Books and A Blizzard

This past weekend we experienced the first blizzard in a few years. Since I had a goodly supply of toilet paper, milk, and home made bread, I didn't agonize over the fact. Bobby and I spent Saturday in front of a cozy fire and we re-watched Last Holiday with Queen Latifah. I do love a good comedy with a fine leading actress. We enjoyed toasted bread with cinnamon and sugar which took me back to my childhood and the many times my mama made cinnamon/sugar toast for my brother and me.
And Emily went sledding with a friend and didn't return home for a couple of hours.

When Sunday rolled around, I woke with and idea for a story and thoughts on six main characters. You can't imagine how happy I was to know I had a note book in the bedside stand in which to write those ideas down because I would have never remembered everything. I made breakfast for everyone: spelt waffles, sausage, and Ohio maple syrup. And just when I thought the day couldn't get any better, Bobby retrieved the mail from Saturday when he out to clear the drive.

This proved especially exciting, because amongst the stack, I found a delicate flowered envelope. An envelope that held a letter from a seven year old fan from Georgia. A touching letter, it almost made my husband cry when I read it to him.

Dear Aileen Stewart:

I really enjoyed the book Cooking In Fern Valley because it included both of my passions, reading and cooking I love doing them both and your books have made me quite hungry and I have tried your recipes before and I wanted to let you know that they are quite delicious I have read Cooking in Fern Valley many times. However this time halfway through the book I suddenly had a urge to write a letter to you so I did (that is this letter you are reading right now.) Your books are quite fictional and interesting and I want to read them all but now I have an urge to go downstairs and make some scrambled eggs.

Sincerely, Lilianna Yun age 7

au revour!

Despite the lack of some punctuation, this is a most moving letter. It doesn't get better than a seven year old, with the same passions as me, loving my book. And I'm pretty sure her scrambled eggs were the bomb.

And last but not least, I read Andy and Sandy's Anything Adventure by the legendary Tomie dePaola. A perfect book for snowbound book worms, Andy and Sandy use a dress up trunk to stimulate their imaginations.Incredible imaginations and friendship abound in this story perfect for three to six year olds.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Kid Lit Family

I didn't post last Monday, so this week you get a double dose of what I've been doing. The reason there was no article last week was because I didn't arrive home until late Sunday evening, and Sunday is the day I usually write my blog. Why did I arrive home so late, you ask. Because I had just spent a wonderful weekend at the home of one of my literary besties in the Tennesseee Smokies.

The generous, talented, and hostess extraordinaire, Debbie Dadey, writer of The Baily School Kids series and The Mermaid Tales, had invited me and three other ladies to her home for a writing retreat. We ate, we took pictures, we wrote, we shared, we critiqued, and had more fun than five squirrels in a sack full of acorns.

I already knew Stephanie Faris and Molly McCaffrey from the Southern Kentucky Book Festival, so it was great to hang out and catch up. But in addition, I had the pleasure of getting to know Rinda Beach, former teacher and pre-published picture book author. It was a melding of YA, Middle Grade, and Picture Book talk that weekend. It was a weekend of bliss.

I took my tripod, in the hopes of getting a group shot for my memory scrapbook, which I did. As I set up, Molly mentioned that she felt like we were posing for a family photo, and in a way she was right. We are a literary family, a tribe, a community, or whatever you want to call a group of people with something in common who chose to focus on similarities and support each other.

I spent this past weekend in a similar vein. I took Emily to a craft fair in Reynoldsburg, Ohio where we shared a table with another of my literary besties, Deborah Boerema, author of one of my favorite Christmas stories, The Inn Keepers Dog. Deb and I only get to visit a few times a year, so I treasure every moment. I bring lunch. She brings dessert. And we talk about all things bookish and life in general.

So this week when I snagged two books from my library book pile, it was fun to see that one was about friends full of imagination and the other was about a book monster. The first, Buddy and Earl Meet the Neighbors, was a fun and wordier than normal picture book. By wordier than normal I mean longer than the current 300 to 500 hundred word industry standard. And you know what? I love longer picture books with a meaty story line.

Buddy the dog and Earl the hedgehog are trying to decide what to do. Buddy is all set to nap, but Earl uses his imagination to take them on a super hero journey which leads them into the neighbors yard where they meet two new occupants, Mister the bulldog and Snowflake the cat. The four have an adventure of imaginary proportions, advert disaster, and in the end, Buddy finally gets that nap. This book would be a great classroom read aloud leaving room for fun discussions on super heroes, imagination, and friendship.

The second book, Nibbles the Book Monster, blew me away. Full of interactive flaps and cut-outs, this book took me on a journey that followed a book nibbling monster who escaped from his own book and ended up in many other stories where he wreaked havoc. Every page was as delightful as the last and would surely be right for boys and girls from five to eight.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

What I Saw In The Teachers' Lounge

This past week I had two school visits scheduled, I had lunch and recess duty on Friday for Emily's twice monthly Mansfield Christian school visits, and I was recruited to decorate a table for Mansfield Christian's Annual Flamin' Hot Breakfast which is the yearly fund raiser for the Independent Studies Program we home school through.

My first event of the week was an evening of reading to pre-k students at the local pre-k in my home town. After I read from my book, Quack and Daisy, I checked out all the centers they had set up for the children. It was fun to see the extra large versions of books by authors and illustrators I am friends with. Authors and illustrators like Karma Wilson, Jane Yolan, Tomie dePaola, and Mark Teague. 

 

My second event was an all day visit to the Western Reserve Elementary School where I presented to children in kindergarten through sixth grade. All the children were attentive, asked great questions, and participated when I asked questions. I was also able to spend time with the school's librarian and my long time friend Mrs. Cindy Linder. But the big surprise of the day was What I Saw in the Teachers' Lounge. Actually it was what I saw in the science room which was doubling as a much larger teachers lounge,but since that is the title of the first book I read for review this week I thought I would go with that. Oh yes, what did I see? A beautiful pot luck lunch set up in honor of my visit. There were soups, and veggies, baked potatoes and toppings, veggie pizza, and chocolate cake and cupcakes. I was really touched by the thoughtfulness of the staff and hope I conveyed properly how much it was appreciated.

Recess duty on Friday at MCS was interesting since a two hour delay caused it to be held on the very small music room, the only room available at the time. Try to imagine fifth grade boys jump roping, fifth grade girls hoola hooping, and another set of fifth grade boys throwing a ball as they played Monkey in the Middle next to a group of children laying on the floor playing checkers. Needless to say I had to move once or twice to keep from being trampled or pummeled, and I could have used a pair of earplugs as well; but I survived and was able to decorate a table as requested with a basket centerpiece reflecting the farm market that I manage in the summer.

Saturday rounded off the busy week with me taking Emily to the Flamin' Hot Breakfast where she volunteered to bus tables. Her and several other home school children also went across the street to a local nursing home to sing for the residents.

And of course there were those books I read. You remember, the first one was called, What I Saw In The Teachers' Lounge. It was a funny book about a little boy and his wild imagination. Every day he would walk by the teachers lounge and wonder what in the world was going on in there. One day he stopped to peek in the slightly opened door, and to his utter surprise, he saw teachers doing the most amazing things. Of course when he told his class mates about what he saw they had a peek too, but all they saw were teachers eating their lunches in a perfectly normal manner. Not daunted in the least by his classmates version of events or by the principal sending him back to class, the young boy dreamed of becoming a teacher when he grew up.

The second book I read was called Don't Push The Button. This book featuring Larry the monster is adorable and encourages kids to participate as the story goes along. Perfect for the four to eight set, this book is short but fun.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Drop by the Literacy Musings Monday blog hop where you will find other great literary blogs. 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, the sequels, Return To Fern Valley,  and Cooking In Fern Valley, along with my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.