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They made the formal announcement in LA this weekend.

Here ’tis again!

Grab your calendars. The film airs for the first time at 9 pm, September 5th. (It will be shown more than once.) This kind of simulcast has apparently never been done before. The DVD version is scheduled to release September 27th. It will contain a commentary track done by director Jessica Sharzer and yours truly, and might have some behind-the-scenes stuff.

I had a quiet weekend, filled with writing, cleaning and packing. I didn’t buy Harry Potter yet because I want to buy it at my favorite independent bookstore next week. has already read it. Anyone else? Opinions?

Before you do anything else, go to NPR and listen to this bus driver tell his story. It will take 2 minutes. I promise it will make the rest of your day better.

If you work in a bookstore and have the midnight shift for Pottermania tonight, I’m sorry. When you’re surrounded by the mob of drooling, squealing readers and their parents, remember this: you are making the world a better place. One book, one reader at a time.

Let’s hope none of your wizards upchuck in the excitement.

The early morning hours have been spent posting a new curriculum guide for FEVER 1793. This guide is for students in grades 5-8, and was written to meet New York State Standards. Many thanks to Carol Frego of Colton-Pierrepont Central in Colton, NY both for writing this guide and giving me permission to share it with all of you.

This is going to be a housekeeping, to-do list, get stuff in order kind of day, so I might as well get to some of the email from readers.

Continue reading “FEVER 1793 Curriculum Unit & Writing Process Question”

I was a little distracted yesterday (there’s a surprise) and accidentally made my coffee strong enough strip paint. So I refrigerated it and found that with mucho milk and sugar it is quite tasty. That is my housekeeping tip of the day.

Bored? Take this comic book selector. What was your answer? Do you read comic books/graphic novels? Why or why not?

For those truly in the know (srtajustice and kzookev) what do you think of the choices offered by this quiz?

Sorry to bother you. You are supposed to be in the middle of a well-deserved rest. In reality, I know you are preparing lesson plans, taking classes yourself, and trying to recover from last year’s 60- and 70-hour weeks.

On the off chance you might be using one of my books with your students next year, I’d like to draw your attention to the following.

I finally started the CATALYST teacher resource page and the THANK YOU, SARAH teacher resource page. Take a peek, please. (You don’t have to be a teacher to look!)

I’d love feedback from anyone who has additional discussion questions or activity ideas. I couldn’t do vocab words because all of my copies of all of my books are already packed. I was pretty tired by the time I finished, so if you see any typos, or sentences that don’t make sense, please let me know.

A teacher from New York State emailed me a link to her incredible curriculum guide for FEVER 1793 the other day. Along with all kinds of activities, it details which NY State standards are met. I have written back to her asking permission to put the whole thing on the website. I’ll let you know when it is up.

So – Madonna’s children’s books?

Not Madonna-written, according to some.

Why am I not surprised?

I do not loathe all celebrity-written (or in Madonna’ case “celebrity-written”) books. I like Jamie Lee Curtis’ a lot. But let’s be honest – most of them are awful. They dishonor the trees that were sacrificed for the pulp upon which these atrocities are committed.

And people buy millions of copies.

There actually is an important role for “celebrity-written” books in children’s publishing. Celebrity books make massive profits. This allows publishers to take a gamble on new authors, or continue supporting the career of mid-list authors, whose books are not yet raking it in. We cannot forget that publishing is a business, and for a business to exist, profits must be made. No profits, no books.

The other positive side to even the crappy celebrity books is that they lure new readers and book buyers into stores. While most readers of this LJ are probably comfortable in libraries and bookstores, a lot of people are not. They find libraries and bookstores alien and intimidating. I think it is very important to understand and respect this, and support anything that helps them. If Ma-tuna’s, I mean Madonna’s new book, brings them into a bookstore for the first time, and opens their minds to literature, then All Hail Madonna.

What celebrity books do you like? Which ones bring out your evil, catty self? (When I worked in a bookstore, the books by Dolly Parton and Princess Fergie made me howl.) Is there a celebrity you would like to see write a children’s book? What’s the title?

I’ll start. I want Steve Tyler of Aerosmith to write “Tucking Little Girls Into Bed: night-time stories for the innocent.”