... then it must be Barrie Summy's Book Review Club.

(But first, because of the new FTC policy, I suppose I should state that no one strong-armed me or twisted my arm or otherwise paid me an arm or a leg or a cent to choose to review this or any other book on my blog. It’s by whim that I review the books I do. And while I do receive and read some ARCs, I will only review those I like ... and hopefully that’s enough of that. Now, on to the review.)

A lot of famous and/or classic books seemed to miss me for a variety of reasons. And when I was in San Antonio, having finished the only book I brought, Danielle Joseph’s very fun Shrinking Violet, I walked the three minutes to a B&N near my hotel, looking for something to read in restaurants while I waited for and ate my dinners.

Having already spent a lot of energy during the first few days of my school visits, I needed something that wouldn’t be angsty or particularly heart-pounding or drain me even further. So I bypassed a lot of books that were on my list. Then I saw this one: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. It was time to finally pick it up.

Now, it’s one thing to buy and read the 1968 Newbery winner. But why review a book with ample recognition, thank you very much? Why didn’t I choose to write about a lesser-known book, one that might benefit from the publicity?

It’s mostly because I was mildly shocked at the way I went about reading this book. Usually, I walk halfway through books, then read as fast as I can to outrace my annoying astigmatism that tends to make the words dance so much that I often can’t get to ‘the end’ in the next gulp.

With this book, though, I took it slowly. Savored the plot. Let it unfold to see how this brother and sister who had chosen to run away from home then camp out in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; see how they went about trying to survive on little money, trying to solve a mystery the experts couldn’t, and trying to keep from getting caught, and also figuring a way to save face, go home again.

Often these days, books (mine included) are written at a blinding pace in order to keep kids turning pages rather than veering off to play flash-a-second video games. I loved the fact that this book took its time, but still held my attention all the way through. And I appreciate how it may have taught me much as a writer.

FAQ: Isn’t it hard to make up all those puzzles?

Standard Answer: Puzzles are easy; plotting is hard.

New Corollary: When you decide the puzzles need to help drive the plot ... argh!

I know when it’s time to start, I often tell the students when I’m visiting schools. It’s time to start writing that new book when my the ideas get so strong, they threaten to blow out my ears.

After an October of travel, I’d planned to get serious about Potential Book 3 on November 2. Today. This morning, however, the ideas are barely whimpering. It’s okay, though. I actually began writing PB3 on September 4, 2007. I got about 30,000 words into it and stopped to work on my 6th-ish to last version of The Seventh Level. I’m thrilled I did stop. For three reasons.

1. The Seventh Level is the right next book.

2. Those 30,000 words were wandering, aimlessly.

3. Time away has allowed me to realize the cause of that aimlessness – mushy backstory.

So while the ideas are not blowing out my ears, my desire to develop the perfect backstory is growing quite strong.

Now I just need Mr. Hoyt (or whatever his name turns out to be) to open his lips and speak sweet history to me.

I’m hoping to get my act together later (not sure if that means later this afternoon or later this week) to post more pictures of the libraries I visited in San Antonio. This morning, though, I want to tackle something a little less time consuming and a lot less about me.

But yes, it does start with me taking a side trip to Austin the Sunday before last. School librarian and adopted cousin Felice Feldman volunteered to drive me to BookPeople for P.J. Hoover’s and Jessica Lee Anderson's book launches. P.J. and I were in the Class of 2k8 together, and I’ve loved spending time with her on two previous occasions in San Antonio. Here we are ...
  Me and P.J.; Jessica and P.J.; the SRO crowd at BookPeople

It was great seeing Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, Jo Whittemore and Jennifer Ziegler. And I’m still embarrassed about not recognizing you, Jennifer, then forgetting your name again three seconds later. I can blame exhaustion, but ... well, yeah. I’m playing the exhaustion card.

Plus, to show that some good deeds go unpunished, Felice won an author visit from P.J. She’s so excited.

Switching gears ...

Author Susan VanHecke – great writer, selfless promoter and total whirlwind (I’m guessing this would be true if I ever met her in person) – has two new books recently released ...

*Picture book, An Apple Pie for Dinner, with illustrations that look almost 3D.

*YA, Rock ‘N’ Roll Soldier, a Vietnam War memoir, co-written with veteran Dean Kohler and with a foreword by musician Graham Nash. Very cool.

Last, but not least ...

If you’re in a voting mood, you may want to cast your ballot for T. Rex in the Library to be included in boxes of Cheerios. This book is by author/librarian-extraordinaire/all-round-fabulous-person Toni Buzzeo. This voting page loads very fast; no need to register for anything. Just go to more titles and click on T. Rex.

The past week-plus was wonderful. I need to finish packing, but the short version ...

*Attending and presenting at the Missouri Literary Festival in Springfield
*Visiting with 6th graders at Southwest Middle School in Manchester, Missouri

*Talking to and with librarians – always a treat – at the Missouri Library Association Conference in Columbia

*Speaking at The Big Read in St. Louis ... with the most fun ... hanging out with Cindy Lord before, during and after (see her blog for more details right here)

And now, the granddaddy of them all, starting tomorrow ... visiting 15 schools in San Antonio.

The last time I was away from home for this long? I was about 15, and my parents took us for our first big trip, driving the southern route to Los Angeles, going up Highway 1 to San Francisco, then navigating the northern route back to St. Louis.

My mileage on this trip won’t compare, but I have a feeling the experiences will be just as rich.

This past Saturday night, I was 15 minutes late to the cocktail party, held for the patrons and us authors as part of the Missouri Literary Festival. Truth is, it’s easy to slip into the mingling conversations of a cocktail party. And 15 minutes is still within fashionable lateness. But the crowning reason that erased any guilt? It’s what made me late.

Earlier in the day, I attended three sessions from other children’s authors – J.B. Cheaney, Louise Jackson and Kate Klise. (All wonderful, by the way.) Kate’s presentation came just before her duties as our moderator for a panel on getting published. As timing would have it, we found ourselves walking back from the venue to the hotel together. And that’s when she handed me an ARC of her newest, Book One in the 43 Old Cemetery Road series, Dying to Meet You (2009, Harcourt Children’s Books).
(Turns out, it wasn’t just any ARC; it was her marked-up copy with notes to her publisher. Which I still have, but no worries she’s missing it. She told me to throw it away and she’d give me a clean copy. No thanks. This is better.)

I decided to open the enticing cover with the dilapidated Victorian house, always a lure for me. Knowing this was an epistolary novel, I thought I could read some of the correspondence between the characters, put the book down, get dressed and walk the 10 minutes to the Hammons Field clubhouse (a non-stinky locker room in a baseball stadium – very cool) for the party.

Now, you can certainly guess what happened next. I finished the book, jumped into my clothes, slapped thirty seconds of makeup on my face, ran to my car and drove the three blocks. Nope, I didn’t want to put the book down.

Dying to Meet You allows readers the privilege of seeing all the correspondence among the fabulous cast of characters. The three main ones:

*Ignatius P. Grumply, a crotchety, old children’s author who rents the Victorian house as the perfect spot to write his next book. He’s already long past missing his deadline and has spent his huge advance.

*Seymour Hope, an 11 year old, left to live on the third floor of the house while his parents are in Europe.

*Olive C. Spence, now dead 97 years, and who once promised to haunt this house she built until she gets a publishing contract or until forever, whichever comes first.

Other correspondence comes from Seymour’s parents, Ignatius’s lawyer and agent, the town newspaper and others who tie the whole wonderful tale together. The perfect illustrations are, as always, by Kate’s sister M. Sarah Klise.

With Dying to Meet You, Kate Klise has masterfully combined humor (often tongue-in-cheek) with a compelling story, perfect for readers from reluctant to voracious. I, for one, am dying to meet the next books in the series.

Yeah. And to hang out with Kate again.

P.S. You guessed it. This is part of Barrie Summy's Book Review Blog-o-Rama (not the real title, but you get the drift). Thanks for organizing us, Barrie!

During all those years of rejection after rejection, I would think ...

“I just want a chance to get into schools; have kids read my books; have some fun.”

So, we interrupt the Friday Five for this wonderful letter and news video that totally overwhelmed me.

Good evening! I'm writing on behalf of the Community Read Committee
at the Victor Intermediate School. You may have been in touch with
Maggie Elliott recently, but I thought I'd let you know that our Kick-
Off Celebration was a HUGE success. I've attached the link of the
news story to this email. We literally had nearly 1000 students
stomping their feet, waving their arms, and cheering for your book!
The Marching Band performed, and our local newscaster, Kevin Doran,
introduced the book with amazing flair! He definitely had the kids
all riled up.

We did take video of the celebration, and there was a news story that
has been taped as well. I'm sure that Maggie will send you those in
the upcoming weeks.

I just wanted to extend my thanks for writing such an amazing book.
Our kids have already latched on before they've even opened the first
page!

http://rochesterhomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=119262 (Link to
News 8 Now story about our Opening Ceremony)

Have a great evening,
Kimberly Farrington
Victor Community Read Committee Member

Thank you so much, Victor Intermediate students, Community Read committee and  Victor Intermediate librarian Maggie Elliott whom I had the pleasure of meeting this summer. I’m speechless.

(Note: If you watch the video, there will be a brief commercial first.)

Growing up, I don’t know that I was ever told, point-blank, not to brag or boast, but I knew that’s something I shouldn’t do. I suppose I extended the lesson a little far, and I say that because, when I was about ten, my mom needed to teach me how to accept a compliment.

Still, old habits are hard to shake. I do feel mostly comfortable saying thanks when it’s warranted. I understand the necessity of plugging my books, yet, when I was up on that stage during the St. Louis Art Fair on Sunday to promo my appearance at October’s Big Read, I wasn’t 100% comfortable making my 15 minutes all about me.
 
So I came well-prepared to plug another author who’ll also be there. After I made my intro, read my chapter and told people to come see me, I did a wonderful job (yes, boasting a little) deflecting the attention off me. I held this up.



"How many of you have read this or otherwise know about this book?" Almost every hand went up (which made me very proud). So even though its author wasn’t there, she helped me out. And I have to say, it was much more fun boasting about Cindy than figuring out how far I should go myself.
 

1. Go to lunch with Cindy Reeg andthatgirlygirl ... check!

2. Get a tad nervous about sharing a stage with Ridley Pearson, Sunday 12:45pm, at the St. Louis Art Fair ... check!

3. Finish presentable draft of talk for Missouri Library Association conference ... check!

4. Buy mushrooms, egg rolls and an estate in the south of France ... check! check! and, um ...

5. Have a parent tell me I’m bigger than Hannah Montana to her daughter ... check!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was more-than-comfortably late getting to Mrs. P’s for dinner. It wasn’t like my lateness caused the roast to burn in the oven. We were going to order out. But I knew she was hungry. And we’re good enough friends that she could have had that slightly annoyed look on her face when I walked through the door. But she was grinning. I wanted to ask her whose canary she ate, but I let it play out.

Mrs. P is her elementary school’s literacy coach which means she helps the classroom teachers teach reading and writing. Or something like that. It has required her to read a lot of texts on current methodology and all that good stuff you need to be effective.

So when she led me to the kitchen and I saw her stack of books on the table, I didn’t think anything of it. And when she picked one up, I didn’t think anything of it. Maybe she had an urge to look at something. Ours is the type of friendship where we do laundry when the other is over.

But then she turned to page 77 of The Café Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction by Gail Boushay and Joan Moser.

Her grin came back. She handed me the book. I looked at it, and two words caught my eye: Gollywhopper Games.

Last school year, it seems, a student named Amanda had been conferencing with her teacher on a regular basis to help improve her reading accuracy and comprehension. It also seems that the book she was reading during one such conferencing period was mine.

So there, in a teaching-teachers-type book, where Mrs. P expected to see such a title as Number the Stars (or other usual suspects) was my title.

Anyone who came in for dessert would have though we both ate canary for dinner.

It’s a lazy Labor Day, so I took the lazy way to pick my winner for The Impromptu Contest. I was going to write each name on a slip of paper and choose two, but with slightly under 100 entries ... Too. Much. Work. So instead, I employed the random paper toss method.

1. Cut squares, numbered 0 - 9. (Yes, I realized after the fact I could’ve used playing card and saved a tree, but it was scrap paper at least.)

2. Shuffle said squares, making sure they’re all faced the same way.

3. Hold squares vertically between thumb and forefinger, shut eyes, toss up with flick of wrist.

4. Those landing face up are still in the game. Repeat until only one number is face up.

5. Gather all squares, repeat 2-4 for the second digit of winning number.

6. Repeat 2-5 for second winner.

7. Count the comments – it was predetermined that LJ comments would go first, private comments would be sequentially numbered there after – and the winners are ...

#60 and #28.

Congratulations #11 from Mrs. Virgin’s 5^th grade.

Congratulations #15 from Miss Barfield’s 5^th grade.

(Oh, and great system to make it safe for all you students to enter.)

Thanks to everyone for playing!

1. The Impromptu, Win a Book, an ARC and a T-Shirt Contest is on through 10pm tonight. Here's how to enter.

2. Yes, I’m early (don’t faint), but happy birthday, Snoop! I’d send you a book and a t-shirt, but I know you already have those. Maybe a card. Maybe it’ll get to you by October.

3. To those of you who can’t relate to this, sorry. But it’s football season!

4. And football season usually signifies back-to-school season which puts me in the mood for first-draft-of-new-book season. The timing is great because ...

5. After two full revisions and two more limited ones, and despite my thickheadedness with one issue, The Seventh Level is finally off to copyediting. I can’t say enough about the wonderful editors at Greenwillow – especially the magnificent M – who pushed and pulled and prodded me through this process.

Oh, yeah. And this review is part of Barrie Summy’s Book Review Club.

Over the weekend, I read about Lisa Schroeder’s exciting news. Her book being included on two state lists. She’d had no idea.

How did she not know? I don’t know. It just happens.

Thanks to correspondence from Texas and North Dakota, I did found out my book was to be on their lists. Vermont, I learned about through my publisher. But I stumbled upon Pennsylvania totally by accident.

So yesterday – mostly to confirm my 4 states were still there, that it hadn’t been a wonderful mirage – I followed the link Lisa used to make her wonderful discovery, typed in my title, clicked it when it popped up and ... not four lists. There were five!

Thanks so much, New Mexico librarians, for including The Gollywhopper Games in your Battle of the Books. I wish I’d known in June so I could have thanked you sooner. And I wish we’d had a battle like that when I was a kid. I would have SO joined a team.