Andrea J. Buchanan's Blog
June 23, 2009
After Squid's fantastic review of the book the other week, she plunged in and had a kool-aid hair dyeing party with seven girls (Brave woman, and awesome photos!). Kimmy Lou Who also had the kool-aid hair-dye bug, and Meredith O'Brien is taking on the challenge as well, in addition to also making a lava lamp and a decoupage bowl with her kids. Over at Zen Sarcasm, Madame Meow is planning to study the art of the Japanese tea ceremony, and challenges her readers to try something they've always wanted to do. Emily at Design Her Mama discovers that hula hooping is hard work, and The Full Mommy wants her daughter to learn to throw a good spiral (eventually!). At Simple Things, Mojavi suggests a "hang a spoon on your nose" challenge (and also challenges her playgroup to dye their kids' hair red, white, and blue in a July 4th kool-aid hair dye extravaganza). Kate at Mother Words makes some awesome friendship pins, and at Noteworthy, Kyran Pittman writes a thoughtful post about daring things she did as a young daring girl (complete with a picture of her at 10, with her dad, using her very own machete) and asks her readers to share a bit about their own daring pasts.
June 12, 2009
Inspired by the star-gazing chapter in the Double-Daring Book, ExpatMama takes to the skies and challenges her readers to find (and name) three constellations. Mrs. Squirrel at Hollow Squirrel double-dog-dares her readers to try their hands at furoshiki. Mom and More asks her audience to take a shot at making a snow globe. Parenting Our Children suggests a hula-hoop competition (18 times is the number to beat there). At Chickanuts, the challenge is to name a female Nobel Prize winner from France, and the crew at Weebles Wobblog shares their very own home-made lava lamps and dares everyone else to give it a try.
Over at All Rileyed Up, Riley used the book as the basis for a mom's night in, trying everything from hula hooping and dream analysis to playing the harmonica and playing charades. Miss O's Library Land highlights some of her favorite topics from the book. Amy at A Family Story is using the book with her Daisy Girl Scout Troop. At BeliefNet, Their Bad Mother wonders, "If a child pees in the forest, does anybody care?" (Yes, the book explains how to pee in the woods!) At Squidalicious, Squid reviews the book and lavishes it with praise for its "good, hard, enticingly written information," and Susan at Crunchy Granola invites her readers to reminisce about some of their favorite rainy-day games.
Over at All Rileyed Up, Riley used the book as the basis for a mom's night in, trying everything from hula hooping and dream analysis to playing the harmonica and playing charades. Miss O's Library Land highlights some of her favorite topics from the book. Amy at A Family Story is using the book with her Daisy Girl Scout Troop. At BeliefNet, Their Bad Mother wonders, "If a child pees in the forest, does anybody care?" (Yes, the book explains how to pee in the woods!) At Squidalicious, Squid reviews the book and lavishes it with praise for its "good, hard, enticingly written information," and Susan at Crunchy Granola invites her readers to reminisce about some of their favorite rainy-day games.
May 30, 2009
As May draws to a close (can it be this close to summer already?) the double-daring challenges keep rolling in. Gloria at Gloria's Place invites readers to break out the eco-paints and brushes and paint a room. Colleen Katana, inspired by Dancing With The Stars and a chapter from Double-Daring, challenges her readers to do a waltz. The Casual Perfectionist starts a dream journal for her young daughter and dares commenters to share their own dreams. At Miss O's Library Land, the challenge (inspired by the chapter on starting your own Mother-Daughter Book Club) is for librarians to share their best Mother-Daughter Book Club moment. At Uncommon Misconception, the challenge is to share your best saying, the more colorful the better. Cursing Mama makes a rock tower and challenges her readers to best her at stacking rocks. Mama Fasha also has a rock-tower-building challenge going on, with great pictures of her kids and their well-balanced rocks. At The Zen of Motherhood, it's a hula-hooping contest; My Little Patch of Sunshine dares readers to make a decoupage bowl; and at The Spice Choir, Heather tries her hand at the ancient art of furoshiki.
May 26, 2009
At Hobson's Choice, the challenge for the day is to hang a spoon on your nose (and send pictures!). Mars2Buckeyes asks readers to try their hands (and feet!) at pogo-stick jumping. Continuing last week's trend, 21st-Century Mom offers a worry-doll smack down (complete with an awesome picture of her efforts). At Simple Bliss, Cat double-dares her readers to either make a snow globe or craft some antique paper. Blue Milk invites readers to try and beat her six-rock rock tower. And you might think that the author of a blog titled "Juggling Life" would challenge everyone to a juggle-off, but instead Juggling Life invited her friends and readers to play a game of pool (with some great photos of how it all turned out).
May 22, 2009
This week brings us not one, but two worry doll challenges. Production Not Reproduction features a great entry on worry dolls (with adorable photographic proof of her worry-doll-making prowess), and offers readers two ways to win a copy of the book: by leaving a comment, or by making their own worry dolls. At A Wrung Sponge, readers are invited to share their worries in the comments, and each person who writes about a worry is promised a hand-made worry doll in return!
Elsewhere, Jenn at Jenn's Journal challenges her readers to get messy with marble paper. Sandra at Diary of a SAHM makes some beautiful paper lanterns and inspires her readers to make their own. Jen at Here We Go Again asks her readers to try a hand at making a rope ladder (and shares pictures of hers, which she made using some awesome blue rope). And The Crib Chick goes for a hoe-down throw-down, challenging everyone to learn to dance the Cotton-Eyed Joe (the pictures are fantastic!).
Elsewhere, Jenn at Jenn's Journal challenges her readers to get messy with marble paper. Sandra at Diary of a SAHM makes some beautiful paper lanterns and inspires her readers to make their own. Jen at Here We Go Again asks her readers to try a hand at making a rope ladder (and shares pictures of hers, which she made using some awesome blue rope). And The Crib Chick goes for a hoe-down throw-down, challenging everyone to learn to dance the Cotton-Eyed Joe (the pictures are fantastic!).
May 19, 2009
Bethany at Mommy Writer posts a "worry wart challenge," asking her readers to pick six friends who worry too much and then make them worry dolls to ease some of their worries. CPA Mom "double-dog" dares her readers to reconnect with friends and celebrate friendship. Stephanie at Jason For The Love Of God challenges her readers to a hula-hoop throw-down (24 is her hula-hoop count to beat). Reverend Mother asks her readers to try walking through a sheet of paper. Over at Between The Lines, Shawn tried her hand at making rock towers with her daughters, and challenges her readers to try stacking more than 8 rocks. At Holding Still, the challenge is to write a poem using some of the words from the "Words to Impress" chapter. Over at It's All Good, Lisa challenges her readers to learn how to juggle. And Melodee at Actual Unretouched Photo dares her readers to make a raft, run away and join the circus, or, if that isn't possible, to join in a game of SPOONS with friends!
May 12, 2009
"April showers bring May flowers" -- or so the saying goes. So what do May showers bring? Double-Daring challenges!
Our good friend (and author in her own right) Mel is throwing us a book shower this month, and all of the "guests" are blogging about the Double-Daring Book -- with a twist. Not only are they posting about some of their favorite chapters in the book, they are also trying them out, and issuing a "double-daring" challenge to their readers to do the same.
Today's challenges come from Caroline at Food For Thought, who attempts some pogo-sticking with her sons and challenges her blog readers to best their record of three pogo-stick hops in a row; and from Much More Than A Mom, who was so taken with the April Fool's Day chapter that she's challenged her readers to pull a prank this week (she performed a light-hearted prank on her own by taking the "little kid" cups and bowls from their usual spot in the cupboard and putting them in the bathtub -- much to delight of her toddlers). If you're interested in attempting either challenge, grab a copy of the book, check out those chapters, give it a shot, and post your results!
Stay tuned -- there's more to come!
Our good friend (and author in her own right) Mel is throwing us a book shower this month, and all of the "guests" are blogging about the Double-Daring Book -- with a twist. Not only are they posting about some of their favorite chapters in the book, they are also trying them out, and issuing a "double-daring" challenge to their readers to do the same.
Today's challenges come from Caroline at Food For Thought, who attempts some pogo-sticking with her sons and challenges her blog readers to best their record of three pogo-stick hops in a row; and from Much More Than A Mom, who was so taken with the April Fool's Day chapter that she's challenged her readers to pull a prank this week (she performed a light-hearted prank on her own by taking the "little kid" cups and bowls from their usual spot in the cupboard and putting them in the bathtub -- much to delight of her toddlers). If you're interested in attempting either challenge, grab a copy of the book, check out those chapters, give it a shot, and post your results!
Stay tuned -- there's more to come!
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Published on May 12, 2009 08:59
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April 5, 2009
When I got to the hotel four hours later than I planned to on Thursday night in Houston, exhausted and a bit disoriented after a long day of mind-numbing flight delays and heart-pounding turbulence, I assumed I'd find an empty lobby with maybe one sleepy receptionist at the check-in desk. Instead I walked into a magnificently loud space bustling with people. The restaurant and bar were packed. In the common areas, people laughed on couches and footstools and clustered in groups talking animatedly over drinks. With so much activity, it could have been 11 in the morning instead of 11 at night. Once I fought my way to the fully staffed reservation desk, I weakly asked what all the excitement was about, and the check-in person looked around, pointed to the large "TEXAS LOVES LIBRARIES" button on his jacket, and whispered, "It's the librarians!"
I wish I'd had more time to spend at the Texas Library Association conference, because those librarians were pretty awesome. I was able to meet about 100 of them at the Literary Tastes breakfast the next morning, where I spoke along with A Pearl in the Storm author Tori Murden McClure (the first woman and the first American to row solo across the Atlantic). It was fantastic just to be in a room with so many people who are passionate about books and reading, and a thrill to share the stage with a real-life daring girl. The Daring books have so many stories of incredible women adventurers and thinkers, and listening to Tori speak about her incredible achievement was like a page from the book coming to life. Since she spoke about big-D daring and the humbling lessons that can come from it, I spoke about "everyday daring" and what we learn from the smaller chances we take. What both kinds of daring have in common is confidence, earnestness, and vulnerability, and in that sense the books (although seemingly quite different) complemented each other very well.
Afterwards, I signed a lot of books for the librarians and their daughters and granddaughters and friends -- and for a lot of school and public libraries. And then I went back to the lobby, where librarians still milled about, talking about the programs and authors they saw, sharing their goody bags filled with books, and generally living it up. My trip back home turned out to be another long and frustrating day of flying, and so I was especially glad to have been bolstered by a good solid Texas breakfast and the good wishes of librarians who know how to have a good time.
I wish I'd had more time to spend at the Texas Library Association conference, because those librarians were pretty awesome. I was able to meet about 100 of them at the Literary Tastes breakfast the next morning, where I spoke along with A Pearl in the Storm author Tori Murden McClure (the first woman and the first American to row solo across the Atlantic). It was fantastic just to be in a room with so many people who are passionate about books and reading, and a thrill to share the stage with a real-life daring girl. The Daring books have so many stories of incredible women adventurers and thinkers, and listening to Tori speak about her incredible achievement was like a page from the book coming to life. Since she spoke about big-D daring and the humbling lessons that can come from it, I spoke about "everyday daring" and what we learn from the smaller chances we take. What both kinds of daring have in common is confidence, earnestness, and vulnerability, and in that sense the books (although seemingly quite different) complemented each other very well.
Afterwards, I signed a lot of books for the librarians and their daughters and granddaughters and friends -- and for a lot of school and public libraries. And then I went back to the lobby, where librarians still milled about, talking about the programs and authors they saw, sharing their goody bags filled with books, and generally living it up. My trip back home turned out to be another long and frustrating day of flying, and so I was especially glad to have been bolstered by a good solid Texas breakfast and the good wishes of librarians who know how to have a good time.
March 24, 2009
Barnes & Noble has an interview with us up on the site. Here's an excerpt:
The Double Daring Book for Girls is full of all brand new activities. What was it like getting back out in the yard to test drive all of them?
Andi: Really fun -- the best part of working on a book like this is getting creative with all of the projects. I had a great time with both my kids making all manner of worry dolls and dreamcatchers -- our bedrooms are now well-stocked with pretty much anything necessary to ensure a good night's sleep! -- and my daughter had a blast using Kool-Aid to dye her hair. We decorated sundials together and practiced throwing footballs, slid across the floor in slippery socks to figure out who was "goofy footed" (useful to know when surfing or skateboarding), and had a blast playing card games like Spit and Spoons with some cousins who were eager to share their tips and tricks. And our house is festooned with all manner of scoubidoo chains -- the string-tying really got out of control at one point... Just as fun as playing games and making things together, though, were the conversations that came up in the process. Working on the chapter about picnic games, for instance, made me reminisce about my own experiences with "Field Day" as a not-so-daring elementary school girl, and it was great to share memories of that with my daughter and her friends; it opened up a whole conversation about bravery and courage on the playing field, as we talked about everything from the joys of winning a race to the angst of being picked last, to the importance of taking a chance and giving something a shot, to the low-pressure fun of each of our favorite silly summer-day games. In this and other conversations, we got to let each other into ourworlds a little, bonding over hula hoops and note-folding in a way strictly outside of the usual do-your-homework, brush-your-teeth everyday parent-kid conversations.
Miriam: Oh my gosh, it was like going to a carnival, and this time around, my older daughter, she's ten, was such a big help. We started last spring. We made a scarecrow (see the book for directions!) from scrap wood we found in the basement. Her clothing came from a recycling center near her grandma's house (but please don't tell anyone about the pillowcase we snatched from the laundry closet to make the scarecrow's head . . . .). We named our scarecrow Penelope. Unfortunately, a summer thunderstorm did her in, just a day later. We tinkered with the directions to make the spine even stronger, and as a result, the book's directions are much better.
And the stilts, there's a story there. One day, Andi and I were brainstorming. We were about half way through writing the chapters, and somehow we came up with an idea for a chapter called "How to Run Away and Join the Circus." We thought it would be a short and funny chapter, but what do you know, it soon changed into a long collection of advice on how to walk a high wire and how to juggle.
The most fun was coming up with directions to make stilts. I searched online, but everything I found was too complex, or too tall for most girls-when you're eleven and just starting out with wood-working projects or with stilt walking, you don't really need eight-foot tall stilts!
Clearly it was time to drag the jigsaw and the power drill out to the yard and come up with our own directions. I had already bought some six-foot lengths of wood from the hardware store, and within an hour or so of sawing, drilling, and scribbling notes, we had a terrific-and easy, way to make stilts!
And then there's How to Make a Rope Ladder (and tie it to a tree!) so you always have a quick way to get up and out of sight. This may come in handy when you're working a case as Private Eye!
Best of all, spring is coming, so girls everywhere can take to their own backyards, whether to try out our tips to handle a lacrosse net, throw a football, organize a lawn-bowling tournament, turn your backyard into a farm, or learn a slew of new picnic games (like water balloon volleyball, tug-of-war, or catch the baby).
And personally, I can't wait for the weather to really warm up so I can follow my own directions in the chapter on How to Go Car Camping!
The original Daring Book for Girls was a huge success. Did you hear from lots of girls about the book and how has that impacted the contents of the new book?
Miriam: Thanks. We did hear from lots of girls, and lots of moms and dads, and we read lots of bloggers, young and old, who wrote about trying things out. (We especially enjoyed one blogging dad who wrote about making a zipline in his backyard, using the directions from one of the Pocket Daring Books.) We always get lots of suggestions for chapter titles, and often we try them out. There's a special magic to putting together a sequel to the Daring Book for Girls, and the inspiration comes from all over, and from within.
I'll tell you, the chapter on Friendship comes right out of the ways we hear girls talk about their daily lives. Especially in the years between seven and fourteen, the ins-and-outs of friendship are something we hear girls talk about and stress over. There's still so many negative experiences that girls have then, and our Friendship chapter truly comes from our hearts: we really hope that girls can figure out from an early age how to be kind to one another so everyone can experience the best that friendship can offer.
Andi: We do get emails from girls who are excited to share their reaction to the book, and to suggest ideas. It's always wonderful to hear from readers -- and especially good to know when we're on the right track with something. I remember just a few days after we had been brainstorming about a chapter about running off to join a circus, with stilt-walking and funambulism and everything, a reader emailed to suggest that in a future book we include a chapter on walking on stilts! It was great to know we were on to something girls would be interested in knowing, and great to be able to let the reader know we were indeed already on the case.
The Double Daring Book for Girls is full of all brand new activities. What was it like getting back out in the yard to test drive all of them?
Andi: Really fun -- the best part of working on a book like this is getting creative with all of the projects. I had a great time with both my kids making all manner of worry dolls and dreamcatchers -- our bedrooms are now well-stocked with pretty much anything necessary to ensure a good night's sleep! -- and my daughter had a blast using Kool-Aid to dye her hair. We decorated sundials together and practiced throwing footballs, slid across the floor in slippery socks to figure out who was "goofy footed" (useful to know when surfing or skateboarding), and had a blast playing card games like Spit and Spoons with some cousins who were eager to share their tips and tricks. And our house is festooned with all manner of scoubidoo chains -- the string-tying really got out of control at one point... Just as fun as playing games and making things together, though, were the conversations that came up in the process. Working on the chapter about picnic games, for instance, made me reminisce about my own experiences with "Field Day" as a not-so-daring elementary school girl, and it was great to share memories of that with my daughter and her friends; it opened up a whole conversation about bravery and courage on the playing field, as we talked about everything from the joys of winning a race to the angst of being picked last, to the importance of taking a chance and giving something a shot, to the low-pressure fun of each of our favorite silly summer-day games. In this and other conversations, we got to let each other into ourworlds a little, bonding over hula hoops and note-folding in a way strictly outside of the usual do-your-homework, brush-your-teeth everyday parent-kid conversations.
Miriam: Oh my gosh, it was like going to a carnival, and this time around, my older daughter, she's ten, was such a big help. We started last spring. We made a scarecrow (see the book for directions!) from scrap wood we found in the basement. Her clothing came from a recycling center near her grandma's house (but please don't tell anyone about the pillowcase we snatched from the laundry closet to make the scarecrow's head . . . .). We named our scarecrow Penelope. Unfortunately, a summer thunderstorm did her in, just a day later. We tinkered with the directions to make the spine even stronger, and as a result, the book's directions are much better.
And the stilts, there's a story there. One day, Andi and I were brainstorming. We were about half way through writing the chapters, and somehow we came up with an idea for a chapter called "How to Run Away and Join the Circus." We thought it would be a short and funny chapter, but what do you know, it soon changed into a long collection of advice on how to walk a high wire and how to juggle.
The most fun was coming up with directions to make stilts. I searched online, but everything I found was too complex, or too tall for most girls-when you're eleven and just starting out with wood-working projects or with stilt walking, you don't really need eight-foot tall stilts!
Clearly it was time to drag the jigsaw and the power drill out to the yard and come up with our own directions. I had already bought some six-foot lengths of wood from the hardware store, and within an hour or so of sawing, drilling, and scribbling notes, we had a terrific-and easy, way to make stilts!
And then there's How to Make a Rope Ladder (and tie it to a tree!) so you always have a quick way to get up and out of sight. This may come in handy when you're working a case as Private Eye!
Best of all, spring is coming, so girls everywhere can take to their own backyards, whether to try out our tips to handle a lacrosse net, throw a football, organize a lawn-bowling tournament, turn your backyard into a farm, or learn a slew of new picnic games (like water balloon volleyball, tug-of-war, or catch the baby).
And personally, I can't wait for the weather to really warm up so I can follow my own directions in the chapter on How to Go Car Camping!
The original Daring Book for Girls was a huge success. Did you hear from lots of girls about the book and how has that impacted the contents of the new book?
Miriam: Thanks. We did hear from lots of girls, and lots of moms and dads, and we read lots of bloggers, young and old, who wrote about trying things out. (We especially enjoyed one blogging dad who wrote about making a zipline in his backyard, using the directions from one of the Pocket Daring Books.) We always get lots of suggestions for chapter titles, and often we try them out. There's a special magic to putting together a sequel to the Daring Book for Girls, and the inspiration comes from all over, and from within.
I'll tell you, the chapter on Friendship comes right out of the ways we hear girls talk about their daily lives. Especially in the years between seven and fourteen, the ins-and-outs of friendship are something we hear girls talk about and stress over. There's still so many negative experiences that girls have then, and our Friendship chapter truly comes from our hearts: we really hope that girls can figure out from an early age how to be kind to one another so everyone can experience the best that friendship can offer.
Andi: We do get emails from girls who are excited to share their reaction to the book, and to suggest ideas. It's always wonderful to hear from readers -- and especially good to know when we're on the right track with something. I remember just a few days after we had been brainstorming about a chapter about running off to join a circus, with stilt-walking and funambulism and everything, a reader emailed to suggest that in a future book we include a chapter on walking on stilts! It was great to know we were on to something girls would be interested in knowing, and great to be able to let the reader know we were indeed already on the case.
March 19, 2009
One of the fun chapters I worked on in the Double-Daring book was the one on dangerous volcanoes. Many of the volcanoes I included in the list have been dormant for a while, but some of them are quite active -- and one, Popocatépetl, the second highest peak in Mexico and nicknamed Popo, even has a live webcam trained on it so that people around the world can monitor its progress. (Check it out: the Popo cam is updated every few minutes.) So it was kind of cool to hear some volcano news today of an underwater volcano erupting off the coast of Tonga, with spectacular video that you can see here.
Working on that chapter also made me remember a book I found fascinating as a kid, The Twenty-One Balloons. The book, which won the Newberry Medal in 1948, is about a retired schoolteacher who takes a worldwide trip on a hot air balloon in 1883, only to crash into the waters off the volcanic island of Krakatoa. After swimming ashore, he discovers a group of 80 villagers who work in the volcano’s secret diamond mines. The villagers take him in, and when the volcano erupts, as it famously did that year, everyone is able to escape thanks, to a flying platform powered by balloons. I seem to remember being less into the story of the villagers and the diamond mines, and more intrigued by the sheer scale of the Krakatoa disaster. Does anyone else remember this book?
Working on that chapter also made me remember a book I found fascinating as a kid, The Twenty-One Balloons. The book, which won the Newberry Medal in 1948, is about a retired schoolteacher who takes a worldwide trip on a hot air balloon in 1883, only to crash into the waters off the volcanic island of Krakatoa. After swimming ashore, he discovers a group of 80 villagers who work in the volcano’s secret diamond mines. The villagers take him in, and when the volcano erupts, as it famously did that year, everyone is able to escape thanks, to a flying platform powered by balloons. I seem to remember being less into the story of the villagers and the diamond mines, and more intrigued by the sheer scale of the Krakatoa disaster. Does anyone else remember this book?
