Hi everyone! It's December and if
you’re reading this you survived both National Novel Writing Month and Picture Book
Idea Month. Go you! And if you didn't participate, well, you have a full 11
months to rev up for the next round. I did not take part, but I did volunteer
to contribute to our Scratchpad. So here goes! Please excuse any change in
format or tone and by all means feel free to critique my writing.
JOIN
US on Tuesday, December 8th at Carinos at 6:30 for the SCBWI Brazos
Valley holiday party! We'll celebrate
our year of writing and illustrating gone by. A pre-emptive toast to 2016! May
it be a year of new inspirations, newly completed chapters, and book deals for
all!
Giving Books for the Holidays
Getting ready to de-clutter your
family bookshelves before the holidays bestow new books upon your household?
Check out the ALA's handy list of organizations that will gladly take your used books. If you'd like to keep
it local consider donating books to Books and a Blanket,
Goodwill, or Twin City Mission.
Since we're dedicated to bringing love and light into the lives of children, it
doesn’t hurt to mention Scotty's House as a potential recipient of other types
of donations (you can see their full wish list here).
Books I’m Loving
Ada Lovelace and the Thinking
Machine (by Laurie Wallmark and illustrated by April Chu, Creston Books, 2015).
About Ada Lovelace (daughter of Lord Byron) who invented the world's
first software program in the 1800’s. I'll
admit, since my husband is a statistician I let him read it to the kids first
so I could hear how he explained everything to them. Learned a lot! Wonderful
illustrations. Lots of opportunities to talk about math, education, and the
fact that women are now allowed to do much more than in “the olden times.”
Learned about this book from A Mighty Girl facebook page and website which
is definitely worth checking out if you have girls! Lots of empowering books
and messages.
Summer Birds: The Butterflies of
Maria Merian (by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Julie Paschkis, Henry Holt & Co. 2010).
About a young girl who lived in the 1600’s who, through her
observation and journaling, debunked the medieval notion that butterflies and
other insects were born out of mud and were evil. Beautiful illustrations and
another book with an empowering message for girls regarding science and
discovery. A lot of attention is paid to how she observed and painted animals
so this would be good for budding artists as well. Also recommended by A MightyGirl
The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Perez (by René Colato Laínez, illustrated by Tom Lintern, Penguin Random House, 2010)
This one was suggested by a fellow SCBWI member at the October meeting!
Great suggestion. In this book the mythical creatures from two different
cultures meet, fight and then work together to solve a problem and become
friends. You all know the Tooth Fairy. In Latin America and Spain we believe in
the “Ratón Perez,” a little rat that comes for your tooth. Learn all about him
in this cute multicultural book. My only issue is that now I'm on the hook to
leave TWO coins for my kids´ teeth instead of one!
Facebook Feeds worth Following
The Parent Filter
When I was a child I loved Roald
Dahl books. Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, you name it. The other day I saw some Roald Dahl books at Goodwill and
let out a squeal of delight. Oh, the joy of reliving my childhood favorites
through the eyes of my children! Except, that’s kind of the problem. I am no
longer a child, I am an adult. A parent. Rather than wide eyed innocence (well,
depending on the child) we all come to back to our cherished childhood books
with a new filter. And that filter can be a total bummer.
Obviously adulthood is full of disappointing
re-encounters with our childhood experiences. Songs that were amazing now seem
insipid and all of a sudden I’m aware of the casual sexism and racism that, it
turns out, pervaded many TV favorites. But as a parent reading a book to my
children, there is another issue at play: the instinct to protect. And no, I’m not
talking about protecting them from all the bad things they will eventually
learn about humanity (lets save that for another post about how to subtly editorialize
on the fly while reading fairytales). In this case, I’m referring to the
instinct to protect myself from the crazy ideas a book might inspire. Ideas
that might make my life as a parent much harder (and messier).
One of the books I bought at Goodwill
was George’s Marvelous Medicine. This is a book about a boy who combines the
contents of every bottle in every cabinet and cupboard in his house and barn into
a concoction which is then fed to his evil granny. Upon reading this book as a
10 year old I was very excited about the possibility of making my own marvelous
medicine (not sure who I was going to feed it to). Out of the muddled haze of
my childhood memories, this one still burns bright. I remember the look, smell
and texture of the various medicinal and beauty products I found while casing
the guest bathroom for possibly marvelous ingredients. The expensive looking
silver lettering on a Clinque jar, combined with the strong minty smell of the
body scrub within, brought me back to my senses. I never made the medicine. But
I was ten, the age at which one foot is still sort of in fantasy land, but you’ve
been punished at home or at school enough times that the other foot is grounded
in reality. My kids are currently five and two and a half. So there is no way I’ll
be reading them George’s Marvelous Medicine any time soon.
Have you had a similar experience? What books
are set aside for A. when your kids are older or B. when you have the time to
wrap the whole reading experience in a “why this is actually a bad idea”
caveat?
The views expressed here are my own, and not
necessarily those of the SCBWI.
