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Morning, folks.  What’s that?  Why, yes. Yes, I would like to watch this video about Nathan Hale’s newest GN The Underground Abductor. Thank you! Seems to me the man has lucked out in terms of timing too. With people rallying to put Ms. Tubman on the $20 bill, it is now vastly important to learn more about her. Plus, you cannot read this book and not become an instantaneous Tubman fan.

So here in NYC we’ve a little something called the NYC Neighborhood Library Awards. Patrons nominate their local branches and the finalists have these cool videos. The first branch I ever worked in was my beloved Jefferson Market. Look at this and tell me it’s not the most gorgeous place you’ve ever seen.

Jefferson Market Library from Well Exposed on Vimeo.

My castle.

Now lots of successful children’s authors use their money for good causes.  But really, opening an independent bookstore is just a great idea all around.  Jeff Kinney talks about his newly opened store here.  I love his reasoning behind not making it just a children’s store (though, frankly, that would have been a-okay with me too).

For you Betsy Bird completists out there (hi, mom), here’s a chance to see me talk twice about digital stuff. Once around 6:36 and once around 24:20. This livestream video was done in celebration of a Kickstarter Campaign called Time Traveler Tours & Tales which seeks to meld interactive history with honest-to-goodness books. I was asked to speak about story and electronic media and libraries, so I did just that:

Doggone it. The Scholastic preview just went up and the books look fantastic.  And me not going to ALA either.  Oh, Book Expo . . . .

And for our off-topic video today, this is sorta kinda on topic. If you want to stretch your definition of “children’s literature”.  Recently there’s been a lot of talk about what the 10 best pre-recorded sketches of Saturday Night Live this season were. My heart lies with The Middle Earth Office.  For fans of the British office, this is just gravy. Pure gravy.

 

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“I write humor the way a surgeon operates, because it is a livelihood, because I have a great urge to do it, because many interesting challenges are set up, and because I have the hope it may do some good.”

-James Thurber

Thurber’s writings have certainly withstood the times and continue to inspire laughter and the art of humor writing to this day. On Dec. 8, we’ll be celebrating his 117^th birthday by holding our annual Thurber Birthday Gala in his honor at The Westin Columbus from 6-9 p.m. This year’s celebration will feature the 2010 Thurber Prize for American Humor winner, Steve Hely, writer for shows like The Office and The David Letterman Show, and author of How I Became a Famous Novelist.

This is an evening you won’t want to miss out on! Click here to purchase your tickets by Dec. 5 (hurry, there are only a limited amount available!).

In addition to the dinner, we’re holding a raffle with the chance to win one of five prize packages. And there’s something for everyone! Prizes include a script and Season 6 DVD set of The Office signed by the cast (including Steve Carrell!), tickets to The Ohio State sporting events, an assortment of wine, overnight stay at the Westin Columbus, and more!

Purchase your raffle tickets here for the following prize packages:

For the TV Fan
A DVD of Season 6 of The Office and a script, both signed by the cast, including Steve Carrell, and a signed copy of Steve Hely’s Thurber Prize winning book, How I Became a Famous Novelist.

For the Sports Fan
Two tickets to one OSU Men’s basketball game, two Men’s ice hockey games, and two Women’s basketball games.

For the Romantic
An overnight stay at the elegant Westin Columbus plus dinner for two at the hotel’s High Street Grill and drink vouchers at the incomparable Thurber’s Bar.

For the Entertainment Fan
Two tickets to a ProMusica Chamber Orchestra performance (excluding their gala) plus a copy of each of their two new CDs. Two tickets to a performance by BalletMet. Two tickets to a performance by CATCO. Two tickets to a performance by the Jazz Arts Orchestra. Two tickets to any Thurber House Winter/Spring Evenings with Authors event.

For the Art & Wine Lover
A case of assorted wines and a signed and framed print of Thurber House.

Note, you do not need to be present to win.

We hope you’ll join us for this exciting evening of laughter, celebration and fun!

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Remember those "kick-ass" girls Anastasia and I were going on about not too long ago? Good news — they've found another champion for the cause in writer-actress Mindy Kaling. Just check out this notable quote from a recent interview with New... Read the rest of this post

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I heard a rumor that Steve Carell is leaving The Office. I'm calling it a rumor because there's just no way that can happen. The Office without Michael Scott would be like a Double Stuf Oreo without the Stuf. His World's Best Boss mug doesn't lie. Who else would bring donuts in on his birthday and organize a Lake Wallenpaupack booze cruise and throw an 05.05.05 party because it happens once every billion years?



Only Michael Scott.

Now, I always try to see the bright side of a dark situation. The only good thing that will come of this is that Steve Carell will finally win his long overdue Emmy. They can't just let him leave without giving him the award he's deserved for the past five years.  Give Steve Carell his freaking Emmy already! He really, really needs to win this time around. Then 30 Rock can hog all the Emmys again next year.

My love for The Office is immense, but that doesn't mean I don't have room for other show love. I've been Netflixing Big Love. It's so good! If When It Happens is ever made into a movie, the oldest son from Big Love (Douglas Smith) would make a great Tobey. He has many Tobey-like qualities.



My Netflix queue is fierce. There are several shows I've been waiting for all year to come out on DVD that are coming out in August. Which of course I'm psyched about. Only, now I have a big dilemma. Which of these August releases should I watch first?

• Brothers & Sisters
  

• Friday Night Lights

• Gossip Girl

• One Tree Hill

• Parenthood

• The Middle

Parenthood and The Middle are shows I haven't seen yet. I keep hearing how awesome they are. The other four are some of my absolute fave shows. After The Office, of course. So which to move to the top of my queue? Conundrum!

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Today's Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post comes from Lauren Williams on the rise of watchable web series and her personal favorite, Felicia Day's "The Guild," which tied with "The Bannen Way" in leading Streamy Award nominations this year. Remember,... Read the rest of this post

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Gender-neutral housing (a movement that started to accommodate GLBT students is beginning to gain wider acceptance with about 50 schools nationwide offering students the option. According to officials, most are platonic friends. Also Jezebel on a... Read the rest of this post

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Today we continue our steady stream of Year In Review coverage with Youth Advisory Board members Alyx Steadman and Lauren Williams who share their respective picks for the best and worst moments on television this year, both from the teen-targeted... Read the rest of this post

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Tempting as it is to press the enter key 20 times and then type ‘timing’, I’m not going to. Nor, to be fair, am I going to reveal the secret of all comedy. If I knew that, then instead of sitting at my computer typing I’d be relaxing by a sun-soaked lagoon with my wife, our children, and their incredibly expensive home-schooling experts, while the butler serves us the appropriate meal for whichever time zone I’d eventually have settled for.

Rather, I want to do some musing about the art of writing funny books for children. And it is an art - and a craft, too. I do get the impression that there are some people who think it’s easy; and reading some of the “funny” children’s books currently on the market, I can see why. But then, looking at some of the “comedy” written or broadcast for adults, I could see why anyone might think that’s easy, too; and it’s not. Quite clearly it’s not, or the overall standard would be a lot higher.

Oooh, I’m sounding like a grumpy old man today. Sorry. And I hope nobody thinks I’m saying all, or even most, funny books for kids aren’t funny, because I’m not. But there are some right shockers out there.

In my opinion. And there, of course, lies the first secret of comedy: finding the right audience. Because - up to a point, at least - comedy really is a matter of both taste and perspective. I loved The Office partly because it seemed to me horribly close to drama-documentary; I’ve known people with as little self-awareness as David Brent. My parents-in-law hated it because, whilst accepting that comedy needs to stretch the boundaries of believability a little, they felt The Office snapped those boundaries in two and then jumped on the pieces. Our different experiences mediated different understandings of the humour. Similarly, I suppose, there are jokes about DOS that computer technicians would find hilarious but that I wouldn’t get at all. So to write a successfully funny children’s book, firstly, you need to have an idea that’s sufficiently recognisable to enough children to make it work.

Once you’ve got that idea, what marks out, say, the Andy Stantons from the just-not-funnies? What’s the difference? For one answer, I might go back to Gillian Philip’s piece on Pixar’s Up, and say as she does: it’s the story that matters.

A month or so back, I was on a panel with Andy Stanton, Kaye Umansky and Anthony McGowan (Anthony: get yourself a website, man, for goodness’ sake!), and among the many excellent points that were made was one I found intriguing: the jokes cut across the grain of the story. In other words, you’ve got a story going along in one direction, with jokes interrupting it by taking the reader’s mind off in another. I think there are exceptions, but this strikes me as being largely true, and if you look at Andy’s Mr Gum books - quite probably the funniest children’s books of the current crop - you’ll see this happening in spades. In fact, the interruption itself often becomes the joke, or amplifies it. Yet there is a story, and recognisable characters, and however silly and tangential the jokes - and however much they interrupt - they never actually stop the flow of the story.

Put another way, there’s a delicate balance between story and jokes. It doesn’t have to be the same balance for each story - some funny books have lots of jokes and not much story; others have lots of story and not many jokes - but as long as the balance exists, as long as the tension between narrative and silliness is in some way maintained without detriment to either - the reader will be satisfied.

By contrast, I’m currently reading a massive whopper of a book - which I shan’t name - with my nine-year-old son, which doesn’t actually seem to have any story at all. There are a lot of silly situations, but no discernible plot. A detail which appears to be absolutely central in the first couple of chapters suddenly ceases to have any bearing on matters. Characters - apparently major characters - disappear without warning, and then wander back three quarters of the book later, or behave without any particular consistency and without living up to the reputations other characters ascribe to them. Situations are set up solely for single, not terribly amusing, jokes. “Funny” things happen and almost immediately suffer deus ex machina reversals so that the next thing can happen. We’ve been reading it together, a bit at a time, for days if not weeks, and I just want it to be over.

Yet... googling it, I can’t find a single review which doesn’t proclaim it to be comedy genius. And to be fair, my son, while not laughing out loud or even cracking a smile much of the time, claims to be enjoying it. So maybe it’s me who’s out of step. And maybe, when it comes down to it, personal taste is the most important factor.



















Oh - and timing.

Thanks, by the way, to everyone who sent good wishes for my Punning Dad’s birthday - he had a great day. And just to keep you all informed of how the next generation of punsters is coming along: for reasons too tedious to explain, my wife’s computer is currently living on the dining table. And last night, while we were eating, I asked Punning Son (9) to be careful, thus:
“Don’t get chilli on Mummy’s Mac.”

To which he replied:

“She doesn’t mind getting rain on her mac."
[Perfectly timed beat]
"And rain’s chilly.”

A double pun! That’s my boy.


John’s website is at www.visitingauthor.com.

His latest book is Jack Slater and the Whisper of Doom (Young Corgi 2009; ISBN 978-0552558051).

And when this goes online he'll be in Germany without internet access, so if you ask him a question about this post and he doesn't answer, he's not being rude, okay?

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Talk about refreshed. The cool, crisp summer breeze was blowing in through my bedroom window all night. I was under the covers, even. There's nothing like a refreshing summer breeze. August can bring it now. Well, maybe August could bring some of it but cut down on the humidity? The breeze was so amazing that it woke me up a few times around sunrise. Each time I looked out the window, the sky was an incredible shade of green or blue. Almost psychedelic. At first I was like, "Am I dreaming?" No, I was not. That's just what it's like when you get up early enough to enjoy the sunrise. Not that I'm making it a regular thing.

I just got some reader mail forwarded to me from my publisher. Love that! Actual letters are made of magic. It's wonderful to receive reader emails and Facebook and MySpace messages, too. But there's something about actual letters I've always loved. I was big on pen pals in my teen years. I love seeing a person's handwriting, if they used a cool pen, which stationery they picked out. So I'm super excited to read my letters.

These letters remind me of when I had to teach my students how to address an envelope. When I was a teacher, every year I'd assign this special project where my students would write a letter to themselves that they would read in the future. They could write about anything, focusing on what their goals are and important things that they want their future selves to remember. I'd keep the letters for as long as they wanted (up to five years) and then send them back. With their letter, everyone had to hand in a self-addressed envelope. The first time I assigned this, I was shocked to see that very few kids knew how to address an envelope. For most of them, this was the first envelope they'd ever addressed! After that first year, I always drew a diagram of how to address an envelope on the board when I was explaining the assignment. It's such a powerful commentary on how much our lives have changed.

Also powerful: Mindy Kaling Twittered that she's working on the Jim and Pam wedding ep script with Greg Daniels. EW was all over it. Talk about pressure. Can you imagine being the one to write that script? It'd be all like, "Hey, so you know how we've been waiting for this day for four years? Yeah, you're the one deciding how it looks. Good luck with that." Intensity cubed. I cannot deal with the anticipation of that ep. If I had a TV, I'd be able to watch it in a few months when it's on. Waiting until next September for the DVDs will be excruciating. I might have to take over SP's big screen for this one. But no, because then it would be out of order. Conundrum!

Today's a perfect day for some Big Gay Ice Cream Truck time. It's not incredibly hot out, so you could actually get an ice cream cone without it melting all over the place in two seconds. But I just checked his website and he's not out today! Oh, well. I'll track him down one of these days, friendly neighbors. And when I do, you'll see full documentation here. In the meantime, let's do something else fun and summery today. Enjoy the summer breeze!

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Just to clarify how serious my Office obsession is, I'd like to share some things I got at the NBC Store:



My stash includes a Jam tee, a Dunder Mifflin mousepad, a Dunder Mifflin stress ball, The Office door sign, and bumper stickers for my scrapbook. And yes, that is a magnet of Pam's office drawing! So cool.

I was going to order these things online, but then I was like, Dude. I live a few subway stops from 30 Rock. I can totally go and immerse myself in Office heaven! And wow, what a rush it was. That place is crazy! They had standard supplies like Dunder Mifflin coffee thermoses and Michael's World's Best Boss mug. But they took it up a notch. They had those plush Dunder Mifflin robes that were given to employees for Christmas in season two. They had Pam's office drawing on paper. Abundant Dundies. They even had Support the Rabid arm bands from the Fun Run. But the thing that made me laugh out loud was a collection of Serenity by Jan candles. The candles came in scents like Bonfire (the one that Jan made Jim sniff) and Serenity. Serenity smells like how you'd imagine Jan would make a calming candle smell. Like she doesn't quite have a grip.

Key chains were sold out, so I'll be returning for one. I'm not sure if you're allowed to take pictures, but if so I will document the scene. Right when you go in, there's a cardboard cutout of Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin that I want to share with you. 30 Rock at 30 Rock. How meta.

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Today's Youth Advisory Board Post is from Liz Funk on what makes certain TV shows and films "co-viewing" material for teens and their parents, and others.. not so much. Remember, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth... Read the rest of this post

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I recently updated my Facebook status to: Susane is bummed that she's too old for trick-or-treating. Some comments came back insisting that you're never too old. But really? If I showed up at your door with my pillowcase, would you give me a fun size Milky Way?

And what would I be?

Some costume ideas that come to mind are on the obscure side. Like this one:



I could go as an eyeball fish! This is actually a photo of microscopic marine life near Hawaii. That's a swordfish on the left and a sunfish on the right. I'd go as the sunfish. Photo by David Liittschwager.

Or I could go as Honk-Honk-Ashoo:



Isn't he so cute? He's a pillowhead from the book by Ralph Cosentino.

The ultimate costume would be to go as the Pam half of Jim and Pam:



Except SP doesn't watch The Office. And we're going to see Speed-the-Plow tonight, so we can't be anything anyway.

What are you going to be?

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Until a month ago, I had never watched a full episode of “The Office.” I was aware of its following and success, of course, but every time I turned it on, I saw what seemed like a dull person recounting a dull encounter in a dull away. And, well, why watch something less interesting than my own life?


But this year’s season opener got a lot of press over the summer, and I finally decided to give the show its due by renting the first disc of the first season.


Within the first thirty minutes, I was hooked. Forget everything I said about dull. The show is at once classically understated, and over-the-top. The writing is superb, the characterization so real that you think you know the people, and the performances spot-on.

And that Jim Halpert...what a cutie!


Any other fans of “The Office” among us?

What I’m Reading: The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Tina

Tina Ferraro
The ABC’s of Kissing Boys - January 13, 2009
How to Hook a Hottie - Out Now, Book Sense Top Teen Pick
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress - Out Now
www.tinaferraro.com

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Okay, my responses to major show events aren't exactly breaking news. I'm usually a year (or 10) late on reporting, since I have to wait for the DVDs to come out to know what happened. Of course I knew Jim and Pam got together in season four of The Office because I'm alive and all. And I'm crying a river that there are only 14 episodes in the whole freaking season. But nothing can spoil my excitement over fresh eps. I ran to Circuit City and snagged the box set for $32.99, which came with this limited edition stapler in Jell-O mold keychain, inspired by season one!



As you know, Big Haircut is the primary reason for my obsession (and, yes, I do like Jim better with his season three job interview haircut).  Especially since I am connected to John Krasinski by two degrees.  This was John after he heard about that: 

After assorted pomp and huffufle from certain people insisting that the British version of The Office is better than the American version, I Netflixed that stuff. Is it funny? Sure. Is it better than the American version? No freaking way. Steve Carell blows away all of the British characters put together. Are you seriously telling me that the other Dwight is better than Rainn Wilson? I'm thinking not.

There were lots of plot similarities, so I should give props. The pilots of both versions were essentially the same, including the scene where Michael fake fires Pam as a "joke." And even though the other Jim doesn't look like John Krasinski, there were a couple scenes where I saw him in profile or he made that classic Jim face at the camera and I thought, Dude. The similarity is scary. But The Office I know and love is the only one for me.  It rules supreme.  As Michael Scott would say, it's not even like comparing apples to oranges.  It's more like comparing apples to something that sucks way more than apples.

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