What a crazy, crazy busy week it has been. I’m a little excited, because I was given a gift this week that was totally unexpected. Actually, FOUR gifts:
One – Book Riot’s superb BUY, BORROW, BYPASS post let me know – and Adrienne confirmed – that the one and only Allie Brosh from HYPERBOLE AND A HALF has a book out! It’s called Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened and it’s out October 29. I had to do a little happy dance. If you’ve never read the online comic Hyperbole and a Half… well, there’s still time.
Two – I opened an email and read this line: If you are, at first, lonely be patient. If you’ve not been alone much or if, when you were, you weren’t okay with it then just wait…you’ll find it’s fine to be along once you’re embracing it. And then I squeed a little to myself, because, I could hear the poet reading the line. Yes. I am one of Those People responsible for making Tanya Davis’s poem, “How to Be Alone” have five million hits on YouTube. I’m at least a million hits all by my lonesome. (Okay, maybe fifty.) Visually jazzed up by artist Andrea Dorfman, this is a little video I have come back to over and over, the past couple of years. And now it’s a book, out October 22nd. Am I getting it? AM I RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED? AM I, ONCE AGAIN, TYPING ALL IN CAPS?
Three – I have, in my sweaty little hands, a preview copy of THE FOURTEEN FIBS OF GREGORY K. We don’t do a whole lot of MG fiction here, but what we do see is usually stand-above-the-crowd superior in some way. I have heard great things about this book, and am so excited to read it, and to cheer for our fellow blogger and poet and author Gregory K! Since this book is about someone who isn’t quite sure about that math thing, I’m all over it.
Seriously, October. Thank you. I am feeling the book-love.
Finally, and this is a super-special Fourth Gift – The Poetry Seven are back and at it again. Laura Purdie Salas hosts the Poetry Friday round-up at her blog today, and there you’ll find links to all of our pantoums! It’s a real gift to write with these six talented and unique people, and it’s just a treat – and a challenge – every time our crazy Pied Piper known as Liz gets us together.
I am so looking forward to the book BAD FOR YOU out from Henry Holt next year. Tor.com did a nifty little piece on the book this week. BAD FOR YOU is about the culture of the eighties and nineties some of us grew up in – when people went around trying to find subliminal messages in music (Check) and burning Harry Potter books (Check) and complaining about the evils of Dungeons & Dragons (Check). While this seems somewhat comedic in some respects, the fact is that people believed strongly in some amorphous and dark societal damage being done, and were merely trying to save the children. No, seriously. Anyway, the excerpts from the book make it look like some interesting historical reading, anyway.
The list of confirmed attendees is growing. Austin sounds like it’s going to be a fun place to hang out. Kelly Jensen tells us there’s cheap bowling and pizza near one of our venues. Doesn’t that sound great? The Kidlit Con! Come for the ARC Book Swap! Stay for the bowling pins!
Pam and Kelly have worked hard on finding venues for a mini-Exhibit Hall Friday afternoon, and reasonably priced hotel accommodations. You should “hear” the discussions about places for Kidlit Drink Night, good things to eat, and all the fun stuff Austin has to offer. If you haven’t been sure about going to the Con, and you’re afraid there won’t be anyone for you to talk to, think again. This is your tribe. Registration is still open.
@ Reading & Writing today, don’t miss Alan Gratz!
The Cybils nominations are open until OCTOBER 15. I posted briefly about what hadn’t yet been taken – and I, like Charlotte and others, am updating that post. Need some other hints? We’ve got ya covered.
Ever heard of discovery writing? It’s the idea that sometimes you don’t know what you think until you see what you say – which is a quote attributed to E.M. Forrester. T’s blog acquaintance Richard began a PhD program in 2011 on the idea that writing helps us think. He’s just finished – and successfully defended his thesis. Check out the very interesting premise he began with, and congrats to Richard!
Some days, it’s all about the illustrations. Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has the most gorgeous illustrated Torah story this week, titled, WITH A MIGHTY HAND. The artwork is halfway between iconography and … something. It’s lush. I love it when picture books look like coffee table art.
And, the Kidlit News just keeps on coming:
Over the past six years, we have proudly saluted 178 black authors and illustrators through our signature initiative. But there are so many more who deserve to be showcased.
That’s where you come in. Help us identify under-the-radar and vanguard African-American children’s book authors and illustrators we should consider profiling. Let us know who we should check out so we can give them the praise they’ve earned.
SEVEN YEARS OLD this year, the 28 Days Later Book Love campaign from THE BROWN BOOKSHELF is rollin’ onward. Yep, it’s that time again, time to nominate authors and illustrators of color whose contribution might otherwise not reach its intended audience. The winners will be profiled during Black History Month in February. Nominations are open until November 8th, folks!
Shawna Mlawksi is back! @ Forever YA, she talks writing, and how even Caucasian characters could stand to have a little more diversity. Hat tip to Cynsations for the link.
Clashes of myth and history continue, with the yearly “Columbus Day” er, thing. I stopped observing this “holiday” as a fresher in college, taking the day to wear protest T-shirts and canvas sneakers with the word MURDERER on them… I would like to think I’ve gotten more nuanced in my responses, but not as nuanced as The Oatmeal. Don’t need to spread more yuck, thanks – I’ll just wish you a Happy Bartolomé Day instead.
Pax.
