Mitali Perkins's Blog, page 50

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...

Paula Chase Hyman: Extroverted, Earnest, and Earthy

Today I'm honored to host Paula Chase Hyman, author of the Del Rio Bay series of books and co-founder of The Brown Bookshelf, a site "designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers."

With humor and a clear eye, Maryland author Paula Chase sees straight to the heart of today's teen culture. —Washington Parent

Briefly describe Paula Chase Hyman at age fourteen.

It's probably going to come as no surprise that I had a similar life to my character, Mina....

Managing Your Online Presence SALON

Managing Your Online Presence:
Websites, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and More
Speakers: Mitali Perkins and Deborah Sloan

NESCBWI Salon
A program for published authors and illustrators of books for children and teenagers.

Saturday, November 14, 2009, 10:00 - 2:30
Hartman Hall, Acton Congregational Church
12 Concord Rd., Acton, MA
Cost: $35.00 for SCBWI members, $45.00 for non-SCBWI members
Lunch included, limited to 50 participants

Worried your publisher can't do enough to get your work noticed? Feel cons...

Poetry Friday: Coconut Cowgirl

Enjoy the poem that tied for third prize this year in my annual poetry contest for teens between cultures. Read it aloud for the rocking Fijian rhythm.

Coconut Cowgirl
by Hosanna, Fiji/USA, Age 16



Island princess, barefoot and brown
Classroom's a forest, birds all around
Happy go lucky, no need for worry
Me go slow when me go, no reason to hurry.

But soldiers they come, and rebels they fight
Running to safety, run through the night
Get on an airplane, fly up so high
Over the dateline, me stubborn to ...