Here's What I Want for Christmas...



Plus, I really love this video!

I'm on JUST ONE MORE BOOK!



Run on over to Just One More Book and check out my review of Sandra Boynton's Blue Hat, Green Hat.

Say"hi" to Andrea and Mark while you're there and check out the loads of other cool children's book reviews in podcast form.

Is Your Writing Spot More Famous Than You Are?





Is your writing spot more famous than you are? Well, mine is.
My main writing spot, a college library, has been working hard to fill its 15 minutes-of-fame quota. In the above Geico commercial, the cheeky gecko can be seen hanging out in the very stacks that help me procrastinate away from whatever my work-in-progress is at the moment. (I took the top photo to show an early scene in the commercial sans actors.)
Unfortunately, these 15 minutes haven't come without a cost to my writing time. The college library isn't around much anymore, choosing, instead, to lounge poolside with fellow stars in the Hollywood Hills. When he is around, he's too busy signing autographs to allow me admittance.
Wait, it gets worse. This same library was patronized by President-elect Barack Obama from the fall of 1979 through the spring of 1981. Now, the library's actively lobbying to become a presidential library in D.C. starting January 20, 2009.
With the library's new fame and illusions of grandeur, I risk losing my favorite writing spot forever. This could have dire consequences for my would-be career as a children's book author.
Please, send me word of any deeply quiet and charming (but not too charming) college libraries that I may be able to adopt as a new favorite writing place. I'm just too unfamous now.

This Is Not a Birthday



Hats off to you (bowlers, of course) on your 110th, Monsieur Magritte, Spiritual Father of the Modern Picture Book!

Suffrage Succotash! Help Make a More Perfect Onion



It's thyme to vote again. For the Farmers of the Constitution, casting shallots was a means of making a more perfect onion. That's why we must turnip at the poles tomorrow. Lettuce not take the right to vote for pomegranate. Whether you're a radishcal or a Republicantaloupe, no matter how you parse it, parsley or parsnip, we're all on par when we vote.

These are chard times, no doubt about it. How well are you garden your rights? You don't need anyone's persimmon to cast a shallot. What are you waiting for, orange you going to vote? Peas...... I yam. I'll seed you at the poles tomorrow. (Remember: no asparaguts, no gloriosa daisies)

For more "Blog the Vote!" posts from the kidlitosphere, check out the following link: http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2008/11/blog_the_vote_2008.html