How to use this Page

Over at GeekMom today, I’m thinking about a small child’s most beloved word:

Why is a chameleon-word that shapeshifts into all the questions put together. Who, how, when, what, where, will. Why is the wonder-word. It collects the flurry of bewildering input that swirls around a small child like leaves in a tornado—and in a single syllable, it tames the wind. It puts form to the formless: When other words are leaping all over the place with their jittery meanings (leaves fall in the fall but snow doesn’t winter in the winter), why stays put. Why is reliable. When grownups all around you are failing to comprehend the very clear statement you’re making about eating opiemeal in the hoffabul, why is a word they understand. Sometimes it’s the only word they seem to understand, so you use it in place of all the other words they can’t quite grasp…

GeekMom Counterpoint: Why I Love Why.

I have a new corner over at GeekMom: I’ll be hosting live interviews with other authors and artists via Google Hangout. Eep! Recorded live! Sometimes books fall on your head in the middle of the interview! (True story.)

Here’s Episode One: an interview with the awesome Quinn Cummings about her new book, Pet Sounds (and a whole lot of other stuff). Bonus: lightning round questions contributed by my children.

I hope you’ll click over to take a look. I had the best time chatting with Quinn.

Over at GeekMom.

Season 3, Episode 5 (U.S. reckoning) over at GeekMom.

…is up at GeekMom. Lots to talk about this week.

Season 3, Episode 3, over at GeekMom now.

Over at GeekMom. Care to join us? I have many theories. ABOUT EVERYTHING.

Quick note to say I’ve got a new piece up at GeekMom:

Give a Box of Fun: Five Subscription Kits for Kids.

I’m doing a bunch of these subscription boxes reviews and this one was particularly fun to research: arts-and-crafts kits for kids. With, like, all the stuff for projects right in one box.

I’ve also reviewed some exceedingly tasty food-themed boxes: Knoshbox and La Bella Box. In my next installment, I’m looking at artsy-crafts subscriptions, and then after that, more food. Fun project.

I reviewed a Knoshbox for GeekMom. It contained bacon peanut brittle. Words can’t even.

I’m proud of my piece at GeekMom today: An interview with my friend Holly Miller, who battled her school district for three years to get necessary Braille instruction for her son, Hank. Hank, like my own Wonderboy, has oculocutaneous albinism—in Hank’s case, the effects on his vision are severe. He is legally blind. But the school district considers him a sighted reader and opposed teaching him Braille. Holly and her husband Jeff took the case to court—and won. I hope you’ll click through and read the article!

In a Digital Age, Braille Is Still Important | GeekMom | Wired.com.

At GeekMom again. Going to be a looooonnnng wait until Season 3…

At least there’s always Mad Men.

An aside: Last night on Twitter, Amy Kraft joked that she’d like to see early readers based on Downton. I spent the rest of the night entertaining myself (if no one else) with Downton Abbey: The Nursery Years.

We hid in the garden from the nasty governess.
Carson found us in the shrubbery.
Granny was quite put out.

Hee.

What’s funny is that in its first incarnation, way back in 2006, my book that is now called The Prairie Thief was going to be set in an Upstairs/Downstairs-esque Edwardian household. We’d been watching U/D and I was captivated by the dynamics, especially the downstairs crowd; the main character was going to be the daughter of a servant. But about two chapters in, the whole story up and transplanted itself to a landscape I knew inside and out: the Colorado prairie. Eventually the story itself transformed into an entirely different tale. So I guess that original story is still lurking in my brain somewhere, awaiting its turn.

Won’t be soon, though; I’m neck-deep in a Whole Nother Book.

Occurs to me I forgot to share yesterday’s GeekMom post, a follow-up to recent posts here on Bonny Glen: Why Curated Content Matters.

My Diigo share widget is working quite well. It’s a satisfactory way for me to share links with others, although it lacks the reciprocity of Reader Share; you can’t comment back on my links. But please always feel free to come here to discuss anything I’ve shared, eh?

Now what I need to know is this: where are YOU sharing curated links now that your handy Reader Share button is no more?

Yikes! The days, they fly by!

Had a few links I meant to share last week:

• My latest GeekMom post, in which I gush about a new MMO my kids and I are enjoying the heck out of.

• It’s Cybils time again! Go nominate your favorite children’s & YA books of 2011 (published between Oct. 16, 2010 and Oct 15, 2011, to be specific). And kids’ book apps—a new category this year. I’m serving on the Graphic Novels first-round panel this time around, a fact which has my whole family excited. We’re somewhat enthusiastic about the category, as you may have noticed.

New post at GeekMom: Let the Speculation Begin: Pottermore Is Coming!

Now I am also a GeekMom.

I’m delighted to say I’ve been invited to contribute to one of my favorite spots on the web. (I’m sure that bonnet photo had nothing to do with it.)

I’ll be sharing my San Diego Comic-Con experience over there in July. Here’s my first post, in which I contemplate the fact that the con is less than two months away.

If you have any thoughts about what kind of Comic-Con coverage you would enjoy seeing, I’d love it if you’d leave me a comment over there!