squeetus

10 Ways Parents (inadvertently) Discourage Their Kids from Being Readers

1. Neglect to make regular family library visits
2. Stop reading aloud (I know parents who still read to their teens)
3. Don’t read books where the kids can see them (this goes for fathers especially, for some reason)
4. Don’t talk about books over dinner
5. Overlook the fact that a good family activity might be going to hear a writer speak at a bookstore or book festival
6. Designate the books in the family library as too precious for little kids to touch
7. Don’t read the books their kids are reading
8. Have a home that doesn’t accommodate reading (too formal, too noisy, not enough good reading lighting, or just no books or magazines around)
9. Schedule so many activities that the kids don’t have time to pick up a book
10. Believe that their childhood favorites are the only acceptable choices and are bound to also delight their children (some fateful examples: Treasure Island, Call of the Wild, Wind in the Willows, Johnny Tremain)

And the reason too important to put in a numbered list: Tell them a certain book or genre is too young for them

Reactions creeping in...

...from some early readers of diary of a lady's maid, and I'm just so thrilled! So far, everyone who read it said something like, "Your best yet" or "My favorite of all your books." Hooray! It's so exciting to hear! I took a big risk with this book storywise and I've been so nervous, but I've also felt so good about it too. I was so panicky with princess academy especially (that book was a serious process), but diary has always felt good to me. Okay, I've had my moments of mania and blues with this one, as I always do. But I've also felt surer in some ways. Of course, it's not over yet. I'll still do many more rewrites before I call it done, but so far, I'm so relieved!

Anyway, it seems cruel to keep talking about a book that none of you will be able to read for over a year, but I just wanted to share my happiness.

A review of our car

So, we're driving the future. Dean and I bought a Toyota Prius one year ago, and let me take this birthday time to praise it. It's a hybrid gas-electric car. We get about 50 miles to the gallon. It saves us so much money, and of course it feels so good to know we're not polluting the air as much. (30 miles/gallon is good, so you can see how great 50 miles is. I understand a hummer gets about 9.) It drives great. You don't plug it in, it recharges as you drive, and we often get better mileage in the city than on the freeway. There are many steep canyon roads around Salt Lake and we've never had trouble going up an incline. The car has plenty of power. Having owned the Prius, we can't imagine ever buying any car that wasn't a hybrid (or whatever ever cooler technology they come up with in the future). I'd be surprised if in 10 years all cars weren't hybrids.

So if you're in the market for a new set of wheels, I highly recommend a hybrid! What a shameless advert. Toyota really needs to send me an endorsement check.

River Secrets in color

I forgot I hadn't posted that the river secrets cover is up and viewable at amazon.com. Isn't it lovely? It'll be out in September.

My publisher has started to distribute ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) of river secrets, so people out there somewhere are reading it! It's so exciting! Anyone here read it and want to comment? Go ahead and tell us what you thought (but no spoilers, please!). If you didn't like it much, check out this groovy choose-your-own-fantasy story first: Dragons, Abbeys, and Hags. There are so many possible outcomes, aren't there? Why, you could get lost in a story like that and forget that you were ever going to comment here at all...

Gifts of speaking

Sparked by the discussion after the previous blog, I've been pondering this today. If you could only pick one, which would you choose? And if animal-speaking, which animal?

Hankerin' for a hunk of cheese

I'm fasting today (i.e. not eating or drinking anything for 24 hours). I realize that this might seem a bizarre custom to people who don't fast, though it seems normal to me, having done it once a month since I was about eight (except when I was pregnant or nursing, of course). There are various spiritual reasons for fasting, but the really cool thing about it that I keep thinking about today is the offerings. In the church I belong to, all the members are asked to fast once a month and then donate the money we would have spent on those two meals (or a little more) as "fast offerings." The money is used to directly help the poor in our area to get food, pay rent, buy clothes, etc. Any surplus money from that area then goes to a central fund to help in other areas. Fast offerings recently went to help Katrina victims. Can you imagine the impact if everyone in the world did this? Skipping two meals once a month is something most people would be capable of doing. And then using that money to help others--we could do some serious damage to poverty worldwide. I think fasting and fast offerings as a secular practice could be suggested on a national scale with some pretty wonderful results. I don't suppose the president of the United States is among my daily visitors? No? Queen of England? Just checking...

Just blew in...

...from the Windy City. I got in last night, went to bed as soon as Max did, and got up when he did. So, slept like a toddler. It felt great. Maybe I'm a wimp, but those trips exhaust me! It was so wonderful to see Max. I just held him and kissed his cheeks for some time, then we sang songs and played with puppets (his favorite game). He's bigger than he was five days ago! And smarter, too. It's amazing.

Despite missing my boys, Chicago was fantastic. I got to be with so many cool people! It's hard at signings when there's a line and I'd like to chat for an hour with each person but we have to move it along. Monday I was lucky enough to have breakfast with Linda Sue Park (she won the Newbery for the marvelous A Single Shard), and just basked in her beauty and wisdom. She has a helpful website, which I've visited many times. I did joint author presentations with K.M. Grant, author of the sweeping historical drama, Blood Red Horse. She was hysterical. I'd love to do more joint touring with other authors, especially if they're as fun and entertaining and funny as Katie Grant.

Janette Rallison was great fun, as always, and all the Bloomsbury ladies, and I was so happy to run into Holly Black. On my last night I somehow tricked Holly, Tony and Angela DiTerlizzi, and Eric Rohmann into thinking that I was cool enough to have dinner with them. The suckers. It was probably good that I went home the next day because I don't think I could have laughed any more. Children's and YA lit is filled to brimming with fun, great people. So cool.

One funny moment--I stressed with much anxiety about the talk I would be giving at the IRA Convention, the whole reason for the trip. I worked on it for hours, rehearsed it for my husband. Wednesday, I walked into my assigned room, finding an enormous, cavernous space with about 2000 empty seats. 15 very kind people did trek the 2 miles through convention center corridors to come and listen. Bless them.