Hello, friends.

Thanks so much for being with me this week in anticipation of the release of my next picture book!

I have to admit that I look forward to the next couple weeks when I’ll be talking about other, less navel-gazey things, including other people’s books that I read (and loved) this summer.

But in the meantime, it’s been awfully nice and flattering having so many of you stop by…

Now then.
Today is the last day to enter the drawing for a signed copy of All the World, which I’ll mail to the winner the very day the books arrive at my house. Seriously. That afternoon, it’s in the mail and on it’s way to you. To enter, just leave a comment here or on facebook or send me an email. I’ll say a little lucky spell over your entry and stir it into the mix.

But what is this book you’re entering to win? you ask.
Well.
That’s the thing.
It’s kinda hard to say.

It’s not a story, although Marla created an exquisite living, breathing narrative in the art.
It’s not about a particular thing, the way my first book was about pockets.
It’s not a how-to or a biography or a collection of jokes or recipes.

It’s really just kind of a poem.
I’ll show you a little of it, to give you the idea…

Rock, stone, pebble, sand
Body, shoulder, arm, hand
A moat to dig, a shell to keep
All the world is wide and deep…

Nanas, papas, cousins, kin
Piano, harp and violin
Babies passed from neck to knee
All the world is you and me…

(Selected stanzas from All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon, 2009)

I can’t wait to send it you!
Happy Friday everyone…
Namaste.

To me, one of the most delightful things about publishing a book is that you get to include a dedication.
I love this idea, that the book is for a particular someone and, at the same time, everyone else, too.
It’s just a tiny little line or two, but in there is recognition and gratitude and love.

In that vein, I’ve offered up my portion of All the World to my husband.

In a week, we will have been married fifteen years, which kind of freaks us out because we really don’t feel that old.
But sure enough, it’s been that long, and the whole time, Kirk has backed me up, cheered me on, and talked me down.

He’s rolled with my rather extreme manifestations of elation and despair, distraction and obsession, passion and exhaustion. 
He’s co-parented, co-cooked and -cleaned, co-created, co-conquered and co-cracked up with me.
And he’s carried more than his fair share of the financial load as I’ve spent zillions of hours on less-than-lucrative work.

I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t have two books or two daughters or two dollars to my name if it wasn’t for him and his steady, loving, endlessly patient belief in me. Thank you, honey.

And while we’re at it, my daughters (to whom I dedicated my first book) are also pretty darn true blue.
They put up with my ups and downs and distractions and they cheer me on like my own booster squad — at ages when I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to be completely self-involved. Plus, they inspire me everyday in their own boundless creative energy and confidence.

Speaking of which, here’s my Tall One’s depiction of Marla’s gorgeous cover: 
(Click on it to see it in all its glory…)

Sigh…
I am lucky and grateful beyond measure.

And I’ll bet you are, too, so don’t forget to enter my drawing for a signed copy of All the World by leaving a comment here or on facebook or via email. Really, cross fingers, knock wood, you’re the winner! I know you are!!

I get kind of a fun Daily Literary Quote on my iGoogle page.
Yesterday the wit was writer Robertson Davies.
Here’s the last line:

"…only the wisest survive when attacked by a mad notion."

And I have got to say that being "attacked by a mad notion" is really what it feels like sometimes when an idea gets me up in the middle of the night or sends me beyond distraction in the middle of the day. It’s startling. And I sit down to type with a bit of dread. I mean, don’t you, when in you’re in the room with a mad notion???? They’re unpredictable, y’know?

So, in keeping with mad notions, today’s the day I thought I’d share with you the backstories to All the World — mine and Marla’s, the miracle-working illustrator of this book. We were asked to write these as part of the Simon & Schuster publicity effort and whoa, Nellie, it is not easy to sum up where a story comes from.

But here you go.
The first is mine, the second, Marla’s.

And people, don’t forget to toss your name in the pot for a signed copy of All the World! All that’s required is a comment here or on facebook, or you can send me an email, and who but knows? It may be you who gets plucked from the pile!

I hope it is! I really hope it is…

Gosh, you guys.
It is so touching to hear from so many of you.
Turns out I’m not all alone here with my dog, my cats and my racing mind.

But in case you’re just popping in now, I want to let you know that I’m doing a drawing for a signed copy of All the World — mailed to the winner the very day I get my box of books. All you need to do is leave me a comment here or on facebook, or send me an email. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Or, as they say in the hilarious trailer for the new movie In the Loop: difficult difficult lemon difficult.

Sorry. I digress.
Really, it is easy.
Wave a flag and I’ll put your name in the hat — you have until this Friday, August 14th.

In the meantime, a little more news to share in anticipation of the book release.
On today’s menu: reviews, in which we’ve been exceedingly lucky so far.
Or blessed.
Or something.

All the World received a starred review in the most recent issue of School Library Journal .
The reviewer said some lovely stuff about it, too.
I was especially blown away by the last line which just called it "Perfection."
Sigh…

Now don’t forget to enter your name in the drawing ’cause I’d love to send one of these puppies to you, personally, the very day the box lands on my doorstep. Truly, I would…

I like to blog for sort of quirky, personal reasons.
It’s a way to keep track of myself, for one thing.
And a way to connect with people who love what I love.
And a way to feel productive, as a writer, even on my off days.

The marketing side of blogging? 
Not so much.

When my girls were little and I was doing freelance corporate copywriting, I coulda sold you swampland in Florida.
I wrote marketing collateral for IBM and it was fun, singing the praises of this or that service or software.

But this is different.
I flush a rather embarrassed pink everytime I mention the words "my" and "books" in the same sentence.
All the savvy lingo and salesmanship go right out the window.
So, please don’t mind the clammy handshake and lack of eye contact as I introduce a week of blog posts about All the World, which will be on the shelves exactly 4 weeks from tomorrow. In anticipation of that I have lots to share with you.

**** Including — A signed copy of the book from my own personal stash, mailed to you the DAY the books arrive at my house — I promise! All you need to do is leave a comment here or on my facebook page or via email by this Friday, August 15th, and I’ll enter you in the drawing!****

In the meantime, a little eye candy:

Here is the incredibly exquisite promotional package that my friends at Beach Lane and Simon & Schuster mailed out to various booksellers and librarians and such. It’s a box with a full-size, full-color galley, a personal note from my editor along with the first-ever catalog of her new imprint, a chance to win a piece of Marla Frazee’s original art, and even a shell and a few pieces of beach glass. When I saw it, I said, "Bestill my heart," and then I fainted. Or least I would have if my husband hadn’t brought me that medicinal glass of champagne…

And then, a few weeks later, I opened the door to another package —
this one containing my very first bound copy of the book.
Allyn, my editor, really likes ritual. And ribbons. As you can see.
Of course I fainted again…

And since then, a few other people have seen All the World, too.

Here’s how it was introduced to librarians at ALA in Chicago:

And here’s what people see when they visit the Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing Division in NY:

I hope you’ll come back tomorrow when I plan to share what some folks think about the book so far…

And don’t forgot! Leave me a little comment and I’ll enter you in a drawing to win one of the very first books I hold in my grubby little hands. Well, I mean, they won’t really be grubby. I’ll wash up and send you a clean book. It’ll be brand new and unsullied. Except that I’ll sign it for you. Or your baby. Or your neighbor’s baby. Or your dentist!!! Your call!

My daughters are tall and getting taller.

They both get growing pains in their arms and legs.

I feed them, quite a lot, and run them baths, and rub their backs, but there is nothing I can do to ease the stretching in their bones.

I remember my own growing pains, and the hot water bottle I’d tuck between my aching ankles.

It is not easy to grow into these bodies, as natural as they may seem…

This week I found a truly lovely poem by an old friend of mine, Marlys West. It seems apropos to this morning’s musings.

Enjoy, everyone, and happy Friday…

Here Is the Church
— Marlys West

They had never spoken
to me before, save one, once, when a basketball jammed
its knuckle and for three days straight that finger

shouted and wept,
wept and shouted,
fat and purple, full of anger. This night

was different. I heard a tiny song from
deep inside the neat, white bones, unlike any melody I knew
and not unpleasant.

(Read the rest here…)

Visit Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for more poems today…

This morning and next Monday mark my last two Sock is a Pocket storytimes.
(Today I’ll be at Austin’s Faulk Central Library at 11 a.m. and Monday I’ll be at the Spicewood branch at 2 p.m.)

I will always love Sock; it was my first book and I have read to hundreds of children these past five years, and sung with them, and laughed with them and been inspired.

That book has taken me on a quite a ride.

But now All the World is coming out and it’s time to give it the floor.
I’m working hard on creating a new school presentation that’ll roll-out this year.

In the meantime, I also wanted to announce to Austinites that I’m participating in a very cool literacy program called The Big Read. Austin Community College is the local sponsor and the book is Sun, Stone and Shadows: 20 Great Mexican Short Stories. This is a book for adults to explore but, lucky us, Catherine Cowen turned one of the stories by Octavio Paz into a children’s book!

I’ll be reading My Life with the Wave, illustrated by Mark Buehner, at four different libraries in September and October. It’s a trippy little story about a boy who brings a wave home from the beach and the trouble that ensues. I’m delighted to be on board for this event and can’t wait to explore this book with kids!
See below for dates, times and locations:
 
Thursday, September 17
Yarborough Branch Library, 3:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 19
Faulk Central Library, 2:00 p.m.

Monday, September 21
St. John Branch Library, 4:30 p.m.

Monday, October 5
Spicewood Branch Library, 3:30 p.m.

See you there!

Y’know how I fell off the grid earlier this summer?
For weeks on end?

Well… here’s what I was up to:

Watching paragliders in Colorado…

Backpacking in the Tetons…

Checkin’ out the wildlife…

Rafting the Snake…

Being blown over by the beauty…

Checkin’ out more wildlife…

Stopping by Mt. Rushmore…

Hiking in the Badlands…

Swimming in Wisconsin…

Climbing lighthouses in Michigan…

And just generally taking it all in.

As you might imagine, I’m all full-up…

Awhile back I posted about the amazingly thorough and creative curriculum guide that Natalie dias Lorenzi created for my first book.

Well, she did it again.
Boy-oh-man is she good.

The teacher’s guide for All the World is up at my website now!
(Click here and then on the link for curriculum guide, or click here to go directly to the pdf.)

And she’s added an author’s interview to the first one, so that revision is up now, too!
(Click here and then on the link for curriculum guide, or click here to go directly to the pdf.)

Teachers, librarians, home schoolers — help yourselves!
And Natalie…. thanks a million…

This weekend, my aunt and cousins and extended family will celebrate
 the memory of my beloved Uncle Joe.
And they’ll do it by swimming the length of our lake, in Wisconsin.
Because that’s what he used to do, summer mornings.

He’d swim from his cottage to my grandparents’, at the other end of lake.
And there he’d have breakfast with them.

The swim has become tradition these last few years since he’s been gone.
I ache to be there in the water, but instead I’m hear thinking about it and thinking about him.

The Swim

     — remembering Joe

In the early morning

a slap of fish

on the surface

of the lake

and our uncle

his clean dive

and breathy reach

less a slap than a slip

unhurried and quiet

into another day

while we sleep

most of us

screened-in

and mindless

that these moments

with duck and carp

and the sun rising

like a warm nest

and the lake

waiting for first flight

that these moments

are ones that we’d long for

until we swim

ourselves

the whole lake

end-to-end

that broad reach

of water

one morning broken

by a hundred hands

or so

each stroke

away from shore

a little easier

 E.G.S., 2007