Mitali Perkins's Blog, page 50

College Days

I'm flying to California for a "big" college reunion, so I won't be back on the Fire Escape until next Wednesday. I'll probably be tweeting a bit, but for now it's time to meander down memory lane.

I'm picturing the 17-year-old version of me standing in the dorm parking lot on the first day watching my parents' taillights disappear. I remember thinking: Now how am I supposed to kiss them good night?

What I didn't know is that over the next four years I'd find a faith that changed me, meet the m...

Thank You Love Notes

... from 8th graders who have participated in a writing workshop are a good way to commemorate The National Day of Writing today (kindly remember that these are all "sic"):

"The way that you present your lectures is so methodical and engaging."

"After meeting you last week I have been totally craving Sweet Tarts."

"I loved how you gave your impression of your parents. It cranked me up."

"Never had I heard an author speak of dating trouble and video games. You helped me realize that not all...

All Things Kidlitospheric

I don't get lonely on the Fire Escape. How could I, when I'm surrounded by a host of supportive bloggers who love books for kids and teens? If you haven't been introduced to the Kidlitosphere yet, this is a good time to start. What does this virtual community offer?
Comprehensive list of bloggers who love Kid/YA books, including group blogs.

A list of authors and illustrators who blog with up-to-date links.

Monthly carnivals of children's literature with links to great blog posts.

Poetry...

Don't You Love My Job?

After a leaf-peeping morning drive to Willard School in Concord, Massachusetts, an author presentation, and a writing workshop, I was done by noon today. That gave me plenty of time to ramble around a famous pond in the vicinity (can you name it?):

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Five Facebook Foibles

Interested in using this social media tool professionally as well as personally? Here are five errors to avoid when using Facebook:

mistake #1: sending blank friend requests to professional contacts

Don't put the onus on the friendee to investigate whether or not you're a stalker. Send a line of introduction with your request explaining how and why the two of you should be connected.

mistake #2: underutilizing the bio and information boxes

Use these to introduce yourself as a writer, librarian, b...

Diary Entry on Skin Color: May 17, 1977

Would somebody please interpret this journal rumination from the fourteen-year-old version of me, remembering that I was in an almost all-white high school?


It's clear that I was procrastinating my algebra by writing in my diary about an unrequited crush, but what exactly did I mean by "I wish I could hide behind my skin color more often, instead of cowering nakedly in front of it"?

Come visit me on the Fire Escape!

Fire Escape Fall Mini-Hiatus

October is a busy author visit month, so I'm on the road for the next week or so and back on the Fire Escape 10/8. I'll be micro-blogging throughout my travels via twitter, so you may track me there if you'd like, but here's my in-real-life schedule:

Wyoming Library Association pre-conference (9/30)

Monarch Middle School, Superior, CO (10/1)

Massachusetts School Library Association Conference (10/4)

Loudoun County Schools and Library, Virginia...

Even More Feasting and Books

Somehow I scored an invite to a lunch celebration at the Boston Public Library for THE DAY OF THE PELICAN, Katherine Paterson's new novel from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt about a Muslim Albanian family who begin their new life in a small Vermont town.

I've learned not to ask too many questions about how or why I'm at special events like these. I just show up, eat, make merry, and of course share my pictures with you here on the Fire Escape.

Stopped to savor the view from the steps of
the Boston...

Consumerism and the YA Novel

I remember loving A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN partly because times were tight in my own immigrant family. I also might have connected our loss of property and wealth in Bengal with the Alcotts' downturn in LITTLE WOMEN, as Laurel Snyder points out in an invigorating discussion about YA books and socioeconomic class moderated by Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray.

But North American culture has gone crazy since I was young. We adults whine about the culture's obsession with sex and violence and ignore...

Boston Kid Lit Pie Night Redux

We schmoozed. We ate pie. We lifted our forks in the direction of the NY Kid Lit Drinks Night, where a Boston Cream Pie was being consumed in our honor. But best of all, we talked and celebrated Kid/YA Lit.

The Venue: Pie Bakery and Cafe, Newton Centre, MA



It was quiet until ...



... 40 or so Kid/YA aficionados showed up




The conversation sparkled ...




... and Deborah Sloan said the pie was pretty good, too.

We tried an L.M. Montgomery postcard puzzle icebreaker, where each participant got a quarter o...