What do you want to be when you grow up?

Since my husband Jeff and I moved to New York 17 years ago, we’ve met the most interesting people – people who recognize that each of us is a work in progress; motivated people who are not afraid of self-exploration and trying new things. Consider the diamond merchant-turned-restaurateur, the possibly aspiring actress-turned-world renowned chef-turned-cookbook author (I need to check some of the facts on that), the IT specialist who makes beautiful jewelry, the contractor-turned-software developer, the grant-maker with an affinity for Japanese culture, the video set designer-turned-interior designer, the graphic artist-turned-bookkeeper-turned-pastry chef, the broadcast journalist-turned-teacher, and the lawyer-turned-author. Today I met a woman who created a phenomenally successful cosmetic line and is now director of a non-profit organization focused on illustrators and education. She left the corporate world when it no longer interested her and she was ready to try something new. She brought a lifetime of skills to her new position where she’s made an enormous impact. 

Trivia Can Be Extremely Challenging

This evening, the Early Career Committee of the Children's Book Council (CBC) sponsored the Annual Extreme Trivia Challenge. The event was hosted by bestselling authors Holly Black (Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale; The Spiderwick Chronicles; White Cat) and Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments and the companion series, The Infernal Devices). One hundred publishing people played to win the coveted golden bunny trophies that are awarded to the first place know-it-alls. The trophies are bunnies in recognition of the over-representation of bunnies in children's books. The evening ran beautifully and everyone had a blast. It's safe to say that everyone in attendance learned something new and had a great time doing so. A simple reminder that books and learning can be fun. The categories were challenging and often downright hilarious. One category was entitled WWHPD?(What Would Harry Potter DO). So, if you fancy yourself a fan, try these on for size - name the spells Harry Potter would most likely use to weasel his way out of the following dilemmas.

a. A mountain troll is attacking you, fend it off!

b. You know that evil jinx Malfoy came from Malfoy’s wand—even if no one else does. Prove it.

c. A furious grindylow has grabbed hold of your ankle, get it off!

d. Your annoying but well-intentioned friend *cough—Nevil* won’t stop tagging along on your missions to conquer the dark lord, get him out of the way already!

You'll have to look at tomorrow blog post to see if you're right!

Many, many thanks to my amazing CBC staff - kudos, in particular, to Rachel H for this one - for working together and supporting one another, resulting in yet another brilliant CBC event. My takeaway from this evening is admiration for and gratitude to my staff for a job well done and a strong desire to read Holly Black's new book White Cat, about a boy from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands (recommended for ages 14 and up).

Amazon Update

This update relates to my November 10 post. Amazon.com is no longer offering the Pedophile's Guide for sale. Censorship purists may have a hard time with this but the rest of us are breathing a little easier.

Outraged at Amazon

Have you heard this - The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct by Philip R. Greaves II, which offers advice to pedophiles, is available on Amazon for the Kindle? Wait, there's more. Amazon issued the following statement: "Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions." Who fell asleep at the wheel?! How can anybody have been comfortable crossing this line? For Amazon to fall on the "censorship" argument here is a travesty. Refusal to offer something for sale is NOT censorship - it's a moral business decision! Booksellers have the right to choose which books they are willing to sell! Save the censorship argument for the amazing children's books (those that push the envelope and help real kids deal with real issues) that misguided folks feel compelled to pull off shelves because of bad language or harsh subject matter. Doesn't selling this book make Amazon an accessory to criminal behavior? A person may not financially profit from their criminal act and it seems safe to assume that the author of the piece of trash at the core of this controversy is a pedophile; ergo, by making the book available for purchase, Amazon is making the attainment of profit possible and, as such, is an accessory. Amazon must also get a percentage of the profits from sales of the book, which would mean that the accessory is also financially profiting from the crime. Unbelievable! This is facilitation of a crime - this has nothing to do with banned books or purchasing decisions. I wonder what my author and publisher friends think of all this. Consider the following books that have been banned in parts of this country over the years that truly deserve attention and protection from censorship:

.

 

Accessible Jane Austen

A certain children's book publicist I know will, from time to time, send me a book with a brief note like "Must Read!", "Beautiful" or "Enjoy!". She selects the titles judiciously and I've learned, over time, that it's worth putting aside whatever I'm reading at the moment when I get a package from her. I received such a package yesterday and the note attached simply said "Enjoy". Naturally, once I got home from work and my kids were all settled in, I took out Prom & Prejudice and settled in myself. What a delightfully unexpected little bit of fun! On her website, author Elizabeth Eulberg, explains that, as a writer, she sets out to write books like those she really enjoyed as a teen - books that were fun. Prom & Prejudice is definitely that. As you might have guessed from the title, it's a contemporized take on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. The characters (bearing the same names as they do in Pride & Prejudice) attend elitist boarding schools in Connecticut. The privileged students generally come from Manhattan and the underprivileged "scholarship students" are from Hoboken. I have to say - she had me at Hoboken. I finished the book in one night just so I could pass it along this morning and brighten someone else's day.

This morning I remembered the time, not too long ago, when one of my daughters encountered and devoured the Twilight saga. When she was done, for a period of time, she craved love stories. She read several but Wuthering Heights and Pride & Prejudice were just too much work at the time. I wonder if a book like Prom & Prejudice might serve a dual purpose - offering a fun and satisfyingly entertaining read on its own and serving as a first step toward taking on Austen; it's an accessible Austen, if you will. By enhancing the enjoyment our kids' reading experience, by letting our kids choose the books that interest them, we are nurturing a lifelong love of reading. The child or young adult who delights in Prom & Prejudice may be motivated to read the author who started it all, Jane Austen. If we really want to expose our children to literary classics, maybe we need to set the stage early and facilitate their development as readers first - by maximizing the enjoyment of the reading experience.

Think Outside of the Box

When I was growing up, I'm pretty sure the expression "thinking outside of the box" didn't exist. The phrase is now so commonly used that it has its own Wikipedia entry. But it's more than a phrase, isn't it? It's more of a mindset, even a gestalt. These days, it's arguably "best practices". It's pretty exciting to live in an age where thinking outside of the box is more the rule than the exception. Life outside of the box involves taking chances and exploring creative solutions. The possibilities are endless.

I hope this love affair with creativity hangs on for a while and I hope our children benefit from it as they should - in terms of how we, as the grownups in their lives, relate to them, in terms of how they approach problem-solving throughout their lives and in terms of how they consider their career options as they get older. Let's make sure we remember how much fun it was to watch our toddlers forsaking the toys for the boxes they came in. After all, a box is almost never just a box! Check out Antoinette Portis' Not a Box if you need to refresh your memory. As our kids get older, it seems more important than ever to embrace a creative, out of the box way of thinking. We can't spare them disappointment and we shouldn't try. Instead, we need to arm them to deal with disappointment and encourage the creative impulse that shone through when they were younger - if you want to go to the moon but you don't have a spaceship, don't give up and don't wallow, just get a box!

Running, running, running...

Congratulations to my husband Jeff and the other 43,000 or more people (including Chilean miner Edison Pena) who ran 26.2 miles today and completed the NYC marathon. As someone who gets winded running for the bus, I have the deepest respect and admiration for what you've all accomplished and truly can't fathom how it's even possible.

Running is an expression of hope and/or determination for some people. For Edison Pena, it was a way to stay in shape and maintain his sanity while in captivity. For Sophy, the young, Cambodian protagonist in Frederick Lipp’s beautiful book, Running Shoes, only a pair of running shoes will allow her to run the 8 kilometers to the next village to attend their school and make her dreams come true. In Margaret Peterson Haddix's first young adult novel, Running Out of Time, a mixture of historical fiction and time travel, the protagonist Jessie is running to save the village of Clifton, Indiana from diphtheria. Chris Crutcher's first book, Running Loose is the story of a high school boy at a crossroads who seems, at times, to be running from himself.

For me, running is a form of exercise I'm not very good at and it's a means of escape. When it comes to escape, though, I'd so much rather get lost in a book! How about Augusten Burroughs' Running With Scissors?