Hiatus

May 19, 2012 — Nessa

Wondering where I’ve been lately? Ok. You probably haven’t. But I’m going to tell you anyway. Because I’m cool like that.

Quite simply. I’ve been around. Things have been busy lately and I haven’t had a chance to update the blog on my regular basis.

Too Princessy book coverFirst, as noted in a previous post, my daughter pilfered a Perfect Picture Book that I was going to review. Good news: we found it. Bad news: it was overdue, so I returned it before reviewing it.

My 16-year old kitty-cat

Juliet Verdun
December 1995 – May 2012

Second, life/family got in the way. My 16-1/2 year old cat got sick and eventually passed away. Juliet was the best cat in the world, and it’s definitely hard to lose a companion that has been around for half your life. But, at the end, I was feeding her out of a syringe, and that’s no way for a cat to live. We were going to have her put down, but she died peacefully in her sleep two days before we had our vet appointment.

Juliet is now buried under the lilac bush in our backyard. When my hubby was watering the grass, my three-year old chirped in, “Don’t forget to water Ju-wee-ett.” It’s nice to know she’ll always be with us, and that she lived long enough to meet both my children.

Third, last weekend, I went to the SCBWI-MI Spring Conference, which was awesome, although I had to leave early for my daughter’s dance recital, which was also awesome. Now, I need to focus my time on polishing up a few manuscripts to hopefully get them ready for submission. I have a “magic ticket” that allows me to submit to a closed-house publisher. The “magic ticket” window doesn’t last long, so I’ll need to put some more attention on my children’s writing, and let the blog go for a bit longer.

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically HandicappedFourth, and hopefully last, I’m headed to Rhode Island for a week for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Biennial Conference. Talk about a mouthful. I’m excited to see what other libraries are up to and I’m also excited to visit Rhode Island, because I’ve never been out that way before. If you’re familiar with the Newport area, I’d definitely love any tips you have to share.

Hopefully, the blogging hiatus will only last another week or two. I’ve got books to review, but no time to do them justice.

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Posted in Libraries, Manuscripts, More About Me, Writing. Tags: , , , , , , . 3 Comments »

Responsible Reader? Not me.

May 4, 2012 — Nessa

I. Am. The. Worst. Librarian. In. The. History. Of. The. Universe.

Ok. That may be a slight exaggeration, but if you want to know who holds the world record for the most lost library books, look my way.

Today, is “Perfect Picture Book” day. I was going to review Too Princessy! by Jean Reidy. Unfortunately, the book is so good that my daughter stashed it somewhere and I can’t find it.

My daughter is three, which means… I will never find it again…

Oh, well. I think this is the first book I’ve lost this year. Last year, I lost and paid for at least three books.

Generally, losing library books isn’t such a bad thing. For me, they were all children’s books, so none of them were over $20. The library literally saves me hundreds of dollars per year. I shouldn’t be complaining about having to pay for the occasional lost book.

The only problem is that: I AM A LIBRARIAN. I am supposed to teach people to be responsible readers and treat other’s property with respect. I am a failure.

Except… I am an adult, so failure is not an option. Instead of whining about the fact that I have let my book-snatching little princess out of my sight with a library book, I will turn this into a lesson on responsibility.

First, I must pay for my mistake. With money. And then my daughter will pay for her mistake. With chores.

Unless, of course, we find the book. Then, we both get off scot-free, and my lesson on responsibility will be out the window.

Posted in Kids, Libraries, Perfect Picture Books. Tags: , , , , . 2 Comments »

Perfect Picture Book: TEN LITTLE CATERPILLARS

April 27, 2012 — Nessa

“The first little caterpillar crawled into a bower. The second little caterpillar wriggled up a flower.”

A book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and illustrated by Lois Ehlert?!? How could you go wrong? Ten Little Caterpillars introduces one of nature’s most beautiful transformations to little ones in an engaging manner.

The rhyming text teaches counting. The illustrations have labels with the names of caterpillars, plants and animals. In the back, there is a guide linking individual caterpillars to the types of butterflies or moths that will exist after the process of metamorphosis.

I found a great YouTube video called “Caterpillar to Butterfly” that uses time-lapse photography to show the process of metamorphosis. The six-minute video is hosted by two young boys.

If you’d like to do a caterpillar craft, you can find one at Little Family Fun.

Themes: caterpillars, nature, counting, butterflies

Title: Ten Little Caterpillars
Author: Bill Martin Jr
Illustrator: Lois Ehlert
Reading level: Ages 2 and up
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Beach Lane Books (August 30, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 144243385X
ISBN-13: 978-1442433854

Find Ten Little Caterpillars at IndieBound

Find Ten Little Caterpillars at Amazon

Perfect Picture Book List on Susanna Leonard Hill’s Website

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Book Review: LOOK AGAIN

April 24, 2012 — Nessa

Title: Look Again
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press; 1 edition (April 14, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312380720

Oh. My. Goodness. (Or, perhaps, badness?) Yes, I am talking about Look Again by Lisa Scottoline.

Highlights of Look Again include a kidnapped child, a falsified adoption, a suicide, a heroin addict, gamblers, and adulterers. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I will say that the climatic scene in the novel would put any child in therapy for life.

Ellen Gleeson sees a missing child photo that looks just like her adopted son. Bet you can’t guess what happens next?

Being a journalist, Ellen can’t resist investigating the missing boy. Surprise! The missing child is Ellen’s son, Will.

Predictible? Yes, definitely. But that’s about the point where the predictability of the story ends, if you don’t include the ridiculous subplot about Ellen’s attraction to her boss. I’m gonna spoil that part for you. Oh, wait, I don’t need to. Like I said, it’s predictable.

Unpredictable? After Ellen’s revelation, the reader is thrown into a worldwind when Ellen takes a moral highground that leads her to spy on, and steal from, innocent millionaires.

Alright, that may be an exaggeration…

Ellen only steals a pop can, but still, she’s supposed to be the good girl, and here she is stealing.  In the big picture, the book is fast-paced and leads to many questions regarding the true nature of the roles of parenting.

It’s funny how irrelevant little details, like the heroine stealing a pop can, are what bug me the most. What bugs you the most about books? If you’ve already read Look Again, are there little things that bugged you, too?

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Find Look Again at IndieBound

Find Look Again at Amazon

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Perfect Picture Book Friday: KANGAROOS HAVE JOEYS

April 20, 2012 — Nessa

“Cod have codlings. Penguins have chicks. Moose have calves. Rabbits have kits.”

Kangaroos Have Joeys is a simple fact book with beautiful illustrations. Each page has an illustration of animal parents caring for their young along with a sparse rhythmic text. The book includes an extensive glossary that gives information about the animal, its mating habits, and when the baby animal officially reaches maturity.

Kangaroos Have Joeys is a perfect introduction to nonfiction for very young children. The glossary means that adults will be able to answer the questions that inevitably come from young children.

Twiggle Magazine has a baby animal rhyme and activity that would pair well with this story.

First School has some coloring sheets that feature parent animals with their children.

Themes: Animals, Family

Title: Kangaroos have Joeys
Author/Illustrator: Philippa-Alys Browne
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Barefoot Books (April 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1898000220
ISBN-13: 978-1898000228

Perfect Picture Book List on Susanna Leonard Hill’s Website

Find Kangaroos Have Joeys at IndieBound

Find Kangaroos Have Joeys at Amazon

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Magnetic Poetry

April 17, 2012 — Nessa

In honor of National Poetry Month, I have composed the following magnetic poetry:

Magnetic poem: blushy woman, laughing son, fish perfume

A to Z Poetry Challenge LogoAt Magnetic Poetry, you’ll be given a random set of words you can play with until your kids whine and scream about it being their turn. At that point, you should probably stop and discipline your kids before you go back to playing with the words.

Needless to say, I had forgotten how much fun it is to play around with poetry. I found the Magnetic Poetry site through a blog I follow called Habitual Rhymer. The blogger, Lori Degman, has been participating in the A to Z Poetry Challenge, which I definitely recommend you check out, if you haven’t already.

There are many wonderful poets participating in the A to Z Challenge, which means you can get many wonderful poems delivered to your inbox to inspire, make you laugh, or make you groan while simultaneously hitting the delete button, but I promise the groaners are very few.

Oh, and if you do decide to play around with Magnetic Poetry, post your poems in the comments. I’d love to read them.

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Perfect Picture Book Friday: PLANT A KISS

April 13, 2012 — Nessa

“It goes like this. Little Miss planted a kiss.”

I first heard of Plant a Kiss through one of Julie Falatko‘s reviews on the Brain Burps about Books podcasts (Episode #85). After hearing about the sparkles, (yes, real sparkles,) I immediately ordered the book from my local library.

Little Miss plants a kiss. Once the kiss finally grows into a sparkly mass, Little Miss ignores the peer pressure of her friends telling her to keep the kiss. Instead, she shares the kiss and spreads the happiness to those around her. The text is sparse and rhythmic. It takes no longer than a minute to read the whole book, unless your little one’s gaze lingers over the sparkly kisses.

The messages in Plant a Kiss are much more profound and will last children a lifetime. In the 86 words (yes, I counted,) that this book contains, children will learn about the power of imagination, gardening, patience, independence, and sharing. Plant a Kiss is brilliant.

An activity to complement the book is gardening. Get a small pot for each child, some topsoil, and wildflower seeds. Discuss the need to properly care for the plant. When the wildflowers bloom, the children will be surprised by various types of flowers. A follow-up activity after the plants bloom is letting the children identify the flowers in their pots.

Storytime Katie has a complete storytime plan revolving around hugs and kisses that includes several other books and an X’s and O’s craft.

Themes: Gardening, Patience, Sharing, Peer Pressure

Title: Plant a Kiss
Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds
Reading level: Ages 4 and up
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (December 27, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061986755
ISBN-13: 978-0061986758

Perfect Picture Book List on Susanna Leonard Hill’s Website

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Book Review: WHEN LIGHT BREAKS

April 10, 2012 — Nessa

When Light BreaksAuthor: Patti Callahan Henry
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade (May 2, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451218345
ISBN-13: 978-0451218346

Alright, it’s taking me forever to get around to writing my review of this book. I guess that tell you how much I liked it, eh? Not much. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t my type of book. Too much description for me. However, the pros disagree with me here:

From Booklist: “Known for her lyrical writing in Losing the Moon (2004) and Where the River Runs (2005), Henry doesn’t disappoint in this beautiful novel of discovery and self-acceptance, a romance with universal appeal.”

From Publisher’s Weekly: “Fans of earnest Southern women’s fiction will appreciate the lessons here.”

The story is romance, with a lost love being found again. Kara is about to marry Peyton, when she follows her heart and decides to seek out her first love Jack. Kara volunteers at a local nursing home and is encouraged in her quest by an elderly woman named Maeve who spins tales of her own lost love. Maeve’s story’s are great. I truly enjoyed the flashbacks about Ireland that Maeve shared. Kara’s love story? Well, it was a bit predictable.

Overall, the novel isn’t bad, but my book group and I agreed it was rather boring. We tend to be more of a shoot-em-up-action-packed-adventure kind of gang. (Oh, and did I mention that my book group mainly consists of elderly women with vision impairments. Best. Book. Club. Ever. Unfortunately, we usually have about 20 people at meetings, which means the library’s meeting room is overflowing. Otherwise, I’d extend an invitation to everyone to join our discussions. But I’m off on a tangent, so back to When Light Breaks…)

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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Perfect Picture Book Friday: THE MINE-O-SAUR

April 6, 2012 — Nessa

Mine-o-saur“One morning, before Mrs. Raptor rang the bell, the dinosaurs were playing in the school yard. All of a sudden they heard a roar: ‘MINE! MINE! MINE!”

In my house, reading The Mine-o-Saur is a very loud and exciting event. The reason I chose this book as a perfect picture book is mainly because of the way my children roar, “MINE! MINE! MINE!” I’m surprised my neighbors haven’t called the cops. It’s that much fun.

And, it’s written in both prose and verse. How cool is that? Although, I have to admit, sometimes I slip up when I’m really getting into a rhyme scheme. The switch from rhyme to prose isn’t always natural, but for the most part, it flows really well. There are also subtle clues to help you with reading aloud. The prose uses black font and the verse is in red.

Oh, and did I mention that The Mine-o-Saur teaches kids to share. Don’t know about you, but sharing is definitely an issue with my kids. Therefore, I love the moral: “share, or you won’t have any friends.” Yes, it sounds awful saying that you won’t have any friends if you don’t do this or do that, but that’s just my wording, not the author’s. The moral about learning to share is very subtle and nicely worked into the story, and, of course, there’s a happy ending for the mine-o-saur.

A fun activity to complement this book is…sharing! Get out a plate of cookies or another yummy snack and let your children decide how to divide them up. Talk about the reasons for their decisions.

Another way to teach sharing is through art. Get out the art supplies for a dinosaur project, but make sure there aren’t enough scissors and glue for  everyone. Let the kids interact. Afterward, talk about the project and how they felt while making it. Were kids helpful to each other? Were they thinking about how they could help others? Or did they just focus on their own project?

Themes: Sharing, Friendship, Dinosaurs

Title: The Mine-o-Saur
Author: Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Illustrator: David Clark
Reading level: Ages 4 and up
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (September 20, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399246428
ISBN-13: 978-0399246425

Perfect Picture Book List on Susanna Leonard Hill’s Website

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Submission Time

April 3, 2012 — Nessa

Ok, I have a finished picture book manuscript. I’ve been working on it for six months, and it’s finally ready to go.  RateYourStory gave it a 2-3 rating. Since then, I got out my thesaurus and tweaked a few of the verbs a bit. I was going to sit on the story for a week, but I jumped the gun. I waited two days.

Now, my manuscript is off making its way in the world. I sent it as an exclusive submission to a publisher that I think would be perfect. Let hope the publisher feels the same way. Now, I have to put this manuscript out of my mind for the next two months and focus on something else. Anything else.

To  distract myself, I’m currently working on a story that got an eight from Rate Your Story. Unfortunately, I love the story. I sat on it a while, but I still love it. I swear that it feels like one of my children, but I brush my daughter’s hair despite the fact she hates it, and I will brush up this manuscript whether I want to or not.

Posted in Manuscripts, Writing. Tags: , , , , , . 8 Comments »
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