Susan @ Chicken Spaghetti reminds us that Corduroy turns forty this year, and via the Guardian blog, we learn that Toad and Frog are 100! Admittedly, I never cared for the indolent Edwardian gentleman toad, and reading the sad back story on Kenneth Grahame makes me think Toad and Frog are even weirder, but whatever floats your boat down the Thames…
Something interesting this way comes: Via Shrinking Violets, a website that is a quiet way to get the word out. BookTour.com enables authors to register and list where they’ll be in various states to talk about their books. An interesting idea.
Fair use? March 24th is the date when the Lexicon vs. JK Rowling battle goes to court. I still find it highly ironic that Scholastic, JK herself, the film company and other writers used the Lexicon as a resource, but good golly, don’t let them publish what was free on the Web into a book form — it will steal the woman’s ability to write a book herself and benefit charity with the proceeds.
Right.
On a happy note, via Ananka’s Diary, the CUTEST pygmy hippos — ever.
One of my earliest memories is my Aunt Ellen reading “The Wind in the Willows” aloud before my bedtime. I was SO enthralled on my first trip to Disneyland to find that literary ride.
Sigh. I need a nanny.
Speaking of books written a while ago, I was judging the State of Massachusetts School Library Bookmark competition when one of my fellow middle-aged judges struck me as seeming vaguely familiar.
Noticing my scrutiny, she gave me one of those “here-I-go-again” weary smiles practiced by faded celebrities, and said, “Yes, I am Emily Elizabeth.” OH MY GOODNESS! MY boys had adored Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell. Well, this woman was his daughter, and she still eerily resembled the little girl in the books.
Her Dad’s still alive, she told me, getting older, but enjoying life.
Good thing she’ll never know I was studying her face because it reminded me of one of the elders in my church.
Mitali!! You crack me up.
That Graham article was uncanny– I didn’t want to read it once I had gotten 1/2 way down the first page, but I was compelled to look further. Egads! What a life. I still appreciate Wind in the Willows, but I don’t think it’s a children’s book.