Meeting Friends At The Library__ Sort Of__ Part Two

Last week I wrote a piece about finding books at the library written or illustrated by friends. I also shared my friend Dandi's good news. On that same trip to the library, I saw the name Ohi on the spines of two books.  At first I thought it might be works by my friend, Debbie Ohi, the illustrator who  delights me with her daily doodle drawings. She is also the illustrator who is illustrating the new covers for the soon to be re-released Judy Bloom books.

The books I pulled off of the shelf, however, were written and illustrated by her sister, Ruth Ohi. It's not often that you find two such talented people in the same family, so I grabbed The Couch Was A Castle and Chicken, Pig, Cow and added them to my stack.

The Couch Was A Castle is an adorable book that reminded me of my very own living room couch that so often turns into a fort. You just have to love the imagination of a child who creates fantastic dreams from an ordinary every day item. Be it a castle, a leaky boat, or a dark cave, a couch can be an incredible thing. Ruth's book is also an incredible thing with adorable illustrations and incredibly cute characters.

Chicken, Pig, Cow was also a fantastic book. I loved the characters, I loved the illustrations, I loved the drooly dog that solved the barn door problem. I loved the fact that cow passed out when the drooly dog cuddle up to him, but claimed he had made a new friend when he woke up. A very fun book for children four to eight.

Not only do I find being an author incredibly fun, but I find exploring the works of my friends to be incredibly fun and rewarding as well.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.


Meeting Friends at the Library__ Sort Of

I try to make a trip to the library every week or two in order to choose books for my reviews. And some of the best trips, are the ones where I meet friends at the library. I don't really meet my fellow authors and social media friends, but every time I see their names on the spines of the books I am glancing at, I feel like I have.

This week I found a book, I had yet to read, by my friend Dandi Daley Mackall. What made this find even more exciting was the news she recently shared. You see, not only is Dandi a fantastic children's author, she is also the author of, My Boyfrien'ds Dogs, a young adult  book which is being made into a Hallmark Movie. Currently, she is getting ready to fly to Canada to watch the filming. I am so excited for her, I can hardly express it with mere words. So while she is off learning the intricacies of  turning a book into a movie, I will be sharing with you her book, A Girl Named Dan.

And the amazement doesn't stop there because A Girl Named Dan is the true story of how Dandi won an essay contest entitled, Why I Want To Be A Batboy. Unfortunately, the Kansas City A's wouldn't let her be a batboy, because she was a girl. Despite this first taste of rejection at such a young age, Dandi has gone on to become an award winning author of over 400 books for children and adults. I'd say that is pretty amazing and the stuff dreams are made of.

I am so glad that I met Dandi at the 2012 Kentucky Book Fair. Not only is she a tremendously kind and interesting person, but she is an author worth emulating. I only hope I turn out to be half the author she is. So if you haven't read A Girl Named Dan, I suggest you do. Either that, or one of her many other fabulous books.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.


Waiting For Spring...

Now that we've entered March, we know that spring is just around the corner. March, however is an unpredictable month full of roller coaster temperatures. Take, for instance, this past week in my beautiful state of Ohio, sixty degrees one day and twenty the next. So as I sit here writing this blog post, I am grateful that the books I chose to review this week are books that gently remind us of what awaits. Books that will hopefully linger on our minds like the delicate beauty of newly blossomed violets.

The first book in my lineup is Chicken In The Kitchen by Tony Johnston. Told in rhyme and accompanied by deliciously cute illustrations, this book takes us on Dog's journey to make his chicken happy. Dog's chicken runs willy nilly about the kitchen until Dog finally figures out what his chicken wants. Once he figures it out, Chicken is not only happy, but Dog's ends up with an unexpected surprise. Pretty sure both your boys and girlies from ages four to eight will enjoy this happy book.

Next I read The Imaginary Garden by Andrew Larsen. Such a great book to read as I notice small growing things begin to emerge in my flower beds. In The Imaginary Garden, Theo and Poppa enjoy passing the time of day sitting in his garden underneath a beautiful tree. But one day Poppa moves and there is no room for a garden in his new apartment. All is not lost, however, as Poppa teaches Theo to use her greatest gift, a glorious imagination. Children and adults alike will enjoy the imaginary garden that Theo and Poppa create, and who knows, perhaps it will inspire you to create an imaginary garden of your own!

Wrong Way, by Danish author Mark Macleod, turned out to be a delightful book about a mother and her three baby ducks. Wrong Way isn't like his siblings, and doesn't do anything quite the way Momma tells him. But even Momma comes to recognize that doing things differently isn't necessarily wrong. You might have a harder time fining this book unless you find a used copy, but it's worth checking to see if your library carries a copy.

And last but certainly not least, I read Fluffy and Baron which was written and illustrated by Laura Rankin.  Baron is a gorgeous German Shepherd who makes friends with a small duckling named Fluffy who comes into his life. Soon they do everything together, that is, until some wild ducks show up. will this be the end of Baron and Fluffy's friendship, or will Fluffy come back to him?

This last book reminded me a bit of the Fluffy that came into our life. Our Fluffy is a cat and not a duck, but we love her none the less. She likes to hide among Emily's stuffed babies. Can you find her?

Where In The World Is Fluffy?

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.


The Mazza Museum

As most of you know, I write about reading, writing, and life in general, and what could be more related to the three then a trip to the MAZZA Museum in Findlay, Ohio. What is the MAZZA Museum you ask? It just happens to be a teaching museum of book art. Created in 1982 during the centennial celebration of Findlay College,  the idea was to celebrate the often overlooked and under appreciated art that graces the pages of children's picture books world wide.

Surprisingly, until my local chapter of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, more commonly known as the SCBWI, invited me to participate in a private tour of the museum, I didn't even know this Ohio gem existed. But believe me when I say, if I had known, I would have visited long ago!

The museum, has only three full time employees and a director, but is very well cared for by nearly seventy well trained volunteers. This, and many other interesting facts were shared with our small group by the director himself, Dr. Mallett, who was quiet entertaining. He told us stories of how he called up artists to ask them questions about their work and how the museum has over two thousand pieces of art but can only display about three hundred and fifty at a time.

Dr. Mallett

They started out with only four pieces of original art work, but as word spread they ended up with illustrators donating everything from single pieces to entire collections. There are five small gallery areas and each gallery shows different kinds of artwork like border art, paper art, unusual art, international art, informational art, mother goose art, books to movie art, and so much more. On the ledge below each piece of art work you will find the book for which the art work was created.

They have other interesting items like stamps of book characters, buttons promoting MAZZA, and even a children's loft. You do have to register to attend the children's loft since it is a teaching museum, but that seems pretty reasonable to me.

My favorite item of all, though, were the tiles that lined the halls on the way to the vault where they store and preserve the art not on display. Apparently, before a visiting illustrator leaves, they are asked to create a  tile. See any illustrators you recognize?

 

 

 It was a wonderful experience and one I hope to re-live when I take my daughter there. So if you live in Ohio, or will be passing this way, be sure to make time for the MAZZA.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.


The Great Snowball Fight Of 2014!

A friend of mine, the lovely Candice Simpson, came up with the idea of  having forty days of giveaways for her many author, artist, and bookish friends. Since in many parts of the country it has been a long and cold winter, she decided to call it "The Great Snowball Fight Of 2014". The idea was that every day, for forty days, someone would get hit with a snowball, and it would then be their day to host. It just so happens, that today, I was smacked by Author Vickie Johnstone. I was smacked virtually of course, and no people or animals were harmed, so we can all remain calm.

Candice even went so far as to create this lovely picture to go with the Great Snowball Fight. And I must admit, it is a work of art. And just look at all those lovely names of the creative people who are participating!

She started the whole thing off by smacking our mutual friend and a fellow children's author, Wendy Nystrom, who I had the privilege of meeting last year in Michigan. Wendy had a health scare recently, but I am glad to share that she is recuperating nicely. So if you have a minute, why not stop by her site and leave her some comment love to help her more speedily recover!

Since I am today's giveaway hostess, I should probably tell you what I am giving away and how you can enter. For my portion of the giveaway, I decided to offer three pdf copies of my first book, Fern Valley. If you enjoy it and decide you want an actual paperback copy or you are not a winner in today's contest, it is available at most online retailers including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

To enter for a chance to win, simply follow my blog and leave a comment below.  It's that easy peasy. Then at ten o'clock eastern standard time tonight, I will randomly select the winners. There are absolutely no strings attached, but if you find you enjoy the stories in Fern Valley, a review would be more then appreciated.

I have one more bit of good news before wrapping this post up, and that is the upcoming release of my sequel, Return To Fern Valley, summer 2014. Just this past week, I received some character sketches from my illustrator. And I'm probably a bit partial, but I think they are simply adorable. How about you?

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day! Oh, and don't forget to check out my sneak attack on tomorrow's hostess, Author Tara Brown. I think I will smack her with an exceptionally large snowball to wash off some of that gruesome blood trail.

Winter Surprises

Lately, many of my posts have included comments about how cold, and long, and did I mention how cold, this winter has been. And with more snow forecast for this past weekend, I decided to sneak a few winter surprises in for my daughter before the snow actually let loose.

On Friday I scheduled a hair appointments for both Emily and I with our favorite hairdresser. We had to travel to the next town because she recently opened her own shop, but we were willing to do so, because she is simply the best. I just had my hair trimmed, but Emily has been bugging me for months to get her long hair cut short. I wasn't certain that I would like her hair short without bangs, which is what she requested, but I was wrong. It was so adorable it just made me want to hug her even more then normal.

Before

After

The next day, the surprise I had in store for Emily was taking her to Wal-Mart to spend her birthday gift card. This actually wasn't much of a surprise as it was a treat, since she had been begging me to drive her there for over a week. Her mission __ to buy herself the movie Cloud 9. We watched it later that evening when we got home, and I was surprised to find it quite enjoyable for a pre teen/teen film. In the movie, the main character, Kayla Morgan, is a spoiled, rich, daddy's girl  who get's kicked off the snowboarding team after accidentally destroying some private property belonging to some of her father's tenants. Forced to work in the doggie-daycare in order to make amends, Kayla learns that she isn't the winner she always thought she was because the coach had been rigging the games to keep her father happy.  Determined to show everyone that nothing is impossible and that she can work hard to achieve a goal, she enlists the aide of the former champion snowboarder, Will Cloud, to teach her the move that destroyed his career and confidence __ the cloud 9.

The movie is full of great messages about facing out fears, determination, hard work, and believing in one's self.  And you just might find it an excellent surprise yourself.

The last surprise I had that day for Emily was a trip to the mall to get her ear's pierced. I told her several years ago that she had to be nine in order to get her ears pierced. It was my opinion that by the age of nine she would be mature enough to be responsible and diligent about cleaning her ears and taking care of her earrings. The look on her face when I told her why we were at the mall was priceless.

But the surprises didn't end there, since I still had a book to read for this blog. The book I chose was one I have had for a few weeks, but just hadn't gotten around to reading yet. And, I was delightfully surprised to find it a great read. What book did I read, you ask? It was Ant and Honey Bee - A Pair Of Friends In Winter by Megan McDonald. Ant and Honey Bee are getting ready for the long winter, but ant just isn't quite ready to go to sleep yet. Shee does all the one person activities that she can think of, but finally decides to see if Bee is up to one last visit. Bee doesn't answer her phone, so Ant braves the weather and heads to her house. Once there, she  finds a strange sign on the door that says "eep  ot" which she thinks is French or Spanish for come on in. When Ant enters, she finds Bee a bit on the grumpy side. Ant suggests Bee is just hungry, so the two make an extraordinary sandwich and them settle down for a long winter nap together. You really need to check out this book for yourself, if for no other reason then to see what all goes into the unique sandwich.

 

 

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.