[pin drop]

Just to make some noise, I am reading A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by Konigsburg, one of the many books I bought at The Tattered Cover. It's good! Entertaining! Funny! Not quite what I expected from what is basically a biography about Eleanor of Aquitaine. But she's a sassy lady, that Eleanor. I haven't read any of Konigsburg's books for younger people in such a long time - it's been her YA stuff, like at Simmons. I read her George last month and that was great, too. Any E.L. Konigsburg commentary?

Oh my good heavens. Someone just put books in the book drop, which is LIKE, 15 feet from the circ desk. I can SEE her! No eye contact, of course. Why put books in the drop when 20 seconds would mean I don't have to go out into the cold, unlock and pry the damn thing open, and fish around for the books? I bet they are overdue and that's why she won't come in - let's check.

- - - - - - -

Oh yes, can I call them or what? That's $7.75 in fines, a broken bag for the kids' book and tape combo and that's not even all they have out. No actual books, just magazines and books on tape. Light readers, they are.

Don't get me wrong - I love magazines. But I think they should be tempered with books.

Is anyone else reading?

Bloomers' Booktalk!

So, having seen no posters for Susan Bloom's booktalk, I decided to march right on up to the Children's Lit. office and ask some hard questions. On the door to the suite there were two announcements. One was some advertisement for an English course, the other was an inconspicuous poster for the booktalk. It was yesterday afternoon.

That's right, blame me, I missed it. I suck. I did, however, ask the secretary-esque girl if I could get a copy of the list. She had to print it out for me while I browsed books. Nice of her.

Here's the list, sans the promised notes. Bloomers called her talk, "Lost and Found: A Selection of the Best Children's Books of 2004." I would have loved to hear her creating a theme for all of these books to flow together. Alas.

I did take a look at the Virginia Hamilton book - it's a remade version, condensed into picture book format with new illustrations, of The People Could Fly. It's supposed to be a tribute to Hamilton, which is funny considering that they had to cut text to make it fit this format. Weird. But, of course, the Dillons did some beautiful work. Biased? Moi?


Books A La Bloomers:

Almond, David. The Fire-Eaters. Delacorte.

Balliett, Blue. Chasing Vermeer. Scholastic.

Browne, Anthony. In the Forest. Farrar.

Chen, Chih-Yuan. Guchi Guchi. Farrar.

Chodenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. Putnam.

Crews, Nina. The Neighbordhood Mother Goose. Greenwillow.

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. King of the Middle March. Scholastic.

Farmer, Nancy. The Sea of Trolls. Atheneum.

Fox, Mem. Where is the Green Sheep?, ill. by Judy Horacek. Harcourt.

Freedman, Russell. The Voice That Changed a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights. Clarion.

Hamilton, Virginia. The People Could Fly, ill. by Leo and Diane Dillon. Knopf.

Hoose, Philip. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. Farrar.

Jenkins, Steve. Actual Size. Houghton.

Kerley, Barbara. Walt Whitman: Words for America, ill. by Brian Selznick. Scholastic.

Leavitt, Martin. Heck Superhero. Front Street.

Martin, Ann. Here Today. Scholastic.

McKay, Hilary. Indigo’s Star. McElderry.

McWhorten, Diane. A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968. McElderry.

Montgomery, Sy. The Tarantula Scientist, ill. with photography by Nic Bishop. Houghton.

Nelson, Marilyn. Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem. Front Street.

Peck, Richard. The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts. Dial.

Pratchett, Terry. A Hat Full of Sky. HarperCollins.
Prelutsky, Jack. If Not for the Cat, ill. by Ted Rand. Greenwillow.

Rogers, Gregory. The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard. Roaring Brook.

Rumford, James. Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing. Houghton.

Sabuda, Robert. America the Beautiful. Simon & Schuster.

Schwartz, Amy. A Glorious Day. Atheneum.

Simon, James. Baby Brains: The Smartest Baby in the Whole World. Candlewick.

Thomas, Dylan. A Child’s Christmas in Wales, ill. by Chris Raschka. Candlewick.

Waddell, Martin. Tiny’s Big Adventure, ill. by John Lawrence. Candlewick.

Weeks, Sarah. So B. It. HarperCollins.

Willem, Mo. Knuffle Bunny. Hyperion.

Wolf, Allan. New Found Land. Candlewick.

Wormell, Christopher. Teeth, Tails & Tentacles: An Animal Counting Book. Running Press.

I'm not shy...

You think people don't want photos of themselves on this site? Ha! I scoff at such an accusation! We are all confident, beautiful people who delight in sharing our shining faces with friends and strangers alike!

JoBiv, camera-shy? NEVOR! I know not what you speak of!

Just to prove it, I'm sharing the following photo:

Pictures?

Okay, I am still jazzing away. I have another idea for the website. At first I wanted to put a picture bar (just a line of pictures next to each other) of all the bookclub members on the website, but then some people don't like their picture up, so THEN I thought of a really good idea (I like it anyways): I can make a picture bar of everyone's favorite author. So let me know what your fave author is and I will Google for a good image (unless you have a picture already saved as your desktop image, in that case just email me the pic: smimholt@yahoo.com).

Mr Hoot's Official Web Site

Carl Hiaasen's Official Web Site Do you want to get up close and personal? Not tons of info here, but it is his Official website.

Q. Do you plan to write another novel for young readers?

Absolutely. I'll be starting on it as soon as finish the current book. I haven't decided yet whether it will be a sequel to HOOT, or whether I'll have a whole new cast of characters.

He also writes a column for the Miami Herald.
Must clean up kitchen.

Title Picture

title2
Originally uploaded by smimholt.

Okay, since I am laid up with a bum foot, I have lots of time to 'jazz up' the Rules website. I have designed a title pic that will be on the page, but I wanted input as it is going to be a group page.
Do you like it?
No?
What don't you like?
Too much color? (or not enough? hey, some people like color)
Too wispy?
Don't like the clouds?
Don't like the rainbow lettering?
Don't like the font?

Let me know what you think. I can take it. I've got lots of time and resources and the only other thing I might be doing right now is a counted cross stich my Mom sent me.

Rules

Okay, here's the very very very basic in-progress RULES site. Susie, could you jazz it up quite a bit? I've a very limited knowledge of HTML. Email me and I can give you the passwords and stuff.

Other rules? Please start sharing which author/book you want to ban from discussion.

Whatcha reading?

I didn't put the rules website up tonight. Not like that's a crisis but I do enjoy keeping people informed.

Is anyone reading anything right now? Or has enjoyed something recently? I'm reading Letters from Yellowstone, an epistolic novel set in 1890-something about a botanist who scandalized the academics by showing up at the national park to partake in a study and being a LADY SCIENTIST! It's good stuff so far. I've never been to Yellowstone...someday...someday I shall go to that place of great renown.

Decisions, decisions

This is great! People are coming together. Love is being shared. Ah. I'm all warm inside. Not really - the library is damn cold this morning.

I started a RULES website. There are still things to hash out, if anyone is interested in hashing. I'm always up for a good slinging of hash.

1. How to chose books? Gather a bunch of suggestions and vote? It would be nice if we could decide on books for the next couple/few months - that way, the book can be put on hold at the library if necessary (may need to with newer books) or one can track down a used/new copy at a bookstore.
2. I came across a site where each member was allowed to ban one author and one book. I like that. That way, Susie can't force her V.C. Andrews obsession on us. Just kidding. My Sweet Audrina was one of my favorite books when I was in jr. high, actually. And I loved the Flowers in the Attic series. HOW SCANDALOUS!
3. Too bad we aren't meeting in person; we could do these book group suggested icebreaker games...hee hee.

Yee haw.

Power corrupts..

I LOVE that I can add a post to this. It's like I'm commandeering someone else's blog for a moment. Makes me feel like a hacker.

Just so you know... I just skewed the voting. My second vote was for the 15th. So now you know who voted to give Sus her leisure time in reading (and you'd think she'd be grateful that I supported such a luxury, but nooo...).

Should we invite Dylan? I haven't talked to him in eons.

How 'bout Lyn? C'mon... you know you wanna...

All I have to add to Sus's rules are some common Children's Lit. things and Cathie&Bloomers type things:

1. The word cute is not a compliment and should never come into the discussion as praise.
2. We don't care what kids will think about it. We care what WE think about it. And we ESPECIALLY don't care what the kids in your classroom think about it now that all of our book club choices are a part of your curriculum.
3. You MAY NOT make any statements that are not actually statements and expect anyone to understand you. Statements such as: "I was totally like... Oh my God! Y'know? I mean, it's totally like french french french..."
4. All Children's Lit. peeps must make an effort and be nice to non-Ch. Lit. peeps, and keep inside jokes and allusions, like the ones above, to a minimum. If you can possibly help it. (I know sometimes I can't.)

Fair 'nuff?

Sarah, another clue on TMWB - I was going to construct a rule about NOT replying to each post as though it is a personal email nodding to your expertise and asking for enlightenment.

D'OH! I did it again!

VOTE!

Oooh, an effort at democracy!

When should monthly discussions start?

1st of the month. 15th of the month. The first Saturday of the month. When the full moon rises. The second Tuesday after the first full week. When Susan finally finishes the book.

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Howdy Doo!

Okay, if Susan can figure out how to post, then no one else should have a problem. Ha ha. Ha. Can someone email me Elizabeth's email? I know she's got a handful with Nora and not tons of time, but I want to invite her.

I've put some initial stuff on here - your local library catalogs, some bookstores that you may frequent. If you think of other things, or if something is wrong, just email me. I am going to figure out how to get an image of whatever book we are reading on the sidebar.

There's been positive feedback on reading Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. The libraries all have it and it's out in paperback, so it shouldn't be too challenging to get ahold of. (cue drumroll) That will be our first book, then!

At this point, when should we open discussion? January 1st? Or wait until Jan 15th, going with the middle of each month? Or perhaps just choose some random date?

And if anyone else has something to add to Susan's Rules, do tell and I'll put them up, all nice and official-like.

Testes 1... 2... 3??

I want to be like Sarah and have a test post, too.

Test Post

Just to see what's happening...