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click to enlarge. I've just returned from a fun holiday.  While I was away, Universal Syndicate ran the comics I pinch hit for pal Richard Thompson's Cul De Sac.  It was great fun to play around with his characters.  You can see the work starting here (then click onto the arrow for the next day). Thanks again to Stacy Curtis for inking them. There's still as Sunday strip of mine coming

My Tiny Human started pre-k today!!!! Granted, it was only one hour, orientation for parents and students, but it was amazing. She was right at home, and because her school is around the corner from our home, I feel okay too.

So. Summer is over, and the publishing world is in high gear! My agency sister, Miranda Kenneally just announced her knew TWO BOOK deal! On top of the Dear Teen Me anthology! How awesome is that? So if you want, you know, go congratulate her. She rocks.

As for my scribe sisters and I, we are in full-on write mode! Kristi and I have now sent our tiny humans off to school and Valerie returned home from Amsterdam safe and sound. Unfortunately, I don't think she brought us pictures of pretty Dutch men. *sigh*

Hope y'all are having a productive week!

It's been quite a busy couple of weeks since last I posted. The family and I drove down from Northampton to New Orleans for this year's ALA Conference, but before we left I had a chance to meet & hear Tomi Ungerer speak at the Eric Carle Museum, where a retrospective is currently on exhibit.  It's a great show, you should go (also the Barbara McClintock show in the middle gallery is amazing).  A

I'll be taking a blog break to catch up on a project.Maybe the Pigeon will continue to tweet in my absence. Who knows with him.

By Chris Smith, illustrated by Aurelia Fronty. Barefoot Books, 2007. (review copy) Chris Smith has retold this Jewish/Arab fable of how the city of Jerusalem came to be. In the back of the book he says, "If you ever happen to be traveling, and come to the point where Europe meets Asia, and where Asia meets Africa, you will find a city bursting with history and mystery. [...] This story gives an

by Mitali Perkins. This lovely little middle grade novel is on the 2007 ALA Amelia Bloomer Project list of recommended reading for books with strong girl characters. From the ALA site: "the 2008 Amelia Bloomer Project honors the authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers who give life to books that encourage readers young and old to push the envelope and challenge what it means to be a woman,

by Lynne Barasch. Lee & Low Books, 2007. Hiromi Suzuki's father was born and raised in Japan. He was trained in the male sushi tradition in Japan and came to New York in 1964 to work at his company's NY restaurant. He married and had a daughter. His American life influenced the way he raised his daughter. When she began to beg him to take her to fish markets and let her help in the restaurant

A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance by Laban Carrick Hill. Little, Brown and Company, 2003. If you've been reading African American biographies and histories focusing on slavery and civil rights this month, and are ready to read a little farther, you ought to check out this book. If you've never heard of the Harlem Renaissance you need to read it. In the forward by Nikki Giovanni we

by Christopher Paul Curtis. Scholastic Press, 2007. 2008 Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. It took me a couple weeks to finish this book. It starts out kind of slow, with the easy charm of an afternoon fishing on the river. Elijah is a twelve year old boy living in the free Black colony of Buxton, Canada, just across the river from Detroit. It is the mid 1860's and Elijah is the first

by Sneed B. Collard III, illustrated by Phyllis V. Saroff. Charlesbridge publishing, 2008. (review copy) This is another wonderful nonfiction picture book by the award winning author of Wings, which I reviewed last week. Sneed does a fine job of showing all the ways teeth are important to a variety of earth's creatures. Teeth "slice, stab, crack, grind, mash and munch." Mammals, reptiles,

Illustrated by Josee Masse. Barefoot Books, 2007. (review copy) This delightful picture book is a musical poem spoken from a Caucasian mother to her adopted Chinese daughter. It sings of tender love surrounding the child from birth. Mother love supports this child from both her first, biological mother and her second, adoptive mother. It is truly one of the few books I have found about adoption

by Sneed B. Collard III, illustrated by Robin Brickman. Charlesbridge publishing, 2008. (review copy) This is a well written and gorgeously designed informational text about all sorts of wings. From Galah parrots of Australia and Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bats to Madagascan Sunset Moths the variety and beauty of all sorts of winged creatures are described and illustrated. Brickman has painted and

Last week at the AASL Reading and the Elementary School Library Media Specialist conference we talked a lot about how to encourage and support classroom reading programs. We shared about our programs, book talks, displays and activities to promote books from our libraries. We talked about No Child Left Behind and how testing was driving so many reading programs and eliminating the necessary time

First let me apologize for not announcing the winner of my December drawing. It is one of the things that got lost in the holiday madness over here. I was offering my copy of Isabel Allende's The Stories of Eve Luna. This morning I pulled a name from my Kikombe cha umoja and guess what? Karen won!! Congratulations Karen! Send me your snail mail and I'll drop the book in the mail to you. I am

I've brought a stack of books home from the library for our Kwanzza reading. I'm putting together a suggested reading list for young children; mostly folktales from various African countries and American titles. These aren't stories about Kwanzaa. I haven't found any really good fable or folk tales that center on the particular holiday the way Hannukkah has a rich folklore and Christmas has a

After yesterday's post on gift books I am remembering some of my other favorite Christmas books. I plan to read these to kindergarten through second graders in the library in the coming week: Tree of Cranes by Allen Say. Houghton Mifflin Co.,1991. I think this is my favorite Say book. He tells us of a time when he was living in Japan as a boy. He disobeyed his mother by playing in the neighbor's

After all the brouhaha over the Dangerous Book for Boys last spring I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book when MotherTalk announced a blog tour. I really couldn't see the need for designating the boy book as being for boys, since any of us could and did do the things in it. I feel a lot the same about the girl book, but then I have sons and I am not about to let them think that making

Native American Poems and Songs of Thanksgiving, told by Joseph Bruchac and pictures by Murv Jacob. This is a joyful collection of praise and thanksgiving songs and prayers from fourteen different Native American cultures. Joseph Bruchac is himself part Native American (Abenaki, from central New York state) and he has made a career of writing and storytelling drawing from a rich heritage. We have

by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Shane Evans. Orchard Books, 2007. We just got this book into our library and it is a charmer. The story is told in poetry, of a cat named Gorilla and two girl friends each named Cecilia. One Cecilia has three brothers and the other (the story's narrator) has none. She begs her mother for a pet and gets a cat; not just any cat but a fierce, independent, clever, "

Traditional African-American Spiritual, illustrated by E. B. Lewis. We had this book at our school book fair last week and I fell in love with it. The text is the traditional song and as I stood there browsing the books I had the chorus running through my head. It made me smile to remember a little boy I knew when Buster, my 20 year old son was a baby. Junior is grown now and a daddy to his own

By Blue Balliet. Scholastic Press, 2006. This is the second book by Balliet featuring Petra and Calder, two twelve year old students in the sixth grade at the University School in Hyde Park, Chicago. Their teacher is the wonderful Ms. Hussey, who Calder's friend Tommy describes as having "long hair and lots of earrings, and yesterday she had worn pajamas. Tommy didn't think she looked like a teacher at all, but to his amazement the class paid close attention to her." Tommy has returned to the neighborhood and the school after briefly moving away with his mother and his new stepdad, who turned out to be a disappointment and was criminally involved in the disappearance of the Vermeer painting in the previous Balliet book Chasing Vermeer. Tommy is a little uncomfortable with the changes in his friend Calder and Calder's new friendship with Petra. As the story progresses the trio work through their difficulties and form an investigating, crime-fighting team.

One of the buildings on in Hyde Park, on the edge of the University of Chicago, is Frank Lloyd Wright's famous 1910 masterpiece the Robie House. The novel setting is based on reality and you can learn more about the Robie House online. One of the major features of Wright's house is the many huge art glass windows lining the walls. To me personally this is the most beautiful and compelling aspect of the house. The windows play a large part in the story as they wink, move and speak to the children in code. This window in particular becomes important in the story.

The Robie House is owned by the University of Chicago and in this story it has not been kept up. It hasn't been occupied for many years and the cost of restoration is prohibitive. The University has decided to sell the house in pieces to four museums. Ms. Hussey, her students and many other people are greatly disturbed by this idea and they decide to save this historic work of architecture.

This book is full of mysterious puzzles, codes and hidden treasure. Just as in Chasing Vermeer, the illustrations by Brett Helquist are full of hidden clues in a surprising pattern. Calder is fascinated with pentominoes and in this book he is playing with a three dimensional set. He finds an eerie similarity between the small structures he builds with his puzzle pieces and the shapes embedded in the Robie House. When the children hear that Wright is said to have included a secret image of himself in the house they are determined to get inside the closed building and investigate. What they uncover in the dead of night, racing up and down the open spaces filled with patterns of moonlight and shadow will ultimately affect the fate of the house and their own lives.

I think kids in grades four through six will love this book. It would be a great follow up read aloud to Chasing Vermeer, or can stand alone, especially if you and your kids are particularly interested in Frank Lloyd Wright and architecture. The puzzles, the mysterious voices coming from the house and the intensity of the character's interest in spooky coincidences, unexplained "accidental" injuries and ghostly movements of the house itself will appeal to young readers that like a touch of paranormal in their reading. It is an enjoyable book that invites critical thinking on a deeper level to those who are alert.

In 1998 I went to hear Madeleine L'Engle speak on the topic "Garbage and Grace: the Ecosystem of the Soul". She spoke for an hour in the morning about how we chose what, of all our experiences, possessions, relationships, thoughts, and ideas we chose to "throw away" or release from our lives. We broke for lunch and then she spoke for another hour about what we ought to "learn to keep". She was brilliant. I wish I had taken written notes so I could share her original wisdom with you here, but what really stands out in my memory is the intensity with which she impressed on us the eternal impact of those choices.

We stood in line for an hour afterward to get her to sign our books. Later I realized that I should have bought new copies of A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door for her to sign, instead of the old paperbacks I brought. Sigh. They are two of very few author-signed books that I own. She was one of my favorites and I read those books (and her others) over and over growing up. She past away at the age of 88 last Friday. I look forward to meeting her on the other side.

More to read on Madeleine L'Engle:

• NYTimes obit
• The Hartford Courant
• New York Magazine's Vulture blog
• John Podhoretz at The Corner (part of The National Review)

by Louise Erdirich. HarperCollins, 2005. This is the sequel to The Birchbark House, which I reviewed last week. I really like these books. The Game of Silence takes up where Birchbark House left off, with the main character Omakayas living with her Ojibwa family on an island in Lake Superior. The year is 1849, Omakayas is nine years old, and the Ojibwa have been told by the American Government that they must prepare to move to a reservation to the west in Dakota territory. The Dakota are their long-time enemies.

In the opening chapter a refugee band of Ojibwa come to shore to be greeted by Omakayas. They had moved west and failed in their attempt to find a place among the Dakota. Omakayas' family and friends take them in and absorb them into their community. Their ragged, poor state is an ominous warning to what the rest of the Ojibwa face in the near future. The problem of what the band will do to secure their future forms the central tension of the story.

Erdirch beautifully describes the people's way of life. They build canoes from cedar wood and birch bark. They harvest rice, grow lush gardens, and hunt. Omakayas learns to cure hide and make clothing and tools. Her grandmother is teaching her to be a healer because she shows a gift for it. The gentle and loving way children are taught responsibility, hard work and respect for elders is woven into the story. In several places in the book one member of the band is separated from the rest of the family, lost in life-threatening weather. Omakayas' little brother is left at the rice harvest island in a terrible thunderstorm, her father is stranded on an ice flow when the winter ice pack breaks up while he is on a scouting mission, and a friend of the family is caught out in terribly freezing weather in a sudden severe winter storm. In each case the people pull together and go out to search for the lost one, bringing him or her home at great personal risk. The strength of the community shows in these instances, as well as the difficulty of their way of life. All these elements come together in a book balanced with humor and beauty.

This is a lovely book to share with children in grades four through six. The troubling conflict the Ojibwa face as the white settlers push them out of their homes and land should fuel challenging conversations. Anyone studying American history, westward expansion or Native Americans ought to read these books.

Erdrich has also written many novels for adults and books of poetry. I highly recommend you look for her work.

by Louise Erdrich. Hyperion, 1999. I really enjoyed this novel of a young Ojibwa girl living on an island in Lake Superior in 1847. The story leads us through the four seasons, starting with early summer as Omakayas, a seven year old girl, searches with her grandmother for birch bark to build their summer house. Simple, eloquent descriptions of their way of living are woven into the story, including how they build their house, grow, gather, hunt and cook food, make and decorate clothing, celebrate and honor spiritual practices and pass on storytelling traditions. This will make a wonderful read-aloud for any classroom between third and seventh grades. A glossary in the back of the book gives meanings and pronunciation for the many Ojibwa words and phrases scattered through the text. If you are studying Westward Expansion, pioneers, or Native American cultures this book should be part of the program. It is a nice contrast to books such as Little House on the Prairie, The Cabin Faced West and the like. I particularly thought of Laura Ingalls books when Erdrich was describing maple sugaring, raising corn and building houses. In the spring, when we go to maple sugar festivals and read the Little House in the Big Woods account of their sugaring festival, I want to read this section in Birchbark House to my boys. Omakayas and her family make maple sugar candy in the snow exactly the same way Laura Ingalls describes her family making it.

Erdrich is of mixed ancestry, with an Ojibwa mother and German-American father. She grew up in Minnesota, in the same area that this story takes place. In researching for the book she joined her mother and her sister in tracing family history. She found ancestors on both sides who lived on the island she wrote about. The name Omakayas was listed in the census. In the acknowledgments she talks about the spelling and pronunciation of the main character's name (oh-MAH-kay-ahs) and says "Dear reader, when you speak this name out loud you will be honoring the life of an Ojibwa girl who lived a long time ago." It is good to read a beautifully written story of Ojibwa life that is authentic and based on the lives of real people.

Although Omakayas is only seven years old the story has depth and complexity that will give older students plenty to ponder and discuss. The opening chapter begins, "The only person left alive on the island was a baby girl." Men on a fur trading mission come by in their canoes, but they are afraid to land and investigate or rescue the infant girl because it is clear that all the other people have died from small pox. One man thinks he will tell his wife about her, because his wife is braver than he and will want to come and get the little girl. That is all we know of this part of the story until the very end of the book. The second chapter starts to tell us about seven year old Omakayas and her family. In the last few pages of the book Omakayas is told by Old Tallow, a rough, independent, grandmotherly friend of the family, that she is that little girl rescued from the island, the only survivor of her birth family. Old Tallow is the wife of the trader in the canoe, who went back to claim the girl and then threw her cowardly husband out in disgust. She nursed the tiny girl back to life and brought her to her friends Yellow Kettle and her husband and family to adopt and raise, because she felt unable to do it herself. Hearing this story at the age of eight brings back memories to Omakayas, and she realizes that she has always held the memory of the birds singing on that first island. She says the bird's song kept her alive.

Old Tallow has waited to tell Omakayas her history until after the girl has met her spirit guide and begun to understand her life's calling. Her family has just recently survived a small pox outbreak. Her baby brother died the winter before from small pox, and Omakayas is still mourning his loss. Old Tallow tells her that the reason she was able to nurse her family back to health without getting ill herself is that she is already a survivor. Giving her the story of her own early life allows her to find her strength and peace.

Erdrich is a mother of five children herself, two of whom are adopted. She speaks about the difficulties and the richness of being a writing mother in a Salon interview from 1999. I am inspired by her words and by her extensive body of work. Next on my reading list is another children's novel about Omakayas, The Game of Silence. I have another of her novels for adults and I am going to look for her poetry books. I encourage you to do the same. She is a writer to follow.