Bacon

Recently, I got a free issue of Cooking Light in the mail. (I know, if that sentence doesn't rivet you to the screen, I don't know what will).

And apparently they have a little series they do on the last page of the magazine where they address the most common cooking mistakes.

In this issue, the topic was bacon. I like bacon. A lot. So, clearly, I was all in a rush to know what my fatal mistakes were (eating bacon in the first place, probably). How could I make bacon better?

Except . . . except they said that you should bake it, rather than fry it, to get a nice flat strip of bacon. And they mentioned how restaurants do this.

And then they showed this picture:

via

Perhaps I am a complete freak of nature and you all think the bacon slice on the right looks WAY better (after all, the Cooking Light people seem to think so!) but I would pick the bacon slice they helpfully labeled "so wrong" every day of the week.

Crispy, crunchy, perfect bacon is what I see on the left. On the right, I see a shiny piece of plastic. Nice looking? Maybe. Something that tempts me? Not even a little.

And the fact that restaurants bake their bacon? Reminds me of the fact that whenever I have bacon at a restaurant, I find it a little rubbery and sad. It is always a disappointment. Bacon fried at home is far superior.

Also, Bart agrees with me. Which leads me to believe that either Cooking Light is absolutely misguided or I was lucky enough to marry the one other person who likes the kind of bacon others label "so wrong."

I choose to believe Cooking Light is misguided. And if you come over to eat and turn up your nose at the way I cook my bacon, well, that's just more bacon for me. More perfect bacon for me.

Nine Months

Little Beebop,

This month has been a big one for you - you learned to crawl, pull yourself up on the couch or the bookcase (usually using your mouth as an extra support, which we think is heeelarious), wave, clap, and give fives (or more like 35s because you can't stop at just one).

We spend a lot of time in your bedroom, lately. I sit in the rocking chair and read, while you crawl back and forth across the room between your closet (which houses a few big toys) and the bookshelf where you pull all the board books off the shelf. Every once in a while, you'll stop by the chair, sit up and give me a huge grin. You're funny!

We've finally transitioned you down to two naps a day (except that one day last week where you were so grumpy, that you got three. . . ) and that has made my life much better as you are sleeping MORE and they're a little more predictable. 

And, when we went in to the doctor's office for your nine month check-up, you were up another two and a half pounds since that extra weight check back at the seven month mark. Good work. (Also, every. single. time. we go in, they measure your head, go to plot it on the graph to see what percentile you fall in to, make a surprised face, and then say something like "Hmm, let me just remeasure and make sure this number is right." That's right, kiddo, you've got the big head. 70 percentile to go with your little 10 percentile weight).

You love having your teeth brushed - if you happen to see me brushing my teeth, you start flapping your arms wildly and making noises to be sure I notice that you want to be part of this.

And you are suddenly all about drinking water out of a glass. You even get maybe half the water down your throat (the other half, of course, goes right on your shirt).

Both of our bathrooms have dark blue bath rugs and they give off quite a lot of fuzz. And you love to eat that fuzz, so much so that we call you, multiple times a day, "the little fuzz-eater." And if even the tiniest amount of that blue stuff gets tracked onto the carpet in other rooms, you can find it in a heartbeat, pinching it in your fingers and putting it right in your mouth. Bleck.

You are such a little person now, full of personality, easy to make laugh, and curious about everything. We love you so so much,

Mama

You've Had a Birthday. . .

Have I mentioned Kayla? Once or twice? A week?

Photo blatantly stolen from her blog because I am completely obsessed with that dress. You know, the one she dyed herself.

 I love her. A ridiculous amount.

Our friendship has mostly taken place through the Internet. We have many friends in common and were at BYU at the same time (even lived in the same set of dorms, although different buildings), but never met (I think we may have seen each other briefly one time, but even that I can't be completely certain about).

Then she commented on my blog after seeing a comment I'd left on Miss Nem's blog, and we started emailing back and forth approximately fifty times a day while both working desk jobs that left us much free time for such time-wasting.

For instance, she wrote me this gem of a letter, before we'd met in real-life:

So, last night I dreamt that I went to Texas for some work thing and decided to drop by and visit you. And at some point in the conversation you were like, "Ya, I'll be turning 49 next month." And I was like, "wow..you um..age..really well." And I was like, how on earth in all of our blogging and emailing did I NOT know she was that much older than me?? So then I asked how old Bart was and you said he was 32 and I was really impressed that you were all secure about marrying someone so much younger than you.

And then I dreamt that Aaron was a serial killer. The moral of the story is: no more sugar cookies before bed.

How can you not love someone who writes you an email like that?

Now she's one of my very very very closest friends, despite the fact that we have spent a total of about nine days together in person.

In fact, when we moved to Boston and I didn't know a soul, the fact that my relationship with Kayla wasn't going to change (except time zones. . .) was a source of great comfort to me.

We IM about our deep and abiding love for cheese, about Gilmore Girls, about YA books, and how fantastic we think Dave the Laugh is.

It's her birthday today, so you should definitely go check out her mighty excellent blog and tell her happy birthday.

And then you should gape in wonder at how fantastic she looks day after day.

In fact, many days I look at myself in the mirror and think, "Kayla would not be impressed by this outfit." And I go change. Then I feel better about myself for not looking like a lazy slob (or at least not quite so much of a lazy slob).

Tap Dancing on the Roof by Linda Sue Park and Istvan Banyai

In honor of National Poetry Month, let me share one of my favorite favorite little books of poetry. Tap Dancing on the Roof tickles my funny bone every time I read it.

Last year, when we were doing poetry in the library, we did a number of different fun forms, including haikus, concrete poetry, and limericks. But my favorite were sijos, a kind of Korean poetry, which none of the kids had ever heard of (I won't lie - that's one of the reasons I liked doing them).

A sijo is like a haiku in that it has a fixed number of syllables and is three lines (or sometimes divided into six shorter lines). But the main thing that sets a sijo apart is that the last line is a twist, a joke or a surprise, that catches you off guard.

When I'd introduce it, I'd always use the first poem, titled "Breakfast", in the book as an example of that twist at the end:

For this meal, people like what they like, the same every morning.
Toast and coffee. Bagel and juice. Cornflakes and milk in a white bowl.
Or - warm, soft, and delicious - a few extra minutes in bed.

Fun, isn't it?

One more, for good measure, called "School Lunch":

Each food plopped by tongs or spatula
into its own little space -
square pizza here, square brownie there;
milk carton cube, rectangle tray.

My snack at home after school?
Anything without corners.

 And the illustrations are just the perfect complement, unfussy and a little bit silly.

If you're looking for something a little less popular in the poetry category, this is a good bet.

Taking Off by Jenny Moss

I loved Taking Off. I am always interested in NASA, and the Challenger is particularly fascinating to me, but this book was excellent in so many ways beyond that. Definitely one of the best books I've read so far this year.

Some books are like taking a little mental vacation. They are totally different from your own life in almost every conceivable way or they are complete fun fluff and it doesn't take a lot of brain power to read them (and I like both of those kinds of books). For me, those books are like briefly entering a parallel life.

Other books are full of substance, with just enough hooks to my current life that I find myself resurfacing from the story again and again to marvel at the things I want to go learn about afterward or to gape at the beautiful writing. I don't feel like I've left my life behind while I read, but rather that the book has entered and encompassed my life. Does that make any sense?

These are the books that make my head snap up from the book and think "I know exactly that feeling" or "I must read up about that topic as soon as I've finished this book" or "I cannot imagine being able to write that way." Caleb's Crossing was like that for me. All of Gary Schmidt's books do that. And Taking Off did it.

Taking Off takes place in 1986, in Clear Lake, Texas. Annie is a high school senior, consumed with trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. And, of course, as a senior, she feels like everyone is on her case to make a decision, all with their own ideas about what is her best option.

Her mom, who never went away to college, thinks Annie should go to college. So does her best friend, who thinks they should attend the University of Texas together. Her long-time boyfriend, Mark, plans to stay in Clear Lake and wants her to stay too, and marry him. Annie feels suffocated under all these opinions, unable to figure out what she really wants.

Clear Lake is a major NASA town - many of the parents of her classmates work for NASA in one capacity or another (in fact, there is some divide in her town between the blue collar workers and the highly educated NASA employees which trickles down to the youth as well). Annie's best friend's parents both work for NASA and Annie goes to dinner at their house one night when they have several astronouts over, including Christa McAullife.

Christa has been selected from eleven thousand applicants to be the first teacher in space, going on the soon-to-be-launched Challenger shuttle. Annie, despite her shyness, is captivated by Christa and her enthusiasm for life and willingness to follow her dreams. She also is inspired by how happy Christa seems with her ordinary life too - that if she hadn't gotten the slot on the Challenger, she'd have been just as content teaching high school and being a wife and mother.

Determined to do something of her own volition, rather than what everyone expects from her, Annie convinces her dad to go on a road trip with her to Florida to watch the Challenger's launch. And anyone who knows their history, knows how that launch ends.

Which leaves Annie conflicted all over again. Is this the result of following your dreams? Is it worth the risk?

This book was so rich - my library copy has dozens of little slips of paper to mark pages and passages that I thought were particularly well-written or funny or profound. Annie reminded me of me - someone who lives a lot in their own head, over thinks things, worries about the future, doesn't leap blindly into things.

And the historical setting is really well done - when the time period is important to the story, but also quite recent, an author can't be heavy-handed, but shouldn't completely skip any scene setting either. I thought Jenny Moss walked that tight-rope well. There was enough to remind me it was taking place in the eighties, but not so much that I wanted to yell, "I GET IT! It's the eighties!"

I think also that sometimes historical fiction can concentrate too much on the historical side of things, with too little character development or other dimensions to the story, with the main character only existing to view the historical events the author wants to write about. Taking Off wasn't like that at all. There is so much more than just life-angst or the Challenger's explosion. There is family dynamics and romance and poetry and art, and it all blends together in a very seamless way.

Plus, it's very clean, which I always appreciate. It's not one you'd have to worry about recommending (which, you know, I always do - worry, that is).

I'd forgotten that Jenny Moss worked as an engineer at NASA before she became an author - reading the few pages about her experiences there, working with some of the Challenger's crew, really added depth to the story for me.

Also, of note, this is the first book from which Ella tore a page. But I did such a bang-up job retaping it that when I flipped through it just now, I couldn't find the page I repaired. That librarian degree is really adding value to my everyday life. 

Copy borrowed from my local library (after I requested that they buy it)

Press Here by Herve Tullet

I saw Press Here at TLA and took a picture of it so that I wouldn't forget to hunt down a copy.

Imagine my joy when it showed up in my mail box the next day (well, actually, a notice from the post office saying there was a package for me and that I owed postage for it showed up in my mail box. It had been sent to my apartment in Massachusetts and so they charged me to forward it on. But that's more than you really care to know, isn't it?).

Press Here is the cleverest kind of picture book, the kind that I wouldn't have been able to resist showing to kids at my libraries last year and the book that would have had kids clamoring to check it out. It's that fun.

It operates under the illusion that your actions are causing the changes that happen on each page. That's kind of hard to understand without an image. Let me show you what I mean. . .

Here's one of the first pages:

So, of course, you press the yellow dot.

And then when you turn the page:

How delighted was I when the page turn made it seem as if my pressing the button had made the second button appear?

As the book goes on, you add more dots, change the colors, tip the book to make all the dots roll to one end of the page, clap your hands to make them get bigger, blow on the page to change the background colors, etc.

I don't know that I've ever seen such an interactive book. And it doesn't have flaps that can be torn off or batteries that run out. I love that it doesn't rely on any of those things to make it completely engaging.

It's one of those books where you think, "How did I not come up with this brilliant, but basic concept for a book?"

Sometimes I think that adults are really in love with the idea of books as gifts and some kids are little less excited. This is a book, though, that I think even a reluctant reader would be thrilled by. It's definitely one I plan to give as a gift over and over again.


Copy received from publisher

No Gifts, Please

When I was growing up, most birthday parties we had in our family were the "no gifts please" type of party.  This seemed fairly uncommon at the time - I can't remember going to any parties for my friends where this was case.

Now, however, it seems to be gaining popularity. Ralphie's little girl had a birthday last week and it was a no gifts party. Emily Kate posted recently about her daughter's first birthday party, and I noticed that the invitations specified no gifts as well. Kayla, who is my guide in all things party throwing, has made the line ""your presence is the only gift we need!" standard on all invitations for birthdays.

I tend to be a little uncomfortable with gifts anyway, and I always worry people will think they were invited to something solely because I want them to show up with some excellent loot (hello, social anxieties). If I ever do throw myself a birthday party, you can bet the invitations will say, in large large letters, "No Gifts, Please!" (More likely, I'll steal Kayla's excellent line, but we'll skip over that for now).

I think kid birthday parties can become so expensive, especially when you have multiple children who are all being invited to a bunch of parties a year, and it is so difficult to pick out a gift for another child - what will they like, what do they already have? Will you give the loser gift that they cast aside the moment the wrapping paper is off? Will your gift be the one the child loves but the parent hates you for giving (did I mention that this kind of thing gives me intense anxiety?)? I want to spare other people the burden of this. Show up and let me feed your children prodigious amounts of sugar. No plastic toy from Wal-mart required.

Plus, I tend to be quite the minimalist, so the idea of my child getting a pile of random cheap gifts and then having to find a place for them does not thrill me in the least (not that I think YOU would give my child a random cheap gift - it's everyone else I worry about . . . ). And multiple children? Multiple piles of random stuff every single year? Not interested.

Perhaps I'm setting my children up for a lifetime of disappointing birthdays, but I really hope that they will see their birthday parties as a chance to have fun and spend time with friends and family, not a reason to open a huge mountain of gifts.

This makes it sound like I hate gifts. Of course I do not - I am only human. But I hate required gifts. I would never expect you to give me or my children a gift, for any occasion.

Luckiest

My mom likes to say that I'm the luckiest person she knows.

And this week, she is right.

Because not only was last week full of new glasses, Easter crafts, and TLA, it also had an email from the loving Lenore, informing me that I'd won. . .

A pass to BookExpo America and the associated Book Bloggers Convention in New York City next month.

Not to mention a generous travel stipend.

If that's not an email that makes you scare your baby with your screams of joy, I don't know what is. She may be scarred for life. 

If you aren't familiar with BookExpo America (BEA), it's pretty much the biggest book event of the year. Every publisher you can imagine is there, it's pretty much an author bonanza, and there are so many events to attend, it makes my head spin.

I have wanted to go for years, but it's always been too expensive (or last year, when I was close enough to go without huge expense, I couldn't take off those days of work in the middle of the week three weeks before school ended). In fact, just a week ago, I was telling Bart that I really really wanted to go some year and that maybe 2013 we could make it work. So the fact that I'm going in four weeks, instead of in two years, just thrills me. 

Ralphie, wonderful, generous Ralphie, instantly agreed to watch Ella while I'm gone and Bart is at work during the day. (I'd say I owe her my firstborn child, but I'm thinking after that week, she'll be more than happy to give me back my firstborn child). 

Even more happily, two of my good friends from library school are also going (Kelly and Kimberly who write Stacked). I would say there is going to be way too much fun, but Kimberly informed me that "it's not possible to have too much fun."

The scholarship is being funded by Lenore in celebration of her recent book (and associated movie) deal. Doesn't it blow your mind how generous and lovely people are?

Now to alternately count down the days and squeeze my baby tightly because I already miss her.

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Speaking of winning things, don't forget to enter the Slim-Fast giveaway that ends this week.

The End is Near

Oh, I love a Friday morning. Especially at the end of a delightful week.

The Texas Library Association conference was this week and in Austin, which was very convenient for me. And Ralphie was lovely enough to watch Ella for a couple of hours while I went downtown and found a parking spot right across from the main doors for $2. 

I got to tell Gary Schmidt in person how much I loved Okay for Now and visit with Kay and check out all the fantastic new books that are coming out in the next few months. What a fun morning.

I also made this fun little Easter garland with Ralphie, while my baby tried to steal her baby's pacifier. It's hanging above my dining room table which is pretty much the most impossible spot in the house to get good lighting. So, you know, use your imagination.

And I found these little Easter bunnies nestled away in our Christmas stockings (I'd put them there for safe keeping when we moved and then promptly forgotten where they'd gone, although I was fairly certain I hadn't chucked them).

And because he loves me, Bart spent a good chunk of one of the evenings this week hanging these pictures above the couch. I am especially in love with the one of Ella. Don't mess with those chubby cheeks. Bethany took the one second from the right of Boston Public Garden. 

Also, my new pair of glasses came yesterday (I got them for free when Coastal Contacts was doing one of those 10,000 free glasses giveaways, so I only had to pay about $17 for shipping).

(That picture was taken with the webcam, so you know, excuse the horrendous quality and all)

 And, as usual, the best part of my day is Ella, who never fails to make me laugh with her funny little face.

Happy Friday to you too.

Where's Walrus by Stephen Savage

You know me, I love a wordless picture book. And Where's Walrus? is a fantastic one.

In Where's Walrus, the zoo is quiet, with no visitors and all the animals (plus the zookeeper) taking afternoon naps. Except for Walrus, who sees the gates open and makes a break.

The zookeeper comes chasing after him, but once outside the gates, can't figure out where Walrus has gone. In each double page spread, Walrus finds a new way to blend in with the people around him, causing the zookeeper great consternation.

I love the retro-looking illustrations and the bold bright colors. Ella lights up every time I pull this one out and we've read it easily once a day since I checked it out from the library.

Children a little older than Ella will probably get a kick out of identifying Walrus in the various photos - he's certainly not hidden like Waldo is. This is definitely aimed for a younger audience.

Scholastic made this fun little video to go along with it:




Copy borrowed from my local library

What I'm Going to Read: Round 19

Now that you likely think I have forgotten entirely about Tell Me What To Read, let me present the winner. . .  Wish You Well by David Baldacchi suggested by Lisa. It is, at this moment, residing happily on the hold shelf at the library, just waiting for me to venture over and pick it up.

And once again, y'all were full of terrific suggestions:

• Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish (Mad Hadder)
• Two-Part Invention by Madeline L'Engle (RA)
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (Mia and Kimberly)
• Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Burns (G)
• The Magicians by Lev Grossman (NGS)
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (Stefanie)
• Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay (Mom)
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Amy Sorensen)
• The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom (Lexiloo)
• Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein (Lisa)
• Room by Emma Donoghue (Ang)
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Jenae)
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (Lis)
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Heidikins)
• Committed by Liz Gilbert (Shannon)
• Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger (Katie)
• The Company She Keeps by Georgia Durante (Jenny)
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (SSM)
• Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (Carly)
• A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn (Mary)
• The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (Lauren)
• Precious Bane by Mary Webb (Melissa)
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Becca)
• Into the Wind by Jean Ferris (Michelle)
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Alisha Stamper)
• Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy (Mary)
• One Child by Torey Hayden (Melissa)
Now that you probably all think I've forgotten entirely about
• 365 Thank Yous by John Kralik (Holly)
• The Selected Works of TS Spivet by Reif Larsson (Saskia)
• Ella Minnow Pea By Mark Dunn (Parkers)
• At Home by Bill Bryson (JB)
• The Wee Free Men by  Terry Pratchett (ACQ)
• Letters from the Inside by John Marsden (Kimberly) 

Of these, I've read:

• Room by Emma Donoghue (review here)
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (review here)
• Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (one of my very favorite series of all time)
• A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
• At Home by Bill Bryson

You know I'm feeling ridiculously pleased to have read SIX of them. Ah yes, I am feeling good.

*******************************

Also, the Slim-Fast giveaway is still going on, if you care to throw your hat into the ring.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went, the sequel to If I Stay, is full of emotion, beautifully written, and definitely aimed at an older YA audience.

You remember If I Stay, right? I gushed on about it at length a couple of years ago and still love that book like crazy.

For those of you who missed If I Stay (SPOILER!), the basic gist is that Mia is in a horrific car accident with her family and finds herself forced to decide whether she wants to fight to live or let herself slip from her coma into death. One of the main things that helps her make up her mind is her boyfriend, Adam, who tells her that if she stays, he'll do anything for her, even if that means giving her up if it's too painful to see him and be reminded of the life she has all but lost.

And now Where She Went picks up three years after the end of If I Stay. Mia did choose to stay and Adam was instrumental in helping her work through recovery. She goes back to her music (cello) within months and heads to Julliard on schedule. And then, she abruptly breaks off contact with Adam. He hasn't heard from her at all in nearly three years.

In those three years, Adam's band, which fell apart after Mia's accident, has reunited and gone on to become huge. Can't go out alone in public kind of huge. Has a movie star girlfriend kind of huge. But he is still absolutely shattered over what he feels is Mia's betrayal. After all they'd been through together, how could she possibly just disappear like that?

And, of course, part of him knows that he offered just this scenario to her in order to convince her to stay (although she was in a coma at the time). And even more ironic is the fact that the songs that shot them to stardom are ones he wrote in the emotional abyss following the end of their relationship. No wonder he can't escape thinking about her - every thing about his career, which has become his whole life, is about Mia.

Adam is in New York with one free day before he goes off on the next international tour and, as if by fate, he reconnects with Mia. She has just graduated and is launching her music career. And so here they are, together for one evening, while Adam tries to wrestle his feelings for Mia into some sort of sense. He still loves her, maybe, but he is also so incredibly angry with her for deserting him.

I was seriously worried about this book - would it weaken If I Stay for me? And yes, maybe it does a tiny bit because I love If I Stay as a standalone novel. But I can't pretend I wasn't thrilled to hear there would be more to this story.

I think Gayle Forman's writing is just astoundingly good in both books. There is a lot of back and forth in this book between the present and Adam's memories of the past, both the years since the accident and his relationship with Mia before the car crash that turned both of their lives upside down, and yet all of it is so crystal clear. The effortless combination of the past and the present was just as good here as it was in If I Stay. Both of these books feel so natural to me, as all the little memories, the small moments combine into one very strong and unforced story line.

And Adam is so  . . . exactly what I thought he would be based on Mia's view of him from If I Stay. The emotional roller coaster he's been on for the past three years is just as realistic as it could possibly be and the way he reacts to both Mia's leaving and now their unexpected reunion is perfect.

Each chapter begins with a few lyrics from one of Adam's songs (the songs that transported him to rock star status) and usually lyrics make me cringe, but these were fantastic. I wish they were real songs that I could listen to on Pandora or something. 

I will say that the ending fell slightly flat for me. Where If I Stay finished on such a high note for me, this one didn't quite make it. I'm not sure what I would have wanted instead, but this wasn't exactly it. Close, but not quite.

Also, there is no question that this is a book for a slightly more mature audience. It's not at all gratuitous or explicit, but you definitely are aware that Adam has lived the rockstar life, at least to some degree.

I've read If I Stay twice already, which is extremely rare for me, since I do very little re-reading, but I'm planning to read it again this year. I just can't help myself. The more distance I get from Where She Went, the more I just fall in love with these two stories all over again.

Also, this cover? I love it. I know it's gotten some flack for having Mia on the front when this is Adam's story, but his whole story is Mia. Even in those years when she's not around, her memory is a constant presence in his life. And I just love this pretty pretty cover.

My librarian brain thought a lot about this book and where it fits in a library collection. It's being promoted as young adult book and it's the sequel to a very-definitely YA book, but the characters in this book are now three (and four) years out of high school. Mia is done with college. Both of them have real careers. You don't see a lot of YA books with main characters this old (and this is most certainly aimed at an older YA audience).What a giant nerd I am.

Copy sent to me by the utterly fantastic Abby (the) Librarian

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I don't particularly mind the summer heat; after growing up in Las Vegas, Austin's hot weather isn't as soul searing as it might be otherwise (don't say something about the humidity; Austin has the perfect amount of humidity, amen). Plus, with a pool at our disposal this year, I think summer will be very lovely.

But I am in no hurry to rush along the beautiful spring weather we're having right now. We've spent the last couple evenings enjoying the outdoors, discussing ad nauseum how ridiculously nice it is.

On Wednesday, a new (quite impressive) farmer's market opened just around the corner from us and so we went by after dinner to check it out. We enjoyed some delicious samples, including sweet potato bread, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, chicken tikka masala, and some pistachio brownie gelato and then sat under the trees to listen to some live music. Does life get better? (Yes, if you have an entire scoop of gelato instead of a wimpy sample - Ella thinks life would be better if we gave her the spoon to play with before we licked off all the gelato).

And then last night, Bart's office rented a box at our local baseball diamond and we had hamburgers and hotdogs (sadly, not very impressive ones) in the box before heading out to the seats to watch three innings. After that, Ella had had enough sports to last her one evening.

Oh, Austin in the spring. I love you so much.

Snuggly

Many lovely people gave us blankets and other types of handmade (and not handmade) thoughtful gifts, all of which I considered photographing and posting about but then we moved and . . . I didn't. I swear, I LOVED your gift though.

Two quilts, however, are more recent gifts and since my life is a little more put together these days, I thought I'd share.

As you can imagine, we have a lot of pink in our house these days (people who are having girls and think you can avoid pink, I salute you in your efforts. Prepare to return 90% of everything and accept no hand-me-downs. Happily I like pink), but this is different pink. This is pink with pizazz:

My Aunt Miriam, who is a professional long-arm quilter, made this one for Ella. Not only are the colors fantastic, but the back is mega soft and snuggly, with a gorgeous quilted design. I pulled this one out and showed it off to practically everyone who came over for a month after it arrived.

And then, Kay, my library internship mentor and surrogate grandmother to Ella brought this one a few weeks ago when she came up to visit:

Ella has never before showed a preference for any one blanket, but this one, which I have had draped over the back of the rocking chair, just delights her. Every time I sit down to rock her, she leans her head back so she can see it over my shoulder and if I ever move it, she looks around for it.

This is my blanket of choice when I need to wrap her up for a minute or when I want to snuggle on the couch with her.

 
And she loves to run her fingers along the raw edges.

Is there anything more sweet than a handmade baby blanket? Only one wrapping up a cute little baby.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

I don't have words to praise Okay for Now highly enough - I have had to curb myself considerably to keep from quoting nearly the entire book in this review. I worried that there was no way it could live up to The Wednesday Wars, which is perhaps my favorite book of all time, but it was just as wonderful.

I really think Gary Schmidt might be the best middle-grade author alive today. His books have everything - brains, wit, humor, heart.

Okay for Now is a companion book to The Wednesday Wars, but most definitely not a sequel. If you haven't read The Wednesday Wars, you won't have that unpleasant sensation of missing a lot of things as you read Okay for Now (oh, how I loathe that feeling). This truly is a stand-alone book.

Doug Swietek appears in The Wednesday Wars, but he's notable mostly for his list of  "401 ways to make a teacher hate you" and his older brother, known only as "Doug Swietek's brother"  who is, himself, a notorious trouble maker and always out to get someone (often Holling).

Now, Doug gets an entire book to himself. As it opens, his family is moving away to Marysville where his dad has gotten a new job (no one dares to ask about why he's lost the old job, but Doug's descriptions of the family make it clear that Doug and his older brother didn't inherit their trouble-making ways from nowhere). The new house is a complete dump and Doug has to share a room with his older brother who has "quick hands" (both the stealing and hitting kind).

And thus begins life in "stupid Marysville."

The first day there, Doug finds himself in the library, where, in an empty upstairs room, is a book under glass, open to a picture of a bird drawn by John James Audubon. The picture completely arrests Doug; his interest is noted by Mr. Powell, an older librarian, who takes it upon himself to break down Doug's walls a little and teach him how to draw.

These informal art lessons are a bright spot in Doug's fairly dark life. He's keeping secrets about his family, which you discover quickly when he describes his older brother (who, like Holling's sister in The Wednesday Wars, remains unnamed for a very long time) stealing his Joe Pepitone hat and "pummeled me in places where the bruises wouldn't show. A strategy that my . . . is none of your business." And he has a job delivering groceries on Saturday mornings but his customers are extremely wary of him after a break-in that most of the town believes was done by his older brother. You can imagine why the quiet of the library and the patient teaching of Mr. Powell have such appeal to Doug, even if he wants to pretend they don't.
 
In the same way that the works of Shakespeare acted as a narrative guide in The Wednesday Wars, John James Audubon's art is the continuous thread in this book. If you'd told me that beforehand, I would have been wary, since I'm not particularly artistically inclined, but it worked marvelously.

In The Wednesday Wars, Holling describes the lesson where Mrs. Baker is teaching about diagramming sentences and the sentence Doug gets is "I read a book," which, as Holling notes, "was a flat-out lie on Doug Swieteck's part." And the academic problems that Doug clearly had at Camillo Junior High are even more present in Marysville, where the teachers are disinclined to like him from day one because of his family's reputation:

Miss Cowper in English, whose first words were "This fall, we will be reading Jane Eyre by Miss Charlotte Bronte, and I am not naive enough to believe that you will all like it." Then she looked right at me.

And while we are on the topic of Jane Eyre, let me mention that it, like the Audubon paintings, plays a major role in the plot. At the risk of spoiling something, let me tell you that when, on the airplane to Utah, I read the line "Reader, I kissed her. A quiet walk back we had, she and I," I almost leapt from my seat with delight.

Like The Wednesday Wars, this is a book that defies a tidy description. It's about art and Audobon's birds, it's about people who can only see the "skinny thug" who comes from a problem family and the occasional insightful person who is able to see past the label to the real Doug, it's about soldiers returning from the Vietnam War to a place that no longer seems like home, it's about families where no one discusses real problems and you hide anything you value so it doesn't get mocked or destroyed or both.

And yet, for all the sadness of this book, the humor is there in full force. I found myself marking line after line that made me laugh. A few examples because I can't not share. The first is during a wrestling unit in gym class, led by "the So-Called Gym Teacher" who hates Doug:

He said he'd call out the names two by two, starting with the first pair to wrestle. Guess who was in the first pair. My partner turned out to be Alfred Hartnett. I'll let you guess again: do you think Alfred Hartnett weighed about the same as me, or about sixteen times more?

And while Doug makes Saturday grocery deliveries:

Mrs. Daugherty was keeping my bowl of cream of wheat hot, and she had a special treat with it, she said. It was bananas. In the whole story of the world, bananas have never once been a special treat.

And he handles the intense moments just as well as the humor. When there is a particularly ugly conversation at dinner one night:

There's a kind of angry quiet that can lay down over a house. Maybe there are some houses, like the Daughertys', that have never known it - that house probably hasn't ever had a quiet day. But in the The Dump, Angry Quiet was an old friend, and he moved in again. No one talked because we all wanted to scream.

This book is so brilliantly written, so full of depth and beauty that any adult will love it. But it's so full of heart and humor and real-life that children will love it too. Read this book. Your life will be better for it. I promise.

Digital copy obtained from NetGalley

One Down, Three to Go

First quarter of the year down and I've finished 48 books (I have also given up on more books than normal because my tolerance for lousy books is shrinking). I've linked to the ones I've reviewed.

• Drought by Pam Bachorz
Surprisingly good; not a bad way to launch 2011.

• Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer
Just as good as the first, I think, but frankly I was having a hard time recalling some of the details of the first one. I should take a hint from Bart and stop reading series before the whole set is out.

• Split by Swati Avasthi
What can I say? I'm a sucker for a problem novel. Especially a really good one like Split.

• Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
So funny and sweet and perfect. This book gave me hope for good reading in 2011.

• What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
Another winner by Sarah Dessen. I swear, that woman is magic.

• Countdown by Deborah Wiles
It is not a good sign when you prefer the images 100000x more than the story line. Every time it returned to the plot, I was unpleasantly surprised.

• Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
I'm a big fan of the Luxe books, but this book was so silly. I will not be reading the rest of them. I have such low tolerance for willfully dumb characters.

• At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
  
I really loved this book, even if half of it just seemed like an excuse to share randomly fascinating trivia on the author's part.

• Bitter Melon by Cara Chow
I love any book that talks about speech and debate. Even ones that aren't particularly great books.

• Stolen: A Letter to my Captor by Lucy Christopher
This book dragged on for. ever.

• After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Even better than the first. I am in love with these books.

• June Bug by Chris Fabry
What an odd book. And all the references to it being like Les Mis just compounded the weirdness.

• Room by Emma Donoghue
This book was just so brilliant. 

• The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
I really expected this book to be terrible. And so when it was merely average, I was pleasantly surprised.

• Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Such a great choice for the Newbery. I loved this book.

• Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman
This book was really the one that made me want to change our eating habits.

• Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
Not bad, although kind of silly.

• Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford
Look, I'm just not going to try any more books by this author because they don't work for me. My apologies.

• Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly
Better than I'd expected. Sad and quirky.

• Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry
This book was too much of an agenda book (the agenda being to teach the skills of storytelling/writing). Snore.

• Hold Still by Nina LaCour
Quite wonderful writing but a really dark storyline.

• The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt
This book was terrific. It started a little much for me, but really came together by the end.

• The Girl Who Was on Fire edited by Leah Wilson
Still marveling over how great this book was.

• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
This was the most utterly bizarre book. Nothing happens. 

• Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick
My favorite of his books so far. I laughed myself silly.

• Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg
I wanted to love this, but I just didn't.

• Gossamer by Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry's books are just all over the place. This one was weird.

• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Read this for bookclub and thoroughly enjoyed it.

• You Wish by Many Hubbard
  
Completely unmemorable except for when the Ken doll came to life and wouldn't stop kissing his biceps.

• The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal
I love a sweet, clean, clever fantasy book.

• Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
Brilliant. Read this.

• Sing Me to Sleep by Angela Morrison
This book made me cringe. Seriously, everything about it horrified me, from the completely dysfunctional relationships to the way that characters didn't recognize things that were not only staring them in the face but BEATING THEM OVER THE HEAD.

• Where She Went by Gayle Forman
My feelings about this sequel to If I Stay were all over the place.

• Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin
I prefer Nancy Werlin's contemporary books.

• When the Stars Go Blue by Caridad Ferrer
Completely went off the rails at the end.

• Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly
This book was published about sixty years ago and is still in print. Somehow, NOTHING HAPPENS IN IT. And I mean nothing.

• My Antonia by Willa Cather
Reading this in conjunction with Seventeenth Summer meant that I was reading two books simultaneously where absolutely nothing happened. Not one thing.

• Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
Another YA book about photography. Pretty good.

• Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
A good basis for a story that could really have benefited from a different format of storytelling.

• Forget You by Jennifer Echols
This book was truly terrible. I cannot stand books where the only way the plot holds together is by people being so insanely dense that they can't see the truth right in front of them.

• Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen
Pretty good. Much better than the recent Emily Griffin books, that's for sure.

• Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Some really really fantastic moments combined with parts that draaaaaaaaggggggggged. Took me a good six weeks to get through the audiobook.

• This Girl is Different by JJ Johnson
I am not unbiased, but ugh, do I get annoyed by the stereotypes of homeschoolers.

• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michale Pollan
And NOW I get why this is a bestseller. 

• Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
  
Best book of the quarter. I love Gary Schmidt so very much.

• Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
First Chris Crutcher. Weird, but good. 

• Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott
I quite liked her first couple of books. The last two or three have been nails-on-chalkboard irritating.

• Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Fantastic historical fiction. I was surprised by how much I loved this book, although after all the good things I've heard about Geraldine Brooks over the years, I shouldn't have been.

By the way, that last book was one I read for BlogHer's new bookclub, which I'm really excited to be part of.

And, the giveaway over here for the Slim-Fast prize pack is still going on if you happen to enjoy free things.

A Journey of Contrasts: Guest Post by Deborah Underwood

A couple of weeks ago, I posted that excellent little video of Ella losing her mind with joy over The Loud Book! We have read it many times since then and sometimes I recite little parts of it from memory to her in order to get her to laugh.

So, I'm thrilled to host author Deborah Underwood on her blog tour promoting The Loud Book! which comes out today. I love her post about the difference in writing the Quiet Book and then the Loud Book.

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A Journey of Contrasts

To an outside observer, THE QUIET BOOK and THE LOUD BOOK! must look pretty similar. Both are concept books, both have the same format, and both have brilliant illustrations by Renata Liwska.

But my experience writing them was as different as...well, loud and quiet.

THE QUIET BOOK was inspired by a classical guitar concert. As I waited for the performance to begin, I noticed several types of quiet. During the concert, I mulled. Did quiet have picture book potential?

I went home and wrote draft after draft, on my own leisurely timetable. After I got the manuscript into good shape, I sent it around. And got rejection after rejection.

I’d known from the beginning that writing a quiet book was a leap of faith, since “too quiet” is a common rejection-letter line. Eventually I started to lose hope.

But finally, many months later, I got a phone call from Kate O’Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin. She wanted to publish the book. Hooray!

Later Kate asked if I was okay with using animals instead of kids in the illustrations. This required a mental adjustment, but I agreed (frankly, at that point I would have agreed to using protozoans instead of kids). Now it’s hard to believe I originally intended the characters to be kids.

Writing THE LOUD BOOK! couldn’t have been more different. Long before THE QUIET BOOK came out, Kate asked if I’d be interested in writing a loud book, and of course I said yes.

However.

What I thought she’d meant was, “Would you be interested in writing a loud book maybe sometime next year after the first book comes out and we see how it does?” When she wrote a few weeks later to check on my progress, I realized she’d actually meant, “Would you be interested in writing a loud book right now?”

I accelerated my writing process. Substantially.

Caffeine overdoses aside, it was a huge luxury to draft a book knowing in advance that an editor was interested, and that the plan was for Renata to do the illustrations again. It felt a bit like I imagine TV series writing feels: you know the characters, you know the setting, you know how things work. Instead of stepping off a cliff into the unknown, you’re returning to a cozy world you love.

But it wasn’t all cozy. I felt a lot of (self-generated) pressure. It was important to me that LOUD live up to QUIET. There’s nothing worse than a sequel that disappoints.

Sitting side by side on my shelf, THE QUIET BOOK and THE LOUD BOOK! look like what they’re intended to be: companion volumes. But to me, they represent different messages. THE QUIET BOOK means don’t lose faith. THE LOUD BOOK! means never slack off; keep trying to improve.

However, these writing experiences do have one thing in common: I wouldn’t trade either for the world.

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Also, the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is giving away an original piece of art by the illustrator of both books, not to mention 25 copies of The Loud Book. It's an easy entry - just fill in your name, email address, and address. Check it out if you're interested.