Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 98

Fun with Elephant and Piggie and Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa

Now that our Cybils committee has chosen the five Easy Readers and five Early Chapter Books that we'll send on to the next round of judges, I'm going to take the next few weeks to tell you about some of my own personal favorites. Not all of my own picks made our list, but they are all delightful. 

For today, a couple of Easy Readers. 

I love Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie series. We had three books in this series nominated to our committee (I Am Going!  We are in a Book!  Can I Play?), and this was my personal favorite:

   I Am Going!  by Mo Willems.

Piggie announces, "I am going!" and Gerald assumes he means forever. Children at this age are going on many new adventures (off to school, to their first sleepovers, etc) and being worried about separation can be a concern at this age.  Both Piggie wanting to go and Gerald wanting him to stay feel very authentic and familiar  

"Go tomorrow!  "Go next week!" Gerald begs.

The drawings are deceptively simple, but full of emotion.  I love how even the font and the size of the text communicates and contributes to the reader's experience.  Told with speech bubbles and easily decodable words or simple sight words and lots of white space, this is a good choice for a beginning reader--and yet, the fun language and silly humor make this a book that even an older reader who is struggling would enjoy.   An absolute treat:  full of fun, but with satisfying depth, too. 


And in keeping with the theme of friendship and animals, here is another of my personal favorites in the Easy Reader category.
 
   Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Spring Babies  by Erica Silverman, illustrated by Betsy Lewin

In this sixth episode of the series, Cowgirl Kate and her horse, Cocoa, meet and discover baby animals on their farm. Told in four short chapters, the stories are empowering and gently dramatic. Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa go on a night watch to see a calf born. Cocoa tries being "springy and zingy" with the new calf. A new puppy arrives at the farm to Kate's delight and Cocoa's concern. Finally, we come full circle with another night watch and a visit from a "ghost" in the barn. 

Full of sweet humor and action, this book will be a sure hit with early readers who have some established skills and are making the turn toward chapter books.  Good use of repetition, short sentences, and picture cues will help early readers be successful. Likable characters, satisfying stories, and fun cowgirl language (gully, loft, bale, nickered) will make readers want to saddle up and come along! 

Happy Christmas!

A new toy!

From us to you!

Hallelujah

Early Presents: From My Mail

 
Milo catching snowflakes on his tongue.

Milo got one of his Christmas dog treats early this year.  I was working and I heard him whining.  That usually means he's stuck or one of his toys is out of his reach.  So I went to rescue him and found him staring at my closet door.  He could smell his Christmas dog treats inside!

"Thanks for telling everyone where my hiding place is!" I said. The rest of his dog treats went into the fridge! 


     Speaking of early presents, I have a huge stack of mail to answer. I can't even believe it. Apparently it was a popular December school assignment to write to an author! :-)


Here are a few fun and thoughtful lines from yesterday's batch.

Now, enough talking about the book! Here are some things about me!  --Whitni

Is your favorite animal a hamster? --Chelsea

Do you know Stephen King? --Danny

I would have come to your booksigning, but my cousin was watching my brother and me, because my mom wasn't home. So I couldn't come. I would have loved to come, though.  --Johnna

Thank you for coming to Kentucky. It's cool how you made the book interesting and not sad at all. I also liked how you got us out of class.. :-) --Bret

I also like Cinnamon and Nutmeg. They always want something to eat, but they also played a role in describing David's autism.--Brendan

You write with a silent elegance. You have a way of making people see what the character sees. I am striving to become an author and that's something I would like to have, too.   --Rachel

Your visit showed me I don't have to be perfect to be what I want to be.--Grace

You surprised me! I thought you would be dressy. --Samantha

Tell your kids hi! --Branden

My cousin is autistic and it's hard to talk to him. But we all still love him even when it's hard to act like an average family. We always pull through. --Kyle

You have a big heart and I admire that. -- Olivia

I think you should write a mystery because it would be a good challenge. And you look like a woman who likes mystery. --Isaac

My brother has Type One Diabetes and sometimes I feel a little less loved like Catherine.  --Delaney

Would you tell your son that I said he is different but not less? --Keon

One thing I learned from you was that just because someone has a disability, it doesn't mean you can't glance at them. I liked how you said that's not the same as staring, and no one wants to be invisible. --Jessica

I was a little sick when you came to my school, but I came anyway so I could hear what you were going to say. --Ally

Christmas with Dylan Thomas and the Unlikely Herdmans

     Yesterday, my daughter and I made cookies.  As we rolled and cut and sprinkled, we listened to a cassette of Dylan Thomas reading A Child's Christmas in Wales.  It's a beautiful piece of writing, but it becomes true magic when read by its author.  If you'd like to listen, here a link.  

It made me think about some of my favorite Christmas books. Here are some that I loved reading to my own children.

      

          

And one that will always hold two very special memories for me:

  One day, a long time ago, I read this to my daughter (and to a whole waiting room full of people).  

Later, I had the chance to meet Barbara Robinson at book festival where we were both speaking.  I wasn't sure if I could tell her that story, but the moment came.  

 
From October 2008:

I went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and someone called, "Cynthia!" I looked over to find Barbara Robinson sitting by herself at a table.  After we chatted for a few minutes, I wondered if I should tell her the story about when I read her book in a waiting room.
 
I hesitated for two reasons: one, because maybe she hears that kind of story so often and would like to just have a simple breakfast and not be in "author mode" for awhile. And two, because I wasn't sure I could tell her without tears. I worried it would be strange or uncomfortable for her if that happened. 

But she's warm and kind, and the thought crossed my mind that I would feel regret on the plane ride home, if I didn't take this chance.  

"I have a story to tell you about The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," I said. "I know you must hear stories like this all the time, but this is my story for you." 

When I got to part about the Herdmans bringing the ham, I looked into her eyes and saw something surprising.  She was tearing up, too.  I can't imagine what the businessmen at the next table must've thought of us weepy together at 7:30 in the morning, but truly, I don't care. They will forget the moment quickly, but I won't ever forget it.   

Baking Day!

It's all about food today. Ordering lobster, baking cookies, making lists for the supermarket, etc.  But one thing I'm NOT making this year:



My mom always made Boston Cream Pie for Christmas, and it was wonderful.  So I tried this mix last year.  The mix made lots and lots of filling.  But I thought I should use it all, since it was part of mix, right?  

Ooey, gooey filling dripped down the sides, off the plate, on the table.  The two cake halves were like opposing magnets, sliding all over the place.  I referred to the end result as The BOSTON MASSACRE Cream Pie! 

This year, I'm sticking to cookies. 

There were four in the bed, and the little one said. . . .

Goodnight.

It's Snowing!

  Hooray!

And tomorrow is our cookie baking day.  Mmmm. 

Three boxes of Cheerios, a couple of clamdiggers, and me!

Toni Buzzeo and Terry Farish, my critique partners

My critique partner, Toni Buzzeo's wonderful picture book, No T-Rex in the Library, is available in boxes of Cheerios right now!

Toni brought her only author copy to our meeting Friday night. She told us she wanted to keep that box intact, so she was trying to find another one in her local supermarkets. This edition is also translated into Spanish, and she wants to use it in her presentations. I told her I'd look in my area, too.

So yesterday, I went cereal shopping!  Shaws in Bath totally let me down, but Hannaford in Topsham had one.



And Brunswick Hannaford had two!



I bought all three boxes!

  The only problem was that no one in my family likes plain Cheerios!

And I didn't think the local food pantry would want a box that had been opened. 



So I drove down to the bay near my house.



Just me and these two clamdiggers.

   I can only imagine what they thought of the crazy lady walking across the frozen seaweed with bags of Cheerios! 



The clamdiggers paid me no mind.  But someone else was interested.



Oh, yes. Very interested.



And then there were more.



And more.



And more.



Just like I knew there would be.

"Merry Christmas," I told them.  

Hamster Heading Out

Drawings from Stratham Memorial School in New Hampshire

This Hot Rod Hamster review from Jennifer at the Jean Little Library made me smile.  "This story has no deeply moving plot, no depth of character, no exquisitely artistic illustrations.  It's one of my absolute favorites this year. "


Sometimes when I give a talk to adults,  I'll explain how it was wonderful and challenging to win a Newbery Honor for a first book, because there is great (and sometimes, crushing) expectation on whatever comes next.  

"But I threw everyone for a loop," I'll say. "Because I followed up a sensitive story about a girl who has a brother with autism. . . with a hamster in a car."  

"He's A HAMSTER and he has A CAR. That's the story, right there." 

And the audience always laughs, because they know it isn't really the whole story. They know that the world needs different kinds of books for different kids and different moments.  I'm proud of my novels and I'm proud of Hamster and his car. 


Grrr!  I'm built for speed!

I have the pages for Happy Birthday, Hamster on my desk.  It's my final chance to make any little, last changes. This is always a scary, exciting moment.  It reminds me of when my children were small. As a mom, I would take that last second before they headed outside to play.

"Wait!"  I'd say.

I'd tie their shoe tighter or pull their hat down to cover their ears. 

"Okay. Have fun." 

And I'd stand in the doorway, watching until they rounded the corner of the house,



All on their own.