Sunday, December 31, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Pets now included in disaster planning
Somehow it escaped my attention that President Bush signed, in October, a new federal PETS Law -- Pets Evacuation and Transportation, a law inspired by the heart-wrenching loss of companion animals after Hurricane Katrina. This past June, at the summer ALA convention in New Orleans, I was a guest of the ASPCA for the Henry Bergh Children's Book Awards (my picture book, Magnus at the Fire, won a Bergh). As part of the ASPCA group, I learned a great deal about pet rescue in the aftermath of the hurricane, and many Gulf Coast residents expressed their gratitude to the ASPCA staff members for the help they received with their animals. It was a really moving experience, and I am really glad to see that the federal government now recognizes the importance of companion animals to disaster victims. I know I couldn't abandon my animals at home.
After the awards ceremony for the Henry Bergh Awards there was an after-hours reception at the Audubon Zoo, where we learned about the zoo staff's efforts to save the zoo animals during and after the hurricane. Our special guest at the reception was one of the elephants, which we all got to pat and examine up close and personal. That was an ALA party with a twist!
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After the awards ceremony for the Henry Bergh Awards there was an after-hours reception at the Audubon Zoo, where we learned about the zoo staff's efforts to save the zoo animals during and after the hurricane. Our special guest at the reception was one of the elephants, which we all got to pat and examine up close and personal. That was an ALA party with a twist!
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
From Chicago Tribune, on Christmas Eve
The American Story the number #5 children's book selling in Chicago area bookstores. Me likey.
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Sunday, December 24, 2006
Minnesota Parent Magazine
"Your child or grandchild doesn't have to be a history buff to enjoy this wonderful array of stories celebrating America's history."
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Saturday, December 23, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Today's news
I took a stroll through the regional bestseller lists and found The American Story on the New Atlantic Indpendent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) list for the week ending December 17.
Yesterday's mail brought a royalty report for the Japanese edition of Black-Eyed Susan, which sells really really well in Japan. (I mean, of course the Japanese edition sells well in Japan, as opposed to selling well in, say, Sweden, but you know what I mean). I find it really remarkable that a novel with an American history setting finds a market overseas, or should I say remarkable in the reverse? What I mean is that I find it hard to imagine an American publisher buying translation rights to a novel for kids with a Japanese historical setting. So few kids' books in translation are published here! The American reader is not interested in other cultures and other people's history, apparently. Or at least this is what American publishers presume: other people are interested in us, but we're not interested in them. So, hats off to the readers of Japan, who actually buy more copies of Black-Eyed Susan than American readers do!
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
Yesterday's mail brought a royalty report for the Japanese edition of Black-Eyed Susan, which sells really really well in Japan. (I mean, of course the Japanese edition sells well in Japan, as opposed to selling well in, say, Sweden, but you know what I mean). I find it really remarkable that a novel with an American history setting finds a market overseas, or should I say remarkable in the reverse? What I mean is that I find it hard to imagine an American publisher buying translation rights to a novel for kids with a Japanese historical setting. So few kids' books in translation are published here! The American reader is not interested in other cultures and other people's history, apparently. Or at least this is what American publishers presume: other people are interested in us, but we're not interested in them. So, hats off to the readers of Japan, who actually buy more copies of Black-Eyed Susan than American readers do!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Finally! Pictures of Addis, and of some of the kids
I can't seem to get these captions to line up with the pictures, and I'm too tired from the trip home to keep fussing with it. These pictures are as follows: 1.Emma holding one of the babies at Haregwoin Teferra's orphanage. Haregwoin is the star of Melissa Fay Green's book, There Is No Me Without You. Our driver, Mesfin, was an expert at negotiating the insane traffic of Addis. 2. These are small shops, on a good street. 3. Embassies of other African nations. The embassies of wealthy nations are much snazzier, not surprisingly. 4. more shops -- this is the street where the Volunteer House is. 5. Kids saying grace before lunch at Wanna, the little kids' house at AAI.
When Emma's photos are available on line for viewing I'll let you all know -- she took close to 10,000 images, so it will take a while for her to edit and post. Stay tuned.
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When Emma's photos are available on line for viewing I'll let you all know -- she took close to 10,000 images, so it will take a while for her to edit and post. Stay tuned.
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Publicity Round-up after a week away
Children's Better Health Institute reviews The American Story; Pooh's Corner Books in Grand Rapids reviews Once Upon a Banana; Playzak.com tells why you should buy The American Story; Metroland magazine puts The American Story on holiday recommended list; here is the New York Times review of Once Upon a Banana.
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Monday, December 18, 2006
last words from Addis
We're packing up now, and getting ready for a quick bite before we head to Layla House to pick up our package. Our flight leaves at 10:45, and we'll arrive in Frankfurt in the morning. Then a flight to JFK and the long process of getting the baby through immigration before we head home. We should be in Saratoga by 8:00 Tuesday night.
We spent most of the day just hanging out at Layla. The older girls spent many hours braiding our hair. My hair, so short and straight, looked completely ridiculous. I pulled the rubber bands out as soon as we walked out the gate to come back here to the Volunteer House. The kids are so eager for conversation, and hugs, and just being acknowledged. They are tremendously well cared for here, but they want families. They want to be someone's son or daughter. The babies are placed with families as quickly as they come in, but the older kids and the sibling groups can be so difficult to place. Amazingly, folks do adopt sibling groups -- tomorrow a family is coming to pick up a sibling group of five. This is such generosity it blows my mind.
This has been a quick trip, but we'll all be back. Maybe next year for Christmas or Thanksgiving. That would be a holiday to remember.
Ciao ciao from Addis.
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
We spent most of the day just hanging out at Layla. The older girls spent many hours braiding our hair. My hair, so short and straight, looked completely ridiculous. I pulled the rubber bands out as soon as we walked out the gate to come back here to the Volunteer House. The kids are so eager for conversation, and hugs, and just being acknowledged. They are tremendously well cared for here, but they want families. They want to be someone's son or daughter. The babies are placed with families as quickly as they come in, but the older kids and the sibling groups can be so difficult to place. Amazingly, folks do adopt sibling groups -- tomorrow a family is coming to pick up a sibling group of five. This is such generosity it blows my mind.
This has been a quick trip, but we'll all be back. Maybe next year for Christmas or Thanksgiving. That would be a holiday to remember.
Ciao ciao from Addis.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
almost forgot to mention
Once Upon a Banana was reviewed in the New York Times today (Sunday). That's cool.
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Free Hugs Ethiopia
Do you know about the Free Hugs Campaign? If not, go to their website first and then come back here to read this entry. I'd post a link, but at 31.2 kbps I just don't want to try anything fancy. Just Google it, watch a few clips and read the backstory, and then come back.
My friend, Ibtisam Barakat, sent me a video link of Free Hugs before I left for Africa (thank you, Ibtisam!) and I knew right away we had to do this here. Today was the day. I made a "Free Hugs" sign on the inside of a manila folder, and got one of the volunteers who is learning Amharic to write it under the English, and I drew an Ethiopian flag in the middle. We got to Layla House at around 1:00 p.m., and wandered down to the courtyard for the older kids. One of the teachers, Abiya, a really good looking young guy in sunglasses and an "Africa Youth" t-shirt was there, and we handed him the sign and started about three different video cameras running. Kids started coming up to read the sign, first in Amharic, then in English, and then -- bam! Let the hugging begin! More and more kids began appearing from all the rooms around the courtyard, and some of them started drumming and singing, and we had about 40 minutes of hugging, cheering, singing, clapping, fighting to take a turn holding the sign -- awesome. When we get back home we'll try to edit it down into a really usable three or four minute montage, hopefully with one of their songs running in the background. One love.
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
My friend, Ibtisam Barakat, sent me a video link of Free Hugs before I left for Africa (thank you, Ibtisam!) and I knew right away we had to do this here. Today was the day. I made a "Free Hugs" sign on the inside of a manila folder, and got one of the volunteers who is learning Amharic to write it under the English, and I drew an Ethiopian flag in the middle. We got to Layla House at around 1:00 p.m., and wandered down to the courtyard for the older kids. One of the teachers, Abiya, a really good looking young guy in sunglasses and an "Africa Youth" t-shirt was there, and we handed him the sign and started about three different video cameras running. Kids started coming up to read the sign, first in Amharic, then in English, and then -- bam! Let the hugging begin! More and more kids began appearing from all the rooms around the courtyard, and some of them started drumming and singing, and we had about 40 minutes of hugging, cheering, singing, clapping, fighting to take a turn holding the sign -- awesome. When we get back home we'll try to edit it down into a really usable three or four minute montage, hopefully with one of their songs running in the background. One love.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Saturday evening, Addis Ababa
So many things to report, so many bits and pieces of observation:
Driving the streets and roads here one can form the impression that a major event has just let out -- a parade just ended? A football match? People are streaming in all directions on foot. What's happening? one wonders. Then -- of course, this is how they mostly get from A to B. They walk.
Among other things today, we went to another orphanage, Kidane Mehret (I think is the spelling) to take the departure reports of four children. An entirely different orphanage than Layla House -- perhaps twice as many children, and not nearly as well cared for. We did not have the courage to go into the dorms -- we took the reports outside on the church steps, tracing around the feet of the children who will soon be going to new homes, peeking at their clothing tags to get sizes, trying to ascertain did they like soccer? did they like school. Two of the children interviewed claimed Harry Potter as a favorite movie/book. Even here. Harry is beloved even here.
Other bits of news -- we get little news, we are too busy to watch what might pass for t.v. news, and our internet service is too sporadic to make reading news on-line a reasonable ambition. But we hear Somalia declared war on Ethiopia yesterday or the day before. That's not surprising at all, we could see that coming. There is no evidence of alarm here. Perhaps nobody knows the news. They are so busy trying to survive.
But here is one bit of news, one that we actually got just before we left USA -- we are escorting a baby home. We've met her, and she looks like a miniature Don King with hair sticking straight up. We now have a top secret sealed dossier for her, not to be opened until we reach the immigration officials at JFK -- and then we'll hand her over to her new family.
This morning (and forgive me for the poorly organized report) we took 15 kids on a field trip to a missionary church craft fair -- more white people in one place than I have seen since we got here. The kids we took were from Group 3, about 11 or 12 years old. They behaved themselves so well. We had given them all 15 bir (approximately $1.50) to spend, and they held our hands, and looked, and deliberated on what they wanted to spend their money on. What they really wanted to buy were sunglasses and bubblegum, not Ethiopian native crafts. But there were fresh baked things to buy, and long necklaces of seed beads. Acrylic knitted scarves in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. They didn't blow their money; some of them bought nothing, preferring to save their 15 bir for another field trip.
I finished sorting the books today, putting them into groups by age and ability, and bundled and wrapped the rest of the books for the library. We took other books to Kidane Mehret. The rest of the books we will take tomorrow to AHOPE, the orphanage for HIV orphans. It doesn't matter who gets these books -- they are needed everywhere.
We have just a little time left, and several things left to accomplish, but we've knocked the bulk of items off our to-do lists, and so far none of us has been sick, or lost anything, or any of the other travails of travel. The people of this country are unfailingly gracious.
That's all for now.
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Driving the streets and roads here one can form the impression that a major event has just let out -- a parade just ended? A football match? People are streaming in all directions on foot. What's happening? one wonders. Then -- of course, this is how they mostly get from A to B. They walk.
Among other things today, we went to another orphanage, Kidane Mehret (I think is the spelling) to take the departure reports of four children. An entirely different orphanage than Layla House -- perhaps twice as many children, and not nearly as well cared for. We did not have the courage to go into the dorms -- we took the reports outside on the church steps, tracing around the feet of the children who will soon be going to new homes, peeking at their clothing tags to get sizes, trying to ascertain did they like soccer? did they like school. Two of the children interviewed claimed Harry Potter as a favorite movie/book. Even here. Harry is beloved even here.
Other bits of news -- we get little news, we are too busy to watch what might pass for t.v. news, and our internet service is too sporadic to make reading news on-line a reasonable ambition. But we hear Somalia declared war on Ethiopia yesterday or the day before. That's not surprising at all, we could see that coming. There is no evidence of alarm here. Perhaps nobody knows the news. They are so busy trying to survive.
But here is one bit of news, one that we actually got just before we left USA -- we are escorting a baby home. We've met her, and she looks like a miniature Don King with hair sticking straight up. We now have a top secret sealed dossier for her, not to be opened until we reach the immigration officials at JFK -- and then we'll hand her over to her new family.
This morning (and forgive me for the poorly organized report) we took 15 kids on a field trip to a missionary church craft fair -- more white people in one place than I have seen since we got here. The kids we took were from Group 3, about 11 or 12 years old. They behaved themselves so well. We had given them all 15 bir (approximately $1.50) to spend, and they held our hands, and looked, and deliberated on what they wanted to spend their money on. What they really wanted to buy were sunglasses and bubblegum, not Ethiopian native crafts. But there were fresh baked things to buy, and long necklaces of seed beads. Acrylic knitted scarves in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. They didn't blow their money; some of them bought nothing, preferring to save their 15 bir for another field trip.
I finished sorting the books today, putting them into groups by age and ability, and bundled and wrapped the rest of the books for the library. We took other books to Kidane Mehret. The rest of the books we will take tomorrow to AHOPE, the orphanage for HIV orphans. It doesn't matter who gets these books -- they are needed everywhere.
We have just a little time left, and several things left to accomplish, but we've knocked the bulk of items off our to-do lists, and so far none of us has been sick, or lost anything, or any of the other travails of travel. The people of this country are unfailingly gracious.
That's all for now.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Greetings from Addis Ababa
It's Friday, 1:50 p.m. We've just had lunch at the volunteer house after spending the morning at the orphanage.
I haven't yet said anything about the place, or what we've seen and done. So now is the time. But first, the walk to the orphanage.
It's about a five minute walk from where we are staying; the street is in a constant state of slow-paced frenetic activity... small, blue, beat-up Lada taxis ply the street, honking at white people and asking if they need a lift; donkeys with burdens trot by. Roosters crow. Trucks and vans piled high with towering stacks of -- of everything from building materials to giant rolls of foam, like carpet padding. This morning we saw a man in a suit carrying a log over his shoulder. Old people, children in school uniforms, women in head scarves, women in fashionable Western clothes. The street is under construction, although how long it has been in that state is hard to tell. Metal shops are next to embassies, next to groceries, next to tin huts. The sun is powerful and bright. Everything is dusty. Diesel fumes in clouds waft by. Jacaranda trees covered in purple blooms, acacia trees, evergreen trees --- these provide color. Beyond embassy gates we can see glimpses of green, watered lawns.
When we arrive at the oprhanage gate, this all changes. The place is a compound, made up of many buildings -- the upper house, where the babies and toddlers are has a sunny courtyard where laundry is always hanging to dry. In the mornings the baby caretakers bring out a big mattress, and the babies are undressed and laid in the sun, and rubbed with lotion, and tickled. Older children come and play with the babies, and the rat-catching cats blink in the bright sunshine. The toddlers are inside, in their high chairs, having breakfast.
The doctor's office is down a short flight of steps. The doctor starts giving physical exams in the morning, aided by a nurse. A bell is ringing in another part of the compound, calling the older children to class. There is a garden, and swings, and a soccer/basketball courtyard; these some of these courtyards are surrounded by the children's bedrooms. Down more steps to another level and you reach the classrooms, where brightly colored pictures on the wall are labeled in English and Amharic and the kids are learning math, and reading, and music, and crafts. There is a playground with a giant pirate ship to climb. Beyond the orphange wall at this end of the compound looms a multi-story cinder block buidling half-built and never to be finished. There is more washing going on here, and more clotheslines covered with socks, and children's jeans, and sheets and t-shirts.
Wherever we walk in the compound kids stop and say hi, or hello, or wave, or just smile. They are used to seeing volunteers here, and also used to seeing American families coming to get their kids, and so the older children and the workers will say "Mom?" "Volunteer?" to place us. They are fascinated by Emma, who is very tall, and who takes photos constantly. They smile at her and say "my picture!" and wrap their arms around each other for good poses. They are beautiful kids. Really beautiful.
Jane and I have spent a lot of time in the baby room -- there are a lot of babies, and although there are a lot of caretakers there are always babies who are not being held when they want to be held, or played with, because someone else is being fed, or changed, or played with.
Today we delivered to a little girl of perhaps six or seven a letter from her new family in the U.S., who are coming soon to get her. The accountant from the office translated the letter for her, and explained what a snowman is (there was a snowman drawn on the envelope) and showed her the photographs. The men from the gate house helped us unload library books and put them in the store room prior to cataloging. Later, when we go back, we will attend a going-away party. This is a place where there is something to break your heart every five minutes and something to repair it immediately follows.
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
I haven't yet said anything about the place, or what we've seen and done. So now is the time. But first, the walk to the orphanage.
It's about a five minute walk from where we are staying; the street is in a constant state of slow-paced frenetic activity... small, blue, beat-up Lada taxis ply the street, honking at white people and asking if they need a lift; donkeys with burdens trot by. Roosters crow. Trucks and vans piled high with towering stacks of -- of everything from building materials to giant rolls of foam, like carpet padding. This morning we saw a man in a suit carrying a log over his shoulder. Old people, children in school uniforms, women in head scarves, women in fashionable Western clothes. The street is under construction, although how long it has been in that state is hard to tell. Metal shops are next to embassies, next to groceries, next to tin huts. The sun is powerful and bright. Everything is dusty. Diesel fumes in clouds waft by. Jacaranda trees covered in purple blooms, acacia trees, evergreen trees --- these provide color. Beyond embassy gates we can see glimpses of green, watered lawns.
When we arrive at the oprhanage gate, this all changes. The place is a compound, made up of many buildings -- the upper house, where the babies and toddlers are has a sunny courtyard where laundry is always hanging to dry. In the mornings the baby caretakers bring out a big mattress, and the babies are undressed and laid in the sun, and rubbed with lotion, and tickled. Older children come and play with the babies, and the rat-catching cats blink in the bright sunshine. The toddlers are inside, in their high chairs, having breakfast.
The doctor's office is down a short flight of steps. The doctor starts giving physical exams in the morning, aided by a nurse. A bell is ringing in another part of the compound, calling the older children to class. There is a garden, and swings, and a soccer/basketball courtyard; these some of these courtyards are surrounded by the children's bedrooms. Down more steps to another level and you reach the classrooms, where brightly colored pictures on the wall are labeled in English and Amharic and the kids are learning math, and reading, and music, and crafts. There is a playground with a giant pirate ship to climb. Beyond the orphange wall at this end of the compound looms a multi-story cinder block buidling half-built and never to be finished. There is more washing going on here, and more clotheslines covered with socks, and children's jeans, and sheets and t-shirts.
Wherever we walk in the compound kids stop and say hi, or hello, or wave, or just smile. They are used to seeing volunteers here, and also used to seeing American families coming to get their kids, and so the older children and the workers will say "Mom?" "Volunteer?" to place us. They are fascinated by Emma, who is very tall, and who takes photos constantly. They smile at her and say "my picture!" and wrap their arms around each other for good poses. They are beautiful kids. Really beautiful.
Jane and I have spent a lot of time in the baby room -- there are a lot of babies, and although there are a lot of caretakers there are always babies who are not being held when they want to be held, or played with, because someone else is being fed, or changed, or played with.
Today we delivered to a little girl of perhaps six or seven a letter from her new family in the U.S., who are coming soon to get her. The accountant from the office translated the letter for her, and explained what a snowman is (there was a snowman drawn on the envelope) and showed her the photographs. The men from the gate house helped us unload library books and put them in the store room prior to cataloging. Later, when we go back, we will attend a going-away party. This is a place where there is something to break your heart every five minutes and something to repair it immediately follows.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
News from Ethiopia
To start off with, it looks as though posting photos will be pretty much impossible, so I'll have to illustrate these entries when I get home.
Quick recap of travel:
Emma, Jane and I hauled all of our luggage (9 units weighing 50 pounds each) and two carry-ons each to JFK on Tuesday afternoon, checked in at Lufthansa, and boarded our 4:30 flight to Frankfurt. Nothing of note to report about that.
Arrived in Frankfurt, wandered the terminal for a few hours waiting to board our flight to Addis. We were all getting very tired and rumpled by this time. Our first sight of Africa was our landing in Khartoum, at about sunset. The land from above looked very flat, and very brown, although here are there we could see green farm fields. Our stop in Khartoum was about an hour, for refueling. We took off in the dark for the 1 hour 10 minute flight to Addis.
At the airport in Addis we waited on line for visas, a rather disorganized process but not too bad. Then we collected all our baggage, and were grateful to find Nate Ripley, from AAI, waiting for us. There was another volunteer on our flight, whom we met at baggage claim, a college student intern who has already put in several months here on another occasion.
The orphanage van was loaded (on top) with all this stuff, and we took off for the guest house, arriving at about 10:30 p.m. local time. After some discussion, some light unpacking, we turned in. Awakened in the dark, in the morning, but the broadcast call to prayer from the nearest mosque. We had breakfast at around 7:30, started unpacking books.
By 10 we were ready to go get money and groceries. We walked up the hill, past tin shack barber shops and embassies of various countries -- mixed use zoning, I'd say. Following instructions we went to a glassware store in a mall to find Mike the Money Man, and change money. We then walked to the grocery stores, purchased food and bottled water for the week, and took a cab back. Thank goodness for Hayley, the intern, who speaks enough Amharic to handle these negotiations. After a quick lunch we walked over to the orphanage. More on that tomorrow.
For now we are back at the guest house sorting and sizing pajamas, and getting a little rest and green tea. Emma has already shot over 600 photos and she's now juggling various pieces of electronic photo equipment, electrical adapters and converters, and hoping not to either electrocute herself or blow up her laptop. Stay tuned.
Bye for now from Addis Ababa.
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
Quick recap of travel:
Emma, Jane and I hauled all of our luggage (9 units weighing 50 pounds each) and two carry-ons each to JFK on Tuesday afternoon, checked in at Lufthansa, and boarded our 4:30 flight to Frankfurt. Nothing of note to report about that.
Arrived in Frankfurt, wandered the terminal for a few hours waiting to board our flight to Addis. We were all getting very tired and rumpled by this time. Our first sight of Africa was our landing in Khartoum, at about sunset. The land from above looked very flat, and very brown, although here are there we could see green farm fields. Our stop in Khartoum was about an hour, for refueling. We took off in the dark for the 1 hour 10 minute flight to Addis.
At the airport in Addis we waited on line for visas, a rather disorganized process but not too bad. Then we collected all our baggage, and were grateful to find Nate Ripley, from AAI, waiting for us. There was another volunteer on our flight, whom we met at baggage claim, a college student intern who has already put in several months here on another occasion.
The orphanage van was loaded (on top) with all this stuff, and we took off for the guest house, arriving at about 10:30 p.m. local time. After some discussion, some light unpacking, we turned in. Awakened in the dark, in the morning, but the broadcast call to prayer from the nearest mosque. We had breakfast at around 7:30, started unpacking books.
By 10 we were ready to go get money and groceries. We walked up the hill, past tin shack barber shops and embassies of various countries -- mixed use zoning, I'd say. Following instructions we went to a glassware store in a mall to find Mike the Money Man, and change money. We then walked to the grocery stores, purchased food and bottled water for the week, and took a cab back. Thank goodness for Hayley, the intern, who speaks enough Amharic to handle these negotiations. After a quick lunch we walked over to the orphanage. More on that tomorrow.
For now we are back at the guest house sorting and sizing pajamas, and getting a little rest and green tea. Emma has already shot over 600 photos and she's now juggling various pieces of electronic photo equipment, electrical adapters and converters, and hoping not to either electrocute herself or blow up her laptop. Stay tuned.
Bye for now from Addis Ababa.
Have arrived in Addis Ababa
Internet service is dial-up and very slow so I will be keeping these posts brief and unillustrated, for the most part.
I just want to say that we are here, and arrived at the orphanage guest house approximately 24 hours after meeting up at JFK. We are now sorting books, toys, etc. and will be visiting the kids later today.
More later.
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I just want to say that we are here, and arrived at the orphanage guest house approximately 24 hours after meeting up at JFK. We are now sorting books, toys, etc. and will be visiting the kids later today.
More later.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Mock Caldecott discussions
Mock Caldecott list at Minnesota public library includes Once Upon a Banana. So does this list from Rhode Island. (I think it's Rhode Island). Here's hoping it shows up on many more lists as the next few weeks unfold. But most importantly, let's hope it's on the table for discussion by the actual committee.
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Monday, December 11, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
Packing for Ethiopia
This is the beginning of the baggage for Ethiopia. Books, school and craft supplies, toys, candy, clothing... Stay tuned for more photos as the packing continues.
Friday grab bag
MSNBC lists The American Story on its 10 Children's Tomes for the Holidays. Tomes? Ok. On Saturday (tomorrow) I'll be at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, at 1 p.m. for a booksigning.
I found this picture of a snowman and decided to include it. Because. Well, you know. It's getting to be that time of year, right? And I like its hair.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Grand Rapids Press reviews Once Upon a Banana
"Why are exhaust fumes leaking out from beneath the jacket flap?" the review asks. "Because it is that big."
I'm not really sure what that means, but I know it's a compliiment.
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I'm not really sure what that means, but I know it's a compliiment.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Round-up of wordless picture books
Again with the "wordless" label. Words, people! Once Upon a Banana has words in it! Just because they aren't in type at the bottom of the page doesn't mean they aren't words!
Also this blogger has a clever way to review books in brief. Really brief. It's a review haiku of The American Story. With all credit to her I quote:
Coffee-table book
highlights key U.S. events.
Good pick for browsers.
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
Also this blogger has a clever way to review books in brief. Really brief. It's a review haiku of The American Story. With all credit to her I quote:
Coffee-table book
highlights key U.S. events.
Good pick for browsers.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Media clips for December 5
"Worthy reads incorporate civics lesson," says the Albany Times Union. Books & Books of Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Bal Harbour put The American Story in their holiday gift guide. Susie Wilde's "Wilde Awards" in the News Observer of Chapel Hill lists it as a top nonfiction title for the year.
Today I have a school visit in Slingerlands, just west of Albany. Then back home to continue packing fo the Ethiopia trip. Gotta scoot.
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
Today I have a school visit in Slingerlands, just west of Albany. Then back home to continue packing fo the Ethiopia trip. Gotta scoot.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Buffalo News:Holiday season ushers in an avalanche of new children's titles
"Gifted author Jennifer Armstrong offers a marvelous kaleidoscope of well- and lesser-known tales from American history..."
Shucks. It warn't nuthin'.
Also, good news -- looks like I will be able to take my laptop to Ethiopia and blog from there. Having been upgraded to "humanitarian luggage allowance" means we can take 50 pounds more each, and that will be taking the form of a lot more books. Once we give every kid a book as a gift we'll have leftovers for the school library, and one of my projects will be to catalog them. My camera is fixed, too. So there will be pictures. I'm leaving a week from tomorrow (Tuesday) and will arrive late Wednesday.
More soon.
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Shucks. It warn't nuthin'.
Also, good news -- looks like I will be able to take my laptop to Ethiopia and blog from there. Having been upgraded to "humanitarian luggage allowance" means we can take 50 pounds more each, and that will be taking the form of a lot more books. Once we give every kid a book as a gift we'll have leftovers for the school library, and one of my projects will be to catalog them. My camera is fixed, too. So there will be pictures. I'm leaving a week from tomorrow (Tuesday) and will arrive late Wednesday.
More soon.
PW round-up on Christmas bookselling
This bookseller in Falmouth, Maine, reports she's hand-selling The American Story, and "sold a complete dump of them." This is book business lingo for a floor display. Random House created a lectern-top display case for The American story, with a browsing copy on the top and clean copies inside -- plus flags to give away. Publishers often create these dumps for books they hope will attract a lot of attention, but book sellers are often loath to use them -- they take up precious floor space in stores that are frequently crowded as it is. When a book seller does decide to use a dump it's usually a good indication that the store thinks the book is worth the crowding.
Blog Bookmark Gadgets
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Friday, December 01, 2006
I promised a glimpse of the snowy fantasy
I spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon trying to photograph this. This picture is the best of the lot, showing the snow falling from the ceiling, the table covered with snow and ice, and the windows frosted. Tonight is the candlelight house tour. At last, I get to put away the glue gun...
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