So, General Mills (yep, the cereal folk) have this really cool literacy initiative that puts books
in the hands of kids via Cheerios boxes!

It’s called Spoonful of Stories.

I love this project.

It’s kind of cloak and dagger altruism:

"We’ll move the books into the house in … in… the spagettios."
"Nope, too messy."
"The fish sticks."
"Nope, too cold."
"The soup."
"Nope, too wet.’
"Ooo, ooo, I know!! The cereal! The cereal! And we’ll get ’em while they’re unawares! They’ll still have sleep in their eyes but boy-oh-man, this’ll clean that out!!"

Right? It’s a really good idea — and then they top that by partnering with First Book to make sure kids in need and programs in need get new books all year round. So, go General Mills!

And … GO VOTE!
‘Cause guess what? 

All the World is one of the books nominated for inclusion in next year’s Cheerios boxes!!!
Seriously, you guys!
Squeeeee!!!!

So, here’s the deal:

I can’t vote, but you can.

In fact, you can vote ONCE A DAY, from now through October 30th.

And in the end, the kind folk from cereal land will take five front-runners and produce special cereal-box-sized copies of those books. And then they’ll pack ’em up and send ’em on to clean the sleep out of the kidlies’ eyes!

The book choices are all mighty fine so I’m not worried either way — it’s just flat-out goodness for the kids.
But I am a little biased and I think it might be pretty swell to have some of them waking up to a copy of All the World.

So, if you’re so inclined, pop on over and cast your ballot.
(Today and tomorrow and the next bunch of days, too, if you’re so inclined…)

Cheers… errrr… Cheerios!

I have a whole lot of housekeeping to share with you today.

I mean, wait.

That came out wrong.

You don’t have to tidy up.

You sit and have a cup of tea and keep me company while I do…

1. My next picture book — Noodle and Lou, a story of unconditional friendship between a worm and a bird — has been pushed back just slightly because Noodle, the worm, was feeling shy and not quite ready. (Y’know, you never really hear about the early worm, do you?) Anyway, it is being illustrated by the delightful Arthur Howard as we speak — and will be in bookstores in spring 2011.

2. All the World has gotten a couple more really touching reviews. Here’s one from BookPage and it’s written by a teacher, which makes me love it extra triple much. And then another from Newsday that says we pulled off a magical trick! (I can’t remember a simple card trick to save my life, so this makes me feel better…)

3. I’ve got a few public events on the near horizon and I hope to see some of you there. Or there. Or there:
        
            Texas Book Festival, Children’s Chapter Read Me a Story Tent, Austin, TX
            Reading and Signing: October 31, 1pm

            SCBWI-Austin Chapter, Monthly Meeting at BookPeople, Austin, TX
            "Going with your Gut": November 7, 11am

            Hill Country Book Festival, Georgetown, TX
            Reading and Signing: November 14, 1pm

            Destination Publication, SCBWI Conference in Cedar Park, TX
            Speaking and critiquing: January 30, 2010

4. I love Indiebound. Who wouldn’t? It’s a collective for (and of) independent booksellers everywhere. )Earlier this fall, the Indie folks put All the World on their Top Ten Picks for Kids Indie Next List!! Swoon!) Now I have something new and cool to show you — book lists, organized by category or reader or type, all linked up and ready to buy from the indies!

For example, this amazing list of books by Austin authors, created by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
And this equally mind-blowing group of books by clients of agent Erin Murphy.

Can you say, "Christmas List"????

5. I have something really special happening here next week. One of my agent-mates, author Tamara Smith, is stopping by to talk about picture books and, in particular, this theory she’s developed called The Vibrant Triangle. The Vibrant Triangle, people. Is that some good sounding stuff or what? She’ll be here Monday and Tuesday and maybe even Wednesday and I hope you’ll come by!

See you then if not before.
Happy day, friends…

So last week, a brick flew off of our roof, bounced once, and hit me in the toe.

I know.
There are a lot of weird things about this little antecdote.

Like, what was a brick doing on our roof?
How do bricks fly?
What was my toe doing in the line of fire?

It was all a mess of bad timing, is what I thought.

A roof leak.
Into a newly finished dining room.
Regular rain after months of drought.
No roofers available, so a tarp in the meantime.

A sudden wind.
A blustery tarp, capable of tossing bricks.
And me… gone out to take a look at things.
Boy, did I.
That little run-in woke me all the way up.

Which, in the end, was what I took away from it.
No such thing as just bad timing, I’m thinking now.
Just reminders — subtle and then not so — to pay attention, act on our knowledge, keep it moving.

In this case, there was a little leak… a little rain… a little wind.
Nope?
Not gettin’ it yet? 
How about a brick!

At least it bounced.

So.
I get the message and the roofers have been by.

But there are plenty of other bricks in my life that I oughta be stacking up with design and mortar before they hit me.
You?
 

Earlier this fall, I got a note from the good folk at Teachingbooks.net.

They have this web site of about 20 zillion cool and important resources.

One of them is a Name Pronunciation hub, so teachers and librarians and students can get to know an author or illustrator just a little bit better (and without fear of faux pas and a badly-mangled surname.)

Anyway, they requested that I call in and give a little blurb on my name, which is not inordinately tricky but what the heck?

So here’s mine, if you’d like to give it a listen.

And here’s the list of others.

Peruse at your own risk.
It’s kind of addictive.

The thing I find most remarkable about this morning’s announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize going to President Obama is that the committee recognized him not so much for what he’s already done but, rather, for demonstrating a deep sense of committment to peace and restoring a deep sense of hope in the hearts of  people around the world.

They’re saying that offering people hope is an heroic act, and I think that’s pretty rad. We tend to be a concrete and literal people, so to step out this way, to recognize the value of empowered and inspired possibility, is quite a leap.  And not that far from our mission as children’s writers, don’t you think? 

Anyway, here’s the poem all this brought to mind this morning…
Enjoy…

Of History and Hope

by Miller Williams

(Read the rest here…)

Hello friends…

I’m wondering if you writerly and artsy folks will have a conversation with me?

I’ve been thinking about the solitary nature of this work, and how hard it is to remember (or even know, sometimes) that what I’m doing serves anyone (besides me).

I mean, in my heart I care about children’s literacy, I care about children’s perspectives, I care about children’s families. And, in a big picture sort of way, I carry those concerns into my studio space when I go to work. But the microcosm that is my daily grind can feel sort of … myopic, wrapped up in minutae and egocentric. I mean, honestly. Who but me is going to care about the one word I swapped for another in the fourth couplet of a manuscript that’s done and gone to the illustrator and still I can’t stop with the tweaking?

One solution, obviously, is to have some of my service life feel more concrete — whether it’s at the school or the foodbank or somewhere else. But I also feel the need to understand more fully why I do what I do, and what it is I’m offering up. And to whom. Because really, I’m not big or important enough for it to be all about me.

So here’s where you guys come in.

I’m curious about how you stay connected to what is truly purposeful about what you do?

Do you dedicate your work to someone? 

Do you wait for letters from the kids who read your books? 

Do you just figure it’ll all shake out on judgement day or at library storytime, whichever comes first?

If you’re up for sharing, I’d love to know…

I missed posting on Friday proper this week.
Now it’s Saturday, not Friday, but the house is quiet and I feel compelled to make my poetry post anyway…

This week I was doing yoga with my daughter’s 3rd grade class (those of you who’ve been reading for awhile know that this is one of my very most favorite things to do — weekly yoga with both girls’ classes).

It was a cool, blue morning.
We were on a flat spot of grassy lawn outside, stepping into warrior postures and the kids were all sort of shining.

Then, abruptly, there was screaming — a child — coming from behind a nearby portable. A couple of teachers and aids rushed by. My daughter’s teacher stepped away to see if help was needed and came back telling our kids they could help by staying focused on their yoga. The screaming continued. I asked the class to look up at me, to take a deep breath, to step into Warrior I on the other side.

And so they did.
We all did.

The child who was struggling was helped into his classroom where he apparently felt safe and calm.

And the other children on the grass in the cool blue held him in their breathing.

Where Everything is Music
by Rumi

Don’t worry about saving these songs!

And if one of our instruments breaks,

it doesn’t matter.

We have fallen into the place

where everything is music.

The strumming and the flute notes

rise into the atmosphere,

and even if the whole world’s harp

should burn up, there will still be

hidden instruments playing.

(Read the rest here…)

Namaste, friends…

Good stuff just keeps coming at All the World
and I am full-up with gratitude…

1. Scholastic bought a whole heap of copies for their book fairs and book clubs. Seriously, you guys — Scholastic! My daughters were so impressed; Scholastic is just flat-out famous with the school-age set.

2. We are the focus of this month’s Big Picture Review in The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. And it is a lovely review that says things like All the World is "… a moving and accessible celebration of the poetry of ordinary human life." Sigh…

3. The amazing and generous folk at Simon & Schuster totally blew my mind this week by debuting a book trailer for All the World! Who knew? It’s pretty swell, too…

4. And unrelated to book news, my Small One seems to have kicked the flu and is back at it. In her big and inimitable way. Seriously thankful for that…

Namaste, my friends. Namaste…

The first couple of days duking it out with this flu, I almost forgot that there were sweet things about a sick kid. My Small One lay in her dark room with a wet bandana over her eyes and whimpered when I touched her.
Not sweet, just sad.

But yesterday, she re-discovered the joys of being read to.
All.day.long.
My mom was here for part of it, so we split the duties (if you can call them that).
I got a little hoarse and my eyes burned, but boy-oh-man, is there anything nicer than having your wee one snuggle up to you and sit in the space created by a good book?

And today, she re-discovered the joys of old toys.
As my kids grow up and get busy, things like Lincoln Logs get relegated to top shelves and backs of closets.
But on sick days they come back out.
And there is nothing I love more than a whole compound of Lincoln Log homes populated with PlayMobil people.

Nothing.

Except for maybe reading aloud…

Last week we were standing in front of a banned books display
and my daughter said, "So they ban, like, the books that people really love?"

I know, right?

Doesn’t make a lick of sense.

It’s Banned Books Week, friends.
Read one, why don’t you!