Augusta Scattergood's Blog, page 63

Love that Dog!

One of my favorite books, ever.

Anita Silvey spotlighted Sharon Creech's novel-in-verse this week in her Book-a-Day Almanac.
And she shared one of my absolutely cherished parts of the book:


I just "liked" their Facebook page. Here's the link, again: Book-a-Day. Check it out!

Southern Independent Booksellers

Yes, I know I already shared the link on Facebook and shouted the news everywhere. But I can't resist adding the actual screen --via a screenshot of my own computer, cropped-- showing GLORY BE at #10 on the SIBA bestseller list a couple of weeks ago. Go Glory!



(You've got to love an organization that names its favorite books Okra Picks!)

Welcome to April

Let's start National Poetry Month off right. I always love this month, for many reasons. When I lived in the frozen climes, it meant the possibility of a jonquil sighting (even though I learned to call them daffodils, jonquil always pops up first in my brain). When I was a school librarian, it meant the annual Poetry Assembly. Now that I sit in front of my computer and write all the time, I think it must mean I need to think POETICALLY.







And here are some excellent tips for writers and readers of poetry. For kids and grownups. For reviewers of books. (Hint: I plan to review MAY B., Caroline Starr Rose's new book, a novel in verse, and interview the author, very soon. Stay tuned!)

CLICK here for those excellent tips I mentioned.

Here's the first one.

1. Don't be chained to rhyme. Rhymes drastically reduce word choices and can send poems in nonsensical directions. Think about what you really want to say in your poem and if you can't say it with rhymes, ditch them.

I seem to have written a lot about poetry, in past Aprils.
For a few other posts, many with poems, type Poetry Month in my search box.
Or click here, for just one.

Smack Dab in the Middle

Love this blog! So honored to be interviewed here:
SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE   (☜☜☜click there!)
'
And by Irene Latham, no less, whose book about the quilters at Gee's Bend I absolutely adored.

Baseball: Plunked

Okay. Maybe I just lost some of my usual followers.
Baseball? Plunked? What tangent is she off on this time? But stick with me here. This is a book. A very funny one.

Our publisher, Scholastic, sent me an Advanced Readers Copy of Michael Northrop's new book, PLUNKED. I don't know Michael but we are going to meet at the fabulous (so I'm told) TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Meeting in just two weeks. Can't wait. More on that later.







Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't love baseball. I lived shouting distance from the old Memorial Stadium, home of the Orioles. Sigh.


So I get the Cal Ripkin references. Now I cheer loud and long, even in person on occasion, for my new home team. Go Rays!

But I don't often pick up a book I assume is so obviously going to appeal to middle-school boys, or at least sports fans. One so obviously about baseball. I thought I'd page through the book quickly. Just to be able to say, "Hey, Michael, nice to meet you. I liked your book" when we're sharing in Texas.

By page 35, chapter 6, I was laughing my head off. There's more to this book than baseball.

Don't take my word for it. Check out these funny passages.

Narrator Jack's parents are off to an Awesome Eighties concert.  

The show features not one, not two, but three bands I know nothing about. The funniest thing about it is seeing my parents getting all dressed up...Mom emerges from the bathroom with a hair cliff above her forehead and a faded T-shirt that says "The Go-Go's" on it. Her sneakers could not be any pinker.
And what does she say to her son?  

"I've got the beat!"

Yes, I know. Mortification. (And really, these parents are very nice, not that weird. Quite well portrayed if you're a parent reading and wondering.)

Jackson's dad's dressed in a polo shirt the color of pistachio ice cream. Can't you just see a kid wincing over these parents? Truly, this Northrup guy is really funny.

I also love the beginning of Chapter 12.
A kid's view of Friday night:

There are all of those songs and stuff about Friday night, but there's not much to it when you're twelve. I guess the big thing is that there's no school for two days, so you don't have to do any homework... No homework is good, but I don't' think anyone has ever written a song about it."

I totally enjoyed this book. In the words of Jack, Yeah. He aced it. And I haven't even touched on the baseball stuff, which I also loved.

And I somehow miraculously received TWO copies of PLUNKED, and it's your lucky day.
I'm sharing.

Kids who love sports--girls and boys, readers who like to laugh, teachers and librarians, check it out!
Leave me a comment on the blog or on this FACEBOOK post, and I'll enter your name for the ARC of Plunked.

I leave for Texas on April 17th, so let's give this Freebie a week to play out. Contest ends April 10th.

Her blog's history! (in a good way)

What do you call a friend you've never actually met? Those connections/ friends/ cyber buddies I've never sat next to in a Starbucks, but I think I know a whole lot about them.

Joyce Moyer Hostetter likes historical fiction as much as I do. She's a fantastic writer. She lives in one of my favorite states. But we've never actually said two words to each other, in person.



Yet I've loved reviewing books on her blog. Now she's reviewed mine.

☞CLICK RIGHT HERE for a trip over to see what she says about Glory Be.☜
Thank you, Joyce!

Two Things I Love

Once upon a time. Okay it was Christmas before last to be specific. My sister-in-law sent us an amaryllis bulb from White Flower Farm. I tucked it into the pot and it grew to be quite beautiful. Inside my house in Florida. I even love the name: Dancing Queen.



Did I say I now live in Florida? I know nothing about growing tropical plants. But the bulb seemed healthy so I hid it behind a shady palm, near a fence, and promptly forgot about it. Till about a month ago. It was well on its way to having six blooms. I admired it often.



Then a Superhero spied it.


He karate-chopped the flower off. And gave it to me. Amazingly, it survived in a vase.





And continued to open its blooms for me to enjoy.
 Inside.
(Next to another Thing I love.)

I left the bulb, flowerless and sad, in its pot outside. Guess what happened?



Another blossom! And the flowers are still opening!
I hope it will survive another season.

I intend to put it in the ground, away from the fearless arm of Superhero.





So the two things I love today? Dancing Queen and Superhero. 

Good Company, again.

I'm really thrilled and delighted to be included on this list of books about girls with "scrappy courage"!

Check out all three new books, recommended by a reviewer for the Christian Science Monitor whose writing I've admired for quite a while.

CLICK HERE for the link.

Wordswimming

What a surprise and honor to turn on my computer this morning and see Glory Be featured on one of my favorite blogs.

Check out what Wordswimmer's Bruce Black says about the book, and of course, the words.

http://wordswimmer.blogspot.com/2012/03/weaving-magic.html

I love the description of his blog. Who can resist following Bruce?



COME DIVE INTO A SEA OF WORDS AND SWIM TOWARD A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE WRITING PROCESS.

The Battle Continues

I can't believe how intrigued I am with this Battle of the Books thing. In a million years, why should I read about one book vs another when I often haven't even read both books?

Because the judges are so hilarious and so bright and so very articulate, that's why.

Okay for Now vs. Wonderstruck?

I've actually read both those books and would have guessed Okay for Now. But like my beloved basketball team and their bracket, you just never know.

So check it out. Here's the School Library Journal website:

http://battleofthebooks.slj.com/

Plus, they have these really cool graphics:



And I love how they link all the blog posts, tweets, etc., others have written. Now THAT can lead to some serious time wasting- chugging along following those links.
But it's not wasting time when you learn something new about books.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.



Related posts: Okay for Now
Battle of the Books