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Lisa Yee: On Revision...

It was standing room only for Lisa Yee's session on revision. Lisa started out by talking about her first version of her novel Millicent Min, Girl Genius which she said was "episodic and weird." In her next version, 11-year-old Millicent was in college, but editor Arhtur Levine suggested Lisa explore a version in which the main character interacts with kids her own age. She continued to revise--and what was constant through each revision was her character.

There was a show of hands to see who loved revision and who hated it. Those who love revision, Lisa said, often love is so much that they can't stop themselves. Those who hate it can't get started.

Lisa, who is currently revising a work-in-progress from first person point of view to third persion, said she she can fall so much in love with her writing that she doesn't want to cut any of it. But when you look at your work, she says, ask yourself, "If I had to cut my story by 20%, what would I cut? She said that generally her first three chapters can be thrown away.

One tip she gave was taking your document and making a copy of it, changing the font, adjusting the margins just slightly, and making it look like something someone else wrote--this can help you look at your story in a different way. She also suggested reading your manuscript out loud as you revise to hear words in a different manner than reading it silently. Also circle what you think is really great in your story and that becomes your standard to adhere to.

For revise-a-holics, she suggests setting deadlines for yourself, or have your writers group set them. This way you can force yourself to write to a deadline and write on a schedule.

Finally, she recommended everyone check out the radio program Bookworm on KCRW featuring an interview with Tobias Wolf (there are two--try the fiction one) in which he talks about his writing process--he just keeps cutting.

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Fathers Day happened again and once again it happened to me and it happened at the most beautiful spot in the universe - the place we go to in Maine (this same week every year).

My amazing wife and son always do something wonderful for me on the Sunday that is the first full day we awaken to the sounds of the gulls and sea. The past few years my son has taken it upon himself to honor the "day" by creating something for me that has to do with whatever book project I am currently working on.

Above is his wonderful clay tribute to my current book, MILO. (below you can see the cartoon it is based on). You should've seen my grin as he presented this to me - and in fact it's still plastered on my face.
Unrelated to Fathers day and Maine - I wanted to thank the always funny and extremely gracious LISA YEE for her blog post "welcome" re. my upcoming Writer In Residency at the Thurber House.

That's it for now - time to drive back to the cabin where the internet doesn't exist - just the ocean, sea gulls and our dog who has probably eaten the couch by now.

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So, May is Asian-American Heritage Month. To celebrate, 10 children's and YA authors got together to spotlight "Ten new contemporary novels by Asian Americans aren’t traditional tales set in Asia nor stories about coming to America for the first time."

Check out the list at Fusion Stories.

I thought this was an awesome idea, so to join the party, I'm reading all the fusion stories this month, substituting earlier works if the highlighted story isn't published yet.

But, first I'm going to ramble on about myself for a while, because it's my blog! I can do what I want!

Mainly, the wedding I went to this weekend was wonderfully fun AND I got to meet some other kidlit dorks, including someone who knows David Levithan. And Rachel Cohn! My geeky heart just about died! My response was "Can I touch you?!" Initially, he thought I was being a bitch, when really, I was in total AWE!

And now I'm off to North Carolina for my sister's wedding!

Also, I want to give a shout-out to Lauren. She's my new-ish coworker and she is awesome. I don't think I've mentioned that yet. But who else would randomly burst into song with you on the reference desk? Especially when said song is a medley of the Simpson's musical version of Street Car Named Desire?

You can always depend on the kindness of strangers!
To buck up your spirits and shield you from dangers!
Now here's a tip from Blanche you won't regret:
A stranger's just a friend you haven't met.
You haven't met!
STREETCAR!

That's what too much story time can do to a person!

Also, here's a video I've been watching a lot of lately:



Because do you know what's better than a Kate Pierson muppet? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Also, how awesome is it when you look like a total moody rock star while rocking out on a banjo?!

Anyway, some reviews!

Good Luck, Ivy Lisa Yee

I haven't read an American Girl book in years. Like, not since I was the targeted reading age and read all of the Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly books. Yes, only those three, because BACK IN MY DAY there only were three. Initially, there were only 3 books for 3 dolls! Yes, I was a recipient of the original Pleasant Company catalog.

Anyway, Yee's book took me right back there. And it was weird at the same time, because after reading Yee's other work (by which I mean the hysterical Millicent Min, Girl Genius) this has a very different voice. This... reads like an American Girl book, which it should. I think writing like that, in someone else's corporate voice must be very hard, but Yee's awesome at it. (Ok, I've drafted my share of press releases in hoity toity British English in the proper corporate voice. I know it's hard.)

Anyway, the book. Ivy Ling is not feeling lucky. Her best friend, Julie (who is actually the American Girl) has moved across town. Her parents are really busy and can't help Ivy with her Chinese school project. Plus, they've been eating take-away Chinese food from her grandparent's Chinese resteraunt. And Ivy's grandparents heard her complaining.

But that's not the worst of it. The big inter-city gymnastics tournament is coming up. Ivy needs to compete in the all events, but she fell off the balance beam last time and is having a hard time getting her routine right again. As if that weren't bad enough, the big Ling family reunion is coming up. On the same day as the gymnastics meet.

Ivy can't go to both, and her parents are making her decide, only they have different ideas about which one is more important.

Whatever will Ivy do?!

I loved the "American Girl" ness of it. Also, in the background material, there are some awesome pictures of Lisa Yee in the 70s.

I had forgotten how many appearance details American Girl books put in. As a kid I really liked that, but it's a little jarring to me as an adult.

Minn and Jake Janet S. Wong

This is not really a fusion story. Minn and Jake's Almost Terrible Summer is a Fusion Story, but it doesn't come out until August, so I have to wait for it. So, I read the one that came before it instead. But, as far as the reader knows, this one doesn't have any Asian-Americans in it, because the fact that Jake is 1/4 Korean comes out in the next book and causes some tension when Minn wonders why Jake didn't tell her. At least, that's what the various blurbs I've read tell me.

Anyway, in this book (a prose novel)

Minn is feeling very empty,
and very tall,
and very odd,
and very pigtailed,
and very lizardy,
and very much alone.

Because her best friend laughed at her with another girl. She ends up being paired with the new kid,Jake, who's afraid of lizards. Catching lizards is the only thing kids do in Santa Brunella. So, Minn is going to teach Jake how to catch lizards. But there are accidents and mean kids and other grade-school stuff to endure.

Very well told. Minn and Jake, as well as the rest of the kids, are authentic, and their trials and tribulations are small, as they are for most kids, but aren't trivialized, which is refreshing.

And now for some non-Fusion Stories, because who knows when I'll get to blog again?

Thumbelina: Tiny Runaway Bride Barbara Ensor

This is a retelling of Thumbelina, in the sense of straight-up retelling it with a few variations, not recasting it, a la Shannon Hale or Gail Carson Levine.

Except the ending is different. But the narrator warns us. I'm quoting from an ARC here, so it might not be 100% accurate (but I hope it is, because it's the very matter-of-fact voice that the narrator and Thumbelina use throughout)

Now you know exactly what happened and can write a book report, if you need to do that, or count this as part of your summer reading list. Nobody will mind or think any less of you if you just close the book and DO NOT READ ANOTHER WORD.

But, to tell you the truth, there is something more. If you felt there was something forced about that ending, you were right."

And that's why I loved the book. That, and the wonderful illustrations that were made by cutting out black construction paper. A nice retelling of a fairy tale that gives Thumbelina back her spunk without detracting from Anderson's original.

Clementine's Letter Sara Pennypaker

Just when Clementine and her 3rd grade teacher have figured each other out, Mr. D'Matz is going to go off and go to Egypt IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCHOOL YEAR! And the new teacher has new rules that Clementine can't guess.

If you liked the others, you'll like this. I'm seriously starting to worry about Margaret though. That girl's going to need therapy sooner rather than later. I do like how well Clementine handles her, though.

In the paint section, hundreds of little paint tubes, all neat and new, sat on the shelf. Margaret threw her hands up and backed away, as if the tubes of paint were just waiting to burst all over her clean clothes. Margaret doesn't even liket o look at things that might get her dirty.

"Quick, run over to the paper aisle!" I told her. "Just keep staring at all those nice clean stacks of paper!"

I also like how the trip to the Chinese grocery store yields a whole new host of vegetable names for her brother. Bamboo shoot, scallion, daikon radish...

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Ni hao (hello)! 

If you're craving a little Chinese, you've come to the right place.

Our first dish in this month's Asian Pacific Heritage Month potluck comes courtesy of the one-and-only Lisa Yee
( lisayee). That's right! Not Lisa See or Lisa Wee or Lisa Knee. Lisa Yee --  winner of the 2004 Sid Fleischman Humor Award and author of the wildly popular kids' favorites, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, So Totally Emily Ebers (all published by Scholastic, 2003, 2005, 2007), and her newest book, Good Luck, Ivy (American Girl, 2007).

       

Good Luck, Ivy, a companion book to the American Girl Julie Series (by Megan McDonald), is set in 1970's San Francisco. Ten-year-old Ivy Ling, Julie's best friend, must decide between participating in a very important gymnastics tournament or attending a family reunion.

A perfect older brother, a mother in law school, a father working two jobs, and Julie moving away, often make Ivy feel invisible. A traumatic fall in a previous tournament has shaken her confidence, and she feels terrible after unintentionally hurting her grandparents' feelings. And what about her report for Chinese school? How Ivy finds balance -- both on the balance beam and in her life, makes for an engaging story sure to please young readers ages 8-12. 

I especially like the warm family scenes featuring food! Ivy and her brother, Andrew, visit their grandparents, Gung Gung and Po Po, every Saturday morning for a steaming bowl of breakfast jook at their Chinese restaurant, the Happy Panda. But there are also scenes involving spaghetti, hamburgers, and Julie and Ivy's invention: Chinese Almond Twisters -- symbolizing the perfect blend of things American and Chinese, old traditions and new.

Today, Lisa is sharing a recipe for deep fried wonton, probably served at the Happy Panda, but more prominently featured in Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time. Stanford's grandmother, Yin-Yin, is famous for her dim sum ('to touch the heart'), theorizing that if people's mouths are full, they can't fight. In a very touching scene, Stanford visits Yin-Yin in her nursing home, where she whips up a batch of wonton. He says, "I've missed Yin-Yin's fried wontons almost as much as I've missed having her live with us." 

So, get into the spirit of Asian Pacific Heritage Month and fry up a batch of these. Of course, their flavor will be enhanced ten-fold if enjoyed alongside any one of Lisa's fabulous books!

YIN-YIN'S WONTONS



1-1/2 T minced garlic
4 stalks green onions, finely chopped
1-1/2 lbs. ground pork (you can substitute ground beef or diced chicken)
3-1/2 T soy sauce
1-1/2 T sugar or honey
1 12-oz pkg. pre-made wonton skins
1 egg, beaten
3 cups cooking oil

1. Heat a tablespoon of the cooking oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and cook until browned.
2. Add green onions and saute.
3. Add ground meat and cook until the meat is browned. Drain the oil.
4. In a separate container, mix the soy sauce and the sugar or honey. Pour over the meat and cook. When the meat is done, turn off the burner and set the skillet aside.
5. Lay out the wonton skins in rows.
6. Place one tablespoon of meat in the center of each wonton skin.
7. Dip a pastry brush or the back of a spoon into the beaten egg, then "paint" two adjoining edges of the wonton skins.
8. Fold the skin in half diagonally so it forms a triangle, and press the edges together to be sure they are sealed.
9. Heat the remaining cooking oil in a large pot.
10. Drop wontons into the heated oil and cook until golden brown. Be sure to turn them while they're cooking so they don't get overdone.
11. Drain and let cool.
12. Eat!

           
             I'd trade a million wontons for one night with Lisa . . .

*For lots more fun, book news about Lisa, and steaming photos of Colin, Johnny, and Brad, visit her highly entertaining and scrumptious blog. Main course info can be found at her website.
 

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On Sunday, Daughter, (who is a major league lisayee fan like her mother) and I went into NYC to meet...LISA YEE. We picked her up at her swanky hotel off Park Avenue, bundled her into my considerably less swanky and extremely dented Authormobile and whisked her off to Brooklyn, where we had a wonderful brunch at Auntie Susie's in Park Slope.

Daughter has a new BFF



and Auntie Susie herself took a picture of us all together after our yummy scrummy meal during which abundant chocolate was consumed:



Afterwards we hit some cool Brooklyn stores for what the French refer to as "Faire du Leche-Vitrine" (which means window shopping but is literally "window licking").

Lisa kindly bought Daughter some heart-shaped Peeps for explosion purposes, which Daughter enjoyed immensely:



Just how big of a Lisa Yee fan is my daughter? Well, the night before our brunch, I went into Daughter's room and she showed me she'd just painted her favorite characters from Lisa's trilogy.



Can I kvell a little here? Isn't she talented? Daughter, as well as Lisa?

Anyway, Daughter played the role of Peepy Paparazzi (Peeparazzi?) and you can
here's the TMZ photo essay which I tried to hide behind a LJ cut but failed miserably.

Peepy sampled the chocolate mousse



But then got carried away and went for my coffee



Peepy ended up looking like I've been feeling most of this week:



Then she started hitting the champers (Peepy, not my underage daughter, I hasten to add)



and ended up not making a whole lotta sense:



Started hallucinating



And then had to sleep it off






It was great to see Lisa and Peepy. Come back and visit soon!

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This story begins Emma Jean Lazarus opens a door.  Literally, it's the door to the girls' bathroom at school, where she finds Colleen Pomerantz (a kind, sensitive girl and not one of the usual 7th grade criers) sobbing over a problem with a friend.  Figuratively, it's the door we all open when we make the sometimes scary decision to reach out to another human being.  This is a big deal for all of us, but especially for Emma Jean, who's one of those brilliant, wise-beyond-her-years kids who seems to watch everything from the sidelines.  She reminds me a lot of Lisa Yee's Millicent Min, Girl Genius.  Because Emma Jean is brilliant at math and logic, just like her father who died two years ago, she uses logic to find solutions to her classmates' problems, with results that are hilarious and heartwarming.

There's a lot to love about this book.  If you're a writer, you should read it because it's a fantastic example of how to pull off changing points of view in third person narrative.  If you spend any time in a middle school, you'll love it because the characters are so real.  As a middle school English teacher, I recognized these kids.  I've seen Emma Jean watching the other kids at lunch.   I've comforted Colleen when one of her friends was mad at her.  And I've seen them all in their specially picked outfits at that first middle school dance.  Author Lauren Tarshis has nailed middle school to a tee; she even understands one of the great secrets of school hallways: that the custodians are the real heroes.

Emma Jean Lazarus goes out on a limb in this middle grade novel (and yes, she really does fall out of a tree).  Her journey is one that manages to be funny and sad and uplifting and true, all at once.  You'll love this book.

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In an interview with Lisa Yee over at HipWriterMama, Lisa said:

"I always write my endings first and then write my way toward them. It’s always the first 50 pages that cause me the most difficulty. So I overwrite and then cut, cut, cut away."

That sounds absolutely heavenly to me.

I confess that my first reaction was a jealousy so severe I longed to crush Peepy with my bare hands. (You must visit Lisa's blog to understand that.)

But, fortunately, that feeling was short-lived and I moved on to feeling the love of Lisa for showing me the possibility of a new and heavenly writing process.

Having just come out the other end of a torturous tunnel of hair-tearing, tandrem-inducing, blindly-barreling-through first draft with no vision of the end in sight until the last lap, well, I've decided that from now on, I'm going to write like Lisa Yee.

I'm going to write the ending first.

There, that was easy.

Now, excuse me while I dial up Lisa and find out how the heck she does that....

"Peepy? Oh, hi...Barbara O'Connor here. Is Lisa there?"

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I read a lot of author interviews, but every now and then one will stand out as being particularly fabulous. I found two such interviews this week:

An fun, informative interview with Lisa Yee, author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius.

An intriguing, wonderful-in-every-way interview with N. D. Wilson, author of Leepike Ridge and 100 Cupboards.

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To celebrate “Teen Read Week (Oct 14-20),” YALSA and Readergirlz have organized “31 Flavorite Authors for Teens,” a month-long schedule of authors available to chat with teens via Readergirlz group forum. Teens everywhere will have a chance to hobnob with the likes of Mitali Perkins (10/20), Lisa Yee (10/22), Cynthia Leitich-Smith (10/29) and many others. Something they won’t want to miss out on!

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I promise I'll catch you all up on the conference tomorrow when I'm home and settled. But, in the meantime, I wanted to share my starstruck moment at SCBWI--a meeting with Linda Sue Park and Lisa Yee. (I only now noticed that Lisa included a Peep in the picture.)

Linda Sue Park's Project Mulberry is one of my favorite Middle Grade novels of all time. I think it's a classic, even though it was published only in 2005. If you haven't read it, put it on your list. It's wonderful.

Lisa Yee's Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, and So Totally Emily Ebers are comic gold. Lisa is my daughter's favorite writer of non-fantasy fiction, and it's easy to understand why.

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We had a fun afternoon with Lisa Yee on Saturday. We started with a quick tour of her digs at Thurber House. Then we took a rather circuitous trip to one of our favorite places to eat, Northstar Cafe. The one near Cover to Cover Bookstore. To get there, we had to dodge ComFest traffic and the Gay Pride Parade in the Short North.

Over the best veggie burgers ever, we chatted about families (specifically, teenage daughters), books, and blogging. Lisa told us about the work she's doing at Thurber House -- her own reading and writing, as well as the writing classes she's teaching. In breaking news, we learned that Nancy Pearl will be featuring Millicent Min on NPR this morning as one of books in her summer reading for young readers piece.

At Cover to Cover, Lisa met Sally Oddi, the owner, and Peepy met some new friends, as you can see in the picture. Franki was honored to be able to hold Peepy, and check out those for-real bunny ears that Mary Lee is getting. Someone didn't want to be left out of the picture!

Because we couldn't get to North Market on this trip, we do have some unfinished business before Lisa heads back to California -- salty caramel ice cream at Jeni's!

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If you write for young people, consider this LJ post a big, fat thank you note (virtual chocolates and ice cream, too). I just finished reading my 7th graders' final exams. I ask them to write an essay reflecting on how they've grown as readers, writers, and human beings this year. Here's a quote from K...

"In the beginning of the year, I didn't like to read at all. But then my teacher showed me all these books that were for me, and I couldn't stop reading."

Books that were for her.  Written just for her.  Or at least it felt that way.  She went on to talk about Sonya Sones, Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Nancy Werlin -- voices that spoke to her over the past ten months. 

And K wasn't the only one who named names as she reflected on books that made a difference this year.  My kids talked about finding themselves in the characters of Pete Hautman, Janet Tashjian, Jack Gantos, Laurie Halse Anderson, Lisa Yee, Sharon Creech, Jerry Spinelli, Wendelin Van Draanen, David Lubar, Cynthia Kadohata, Mal Peet, and Walter Dean Myers.  They wrote about being challenged by M.T. Anderson, Richard Preston, and Markus Zusak.  They wrote fondly about escaping into the worlds of Margaret Peterson Haddix, Christopher Paolini, and JK Rowling.  And they reflected on walking a mile in someone else's shoes as they read Gene Luen Yang, Cynthia Lord, Will Hobbs, Jennifer Roy, and Joseph Bruchac.

I write for kids.  I know that some days, it feels like you're alone with your computer, and even your computer doesn't  like you very much. So I thought I'd share K's reflection on her year of reading.  We all need to realize when we write, we're writing for someone important.  Someone like K, who's waiting for a book that's just for her, just for him.  

If you write for kids, that's the work you're doing every day.  You may never get to read the end-of-the-year essays, but you should know that you make a difference, and you're appreciated.

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Ha! 2 books that I read this month! In fact, 1 of them I read this week!

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee

I have been accused of being anal retentive, an over-achiever, and a compulsive perfectionist, like those are bad things.

Millicent Min is a genius. It's not that she's just really smart, but certifiably a genius--she's going to be a senior in high school and has started taking classes at the local college. She's 11. She's also lonely--she's in a lot of extra-curriculars at school, but she doesn't have friends. Even in her college class, the other students don't see her as an equal and resent her presence. Other kids her age don't know how to relate to her.

Millicent's mother signed her up for volleyball this summer to try and give her daughter a "normal" childhood. At volleyball, she meets Emily. Emily seems to like her, so Millicent doesn't tell her how smart she is. She wants Emily to see her as a normal kid. As long as she can keep they lies straight, she'll be OK, right?

Lisa Yee has a great character in Millie, who, socially, is a little behind her peers even she's light years ahead of them academically. She's hilarious as she tried to navigate her new friendship with Emily, and friendships are complicated, no matter how smart you are. Yee has written several very believable characters and Millicent is extremely likable. I'm looking forward to reading Stanford Wong Flunks Big-time and So Totally Emily Ebers.

Other blog reviews: Miss Erin, Elizabeth O. Dulemba, The Tired Reader

Rickshaw Girlby Mitali Perkins

So, usually for a book to "count" as part of my have-read list, it has to be at least 100 pages OR have a quality I can't define but call "deep impact". The Big Wave is one such book.

Everyone's already reviewed this one and you other kidlit bloggers are probably familiar with Mitali as she's a frequent commentor and fellow blogger. (How did I NOT know she wrote Monsoon Summer? That's been on my to-read list forever!)

Anyway, I was really excited when this came into the library, because I'm a big fan of Mitali's blog-comments. But then I got really paranoid, because what if I didn't like it? I've told myself I'm going to review every book that I read here, and so I would but I really like Mitali and OH! THE AGONY!

But all the worry was for naught, because I did like it. And it has that elusive "deep impact" even though it's under 100 pages.

So, this is set in modern-day Bangladesh. Naima's father is a rickshaw driver that never gets a rest. She wishes she was a boy, so she would be allowed to help out. She comes up with several grand plans and schemes to possibly help and complications ensue.

I was really intrigued by the turn this book took in the end, because who would've thunk that you could so effectively introduce the concept of micro-finance to the middle-reader set?

Also, the pictures not only perfectly compliment, but really add to the story.

Check out other reviews at: My Blog, Fuse #8, Planet Esme, Phantom Scribbler, Brookeshelf, Info Dad, Readers Rants,

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I am starting a new and occasional feature of my blog. I am going to post a children's author's name over and over again to see how long it takes them to either Google themself and find me or find out through the grapevine that they have been pinged.

We'll see who is the fastest of all the authors to answer the Google Ping.

Lisa Yee, author of So Totally Emily Ebers is the first up.

Here we go:

Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee, Lisa Yee.

There we go...and the clock has begun at 5pm EST on 5/1/2007.

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RRRiordan is blogging from London. He met Amanda Craig of the Times and will be interviewed for BBC by Jacqueline Wilson! Living the Dream! (He will not get to Oxford this time, Michele.)

Meg Cabot is blogging from Paris (and other points) and got to meet Neil Gaiman in Leipzig. Paris is really so beautiful around Easter time. Actually, when is Paris NOT beautiful? Check out the chocolate Easter egg.

Neil Gaiman has been shadowing Meg Cabot and is a "a really cool dad" because MC gave him a stack of her books autographed to his daughter, Mandy.

Robin Brande is back from an author tour and visiting with her readers all across the country. Librarian, Susan Geye at North Crowley High School in Ft. Worth, Texas presented her with the most amazing gift. Read her post to find out what it was. What a terrific idea for visiting authors. Texas librarians are awesome!

Maureen Johnson has returned from London and has an entirely entertaining account, "BRIEF ENCOUTERS WITH FAMOUS PEOPLE." Monday, March 19, 2007, of her flight home with Sigourney Weaver.

Lisa Yee is in Michigan for a school visit and got to meet Jim (Happy Bunny) Benton at a book signing. Earlier in March, she also got to meet Carol Burnett and John Lithgow signed her napkin.

Linda Sue Park has been traveling to Hong Kong and Taiwan and is posting photos.

Grace Lin is back from Hong Kong and brought home a beautifully tailored blue dress.


And finally,

Hopefully, John Green is home from the hospital.

Get well, John.

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Apparently (and she has never divulged this information before so how was I to know?), Lisa Yee is the world's biggest number one Winnie-the-Pooh fan. I'm not saying this in a lighthearted manner. I don't call her Number One because she has two Eeyore dolls and a signed edition by E. H. Shepard or something. I'm talking... well...

Better see for yourself.

Yeah. When you have so many materials you can donate them to The White River Heritage Museum and get a collection named after you... only THEN can you be called a true fan.

Lisa, darling, you must come and visit Pooh again and pronto. Look, this newbie YA author did. Why not you? Come back to him. You may be on the wrong coast, but no author can stays away from NYC for too long. How long can you resist the lure?

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Obviously I'm running a little bit behind here these days. You'll have to be patient with me while I play catch up.

Now we're all familiar with Kelly Herold's children's wiki novel (if we are good people, that is). This isn't precisely the same thing, but I was rather touched by it. The infamous (in a good way) Lisa Yee is holding a Blog-a-Story-a-Thon. Here are the rules:

THE RULES
1. The first line will mirror the first line in SO TOTALLY EMILY EBERS (that way I can see how the book would have gone with lots of input) -- "Today was the last day of school, and the second saddest day of my entire life."

2. Anyone can contribute ONE SENTENCE (and only one sentence).

2a. Make sure you POST YOUR SENTENCE AS A COMMENT and not a reply to the previous post.3. If can be rated G or PG or PG-13.

3. Every now and then, I may change the direction of the story. If that happens, you can contribute ANOTHER sentence (and only one sentence).

4. And because I always write the last lines of my books first, the last line of the Blog-a-Story-Thon will be this: "He turned out the light and went into the Peeps' room. He would be there all night, and he would so totally be there when the Peeps waked up in the morning."

And do not even pretend like you don't know how to do this. There are, as of this writing, just 32 comments on the site. You can do better. Shoo.

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Such good news. Lisa Yee has been named the 2007 Thurber House Children's Writer-in-Residence. She is, needless to say, thrilled. Who can blame her? She gets to spend a month in his house. She gets to sleep, "in the room where the bed fell on his father." Purdy darn sweet, non? A great big congrats going out to the funny woman. And really, shouldn't this program go only to humorous writers? You may read a poem celebrating her win here.

Here's the website's description of the program.

The annual Thurber House Residency in Children's Literature is awarded to a talented author of books for middle grade children and takes place over four weeks during the months of June and July. Candidates should have at least one book for middle grade children with a major publisher and should have experience with and an enthusiasm for teaching children. We are most interested in giving emerging authors an opportunity to work on their craft while providing local children the chance to work with professional writers.

Since 2001, the Thurber House has offered children's book writers a month-long retreat in the furnished third-floor apartment of Thurber House. Each resident spends up to ten hours per week teaching children the joys of writing in both a community-based agency and as part of the Thurber House Summer Writing Camp for children. He or she also receives a stipend and has plenty of time to write in the apartment where the bed fell on James Thurber's father. Past recipients are Deborah Wiles (01), Kathryn Hewitt (02), Natasha Tarpley (03), Laurie Miller Hornik (04), and Shelley Pearsall (05).

Oh, that's good. I like Deborah Wiles too.

Thanks to Gotta Book for the link.

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She's been named the 2007 Thurber House Children's Writer in Residence!

We're already planning our tour of Columbus for Lisa. First stop will be The North Market.

At The North Market, we will be sure she samples Jeni's Ice Cream:
"25+ flavors of gourmet, artisanal ice creams. Traditional, signature and seasonal varieties available by the scoop and pint.

Experience ice cream taken to a new level. Fresh, handmade ice cream, sorbet and gelato are all created with the finest and freshest ingredients. The menu of flavors changes frequently. On a given day, you might see Dark Cocoa Gelato, Wild Berry Lavender, Toasted Hazelnut and Salty Caramel."

Pam's Market Popcorn is also a must.












Next stop, Cover to Cover Children's Bookstore.

Later, we'll stop at the Main Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library






to see the original art by Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson.











You see, there's WAY more to Columbus, OH than the Buckeyes! And we've only scratched the surface!

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Yes, yet another day wherein I review no books at all. Not a one. Kinda makes you wonder what I’m doing here. I ask myself that every day.

Out and about, Wonderful Things are going on. The results are in for Lisa Yee’s contest. Funny stuff. I was highly in favor of Green Eggs and ’Nam, especially because the name itself was the main joke (as opposed to the description). I liked Mr. Brown Can Poo, Can You? for the same reason, so it’s not like I’ve got some sort of intellectual bent.

My BFF Fuse#8 is back in town with excellent posts on her Newbery Experience (good band name) and her take on the awards that are not Newbery. She is also profiled on the Seven Impossible Things blog with a fabulouso interview. I’ve mentioned that S.I.T. is doing interviews of bloggers and authors, right? Well they are, and the first two — of themselves and of Liz from A.C.A.F.A.A.T.C. (that is the worst acronym ever) — were very interesting. I’m on the list to be interviewed also, and not because I begged... Not only because I begged.

While you’re over at post of the Newbery Experience (or maybe a drink name), check out the comments. KT (whoever that is) has questioned the authority of the Cybils judges and the judging criteria themselves. She mentioned checking out blogs where she “found some mean spiritedness and some inarticulate criticism,” and that can mean only one thing. She read Tulane Readers Theatre.

Anyway, mean-spirited is so ten years ago. I’d prefer snarky, because it’s hip to be snarky (possible new Huey Lewis song). I also wonder about her comment, “If we are to take your awards seriously, we must know that you are serious persons with a serious way of evaluating the books.” This sentiment concerns me — being that I am not a serious person — so we might want to keep my judging role on the down-low.

And worrying about a serious way of evaluating the books is totally going to put a dent in my Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo strategy.

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