Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving scrumplets! I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of my loyal readers! I've been writing this blog for almost two years and it's always such a blessing to me whenever someone comments saying how much they like the blog, or how good it was for them to remember a book I'd written about. Your support means so much to me. I'm grateful for the technology and the access that allows me to reach out to people in this way, and hopefully bring them a bit of happiness. I'm thankful that I have all these good memories to blog about. Here's wishing everyone a scrumdiddlyumptious Thanksgiving holiday! Be safe!

P.S. In case you're wondering about the avatar, ( me decked out in my Thanksgiving gear. Ain't I sexy?) I made it on MyWebFace.com- fun site!

Just as Long as We're Together

I've been doing a lot of writing lately. Currently, I'm working to once and for all complete the young adult novella that I've been writing intermittently for the past five years. I really want to finish it and I'm getting down to this writing thing. I'm really developing an individual process of writing and I think my work as a writer is evolving as I become more organized and strategic about writing. For example, I've discovered that it helps when I print out a first draft of a chapter and then have that hard copy in front of me while I retype it as a second, more polished draft. The first draft is about getting the story idea out and the second draft is about honing the writing itself. I recently discovered that the widely-popular American children's author, Judy Blume, has great tips and advice for writers on her website. Thanks Judy!

Spending a lot of time on Judy Blume's website has stirred up so many memories! As a young teenager, I read a few of her books, but the one I remember best is Just As Long as We're Together. The 1994 Turtleback edition I owned had the cover shown above. So nineties! (I love how you always think that the cover you had is the best; other covers are shown below.) Published by Orchard Books in 1987, Just As Long as We're Together is narrated by Stephanie 'Steph' Hirsch. Steph is an average, slightly overweight girl who is somewhat boy-crazy (Steph is into "hunks" although she has never met one in real life) and an easy-going, eternal optimist. Between day-dreaming about the 9th grader "hunk" Jeremy Dragon (Steph and her friends spy on Jeremy from the girl’s bathroom window at school while he’s playing soccer and they decide that since he has hair on his legs, he’s "experienced"), baby-sitting her 10-year old brother, and trying to keep her friends happy, Stephanie doesn't realize what's happening to her family (her parents are separating) until it's too late.

Aside from her parents' divorce, Steph is undergoing several important life changes; she is turning thirteen, is starting junior high, her family has just moved, she is becoming interested in boys, and on top of all that, she starts menstruating (men will never understand what it's like to be thirteen and get your first period ha!) The central focus of the story however, is Stephanie's changing relationship with her best friend, the high-strung, overachieving Rachel Robinson. Rachel is more or less a child prodigy; she's good at everything, and she's pretty too. Since second grade, Steph and Rachel have shared everything, good and bad, and the girls have have never kept a secret from each other.

Meanwhile, a new girl, Alison Monceau, moves to the neighborhood. Alison, the petite and immediately popular newcomer, is the adopted Vietnamese-American daughter of TV star Gena Farrel. Steph meets Allison one day before school starts and finds out that Allison will be in her class. When they start seventh grade, Steph finds out that she and Rachel, aren't in any of the same classes except gym; Rachel is taking advanced classes and the girls aren't even in the same homeroom. Allison and Steph however, are in many classes together and the two girls start spending more and more time together.

As the girls tackle junior high, each has her own set of problems to deal with. Steph becomes uncharacteristically depressed when she accidentally learns that her father isn't in California on business, but that her parents have separated, her father has a girlfriend, and her mother may be having a "fling." Rachel deals with the pressures of being a perfectionist and her family's high expectations, and Alison has to cope with her insecurities as the adopted Vietnamese child of a famous white television actress. As the three girls spend time together and support each other, Steph hopes that she, Allison and Rachel can be best friends, but will this be a case of two’s company, three’s a crowd? Needless to say, Allison's presence alters the relationship between Steph and Rachel. Rachel becomes jealous and for the first time, Rachel is keeping secrets from Steph. How can you be best friends with someone who keeps important secrets from you? Will Steph and Rachel's friendship be saved?

I really loved this book when I was younger and writing about it reminds me of just how much I identified with Judy Blume's books as an adolescent. I remember having to deal with changes in my relationship with my best friend too, also at the end of primary (elementary) school. Just As Long as We're Together captures so much of the real-life stuff that teenage girls deal with- friendships, boys, body changes, family issues. It's a carefully handled, poignant, and often funny story that resolves itself very realistically, which is to say, the ending isn't some saccharine, neatly tied-up conclusion. The characters grow and I think young readers learn a lot from their growth. (Picture to the right: Cover of the 1991 Laurel Leaf paperback edition.)

Incidentally, Judy Blume wrote a companion book, Here's To You, Rachel Robinson told from the character Rachel's point of view. Blume meant to write a third book told from Allison's point of view but never did (you can read more about it here on Judy Blume's website) -we're still waiting for it Judy! I just love calling famous authors by their first names, heh! I loved and still love this book and I highly recommend it. Ages 10 and up.

P.S. With this post I've officially met my number of posts (23 posts) for 2008! Looking forward to going even further this December!

Mystery Book: Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem

It all began earlier this week when the UPS guy left a note on my door. You've seen them: We're sorry we missed you (Imagine being sorry you missed somebody. Well, I guess its possible.) I had no clue what the UPS guy was going on about with his cryptic love letter. I was pretty sure (and still remain convinced) that I didn't order anything online. I certainly wasn't expecting a package, but whatever. I signed the thing letting Mr. UPS know he could leave whatever it was he had for me on my doorstep. You know, the old-fashioned way. Anywhoooo, yesterday while coming out of my house, I stumbled over a package. You can't imagine my delight. Not only do I relish tripping over things, but I just love getting stuff in the mail. Well I tore open that baby and found myself staring at this:

My first reaction was 'Yay, a children's book!' Then I came down to earth and scratched my head. Wait a minute. I hadn't ordered this. Yet the package was definitely addressed to me. Hmmm. I stumbled inside, still staring at the book. Then I sat down and read it. Curiouser and curiouser! I find it to be a fascinating picture book!

Written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex and published by Hyperion Books, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem tells the hilarious but oddly profound tale of Billy Twitters, a slovenly boy whose parents threaten to give him a blue whale in order to teach him responsibility- you know, the common mode of parental disciplining these days. At first, Billy isn't troubled by the fantastical threats ( "But I'm not worried. See, I know a thing or two about blue whales. I mean, they're the biggest animals in the world ever. It's not like you can just have one delivered to your house overnight") but then true to their word, his parents have a blue whale delivered to their door. What follows is an uproarious story brought to life by even more uproarious full-color pages, many of then double-page spreads, which show Billy hauling his new pet whale to school behind his bike, collecting 10,000 gallons of seawater to feed his ginormous burden of a pet, and indulging in other glamorous acts of everyday whale maintenance (My favorite though is the picture of the Fed-Up delivery truck (pun on 'Fed-Ex' ha!) delivering the whale. See below.) The problem is, with so much to be done to take care of his whale, how can Billy ever find time to clean his room? Fortunately, in the end, Billy comes up with the perfect solution.

A blue whale is longer than thirty dogs lined up nose to tail. Its tongue weighs as much as four hundred cats. Blue whales make terrible, terrible pets. Just ask Billy Twitters.

I had never heard of Mac Barnett before. I have been researching the dude and it turns out that he is totally  new on the scene. A former director and current board member of 826LA, ( a non-profit writing/tutoring center in Los Angeles) Barnett released Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, his first picture book, earlier this year. And apparently the book hasn't been doing too bad. A Kirkus review has described the book as "Definitely funny and slyly subversive," and this Summer, it was named an IndieBound Top Ten Kid's Indie Next List Pick and made the NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list. Author Mac Barnett is also the founder of Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a convenience store for time travelers (yes you heard right.) I visited his website and he has two new books coming out soon.

The illustrator of Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem is Adam Rex of Tuscon, Arizona, himself an emerging illustrator. This is a guy that I think we definitely need to keep an eye on. He has illustrated and authored the New York Times Bestselling Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and other books for kids and back in 2005 he received the Jack Gaughan Award for Best Emerging Artist. One of the fascinating things about our modern technological world is that everyone is blogging. Having said that, if you check out Adam Rex's blog right here on Blogger, there are actually posts from earlier this year where Rex gives sneak previews of the illustrations for Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem. Gone are the days when the rough sketches and dummies of book illustrators were private material only to be scrutinized and poured over as rare artifacts in posthumous biographies. Sigh.

Publishers Weekly called Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem a "high-concept debut" and I can see why. The book is quite clever in some places and the dramatic, realistic Photoshop painted illustrations heighten the action. Illustrator, Rex, used montages, motifs and perspective to play with the limitations of the picture book in a post-modernist way, and yet with vintage commercial art on the inside covers, the book has a really rich, interesting peritext. Not to mention that this "Cetacean of a Tale" teaches kids a lot of factual information about prehistoric animals. I won't give away the ending, but I love the highly philosophical conclusion that Billy comes to in the end. Although Barnett is a newcomer to the kid lit scene, I find him to be a very promising author and the collaboration with Rex just might be a match made in heaven.

On the whole, I'm very happy with my mystery book although I still haven't found out the how and why behind its arrival on my front step. Will do some sleuthing and let you know when I figure it out!

Elizabeth Gail and the Teddy Bear Mystery

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived on a tiny island in the great Caribbean sea. One day, the little girl heard of a boat filled with books that was coming to port in her island. The ship, she heard, was a sort of floating bookstore that traveled all over the world bringing the joys of reading to millions of children and adults alike. The little girl was curious and excited. She loved books and she couldn't imagine what it would be like to be inside a whole ship of them!

The little girl wanted so much to visit the floating bookstore when it came to her island, but truth be told, she was afraid of boarding a ship. She couldn't swim you see, and she had always been deathly afraid of the water. What if she lost her balance while walking up the gang plank and toppled over into the water? Surely she would drown. What if the ship had a hole in it somewhere that no one knew of? Surely ships had sunk that way before. What if the sea blew in a storm suddenly while she was on the ship and the winds broke the rope and the ship started floating fast out to the horizon? Surely she wouldn't see her beloved island again. The little girl thought about all of these things as everyone in the island eagerly awaited the arrival of the fascinating ship. Strangely, despite her fears, she knew she wanted to be inside a ship of books. She wanted to be inside the great floating bookstore that had traveled the world spreading the joy of reading to children and adults alike.

It's all true. Back in the nineties a ship like the one described dropped anchor in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, the island I grew up in. News of this international floating bookshop was all over television. Nothing like it had ever come to Trinidad before and the event was being marketed with all the glamor of a tourist attraction. I remember talking about it at school with other children. Are your parents talking you to see the book ship? Many of us were going of course. I was going too. I did go. I have vague memories of long lines of people, the hugeness of the bright, white stern against the sky, the crowds inside, the shelves and shelves of books.

I just love the idea of a floating bookstore. I'm still not a huge fan of large bodies of water, but I think it would be wonderful work to travel to other countries as a crew member aboard a 'marine library.' As a literacy activist myself, I take my hat off to anyone who thinks up creative ways of making literature and literacy available to the people who need it most.

The Logos II, which is still sailing the seven seas today, is owned and operated by Educational Book Exhibits Ltd (EBE), a private, non-profit charity registered in the UK. The ship, which was purchased by EBE in 1989, is operated on behalf of EBE by Gute Bücher für Alle e.V. (Good Books for All) – a registered trust in Germany. Its international crew consists of over 100 volunteers representing over 23 different nations. According to the Logos II website, the purpose of the floating bookstore is to "bring knowledge, help and hope." The ship can certainly done that: "Over the last 20 years, over 10 million visitors were welcomed on board for tours, programmes and visits to the floating bookshop. With stops in 350 ports of call, this unique ship visited 81 countries, including Africa, the Americas, Europe, the Near East and many island nations." The ship has docked in many a Caribbean island port throughout the years and in the past, EBE has made substantial donations of books to libraries in the islands. Incidentally, the ship was sold in October 2008, and the work is being carried on by her replacement: Logos Hope.  

I'm pretty sure my mother bought me more than one book aboard Logos II, but the one I really remember well is Elizabeth Gail and the Teddy Bear Mystery by Hilda Stahl. Elizabeth Gail Dobbs Johnson Lindsay is a fictional character in the Elizabeth Gail Winder Rider series, which is a Christian series. The original Elizabeth Gail books were published in 1978 although there are also three other editions, published in 1989, 1992 and a re-vamped series that was published in 2001. Actually, Elizabeth Gail and the Teddy Bear Mystery was the only book in Stahl's series I ever read. 

When her father abandons her and her abusive mother sinks further and further into degradation, Elizabeth (Libby) is taken into the foster care system and shuffled from foster home to foster home. The part of Elizabeth's life covered by the Elizabeth books begins when she is taken by her social worker, Gwen Miller, to live with a kind, loving family on a farm just outside an unnamed Midwestern town. Libby becomes the foster daughter of the Johnsons; Chuck Johnson is a farmer/store-owner and Vera Johnson is a housewife and the couple already have three children of their own: Benjamin, Susan, and Kevin. Libby doesn't know what to think at first, but she slowly adjusts to life in a community that actually cares for her. She comes to realize that what makes the Johnsons and their friends different is their belief in God (the Johnsons had prayed for a child like her.) The books follow Libby's experiences and trace her personal growth as the Johnson family grows up. In the final books, Libby, who has grown into an accomplished concert pianist, marries fellow musician Badden Lindsay and starts a family of her own.

In Elizabeth Gail and the Teddy Bear Mystery, Libby makes friends with the Johnsons' neighbor, a dear old lady affectionately called 'Grandma Feuder' by everyone. In following books, it is Gradma Feuder who lovingly gives Libby advice that helps her when she is confused about things. When Libby makes friends with Grandam Feuder, she wonders about the worn-looking teddy bear that the old lady keeps in a chair by her table. What's so special about Grandma Feuder's teddy bear? Why was she so protective of it and who was the menacing stranger lurking around the house? Libby finds herself caught up in a mystery when Grandma Feuder asks her to hide the bear at her house. When the bear disappears, Libby is afraid to tell Grandma Feuder, knowing that she will be terribly disappointed. Will Libby find the bear and solve the mystery before Grandma Feuder loses everything? Libby finds that she needs courage to face the man that threatened Grandma Feuder, but is the old teddy bear worth Libby's risking her life to find out?

Remembering Elizabeth Gail and The Teddy Bear Mystery got me thinking about the way books, like good friends, come into our lives. How funny that a book traveled by sea all over the world before it came into my eleven- or twelve-year old hands. And of all the hundreds of books on the Logos II that my mother could have bought for me, why that one? Is it fate? Whatever it was, I'm glad that for me at least, this book with its nostalgic faded watercolor cover, has become the stuff of yet another Well-Loved Tale.

Ages 9-11.

P.S. Did you grow up in Trinidad during the nineties? Did your parents take you on board the Logos II? If so, please feel free to share your memories!

Ya Needed to Know!

Welcome to the second installment of Ya Needed to Know! which I, The Third Little Pig, started writing here on Lady of Letters' blog some time back, ya dig? I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update this thing dahlins. I've been vacationing in the French Riviera soaking up the sun with that hieffer Goldilocks and my good friend Mary--Poppins that is, not that other contrary gal. We spent a fabulous week out there and after that I headed out to Sorrento with some folks from Mc Donald's farm for the Summer of Music festival, and well, you know how that goes. Anyway, I'm back in the world of Well-Loved Tales and boy do I know something you need to know. I'm just itching to tell.

Thing is, I found out about this chill site called Ask Aunt Book. To the right is the picture of Aunt Book that I pulled off her site. Hmmm. Smoking that cigarette she kinda looks like the Baroness Edith von Winterfeld...really quite a striking resemblance! From what I can tell, Aunt Book appears to be a sort of a diva who flies off the handle sometimes and is prone to long indignant rants, but that aside, Aunt Book's site is just the kinda thing you wanna know about.

Apparently, Aunt Book helps folks--her Dear Nieces and Deer Nephews as she like to think of visitors to her site--identify books from their childhoods. Are you unable to remember the name of an author or a book that lingers in your memory from childhood? Well you can look up Aunt Book at this link, tell her what you remember about the book and perhaps she will be able to identify it for you. If she can't then one of her Dear Nieces or Dear Nephews might be able to do the trick.

When putting in a request to Aunt Book, she asks that you give her as much information about the book as you can remember. Characters, plot, scenes, lines, illustrations, appearance, country in which you read it, time at which you read it--the more details you give the more likely it is that Aunt Book will be able to help. From what I can see, Aunt Book has helped many a forgetful Frank and Fanny remember their beloved books. This is a gal who has developed quite a reputation in her line of work, so why not put her skills to the test?

Well I hope this Ya Needed to Know! post has been informative and helpful, but I promised to meet up with Pippi Longstockings in a few for a magic potion tasting (kinda like a wine tasting but better) so I gotta run sillies.

Until next time,

The Third Little Pig


Lady of Letters note: I wish to extend apologies to Aunt Book for any issues of misrepresentation of her character in the Third Little Pig's post.The Third Little Pig is a fine writer but tends to embellish a lot. Please forgive him. Hopefully no harm has been done!