on the great food I've been eating, some more about the Horned Toad Tales list and my dinner with my Rhinestone Reader pen-pal (tomorrow night).

I have a desk! Which I suppose means it's time to stop writing checks and start writing books and freelance articles again.

For your viewing pleasure, I thought I'd show you some before and after photos of my basement writing lair. Bear in mind I still don't have most of my office furniture (ie, the filing cabinets, the hutch and printer unit thingie) but at least...at least I have a desk :>)

1) So here's what the basement looked like when I did my building inspection back in March:



2) and here it is from a different angle:



3) and here's me wondering where the heck I'm going to put all my books:




Ok, so here's the not yet completed but we're getting there photos:

1) My desk (same wall as picture one above)



2) Bookshelves! not to mention Gorgeous Daughter!!! (same wall as picture 2 above)



3) MORE BOOKSHELVES!!! (same wall as picture with me wondering where I'm going to put my books)



I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the office furniture so I can finish unpacking boxes. But the desk is the critical thing.

It's been a busy, busy weekend chez saraclaradara My sister and brother in law were out with the kids, and it was my nephew Big D's 3rd birthday. We had a barbecue with the neighbors Saturday night and then went to the beach today with Grandma and Grandpa followed by a rather wonderful Cars cake. I'm just a bit exhausted because my 9 month old nephew slept in my bed with me (joined at 2am by his mother when he started crying) and then the birthday boy came in at 6am. As the mother of a previously early bird teenager who now has to be forcibly pried out of bed at 10:30, I'm not used to these hours anymore.

Plus I stayed up till 1:30 finishing "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky, which I HIGHLY recommend. Irene Nemirovsky was an accomplished Jewish writer of Russian origin whose family emigrated to France during the Russian revolution. Suite Francaise was supposed to be comprised of five parts, but she'd only written the first two, "Storm in June" (about the fall of the Maginot line and the German defeat of the French in 1940) and "Dolce" about the early part of the Occupation in 1941 up until the Germans invaded Russia.

Although she'd made extensive notes about the other parts, in 1942 she was sent to Auschwitz where she perished.

When I finished this book early this morning I felt the same sense of loss and anger that I felt when I re-read The Diary of Anne Frank for the umpteenth time, but this time as an adult. The insight. The exquisite writing. The depth of this talent...lost. All lost. It makes me want to cry right now writing about it. I want to read the three additional parts of Suite Francaise Irene Nemirovsky had planned. I want to know how she would have ended it if the Nazis hadn't murdered her.

Knopf are publishing a newly discovered, unpublished novel of hers in Fall 2007 called "Fire in the Blood". I can't wait to read it. I'm sure I'll be filled with these feelings of loss and regret and anger all over again when I do.

On a happier reading note, I'm about 2/3 the way through the arc of "Zen and the Art of Faking It", Jordan Sonnenblick's new novel, which I'm enjoying tremendously. As always, Jordan's created a really likeable character with great voice.

After that I'm going to read Debby Garfinkle's Stuck in the 70's, which I've been dying to read and which has an awesome cover IMHO, and then Into the Wild by my TADN friend Sarah Beth Durst. So many books! So many boxes still to unpack! So little time!!