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Have you compiled your list of books yet? Summer is beginning this month and hopefully your love of reading will be reinvigorated! This is a great time to browse your library, bookstore and favorite review sites for your upcoming book adventures. As an author I am busy writing my own adventures-but also getting prepared to read my favorite authors to myself and to my toddler. How often will you decide to read? Will you set the proper environment for your favorite books? Make it special. Read in the park, on the beach by the pool, in bed, the possibilities are endless-just make sure that you do it. Many of your local libraries have contest-see if you can join. You might just get rewarded for it. -Read something great

Readers! Spring is here! If you are anything like me-you have a ton of books on your shelves. How often do you get to dive into them? I strongly suggest that you get ready for summer reading and summer giving early. You might be wondering how...I'll tell you. Grab 2 boxes or bins. Mark one: "Donations" and mark the other one "To Read List". Take a look at items that you have read a ton of times that no longer belong on your shelf and make plans to donate to a library, a school or a community group. The other one is your start to getting your summer reading goals met. Spring cleaning can be fun. -Read something great

Today marks the 1st day of National bullying prevention month. I am often asked at what age should we talk to our kids about bullying and related behaviors. I am pleased to share that many pre-schools and early learning centers have asked me to read my books to their students and talk to parents about pro-social education. It is never too early to teach our kids to be kind. To share with them the importance of caring about others and to try to use practical examples to allow them to work on compassion development. As many of you know I have my own little tot and we are already working on feelings identification exercises. Bookstores and resource stores like Self-esteem shop carry many tools to begin this process. If we can teach young people early how to recognize emotions it is a great step in the process of pro-social learning. Does your center need assistance? Can your family benefit from a personal consultation on emotional understanding and prevention? Please let me know. This Friday I will be at Kindercare centers reading my picture book series to students and beginning the process of pro-social education. If you need an Unbully kit we send great resources through the mail that includes information, tools and resources that aid in prevention. -Read something great

The Moth StorySLAM Storytelling Series has expanded to Louisville, Pittsburgh and Ann Arbor.

See all the October events here. Although the series already regularly hosts events in Chicago, the organizers will also double the series’ presence in that city. The storytelling slam already runs in New York City, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

Here’s more from the release: “Kicking off on September 27th, the monthly Louisville StorySLAM will take place at Headliners Music Hall on the last Tuesday of every month. Pittsburgh’s StorySLAMs will commence on October 11th and will be held on the second Tuesday of each month at Club Café. Ann Arbor’s StorySLAM series will be held on the third Tuesday of each month at Circus. Chicago’s existing StorySLAM series will be expanded with a new installment every third Monday of the month at the Haymaker Pub & Brewery.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Readers, as we take the issue of bullying seriously we must be realistic. Many of us know bullies. They may be in our classrooms, work places or even our homes. The best thing that we can do is to educate young people on how to deal with conflict and anger to prevent them from being bullies. When kids feel equipped to deal with the hard stuff they can navigate problems in a respectful way and become solution-oriented.
Here are some common conflicts that young people face:

1.) Being teased
2.) Being caught in the rumor mill
3.) being called names
4.) being accused
5.) being treated unfairly
6.) Being excluded
7.) being picked on for being different
8.) Being cheated
9.) Being threatened
10.) Mean notes/texts or cyber bullying

It is obvious that many conflicts can lead to bullying but if we can prep young people on how to identify these situations and have a planned response they may be more equipped to deal with them in a positive way. Do you have any ideas on how to deal with bullying? Have you ever helped a bully to reform? What can you share with the readers of this blog to help them continue to build an atmosphere of self-esteem? Your ideas are appreciated. If we all ban together we can eradicate this behavior and move towards a more peaceful future for our kids and adults. If you are free on Friday October 22nd we are having a Anti-bullying Townhall to disucss solutions and strategies to overcome this growing problem. We will be meeting at 118 S. Main Street, Ann Arbor, 48104 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
-Read Something Great!

Sunday, Aug 19 4:20pm:
As I type, we’re roaring down the New York Throughway past Exit 31 to Utica, NY. Karen is blasting the Lemonheads album It’s a Shame About Ray, the album that gave us our son's name (after Evan Dando, the singer/songwriter). Outside the window, it looks and feels like we’re almost home. So far our minivan has traveled almost 12,000 miles in 54 days, with only 2 sunsets left until we’re back at our little cape house in Wayland, MA. :-)

Let’s catch up:

MICHIGAN


On Tuesday we arrived in Michigan, where we stayed with our friend and Karen’s college housemate Kelly McDonnell (no nickname—go figure). It was a quick visit of only one night, and Kelly made us a delish BBQ and we pretty much just hung out—just what we needed. Thanks, Kelly!

The next day we were off to meet the pastor who married us eleven years ago. We hadn’t seen Father Lew Towler since September of 1996, but we called and asked if he wanted to meet us for coffee—and he said yes! So…we were psyched to drop by and say hello. :-) First, some quick background on our wedding:


We were married in Wickford, RI in the Old Narragansett Church, a tiny, 200-year-old colonial church built in 1707. The wedding took place in a hurricane (Hurricane Fran) so it poured with rain and roared with thunder and lightning and was very dramatic. For our reception afterwards, guests dressed up as either something Latin (Karen’s family is from Argentina) or something English (my family is from England). So people came as burritos, teabags, mad cows, banditos—you get the idea. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures, including one of Father Lew dressed in some kind of British military outfit (he’s on the left, next to my father). Father Lew is a fun and funny guy:


So…here we are with Father Lew eleven years later—with his dog, Bella. Lew moved from RI to Ann Arbor, MI in 2000-ish. It was so cool to meet him again. Still a warm, sweet guy. Terrific to see you again, Father Lew! :-)


By the way, Ann Arbor was great—a busy college town with a lot of coffee shops. We wished we could have stayed there longer.


ORIGAMI AND CRISPY NOODLE SNACKS IN WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI



That night we stayed with our friends Greg and Tomie, their kids Alex, Amelia, and Skyler. Here’s Evan:

EVAN: This was a very enjoyable part of the trip because we got to try Japanese snacks like chocolate covered macadamia nuts and crispy noodle snacks, and we played Japanese video games and it was very relaxing. Alex was very nice. He taught us how to make origami boxes and he played a lot of games with us. Greg and Tomie made us a very good dinner of roasted chicken and a great breakfast too.

Thanks, Greg and Tomie, Alex, Amelia and Skyler!


O CANADA!

We had a quick and easy ride passage through customs and then, on Friday, we arrived in Ontario, Canada.




LAKE HURON

We were lucky enough to spend a couple days visiting our friends Philippa and Steve and their son Dylan (Look, Daddy! Actual Canadians!) on their lake house near Bayfield, Ontario on beautiful, amazing, magical Lake Huron. It perfect and relaxing:


Here’s something weird about me: I keep a list of the very best years, months, weeks, days and hours of my life. Apart from the obvious births, weddings, etc., my list includes things like the day I spent writing in the shade overlooking a coffee farm in Costa Rica, and the three hours I spent in Tijuana in April of 1996 – these are some of the best, best times of my life. This trip will definitely go on the list, of course. But in particular I’ll also have a separate entry for the two hours I spent on Saturday morning reading on Phil and Steve’s porch. It was fantastic. I took a picture – here I am, enjoying Harry Potter 7 and just listening to the waves:



Thanks, Phil and Steve!

THE VILLAGE BOOKSHOP

The village of Bayfield, Ontario is home to a friendly independent bookstore with a devoted following of local readers. Right on the main thoroughfare of town, the store gets its share of tourist traffic, and it also hosts many author visits including big-name Canadian authors like Margaret Atwood and Jane Urquhart. Here I am with bookseller Mary Wolfe. Thanks for your support, Mary! It was great to meet you!



LUCY IS STUNG BY A CANADIAN BEE

In the park in Bayfield, Lucy was stung on the shoulder by a Canadian bee. Lucy was very brave, and screamed only briefly.  A pastry from the local bakery worked miracles.  Bzzzz, eh?  (Something to ponder:  Due to the exchange rate, are Canadian bees only 90% as painful as U.S. bees?)




TORONTO, ¿QUE PASA?

As it turns out, everyone in Toronto speaks Spanish. At least everyone I met there did. We stayed with Karen’s cousins Victor and Betty, and their lovely family—they’re all from Argentina, Venezuela, and parts thereabouts. Here’s Karen.

KAREN: Wow! I never expected to do a US road trip and to find myself in Toronto at a “Parrillada” with my extended family from Argentina! It was awesome! For those of you who don’t know, a Parrillada is a giant barbecue with beef, sausages etc (many types of meat are cooked in a special Argentine way and are very, very tasty!) I officially vote my cousin Victor as the Supreme Parrillada Chef!! I met my cousin Andrea who lives in Montreal (Victor and Betty’s Daughter…Ana, Andrea’s sister is in Belgium..hi Ana!). I also met Andres, a cousin that I haven’t seen since I was a wee little child! There were lots of other cousins there too. We all ate, drank lots of wine, and spoke in Spanish. Mark held his own really well, did you know that he speaks Spanish too? I can’t wait to go back! Besos a todos!!




Another trip through customs--including a looooong, sloooow traffic jam to get across the border--and we’re back in the U.S.A! :-)


NEW YORK



NIAGARA FALLS

We stopped in Niagara Falls this morning. It was rainy and crowded, and the surrounding streets looked disturbingly like Las Vegas. But you can’t see that in the photo:



This part was written the following day...Monday, Aug 20 6:30pm:
FLYING PIGS FARM



We arrived last night in Shushan, NY on the far eastern border of the state. It's a green, hilly area that looks like something out of the old sitcom where Bob Newhart used to run a hotel. (I know, I know…that was Vermont not New York--but Vermont is almost literally a stone’s throw away!). It’s also the home of Flying Pigs Farm, which is owned and run by my friends Jennifer Small and Mike Yezzi—I grew up with Jennifer in Barrington, RI and have known her since kindergarten. We were lucky enough to spend a day there. It truly felt like something out of Dick and Jane Go to the Farm. There were pigs and cows and roosters and all the other usual suspects. Evan even got to do some chores, and we all stepped in plenty of animal poop. It was so much fun! Here’s Evan:

EVAN: There were lots of pigs and chickens and three cows. I got to collect the eggs from the chicken roosts. Some of the chickens were vicious, but I wore a glove to protect my hand. One of the chickens pecked at an egg in the egg basket and ate the inside. That chicken was a cannibal! Or was it a chicken-ibal?!



It was great to see you, Jen and Mike! Thanks for a memorable day on the farm!


VERMONT


NORTHSHIRE BOOKSTORE

We've just finished our final official book stop—Northshire Bookstore is a fantastic, big independent in Manchester Center, Vermont. They obviously had one heck of a Harry Potter event because in addition to having an entire “stone” entrance to Hogwarts, they also had a giant Sorting Hat and an absolutely humungous spider. Here I am with event coordinator Linda Ellingsworth and general manager Chris Morrow. Thanks, guys, for making my last official bookstore stop so much fun!



But hang on…we’re still not quite done with the trip yet! There’s one more day to go!

Next blog entry: The Berkshires, home, and deep questions like, “Oh my God! Did We Really Just Drive 13,000 miles?” and “Holy Crap, Was It All Worth It?”

Best,
--Mark

LEMONADE MOUTH (Delacorte Press, 2007)
I AM THE WALLPAPER (Delacorte Press, 2005)
www.markpeterhughes.com

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. Library copy. Cybils shortlist.

The Plot: Matthew tells his story to his younger sister, Emmy; the story of their lives when Emmy was still small. When Matthew, Emmy, and their sister Callie lived with their mother and dreamed of escape. Nikki, their mother, is hugs and kisses one day; curses and slaps the next. It's an uncertain way to live; and Matthew begins to hope that something will change when he sees a man in a store stand up to a man shouting at a small child. By a twist of fate, this man, Murdoch, starts dating Nikki. Maybe, things will change. But Matthew has forgotten the rules of survival; including the rule of not hoping for escape.

The Good: This is not an easy read; it is unsettling and upsetting, a look at physical, psychological and emotional abuse.

Nikki has to be mentally ill; the way she treats these children is chilling. Nikki is not like the mother in Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown; in that book, the mother, while ill, is not abusive; that mother never wanted to be a mother; and that mother, perhaps, does what is best for her child by becoming an absent parent.

Matthew, Callie, and Emmy could only hope to be so lucky; it would be a dream come true for their mother to drive away and never come back. The problem isn't just that Nikki is a bad parent; the problem is that Nikki believes herself a good mother. Nikki believes that she loves her children. She sees herself as teaching her children how to have "fun" while she dances on the edge of danger.

Nikki doesn't see her children as individuals; she sees them as extensions of herself, feeling and believing and acting as she does. I was reminded of Diane Downs; I was reminded of fiction about immature teen mothers, who talk about the child only in terms of what the child will bring the mother, or only in terms of a child no different from a doll, who will do as the mother needs, who will act and believe and think as the mother wants.

Nikki expects her children to read her mind; to be happy when she is, sad when she is, to know when to be spirited and when to disappear. These become the "rules of survival" for Matthew and his siblings.

Another fascinating and disturbing part of this book is Nikki's ability to appear "normal" to others and her ability to manipulate men. Nikki pretends that all is well with Murdoch; at other times, she meets men who she gets to do almost anything. Matthew, her son, wonders at this; his father tries to explain, but the explanation rings hollow -- these men are weak. Nikki is pretty and flirtatious. It leaves Matthew to wonder, is he strong? Or weak? Would he allow someone like Nikki to twist and turn him?

Matthew and Callie try their best to protect their young sister, Emmy. It turns out they do too good a job. Emmy feels safe enough to speak out; safe enough to provoke Nikki into anger and violence. It becomes a scary moment for the reader, as well as for Matthew and Callie. You cheer that Emmy feels safe, that her self has been protected enough that she is spirited and not scarred. You are as confused as Matthew and Callie as you wonder what is best for Emmy; should she, too, learn the rules of survival, learn to not speak up? Or has Emmy learned a different set of rules; is she finding excitement, "fun," as the mother would say, in provoking Nikki?

It is Emmy, more than himself, more than Callie, that drives Matthew to take action. What he does and tries to do; what he fails to do; is fascinating and thought provoking.

I can't help but mention Nikki again; because she is the scariest mother I have met in fiction in a long time. She is scary because of how she treats her children; and she is scary because she fails to see anything wrong with her behavior; her belief that she is a fun mom; her unpredictability; the abuse she dishes out.... I want her to disappear or die as much as her children do. She is beyond redemption; the only thing that can be redeemed, that can be saved, is her children. And with every page, you hope that Michael can save himself and his sisters.

Links:
The Cynsations (Cynthia Leitich Smith) Interview.
Sara's Holds Shelf review.
Propernoun review.
Reading YA: Readers' Rant review.
bookshelves of doom review.
Goddess of YA review.