Cynthea Liu's Library Lovin’ Challenge

Do you love libraries? I do. I buy a lot of books, but I also check a lot out from the library. When I didn’t have money to spend on books as a kid, I could always rely on finding something to read.

Cynthea Liu is participating in the Library-Lovin’ Challenge organized by author writerjenn. As a thank you to the libraries, she is donating 10 cents to for every comment made on Cynthea's blog up to $100. So, hop on over and make a comment. She is giving away signed bookplates and a couple of lucky people will win a signed copy of her newest book, Paris Pan Takes a Dare.

The Book-a-holic

Too many books? Nah. Inconceivable!

This weekend I spent a couple of hours digging through the books in the kids’ rooms. In my older son’s room, the books were piled two deep, and my husband really wanted me to open up a few cubes in the big shelf for the cloth toy baskets. It’s a “book shelf” not a “toy shelf.” Okay, so my #1 son has a ton of toys and books in his room, and I had to find a way of dealing with it.

I had an idea. In my #2 son’s room (very small shoebox of a room), he has drawers under the bed. His room is too small to play in, and it gets trashed when he does – nowhere to walk. So, I emptied one of the big drawers under his bed, and thought, hey, I could make a book drawer. He absolutely loved the idea.



Hours later, I had pulled out a bunch of baby books to store or give away. I moved the chapter books (from #1 son’s room) and all the beginning readers (from #2 son’s book shelf) into #2 son’s drawer, and I moved picture books from #1 son’s shelves to fill the gaps on #1 son’s shelves. Then I moved novels to the little shelves in #1 son’s room.

I was feeling very good about myself, but I still had no holes to fill with toys. After another hour and more weeding out of books that could fit in #2 son’s drawer, I have room.

I haven't even begun to tackle the jumble of books in the living room, but I need more shelves to do that.

I’m a book-a-holic. I admit it.

Just Another Day

Frog:
I dug the frog out the other day, rinsed him off, and called the kids. They rarely get to see the little bugger any more.

The frog calmly sat in my hand (still in the tank) while I called, “Kids, come see the frog.”

Both kids came running and sliding into the kitchen.

My little one said, “What frog?”

I guess he forgot we had him. We left Dash (the frog) to rest in the water. I knew he’d just go bury himself again, but… he didn’t! The frog is out of hibernation. Of course, we’ve had a couple of warm days, and we’ve finally made his scratchy log more of a shelter (no bottom). So, instead of staying under the dirt and moss, he hides behind his log. He keeps an eye on us at all times.

Writing:
I haven’t been writing as much as I would like. I’ve written a new picture book that I’ve left to fester a bit before I tinker with it again. A few other ideas have sprouted, but nothing significant. Mostly, I’ve been revising stories I had on the backburner and reading.

Reading:
Linda Sue Park told us at a recent RACWI meeting that writers have to be readers. I’m an avid reader of children’s books. Shhh! I enjoy them more than the adult books – more imagination sometimes.

Anyway, in the past four days I’ve read three books:

Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman – excellent read and told from the perspective of a severely disabled teen with Cerebral Palsy



Frindle by Andrew Clements – surprisingly clever story about a boy and the power of words



Just Ella by Margaret Haddix – an interesting twist on the Cinderella tale



I enjoyed all three books and pretty much read them without interruption. Who needs sleep?

Frogs, Writing, and Books

Frog:
I dug the frog out the other day, rinsed him off, and called the kids. They rarely get to see the little bugger any more.

The frog calmly sat in my hand (still in the tank) while I called, “Kids, come see the frog.”

Both kids came running and sliding into the kitchen.

My little one said, “What frog?”

I guess he forgot we had him. We left Dash (the frog) to rest in the water. I knew he’d just go bury himself again, but… he didn’t! The frog is out of hibernation. Of course, we’ve had a couple of warm days, and we’ve finally made his scratchy log more of a shelter (no bottom). So, instead of staying under the dirt and moss, he hides behind his log. He peeks through a crack in the bottom and keeps an eye on us at all times.

Writing:
I haven’t been writing as much as I would like. I’ve written a new picture book that I’ve left to fester a bit before I tinker with it again. A few other ideas have sprouted, but nothing significant. Mostly, I’ve been reading and revising stories I had on the back burner.

Reading:
Linda Sue Park told us at a recent RACWI meeting that writers have to be readers. I’m an avid reader of children’s books. Shhh! I enjoy them more than the adult books – more imagination sometimes.

Anyway, in the past four days I’ve read three books:
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman – excellent read and told from the perspective of a severely disabled teen with Cerebral Palsy

Frindle by Andrew Clements – surprisingly clever story about a boy and the power of words

Just Ella by Margaret Haddix – an interesting twist on the Cinderella tale

I enjoyed all three books and pretty much read them without interruption. Who needs sleep?

Confusion

The other day I had a long conversation with a children’s librarian about the American Library Association (ALA) awards. I was surprised when she said most Newbery winners have been young adult novels. She gathered the 2008 award winning books I needed to read for an upcoming writing meeting, and the conversation ventured into age levels for children’s books. 

For the past six years, I’ve been under the impression that there was a set of universal standards for breaking books target age ranges. The definitions got fuzzy when the librarian started talking about midway, middle grade, and young adult novels. She told me that middle grade is considered to be for middle school children, and midway or transition novels were for kids in the latter part of elementary school. I thought that the writing world and the reading world followed the same set of rules. I guess I was wrong, unless my town’s library follows their own set of rules not shared with other librarians in the country. 

So, packed full of doubts, I pulled out several writing books for some affirmation that I wasn’t delusional about my previous beliefs. I found the same information across the board. 

• Easy readers / early chapter books (48-64 pgs) – 4-8 yr olds
• Younger Middle Grade / Chapter books: usually between early chapter books and novels in length – 7-9 yr olds
• Middle Grade: are usually 128-200 pgs and are traditionally for 8-12 yr olds
• Tween / Upper Middle Grade / Transitional: 128-200 or more pages – 10-14 yr olds
• Young Adult / YA: up to 250 pages – 12 and up or 14 and up depending on the content and situations

Makes you want to go hmm.... I couldn't find the age level guidelines the librarian quoted me, and I guess I'm not going to worry about it unless someone else tells me otherwise.

Save an Editor: Buy a Book

In the past two months, we’ve seen a drastic blow to the children’s publishing business. Big publishing houses are consolidating and laying off editors in order to cope with the economic crisis. Others have declared a moratorium on submissions.

Last November, RACWI sponsored (along with Liftbridge Books) the Rochester Area Children’s Book Festival. We had record numbers of attendees and some of the authors were left with no books on their tables by the end of the festival. People were still buying books in November. Has America’s purchasing habits changed that much since the festival, or were we just seeing an isolated event?

My family has not stopped buying books. Since the beginning of 2009, I have bought more than seventeen children’s books. I can’t remember all the titles because my children ferreted some of them away.

1. The Secret Cheese Syndicate by Donna St. Cyr (bought 4 copies- some for gifts) – Middle Grade
2. The Grave Yard Book by Neil Gaiman –YA (IMHO)
3. The Boys Book: How to the Best at Everything by Dominique Enright and Guy Macdonald (elementary and up)
4. Penguins and Antartica by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce (chapter book)
5. The Magical Dress by Charles Nolan (chapter book)
6. The Daring Rescue by Charles Nolan (chapter book)
7. The Missing Medal by Charles Nolan (chapter book)
8. Saving Christmas by Charles Nolan (chapter book)
9. The Owl and the Pussy Cat by Edward Lear, Illustrated by Jan Brett (picture book)
10. The Faery Taile Project: Book One by Jim C. Hines and Christopher Kastensmidt (YA)
11. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
12. A guide to current card games like Pokemon (for my son, but it’s still on order) – Middle Grade
13. Crogan’s Vengeance by Chris Schweizer (graphic novel, YA)


What about you?

Nothin' Much

Does it Rub Off?

Some people may remember the aunt who would rub babies on the arms and backs of newlywed couples in hopes of inducing fertility in said couple. Or maybe that was just my aunt. She’s a little silly with her superstitions at times, but we all still love her.

So, if you bump elbows with a published author does some of that publishing success rub off? I wish it was that easy.


Writing and Illustrating Frenzy

One of my online writing groups (yes, I have more than one) has made a writing goal that I haven’t exactly stuck to. I’m writing, but not as much as I’d like. Most of my time over the past month has been spent revising. Note to self: Don’t forget those YA novels waiting to be completed.

A local writer/illustrator has given me the kick in the butt I needed. We meet once a month, and she has been checking up on me to make sure I’ve been drawing. I started working on dummy for one of my picture books and hope to have something to show her at next week’s meeting.