MotherReader

I haven’t been blogging because my malaise turned into a case of melancholy. I suppose I should have taken my vitamin C when I felt it coming on. Or maybe the emotional equivalent, that being Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. (My new mantra: “Everything happens.”)

Actually, it may not have been enough. Summer is ending, the house is a disaster, my projects aren’t done, and... well, stuff. But I do feel like I’m getting back on track. It doesn’t hurt when I see a great Yahoo header like:

Huge inflatable art piece escapes museum, wreaks havoc

that leads to an even better article...

A giant inflatable dog turd by American artist Paul McCarthy blew away from an exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a greenhouse window before... it fell back to Earth in the grounds of a children’s home.

Oh Yahoo, you had me at “giant inflatable dog turd.” But the mirth continues as I think of the children laughing and laughing at the biggest potty joke ever.

Well, there’s one less worry for you. Apparently there is nothing to fear from the atom-smasher. Whew.

Thanks again to the Yahoo News leading headlines for making my general malaise seem inconsequential. I may be a bit bummed about not attending ALA, I may be overwhelmed by my household chores, I may be sick of the thunderstorms every single day, but at least the Earth won’t be sucked into a black hole. So there’s that.

If it weren’t for Yahoo News, I’d laugh less often. I’m not sure I’ll get to a poem for Poetry Friday. I’ve got to head over to my new library with my mom and kids to show them around and volunteer some time. But before I go, I wanted to share the headline and article that caught my eye:

Scientists classify sarcasm as an evolutionary skill

Yeah, right.

(Where’s my sarcasm font when I need it?)

Worldwide, things have pretty much sucked lately. The cyclone and flooding in Burma. The devastating earthquake in China. The fierce tornados in the United States. The food crisis in many, many countries around the world. It’s overwhelming in its tragedy.

Then there are the racist incidents that Obama backers have faced on the campaign trail. The horrible treatment of immigrants in detention. And — let’s say it — gas prices.

It’s times like these that the stories on Yahoo’s “Featured” tab have got to get me out of my funk. Usually it’s the content that can break the mood — the Dancing with the Stars results or the live-action Fraggle Rock movie option — but I’m happiest when the headlines themselves bring it home. Because what says it better than this:


I don’t even care what the article says — I could die happy with that phrase alone. But then add the picture, which looks oddly like the pope is holding off an invading horde of little green men. The ominous shadow was actually cropped out at Yahoo. Can’t imagine why.


And there’s still more! At the end of the feature, the little magnifying glass symbol to indicate searches implores us to “Find the Vatican’s new sins list.” Is this the Where’s Waldo for Catholics? Hey, I think I see genetic modification!

What’s lightening your heart these days?

It’s the Pigeon anouncement! I was guessing “brother” or “cell phone,” but this makes more sense. Thanks for letting us in before the event, Mo. I was afraid I’d have to wait until evening, and that would have been too long.

I’m warming up to a MotherReader announcement of my own, but taking the lead from the Mo news, today I’ll point out some odds and ends from my writer friends.

Cats and Jammers blog teaches me a thing or two about Work For Hire and the illustrator’s rights — or lack thereof — associated with the practice. Especially galling when the celebrity author is keeping the change. BACA OFF! indeed.

Laura Salas asks, “How do you decide to spend your time online?” My answer: “Randomly.” Sometimes I skim through JacketFlap, but I’m more likely to go into my blogroll and poke around. It takes freakin’ forever, but I do see posts that I would have missed, and I tend to comment more than I do otherwise. The downside is that I can’t do it all the time, so I’m missing lots of stuff anyway, and my blogroll is not up to date. If anyone has a great solution for how they handle their online time, I’d like to hear it too.

Just for a laugh, check out the “updated” covers for Anne Frank and the Bible over at Radar Online. They say that girly covers sell books. (Thanks to Longstocking Jenny Han for the link.)

Mitali Perkins points out the 2007 Notable Children’s Books in the English Language Arts and wonders, “Do we value humor in the book world?” I wrote about this issue in The Edge of the Forest — saying basically, “No, but we’ll keep trying.”

YALSA and readergirlz are teaming up for Operation Teen Book Drop on April 17th, donating 10,000 books in pediatric hospitals across the country. You can join in by leaving a copy of your book with a TBD bookplate where a teen will find it and take it home. Also join the party at readergirlz on that evening, 9–11 EST to chat and clink the virtual champagne glasses. (Virtual nonalcoholic beverages provided for teens and designated virtual drivers.)

Many days I feel like I’m trudging along, doing what everyone else is doing. I’m making coffee, taking the kids to school, folding laundry, and so on. But at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, it occurred to me that nobody in America, maybe even in the world, was systematically pulling the googly eyes off yarn bugs and re-gluing them. Apparently, “tacky glue” isn’t the same as Elmer’s glue — which the girl who came up with the Girl Scout swap had told me — but pshaw, it had to work because I didn’t feel like going home and getting the “right” kind of glue. Lesson learned.

I’ve been so busy with all this GS stuff and school stuff and stuff stuff, that I’ve missed the boat on a few things. I totally spaced out on submitting for The September Carnival of Children’s Literature over at Charlotte’s Library, but at least I can read the great posts there — as can you.

In the category of Other Great Things I Didn’t Contribute To This Month, the September issue of The Edge of the Forest is up with exciting features, as well as interviews, reviews, and much, much more. Take the time to check it out.

I haven’t made time to talk about the upcoming Cybils, but the nominating and judging panels are now up, and I’ll be serving on the picture book nominating committee. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to find the best five books out of all the 2007 picture books nominated. Come to think of it, that’s sounding like a lot of work. Anyway, nominations for the best books of 2007 will open on October 1.

If you’ve been in a KidLit-free cave, then you may have missed the wonderful brainstorm of 7-Imp, where bloggers will help promote the snowflakes made for auction for Robert’s Snow for Cancer’s Cure. I’ve got Mo Willems (naturally) on Halloween (if you’ve seen his snowflake, then it makes sense), but that’s all I’ll say about that — for now.

I have some breaking news. Jenni Holm is profiled in today’s Washington Post’s KidsPost section. It’s a nice article about her mentioning her Babymouse books, and one of my 2007 favorites, Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf. She’ll be at the National Book Festival this Saturday with tons of other great authors.

I will not be there. I will be camping with my Girl Scout troop and handing out yarn bug swaps, now with non-detaching eyes. Sigh.

No introduction, just some interesting posts I noticed tonight.

Winner of the longest list title award — enjoy “First Day of School Read-Alouds with Global and Multicultural Perspectives” over at Choice Literacy (with thanks to A Year of Reading for the link).

It’s no surprise to me, but Seven-Imp bloggers love Knuffle Bunny Too. Read their joint review of Mo’s book and the new Sis book here.

Books need bookshelves, and after seeing the Corner Spacesaver Bookcase at Target, I almost 1-clicked it, I like it so so much. Thanks to Semicolon for the link, and for reminding me not only of the wonderful book sculptures that I had seen, but also that I hadn’t seen them all. Now I can.

In a Harry Potter mood? Talk about the last movie and the diversity of characters — or lack thereof — over at A Wrung Sponge. If you’ve been distracted by summer fun, maybe you haven’t chimed it at the discussion over at Scholar’s Blog Spoiler Zone, but there’s still time. You’ll find an original perspective over at... well, Original Content, and Cheryl Klein, Potter editor, posts her thoughts on the last book — as do more than a hundred commenters (thanks to Miss Erin for pointing it out).

Oh, and it makes me disproportionately happy to mention that John Green licked a cat.

It’s seventy glorious degrees outside. It looks like I picked the wrong day to put away my kids’ summer clothes. I’m bagging that project, writing a bit here, and then going outside to read a book in the sunshine. Who can blame me? But before I go, here are some odds and ends to keep you busy. I promise an actual book-related post tonight. Really.

I heard about this distraction at Bookshelves of Doom and Fuse#8, and had to post about it here. Because it’s sooo cool. Try it.

Bill and I saw Borat (the preview’s on the page) over the weekend. Unbelievably funny. And I pick the word unbelievably very purposefully, because as you watch this movie you cannot believe what you are seeing. Borat takes everything to its most offensive level — and then pushes it one step further. It’s comic genius.

Virginia may not be a total wash as it looks like we may have turned the entire Senate around by a margin of about 7,000 votes. Sometimes it’s hard to live in this state, but there are times when it really hits home how much your vote does count.

Beyond Rivalry linked to me because of that Book Meme, and in reading through her blog I found this list of Things I’ve Done. Now, I hadn’t done many of them, but at the bottom of the list is a link to a cool site, 43 Things, where you can set your own goals. Whether you want to swim with the dolphins (yes), lose weight (yes), or shave your head (uh, no), you can pull together a list and see what other people are doing. I can see myself wasting a lot of time there, y’know, reading about goals instead of, like, achieving them.

I was bleary-eyed this morning in a haze from allergies and not having my cup of coffee, and saw a book review of Vulnerable in Hearts: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons and Contact Bridge. I never thought of bridge as a contact sport. What the hell? Oh, it’s contract bridge. Ohhhhhh.

But speaking of hell, driving to work today I saw one of those signs in front of a church. You know the kind, with something clever and wise to say. This one, however, said “Friends don’t let friends go to hell.” I almost stopped to let the clergy know that they had missed the point of both these adorable little boards and the quote itself. “You see,” I would say, “these cute signs are supposed to be funny, yet wise. This statement you have is neither funny nor wise. Also, it is an adaptation of the original ‘Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.’ That was a serious message. Then it was taken over by the parodies, like ‘Friends don’t let friends vote Republican.’ Hah. That one still cracks me up. So, you see how your parody of the original isn’t really funny. Disturbing, not funny.”

Speaking of funny, I noticed that security guards at Target are called Asset Protection Specialists. They look like police with badges and everything, but with a new odd little name. Are we supposed to be reassured by the name? They’re not guards, you see, they are specialists in protecting assets. I laughed my asset off.

Speaking of assets, apparently my uncleanliness has its merits. A new study noted in The Washington Post finds that children who live their early years around more dust have less of a chance of developing asthma. The article title is “Drop that Vacuum.” So, maybe I did better for my children vacuuming bees than dirt. Who knew?

Today just some snippets and follow-ups for those who care.

Yesterday’s Kids’ Post profiled Blue Balliet and her new book The Wright 3 (article sidebars available here and here). Also, when you go to the Amazon reviews of this book you will see the lengthy review of my new best friend and new favorite reviewer. She’s not crazy about the book.

I welcome FuseNumber8 over to the dark side as she takes the bunny down in the continuing debate over The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. I am hoping that my quote, “one doesn’t put a bunny on a cross without trying to convey something,” enters into every discussion of this book from this point forward.

Over to the (hold my hands up to form the letter L) left side of my blog, is Rick Mercer’s blog, just because I think it is funny how he takes a politician (generally Canadian) and uses Photoshop to do something funny with the picture. Well, this week it is George Bush’s turn, and I am especially enjoying the photos.

Also on your left, I have added a couple of “Just ’Cause” links. I direct your attention today to the Tohobohu Productions link. I will be a producer for the upcoming 48-Hour Film Project. Wish me luck.