A “bon voyage” from Kirkus Reviews …
A pre-print of their TRACKING TRASH review arrived, and there is a big, fat star next to it! You can read an excerpt on my webiste (you have to scroll down a bit) or wait for the full review in the March 1, 2007 issue.
Thank you, Kirkus!
Holy cow!
After years and years of waiting, and writing, and then waiting some more, TRACKING TRASH is finally on the verge of publication. The official release date is March 26, 2007, but I will be signing books this weekend at the Beachcomber Fair in Ocean Shores, Washington.
Curt Ebbesmeyer, the scientist whose work inspired this book, attends the Ocean Shores Beachcomber Fair every year. I interviewed him at the 2005 fair and, I have to tell you, it is an absolute thrill to be packing up for a return visit with published books in tow. (Oh, how I hope he loves it!) The folks who run the fair have ordered a mountain of copies of TRACKING TRASH and I will be signing for fairgoers on Saturday and Sunday. My first book. My first signing event. And it will be spring out there. Could it get any better?
When I return home the festivities will begin in earnest. There is a release party scheduled at the local Barnes & Noble, and I have committed to half a dozen school visits around the state. I’ve been invited to Author Night in the town next door and to Earth Day festivities in Worcester. In fact, the months of March and April are peppered with writing-related events in which me and my book are the main attractions. It is thrilling and overwhelming at the same time.
I will be blogging from the road, so stay tuned!
Things here on my reading blog have gone quiet this week, and I think I ought to explain why. I AM reading, but the books are, well, a bit dry.
TEACH YOURSELF VISUALLY MICROSOFT POWERPOINT 2003, by Nancy Muir
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS IN EASY STEPS, by Nick Vandome
And let’s not forget the user manuals: for my digital camera, for my projector, and for my laptop. Not exactly blogging fodder, are they?
The exciting news, though, is that I have managed to take my school visit talk–which I usually present in small groups with lots of props–and turn it into a PowerPoint presentation that absolutely ROCKS. I have resisted this change for some time, because I love, Love, LOVE the feel of intimate school visits, where I can make eye contact with students and hand them props after I have finished with them. The challenge was to keep my presentation cozy and personal, but make it accessible to larger groups of kids. Two weeks of manuals, digital magic, and fine tuning and, POOF!, I’ve got it. At least I think I’ve got it. The proof will come in two weeks when I give the presentation for the first time in classrooms. I’ll keep you posted.
Now, back to the manuals …
ESTELLE TAKES A BATH
By Jill Esbaum
Illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma
Henry Holt, 2006
Category: Picture book fiction
A naked woman. A bubblebath. A mouse. Unlikely ingredients for a picture book, you say? Think again.
Amidst the hoopla over Susan Patron’s use of the word “scrotum” in her Newbery-medal winning novel THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY, I thoroughly enjoyed this risqué picture book. Dear Estelle is surprised by a mouse while taking her bath, and she freaks. Chaos ensues. Estelle leaps from the tub, grabs a broom, and gives chase … all in the nude. The mouse—also nude—runs for his life. The art is outrageous and the language is bouncy and the combination is fun, Fun, FUN.
TRACKING TRASH
By Loree Griffin Burns
Houghton Mifflin, 2007
Category: Middle-grade Nonfiction
TRACKING TRASH: FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND THE SCIENCE OF OCEAN MOTION will be published next month. I am thrilled with how this book has evolved; I am proud of how the text, photographs, and design have come together in the form of a gorgeous and substantial book; I am excited for it to launch. But I would be fibbing if I didn’t admit that I have been ever-so-slightly anxious about reviews. Would the big journals review it? Would the reviewers like it? Would they shoud good things about it from the rooftops?
Alas, the moment of truth has arrived … here’s what reviewers are saying about TRACKING TRASH:
“The well-written narration will keep readers engaged, and it’s excellent for reports. The science is clearly explained, and the vivid and lively photographs and well-labeled charts and diagrams help to create interest and build understanding.”
School Library Journal
(In a starred review!)“Scientific information builds from chapter to chapter, creating a natural detective story.”
The Horn Book
“The writing is light, but the facts are weighty and the message of reduce, reuse, and recycle comes across loud and clear. This book is fascinating on its own, but it also can hold its place in a middle-level science curriculum.”
VOYA
(In a 5Q, 5P review!)*
Hooray!
Phew.
*The folks at VOYA gave the book highest marks in their rating system: a 5 in quality (“hard to imagine it being better written”) and a 5 in popularity (“every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday”).
A WRINKLE IN TIME
By Madeleine L’Engle
Dell Yearling, 1962
Category: Middle Grade Fantasy
Yesterday LOVE TO READ day with the second graders, today COMMUNITY READING day for the fifth graders. There is so much to love about the life of a writer!
I got the invitation to be a Community Reader months ago and my first thought was this: who picks the book? I was sorta hoping it would be me, because, well, I am picky about the books I read. Turns out the teachers and the PTA get to pick the books, but since the teachers and PTA folks around here rock, I got to read one of the most fabulous books on the planet (or off the planet!) … A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L’Engle.
I decided to read the first chapter, which introduces the book’s heroine, Meg Murray, and her strange circumstances. Meg’s father, a scientist, has gone away. No one, including Meg’s mother, knows where he is or when he will be back. For reasons Meg can’t grasp, Mrs. Murray is nonchalant about the disappearace. But not Meg. She is frightened. And angry. At the same time. Meg’s confusion only worsens when a mysterious old woman shows up in the Murray kitchen late one dark and stormy night to say “there is such a thing as a tesseract.” Who is Mrs. Whatsit? What is a tesseract? And why does news of its reality unhinge Meg’s mother?
It’s a great chapter. And because we had a little time left, I also read the bit where Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin arrive on Camazotz, the planet where Mr. Murray is trapped. Quite an eerie little scene and one that has haunted me since I first read this book twenty-five years ago.
At the end of my reading, most of the kids said they wanted to hear the rest of Meg’s story. Perhaps they heard something in the confusing reality of Meg’s adolescence that resonated with them, despite the outrageously unreal circumstances of her life? Perhaps the book touched their imaginations the same way it touched mine all those years ago? Not bad for a book published in 1962.
I’ve never read the rest of the books in L’Engles Time Quartet. Has anyone out there read A WIND IN THE DOOR, A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET or MANY WATERS? They are officially called “companions” to A WRINKLE IN TIME, and they are now on my TO READ list. How is it that I adored this book as a kid and never knew it had companions?!
BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE
By Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick, 2000
Today was LOVE TO READ day in our local elementary school, and I was invited to participate. Kids were encouraged to bring slippers, a cuddly, and their favorite book to school for a celebration of the written word. My job was to engage the second grade for forty minutes in a conversation about writing and reading. The teachers suggested I bring a copy of my own favorite book to read from. I tucked BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE in with my supplies and set off for the school as cool as a February icicle … because walking into a room of eighty-six second graders at the very end of a busy school day isn’t the least bit scary when you have Kate DiCamillo—quite literally—in your back pocket.
“My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog. This is what happened …”
Who wouldn’t want to snuggle in and hear India Opal tell how it all happened? I suspect that if I had read the second graders this opening line they would have begged for more. As it turns out, the completely fabulous second graders at LOVE TO READ day were not interested in anything but TRACKING TRASH! These eighty-six slippered second graders (along with their eighty-six furry friends) were astoundingly well-behaved, incredibly insightful with their questions, and wonderfully attentive to my answers. When our time ran out, they clapped like I was a rock star. And when I told them I was leaving a signed copy of my book in their library, they cheered some more.
I love LOVE TO READ day. I love second graders. And I love Kate DiCamillo and BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE. A gal couldn’t ask for better backup.
The 2006 Children’s and YA Bloggers’ Literary Awards (affectionately known as the Cybils) have been announced. You can read all about it at the Cybils website.
I served on the nominating panel for the MG/YA Non-fiction category and have been waiting anxiously to see which of five finalists was tapped for the big award. The winner was just announced, and it is …
FREEDOM WALKERS, by Russell Freedman.
Congratulations to Mr. Freedman!
If you have followed the Cybils awards process, you may be interested in this post from Jen Robinson. She has a great idea for bookish folks who want to support this exciting new children’s book award. Check it out!
THE TREE OF LIFE, A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin Naturalist, Geologist & Thinker
By Peter Sis
Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Frances Foster Books), 2003
Category: Picture book biography
Happy Darwin Day!
Yes, today is the 198th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and scientists and laypeople around the world are marking the occasion with celebrations of science and humanity. How do I know this? Well, because there is this web site detailing such events the world over. And, perhaps more importantly, because I will be attending a Darwin Day event myself. Tomorrow, at my Unitarian Universalist church, Worcester State College professor Sandy Paracer (a friend of mine!) will lecture on Darwin and his ideas. I will be there, in the front row, clutching my copy of THE TREE OF LIFE.
There is a book for every day, I tell you, and a day for every book. I love it.
THE PULL OF THE OCEAN
By Jean-Claude Mourlevat
Translated from the French by Y. Maudet
Delacorte Press, 1999
Category: Middle Grade Fiction
My friend Jane, librarian extraordinaire, handed me this book the other day and said, “This is a very odd little book. It made me think of you.”
I was offended, of course. (I am not THAT odd!)
But I took the book. I read it in a single sitting and I have to agree with Jane. This is the most oddly compelling book I have read. Ever. In my entire life. I cannot stop thinking about it. What does it all mean? Who is this book written for? Why did Yann do it? Why? Why?
Okay, let me back up.
THE PULL OF THE OCEAN is the story of Yann Doutreleau, a ten-year old midget (that is the term used in the book) and the seventh son of Marthe and Louis Doutreleau. The other Doutreleau boys are twins, three sets: Remy and Fabien (fourteen), Pierre and Paul (thirteen), Victor and Max (eleven). Yann? “Yann came last and alone. Like the period at the end of a sentence.”
The story is told through a series of first-person testimonials from the people Yann saw or who saw him as he led his brothers on their flight to the ocean. Their flight, somewhat mysterious to the reader, is clearly a matter of life and death to the Doutreleau boys. Mourlevat deals insight slowly, letting the story of Yann and his brothers unfold in small moments of shocking revelation. Several times I whispered—out loud and to myself— “Good Lord!” I was watching a tragedy unfold, I knew it was going to be horrible, but I could not look away. I can’t tell you more without spoiling the story; you will have to read it.
And I am hoping you will. Then you can tell me what it all means, who the book is written for and why (Oh, Why?!) Yann did it …
