Working Theories

Lots on my mind after attending Kidlitcon 09 this weekend in Crystal City. While that all gels into what may become a blog post, I just wanted to invoke, for a moment, my lunch, purchased from perhaps the most generic deli ever built. I have two new food-related theories and they are as follows.
1. If it doesn't smell like salami, it's not a real deli.
2. If you visit a bagel shop that has a New York reference in the title (Manhattan Bagels, Brooklyn Bagels, Borough Bagels, etc.) and the bagel shop is NOT IN NEW YORK, chances are they're protesting way too much. Simply put: Your bagel is going to suck.

Five-minute Hedwig

My kids are all about immediate gratification. So when my son put on his Harry Potter robe last week in preparation for Halloween, he asked, right away, for a Hedwig.
"I didn't buy a Hedwig," I told him.
"Could we make one?"
"Sure," I said. "But it would take a while."
"We could make one now," he said. "We could use one of Daddy's socks, put some stuffing in it, then I could use marker for eyes, you could sew felt on for wings."
He paused.
"And talons."
I had all of the stuff he mentioned. He had the pattern in his head, so we tried it. In FIVE MINUTES we had Hedwig.
Not perfect, perhaps, and I may make a fluffier owl for Halloween (I'm not an expert sewer, but I'm competitive enough to want my kid to have more than a sock on his shoulder, especially if my friend Vicki goes trick-or-treating with us this year.) On the other hand, he's happy with it. And we have another use for mismatched socks.

The Five Minute Phone Call and Another Use for Play-Doh

You know those friends you want to talk to, but you put off talking to because you know the conversation will be long and you just don't have time for long because it's late and you have to make dinner and your kids are screaming and even if they weren't screaming your brain is mush? A few years ago my husband instituted The Five Minute Phone Call. This is where you call a friend but you keep it short and just say: "AAACK. I can't believe the #&#& sox are out of the playoffs!" (him) or "So did you watch Glee?" (me). We don't do it nearly enough, but it's a fine way to make you feel like you're in real touch -- beyond a superficial Facebook update or a group e-mail, I mean.

I've been thinking that I should approach my blog the same way. Instead of not posting because I haven't formulated what I want to say in thoughtful, polished prose, I should just go for the five-minute post. So here's a stab at that, because I wanted to offer a bit of parenting advice, just in case you have to take your kids to a nursing home to see a relative. It's one of the best bits of parenting advice I figured out on my own, so, as the clock ticks, here's the grand advice:

Bring Play-Doh. Seriously.

I've always loved Play-Doh. When I was a kid I played with it and, okay, maybe tasted it once or twice. As an adult I kept it on my desk at work as a de-stresser. And over the past few years, I've packed it with me when I've had to make nursing home visits. It's great because it gives the kids something to do and it could even give the ailing adult something to do. But the main reason I bring it is because it's great for blocking the SMELLS that go along with nursing homes. Especially if you have a kid with a sensitive nose. Which I do. (Note that this works for parents as well as kids.) I usually go armed with three of those small, purse-sized containers. Okay, that's it. End of advice. End of post. Viva la Play Doh!

That is all.

links and rain

So the rain this week hasn't let me do my very minor act of guerilla publicity, but I have tried to follow Darcy Pattison's lead and do the things she suggested on her site, which cannot be cancelled due to bad weather.

Day 1 was word of mouth day. Tell a friend about a book, Darcy said. I decided to tell my friend L about Sara Lewis Holmes' book Operation Yes. The book is about a class of military kids, always on the move with their families, and their very special teacher in Room 208. I'd mentioned it to L back before it was even called "Operation Yes." But I hadn't followed up because L and her kids had moved to Ohio with her military husband. I vowed to track her down, spent the morning looking for her email, didn't find it, and took my kids to their first day of school. And in the lobby I saw... L! She had just moved back to Virginia. So I told her about Sara's book in person. And later, when I got her new e-mail address, I sent her the link to Sara's website and blog.

Day 2 was Write a Review Day. The idea was to write for Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, etc. I am normally not a fan of those reviews, in part because everyone seems to give reviews written by Joe and Jane Public the same weight they give reviews from magazines and blogs. Which goes back to my feelings about newspapers, and how people now feel like they can provide their own news better than reporters. Which goes back to my feelings about how people comment, rudely about newspaper articles, because they are allowed to be anonymous. Which goes back to my seething feelings about a certain representative from South Carolina, who feels he is entitled to make an already low bar for civility even lower by disrespecting both the president and his own office and chamber... Okay. I'm digressing seriously here. My original misgivings actually sort of underline the reason for writing a good review of a friend's book on a public site. So for that assignment I signed up for Barnes and Noble and now appear as MadgeVA. (Madge being a nickname given to me by my friend Tom Angleberger, aka Sam Riddleburger, who I hope one day will blog about how he picked his pen name. I reviewed my friend Moira's book, "Penny and the Punctuation Bee," which my kids adore. And, it goes without saying, so do I!

Day 3 is to link to a good book, to help it appear in searches and whatnot, and for this, I'm moving to an adult book, by my friend Jim Mathews. I wrote about this book in my holiday letter last year, but I haven't blogged about it. Now I'm here to tell you that this book is an amazing piece of war literature, given in bite-sized stories. It wraps tension and emotion with humor, the same way you might wrap a scallop with a piece of bacon. It's magical and real at the same time, and was the winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction.

We'll see what day 4 has in store!

I also wanted to make a quick note about an e-mail I received today from the state of Virginia, saying that the state's artist fellowships, usually given to help artists (and writers!) do their thing, have been cancelled for the year, due to budget cuts. I'd hoped to apply, as I am still in need of a new furnace. Anyway, it's another reason for those of us who aren't completely strapped to go out and support our friends by buying some books.

School's In

Back after a summer off from blogging and what better way to get back into it than by following Darcy Pattison's brilliant suggestion of performing Random Acts of Publicity. This is where you help friends who have written books (or even people you don't know but whose books you like) and find ways to promote them. Er, randomly. Darcy has a more official setup/plan of action, but as I've been plum out of it, I'm just going to be true to her idea and try various random acts this week. I'll likely focus on people whose books I haven't highlighted on these pages. Bits. Whatever.

School officially starts today, but I'm already thinking about break, so I want to start by welcoming a new book about Thanksgiving. My favorite way to welcome books, as you know, is with a little song.

The book is by Jacqueline Jules, the driving force behind my critique group. I've lost count of how many things she's published since I joined four years ago, but I'm pretty sure it's at least 10 (not counting poems).


Duck for Turkey Day is Jackie's latest. It's about Tuyet, a young girl who's embarrassed to tell her classmates that her Vietnamese American family won't be eating turkey for Thanksgiving. But when she finally admits what she really ate (Hint/Spoiler: It's in the title) she finds that everyone's traditions are a little different. But they're a little bit the same, too.

You can't release a Thanksgiving book ON THANKSGIVING, of course. That would be bad marketing, especially when the stores have been hocking their Halloween Merch since, what, July? So it seems entirely reasonable this is a September release.

Anyway: To the music!

We'll start with Cousin Emmy playing Turkey in the Straw... on her cheeks.

Since Tuyet's family is from Vietnam (where I tried all kinds of crazy things when I visited in '95, but sadly, no duck) I thought I'd link to one of the most touristy things I did during my visit, which was to attend a performance of Hanoi's traditional Vietnamese Water Puppets. I didn't take any video when I was there, but this person did.

And what is Thanksgiving without Thank You by Led Zeppelin? Sadly I couldn't find any live footage on youtube, so there's just the music...

I'm sending you on a bit of a duck chase for this last one. The song's called "Ducks in the Pond" by the late Henry Reed, an old-time fiddler from Giles County, Va. I wanted to highlight Reed's work, too, so I figured I'd send you to this collection at the Library of Congress. Click on the link to "sound recordings" and then go under "D" for duck!

I've planned a minor guerilla action for another book for Tuesday. Stay tuned.

school's out

Last day of school and we escaped before Swine Flu struck our wing. (The fifth graders were not so lucky...)

I wanted to kick off the summer with a quick reminder about area reading programs.

Barnes and Noble's program offers a great selection of books as a reward. Your child can pick one after reading eight.

The program at Arlington Public Library gives the kids a harmonica after they read 15 books (for younger kids) or 10 (for older kids). I'm sure your own local library has a good program as well.

Speaking of libraries, my friend Susan, a children's librarian at Arlington Central, is now blogging for PBS. This week's post features a bunch of tongue twisters -- a fun way to start the summer!

new books, new playlist

A mixed playlist this time, welcoming two new books to bookstores and libraries everywhere.

The first, Fritz Danced the Fandango, is by my friend Alicia Potter, one of the first people to make me love Boston, Mass. This is her first published kids book, though there are more in the pipe! It's about a lovely little goat, looking for a new herd because his old one doesn't like his clippety-clop.



The second, Itty Bitty, is by Cece Bell. (If you read this blog at all, you know her already.) Itty Bitty is a small dog trying to turn a big, cavernous bone into something that feels a little more comfortable. Small dog, big color.


And so, the playlist:

Fandango by the Steve Miller Band. (Okay, this is the only one I could find off the top of my head, aside from the ZZ Top album, which doesn't have a song by the same name. And apparently no one has created a youtube video with Steve Miller's Fandango in the background, so you'll just have to get a tiny snippet off of Amazon, or go raid your vinyl.)

Fandango by Herb Alpert. You know Herb from seeing Whipped Cream and Other Delights in thrift stores across America. This is earlier Herb.

Some authentic flamenco music from Camaron de la Isla

It's not the Fandango. It's "Hokey Pokey" by Dan Zanes and Father Goose (one of the "and friends" from Dan Zanes and Friends, but also an entity unto himself). You can find this tune on the Family Dance album.


She Bought a Dog by Southern Culture on the Skids. Argh, I wish I could find this on youtube so you could hear what a glorious song it is! It's on our family car jams, SCOTS at their finest and funniest, I think. From the Too Much Pork for Just One Fork album.

Rufus Thomas, Walking the Dog. (For a real treat, check out his version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm, the best version ever recorded. Bar none.

Hound Dog. But we'll go with Big Mama Thornton's version here. (Sorry, Elvis. I love ya, but...)

We are Monkees obsessed in our house this month (thank you, Netflix!) so here's "Gonna Buy Me a Dog."

(Trying to keep it happy and clean, so we'll stay away from Neil Young's "Old King" and Snoop's "Doggie Dog World".)