Congratulations to Louise Erdrich!
Chickadee was selected as the recipient of the 2013 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. From the
Horn Book website:
The 2013 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Louise Erdrich for Chickadee, published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. The annual award, created by Scott O’Dell and Zena Sutherland in 1982 and now administered by Elizabeth Hall, carries with it a prize of $5000, and goes to the author of a distinguished work of historical fiction for young people published by a U. S. publisher and set in the Americas. This is the second O’Dell Award for Louise Erdrich; she won it in 2006 for The Game of Silence, also published by Harper. (The honors don’t stop there; Erdrich also just won the 2012 National Book Award for her adult novel The Round House.)
Here's more from their remarks about the book:
The book has humor and suspense (and disarmingly simple pencil illustrations by the author), providing a picture of 1860s Anishinabe life that is never didactic or exotic and is briskly detailed with the kind of information young readers enjoy: who knew, for example, that an oxcart train would be so loud, or that mosquitoes could be so terrifying? Anishanabe beliefs about the spiritual connections between humans and the natural world are conveyed matter-of-factly as Chickadee gets help and encouragement from his namesake bird; the Christian faith of the “Black Robes” is also given nuance and respect. Chickadee’s first taste of a peppermint stick in the burgeoning city of St. Paul is just one sign of the increasingly multicultural nature of his family’s world, a world that we hope this author continues to chronicle.
Do you have a copy of it yet?
Order one today from Birchbark Books.
In September, 2012, Martha V. Parravano of
Horn Book interviewed Erdrich. Check it out, too! In the interview, she says that her next book will be titled
Makoons. In it she says that she will be "writing from the living memory" of her relatives. Her writing is exquisite. It'll be hard to wait, but also something to look forward to!
Five questions for Louise Erdrich
On December 4, 2012, The New York Times published "Books to Match Diverse Young Readers" about books that featured characters who are "black, Latino, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native." Here's a screen capture of the article:
The first book on the second row is Louise Erdrich's
Chickadee. If you click on it, you'll be able to read the first words of the book. On the third row, the last image is Cynthia Leitich Smith's
Indian Shoes. I heartily recommend
Chickadee and
Indian Shoes and am glad to see them getting this attention in the
Times.
I am not familiar with
The Year of Miss Agnes, but it was not favorably reviewed in
A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children. In it, reviewer Marlene Atleo writes that Miss Agnes is an eccentric and dedicated white teacher of Indigenous children, but that throughout, the message is that "Native people merely
survive" and that "white people
think..." Atleo's review includes an excerpt:
With Miss Agnes the world got bigger and then it got smaller. We used to think we were something, but then she told us all the things that were bigger than us, the universe and all that, and then all the things that were smaller. To small to even see. So people were sort of in between, not big and small, just in between.
Reading that excerpt, I see the trope of the white teacher rescuing the Indians from their primitive and ignorant ways. It doesn't make one lick of sense to me, though, given that Native peoples view ourselves as part of the world. I'm guessing that Alaska Native children in isolated areas already know that people are "in between." Isn't it, generally speaking, non-Native people who are the ones that need to learn their place in the world as caretakers rather than exploiters of the earth's resources?
If you choose
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, avoid the other Alvin book,
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties. It features Alvin
playing Indian.
I'm uploading this post on December 7, 2012. For those of you looking for holiday gifts, put
Chickadee and
Indian Shoes on your lists. Both are available from
Birchbark Books in their "young adult" link.
Buy books from Birchbark Books! Support independent bookstores!
Head over to
Horn Book to read
Martha Parravano's interview with Louise Erdrich!
Martha asked her about the two men who kidnap Chickadee (the protagonist in
Chickadee). Though the two are kidnappers, they are also the comic relief in the story. They're goofy as can be! Erdrich talks a little about them in the interview, and she also talks about the next book in the Birchbark House series...
LE: The next book, a twin to Chickadee, is titled Makoons. That book is going to be very personal for me because for the first time I will be writing from the living memory of my relatives. I was fortunate enough as a child to remember my great-grandfather, The Kingfisher, who lived into his nineties and had been part of some of the last buffalo hunts along the Milk River in Montana. So what I will be describing has incredible resonance for me.
Makoons will be the fifth book.
Chickadee just came out, and it is outstanding. Have you read it yet? And have you ordered it for your library? I hope your answer is "yes" and "I ordered several copies!"
(Photo credit: http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/01/25/movable_feats/)
With immense satisfaction and a deep sigh, I read the last words in Louise Erdrich's Chickadee and then gazed at the cover. Chickadee is the fourth book in her Birchbark House series, launched in 1999.
My copy arrived yesterday afternoon and I immediately began reading--but not racing--through
Chickadee, because it is written with such beauty, power, and elegance that I knew I'd reach the end and wish I could go on, reading about Omakayas and her eight-year-old twin boys, Chickadee and Makoons.
There was delight as Erdrich reintroduced Omakayas and Old Tallow, and when she introduced a man in a black robe, I felt a knot in my belly as I wondered how Erdrich would tell her young readers about missionaries.
The sadness I felt reading about smallpox in
Birchbark House gripped me, too, as did the anger at those who called us savage and pagan.
Resilience, though, and the strength of family and community is woven throughout
Chickadee. I'll provide a more in-depth analysis later. For now, I want to bask in the words and stories that Louise Erdrich gives to us
Chickadee and throughout the Birchbark House series.
You can
order a signed copy of Chickadee from Birchbark Books. And if you don't have the first three books in the series, order them, too.
What am I reading now? Seal Song by Andrea Spalding & Pascal Milelli
Back to school. Three words that every child dreads to hear. However, that’s exactly what children and teens across Canada did last week. They headed back with sharpened pencils, pristine erasers and colourful pens. But not every child around the world is so fortunate.
Owlkids, home of Chirp, chickaDEE and OWL, plans to change that. They have partnered with UNICEF Canada to purchase 630 school-in-a-box kits for children in need. The campaign called Changing Lives Through Education aims to “bring a sense of normalcy back to a child’s life” during a crisis.
Each school-in-a-box “enables a teacher and 80 children to get back to class — with a blackboard, teaching posters, exercise books and more.” To date, Owlkids and UNICEF Canada have raised $750.00. With no fixed minimum, patrons are free to donate as much as they can afford.
The time has come to make a difference. So, dear readers, step right up.
Back in May, Louise Erdrich blogged about Chickadee, the next book in the Birchbark House series. In it, Erdrich writes, Omakayas and her family have moved onto the Great Plains:
I realized that for the sake of this book series we had to move there around 1866. This is a fascinating year for all sorts of reasons, but for the main character, Chickadee, it is a year of unusual adventure. Some odd things happen to Chickadee. He challenges a man named Skunk. He is kidnapped by two brutish louts who want a servant. He learns to cook a wretched concoction called bouyah. Chickadee runs away from well meaning but heartless missionaries. He learns to survive completely alone in the woods helped by his namesake, the chickadee, who teaches him a song that can heal. There is lots more, including a visit to Saint Paul, the first city he has ever seen, and composed at the time of shacks, pubs, treeless mansions, and lots of trading companies.
I'm definitely intrigued. In comments, Erdrich says the book will be out in November of 2012. In the meantime, you might want to get the first three and read (or reread) them. Consider getting signed paperback copies from Erdrich's store, Birchbark Books.
The Birckbark House The Game of Silence <
The One of A Kind Show has a contest every year to choose the artwork for their reusable shopping bags. I had a quiet week so I whipped up this entry, a chickadee on a branch. I thought it would be nice for winter. I didn't win, but I did win a runner-up prize of two free tickets to the show. I go every year with a friend so I'll be happy to use those.
Contests can give you mixed feelings sometimes but if you look on the positive side, it was a slow day and it motivated me to do some new artwork. Which is always a good thing!
I'm sitting in the sunroom (yes, wearing sunscreen) so I can enjoy the view.
What do you think?
The Creature With Fangs loves snow. She gallops across the yard, maw hanging open so she can scoop up snow and eat it. Reminds me of a whale inhaling crill.
What's the weather where you are?
So I am sitting in the Detroit airport right now, catching up on my email and looking forward to sushi for lunch. I'll take pictures, I promise. The flight here was on time and uneventful; loverly. Fingers crossed for the next leg of the trip.
Theo ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
theoblackhas been working away at his forge, crafting a new look for my website. It is still very much a work-in-progress, but here is a sneak peek at the Novels page.
And here's the new look for the homepage.
What do you think? (Not all of the buttons work yet, so don't worry about that. Just tell us what you like and what you don't like.)
I also asked Theo to put together pages for playlists for all my books. This is where I'd love your ideas: What songs would you put on the playlist for: SPEAK, CATALYST, PROM, TWISTED, & FEVER 1793 (I am looking at you, handworn for that one!)?
I have figured out why our computer system, cable, Internet and phone have been messed up for two weeks. My Muse has transformed herself into the Ghost in the Machine and is haunting all of the electronic communication devices in our house so I have more time to write. I love her. We have had guys with trucks from the cable company out nearly every day, with more coming on Monday.
::musecackles::
But email waits for no Muse, which is why I am typing this at the Oswego Tea Company in Oswego, NY. (They are working on the redesign of their page. Anybody from SUNY Oswego want to lend a hand? Maybe they could pay you in cookies or coffee.) Seriously, this is one of my favorite places around and they have free Wifi. Thank you, Lisa who own the Tea Company.
I have recently had many requests to speak at schools. I am still turning all of these down and will be doing so for the foreseeable future, though I do hope to get back to school visits eventually. Teachers, I have name for you, for professional development purposes you want to invite Dr. Joan Kaywell to speak to you. Trust me on this.
We went to the hometown homecoming football game last night: our Mexico Tigers vs. the Fulton Red Raiders. I swear EVERYBODY in our community was there, from new babies to great-grandparents. Mexico lost, but it was a hard fought game and lots of fun to watch. And we beat ESM at their homecoming last week, so the karma is balanced now.
This morning BH and I got up early and headed for the Syracuse Regional Market in search of the season's last tomatoes (yes, I am roasting them again), fresh cauliflower, enough garlic braids to get us through the winter, fresh bread, and other goodies. One of my favorite local blogs told us about Wake Robin Farm, so we bought heavenly yogurt from them. We also picked up pasture-fed, traditionally raised beef, pork, chicken, eggs and butter from Wendy at Sweet Grass Farm. I swear I will never eat corporate-farmed butter again.
I have been wrestling Chapter Eight of my revision of the historical novel for two and a half days. The dang thing almost had me in a choke-hold, but I finally figure out how to take it down. Kevin, if you are reading this, Chapter Eight just split into two chapters. So yeah, the book is a little longer. Sorry about that.
My alma mater is the coolest.
Great quote heard on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me today: "Blackwater is Enron, but with sub-machine guns." If you don't know what that means, please do some investigating into the affairs of Blackwater.
That's enough now. Back to work.
This is going to be a quick entry to start the week. I feel like I have one hundred bazillion things to do and not enough hours in which to do them. That's the bad news. The good news is I had a fantastic, energizing weekend and I am chomping at the bit.
The Mexico Cider Run 5K was a blast; perfect weather and BH and I had a great time. And, drum roll please, I won my age group. Yes! That's right! Me - the one who has never won anything sports-related. I was so happy with my time (which was a personal best) it never occurred to me that I might have won. And they gave me a little plaque which is now sitting on the mantel. Suddenly all those soccer trophies my kids lugged home made sense.
Here we are, the happy, sweaty runners. (BH is wearing the shirt we had made up for last Thanksgiving, when all of our kids ran in a 5K with us.)
When I started getting back in shape 15 months ago, I could barely shuffle two miles on the treadmill. In running, as in writing, persistence is everything.
Yesterday was a writing and canning day. I used a bushel and half of Roma tomatoes to make chili base. Thanks to a well-timed email from my friend Hope Vestergaard (who is a great writer and a lover of all things Danish, like me, and who I will get to see at the SCBWI Michigan conference next month) I roasted half a bushel and froze them. Thank you, Hope - they turned out great!
It was a packed day, so I woke up at 4am and hopped right to it. My reward was a gorgeous sunrise. The photos I took don't come close to capturing the glory, but I thought I'd share a couple with you.
The colors peeked out just after the hoot owls went to sleep (they sang to me when I first got up).
See why I live out here?
I have insane writing goals this week. I would like to add 40 pages to the rough draft by Friday afternoon, if possible. That's a lot, but I figure you never accomplish much if you don't aim high. Plus I have speeches to write and piles of mail to get through. Wish me luck and focus... I am going to need it!
How was your weekend?
I am finally beginning to feel the burn-out that dogged me all summer begin to fade away. This is officially a Good Thing. That balanced life of awareness, intention, hard work, and fun is on the horizon!
I am almost through the brainstorming draft of my new YA. This is the fast and dirty draft: very fast, very dirty. It's about 35 pages long, with another 40 pages of notes in a different file. The actual writing of the first draft begins tomorrow morning. And that's all I want to say about that.
I have now tagged all of my 2007 entries in my LiveJournal. I hope to get to 2006 and 2005 very soon. This will be useful for people who are looking for specific information (writing process, Twisted, Speak) or who just want to see all my pictures of Poland or snow. Do you use tags when looking for info?
BH and I ran in the Salmon River 5K last Saturday, despite the heat and humidity. Much to our surprise, we ran a decently fast race. (He could have run much faster, but he was a gentleman and ran with me the whole way.) Even more to our surprise, we each placed third in our age-groups and won a medal. That was very cool. Our knee trouble over the summer has prevented us from entering the half-marathon in Philly later this month, but we'll be running in our hometown Mexico 5K Cider Run this Saturday. Come join us! You'll support our local library and have a blast.
I had an Animal, Vegetable, Miracle moment (you must read that book) in the grocery store yesterday. I had this fancy-pants fish recipe I wanted to make that called for a salsa made for fresh oranges. The problem? Not only were the oranges four for three dollars, they had been imported from Peru. We have been making a real effort to reduce our carbon footprint and support local farmers. Oranges from Peru do not meet those goals. So I drove past an orchard on the way home, bought near ten pounds of peaches for nine dollars, and made peach salsa. And yes, I am feeling rather smug about this, thank you.
I have speeches to work on this afternoon, and thirty pounds of fresh green beans to blanche and freeze. And you don't even want to know how many tomatoes are waiting in my kitchen. They snicker as I walk by. We'll see who has the last laugh....
Happy Birthday, Penni! Happy Birthday, Alex!!!
Note to Danielle I'll be emailing you within the next couple of days. Thank you so much for what you sent!
By:
Phyllis,
on 7/21/2007
Blog:
The Art of Phyllis Hornung Peacock
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Chris has to work this weekend and last weekend he was sick, so we haven't been able to get outside and do any hiking or much else for a while. I did manage to finish up my commercial work this week, so yesterday, I sat down and painted up my little chickadee ACEO. I know I haven't posted any art in a while so here you go - it's not much, but better than nothing - I hope!
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Looking at it now, I think I should have made the leaves larger. I could not decide for quite a while what to make the color scheme. I knew I wanted an autumn theme, but I couldn't picture the background colors very well. I finally remembered a beautiful orange-green color scheme from an illustration in Helen Cooper's Pumpkin Soup and drew my inspiration from there. I'll probably put it up for sale/auction eventually, but not for a while. If/when I do, I'll probably re-post it here.
Next weekend = San Diego Comic-Con! I'm so looking forward to it! I think this will be our fifth consecutive year attending it. Oddly enough, in the past, it's never occurred to me to take the camera with us. So I'm going to try to remember it this year and actually use it while we're there. Although, I'm a little worried because I was just off-loading pictures a few minutes ago and it looks like the camera may be broken. Several pictures showed up black and the LCD display shows nothing but static. How can I get it to work by next weekend? I guess I'll have to have Chris take a look at it...
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Early last Sunday morning I got that antsy 'I need to get and right this very minute' feeling. So I did. For once the Sun was out and about and doing his job of making a nice summer's morning. The woods were empty of humankind, the balmy breeze fluttered the leaves, and tranquility reigned. Then a squirrel dropped its breakfast almost on my head, whether intentionally or not I don't know - I don't trust the little beggars. It was a half gnawed pine cone, still sticky and pungent with sap. Seconds later, a large rabbit, pot-size, lolloped heavily across the path and a few steps on, I found treasure...
...a roe deer skull. Lacking in its lower jaw, but still a Find. Even I wouldn't traipse around the woods carrying a moist, weather beaten skull in my hand, so I made it a handle from a beech twig -
and continued my ramble. And that was it, really, a jolly nice walk in which nothing of of moment happened. Until I was rattling downhill on my way homewards and spotted a snake across my path. Snakes are so rare nowadays, and I haven't seen one for years. I screeched poor Hercules to a juddering halt and thrust him in the hedgerow while I scampered back to investigate. It wasn't moving. It looked asleep. I prodded it and decided that it was, alas, one very dead grass snake. But, still riches indeed. And only just killed, as it was in near perfect condition.
At home, having shown Andy my spoils, I measured it - 70 cm from tip to tail.
The only sign of injury was the bloodshot eyes. I noticed my hands had an odd smell after handling it, which I could only describe as 'snakey'. It would be wonderful if I could preserve the carcass, so I hung it, tail first, from the yard wall, in the sun; maybe the skin would dry round the skeleton.
But the morning was creeping into afternoon and there was a cricket match to watch and play... 
It was an OK game, if somewhat dull. Our team won, and we biked home in a soft summer's dusk through the back lanes.
Back at the Hovel, sounds of disgust were heard emanating from the yard. My snake was apparently a little high and there were reports of maggots. I didn't believe it myself, but for Andy's sanity I reluctantly let him bag it up and my poor snake had an ignomous burial in the wheely bin.
Sweet and sweet is their poisoned note,
The little snakes of silver throat,
In mossy skulls that nest and lie,
Ever singing "die, oh! die."
(from The Phantom-Wooer by Thomas Love Beddoes)
By:
Phyllis,
on 5/14/2007
Blog:
The Art of Phyllis Hornung Peacock
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This one took a pretty long time, but it's finally finished:
My intent was to use this as a promo/Christmas card this year, but I kind of hate to sit on it that long and am wondering if I could find a home for it with a greeting card publisher. I've never had much luck getting attention from card publishers in the past, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to try again.
I started this one with a monochromatic watercolor under-painting, since that method seemed to work out pretty well on "The Tea Merchant." I'm still undecided if I'm going to incorporate this method into all of my work. It does add a chunk of time to the process, but not as much as I would have thought.
Changing the subject completely, we went hiking this weekend. Actually we go hiking on most weekends when work/time/weather permits. This weekend, we hit the Getty View Trail which is more or less across f
rom the Getty museum. It was a big surprise to us that this trail even existed in this location since it's literally right next to the 405. My husband used to drive this highway to work every day for four years and never had any inkling that there was parkland right here.
This was probably one of the more harrowing trails we've hiked as the path was very narrow and parts of it appeared to have started to slide down the hill. It was a mile-long series of switchbacks up the side of a low mountain. The reward at the top of the trail was a pleasantly wide fire road that runs along the spine of a couple mountains and grants stunning 
views of the landscape below.
It was kind of hazy, so the view was probably not quite as nice as it would have been on a clear day, but it was still majestic nonetheless. Needless to say, at the end of the day we were exhausted!
Reading one of Louise's books--especially this series--is an occasion to celebrate, a time to stop, and sit down, and savor every turn of phrase. I look forward to receiving this one from Birchbark Books. Thank you, Louise, you are a gift.