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Snow, Miami, and Hope

In the last 24 hours, we’ve gotten about a foot and half of snow. This makes our snowfall for the season so far at about eleven and half feet, which is pretty much average. Our meadow and forest are beautiful and serene and I am writing by the fire. Life is pretty good.

But some of you shudder at the thought of all that snow (yes, OfficeMouse, looking at you) and this is an all-inclusive kind of blog, so I’ll warm your day with a picture of happy authors at the Miami Book Festival, courtesy of author Greg Neri.

From the left (note the shorts) we have a super-nice guy whose name I can’t remember, poet Lee Bennett Hopkins, Heather Henson, Greg, and me. Note that I am not wearing shorts.

I’ll be writing and taking care of family business this weekend, but every moment I will be anticipating Tuesday’s historic and blessed Inauguration of our new President. I feel like I am watching history unfold with Isabel standing to one side of me and Curzon on the other, all three of us celebrating this incredible country.

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A Star for a Sub-Zero Day

THIS is nice way to get all toasty warm on the inside: second review for WINTERGIRLS, second star. Thank-you School Library Journal!!!

From SLJ February 2009: ANDERSON, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. 288p. Viking. Mar. 2009. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-670-01110-0. LC number unavailable.

Gr 8 Up–The intensity of emotion and vivid language here are more reminiscent of Anderson’s Speak (Farrar, 1999) than any of her other works. Lia and Cassie had been best friends since elementary school, and each developed her own style of eating disorder that leads to disaster. Now 18, they are no longer friends. Despite their estrangement, Cassie calls Lia 33 times on the night of her death, and Lia never answers. As events play out, Lia’s guilt, her need to be thin, and her fight for acceptance unravel in an almost poetic stream of consciousness in this startlingly crisp and pitch-perfect first-person narrative. The text is rich with words still legible but crossed out, the judicious use of italics, and tiny font-size refrains reflecting her distorted internal logic. All of the usual answers of specialized treatment centers, therapy, and monitoring of weight and food fail to prevail while Lia’s cleverness holds sway. What happens to her in the end is much less the point than traveling with her on her agonizing journey of inexplicable pain and her attempt to make some sense of her life.

Head over to the WINTERGIRLS MySpace page to read an excerpt and check other reviews. Friend us! Ask everyone you know to friend us, too!

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Random

Woo-Hoo! WORD GEEK TRIUMPH!

Remember the photo I took in the Milwaukee Airport last fall?

The American Dialect Society loves the same sign! They named it the Most Creative Word Use of 2008. Here’s from their report: “WINNER: recombobulation area: An area at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee in which passengers that have just passed through security screening can get their clothes and belongings back in order.”

Read the whole thing, esp. “bromance” and “Palinesque”.

And (this is totally unrelated) I really must learn Japanese. (English explanation of the site).

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Must-Get-Writing Monday

A quick entry today because I need to get to the library when it opens.

Thank you Susane Colasanti for the awesome review of WINTERGIRLS. Release date in March 19th!

And not to leave CHAINS shivering in the snow, here’s what Jerry, a teacher in Texas thinks.

Last but not least, I received a note from a teen reader this weekend who loves SPEAK and wants to read other books like it. Can you help me out with this? What do you recommend?

PS – I shall be singing the Eagles Fight Song quietly under my breath all day.

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weekend plans

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Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow..

…drink hot tea by the fire, curled up with a good book.