MotherReader

Apparently, there’s still time to participate in this great contest from Defective Yeti and the Morning News (of Seattle, it appears). The deadline has been extended to Friday, November 3rd (and I’m only a little bit upset that he thinks that the funniest sign so far has been pen on posterboard, which means mine is not the funniest). Now, I know Chicken Spaghetti and Literary Gas have put up their signs, but the kidlitosphere has a chance to REPRESENT! If you can’t do a full sign, you can do a flyer or banner and post them on some streetlight or bulletin board. I know we have some creative and quirky people out there, so get right on it. In fact, I’ve got another idea percolating. Do you think I can submit two entries?

Remember how I proposed sample questions to Printz-winning author John Green when he left me out of his blog tour, and then how he so nicely answered them as if I was a legitimate questioner instead of a freakin’ nutball? Good times. You can enjoy that post all over again as a part of the Eighth Carnival of Children’s Literature over at Scholar’s Blog. There are lots of fantastic posts you probably missed, some — unlike mine — actually relevant to the theme of Halloween. Michele also took on the challenge of the 100 Things list, which is so very cool. What are you waiting for? Break down the essentials of your very being into 100 bite-sized chunks.

Eisha from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast mentioned her complete and utter enjoyment of my “Pinter tea lights” comment, making her blog my new favorite. Because I’m that easy. Honestly. Having trouble remembering to what I am referring? Here it is:

It’s Teen Read Week, and I haven’t even taken down the Nobel Prize decorations yet. I think it was said best at Defective Yeti about the hype and tension of the Nobel Prize for Literature. And I have to agree. I mean, it used to be that you didn’t even hear about the Nobel Prize for Literature until the week before it happened. Even the chocolates with the faces of Naipaul and Morrison were only available on the day of the announcements. But now the coverage of the event is just insane, and I can’t even pass a Hallmark without seeing the Pinter tea light holders left over from last year.

Eisha’s comment: i thought the “pinter tea lights” line was hilarious. shoulda said so at the time, but the fact that your post reminded me that it was teen read week, which i’d totally forgotten, so overwhelmed me with shame that i couldn’t bring myself to type.

Eisha is forgiven.

Speaking of hype, I dissed Halloween decorations and then felt a little bad since so many nice people, like Nancy, enjoy them. I recanted a bit in my own comments, and now here, because I’m not really that much of a Grinch about Halloween (what would the Halloween equivalent?). I don’t mind seeing the decorations around so much, I just get tired of the constant pressure to make everything so much MORE. I just would like a little simplicity once in a while.

Speaking of Nancy, Journey Woman is coming along nicely with her best passages in children’s literature contest. The most Poetic passages needs the most love, so you people of lovely words, stop on by. I submitted lines from Clemency Pogue: The Hobgoblin Proxy in the funniest lines.

The hobgoblins, the girl, and the increasingly impatient fairy watched from behind the bottom half of a door that opened like a scandalous bathing suit, in two pieces. This being France, the top was open.

I could have found dozens of Junie B. Jones passages for the Funniest category — ’cause I love the Junie B. — but I also put Junie B. Jones in the memorable category as well with this comment:

Okay, when I think of memorable, I think of a passage that I can actually remember, accurately. Now, I admit to having a terrible book-memory, but one passage I can quote, without a doubt, is from Junie B. Jones. It starts the beginning of most of her books (can’t remember — hah — when it stops showing up).

“My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except I don’t like Beatrice. I just like B and that’s all.”

While recently I listed the joys of Junie B., this month I got back to the funny book list. If you haven’t finished reading the new Edge of the Forest, there’s still time before it self-destructs. At least, that’s what I was told would happen.