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The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is opening a new exhibition featuring the artwork of Mary Blair, an influential designer and art director for The Walt Disney Company.

“The Magic, Color, Flair: the world of Mary Blair,” which opens on November 10, explores her artistic process and her work through the years. Blair worked on the Disney animated films Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, as well as a number of attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort. She is best known for the ride “It’s a Small World.”  The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, CA is organizing the exhibit which will take place in Amherst, MA.

The exhibit features several events as well as a book with an essay by exhibition curator and Academy Award-winning animator John Canemaker.

I met Leonard Marcus three years ago, shortly after arriving in New York. An author/illustrator friend who gives wonderful kid lit parties in her small New York apartment was gracious enough to invite me to one. Thoroughly new to writing … Continue reading →

Opening the doors to a child's imagination...

An 8 year old girl, after reading the first chapter in a manuscript, helped convince her father, the CEO of Bloomsbury, to publish Harry Potter. It had previously been rejected by eight publishers.

The Harry Potter book series that followed has found an enormous and passionate following around the world. The seven books in the series have been published in sixtyseven languages. The books have taken readers to Hogwarts and beyond, to a world of wizards, flying broomsticks, and magic wands ...a world of the imagination. There are over 450 million books in print. There are eight movies that have translated the the books into fantasy adventure films with a worldwide gross of over seven and a half billion dollars... there are websites, games, theme parks, as well as a wide variety of merchandise.

The Harry Potter books were the catalyst for the major cross-over phenomenon of adults reading YA books, a change in the book buying  marketplace that continues to this day. 

And it all started with the imagination of J.K. Rowling -- and an 8 year old girl who liked to read, who helped open the doors to a world wonder, a world of fantasy, magic and imagination for millions of children, teenagers, moms and dads around the world.

The centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and the Hogwarts school are from the Harry Potter movies.

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 "Many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are". J.K. Rowling,  Harvard Commencement Speech, 2008

 
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The Courage to Love...

Lev Grossman, journalist, critic, and best selling author -- Warp, Codex, and the Magicians series -- wrote a very personal, insightful and in-depth appreciation of the legacy of J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series, and the Deathly Hallows. It was published in Time  Here are excerpts...

"Deathly Hallows is of course not merely the tying up of plot-threads, it's the final iteration of Rowling's abiding thematic concern: the overwhelming importance of continuing to love in the face of death....

So we have known for a while that Voldemort cannot love, that he has been spiritually ruined by his parents' deaths, and he will kill anyone to stave off his own death. Harry, though also an orphan, has found the courage to love. "Do not pity the dead, Harry," a wise man tells Harry in Deathly Hallows. "Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love." Characterologically speaking, the greatest question that remains in Hallows might be whether Harry can do this — that is, whether Harry can find it in himself to pity the man who killed his parents..."

Grossman then writes of mixed feelings, including sadness, following the completion of Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series...

The sadness is more an instant nostalgia for the unironic, whole-hearted unanimity with which readers embraced the story of Harry. We did something very rare for Harry Potter: we lost our cool. There is nothing particularly hip about loving Harry. He's not sexy or dangerous the way, say, Tony Soprano was. He's not an anti-hero, he's just a hero, but we fell for him anyway. It's a small sacrifice to the one that Harry makes, of course, but it's what we, as self-conscious, status-conscious modern readers, have to give, and we gave it. We did and do love Harry. We couldn't help ourselves."

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 Reading... 
"Losing one’s self is, after all, one of the rewards of reading. The opportunity to inhabit another self, to experience another consciousness, is perhaps the most profound trespass a work of literature can allow." - Eula Biss

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Opening the Door for Hermione 

"You really are the cleverest witch of your age" 

These are the words of Sirius Black, at the close of the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

In the book, at this same moment, Sirius spoke to Harry, and says,"We'll see each other again. You are -- truly your father's son, Harry."

Seth Lerer, writing about Theaters of Girlhood in his history of Children's Literature, cites this telling movie moment as a "benediction of female accomplishment"... "this movie takes as its telos the authority of girlhood. It makes Hermione the real performer of the story: the stage manager of magic; the director of its time shifts, costume, and control.The film becomes a girl's film, one in which the female audience can find their affirmation. Yet the book remains, despite Hermione's obvious centrality, a story about men and boys: about Harry's search forfor his relationship to his dead father; about his need to find surrogates in Black, or Dumbledore."

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Harry's Destiny...

"J.K. Rowling never shies away from the great existential mysteries: death and loss, cruelty
and compassion, desire and depression. Harry  is anything but sheltered and protected from the evils of Voldermort. Think of those fiendish Dementors who are experts in making you lose hope...The presence of loss and the threat of death perpetually hover over the boy magician and he becomes heroic precisely because. like his literary predecessors, he is destined for greatness even though he also possesses the weaknesses, failings, and vulnerabilities of all humans." -- Maria Tatar, writing about Theaters For The Imagination, in her book, Enchanted Hunters, The Power of Stories in Childhood. 

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The Mind of the Dog

Dog lovers find dogs to be quite special. Dogs are forgiving, affectionate, helpful, and unconditionally loyal.

Therapy dogs help people to heal from emotional problems and support people with physical problems. And they enable kids, helping them to learn to read.

Dog owners often feel that their dogs know what they are thinking.

How much of this is instinct, intuition, or conditioning? What is going on in the dog's mind? What are they thinking?

Yale University has established a Canine Cognition Center to better understand the dog's mind.Here is an excerpt from their website: 

"The Canine Cognition Center at Yale is a new research facility in the Psychology Department at Yale University. Our team of Yale scientists studies how dogs think about the world. Our center is devoted to learning more about canine psychology—how dogs perceive their environment, solve problems, and make decisions. Our findings teach us how the dog mind works, which can help us to better develop programs to improve how we train and work with our canine friends."

 Here is a link to an informative CBS documentary news broadcast on the research and goals of the Yale  Canine Center : Studying the Brain of Man's Best Fried. This video includes scenes where the research tests with the dogs is taking place.

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 Castle in the Mist is the second book in the Planet Of The Dogs Series...Here is an excerpt... "The trail became rougher and then, through the trees, they saw the ancient castle of the Black Hawk warriors.  It was an awesome sight.  It had been built as a fortress castle long ago – before the memory of people could recall.  It was later abandoned and lay empty for hundreds of years until the forest people began to use it once again.  It was a large, solid structure with two towers rising above the walls.  The ancient stones rested on granite bedrock, and the back wall rose straight up from the vast waters of the lake.  As they approached, the sun was setting and mist was rising over the waters.  Soon, the mist would move over the land."

To read more, and for sample chapters from all the books in the series,visit our Planet Of The Dogs website.

We have free reader copies of the Planet of The Dogs book series for therapy dog organizations, individual therapy dog owners, librarians and teachers...simply send us an email at [email protected]. and we will send you the books,. 

Our books are available through your favorite independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Powell's and many more...Librarians, teachers, bookstores...You can also order Planet Of The Dogs, Castle In The Mist, and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale, through Ingram with a full professional discount.

 
The illustration from Castle In The Mist is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty. The photo is by C.A.Wulff.

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An Alternate Universe... The Harry Potter Legacy

Michiko Kakutani is a highly regarded book critic for the New York Times. Following the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final book in the series, she wrote a review of the book and an affirmation of the Harry Potter Legacy.

Here are excerpts:

"It is Ms. Rowling’s achievement in this series that she manages to make Harry both a familiar
adolescent — coping with the banal frustrations of school and dating — and an epic hero, kin to everyone from the young King Arthur to Spider-Man and Luke Skywalker. This same magpie talent has enabled her to create a narrative that effortlessly mixes up allusions to Homer, Milton, Shakespeare and Kafka, with silly kid jokes about vomit-flavored candies, a narrative that fuses a plethora of genres (from the boarding-school novel to the detective story to the epic quest) into a story that could be Exhibit A in a Joseph Campbell survey of mythic archetypes.

In doing so, J. K. Rowling has created a world as fully detailed as L. Frank Baum’s Oz or J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, a world so minutely imagined in terms of its history and rituals and rules that it qualifies as an alternate universe, which may be one reason the “Potter” books have spawned such a passionate following and such fervent exegesis. 

The world of Harry Potter is a place where the mundane and the marvelous, the ordinary and the surreal coexist. It’s a place where cars can fly and owls can deliver the mail, a place where paintings talk and a mirror reflects people’s innermost desires. It’s also a place utterly recognizable to readers, a place where death and the catastrophes of daily life are inevitable, and people’s lives are defined by love and loss and hope — the same way they are in our own mortal world." 

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Celebrating Reading

Liz Burns, activist librarian, blogger ("its all about story"), book reviewer (YA and chhildren's books), and author (PoP Goes the Library) wrote a post about libraries and reading. Here is an excerpt:

"As libraries, especially public libraries, take a look at programs and resources and books within the context of the Common Core --

Remember. We are more than the Common Core. We are also about escaping into literature. We are about the joys of getting lost in a book. We are about celebrating the act of reading for the sole reason that some of us like to read. Or, rather, love to read.

And that simple pleasure, well, sometimes, it does get attacked. Is the person reading the
right books? What are they learning from those books? Is it making them a better person? Is it uplifting? Does it have a moral? Is deep reading going on? Is the reading being done the "right" way? Will this make someone a better employee? Is reading too passive? Isn't it better to be making something than reading? Isn't it better to be talking to people? Don't people have better things to do than read? Than read that book?
I think one of the wonders of libraries is that it is still a place for the person who loves reading. Libraries are more -- we are the sum of our parts, more than any one part of our mission. And part of that more is, and should continue to be, celebrating reading and being there for readers."

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Planet Dog Foundation  Has Awarded More than A Million Dollars in Grants to Therapy Dog Organizations...

Chicago's Canine Therapy Corps was one of the recipient organizations.  

The Canine Therapy Corps (CTC), with over 100 volunteers, helps to heal and bring hope to children and adults with a wide range of difficult and painful problems including autism, cancer, PTSD, addiction recovery problems, emotional behavioral problems, rehabilitation and senior issues and more.

The kids and therapy dogs in this excellent CTC  video will touch your heart...the video includes interactions and healing moments with kids, dogs, therapists, parents and volunteers.

Here is their Mission Statement:

The Canine Therapy Corps...

Empowers and motivates individuals to improve their physical and psychological health and well-being by harnessing the human-animal bond;
Provides goal-directed, interactive animal-assisted therapy services, free of charge, using volunteers and certified therapy dogs;
Advances animal-assisted interventions through research and collaboration.

The group photo of CTC dogs is courtesy of Steve Grubman

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Imagine That

An Interview with Jack Zipes, By the Editors of Interstitial Journal, on how media and marketing have reduced the cultural value of Fairy Tales...

Here are excerpts:

..."The nineteenth century, especially in Europe and North America, became the golden age of fairy tale collecting that led to the foundation of folklore societies. By the twentieth century, the fairy tale and other simple folk genres began to thrive not only by word of mouth and through
print, as they had for centuries, but were also transformed, adapted, and disseminated through radio, postcards, greeting cards, comics, cinema, fine arts, performing arts, wedding ceremonies, television, dolls, toys, games, theme parks, clothes, the Internet, university courses, and numerous other media and objects. Among the modes of hyped advertising were posters, billboards, interviews, window dressings, department store shows, radio, tv, and Internet interviews, ads in newspapers, magazines, and journals, and all the other kinds of paratexts that accompany a cultural product. As I argued in my book Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre... Hyping is the exact opposite of preservation and involves, as I have argued, conning consumers and selling products that have a meager cultural value and will not last. Some recent fairy tale films produced by the mainstream culture industry reveal how filmmakers and producers hype to sell shallow products geared primarily to make money. They use the mass media to exploit the widespread and constant interest in fairy tales that has actually deepened since the nineteenth century..."

The interview continues with examples of marketing compromises made to achieve financial success that blur or change the integrity of the original tales.  

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 A fairytale doesn’t exist in a fixed form... 

"Like a mother tongue, the stories are acquired, early, to become part of our mental furniture
(think of the first books you absorbed as a child). The shared language is pictorial as well as verbal, and international, too. Such language – Jung called it archetypal – has been growing into a common vernacular since the romances of classical antiquity and the middle ages – Circe from the Odyssey and Vivienne from Morte d’Arthur are recognisable forerunners of fairy queens and witches, and the sleeping beauty herself first appears in a long medieval chivalric tale, Perceforest. A fairytale doesn’t exist in a fixed form; it’s something like a tune that can migrate from a symphony to a penny whistle."

 This is an excerpt from Marina Warner’s Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale 

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The New Edition of Born Without A Tail

In her original book, Born Without a Tail, C.A. Wulff chronicles the true-life adventures of two animal rescuers living with an ever-changing house full of pets. She takes us on a journey from childhood through adulthood, sharing tales, (mis)adventures and insights garnered from a lifetime of encounters with a menagerie of twenty remarkable animals.

The new edition also has a prologue about Wulff's journey into advocacy; and, it also has several additional photos. Here’s what some readers have said about it:

 “I can’t say too much about this book, it’s more than a ‘dog book’ it’s
a people, animals, life book. I was hooked from the first page and read it straight through, and have re read it since, enjoying it just as much the second time around.  Anyone who’s ever had a heart dog, a misfit cat, ever been touched by the love of an animal should enjoy this book. It’s a keeper. “ 

“A collection of funny and heartwarming tales that shaped the life of a young animal advocate. Inspiring and written from the heart.“ I was touched by this account of love, friendship, responsibility and true selflessness. If you love animals you will not be able to put this book down.“ .

The book covers and the photo of Rocket are by C.A. Wulff.

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Lumos is part of J.K. Rowling's effort to make the world a better place. Her focus is on children and poverty. She is the founder of Lumos, one of several charities she supports. Here are excerpts from the Lumos website:

Across the globe 8 million children are living in institutions that deny them individual love and care. More than 80% are not orphans. They are separated from their families because they are poor, disabled or from an ethnic minority. As a result, many suffer lifelong physical and emotional harm. 

Meanwhile, the numbers of children in so-called orphanages continues to rise in areas outside Europe. Lumos has now begun work in the Latin American and Caribbean region. We have started in Haiti, where approximately 30,000 children are currently living in almost entirely privately funded orphanages. Once again, we find the familiar ratio of 80% non-orphans, and recognize the driving force of poverty. 

Lumos has a single, simple goal: to end the institutionalization of children worldwide by 2050. This is ambitious, but achievable. It is also essential. Eight million voiceless children are currently suffering globally under a system that, according to all credible research, is indefensible. We owe them far, far better. We owe them families.

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Nancy Hauser's Way Cool Dogs has two new articles with excellent guidelines for people thinking of getting a dog. One article is an overview, dealing primarily with breed and size...Here is an excerpt from the second article:

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 The Power of Illustration at the Eric Carle Museum

If you have an interest in the power of illustration to ignite children's imagination, and you'll be in New England in the coming months, consider visiting the  Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA. where multiple exhibits are taking place.

Children's memories of early books have often been enhanced by
illustrations of worlds of wonder. As an adult, the mind still carries images from these early journeys. Historians attribute much of the great success of Taylor's versions of the Grimm's Tales in early nineteenth century England to the illustrations of George Cruikshank.

"Sleeping Beauty,' 'Little Red Riding Hood,' and 'Beauty and the Beast.'  Doré’s timeless illustrations are presented in this exhibition along with the works of contemporary children’s-book illustrators. Allowing for a side-by-side comparison, the influence of Doré becomes apparent in the works of famous contemporary illustrators like Jerry Pinkney, James Marshall, and Fred Marcellino..." 

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It is now a well-established fact that dogs are social, pack-oriented animals who thrive on human companionship and are happiest while living indoors as part of the family. When you bring a new dog into your family, the dog learns to view your family members and your other pets as his or her pack.

Everything proceeds well as long as your dog is content with his or her place in the pack. Many behavior problems can be avoided with a little extra effort or training to make the dog comfortable with this position.

The most devastating thing the leader of a pack can do is to isolate an individual from the pack to solve a problem; different problem behaviors will likely arise. The dog might become profoundly depressed or anxious. Nuisance barking is common among dogs kept outdoors. Also, a lonely, isolated dog might disassociate from the family pack and cease to be watchful or protective of the family. You must schedule daily play time or take daily walks. Engage in a new activity with your dog such as nose work."

Anna Nirva, editor and prime mover on Sunbear Squad, continues this post with detailed, comprehensive considerations and guidelines for creating a Humane Dog House.

The illustration, from Castle In The Mist, of the children and the dog, is by Stella  Mustanoja Mccarty.

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"Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without doubt the best deal man has ever made." -- Roger Caras
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Top of the morning to you, folks!  I’m happy to release my second Fuse #8 TV episode.  This time around I thought it would be a bit of fun to take a trip to the Eric Carle Museum.  Not everyone has ever had a chance to visit and it’s just the loveliest place.  After that, I sit down with the truly delightful Lisa Graff to talk a bit about the slow burn of her career and her latest book Absolutely Almost.  Enjoy!

I’ve been wanting to visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for quite some time. I finally got the chance to go this past weekend. So, with my sister Linda acting as navigator, I drove over 200 miles and 3 1/2 hours along the New York State Thruway to Amherst, Massachusetts. It was a beautiful day Sunday, perfect for a road trip. And though we were on a highway, we passed through some very scenic areas with rolling tree-covered hills and picturesque valleys. We even crossed the Hudson River. 

After many miles, two rest stops, and two toll booths, we finally reached the museum with no trouble. Although, I almost drove right past it until I spotted this gorgeous sign marking the entrance.

The building and grounds are beautiful. But you really have to go inside to experience the wonder of the museum. They have three lovely galleries exhibiting artwork from several picture book artists. For our visit, they showcased the art of Simms Taback, Harriet the Spy (the book turns 50 this year), and What’s Your Favorite Animal (a book featuring art from many well-known illustrators, including Eric Carle himself). 

No photography was allowed inside the galleries, of course, but the museum offered other opportunities for picture-taking.

The museum also has a wonderful library filled with picture books (they also do story times there), an auditorium (for films, lectures, plays, author/illustrator visits), an art studio (where all ages can be creative and crafty), and a bookshop/gift shop (I was like a kid in a candy store). All that was missing was a full-service cafe, though they do have a vending machine and plenty of places to sit and eat inside and outside (in a lovely orchard) if you choose to bring a picnic lunch.

My sister and I had such a good time. I hope to visit again sometime in the near future. If you are a picture book lover, I highly recommend it. And while you’re there, don’t forget to use the restroom; you won’t regret it!

Yes, this is a bathroom stall!

Photo by Johnny Wolf

There comes a time in every woman’s life when she is asked to interview a childhood idol.

Put another way . . .

There comes a time in my life, say every half a year or so, when I am asked to interview one of my own childhood idols.  Most recently, that someone was Carle Honors honoree Chris Van Allsburg.  You may know Mr. Allsburg from such books as Jumanji, Polar Express, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, etc.  For me, my favorite Van Allsburg’s include The Stranger (a perfect book for this time of year, don’t you think?), Bad Day at Riverbend, and most recently Queen of the Falls.  The prospect of interviewing him at the Honors was daunting, to say the least, but I have a marvelous ability to turn off the muscle inhibiting awe-factor in my brain, so I was confident that I could do this thing.  Semi-confident at the very least.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

The Carle Honors, just to clarify, are a yearly fundraiser for The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  Now in their Eighth year, the honorees for 2013 included such luminaries as the aforementioned Mr. Van Allsburg (Artist), Lynda Johnson Robb and Carol H. Rasco of Reading is Fundamental (Angel), Phyllis Fogelman Baker (Mentor), and Barbara Bader (Bridge).  If you able to go you are privy to a wonderful array of tiny food, magnificent company, and lots of lovely pieces of art that you could bid on if you happened to have a spare $2000 or so burning a hole in your pocket.  My fantasy art piece that I would bid on if I suddenly won the lottery was a Jon Klassen piece featuring a sheep.  It was a very Klassen-esque sheep.  A dry, witty baa baa that would have made an excellent gift for my mother.  Ah well.  Next time.

Mr. Van Allsburg was not around when I arrived so I busied myself with small talk and some very successful attempts to cram large quantities of tiny food into my gaping maw.  This plan, naturally, had to reach a conclusion when Mr. Van Allsburg entered the room.  I was a bit too intimidated to accost.  Fortunately someone else was perfectly happy to accost at will, and before we knew it we were seated at a small table with my audio recorder sitting between us.  Here is what transpired.  I will take pains to cut out all the times I had to politely refuse the tiny food offered to me by passing waiters.  Apparently I’d set a precedent for myself that evening.  They weren’t about to leave me alone without a fight.

Betsy: Well, first of all thank you so much for meeting with me.  I’m a huge huge fan.  I love The Stranger.  If anybody has a one Chris Van Allsburg book that they choose, The Stranger would actually be mine. Particularly at this time of year it’s my favorite book.

Chris Van Allsburg: Where did you grow up?

BB: I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

CVA: Oh.  Not far from where I grew up.

BB: Where’d you grow up?

CVA: Grand Rapids.

BB: Oh!  Yeah, just around the corner.

CVA: That book usually finds more interest with those who grew up in the northern latitudes.  Because down south the myth of Jack Frost doesn’t exist.  They don’t know who he is.  Never heard of him.

BB: If you’re going to have that picture of him clasping his hand to his head holding a leaf they’re going to say, “And that means what exactly?”

Now these days it looks like they’re rereleasing your books.  I just got in The Wreck of the Zephyr.

CVA: Well they aren’t rereleasing them because fortunately I have not had a single title go OP [out-of-print].

BB: You’ve never had a single title?  Really?

Photo by Johnny Wolf

CVA: No, they’ve all just chugged along, year after year.  So the new edition is not bringing it back into print.  It’s a digital reproduction.  So the quality of the pictures is much better because when it was first reproduced it was old analog stuff and it never looked that good to me. The color fidelity is better and it’s sharper.  And there’s just things you can go in and do to fix it that you can’t do the old way.

BB: Now the covers, are they original covers that you’ve made or have they been taken from the book in some way?

CVA: In the case of Jumanji, that originally had a jacket that was an interior image, and so is the new one.  It’s just a different image and it’s bled, which is kind of a less traditional way to jacket a book.  I always had very old-fashioned ideas about taking a picture, putting a little white line around it and then putting a colored frame around it.

BB: The Polar Express . . .

CVA: Oh no, almost all my books were like that.  The Widow’s Broom is actually different.  But, for the most part, the jacket was laid out a lot like the inside with the addition of a little color.  But these new jackets that they’ve placed on The Polar Express. . . . well that didn’t go bleed but Jumanji looks a little more modern and same with The Wreck of the Zephyr.

BB: Are there plans to do it for other titles in the series?

CVA: Well, I don’t know. It is hard to justify because there is some expense going back and doing all the production.  And the rational, or at least, the sort of excuse for doing it. . . these last two books, Jumanji and The Wreck and the Zephyr, it’s because of their longevity.  They’ve been in print that long and so they had birthdays.

BB:  Now are they making a new Jumanji movie?  There was a rumor about that at one point.

CVA: Well, they actually did make what I thought of as a new Jumanji movie.  It’s called Zathura.

BB:  *laughs* Well, yes.

CVA: Sony actually commissioned some market research to see what the kind of residual interest in Jumanji might be and, of course, years ago the residual interest in a 20-year-old film would be really tiny.  But because of the way people consume entertainment now you can actually have a strong fan base for films that are long gone and that’s what they discovered.  That there’s a lot of people out there who would be willing to buy a ticket to a new Jumanji.

BB:  I would.  It’s absolutely true.

CVA: It can be so many different things.  It can be a remake, it can be a sequel, it can be a prequel.  So Sony still plays around with that idea but they haven’t committed themselves to anything.

BB:  One of my favorite recent books you’ve done was Queen of the Falls.  Are you going to be doing any more nonfiction in the future or was that sort of a one-off?

CVA: Well, I’d actually set on the idea of doing nonfiction before I set on the idea of Annie Taylor.  Just as a way to create new challenges and do something different.  So I decided the specific kind of nonfiction book I wanted to do was inspired by the old biographies I read when I was a child.  The biography of Babe Ruth, etc. So I was casting around for what I thought was a worthy subject.  You know, someone’s whose life would be filled with events that would be interesting to children.  There are a lot of, I suppose, characters that might apply.  Lion tamers and things like that.  Magicians.  But I read about Annie Taylor and I didn’t remember her name, but I read about her probably in the early 70s. I can remember, I worked in a little factory and they had a lunchroom where there were stacks of old Sports Illustrateds and I would read them at lunch.  And I remember one lunch hour reading this piece called “Daredevils of Niagara Falls”, and I read about a number of characters but when I read about her I was amazed because she was the first person to go over the falls . . . and she was a she!

Photo by Johnny Wolf

BB:  And she wasn’t young!

CVA: And she was over 60. So I thought, that’s such a peculiar thing.  Such a peculiar event in American history.  I mean it’s not an epic event that changed the course of the world but it’s still so strange to me.  I thought it was odd that it wasn’t more widely known.  Because if you asked people no one could have named her.

BB:  No.  No one can name the first person to go over Niagara Falls, which seems a little strange!

CVA:  So I was bewildered right from the beginning because I could remember reading about this character but I couldn’t remember anything else about it besides from that. And I thought that was such an obscure piece of knowledge, not having heard about it for 30 or 40 years, I thought it was still buried somewhere and I would have to do some really deep research.  I’d really have to work hard.  And I thought maybe I would even have to, y’know, contact Time-Life and ask if I could go into their archive.

BB:  Had an adult biography ever been made of her?

CVA: Nothing. I didn’t even know her name so I didn’t even know exactly how to search. But I was contemplating maybe, as I say, calling Time-Life and asking if there was a microfilm library of old Sports Illustrateds and I’d find it out that way.  But then it occurred to me, because this was only a few years ago, I could just go Google “woman”, “Niagara Falls”, “barrel”.  Which is all I had to do.  So I went in and there was a fair amount of information about her but I was pleased to discover that no one had written a picture book biography and the closest thing to a biography was actually a monograph.  It was a very kind of limited publication available only in a handful of libraries.  There was a long lyrical poem about her.

BB: Well I don’t want to keep you too long.  I know you’re the star of the evening here.

CVA: No, I’m not.  There’s other people here.  Jon Scieszka’s here.

BB: *laughs – sorry Jon*  Can you say what you’re working on next?

CVA: Sure!

BB: What are you working on next?

CVA: Well, sort of in the spirit of trying to work outside of what I think of as my strike zone, which is fantasy, I’ve written a book which does have some improbable action in it but not fantastic.  It is inspired by events in my own family’s life.  It’s the moment in time almost all parents face when their children beg and plead to bring into the home a small furry creature which lives in a cage and which they will shower with affection and attention.  And so we did that, but the outcome wasn’t what they promised. Even though, I think in my family, we actually sort of emphasized the need to live up to that idea of nurturing this little creature, it didn’t work out that way and the creature had various places it went to after it left our home. So I’ve written a story about the misadventures of a small furry creature who lives in a cage and has a succession of owners.

BB:  Picture book?

CVA: Oh yes.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

BB:  I wasn’t sure.  Maybe you’re suddenly doing chapter books.

CVA: Well it’s interesting.  When I sort of figured out that was what I wanted to work on, it occurred to me that usually when you write a book for kids that has a tiny animal in it, the tiny animal is a surrogate for a child. Is a proxy for a child because, children (small, powerless, not masters of their destiny) when they see little animals that are vulnerable like that, they always identify with the animal.  I’m the animal.  I’m Peter Rabbit.  But the interesting thing about this is that there is a little animal and it has the kinds of misfortunes that a child would be inclined to identify with but the characters who are visiting some of those misfortunes are children, which is another character in the book we don’t usually identify with: the children. So I’ve kind of cast the children, not as villains, but I suppose to a degree as a kind of antagonists.

BB:  Yes.  I remember in Queen of the Falls that it was straight up nonfiction but people still said, “Oh there’s a mysterious shot of the barrel in the water.”  They really wanted that mystery.

CVA: Well there was a postscript in there where I mention the fact that for most of my career as a writer I’ve been attracted to fantasy and thought I’d do something different but as I learned more about Annie and learned more about the Falls which I visited a few times I really discovered that there’s truly kind of fantastic and surreal about things like that when human beings want to seize the golden ring, when they’re sort of untethered from reason and logic and do something big.

BB:  It’s a truly American book.  No one else would think, “I know how I can make money!  I’ll throw my body over the waterfall.”

CVA: She would be an early example of too of somebody.  There wasn’t a media that would make that happen.  But there were enough newspapers that she believed that she could make it big.

BB:  And then the manager hired another woman, was it, to pretend to be her?

CVA: That was her second manager.  Because the problem was, as revealed in the book, people had fixed in their mind what a woman daredevil would look like . . .

BB: . . . and it wouldn’t look like their grandmother.  Did they ever find the original barrel?  I know that the original barrel just got taken and they never found it?  That’s a pity. For all you know there’d be Annie Taylor Societies around.

CVA: Well when I went on my tour that’s who they set me up with. I spoke in the library on the Canadian side and then an auditorium space on the American side and there was a woman who evidently works the close precincts of the falls dressed as Annie Taylor.

BB:  Really!

CVA:  And she came to lunch.

BB:  Well, I think that’s pretty much all I had.  Oh.  Just one last question I suppose.  Is there any one of your books that you feel should get more attention?  It’s one of your favorites and you’ve always really loved it and it’s never been one of the ones that people constantly talk about.  Is there any one of your books that’s closer to your heart than any other?  I know, it’s like choosing amongst your children.  Which one do you love best?

CVA: You know, it’s always the same answer from me.  It’s posed differently as “What’s your favorite book.”  And I’ll say it’s the one I’m working on.  For an artist you’re almost required to feel that way because if you thought it wasn’t quite as good as the one you did years ago, you wouldn’t keep working on it.

BB:  Or they’ll say their first book because it was their first.

CVA:  No, I don’t feel that way.  But you asked  . . .

BB:  Which one do you feel just doesn’t get enough attention?

CVA: I suppose if I could take all attention I’ve gotten a redistribute it amongst my books I might take a little attention from The Polar Express and sprinkle a little of that on A Bad Day at Riverbend.

BB:  I love A Bad Day at Riverbend!  All right.  Well so much for meeting with me!

So that was that.  Fun stuff.  After that it was back to the tiny food (round two) as well as the actual dinner.  I found myself at a truly lovely table with Ted and Betsy Lewin alongside Jennifer and Richard Michelson. Here are some photos taken of the event that might amuse.

Roger Sutton, Jon Scieszka, and Alix Kennedy just playing it cool. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Jon Scieszka and Carol Rasco. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Proof positive that Eric Carle himself was actually there. And bidding at that! You’d have to be a pretty cold fish to bid against him. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

The host-ests with the most-ests – Tony and Angela DiTerlizzi with some bloke between them. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

I won’t go into how easy it would have been to lift this little sculpture and place it in my bad. It comes with its own built-in handle, for crying out loud! Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Got to the event and then realized I’d forgotten all my make-up. True story. Seen here with Vicki Cobb. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Aww. Barbara Bader and Roger Sutton. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Then the bells rang and we were shuffled upstairs to the actual awarding of the awards.  Since Jennifer had to leave before the speeches, Rich was nice enough to let me borrow her seat upstairs!  Awfully nice of him.

Our hosts for the evening were Angela and Tony DiTerlizzi.

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

And we were off!  Barbara Bader, if you do not know, was a longtime contributor to the Horn Book and wrote the seminal scholarly book, American Picturebooks from Noah’s Ark to The Beast Within.  She was quick and to the point.  Usually folks at these awards are.

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Next up, the daughter of Lyndon Johnson.  I honestly had no idea that Lynda Johnson Robb, Reading Is Fundamental’s Founding Board Member and Chairman Emeritus, held that distinction.  She was introduced by Paul O. Zelinsky and then proceeded to inform me of a variety of facts, none of which I had known.

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Carol Rasco, President and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental, is someone I knew far better.  Check out that awesome necklace while you’re at it.  Good stuff!

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Next up, Rosemary Wells.  *check program*  Rosemary Wells?  Well, yes.  She was introducing Phyllis Fogelman Baker, editor and publisher, and someone who apparently had a thing for high high heels.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Unfortunately, Ms. Baker couldn’t make it.  Fortunately, it was decided that Julius Lester would do the honors.  Unfortunately (this is turning into a Remy Charlip book here) he couldn’t make it either.  Fortunately, Jerry Pinkney was on hand to read Mr. Lester’s own tribute to Ms. Baker.  And I must say, he did it like a pro.  Yes, the words “pubic hair” did consist of part of the speech, but Pinkney read on like it didn’t even matter.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Fun Fact: Do not read the words “pubic hair” aloud if your next presenter is Jon Scieszka because by GUM he’s going to find a way to incorporate it into his introduction.  Indeed, Scieszka was there to introduce Van Allsburg.  His decision then was to construct a false narrative of Mr. Van Allsburg’s past (in keeping with the tone of his books), incorporating all the various oddities folks had mentioned about the previous honorees.  It was mildly brilliant.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

You will notice that I have a penchant for picking the photos where folks spread their hands.  I cannot lie.  I really prefer them.  Here is Mr. Van Allsburg doing the deed.  By the way, doesn’t he look EXACTLY the way you’d expect Chris Van Allsburg to look?  I don’t know why but somehow, this is perfect.  And in the course of his speech he included the line I’ve made the title of today’s post.  I’m still turning it over in my mind.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Ah, but the night was not done!  A final award was to be bestowed by our hosts and it was none other than the golden bow tie award.  These went, I believe, to Roger Sutton and Mr. Van Allsburg (one must assume in lieu of Timothy Travaglini, who was not present at the time).

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Then on to desserts . . .

Photo by Johnny Wolf

. . . and goodie bags . . .

Photo by Johnny Wolf

And the night was done.  For the record, that little Stinky Cheese Man puppet is a blast.  When you stick your fingers down his legs to make him run, his head bobs in all possible directions like crazy.  It’s incredibly amusing.  As for the bow tie, I know a nice pit bull who appreciated it.  This is true.

Many thanks to the folks at the Carle who made all of this possible.  I believe they wanted me to mention on their behalf, “We thank everyone who came out to support The Carle in its 10^th anniversary year!”  And for my part, thanks too to Alexandra Pearson for setting up the Van Allsburg interview.

For more info on the 2013 Honors be sure to check out this website as well.

Oh me, oh my, where does the time go?  Here we are, it’s Monday yet again, and I’m running about like a chicken with my head cut off.  This Friday I head off to Barcelona for a full week (weep for me), then back I come to promote my picture book (Giant Dance Party, or haven’t I mentioned it before?), but not before I’ve finished the promotional videos and my very first website.  *pant pant pant*

With that in mind, let’s get through these mighty quick.  Not that they don’t all deserve time and attention.  And tender loving care.  Mwah!  Big kisses all around!  And yes, I did consider doing an April Fool’s post today but thought better of it.  If you’d like to see some of the greatest April Fool’s posts of the children’s literary world, however, please be so good as to head over to Collecting Children’s Books and read the ones that Peter Sieruta came up with. There was 2012′s post (“Selznick syndrome” is just shy of brilliant),  2011′s Charlie Sheen Lands Children’s Book Deal (still feels real), 2009′s Graveyard Book to Be Stripped of Newbery, and his 2008 Ramona piece de resistance.  This is the first year he won’t have one up.  Miss you, Peter.

• So I had a crazy idea for a Children’s Literary Salon panel at NYPL.  Heck, I didn’t even know if anyone would show up, but I invited four different children’s librarians from four very different alternative children’s libraries.  Don’t know what an alternative children’s library is?  Then read this SLJ write-up NYPL Panelists Explore Alternatives to Traditional Librarianship.  The happy ending is that lots of people attended and the conversation was scintillating.  And timely.  A nice combination.

• Another good combination?  Me and my husband.  And it seems the resident husband recently wrote a blog piece that could be of use to you writer types out there.  How To Write Every Day, Conclusion: Is Your Goal to Keep Writing or Stop Writing? should give you enough fodder to chew on for the next year or so.  Then I’ll tell you about another one of his posts.  Trust me when I say they’re all this good.

• Did your stomach lurch a little when you found out that Amazon bought Goodreads?  Well, how much should you care?  Dan Blank has some answers.  In Short: Don’t you worry ’bout nothing (he says it nicer than that).

• A contact recently mentioned that they would like to give a little attention to the children’s book art auction at Book Expo, a yearly event that actually isn’t particularly well known.  Said they (take note!):

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is an organization that fights book censorship. We mostly work with booksellers, however, in Our Kids Right To Read Project, we advocate for kids when people try to ban books in libraries or classrooms.  Our position is that parents have the right to decide what their own children read but they do not have the right to decide for others.  Proceeds from the auction will go to our programming. Our website is www.abffe.org and for the auction we have set up a separate page where people can buy tickets and artists can donate art. It is: http://abffesilentauction.wordpress.com/.

Photo: Johnny Wolf

I’m sure that by now you’ve already ready the PW recap of the 2012 Carle Honors called, so fittingly, Wit, Wisdom and One Very Drunk Puppet.  Steeped as I am in edits for a book, I have not been as timely with my posts as I would like.  As a result, the darn “drunk puppet” line has already been taken.  Shazbot!  That is okay.  I make do.

Now this would be the seventh Eric Carle Honors to take place and if I’m doing the math correctly then I have been to six of them.  As you may recall they are held once a year and are bestowed by the Eric Carle Museum.  I was there in the early days when Mo Willems had to take a freight elevator to the Honors because he was wearing jeans.  I was there when they made a ginormous cake in the shape of a caterpillar  . . .  and then did not proceed to chop him into delicious bits (I would’ve killed to gnaw on one of his eyes).  I was there when it moved to Guastavino’s for the very first time, which also happened to be the very DAY I discovered I was pregnant with my first child, and I was there this time around in the same location.

There’s a trick to getting to Guastavino’s looking your best.  You can either take a cab and arrived looking coiffed and composed and like a million bucks.  Or, you can slip on your sneakers, listen to Gangnam Style on the radio, walk all the way over to the bridge the restaurant resides beneath, and then change from your sneakers into cute shoes at the outdoor seating area half a block away.  Guess which one I opted for.  The nice folks working the door didn’t even blink as I whipped out what must be the world grossest hairbrush (seriously, it could win its own not-under-a-bridge awards) to tap down the frizziest of frizzy hair for the scant 15 seconds before it would make its sterling recovery.

I had an ulterior motive to my visit to the honors this year.  Not that I didn’t want to see the honorees.  Each one was a delight.  And not that I didn’t want to eat copious amounts of tiny food (it’s the only time I get to remember what caviar actually tastes like).  And not that I don’t enjoy the fellow attendees and the art on auction and the ambiance and all of that.  But my real intent this time around was to break in my matron of honor outfit.  You see, this upcoming weekend I’ll be in the bridal party (my first) for my l’il sis (she of the previously mentioned mohawk).  And l’il sis requested that her ladies wear 40s style black dresses and red shoes.  Hence the black dress seen here:

Hence the red shoes, captured for posterity, by the quick pen of Paul O. Zelinsky (who drew them, if I’m going to be honest, because someone asked him about them and he was trying to show them what they were like).

Fun Fact: Standing for several hours in these shoes is less than entirely fun.  The more you know.

The mingling that occurred before the Honors was much with the fun.  I usually like to meet at least one new author or illustrator when I attend, but it’s tricky because you never quite know how to approach.  Usually the best method is to get someone to say, “Oh, you don’t know [blank]?  Come on over and I’ll introduce you!”  That’s how I got Lois Ehlert last year.  Imagine my life as a large unending Bingo card that will never be finished.  That’s what it’s like trying to meet everyone.  This year I met Kate Feiffer officially and then managed to have a singularly awkward talk with Lane Smith that was entirely my own fault.  Sweet man that he is, he saw me peering at the auctioned art and struck up a conversation.  Reader, I blanked.  I almost never do this but he caught me off-guard and somehow I managed to do an utter talk-fail.  You should have seen me.  My lips, they were two pieces of fried baloney just jibber-jabbering away about nothing at all.  The minute he turned to other folks with his lovely wife (with whom I was also equally mum) I realized that I should have complimented his new Abraham Lincoln picture book, which I actually like very much.  I could have also brought up that subversive children’s literature blog he did with Bob Staake and which Roger Sutton had been asking me about a day or two before.  ARG!!  I went to drown my sorrows in very very tiny hamburgers.  Seriously, it would take four of those things to make even a slider.

The art auction where I lost my composure was, as ever, a stunner.  I am but a poor humble librarian.  I have no money.  So like most folks I stare in silent awe and envy at works of art that would look damned BRILLIANT on the walls of my home.  I mean, just look at this Gabi Swiatkowska piece.

Photo: Johnny Wolf

And then there was this Lucy Cousins:

Photo: Johnny Wolf

If you listened very closely you could actually hear her squeak, “Betsy!  Why won’t you put me on your child’s bedroom walls?  Why?”

I’m also a big fan of seeing who DOES actually bid on the works.  This year I saw Suzanne Collins’ name (though I think it was by proxy since the woman herself was not in evidence) and a guy by the name of Christopher B. Milne.  I’ve seen Mr. Milne’s name before (I should considering he’s the museum’s chair) and like every other time I’ve seen it I couldn’t help but wonder . . . any relation to Christopher Robin Milne?  Any at all?

Then we were all persuaded to go upstairs, sit in a room bathed in cool green light, and watch smart people bestow awards on smart people.  The Carle Honors are very fulfilling awards in this way.  There’s never a time someone receives an award and you think to yourself, “Why did they get an honor?”  They know how to pick ‘em.  Can’t help but think it would be a fun award to help select folks for.

Photo: Johnny Wolf

To introduce Mr. Eric Carle himself, up to the stage came Jules Feiffer and Norton Juster.  Jules was smart, Norton acerbic.  The location of Guastavino’s provided last year’s honoree David Macaulay to wax rhapsodic about the very structure above us.  This year Mr. Juster noted that this event meant that at least one dire prediction his parents proclaimed when he became an author had come true: They knew he’d end up under a bridge someday.

So it was that Eric Carle took to the stage and was his usual charming self.  He’s Eric Carle.  He is not going to breathe fire or lambast the attendees.  He is going to be a sweet and good presence in this cold cruel world.  That is who is is.  That is what he does.  Nuff said.

Photo: Johnny Wolf

Which brings us to the drunk puppet.  I had glanced at the program that evening but had not registered the special guest, one Joey Mazzarino.  Even if I had I don’t think his resume would have stood out to me.  So up onto the stage leaped Mo Willems to present Bridge (“individuals who have found inspired ways to bring the art of the picture book to larger audiences through work in other fields”) award recipient Christopher Cerf.  I met Mr. Cerf years ago when I attended a Street Gang book signing.  Nice fella.  Since Mo used to do work for Sesame Street before he went the picture book route he was a natural presenter for Mr. Cerf.  Alas, he was interrupted midway through by a sock puppet named (and spellings vary on this but I think I’m correct in calling him) Saki.  The minute Saki opened his big sock mouth I could tell we had a professional puppeteer on our hands.  You can just sorta tell.  A guy doesn’t spend his entire life with his arm above his head without coming across as better than the average sock puppeteer.  This was the Joey Mazzarino I referred to earlier and I enjoyed him very much.  Though, truth be told, I like any awards event that involves Muppeteers at some point (National Books Awards, etc.).

Photo: Johnny Wolf

After Mr. Cerf spoke it was Floyd Cooper who stepped up to introduce Angel (“whose generous financial support is crucial to making picture book art exhibitions, education programs, and related projects a reality”) Kent L. Brown, Jr.  Now Cooper is definitely a guy I should have taken time to speak to since his work on this year’s Brick by Brick by Charles L. Smith is superb.  Some of his finest stuff.  Alas, no Cooper time did I receive, though I would be seeing quite a lot of Mr. Kent L. Brown in a couple weeks.  You see, he’s the executive director of the Highlights Foundation and I had the pleasure of speaking at one of their events just this past weekend with the likes of Leonard Marcus, Linda Sue Park, Deborah Heiligman, and Patti Lee Gauch.  So I am very pleased to see the man get big awards.  Though, to be frank, I’d be pleased even if his Highlights folks didn’t ask me to come and talk.

Photo: Johnny Wolf

It was an evening of buddies when Barbara McClintock and Natalie Merchant (yup, THAT Natalie Merchant) took the stage to sing the praises (not literally) of legendary editor Frances Foster.  Frances was receiving the Mentor (“editors, designers, and educators who champion the art form”) award and the two were downright giggly as they quoted extensive quotes from Frances lovers the world over.  She was, as you might imagine, class incarnate.  It’s not like I’m even an editor, but I still want to be her someday.  When I grow up anyway.

It was Anita Silvey who introduced the Artist (I’m not going to quote the description on this one . . . it’s fairly obvious, no?) of the evening. Yup.  Mr. Lane Smith.  Having survived my onslaught of awkwardness he gave a lovely talk.  One might have been a bit surprised that Ms. Silvey was introducing Mr. Smith and not . . . *sigh*  Ah well.

Then it was time to go downstairs and attempt to eat lots and lots of tiny desserts without appearing to be a complete and total barbarian.  Tiny puddings.  Tiny slices of cake.  Tiny little fudgey brownie things.  After stumbling out of the place with my comfy shoes reattached and Gangham Style still, inexplicably, blaring from the radio, it was time to go on home.  Another year, another great event.

Special thanks to the Carle folks for allowing me to lurk amongst the heavies.  And mighty congrats to those honorees.  Even those I do my darndest to baffle.  Thanks too to Sandy Soderberg, Jane Curley, and all the good folks at The Eric Carle Museum for yet another wonderful year.

What a great conference! SCBWI New England really pulled it out of the bag this time.

3 great days at Springfield, MA. Over 500 attended and the faculty line up was amazing! Highlights included Harry Bliss, Dan Yaccarino, Harold Underdown, Kate Messner, Jane Yolen, Cynthia Lord, Brian Lies, Heidi Stemple, Jo Knowles ... on and on ... you can check out just what the line up was at http://www.nescbwi.org/.

If you are hoping to write or illustrate for children - you can't do better than attend an SCBWI conference and New England is one of the best. In the three years I have been a member it's given me invaluable information, education, contacts and networking opportunities. And best of all - friends who relate to my goals and frustrations. So I say thank you to the organizers and volunteers!

I travelled with Russ Cox (friend and fellow illustrator) from Maine on Friday and it was straight into the deep end with a great 'meet and greet' with top-hole artists and writers at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst. (My first visit and a beautiful venue.)

Before we knew it Sunday rolled around ... and it was time to say goodbye. Russ and I returned to Maine in triumph ... Russ swept the board with two first prizes and the emerging artist award read his take ont he conference and his success here ... and not to be left out I won second prize in the People's Choice category!! Yippee for 'Boy and World '.

SO A BIG SMACKEROONEY TO ALL THOSE WHO VOTED FOR ME.

Right now my drawing board is overflowing with projects so I had better get my *** in gear.

I'll leave you with a few photos from the weekend and hope to meet you at a conference soon!

 

 

For the past six years now the Eric Carle Museum has hosted an annual event in New York City where authors, illustrators, editors, and more have met and mingled with the chance of bidding on great works of art, honored folks in the field, and generally supported the museum and all it entails.  And for at least five of those years I have had the pleasure of attending in 2007 (here and here), 2008, 2009, 2010, and now I have a 2011 notch on my bedpost as well (so to speak).  Each year came with its own memories too. In 2007 I watched the wife of Mo Willems goose her husband (who had to take the freight elevator up to the event because he was wearing jeans) to show how the new Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus stuffed animal would work if you wanted to make it speak.  In 2008 I stumbled into a vast room that was filled from wall to wall with desserts, akin to a Room of Requirement (though I was searching for the loo at the time).  Upon returning to my table I watched Tony DiTerlizzi  (or was it Mo Willems again?) lob spitballs at the adjoining table.  2009 consisted of the Very Hungry Caterpillar cake . . . a cake that returns in my dreams sometimes urging me to eat it (adjust its book to read “And she wasn’t a little librarian anymore. She was a big fat librarian!).  And of course in 2010 I had just returned from a lovely jaunt to Chicago’s SCBWI chapter to discover that I was pregnant.  Immediately after this discovery I ran over to the Carle Honors where I spent the entire time drinking loads of water, staring morosely at the glasses of wine going around.

Which brings us up to speed.  Here we are in 2011 and things have changed a little.  I’m less intimidated by the big names.  I know a nifty spot near this year’s event space (the restaurant Guastavino’s) where I could change from comfy shoes to high heeled bits of painful ridiculousness.  I’m no longer pregnant.  And . . .

Okay, so I lied to you just now.  Fact of the matter is that I’m still intimidated by the big names.  Take Lois Ehlert.  She was amongst the various folks being honored alongside Karen Nelson Hoyle, Jeanne Steig and Michael di Capua.  If her name rings no bells then surely old Chicka Chicka Boom Boom does.  She created the art for that one, amongst her many other titles.  So when it was suggested that I hop on over and give her a howdy, I clung to my security blanket/best buddy Lori Ess of Scholastic Book Group and made my way over. And yes, I was terrified.

Cleverly checking my bag that evening I managed to also check my camera, so it is to Leah Goodman that I thank for many of the images shown in t

The fabulous Colleen Mondor and Jackie Parker-Robinson have come up with a clever notion.  Kidlitcon, the yearly conference for bloggers of child and teen literature, fast approacheth and this year, things are getting a bit switched.  As Colleen says on her blog, “What we decided was to shift things just a bit, both by moving away from publisher donated ARCs as raffle prizes and also toward a long term partnership with one organization. Ultimately what we came up with made sense in so many ways that in retrospect it was one of the easiest things we decided. I am delighted to announce that KidLit Con is now entering into a partnership with Reading Is Fundamental which we hope will extend for many years into the future and make a powerful difference in the lives of many.”  There’s more information to be found here, including info on how to donate to RIF yourself.  So far the fund has reached $1,056, which is fantastic though more is needed.  And a cheer is going out to Carol Rasco for her mention of me in a recent thank you.

• And now let’s raise a glass and toast my profession.  Isn’t it nice to have a profession that can, without so much as a stray drop of guilt, be toasted?  Lucky that.  In any case, the I Love My Librarian awards are starting up again and that means you need to get out there and vote for your beloved holders of MLIS degrees.  You may nominate a school, public, and academic librarian if you like.  Doesn’t cost you a thing and maybe your one true library love will get the credit they so richly deserve. Stranger things have happened, no?

• Speaking of honoring folks, the Eric Carle Museum Honors have been announced.  Each year four categories are filled with folks who have done some good in the name of children’s literature.  This year the recipients include:

Lois Ehlert ▪ Artist
Jeanne Steig ▪ Angel
Michael di Capua ▪ Mentor
Karen Nelson Hoyle ▪ Bridge

On Thursday, September 22nd the Honors will be at Guastavino’s here in town.  The usual auction that takes place at that time is seeing a bit of a shake-up as well.  According to the website, “Our fourth annual art auction will feature original works of art donated by some of the industry’s most celebrated artists. This year also offers the opportunity to bid on ‘experiences’ with authors and artists.”  If one of those “experiences” can include a chance to go pubbing with Tomi Ungerer I am in!  At last year’s event I discovered that I was pregnant mere hours before attending.  This year will have to top that, right?

• Back in the day when I was young and foolish I had a chance to interview Frances Hardinge on my blog.  Years have passed and Ms. Hardinge has yet to become the household name here in the States that I know she is capable of being.  While I wait then I’ll continue to read other interviews of her, like 0 Comments on Fusenews: Now with more earthquaky goodness as of 1/1/1900