MotherReader

First, a repeat from the last post with the winners of The Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge are:

• LiyanaLand!
  Featuring a teen from Singapore
  
• Everyone has a Blue Castle...
  Featuring a librarian from Maryland
  
• The Purpled One
  Featuring a woman who started her blog for the 48HBC
  

Absolutely amazing readers who will have to tell us more about how they stayed awake through all of those reading/blogging hours. And maybe how they kept people — like moms, for instance — from engaging them in hour-long phone conversations. I’ll be in touch with your about the super prize packages!

Now, more prizes! I have books for participants selected with the Random Integer Generator. Participants had to complete twelve hours of reading/blogging/networking to be eligible for prizes. In the order drawn, the winners are:

• Jaimie from Three Cheers for Literacy
  
• Heather from Geeky Reads
  
• Maggi from Mamma Librarian
  
• Tricia from Teens@CPL
  
• Beth from Library Chicken
  

Prize winners, please write me at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com with your address, and the books you’d most be interested in receiving. If you’d like a personalized copy, please note to whom you’d like it signed; I’ll do my best to accommodate. (Choices include: signed copy of The Cardturner, personalized, signed copy of Seaglass Summer, personalized, signed copy of Operation Yes, personlized, signed copy of The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate; a personalized, signed book selection from Melissa Wiley’s Little House books and — in an ironic turn for MotherReader — author/illustrator signed copy of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.)

For the Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge we had almost a hundred people complete the challenge with fifty-five blogs listing totals of twenty hours or more. Here in order of their finish line sign-in are:

48 Hour Book Challenge Twenty Hours Club

1. MotherReader 28.5 hours
   
2. Over the Moon and Sun 41.5 hours
   
3. The Fourth Musketeer 22.5 hours
   
4. Lessons from the Tortoise 20 hours
   
5. Books Like Breathing 43.5 hours
   
6. Blue Castle 48 hours
   
7. Reading Chick 22.25 hours
   
8. A Patchwork of Books 26.5 hours
   
9. The Dimly Seen 23.25 hours
   
10. Teens@CPL 24 hours
    
11. Book Nut 22.75 hours
    
12. A Moment With Mystee 43.5 hours
    
13. BookLoss 26.5 hours
    
14. Bibliovore 24.5 hours
    
15. Madigan Reads 31 hours
    
16. The Literary Wife 22 hours
    
17. A Room Without Books Is Empty 22 hours
    
18. House of Crawford 22 hours
    
19. Book Clutter 22 hours
    
20. The Lost Entwife 26 hours
    
21. Blog from the Windowsill 27.75 hours
    
22. What We Read 26.5 hours
    
23. Situations Where You May Need It 30 hours
    
24. Two Canadian Readers 22 hours
    
25. So Many Books... 27 hours
    
26. Reading with Tequila 23.75
    
27. Abby the Librarian 28.75 hours
    
28. Charlotte’s Library 25 hours
    
29. (LiyanaLand! 48 hours
    
30. Reading and Writing from Red Stick 22 hours
    
31. The Book Maven 23.5 hours
    
32. Becky’s Book Reviews 25 hours
    
33. Ms. Martin Teaches Media 26 hours
    
34. My Favoritest 22 hours
    
35. Stiletto Storytime 21.25 hours
    
36. The Purpled One 48 hours
    
37. Nomad Librarian 24 hours
    
38. Musings of a Book Addict 24.5 hours
    
39. Lost in the Library 23.5 hours
    
40. Biblio File 33 hours
    
41. Literate Lives 20 hours
    
42. Lucy Was Robbed 20 hours
    
43. The Infinite Shelf 22 hours
    
44. Mama Librarian 30.5 hours
    
45. Darkly Reading 21.5 hours
    
46. Sonderbooks 26.75 hours
    
47. Library Chicken 31 hours
    
48. BookMoot 25.5 hours
    
49. Trisha at The YA YA YAs 20.5
    
50. Bookgazing 21.75
    
51. Karen at GHHS Library 28 hours
    
52. Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog 21.25 hours
    
53. The Neverending Shelf 22.5 hours
    
54. I’d So Rather Be Reading 24 hours
    
55. One Librarian’s Book Reviews 24.25 hours
    

Many bloggers also connected their personal readathons with a cause. As I know it now, here’s a list of Blogging for The Greater Good:

• Biblio File — $725.54 to Room to Read
  
• Blue Castle — $75.25 to a couple adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia.
  
• Blog from the Windowsill — $25 to Friends of the Library
  
• Boys Rule! Boys Read — $80 for Charlotte Mecklenburg library
  
• Book Clutter — $22 to Love146
  
• Check It Out — $25 to Fanconi Anemia Research fund
  
• Cybermac — $12 to a local education fund
  
• Deraps Reads $10 to Donors Choose
  
• Imaginary Dreamer $50 to Donors Choose
  
• Infinite Shelf — $20 to gulf clean-up
  
• Library Chicken — $49 to local library
  
• Literate Lives — $28 to Welcome Warehouse
  
• Liyanaland — $48 to local literacy charity
  
• Mama Librarian — $32 to Little Lake Free School
  
• A Moment with Mystee — $48 to ASPCA
  
• A Patchwork of Books $27.00 to DC School from Donors choose
  
• Readers Carousel — $45 CureSearch
  
• Reading Chick — $44.50 International Bird Rescue Center
  
• Reno, the Girl — 14 books to her library
  
• A Room without Books is Empty — $22 to Donors Choose
  
• Situations Where You May Need It — $45 for Alpine Valley School
  
• So Many Books… — 27 Euros to Books for Africa
  
• Two Canadian Readers — $44 to Literacy Group
  
• Two Canadian Readers — $27.50 to Central Asia Institute
  

Visit the blogs above for more information about their specific causes. Since I wasn’t always able to determine the amount or exact cause, I am happy to accept corrections or additions to this list.

Though I hadn’t announced this, we are able to give a prize to the person who raised the most money for charity — which is Jennie of Biblio File! She’ll get a lovely necklace from Hoolala. Based on the number of finishers who have signed out and those I know to have done the challenge but not yet signed out, I’ll be donating $100 to a project at this DC School through Donors Choose.

Thanks to all the authors and bloggers who contributed prizes. Special thanks go to Carol Rasco from RIF, who will be donating multicultural library collections for schools or other youth-serving organizations — as chosen by the top three winners! Another special thanks to Kristen from Blue Castle, who donated the most beautiful necklaces from Hoolala and coin purses made from fabrics used in the Shakespeare Theatre plays in DC. Thanks to all of the bloggers who mentioned, tweeted about, and otherwise promoted the 48 Hour Book Challenge. We would never have had such a fantastic turnout without your help. Thanks to the bloggers who supported a cause — and supported each other in raising money. Of course, thanks to all of you who participated and made this such a special, amazing, fabulous event! I couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t do it without you all!

Even though the contest is called the 48 Hour Book Challenge, it is hard for me to conceive of people reading for the entire time. It pretty much blows my mind! This year three people read and blogged for the entire forty-eight hours! No breaks that didn’t come with an audiobook soundtrack and no sleep. Crazyness.

The winners of The Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge are:

• LiyanaLand!
  Featuring a teen from Singapore
  
• Everyone has a Blue Castle...
  Featuring a librarian from Maryland
  
• The Purpled One
  Featuring a woman who started her blog for the 48HBC
  

Absolutely amazing readers who will have to tell us more about how they stayed awake through all of those reading/blogging hours. And maybe how they kept people — like moms for instance — from engaging them in hour-long phone conversations.

Later today, I’ll have a second post with all the members of the Twenty Hours Club, the donations collected, and random prizes for players. Congratulations to this year’s remarkable winners!

You made it! On this Finish Line post, leave the direct link to your final summary page, which should include: the amount of time spent on the challenge, books read, amount collected for charity, and which charity it will benefit.

I decided to donate one dollar to my designated Donors Choose school for everyone who finishes the challenge, which means to me that you signed in as a participant, read/blogged some books, and signed in at the Finish Line. So perhaps that little extra incentive can get folks to record their time and complete the 48HBC all official-like. Given different starting times over the weekend and time zones, the end is set at Monday, June 7th, at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. All final summary posts should be up by then. That said, sometimes there are folks who need some nudging, so I won’t announce any winners until after noon on Monday, June 7th.

I decided not to have a separate kid sign-in, but if you have a child who put in challenge hours this weekend, let me know in the comments because I will have some prizes to send out.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and supported and promoted the 48 Hour Book Challenge! Read on!

So I read eight books and spent twenty-eight and a half hours on the challenge. Certainly good, but not as much as I’d hoped for given how wide open my weekend was. In some ways the freedom was part of the problem, because it didn’t give me real mental breaks from reading or allow me to process the books. Which, in turn, led to my sad lack of reviews.

I tend to write my posts after going through them in my head while I’m doing other things, rather than sitting myself down in front of the computer and drafting the full version. But for the 48HBC, I can’t really count time showering and thinking about the book as real blogging time. It doesn’t seem right. Yet that is as much my process as it is for other people to take notes and craft them into a review.

I wanted to write about the books I read, because they were all great! Seriously, a wonderful run of books. But I think I’ll have to do the reviews throughout the week, as I’ll have time and mental space to give each the attention it deserves.

Before I began, I had a completely different stack of books I’d planned to tackle, mostly Young Adult titles. But as I read the first book about an eleven year old, it occurred to me that I didn’t want to enter the angst and turmoil and often-darkness of YA. Not now. Not for this weekend. As I realized that I had three books that were about eleven year olds, I decided to make that fifth/sixth-grade age my theme. I switched out the stack I had so carefully selected for a set of completely different books. It worked for me, in that I enjoyed the reading level and ended up loving all of the books. A pretty wonderful experience to have had so many awesome books in a row. Since I can’t leave you without any reaction, here are my overall thoughts on each:

Seaglass Summer, by Anjali Banerjee (2010)
Loved the strong characters, the soothing picture of the island life, and the sensitive handling of death — and life. Beautifully done.

The Dancing Pancake, by Eileen Spinelli (2010)
Another book with a sensitive handling of a difficult topic — separation — and realistic, accessible characters. My personal favorite is the cousin, for the funny and dead-on dialogue of a lively four-year-old boy. Delightful.

Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer L. Holm (2010)
Again, loved the characters. Loved the setting. Loved the humor and the conflict. Loved the few pages of history at the back that provided context. Wonderful.

Smells Like Dog, by Suzanne Selfors (2010)
This was a different book than I’d expected, but I was quickly captured by the humor and adventure. I enjoyed the ride.

How I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life (and a Dog), by Art Corriveau (2010)
Well written boy-and-his-dog story, with a little mystery, a little pre-teen angst, and a lot of nicely placed humor. Almost makes me want a dog.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume (1970)
I choose this because of my eleven-twelve year old theme, wondering if this older book still held the wonders of this age. Yup. Lives up to my memory of it.

Also Known as Harper, by Ann Haywood Leal (2009)
Sadder than I was expecting somehow, but not without hope contained within the story and the characters themselves. Glad I found it again.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger (2010)
Funny and so real in its portrayal of the dynamics of middle school. Just excellent. And hello? A shoutout to the Kidlitosphere in the acknowledgements! How cool!

Last bit of time on the clock, it’s the overnight shift, and I’m out of Diet Coke. We’ll see how this goes.

8:00 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.	Read The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Guys, why didn’t anyone tell me that the Kidlitosphere is thanked in the acknowledgements? Awesome!
9:15 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.	Brief tweeting, then blog post updating.
9:30 p.m. – 9:45 p.m.	Heading to the school early to pick up teen because the parking there sucks. Decide I’m going to bring my notebook — actual spiral notebook — to see if I can draft some posts while I wait, because I’ve written nothing so far. Nothing!
9:45 p.m. – 10:15 p.m.	Yeah, that didn’t work. But I did bring a back-up book to read in the car.
10:15 p.m. – 10:45 p.m.	Heard about the dance on the drive home, and sat through the retelling at home. She had fun, though the boys didn’t dance with the girls. Typical.
10:45 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.	Post updating.
11:00 p.m. – 12:00 mid.	Social Media time.
12:00 mid. – 1:00 a.m.	Writing reviews. Kind of. Not going well.
1:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.	Dozing on the couch.
2:00 a.m. – 3:00 a.m.	Writing final summary.
3:00 a.m. – 4:15 a.m.	Last Social Media time, checking in on the last thirty blogs.
4:15 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.	Sleeping away the last hours of my time, I’m guessing quite happily.

Six and a half hours of the twelve-hour period.

I’m going to continue to post these at the end of the twelve-hour periods, but write them as I go. Because why not? Also, I was actually up at 7:30 a.m. without even trying, but I spent that time checking emails and blogs.

8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.	Read How I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life (and a Dog)
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.	Break for breakfast and shower.
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.	Blog post tweaking.
11:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	Help teen with early primping for tonight’s dance while listening to Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	Involved in general logistics of getting my teen out the door to study session before the dance.
2:00 p.m. – 3:15 a.m.	Read Also Known as Harper.
3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.	Can’t bellieve I’m taking time out to negotiate with our meat guy. Yes, we have a meat guy.
3:45 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.	Brief tweeting, then back to Also Known as Harper.
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Social Media time. Made it through comments on the first fifty blogs.
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.	Take teen and some friends to the dance. So exciting to see the girls all dressed up. Then a dinner break.

Nine hours of this twelve-hour period.

“FatherReader” here, with a special announcement. MotherReader’s still reading furiously (after yet another unscheduled interruption, which I suspect she’ll tell you all about later), so I thought I’d help alleviate some of her frustration (don’t worry — the kids are adjusting quite well to their cages) by posting a quick note about a couple of special bonus prizes for this year’s competition.

First of all, since we didn’t have time to solicit sponsors for MR’s Greater Good charity (what with all of the family drama going on of late), she’s decided to donate a dollar to her designated Donors Choose school for everyone who finishes the 48 Hour Book Challenge! So if you need some encouragement to do some reading and write up a final post, know that your work will be helping get schoolchildren the books they need!

And second — speaking of helping get quality books into the hands of children — RIF will be donating not one, not two, but three multicultural library collections for schools or other youth-serving organizations — as chosen by the top three (domestic*) winners! We’re talking about approximately 50 hardback books (the list of titles can be seen in this PDF document)! (Special thanks to Carol Rasco for making the offer!)

And all of these are in addition to the excellent assortment of prizes for the winners and a bevy of signed books to be given to participants as “door prizes.” Books like The Cardturner, Seaglass Summer, Operation Yes, The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate, and — in an ironic turn for MotherReader — The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

So stay strong, and keep reading!

It’s weird to be writing these in present tense when I know I’m not posting them until tomorrow, but I like the immediate sound. I guess there’s also no particular reason to start a second update when I haven’t posted the first, but there’s something sad about only having one update, so I’m doing them in twelve-hour increments.

8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.	Started review posts for all three books.
9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.	Oh, Mom. Why must you call during my 48HBC time? Especially with, “I haven’t heard from you in a while!” Yeah, Mom, like since Tuesday.
10:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.	Some social media time. Not like I earned it. Sigh.
10:30 p.m. – 1:30 a.m.	Mood for writing posts broken by Mom’s call. Read Smells Like Dog instead.
1:30 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.	Social media time.
2:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.	Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Five hours of this twelve-hour period.

I signed in at 7:00 a.m. to make sure that the Mr. Linky thing worked, but actually started my own time at 8:00 a.m. after a cup of coffee and a skim of the newspaper.

8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.	Read Seaglass Summer
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	Unscheduled break as I talked to my in-laws for an hour and then took a tour of my neighbor’s new addition. Seriously, an hour.
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.	Finished Seaglass Summer, wiped off leftover tear trails, started Update post.
11:00 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.	Read The Dancing Pancake, which veers on the young side for the Challenge but I needed it after losing an hour after barely beginning 48HBC plus after getting weepy after Seaglass Summer.
12:40 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.	A little weepy about The Dancing Pancake. I’m a mess lately.
12:45 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.	Mini Social Media time.
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.	Never mind. Full hour of Social Media time now.
1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	Break. (Did I brush my teeth yet? Now’s my chance.)
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.	Reading Turtle in Paradise
2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Talking to the teen after school. Good mommy. Bad reader.
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.	After a brief tweet, back to the book.
4:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.	Reading, but hungry.
4:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.	Snack and a little bit of Hannah Montana. (It was already on! Don’t judge me!)
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.	Read Turtle in Paradise. Quick tweet.
6:00 p.m. – 6:05 p.m.	Tabulate my time.
6:05 p.m. – 6:10 p.m.	Check again. Yup 6 3/4 hrs + 1 social media hour.
6:10 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.	Realize that all this tabulating and updating counts, thus making it 7 hours plus 1 Social hour. Eight hours total. Wahoo!
6:15 p.m.	Time to pick up the kid from her field trip. Assuming that I’m beginning another long break now...

Eight hours of this twelve-hour period.

You’ve read the rules, stacked the books, and caged the kids. It’s time to read.

When you start your time, sign in with Mr. Linky here. Keep track of your time — which includes reading, blogging, and some connecting (for every five hours reading/reviewing you can take one hour of blog reading, tweeting, and general bookish socializing). To keep the Starting Line post at the top of my blog, I won’t start my personal posts until sometime Saturday morning.

On Sunday, I’ll have a Finish Line post where you can leave the link to your final summary page, which should include the amount of time spent on the challenge. With everything going on, I didn’t have a chance to post the prizes. Sorry about that. I can tell you that I have a lot of books, and I will certainly indulge the winners with a collection of signed books, ARCs, jewelry, and general fun stuff.

Have fun, read well.

I had planned to write about Book Expo America and the Book Blogger Convention when I got back on Saturday, but personal events conspired against me. And boy, is that an understatement. With the 48 Hour Book Challenge starting tomorrow — TOMORROW! — I’m putting off my BEA/BBC coverage until next week — with the exception of today’s post at PBS Booklights, where I talk about three of the books I was most excited to find. Plus I share a picture of me and a man in Groucho glasses.

Off to prepare my reading list for tomorrow.

First, a quick Public Service Announcement: School Library Journal has moved its blogs, including our beloved Fuse#8. Please take thirty seconds to mark the new address in your blogroll or blogreader, and check any other SLJ blogs that may have been affected. Thank you.

Now, here are a few questions that have come up for the Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge.

---

Do I need to have a blog to participate?
Pretty much. But if you set one up just for this challenge, you wouldn’t be the first to do so. Plus next week Maw Books is going to help get our blogs into shape with the mid-year Bloggiesta, so you might find that the 48HBC kicks off a new hobby for you.

Do you have to register with Mr. Linky before you can use it?
Not that I know of. You should only have to register with the Mr. Linky site if you are hosting this type of listing on your blog. Since you will simply be signing in on my blog with the Mr. Linky I’ve set up, you should be fine.

Can I count time reading to my child? Can my kids join in?
You can certainly count time reading aloud to your child — or to anyone, for that matter — as long as you’re using chapter books. Kids can always play along for the fun of it, but right now — off the top of my head — I’m thinking that I could make a few small prizes available to kid readers. They would have to keep track of their time (with adult help, perhaps), and write reviews/impressions/thoughts of their books on their sponsoring adult’s blog (you could do the actual posting). I’ll have a separate Finishing Line for kid readers and will select a few at random for prizes. We’ll give this a bit of a trial run.

How does this reading for charity thing work?
Any way you want. I’ve been reluctant to assign a specific method or charity, because I want to allow bloggers the freedom to choose — including whether they want to participate in this aspect of the 48HBC. You can donate a set amount per hour you read and even seek sponsors. You could donate based on the number of comments or books read or the total number of 48HBC finishers or something else I’m not thinking of. I’m supporting projects through Donors Choose, and specifically this DC school. You are welcome to help me meet their goal, pick another school local to your area, select something else entirely, or skip this portion of the 48HBC.

How can I contact you to donate prizes?
Write me at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com and let me know what you’d like to donate. I usually pull together a bunch of things — books, jewelry, notecards, T-shirts, etc. — to make prize packages for the winners. I also like to have a few authors who’d be willing to send a personalized, signed book to a blogger for a few randomly selected “door prizes.” I’ll also take critiques, illustrator art/sketches/doodles, an offer to name a character in a book after a winner, or an eReader. If you have contacted me and haven’t heard back, then I must extend my apologies — I’ve been a bit overwhelmed, and have not handled everything as smoothly as I would have liked. Assume I’m interested, and I’ll be checking back through my email this week.

Where are bloggers putting their small kids while doing all this reading?
One word: cages.

We are now days away from the Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge, and ready to rock n’ read. The most important thing to note is that participants need to sign in at the starting line post here at MotherReader on Friday, June 4th. I’m repeating the rules today to allow for last questions, comments, or suggestions. It also gives us another chance to talk it up on our blogs and Twitter feeds, perhaps bringing more folks into our friendly fold.

1. The weekend is June 4–6, 2010. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the fourth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday the seventh. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday... or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But the 48 hours do need to be in a row. That said, during that 48-hour period you may still have gaps of time in which you can’t read, and that’s fine. (In the middle of the three different challenge weekends I’ve had to go to work, attend a ballet recital, and drive for a Girl Scout event.)
   
2. The books should be about fifth-grade level and up. Adult books are fine, especially if adult book bloggers want to play. If you are generally a picture book blogger, consider this a good time to get caught up on all those wonderful books you’ve been hearing about. Graphic novels can be included in the reading. One audiobook can also be included in your time and book total.
   
3. The top three winners will be based only on time commitment, not number of books. So if you are heading into the 30+ hours club or 40+ hours club, track your time carefully. International winners may be given gift cards instead books due to mailing costs, unless a U.S. address is provided.
   
4. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. If you want to skip sleep and showers to do this — and some people do — go for it. If you want to be a bit more laid back, fine. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. Twelve hours is the benchmark for winning prizes.
   
5. The length of the reviews or notes written in your blog are not an issue. You can write a sentence, a paragraph, or a full-length review. Up to you. The time spent reviewing counts in your total time.
   
6. New last year: You can include some amount of time reading other participant’s blogs, commenting on participating blogs and Facebook pages, and Twittering about your progress (remember the #48hbc tag!). For every five hours, you can add one hour of networking. This time counts in your total time.
   
7. On your blog, state when you are starting the challenge with a specific entry on that day and leave the link to that post at the Starting Line post at MotherReader on June 4th (via the trusty Mr. Linky).
   
8. When you finish, write a final summary that clearly indicates hours — including partial hours — you spent reading/reviewing/networking, the number of books read, and any other comments you want to make on the experience. It needs to be posted no later than noon EST on Monday, June 7th. Also, check in at the Finish Line post on MotherReader that will be posted Sunday and please link to that post from your final summary post.

Last year we began to connect the 48HBC to charitable causes, and folks were able to connect their personal readathon to a Greater Good of their choice. While you may continue to select your own charity, I’m going to suggest supporting book and literacy projects through Donors Choose, a great resource that connects teachers in need of supplies to donors with funds to give. For myself, I plan to donate $1 per hour read to this DC school and welcome others — perhaps those not able to do the challenge this year — to sponsor me. Other participants can contribute to this cause and even this school as well, or to something else that moves you. Your readathon can be based on sponsors, comments, books read, or something else entirely. You can also choose not to participate in this aspect of the 48 Hour Book Challenge, though you may find a way to support others’ efforts by leaving comments (if that’s what is being tallied).

I continue to look for donations for winners’ prize packages and other “door prizes” to be awarded to participants selected at random. Past prizes have included original sketches from Mo Willems and Matthew Holm, signed and sketched books from Adam Rex, loads of signed books, t-shirts from Threadless, artistic blank journals, jewelry, gift cards, notecards, and more. Good stuff. If you’d like to contribute to the prizes this year, shoot me an email at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com.

Questions can also go in the comments, and I will respond in the comments and, if needed, with clarification in the final rules. Good luck, have fun, and happy reading!

Finishing up the ABC Storytime with combined letters, because finding a book for X is simply too much work. Thanks for following along this year!


Song: “The Alphabet Song”

Book: Appaloosa Zebra, by Jessie Haas

Song: “The X Song”

(to the tune of “Where is Thumbkin?”)

Where is X?
Where is X?
Here I am.
Here I am.
How are you today X?
Very well, I thank you.
X away, X away.

(The first time you sing the song, cross your fingers to form the letter X. The second time, cross your arms.)

Book: The Yellow Tutu, by Kirsten Bramsen

Song: “Let’s Give a Yell for Y”

(to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”)

Let’s give a yell for Y,
Let’s give a yell for Y.
Y is for you and for yellow too,
Let’s give a yell for Y

Yarn begins with Y...
Yawn begins with Y...

Book: Zee, by Michel Gay

Fingerplay: “Zebras in the Zoo”

(counting on fingers)

Five zebras in a zoo
The first one said, I need new shoes
The second said, I do too
The third one said, My name is Sue
The fourth one said, It’s nice to meet you
The fifth one said, How do you do?

Book: One Night in the Zoo, by Judith Kerr

So, LOST. I’m still thinking about the final episode, and I’m coming around to appreciating it more than I did at first. Overall, I liked watching all of the characters in the sideways world remembering their island life. That said, some of that recall had to be pretty painful. Did Sun and Jin turn to each other five minutes later and say, “Ohmigod, worst vacation ever!”

At first I was mad that the sideways world was not a parallel timeline that the Lost folks could leap to in a flash of light. That was my alternate ending. But after reading a bunch of articles, I realize that my option would have given us a happy ending, but would have meant that none of the island stuff really mattered. And it kind of had to matter. So I’m making peace with the “waiting room” idea.

However, while the finale provided a good emotional closure, it left so much unanswered. That’s been my problem with this whole season. At the end of each episode, I found myself wondering if the writers truly understood how little time they had to explain everything. Anything!

But even the decision to not provide answers makes sense in a way. An article from the LA Times had a great analysis, including this perfect line: “One of the reasons I think Lost worked was that it was always more interested in the box and the person holding the box than what was in the box.” Yeah, okay. But I still want to know why Walt was special.

If you want to read more analysis, here’s where I’ve been:

I enjoyed participating in the intelligent and interesting discussion at Melissa Wiley’s blog and am looking forward to her later write-up.

Here’s an interview with the writers at The New York Times before the finale aired. And a second one, less than thrilled with the end, but explaining aspects of it.

This one from Wired expresses dissatisfaction with the ending, and asks people to send in their own ideas for the end — which has been alternately funny and illuminating.

The Chicago Tribune has a summary and a further analysis that features this great insight: “[The finale said] that we find redemption through our own actions, our own willingness to change, and our hard-won belief in ourselves and others.”

Time’s Tuned In blog convinced me that it had to matter. And then this comment in the Slate forum came and blew my mind. This is only a small part of the mini-essay that may be one of the most eloquently written things I’ve ever read.

I live on a very peculiar island, and though I’ve been here for a long while now, I know almost nothing about it. I don’t know the reason I am here, nor do I know if there’s even a reason to be known. One day I opened my eyes, and here I was — knowing nothing and knowing no one, ignorant of all that had come before...

I loved the way LOST ended. It resolved all questions the way they are resolved in our own lives. Dead is dead. Whatever happened, happened. Some things are irreversible, and you can’t fix the past... And the question we always wondered — the question we always will wonder — remained. What is this place, and why were we here? And they answered that too, in the most beautiful way imaginable: You don’t get to find out.

Oh, so much I meant to write about this week. This month, really. But it would be best for me to focus on only my shorter-term ball-dropping, as it were.

First, quickly, a note to check out the three categories of books I see as most essential for a child’s beginning bookshelf. See if you agree with me at PBS Booklights.

Second, also quickly, save some time to read the amazing interviews from the Summer Blog Blast Tour. I’ll be doing reading on Sunday, after my Girl Scout camping trip but before LOST. (LOST!!!)

Third, less quickly, I’m going to the Book Blogger Convention on Friday, May 28th, and there is still time for you to join me there. Yes, I just checked the registration, and it’s still open. The schedule looks very interesting, and the registration fee includes a pass to BookExpo America. There are a number of publishers who will be in attendance, along with the bevy of bloggers. (Bevy being our official group designation, I believe.) Looking at the list of attendees, I’m going to be meeting a lot of new people. As this is not KidLitCon (stay tuned for more info on that!), more participants are bloggers in adult books — though there is a lot of crossover in YA. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to share knowledge with this group, plus listen to our own Betsy Bird and Terry Doherty on panels and Maureen Johnson as a speaker. Look at the full listing at the site.

If you can’t make the whole thing, consider coming to the reception on Thursday evening after BEA closes shop for the day. I’ll certainly be there, and will be trolling the BEA floor itself on Thursday. With all that is going on at home, I couldn’t afford to take the time to come on Wednesday. Sorry, but I’ll miss KidLit Drink Night. I’m flying in early on Thursday morning to put in a full day at BEA, so I’d love to see some blogger friends along the way (or someone to pick me up at JFK). I’m mostly looking at book signings to collect prizes for the 48 Hour Book Challenge (Still taking sign-ups! And prize donations!), and I’ll bet if you look at the schedule you can figure out where I’ll be. I can say for sure though that I’m going to attend the presentation of Guys of Guys Read at 1:00PM at the Downtown Stage. I’ll wear my letter scarf so you can find me. (What’s my letter scarf? Oh, you’ll know it when you see it.)

All that said, I would be elated to know in advance about some BFFs to expect to see there, so drop a comment here or coordinate on Facebook or something. Seriously, I shouldn’t even be going to NYC with everything I’ve got on my plate, so I could use an energy boost from my buddies. In a pinch, I’d even take envy.

W is for “What the what? I never did a W Storytime?” So here, fresh off my Amazon and library catalog research is the new storytime...


Book: Wake Up, City, by Susan Verlander

Book: Walk On! A Guide for Babies of All Ages, by Marla Frazee, or Night Walk, by Jill Newsome

Song: “This is the Way We Walk to School”

This is the way we walk to school,
Walk to school, walk to school,
This is the way we walk to school,
So early in the morning.

This is the way we wiggle to school…
This is the way we whoosh to school…

Book: Whoosh Went the Wind! by Sally Derby

Song: “Blow, Blow, Blow the Wind”

Blow, blow, blow, the wind

Gently through the trees.

Blow, and blow, and blow, and blow.

How I like a breeze!
Blow, blow, blow the clouds,

Blow them through the sky.

Blow, and blow, and blow, and blow.

Watch the clouds roll by!

Book: A Weekend with Wendell, by Kevin Henkes

Song: “Days of the Week”

(to the tune of “Oh My Darling”)



Sunday, Monday

Tuesday, Wednesday

Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Sunday, Monday

Tuesday, Wednesday

Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Book: Whistle for Willie, by Ezra Jack Keats

Alternate Books: Diary of a Wombat, by Jackie French, or Wombat Walkabout, by Carol Diggory Shields

It’s time once again for the Summer Blog Blast Tour, where interviews abound. Or something like that. I couldn’t participate this time around, but am happy to point you to the Master Schedule for the week, and — just for kicks — to point out today’s lineup:

• Mary Jane Beaufrand at The Ya Ya Yas
• Rita Williams-Garcia at Fuse Number 8
• Jennifer Hubbard at Writing & Ruminating
• Charise Mericle Harper at Shelf Elf
• Holly Schindler at Little Willow

Check out the interviews, and hey, leave a comment too.

Technically, you haven’t crashed the premiere party if you didn’t eat the cake. Which means that my longer-than-average stay following the Kennedy Center opening of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical was still within the bounds of decorum. Probably. But let’s go back to the beginning.

As if being an rock-star author/illustrator of children’s books weren’t enough for this millenium, Mo Willems also wrote a musical based on his best-selling, award-winning book, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. This little musical opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. As it so happens, I live near Washington, D.C., and certainly could not miss such a musical. Which is how I found myself on the first Saturday in May at an altogether special event.

My fifth grader and I were excited to go — both loving Knuffle Bunny, musicals, and Mo. I had read about about the musical on Mo’s blog, and was lucky enough to get tickets to the opening night performance. Because maybe Mo mentioned that was the night he would be attending the play. As we went in, I ran into Sue Corbett writing for Publishers Weekly and Dawn Mooney from 5 Minutes for Books. They had better seats than I did.

But they may have missed what I saw: Mo and family sitting in a fairly random place in the theater among all the “regular people.” No roped-off section for the Willems clan. There was something nice about seeing the writer of such a fantastic project sitting out among the audience. Even more sweet as I saw the kisses and hugs shared among the family as the actors took their bows.

My daughter and I enjoyed the musical, and were excited about the possibility of sharing that with the Man of the Hour. We extended our congratulations — along with our fellow bloggers — as we held up traffic in the aisles. I knew that my daughter wanted to say hello to Trixie, as she shared the stage with her in September and felt like they were now friends. Trixie was delightful and sweet, introducing us to her friend. Who was Jacqueline Woodson’s daughter. Yes, I believe I know of that author. So I met Jacqueline Woodson, as my daughter offered her daughter — and Trixie — Silly Bandz.

As we made our way up the aisle — now being urged along by ushers — we had a nice chat about New York City and visiting D.C. and drawing on walls. I talked briefly with Cheryl Willems as her husband created a bottleneck leaving the theater with everyone wanting to talk to him. Having done so — and trying to recognize some sense of boundaries in not doing so again — I was now hoping to catch an actor that my husband knows to give congrats on the great show.
It was still crowded getting out of the theater, and it didn’t really occur to me to think why until I saw the large cake and glasses of champagne. That’s when it hit me that the only people who were still there were the ones celebrating the opening performance of the show. I couldn’t resist a quick pic of the cake, but before we could make our way through the rest of the tightly packed room the speeches started. I will admit, that did put us right on the edge of crashing the party, but it would have been much more obvious and rude to leave at that point. So we listened politely, clapped appropriately, and then left quietly.

And as I said, I don’t think it can count as crashing if we didn’t eat the cake. At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

For more on the musical itself, head over to Booklights, where I have a review and background stories. And quotes. And maybe even a picture of like the actual play or something.

Edited to add the text originally published at Booklights.

When the folks at the Kennedy Center had an idea to do a show based on the award-winning book Knuffle Bunny, Mo Willems didn't hesitate. Okay, maybe he hesitated, but he certainly accepted the challenge to write the script and lyrics of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical. For over two years he worked with more than thirty people to turn the picture book into a one-hour family musical.

With Grammy Award winning composer Michael Silversher taking on the music, Mo worked most closely on the script with dramaturge Megan Alrutz. As he notes on his blog, "If you ever get the chance to get your own Dramaturge, do it! They're awesome. The thought of losing my Dramaturge to other dramaturgically needy projects in the future fills me with dread. And, as long as you're getting a Dramaturge, get Megan. She rocks." Workshops and rehearsals with the cast and crew helped to further shape the musical with even additional tweaking even on the Friday before the performance.

The musical certainly feels like a Mo Willems production. Fans will instantly recognize the background projected on the stage and even the clothes the characters are wearing as being from the book. The plot is the same, the father takes his young daughter to the laundromat and misplaces her beloved Knuffle Bunny, causing a toddler meltdown of miscommunication and complete frustration.

For the musical, the part of Trixie is played by Stephanie D'Abruzzo, an old pal from Mo's Sesame Street and Sheep in the Big City days. She dives into the tough role, portraying Trixie's garbled speech and active imagination with a childlike enthusiasm. Michael John Casey gives the audience a fantastic Dad, who is ready to take on anything and make it fun. Erika Rose is the knowing Mom, and Matthew McGloin and Gia Mora handle the other characters as Puppeteers.

The children in the audience laughed during the show, and there is much for adults to appreciate as well. Trixie's inability to communicate creates much of the humor of the book and the musical, and yet it's also a real source of frustration and helplessness for both father and daughter. The musical gave an opportunity to explore this deeper connection to our own feelings of inadequacy as parents. That point when we recognize that our child has ideas and an individually that we can't always comprehend or even recognize.

This theme is evident as the father sings about all the things that he will teach his daughter, while not noticing her already intense fascination with the world around her. In fact as she expresses delight in a friendly pigeon - yes, that pigeon - her father scares the bird away as a "dirty rat with wings." As poor Trixie sings a sad song of toddler gibberish - complete with boa and spotlight - about the loss of her stuffed friend, her father is lost in misunderstanding. And yet as he feels that frustration of not getting it and not doing it right, he still is able to tap into what is most important - the love that he feels for his little girl. Of course, it all turns out fine at the end.

Overall, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical is a fun show for kids and their adults, with catchy music and lots of laughs along with a sentimental spirit. And what struck Mo Willems as a member of the audience? " I loved holding my daughter's hand during the song "Really, Really Love You." Best moment by far."

The show travels for eighteen months or so before returning to Kennedy Center next year, so look to catch a performance at a theater near you. If you're excited about the possibility of another Mo musical, be encouraged that he's talking about ways to work together more with the group, having enjoyed this experience so much. Whatever it is or may be, count me in the audience.

Today’s ABC Storytime is short on songs, as I didn’t have a set program for the Letter V — at least not after the debacle that was my storytime “V is for Vagina.” (Kidding!)


Book: The Ugly Vegetables, by Grace Lin

Book: This is the Van that Dad Cleaned, by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Song: “The Wheels on the Van”

(Yeah, “The Wheels on the Bus” song adapted as needed.)

Book: The Village of Basketeers, by Lynda Gene Rymond

Book: Violet’s Music, by Angela Johnson

Book: Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin, by Lloyd Moss

Song: “What Begins with V?”

(to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”)

What begins with V?
What begins with V?
We all know, we’ll tell you so.
What begins with V?

Violin begins with V.
Violin begins with V.
We all know, we’ll tell you so.
Violin begins with V.

(and so on)

Alternate Books: Violet the Pilot, by Steve Breen, or Odd Velvet, by Mary Whitcomb

As Bloggers Against Celebrity Authors founder and, let’s say, president, I claim the end of life as we know it following this announcement:

Tyra Banks Signs Multi-Book Deal With Delacorte Press

“Delacorte Press has acquired MODELLAND, the first novel in a three-book series written by international, entertainment, and media icon Tyra Banks... Drawing from an area of expertise she is avidly passionate about, Tyra’s MODELLAND is the story of a teen girl in a make-believe society who finds herself competing for a way of life that’s both hotly desired and woefully out of reach at an academy for Intoxibellas, the most exceptional models known to humankind. As the plot unfolds, readers will uncover lessons that are buried beneath the surface of this magical world.”

Here we are with the Fifth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge — that weekend extravaganza that lets you say, “Yeah, I’m reading that weekend.” Sign up in the comments today, and talk it up on your blog. Let’s do this thing!

1. The weekend is June 4–6, 2010. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the fourth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday the seventh. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday... or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But the 48 hours do need to be in a row. That said, during that 48-hour period you may still have gaps of time in which you can’t read, and that’s fine. (In the middle of the three different challenge weekends I’ve had to go to work, attend a ballet recital, and drive for a Girl Scout event.)
   
2. The books should be about fifth-grade level and up. Adult books are fine, especially if adult book bloggers want to play. If you are generally a picture book blogger, consider this a good time to get caught up on all those wonderful books you’ve been hearing about. Graphic novels can be included in the reading. One audiobook can also be included in your time and book total.
   
3. The top three winners will be based only on time commitment, not number of books. So if you are heading into the 30+ hours club or 40+ hours club, track your time carefully. International winners may be given gift cards instead books due to mailing costs, unless a U.S. address is provided.
   
4. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. If you want to skip sleep and showers to do this — and some people do — go for it. If you want to be a bit more laid back, fine. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. Twelve hours is the benchmark for winning prizes.
   
5. The length of the reviews or notes written in your blog are not an issue. You can write a sentence, a paragraph, or a full-length review. Up to you. The time spent reviewing counts in your total time.
   
6. New last year: You can include some amount of time reading other participant’s blogs, commenting on participating blogs and Facebook pages, and Twittering about your progress (remember the #48hbc tag!). For every five hours, you can add one hour of networking. This time counts in your total time.
   
7. On your blog, state when you are starting the challenge with a specific entry on that day and leave the link to that post at the Starting Line post at MotherReader on June 4th (via the trusty Mr. Linky).
   
8. When you finish, write a final summary that clearly indicates hours — including partial hours — you spent reading/reviewing/networking, the number of books read, and any other comments you want to make on the experience. It needs to be posted no later than noon EST on Monday, June 7th. Also, check in at the Finish Line post on MotherReader that will be posted Sunday and please link to that post from your final summary post.

Last year we began to connect the 48HBC to charitable causes, and folks were able to connect their personal readathon to a Greater Good of their choice. While you may continue to select your own charity, I’m going to suggest supporting book and literacy projects through Donors Choose, a great resource that connects teachers in need of supplies to donors with funds to give. For myself, I plan to donate $1 per hour read to this DC school and welcome others — perhaps those not able to do the challenge this year — to sponsor me. Other participants can contribute to this cause and even this school as well, or to something else that moves you. Your readathon can be based on sponsors, comments, books read, or something else entirely. You can also choose not to participate in this aspect of the 48 Hour Book Challenge, though you may find a way to support others’ efforts by leaving comments (if that’s what is being tallied).

Oh, and I’m looking for donations for winners’ prize packages and other “door prizes” to be awarded to participants selected at random. Past prizes have included original sketches from Mo Willems and Matthew Holm, signed and sketched books from Adam Rex, loads of signed books, t-shirts from Threadless, artistic blank journals, jewelry, gift cards, notecards, and more. Good stuff. If you’d like to contribute to the prizes this year, shoot me an email at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com.

Sign up now in the comments and block of the dates on your calendar. Questions can also go in the comments, and I will respond in the comments and, if needed, with clarification in the final rules. Good luck, have fun, and happy reading!

We made a movie.

We worked hard on it, and I like it. A lot.

Thank you.

(The “thank you” serves not only as a reference to the content of yesterday’s post, in which I showed my appreciation for the cast and crew, but also as a preemptive thanks to those of you who will take the seven minutes to watch the movie. After all, it’s not like I’m expecting you to read a whole book or anything.)

With it being so easy to make and post anything on YouTube, it’s become even harder to explain why making a seven-minute film in forty-eight hours is such a challenge. But if you’re interested, here is a bit of a view into the movie-making process, which we follow in abbreviated format on these weekend ventures.

Even on the heels of our stressful weeks of family medical issues, we couldn’t give up the notion of having Tohubohu participate in the 48 Hour Film Project. And while we did have a more difficult time writing, filming, and editing our film, the results were worth it. But let’s start at the beginning...

When Bill went to the kick-off party and drew “horror” as our genre, he was thrilled by the challenge it presented. When he told me as I was driving back from Virginia Beach, I was less so. I knew it would be very hard to capture the tension of a decent horror movie in seven minutes, and had no ideas to even contribute. (As opposed to last year, when the concept presented itself in a dream.) I believe that my exact words were, “Good luck with that,” as I continued to make my way back home.

After Bill’s initial brainstorming session with our writer, Robin Brande, she took on the idea — totally out of her comfort zone — and developed it into a first-draft script. The two of them continued to work throughout the night to capture the right tone, feature our great actors, and incorporate the required elements. (Prop: a horn; Character: Marco or Muffin Gabbowitz, a person who works with animals; Line of dialogue: “Do you think you can do that again?”) I, um... went to bed.

Working until 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning left us very little in the way of prep time for the day’s filming. Fortunately, Bill had visited the locations earlier, and did have a good idea of where the scenes would take place. Also having worked on the script so much, he knew what he wanted from the actors. What we were missing was a clear sense of the filming schedule, along with the rested brain capacity to develop one as the day went on. Or to remember little details, like bringing one’s daughter back from the set.

But this is where building a spectacular team comes in, because all of our cast and crew truly stepped up. It’s safe to say that we would not have a film if they had not all been so proactive, so competent, so passionate about their jobs. When I forgot to start the actors running lines, they did it themselves. When I didn’t have dinner plans set, our host came to me with the suggestion of a cookout, which he set up and arranged. When I prepared my weary mind to clear the set of our filming improvements, I was told that it was already done. When Bill realized that an actor wasn’t there, a crew member filled in. When Bill left our daughter at the other house, a kind actor brought her back to our staging ground.

I can’t possibly credit all of the work done to make this film look spectacular, but I’ll try to hit on a few things to give you a sense of the movie-making aspect. Lee and Meredith had scouted out locations in the quaint Del Ray part of Alexandria, and allowed us to use their house not only for filming but as our base of operations for the whole long, long day. They also arranged for us to use another house — one that I fell in love with — for other scenes. Both places gave the movie texture with the interesting look of the rooms. Check the odd angles in the kid’s room and the central 1890s fireplace in the group scene.

One important thing that makes a movie look like a movie and not a YouTube video is lighting. It’s easier to understand how involved the process is when you know that the crew taped black covering behind the windows to make the filming look like it took place at night. And then set up enough lighting to be able to see the actors, while still retaining the mood. Both the kid’s bedroom scene and the group discussion scene were filmed in the middle of the day.

Set dressing makes it all believable. The kid’s room was only a bare bed, but the addition of a childlike quilt and pillowcase, stuffed animals, and a trombone gave it a realistic look. Keeping the filming tight left the rest of the undecorated room out of the shot. Sometimes the sets are in what isn’t shown. Seeing the room behind “Karen” in her confrontation with “Daniel” would have been distracting in a scene that was all about building tension. Throw in some lighting choices, film angles, and color correction in editing and you have one intense scene.

And speaking of that scene, I checked lines with the actors Jennifer and Nick as they ran through it and boy, was I impressed. They ran lines, sure, but they also talked about where they were as characters for the scene. Nick asked questions about his character’s emotional state. Was he defiant? Regretful? Apologetic? Unhinged? How would each of those artistic choices affect the scene? I watched him and Jennifer go through all of these adaptations, and the final version is amazing.

And I have to mention Jennifer being so into the last scene that when she didn’t hear the director’s call to cut, she continued with such emotional intensity that the crew thought that she had crossed over personally to some dark place in her own experience. Now that’s acting!

There are so many other things that went into making this movie. We had two people working on the horror makeup, and one patient teen actor who not only sat through it, but then stayed in the makeup all day until we could film her scene in front of a green screen. (Which we decided was the better option than putting her in the scenes as originally intended.) We had editors putting the film together as we finished each scene, so that Bill could work from a well-done rough cut instead of from scratch. Tracking the film takes along the way makes the editor’s job possible, and keeping the boom mike close to the action but not in the shot is a skill that is hard to explain. Even the simple notion of making conversation in actors’ downtime went a long way toward making everyone feel comfortable.

In our longest day of filming yet, we wrapped up at 1:30 a.m. Bill went into the office to go over the preliminary edit and then came back to the house for a few hours of sleep. On Sunday he headed back downtown to finish editing the film and add sound effects, music, and credits. Oh, and play with sound levels and color correction and technical film kind of stuff. I worked from home, selecting the musical tracks, suggesting edits for time, and generally checking in on Bill’s support system.

The extensive edits needed to bring it down to the required time limit took over too much of the day on Sunday, making a final, unexpectedly lengthy file transfer enough to cause us miss the deadline for submission by five minutes. Really a shame. But we’re proud of the film and of our team, and can’t wait to do it again.

Last night we had our screening at the AFI Silver Theatre, and now you can see it too at Tohubohu Productions. I hope you enjoy it.

By the way, if this sounds like something you might be interested in, the 48 Hour Film Project takes place in cities all over the world, and many groups need to fill positions in the weeks and days leading up to the competition. On the website, you can indicate your interest in joining a team, and there are often meet-and-greet events to help fill positions. Also, Tohubohu Productions is interested in filming shorts on a less grueling schedule, and we’d love to see some scripts to consider.

Lately, I seem to have writer’s block. For my blog. Pathetic. Add that to the whole getting-back-to-normal thing going on at home, where I try to make up for days of not being around and a weekend of movie-making, and I find myself drifting. I want to get back on track here, but I’m not feeling it. I’m thinking I’ll do some catch-up stuff now and really kick off next week. Sound good?

I’ve set the date for the 48 Hour Book Challenge as the weekend of June 4th and will put up the official sign-up post with rules on Monday. I’m way behind in trolling prize package items, so if you could help me out by donating signed books, crafty ventures, illustrator sketches, reading paraphernalia, etc., I’d really appreciate it. You can email me at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com.

I’m planning on going to Book Expo America and the Book Blogger Convention, but have made no plans as to my transportation or accommodations. That was my April project, but my mind was elsewhere. I’d love to know who is going from the KidLitosphere, so let’s see some comments below.

Tonight our latest short film screens at 7:00 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. We drew “horror” as our genre, and had quite a time writing it with Robin Brande and filming it with our stellar cast and crew. And actually editing it was a challenge too, as we needed to keep the movie under seven minutes and yet leave enough time to build tension. I’m hoping to join the Tohubohu team tonight, but I have some logistics to work through. Tomorrow I’ll write about the making of the film and hopefully be able to share a link to it.

I don’t have any more updates on my mom, other than that she would seem to the outside observer to be doing extremely well. It’s only by being with her that I see the huge gaps in her cognitive processing. And I don’t know how much better they are going to get or when or even how. Plus there are still medical issues ahead. For now though, my brother has taken some leave to cover her care, so I have a bit of a reprieve.

I’ve barely been able to keep up with KidLitosphere happenings, but I did note the latest uproar over how fake-nice women book bloggers are — which Liz is covering most splendidly at Tea Cozy. My first reaction was that writing without research on YA/KidLit or book blogging is usually a New York Times thing, so I wonder if they’ll be contracting out to The Huffington Post. Honestly that article alone would have been enough online excitement for weeks, but then we got one from The Horn Book that suggests “if you love children’s literature, you cannot kill animals just because they taste good on a bun.” I’m here to say that actually you can and I’m curious where I’ll find full-out argument with the thesis — which I am so not up to. But for now you can comment on the topic at Read Roger.

Hey, look at that. My writer’s block is over.