105 Ways to Give a Book

Shout-Out Sunday

Ages ago I mentioned the cliché rotation project at Defective Yeti, whereby old clichés are moved out in favor of new ones. As it turns out, my own cliché entry was listed on the website. (Old cliché: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” New cliche: “If you won’t shake your booty, get off the dance floor.”) The contest was such a hit, that D.Y. is keeping it going for a while. Check out what’s he’s got so far, and start thinking of your own. With all these clever writers in kids’ lit, we should be able to make a good showing. (Another favorite of mine updates “playing second fiddle” to “Jeeves in a Google World.”)

I was pleased as punch (that would be a good cliché to update) to see that Kelly Fineman interviewed Adam Rex, author and illustrator of the fantastic poetry book Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. Kelly even asks real, in-depth questions that show she might know a thing or two about the author. Now, I don’t always read author interviews, but Adam Rex seems like the kind of person I’d like to hang out with at the neighborhood Chili’s. Though he probably know some hip Brooklyn bar where they hang baby dolls from the ceiling by their feet, so we could go there instead.

Earlier this week I saw this post of when Mo Willems met Dick Bruna. While Mo is my guy now, when I was a little girl my favorite book was Bruna’s The King. I still have my book where I added tears to the king’s face and colored in his bald head after he took off his crown. What caught my attention most in Mo’s description of the visit and the trip to Holland was this sentence: “I showed him some of my work while we discussed minimalism, modernism, Calder (who he used to see in Paris), Shultz (who he spent an afternoon with once), Matisse, color, process, and studio work habits over a lekker cup of tea.” Doesn’t that sound like such an intelligent discussion? I’m having trouble thinking of who my career idol might be, but even if I should find him/her, I doubt our conversation would reach that higher level. My idol as a blogger would probably have to be Dooce, and I bet our talk would run more toward potty training and public tantrums. I don’t have a librarian idol, and even if I did, I’d be more likely to share creepy patron and porn viewer stories. I’ve got to work on this.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Reading about Mo's topics of conversation makes me feel sadly lacking in wit and intelligence. Or maybe just in wit, but in multiple senses of the word.