MotherReader

Oh, I love this game. Thanks, Teacherninja.

So which of the Top 100 Children’s Novels have you read? I put the ones I’ve read in bold and put asterisks by the ones that I submitted to the poll. Nine out of my ten are on the list, but I’m far less proportionately represented in the books I’ve read from the list. There were a fair number that I wasn’t sure about, but my best guess puts me at 66/100. I feel like I may have some reading to do.

100. The Egypt Game — Snyder (1967)
     
99. The Indian in the Cupboard — Banks (1980)
    
98. Children of Green Knowe — Boston (1954)
    
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane — DiCamillo (2006)
    
96. The Witches — Dahl (1983)
    
95. Pippi Longstocking — Lindgren (1950)
    
94. Swallows and Amazons — Ransome (1930)
    
93. Caddie Woodlawn — Brink (1935)
    
92. Ella Enchanted — Levine (1997)
    
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School — Sachar (1978)
    
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall — MacLachlan (1985)
    
89. Ramona and Her Father — Cleary (1977)
    
88. The High King — Alexander (1968)
    
87. The View from Saturday — Konigsburg (1996)
    
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — Rowling (1999)
    
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek — Wilder (1937)
    
84. The Little White Horse — Goudge (1946)
    
83. The Thief — Turner (1997)
    
82. The Book of Three — Alexander (1964)
    
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon — Lin (2009)**
    
80. The Graveyard Book — Gaiman (2008)
    
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family — Taylor (1951)**
    
78. Johnny Tremain — Forbes (1943)
    
77. The City of Ember — DuPrau (2003)
    
76. Out of the Dust — Hesse (1997)
    
75. Love That Dog — Creech (2001)
    
74. The Borrowers — Norton (1953)
    
73. My Side of the Mountain — George (1959)
    
72. My Father’s Dragon — Gannett (1948)
    
71. The Bad Beginning — Snicket (1999)**
    
70. Betsy-Tacy — Lovelae (1940)
    
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society — Stewart ( 2007)
    
68. Walk Two Moons — Creech (1994)
    
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher — Coville (1991)
    
66. Henry Huggins — Cleary (1950)
    
65. Ballet Shoes — Stratfeild (1936)
    
64. A Long Way from Chicago — Peck (1998)
    
63. Gone-Away Lake — Enright (1957)
    
62. The Secret of the Old Clock — Keene (1959)
    
61. Stargirl — Spinelli (2000)
    
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle — Avi (1990)
    
59. Inkheart — Funke (2003)
    
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase — Aiken (1962)
    
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 — Cleary (1981)
    
56. Number the Stars — Lowry (1989)
    
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins — Paterson (1978)
    
54. The BFG — Dahl (1982)
    
53. Wind in the Willows — Grahame (1908)
    
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret — Selznick (2007)
    
51. The Saturdays — Enright (1941)
    
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins — O’Dell (1960)
    
49. Frindle — Clements (1996)
    
48. The Penderwicks — Birdsall (2005)
    
47. Bud, Not Buddy — Curtis (1999)
    
46. Where the Red Fern Grows — Rawls (1961)
    
45. The Golden Compass — Pullman (1995)
    
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing — Blume (1972)
    
43. Ramona the Pest — Cleary (1968)
    
42. Little House on the Prairie — Wilder (1935)**
    
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond — Speare (1958)
    
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — Baum (1900)
    
39. When You Reach Me — Stead (2009)
    
38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Rowling (2003)
    
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry — Taylor (1976)
    
36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret — Blume (1970)
    
35. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — Rowling (2000)
    
34. The Watsons Go to Birmingham — Curtis (1995)
    
33. James and the Giant Peach — Dahl (1961)
    
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH — O’Brian (1971)
    
31. Half Magic — Eager (1954)
    
30. Winnie-the-Pooh — Milne (1926)**
    
29. The Dark Is Rising — Cooper (1973)
    
28. A Little Princess — Burnett (1905)**
    
27. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass — Carroll (1865/72)
    
26. Hatchet — Paulsen (1989)
    
25. Little Women — Alcott (1868/9)
    
24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Rowling (2007)
    
23. Little House in the Big Woods — Wilder (1932)
    
22. The Tale of Despereaux — DiCamillo (2003)
    
21. The Lightening Thief — Riordan (2005)
    
20. Tuck Everlasting — Babbitt (1975)
    
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Dahl (1964)
    
18. Matilda — Dahl (1988)
    
17. Maniac Magee — Spinelli (1990)
    
16. Harriet the Spy — Fitzhugh (1964)
    
15. Because of Winn-Dixie — DiCamillo (2000)
    
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — Rowling (1999)
    
13. Bridge to Terabithia — Paterson (1977)
    
12. The Hobbit — Tolkien (1938)**
    
11. The Westing Game — Raskin (1978)
    
10. The Phantom Tollbooth — Juster (1961)
    
9. Anne of Green Gables — Montgomery (1908)
   
8. The Secret Garden — Burnett (1911)
   
7. The Giver — Lowry (1993)
   
6. Holes — Sachar (1998)
   
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — Koningsburg (1967)
   
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe — Lewis (1950)
   
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philsopher’s Stone — Rowling (1997)**
   
2. A Wrinkle in Time — L’Engle (1962)
   
1. Charlotte’s Web — White (1952)**

If you’re a parent, you know of The Reading Game and have probably been forced to play along. Unsure? Maybe this will ring a bell: “Well, we can’t tear little Jacob away from the Harry Potter books. He’s sooooo advanced. What is your child reading?” Ah, yes — parental competition as practiced through one’s children. At Booklights, I talk about the only way to win The Reading Game, along with ways to help your child and your child’s teacher this school year. Head over and add your opinion. (And no, winning does not involve my trademark response of, “Oh, my girls are really into Balzac right now.”)

My special articles at ForeWord are done, but my relationship with this wonderful review site continues as part of their blog network. I believe they are still tweaking the format, but they’ll be pulling some blog posts over with a blog aggregrator, and MotherReader will be among them. That is, until they realize how I really write.

We’re continuing the last-week push for registrations for the KidLitosphere Conference, but are keeping it fun with a meme for past conference attendees. It has started to make the rounds at Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Finding Wonderland. Posts are on the schedule for Fuse#8, 7-Imp, and Lee Wind. You don’t have to wait to be tagged to participate — in fact, I’d prefer that you not wait. Because while we are sure to have a flurry of posts after the conference that makes people wish they could have gone, what we need now is a flurry of posts about such conferences that makes people decide that they will go. The conference will likely be in the Midwest next year, so East-Coasters especially won’t want to miss this chance. Register now.

There are two more days to vote for the awards for Book Blogger Appreciation Week. In the Kidlit category you are on your own to choose among Jen Robinson Book Blog, Fuse#8, Seven Impossible Things, Maw Books, and Shelf Elf. I won’t direct you there or in the YA Book Blog category.

But I will draw your attention to several kidlitosphere blogs that are showing up through the rest of the categories. Pop over and put in your vote for such blogs as Chasing Ray, I’m Here, I’m Queer, What Do I Read?, 100 Scope Notes, Semicolon, Becky’s Book Reviews, BookDads, The Story Siren, Collecting Children’s Books, Guys Lit Wire, Color Online, and me.

Oh, and the winner of the Hiccupotamus books from the MotherReader tour is Deliah. Hey there Deliah, enjoy your prize!

I was tagged for a meme by Read, Read, Read, and the timing is perfect for me. I usually get tagged and then totally forget to do it until it feels more embarrassing to admit my procrastination than to totally ignore the tag. But today, I’m recovering from the two days of heavy rain, which has left me feeling all depressed and uninspired to write. But answer questions? I think I can handle that.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
   
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
   

When I first saw this meme, or some variation thereof, all the answers were in fives. So I went back to that format.

What were you doing five years ago?

I was working at the public library, settling into my new house, raising two kids, and stepping a toe into the short film business. Speaking of which, please go see our new film, “All Roads Lead Away,” written by young adult author Barry Lyga. Did I mention that I filmed the first part on my own? Bill said it wouldn’t work, but I insisted that it wouldn’t take extra time and we might end up with some good footage to use. And so we did.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

1. Put the spring clothes in the kids’ rooms. (Picking outfits every day from the living room floor is getting old.)
   
2. Clean the hamster cage — with the hamster’s nine-year-old owner.
   
3. Answer some emails I keep not getting to. (See #1 bad habit below.)
   
4. Sort out the Girl Scout badges for our upcoming ceremony.
   
5. Buy cups, plates, and flowers for the Drama Club play tonight.
   


What are five snacks you enjoy?

1. Cookies.
   
2. More cookies.
   
3. Brownies.
   
4. Good chocolate. (Who am I kidding? Any chocolate.)
   
5. Graham crackers with peanut butter and honey. Yum.
   

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Travel.

   
2. Donate money to various places.
   
3. Buy new houses for me, my mom, and my brother so we could live closer together.
   
4. Hire an organizer to clean up my cluttered house (life?).
   
5. Put money in a trust for my children, because you never know what will happen to today’s billions.
   



What are five of your bad habits?


1. Procrastinating.
   
2. Never exercising.
   
3. Worrying.
   
4. Being messy and disorganized.
   
5. Getting cranky — like a small child.
   

What are five places where you have lived?

1. Ramsey, New Jersey.
   
2. Bridgewater, Virginia.

   
3. Virginia Beach, Virginia.
   
4. Williamsburg, Virginia.
   
5. Springfield, Virginia.

(I’ve always kinda wished I had lived in Richmond so I could’ve hit all the major regions of my state.)


What are five jobs you have had?

1. Hotel desk clerk.
   
2. Waitress (for one unfortunate month).
   
3. Psychiatric aide in hospital
.
   
4. Law library assistant
.
   
5. Children’s library assistant.
   

What five people do you want to tag?

I’m tagging some bloggers that I don’t visit enough, but that came up on my Technorati links recently. Let’s get to know each other — what do you say?

1. Read. Imagine. Talk.
   
2. Pink Me
   
3. Errant Dreams
   
4. Well Read Child
   
5. No Want Decaf

This meme makes its way back here with a tag from Cats and Jammers:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
   
2. Open to page 123.
   
3. Find the fifth sentence.
   
4. Post the next three sentences... um, sentences six, seven and eight.
   
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the blogger who tagged you.
   

Now, Janie from Sketchy Words — being an author and an illustrator of picture books — also gave us the PB version, which is to go to page 23 and just put down the text.

I had A Beginning, A Muddle, and an End: the Right Way to Write Writing, by Avi, at the Reference Desk with me, hoping for a chance to at least skim it during the quiet morning hours on Wednesday. No dice. But it was still with me when this meme came up, and it turned out to have a great few sentences to use. Now page 123 only has five sentences, since there is a picture at the top of the page. So I guess that I’ll continue on to the next page:

“That’s because even when you get to the top, you’re always below something.”

Avon looked down. “I have to admit, it does look as if there’s more down there than up here. Does that mean the higher you go, the less there is?”

“Avon, that’s what I’d call downright smart!”

Now I want to read it. Maybe during next week’s quiet morning hours.

I tag any five bloggers who would like me to come and visit them at their blogs. Anyone? Tell me in the comments if you’re playing.

When my family does something, we really do it to the max. A couple of years ago, when we visited a friend in New York City, she was amazed by how much we packed into three days. When we went to Niagara Falls a couple of weeks ago, we totally did the Falls. We walked all over the New York State Park, taking in every angle of the river and the waterfall. We did the Maid of the Mist and the Cave of the Winds tours. We went to the movie, the discovery center, the aquarium, and the observation tower. We drove to Canada and looked at the view from that side. Oh, and we fit in MarineLand too. What the hell, here’s a picture.


(Don’t you like how I slipped in our vacation summary? I said I would, hadn’t done it, but covered it now. I rock.)

So anyway, when I was tagged for this song meme by Big A, little a, I knew I would have to leave some time to do it right. Contrary to popular belief, I do not have a mind like a steel trap. More like a steel colander. I had to look up more than half of the songs on iTunes — and some of them I still didn’t recognize. 

After my husband got hold of my post (and somehow messed up the coding — thanks, honey), he then felt compelled to add the links to the iTunes Store. Oh, if only we could use our thorough, obsessive nature for house-cleaning, or say, real estate investment.

Here’s my key to the song titles:

Green = I loved it!
Black = I liked it (meh)
Red = I hated it!
Blue = I can’t remember it

1. That’s What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder
   
2. Say You, Say Me, Lionel Richie
   
3. I Miss You, Klymaxx
   
4. On My Own, Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald
   
5. Broken Wings, Mr. Mister
   
6. How Will I Know, Whitney Houston
   
7. Party All The Time, Eddie Murphy
   
8. Burning Heart, Survivor
   
9. Kyrie, Mr. Mister
   
10. Addicted To Love, Robert Palmer
    
11. Greatest Love Of All, Whitney Houston
    
12. Secret Lovers, Atlantic Starr
    
13. Friends And Lovers, Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring
    
14. Glory Of Love, Peter Cetera
    
15. West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
    
16. There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry), Billy Ocean
    
17. Alive And Kicking, Simple Minds
    
18. Never, Heart
    
19. Kiss, Prince and The Revolution
    
20. Higher Love, Steve Winwood
    
21. Stuck With You, Huey Lewis & The News
    
22. Holding Back The Years, Simply Red
    
23. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
    
24. Sara, Starship
    
25. Human, Human League
    
26. I Can’t Wait, Nu Shooz
    
27. Take My Breath Away, Berlin
    
28. Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
    
29. Papa Don’t Preach, Madonna
    
30. You Give Love A Bad Name, Bon Jovi
    
31. When The Going Gets Tough, Billy Ocean
    
32. When I Think Of You, Janet Jackson
    
33. These Dreams, Heart
    
34. Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone), Glass Tiger
    
35. Live To Tell, Madonna
    
36. Mad About You, Belinda Carlisle
    
37. Something About You, Level 42
    
38. Venus, Bananarama
    
39. Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Richie
    
40. Conga, Miami Sound Machine
    
41. True Colors, Cyndi Lauper
    
42. Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins
    
43. What Have You Done For Me Lately, Janet Jackson
    
44. No One Is To Blame, Howard Jones
    
45. Let’s Go All The Way, Sly Fox
    
46. I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On, Robert Palmer
    
47. Words Get In The Way, Miami Sound Machine
    
48. Manic Monday, Bangles
    
49. Walk Of Life, Dire Straits
    
50. Amanda, Boston
    
51. Two Of Hearts, Stacey Q
    
52. Crush On You, Jets
    
53. If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
    
54. Invisible Touch, Genesis
    
55. The Sweetest Taboo, Sade
    
56. What You Need, INXS
    
57. Talk To Me, Stevie Nicks
    
58. Nasty, Janet Jackson
    
59. Take Me Home Tonight, Eddie Money
    
60. We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off, Jermaine Stewart
    
61. All Cried Out, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
    
62. Your Love, Outfield
    
63. I’m Your Man, Wham!
    
64. Perfect Way, Scritti Politti
    
65. Living In America, James Brown
    
66. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A., John Cougar Mellencamp
    
67. Who’s Johnny, El Debarge
    
68. Word Up, Cameo
    
69. Why Can’t This Be Love, Van Halen
    
70. Silent Running, Mike and The Mechanics
    
71. Typical Male, Tina Turner
    
72. Small Town, John Cougar Mellencamp
    
73. Tarzan Boy, Baltimora
    
74. All I Need Is A Miracle, Mike and The Mechanics
    
75. Sweet Freedom, Michael McDonald
    
76. True Blue, Madonna
    
77. Rumors, Timex Social Club
    
78. Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy
    
79. Bad Boy, Miami Sound Machine
    
80. Sleeping Bag, ZZ Top
    
81. Tonight She Comes, Cars
    
82. Love Touch, Rod Stewart
    
83. A Love Bizarre, Sheila E.
    
84. Throwing It All Away, Genesis
    
85. Baby Love, Regina
    
86. Election Day, Arcadia
    
87. Nikita, Elton John
    
88. Take Me Home, Phil Collins
    
89. Walk This Way, Run-D.M.C.
    
90. Sweet Love, Anita Baker
    
91. Your Wildest Dreams, Moody Blues
    
92. Spies Like Us, Paul McCartney
    
93. Object Of My Desire, Starpoint
    
94. Dreamtime, Daryl Hall
    
95. Tender Love, Force M.D.’s
    
96. King For A Day, Thompson Twins
    
97. Love Will Conquer All, Lionel Richie
    
98. A Different Corner, George Michael
    
99. I’ll Be Over You, Toto
    
100. Go Home, Stevie Wonder

I’ll tag Bill (who has probably already started), Mitali, Adrienne, and Minh. You can find the song lists here. Have a happy trip down musical memory lane!

I’ve been putting off some meme taggings. First, because I was involved in the whole 48 Hour Book Challenge thing and didn’t want to break my flow. Second, because I didn’t know what to say. Third, because I’m always one step behind.

So I’m knocking two out with one blow. Snippets and Blabbery tagged me with a Seven Interesting Things meme and Tea Cozy passed on the meme from Robin Brande to re-post one of your older entries. The following is my answer to a Six Strange Things meme — pretty close to the Seven Interesting Things — that I wrote in April of last year.

The meme is Six Strange Things/Facts/Habits About Me. I’m going to approach it in biography form, because I have already listed 100 Things About Me, and I don’t want to repeat myself (numbers 95 and 96). So here goes.

1. I was a shy child. This fact will only seem strange to those who know me as the raging extrovert that I am today. Or to those who have been paying attention to the fact that I will write about anything personal on my blog — my messy clothes pile, shaving my legs, my overindulgent evening — as long as it is a little funny. But indeed, I was a shy child, preferring my books to people until eighth grade. At that point, I started at a new school, realized that no one knew me, and thought why not act like I was confident and secure and see if it stuck? Apparently it did.


2. I was raised as the last hippie child. My mother and father were potters for most of my young life. My dad threw pots and mugs on the potter’s wheel. My mom sculpted in porcelain and made wind chimes. They sold some of their work to retail shops, but also traveled around the east coast on weekends to participate in craft shows. My brother and I most often went too, learning the finer points of display, selling, and sitting around. When I was about fourteen, I would go with my father — or sometimes my mother — as the second salesperson. It was certainly a different after-school job for a high school kid, and I had a great time.


3. I was voted “Most Unique” in my high school senior class. I considered it a badge of honor, and far better than “Most Likely to Succeed,” which would have been far too much pressure. When I started high school, I realized I was never going to fit into this rural, southern school as a northern-bred, half-Jewish, hippie child, so I might as well make the most of it. I was well-liked, but I did not fit the mold, so I drove my 1974 Karmann Ghia, and wore my turquoise blue blazer and dared to look foolish sometimes. Oh my God, I was the Pretty in Pink girl!


4. I worked in a psychiatric hospital for one year. After majoring in psychology in college, I got a job in a psychiatric hospital working with children who had been committed for short-term stays. I was very good at working with these children. Somehow, though it’s not in my nature, I became patient when I walked through those doors. However, I would come home after an eight-hour shift where I had barely had the time to eat or use the bathroom, and I would cry at Hallmark commercials. I was good at this job, but I just couldn’t take it.


5. I started my career in libraries by accident. I wanted to move up to the D.C. area, but I needed a job. The whole psych thing hadn’t worked out, and otherwise I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. But I had worked in my college library as a part-time job, and that had been okay, so I decided to apply for library assistant jobs. I worked first in a law library, then in a children’s health library, and then in the public library. It could have gone the other way, and I’d currently be making and selling pottery at the Sugarloaf Craft Festival.


6. Most of what I live by can be broken down into three tenets (three again). One: We aren’t saving the world here — good to remember whenever I, or others, take things too seriously. Especially useful for PTA meetings. Two: Things usually happen for a reason — many of the bad parts of my life have led directly to some of the best parts. Three: The worst thing about a person is often the best thing about them, in a different way. My youngest daughter cries too easily (can’t imagine where she got that from), but she is also the most loving child. She just feels things deeply, which is good and bad. I try to remember this tenet when I get frustrated with other people — or with myself.

Wasn’t that fun? Actually, I’m going to use this for the meme from Mentor Texts and More, which was about my Personal Policies. I’ve thought about this for quite a while, and I couldn’t come up with anything. However, I’m going to defer to the last point above where I list the three tenets by which I live. Close enough.

I still owe a Summer Goals meme, for ten personal/professional goals. I think that was from Mentor Texts and More too, but I don’t remember anymore. You know, let’s knock that out too. My goals:

1. Get rid of the donation books at work. Add, buy, or sell them.
2. Clear out immense piles of paper at work.
3. Get back to blog reading.
4. Try JacketFlap to condense blog reading.
5. Get tree stump removed and plant a new tree.
6. Devote Monday and Tuesday mornings to clutter removal.
7. And Friday mornings to paper control.
8. Use time off in August to write — a book, essays, an article.
9. Go to pool three times a week — hey, we’re paying for it.
10. Plan at least one vacation.

I’m not tagging anyone since it’s been so long, but feel free to pick up any of these and move it along.

Later today: how to find me at ALA.

Big A, little a tagged me with a meme. Each player lists eight facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags eight people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Since I’ve listed one hundred things about me (and I highly recommend it as a self-knowledge/writing exercise), and since I’m soooo ready for summer, I’ve decided to make all of my eight things relevant to the summer season.

1. Yesterday I got my first sunburn of the summer because the sunscreen I brought to the pool was really greasy and I didn’t want to put it on.


2. However, I slathered my kids in it until they looked like they’d been rolling in ranch dressing. They did not burn.


3. I really love the beach and usually by this time of year I would have gotten my sorry butt there at least once. The thought that I have to wait another three weeks is making me itchy.


4. I start painting my toenails again starting in May and changing the colors all the time from red to pink to blue to green, depending on my mood.


5. I can execute a pretty dive into the pool, though I’m sure it was a more beautiful thing to watch before I packed an extra thirty pounds on my frame.


6. Speaking of extra poundage, I now think shopping for a bathing suit is worse then getting a cavity filled. At least at the dentist you get something for the pain.


7. It’s been almost twenty years since I was in school, but I always feel a bit surprised — and a little resentful — that I don’t have the whole summer off.


8. I still love summer so much that the smell of Coppertone is one of my favorite scents.

Now I tag recent contributors of prizes for the 48 Hour Book Challenge:

• Adcock News, who is sending a necklace and bracelet set.


• Just Books, who gives a lovely, handmade journal and coffee cozy.


• Wands and Words, who is giving us a Dark Dreamweavers T-shirt and signed book


• A Wrung Sponge, who will allow me to frame one or more of her beautiful photos.


• Mitali Perkins, who is donating a signed copy of Rickshaw Girl. Oh, and if you follow the link, you can weigh in on her next book cover.

I just realized that the next three blogs I was going to mention will either be unable or unwilling to respond, but there’s nothing that says I can’t use them anyway, so...

• Miss Rumphius Effect, who is bringing something back from China where she is right actually now.


• Original Content, who is donating a signed book and who hates personal memes (and who is welcome to make it eight habits/facts as a writer and/or reader).


• Mo Willems steps up or caves in to contribute an original doodle. He’s spending his next week getting ready for Book Expo and an exciting lecture entitled Making Milk Snort Out of Your Kid’s Nose: Experts Explain, which will benefit a Brooklyn library.

There’s still time to contribute prizes for the 48 Hour Book Challenge, now only ten days away and counting. Scroll down to the end of my blogroll and Email MotherReader!

I am a
Snapdragon



What Flower Are You?

I’ve always liked snapdragons, so that’s cool, but I really like the description:

“Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh.”

As you may have read from my husband/editor’s post on Saturday, I took my girls to Virginia Beach for the weekend to see family. We spend a lot of time with my baby niece. In fact, we got to keep her with us at my mom’s house from Saturday noon up until this morning. She was delightful, especially with all of those helping hands to take care of her every need. I’ve said for years that I don’t want another baby, I want a neighbor with a baby, but this is even better.

Maybe you picked up on the “this morning” reference above and pieced together that I drove back to Northern Virginia (Motto: The Fifty-First State) today, and you would indeed be correct. I drove back and immediately went to a booktalking session in the afternoon. I feel like I know my booktalking stuff, but it never hurts to hear some new ideas — especially when the speaker is using the books from your county’s summer reading list.

I also came back to a Girl Scout emergency, whereby some mothers — or one — in my troop did not agree with the date I had picked for an overnight outing and wanted to take me to task on that decision. But now the mothers know what they’ll get from me when they question my decisions: a very long description of my entire decision-making process. I only wish that I could have added sketches and diagrams. Yeah, take that.

So after my three-hour drive (we shouldn’t talk too much about speed limits), a booktalking session, and a failed coup, I’m out of juice to review anything or read any blogs or really do more than hit the booze and hit it hard, but I’ve made a error and I can’t wait any longer to correct it.

I was tapped by Magpie Musing with a Thinking Blogger meme. I am touched that anyone would look at me in that way. My thanks. But as it turns out, two blogs have bestowed that honor upon me. I was also tagged by Book Nut and I was also very touched, and then hit a week of overwhelmedness (it’s probably a word) and let it slide.

I don’t know if I have to tag five blogs or what, but since the meme police are unlikely to come after me, I’m going with three. I decided to take the title of Thinking Blogger as literally as I could and only highlight the blogs that really make me think. I mean really, really.

• Original Content has been on my blogroll since I started because I find such interesting topics there. Gail does not always see things my way, but seeing a different view expands my understanding and I appreciate her for it. It also amuses me that she will hate all the leading personal fluff in this post, and therefore may never get to this part where I say how great she is.


• Oz and Ends was not on my blogroll for a long time. I didn’t have it on my blogroll because I would only go to the blog when I had plenty of time and mental energy to read it. I didn’t want to skim these great thoughts. After meeting the blogger at the kidlit drink night, I realized that I needed to get it on my blogroll to remind myself to read it because it always challenges me.


• Chasing Ray is not on my blogroll, but will have to be now. Someone is always mentioning something interesting Colleen is writing about and I go and read it and like it and think that I have to visit more often and promptly forget because that is pretty much how my life goes these days. She’s a wonderful writer and thinker.

Now that I’ve responded to the Thinking Blogger challenge, I must help my second grader make a stuffed paper tiger for school tomorrow. Man, I hope we have staples.

Another meme has come my way, and I’m knocking it out fast before anyone else in the kidlitosphere tags my choice taggies. This meme comes from A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy, and simply asks us to name five non-kid-lit blogs we read.

Well, mine are listed right over there on the side, so this is easy. I’m not even going to use book or authors’ blogs at all, so there.

• Suburban Turmoil: A stepmom to teenagers and mom to a preschooler and a brand-new baby makes every aspect of motherhood and parenting amusing.


• Notes From the Trenches: A mom to bunch of kids handles life’s curveballs with humor and grace... Well, actually just more humor.


• Laid-Off Dad: A cool dad in New York City raises his two boys and battles mice and crazy neighbors.


• Hygiene Chronicles: A gay dad in DC shares custody of his son with his other mothers and keeps things light and funny in his writing.


• Defective Yeti: A dad but not a daddy blogger; his writing covers literature, games, news, and his own clever turns of phrase. My new favorite: Damn it — I’m still writing “Fourth Year of the Iraq War” on my checks.

Now I get to tag five people to do the same meme, and I’m working up the kid-lit blogs from the bottom. (You should know that when I go through my blogroll, sometimes I start from the top and sometimes the bottom, just to be fair). So your favorite non-kid-lit blogs, Year of Reading, Wrung Sponge, What Adrienne Thinks About That, Wands and Worlds, and Three Silly Chicks (they can pick six blogs, two for each chick).

Today would be Shout-Out Sunday in my new experimental format, but now that feels a little weird. So instead it’s Interview Meme Day with Some Shout-Out Components. Wow, that doesn’t flow off the tongue at all.

I’ve decided to post the first four questions of the Interview Meme here, these being the questions that I made up for the participants. The last question is individually addressed to each participant.

1. What’s your favorite quote?


2. How would you spend $1,500 that you won in a radio contest?


3. Where do you like to go to get away from it all?


4. If you had the complete attention of everyone in the United States, but only for thirty seconds, what would you say?

Now the individual question number 5.

• Zee Librarian — How do you keep up your energy working with the “whatever” teen population?


• Emily Reads — How are things going with the new baby and another little one at home?


• Check It Out — What do you like least and most about being a school librarian?


• Saints and Spinners — Why did you chose your blog name and signature name?


• Cats and Jammers — What feels different about putting out a book that you wrote from the books that you’ve illustrated?


• Journey Woman — I put you in the writer category of my blogroll because it seemed the best fit. How do you see yourself?


• Kaz — Slightly different from Emily’s, but what are you enjoying or noticing this time around with your baby? (If you want your blog linked here, send me the address. I couldn’t find it. Again. And didn’t know if it is really public.)

Now after answering the questions on your blog, you ask if anyone wants to answer your interview questions and so on and so on and so on...

Last week I saw that A Wrung Sponge was doing this interview meme and, always being one to keep the meme alive, I said I’d play. She had answered questions written for her by a Repressed Librarian, and she wrote these for me. Watch out. They’re deep.

1. What is the thing that most surprises you about being a grown-up?

The amazing, unlimited capacity to love my kids. It’s an experience of love that can’t be compared to anything else. Not loving your parents, your partner, and most certainly not your dog. Those are all wonderful things, but loving your children is watching them grow and change and develop, under your guidance. It’s knowing you’d kill or die for them. It’s experiencing childhood again, but with perspective. It’s giving them the last double-chocolate chip cookie. Well, sometimes.

2. What do you miss most about being a kid?

My kid body. I don’t mean my hot teenage body — though I wouldn’t mind having that waistline again — but the freedom of a body that does everything you ask it without complaint. Really, the freedom of taking your body for granted. Now, even in my (let’s say) mid-thirties, I’m so conscious of my physical self. I get out of bed, and my back hurts. I drop a fork under the table, and I groan while reaching for it. And let’s not even talk about the Slip-and-Slide...

3. What do you look forward to in being a senior?

Time, time, time. I’m so frustrated with having so many things that I want to do and not nearly enough time to do them. I do the things I have to do now, and save the rest. Like I have to be my daughter’s Girl Scout leader now, even if I don’t really have the extra time. But she’s not going need a troop leader when she’s thirty-six and I finally have the time. So I put off a bunch of things I’d love to do — travel, paint, write a book  — to focus on what’s in front of me. It’s just a shame that what’s most clearly in front of me is yesterday’s dinner plates, two weeks’ worth of laundry, and a ten-year collection of Happy Meal toys.

4. What stories do you think your kids will tell their children that they have heard from you?

Since I’ve drilled it into their little brains so much, the story of their differences. I believe that the worst thing about a person is often the best thing about them turned around. My seven-year-old is stubborn and argumentative. However, no one will ever push her around. My ten-year-old worries about everything, especially social norms. However, she has lots of friends because she adapts so easily. I tell them what great luck it is that they are sisters, because all their lives they’ll be able to help each other understand another perspective. Or they’ll kill each other. Either one.

5. If you could put a children’s author and an illustrator together to work on an e-book for fifth graders, who would you choose and why? (They get to write the story and design the artwork as a team.)

This is a very specific question. Are you working on a project? Anyway, after a lot of thought, I’d put together Louis Sachar and Kadir Nelson. What’d I’d like to see is a great story featuring African-American children, but not about civil rights or slavery or prejudice. I think it’s important to have books that talk about the culture and struggles of Black Americans, but that it’s also important that we have books that don’t make color the complete focus. And poor Kadir Nelson needs to get locked into a project before a picture book is written by Chris Rock.

If you want to do the meme, let me know in the comments. I’ll come up with five questions that you can answer on your own blog.

I saw this book meme over at Big A, little a, originally created at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Two of my answers were the same as Kelly’s, and I said as much in the comments. She responded in the comments with “Do the meme, MR!” Notice the exclamation point. How can I not do it now? Because when Big A says jump, MotherReader says, “With these jiggly thighs? I think not.”
Anyway, here are the questions:

1. What are your five most important books?
2. What is an important book you admit you haven’t read?
3. What classic (or childhood favorite) was a little disappointing on rereading?
4. What book do you (or did you) care most about sharing with your kids?
5. Name an acclaimed book, either classic or contemporary, that you just don’t like.

What are your five most important books?

This is bound to be embarrassing, because they’re not very smart books, but I picked the books that I thought most influenced some aspect of my life.

• Illusions, by Richard Bach, is the tale of a reluctant messiah. It’s a very interesting, if very seventies, story about the power within yourself. It also has lots of wonderful quotes from The Messiah’s Handbook, like, “If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.”


• Cosmos, by Carl Sagan, is also from my youth. It was a book I read when I was trapped in the intellectual pithole of the mountains of Virginia. It’s the book that reminded me to keep challenging myself.


• Hobbit/Lord of the Rings are getting put together as one big book, because who’s gonna stop me? These books expanded my world to include worlds I could imagine.


• Bridget Jones’ Diary may seem like an odd choice, but it’s the matriarch of chick lit. It’s the first book to really be funny and light in a woman’s sort of way, and I like the freedom of that sort of writing. The book was published just when I had a baby, and the books that I used to read were too heavy for my sleep-addled brain to handle.


• Raising Your Spirited Child also may seem like an odd choice, but when you’re a mom with a fiesty two-year-old, this book can be a saving grace. It made me realize that all techniques for tantrums and limits don’t work with all children. I was able to handle both of my spirited children with far more talent than I would have without this book.

What is an important book you admit you haven’t read?

Probably almost any important adult book you can name — other than the ones that you had to read in high school. I am woefully undereducated in classic literature. I looked at the shelves yesterday to think of the kids’ book that it would be most embarrassing to admit to skipping, and I landed on this revelation. I had never read anything by Roald Dahl until this year, when I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I know, shocking.

What classic (or childhood favorite) was a little disappointing on rereading?

Kelly and I have the same one here, Little House on the Prairie. The writing style is not strong and all the racial things made me squirm.

What book do you (or did you) care most about sharing with your kids?

This was the other place I agreed with Kelly naming Winnie-the-Pooh. I’m afraid all the Disney crap has made people believe that this is a book for toddlers, when the books are really quite funny and sophisticated. I’d also add the Raggedy Ann Stories, because I loved them as a kid.

Name an acclaimed book, either classic or contemporary, that you just don’t like.

Okay, say it with me folks...Tulane.

I tag anyone who wants to be tagged. Oh, oh! You know who I tag? Brotherhood 2.0. If you haven’t been following the video blog of John Green and his brother Hank Green, you have been missing something special. Go. Go, watch it now.

My good friend Liz tagged me with the Five Interesting Things meme. Now I have done this one twice. Once as a biography and once in a series of connections between books and things from my 100 Things About Me List.

But being a meme whore, I’ll do it again — with a twist. I’ll give you five things about me as evidenced by posts from the last year (all of which are among my favorite posts).

1. I’m a pretty cool mom (and write a great post title — “The Coolest Mom, The Smallest Weasel, and That Bitch, The Tooth Fairy”)


2. I make short films — for like, a hobby.


3. I can be quite brazen. (“You’re Mo Willems,” I said cleverly, since famous children’s book authors often forget their own names.)
   
   
   1. No, really.


4. I have amazing faith in people to respond to me — whether I propose a kidlitosphere-wide challenge five months after starting a blog, or that a famous, talented author will answer my ridiculous questions.


5. I am cosmically doomed and irony-prone.
   
   
   1. But I hope that’s part of what makes me funny...
   
   
   2. ... if indeed, I am funny. (But now the coverage of the [Nobel Peace Price] is just insane, and I can’t even pass a Hallmark without seeing the Pinter tea light holders left over from last year.)

Now, I’ll alter the meme (can I do that?) and send it back out there. The meme is now Five Favorite Posts. Find your own five favorite posts of the past year and link to them. It can be breaking a story, making a story, a nice piece of writing, a review you felt great about, or anything you want to show from the past year. Fuse#8 was already thinking of doing that, so I totally tag her (my favorite line from Fuse#8 is probably “pint-sized Buster Keatons”). Then how about some highlighted posts from Blog from the Windowsill, Chicken Spaghetti, Gotta Book, and Original Content. If anyone else wants to join in with their favorite posts of the year, I highly encourage it. It’s a great way to force you to look back over where you’ve been over the past year, and maybe give you ideas for where you’re going.

Yesterday was supposed to wind up my week of responses to the Five Interesting Things meme, but I was too wiped out to deal with postings. It is Sunday morning on the U.S. East Coast, and perhaps is still Saturday somewhere. I never did understand that International Date Line. I’m struggling with “spring forward, fall back” and will be for about a week as I change clocks and watches and try to remember what time it is.

Anyway, on Friday night we showed our film to the cast and crew. While Bill and I have seen it dozens of times as he adjusted music, color, editing, sound effects, and about twenty other things I don’t understand, no one else had seen it. While not everyone was able to make it, many of the cast and crew came to lend their support and see the final product. I think it is safe to say that everyone was pleased, if not impressed, by what we were able to put together. Sure, there were some small things that could have been done better, but not within our three-day window (with just one day of filming).

I think it’s the best thing we’ve done so far. And it’s up on the web now for your viewing pleasure. Pop by Tohubohu Productions for our new title, “Machinations.”

This film was done as part of the National Film Challenge. Our assigned genre was Science Fiction and the required elements were a character — Bobbie Soxer (candidate) — a prop — oil — and a line of dialogue — “If it doesn’t work, give it a shake.” We would love to do a non-competition film, but don’t have a script. So, if writers out there would like to send us something to look at, please do. We won’t actually pay you, because we’re not making any money ourselves, but still.

And the last from my 100 Things About Me list (have I convinced any of you to do your own yet?)

57. I’ve seen 90 of the 100 top-grossing movies.

And for my last tag of this meme, I pass it to my editor, my director, my friend, my gravy-train, my lawn-care guy, my sperm-donor, my husband, Bill.

From Chicken Spaghetti (who, incidently has someone interesting running for office in her town), and being passed along alllll through the book-loving world:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig around for that “cool” or “intellectual” book on your shelves. (I know you were thinking about it.) Just pick up whatever is closest.

Joanne had gotten married, had a son, lived within two miles of my house, and liked being a housewife because she could smoke all day and watch TV. My rival had also gotten married, moved to Ventura, gotten divorced, hated her job as a special-ed high school teacher, and had to borrow a cotton floral number to wear to the occasion. Her life was still “really great,” though. She also had some girlie freak-out idea that she and I were soul sisters during high school. The only reason I might have liked her then was because she had a butt bigger than mine, and, standing next to her, I was a dish.

From a very funny book, The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club, by Laurie Notaro. I had wanted to read this book after reading a later book of hers, I Love Everybody (And Other Atrocious Lies), but my library didn’t have this title. I put it on my Amazon wish list, but no one bought it for me. Then one day, it showed up in our library’s book sale. Hurray! I bought it, brought it downstairs for my mom to look at on her visit, and never finished it. But what I did read, and have read before from Ms. Notaro, is hilarious.

Today brings us part four of my five-post response to the Five Interesting Things meme. Pulling this from my 100 Things About Me list is especially on-target for today’s book review.

66. In college, I was a psychology major.
67. I used my major after college for one year.
68. Unless you include counseling my crazy family.

My childhood as the last hippie child was fairly stable, but there did seem to be such a strong emotional current to everything. Now, as my parents have gotten older, I’ve noticed the current being more like actual waves, and in the case of their divorce, one might call it a tsunami. Sometimes I look back at childhood now with a much more adult perspective and wonder about all the stuff that was going on while I was worrying about friends, and later about boys.

Susan Taylor Brown has tackled the angst of a girl in a dysfunctional family in her book, Hugging the Rock. Rachel watches her mom pack the car to go away. She’s heartbroken by the idea, the reality of her mother leaving her. What’s more, her mom is leaving her alone with her father, who has never had much to say to Rachel. Now trapped together and miserable, they must each find a way to regroup and recover. What makes it even harder for both of them is their own awareness of the mother’s troubles. Rachel has known for years that her mom needs her medicine to be close to normal, and sometimes even the medicine doesn’t work. Dad has his own secrets and pain he’s been hiding, but in the end it all needs to come to the light.

The book is told in verse form, which — don’t argue with me here — qualifies its inclusion in Poetry Friday. It will have to count, because after carrying this book around for two weeks to make time to read it and then to write about it, I’ve misplaced it in this disaster of a house. You’ll have to trust me that the poems are lovely and moving.

And continuing with the Five Interesting/Little-Known Things About You Meme, I tag the author at Susan Writes.

Also in the post about the ridiculous commercialization of the Nobel Prize for literature was a reference to a fun contest for book-lover types. Do you know any? Anyway, the writer behind the blog Defective Yeti proposed a contest for putting literary figures in political posters for funny results. He invited the world at large to make their own posters, place them on the street, and send him pictures. Well, I couldn’t resist the opportunity, especially given how much enjoyment I get out of his blog on a daily basis. He does have some overlap with books if you consider his coverage of the Nobel Prize or his post on Bush, punctuation, and the Iraq War. Now, he is a top-level blog with like 100,000 hits a day and I am... well, not that. But in keeping with the theme of the week I’ll have to tag Defective Yeti with the Five Interesting Things meme. (But it’s okay if he doesn’t do it, because me even asking him is like asking Tom Cruise to the prom. I mean, Tom Cruise before he went insane.) Either way, I’m sending in my pictures, but for you fine folks, I’m including them here.

And continuing to dole out Five Interesting Things from my 100 Things About Me List is today’s list addendum:

101. I’m pretty much a left-wing liberal.

Today, in a continuation of the Things About Me meme, I expand on this statement:

2. Some people think I’m funny.

I’ll bet that more than half of the people I know through work, the kids’ school, and Girl Scouts would not think of me as funny. Or really amusing in any way. I don’t always put forth that persona, I guess. Or if my sense of humor doesn’t click with them, I don’t even try. I’d like to think that I am thought of as funny here in the blogging world. And I suspect the people who know me think I’m a crack-up. So, only some people think I’m funny. And. That’s. Okay.

Now I’ve turned my power of humor to good and produced another “Bring On The Funny” list, this time for ages eight to twelve. You’ll find it — along with many other great articles and interviews — at The Edge of The Forest.

And since I can’t tag the wonderful editor of the online journal, given that she tagged me, I’ll instead turn the attention to someone else. This special someone routinely comments on my posts, especially noting when I write something funny. I like that about her. She’s done a couple of contests to get us all up and moving, and this new one captures my attention with the search for the funniest lines in children’s literature. She’s a poet on this wonderful journey that we call life; I tag Journey Woman.

On Sunday my blogfriend at Big A, little a tagged me for a Five Interesting Things About You meme. Now, there is nothing I love more than talking about myself; however, I have done this meme before in the form of a biography. I’ve also written a lovely, if somewhat cryptic, list of 100 Things About Me during that trend. (Btw, I highly recommend putting together your own list of 100 Things, as it’s a great exercise in bringing out who you are with small snippets of information.) So, in response to Big A’s tag, I’m going to pull an item from my 100 Things list, relate it to a book or blog, and tag that blogger. It’s another crazy theme week here at MotherReader!

(If you’re thinking “Um, another?” I just closed out Teen Read Week, which incidentally began with this wonderful post that no one responded to because everyone was all wrapped up in that new kidlitosphere phenomenon, The Cybils. I’m way on board for The Cybils, but you missed my “Pinter tea lights” line. So sad. Oh, and I did a whole week on the National Book Festival. And most of a week on my first Mo Willems meeting. And... no, that may be it.)

From the 100 Things List:

86. I wish I appreciated poetry more than I do.
87. I have written seven poems.
88. And two haiku.

I’ve been trying to really get poetry. I generally participate in Poetry Friday, even if in odd ways. I like the idea of poetry, it just doesn’t do that much for me. But I try. Oh, Lord I try.

But one book in recent times that just floored me with its poems and illustrations was the picture book (or poetry book, if you prefer) If Not for the Cat, by Jack Prelutsky (though you’d never guess it). The poems were simple and lovely. The pictures by Ted Rand were gorgeous. My daughters and I spent a lot of time with this book, reading the poems and then taking turns saying what they meant. There were some difficult words in there, but that was some of the joy of sharing this book with a kid. I could take the opportunity to ask what they thought the word meant based on the animal pictured and the context. Like here:

Boneless, translucent,
We undulate, undulate,
Gelatinously

We could talk about why the author chose to use the word undulate with the jellyfish. Fantastic book for a variety of ages.

Which leads me to my blog connection. She’s been mentioned here before for her ability to capture the nature of a book in three lines. She should be on my blogroll, but I’ve been too lazy to update it. I love her concise and often funny reviews. Hailing from small town surburbia, Massachusetts, I tag Emily Reads.