March Merriment - The Lineup

Getting ready for March Merriment (a little late for preparation, but better late than never). Here are the books I have on my shelf or in the mail:

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
Supposed to be creepy but so good - I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Silver Phoenix, by Cindy Pon
WriterGirl has recommended this book several times, as well as including it in the YA fantasy showdown. Based on her previous recommendations, I'm guessing this is going to be great.

Eon, by Alison Goodman
Also included in the YA Fantasy showdown. Not really sure what it's about or whether I'll like it, but it's worth a try.

Flight (Volume Two), by Kazu Kibuishi
I liked volume one and it's a quick read. Perfect for MM.

Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher
Devoured Incarceron in a night and a day. I'm hoping Sapphique will be just as good.

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel, by Diana Wynne Jones
A guide to all the chiches of fantasy writing. It sounds really funny, and since I'm going to be doing some fantasy writing myself on The Bookbird and the WordGirl, why not?

Book of Enchantments, by Patricia C. Wrede
No reason for getting this except I like Patricia C. Wrede. :)

Secondhand Charm, by Julie Berry
Julie Berry's other book, The Amaranth Enchantment, was short and sweet, and I'm betting I'm going to need a bunch of that in the coming month.

Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaven), by Brandon Mull
I've read this before, but don't remember all the details. This is the kind of series where I'm glad I don't remember much, because I get to rediscover it when I reread it, like now.

So that's it for now. More will be coming throughout March, or I might reread some old favorites instead. I don't really have a plan right now. But I will come up with one! Eventually.

I'm going to do a post of the stuff I've been reading for the last month later today or possibly tomorrow.

 Until then,

P.S. Please please vote on the poll for favorite PBM book! I ran into the unexpected problem that all the voters so far like different books. (Silly me, didn't see that one coming.) Thank you!

A Project

This is going to be a quick post, but I wanted to say that I started a creative writing blog with my friend The Politick. We're writing a story together, switching off every few paragraphs. Let me say now that I have absolutely no idea where the story is going to go (that's part of the fun). The new blog is called The Bookbird and the Word Girl. We just started writing the story yesterday, so you should scroll down to part 1 (by The Politick) before you read part 2 (by me). New posts will be coming every day, so keep checking back!

March Merriment!

So PBM is over, February is done, and everything is back to how it was in January. Except that after the craziness of February, March seems a bit empty. So I am instituting a challenge for myself for March. I am going to read 20 books in 30 days. Having read that last statement, you're probably thinking, she's finally gone crazy! Picture Book Marathon was enough work, but now she's gone too far! Well, don't you fret. I'm planning on reading a lot of graphic novels and shorter books because for English I'm going to be reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which is going to be... erm.... R rated. (I don't really like R rated books. Bad things happen.) So I'm going to read a lot of light and fluffy stuff. In addition, at the end of March, I'm going to do a giveaway of however many extra books I read (past 20). So if I end up reading 40 books, I'm going to give away 20. Except I won't end up reading 40 books, because I'm unlikely to read more than a book a night. My normal speed is a book every 2 or 3 days, so I'm going to be sprinting a bit. Yay for challenges! This is going to be fun. So much fun.

P.S. I spent way too much time trying to think of a name for this event. Just saying.

Teaser Tuesday, 7th Edition

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am doing a slightly different version of Teaser Tuesday. Since I go through books so quickly, I'm going to put a quote from any book I've read in the past week.

***

The Disappearing Spoon (Note: I'm taking so long to read this book that I'm no longer going to put a quote from it. Just assume from now on that I'm not done with it.)

"'I know how he seems, that he doesn't care about anyone, but I know him. We've fought together.'"- Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz -I'm reading it, but it's a bit R rated, so no quotes for Teaser Tuesday. I'm trying to keep my blog content appropriate for all readers.

 "Mr. Smith was reasonable too, except when he had to clean ketchup off the carpet. He lost his temper and shouted, 'Do that again, and I'll spank you, mumps or not!'" - Unexpected Magic, by Diana Wynne Jones

The Seven Facts Award

I've just won my first ever blogging award! It's called the seven facts award, and I received it from Allegra of Here's to Us. Thank you so much, Allegra! It's so great to know that someone who I've never met face-to-face actually reads and appreciates this blog.

Here's how the award works:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to his/her blog.
2. Write a post about the award, in which you share seven facts about yourself.
3. Share the award with fifteen worthy bloggers.

So, seven things. Hmm....
I'm not sure if this is obvious at all from my previous posts, but I'm a little... *ahem* paranoid... about posting stuff about myself on the internet. But here goes anyway:

1. I have five overstuffed bookcases in my room.
2. I avoid books that I think will make me sad or upset.
3. I don't think I'm very good at creative writing, although my friends tell me otherwise.
4. I love languages - I take Latin and ancient Greek, and hope someday to learn German, Italian, French, and ASL.
5. I love challenging myself (taking difficult classes, participating in challenges like PBM, etc.)
6. I've never been able to decide on a favorite color.
7. I love to sing.

And I don't even have fifteen people to pass this on to, because most of the blogs that I follow are writers' and illustrators' blogs, and I'm way too intimidated to make them share seven things about themselves. So I'm sticking to two. Two is a good number. (Yes, I know I'm pathetic at fullflling the requirements of this particular award, but I'll improve with time.)

1. Curious Sparkplug
2. The Secret Adventures of WriterGirl

Until tomorrow, or tonight if I need to procrastinate my studying a bit more,

Picture Book Marathon Wrap Up

Well, it's March. As incredibly busy as I am, I do miss writing the picture books every day. But I've decided to go on the the next step of PBM - revisions. On the sidebar (over there ---->) is a poll where you can choose your favorite books from February and I'll revise the top 3-5 (depending on how many I get to) during March. You can select multiple answers, and the poll is open until Sunday night at midnight. If necessary, I will extend it up to a week, but I want to get started.

I had a ton of fun during PBM. I really want to thank Lora Koehler and Jean Reagan for organizing the whole thing - without you guys there's no way I would have done this. Your daily blog posts were great for inspiration, but they mostly reminded me that there were a few hundred other people doing this along with me. Also, I want to thank Cathy Cronin, Kate Higgins, and Sherry Meidell for your stories about working on the marathon, keeping me motivated because I knew other people had stuff going on in their lives too and they worked through it. Julie Olson, Will Strong,  and Jed Henry inspired me with their beautiful illustrations every day, and Nathan Hale's drawings and daily posts convinced me to do the marathon in the first place. Thank you all. Also, I know these thank yous are getting waaaaay to long, but I just wanted to mention how great my friends and family were, supporting me all the way. There. That's it. No more!

So please vote and I'll post again soon!

Picture Book Marathon - Bonus Picture Book!

This book was written by my brother when he was in 2nd grade and (minimally) edited by me a couple days ago. This was another one of the in-case-of-emergency books.

Picture Book #27: Hoppy the Bunny

A long time ago, a little bunny lived on the edge of the woods. The bunny's name was Hoppy. Hoppy had four brothers and five sisters, whom he played with all day.

Over the woods and past the stream was the home of the giant Norcade. Norcade lived on a big mountain. He was scary, so the bunnies never went near the mountain.

Between the mountain and the forest there was a lake. In the lake lived eight swans. They loved the sun. Every day, Norcade came down the mountain and bathed in the lake.

One day, Hoppy was playing by the lake. The swans were swimming and the sun was shining. Then Norcade came down to bathe. He saw Hoppy.

Hoppy looked up. Norcade reached down. Hoppy ran away. Meanwhile, Norcade was fighting the eight swans. He was not doing very well.

The next day, Hoppy's brothers and sisters were looking for food when they saw Norcade. He had been injured by the swans. Hoppy's brothers and sisters bought him home. But Hoppy was scared so they threw the giant out!

In the meantime, a wolf was in the woods. The wolf was hiding behind Hoppy's house when Norcade came by. The bunnies saw Norcade. They started throwing rocks at him.

Hoppy was on a walk. Whenhe came back, he saw the other bunnies throwing rocks at Norcade and joined in. Norcade turned around and almost ripped Hoppy in two!

Luckily the wolf injured Norcade even more than the swans had. All the other bunnies jumped on Norcade until they pushed him over and he fell to the ground!

***
For the upcoming posts, I've decided to push everything back a day. So PBM wrap up will be posted tomorrow, and then the 7 Facts Award and Teaser Tuesday will be posted on Wednesday, because I don't have the time or energy to blog any more tonight, so.... yep.

Picture Book Marathon - The Finish Line!

I had this all set to be finished on Saturday so I could breeze through the weekend and get started with Assessments (which are this week). Except I couldn't think of anything on Saturday. And then I couldn't think of anything on Sunday. And I couldn't think of anything today, which I was extremely worried about because today is the last day of the marathon! So I decided to draw the cover of a book and make up a story to match it. Unfortunately, I'm really dissatisfied with my cover illustration (this last book just doesn't want to cooperate). But here it is anyway - Picture Book #26:

And here's the original picture I traced it from:

That's my puppy from about a year ago during Winter Break. The story idea for this is that the puppy (I haven't thought of a name yet) blends into the snow and the entire family thinks he or she is lost until he or she jumps through the kid's window and is found again. 

Also, today I got picked for the Seven Facts award by Allegra, which I'll post tomorrow with my regular Teaser Tuesday post. Later tonight I'll wrap up the PBM stuff and start introducing March's surprise. 

Anyway, I'm getting back to work now - I have Math and English Assessments tomorrow!

Save Los Angeles Libraries!

A few days ago, I wrote a post talking about how important bookstores are. After volunteering at the library today, I recieved a fact sheet about the cuts made to Los Angeles libraries, and I'm convinced that libraries are even more important.

Some of the facts I recieved:
- 160 library employees fired (July 1, 2010)
- serivce days cut to 5 (July 16, 2010)
- libraries closed on Mondays
- service hours cut from 41.5 to 34.0
- fewer story times, youth activities, adult programs and books
- additional cuts and firings proposed for library services, hours, programs, and staff  by Mayor and City Council of LA (October 2010)

Luckily, in the coming elections, Los Angeles has put an option called Measure L, which will increase the Los Angeles Public Library's share of city funds. Measure L will provide additional funds to:
- help restore 6-day services at all libraries and eventually 7-day services at 9 neighborhood libraries
- purchase books
- support library programs including after-school/summer youth, student homework help, adult literacy, and job search programs.

Additionally, here is a speech I found given by Philip Pullman about saving Oxfordshire libraries, which I found well-reasoned and expertly written. http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/save-oxfordshire-libraries-speech-philip-pullman

I don't have anything for PBM right now - today was totally devoid of inspiration - but I'm going to try to get something up before I go to bed.

Picture Book Marathon, Day 25

Only one more day in the marathon! When I started, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm definitely going to miss it. I know that without the challenge of writing a picture book every day with the other couple hundred people participating, I'm not going to write many more picture books. I'm going to let myself be swept up in life and not try to find that extra hour or so to do something really fun and creative. That's one of the reasons I love having this blog. It gives me an incentive to be creative and to write every day. Of course, I always know that I can skip a day if I need, like yesterday. I wrote a book yesterday, but didn't have time to post it or to do an illustration. So here it is now, sans-illustration, which I'll post as soon as I draw it (probably tomorrow).

Picture Book #24: Untitled So Far
This one is a wordless picture book, and I don't have it mapped out page by page, but I have a story. A girl is out to dinner with her parents. There are multiple courses. The parents talk and talk, but she is really bored. Eventually, she falls asleep at the table. She begins to dream. In her dream, she sees a boy at the table next to her. He invites her to dance. They begin to dance in the middle of the restaurant, and then, since it's a dream, they dance in the clouds and among the stars. The story switches back out of the dream. She's still asleep. Her parents pay the bill and her father carries her out to the car. The end.

I don't really know how I would distinguish real life from dream, perhaps a different drawing style. When I first thought up the story, I thought she'd be around 6 and dancing with her father, but then I realized that the mother would be totally cut out of the story and she wouldn't fall asleep at the table if it was only her and her dad. So then I thought she would be around 14 or 15, but that seemed a bit old for this particular story, and I asl wanted to make it  as innocent as I could, so now I'm thinking she's around 9. Anyway, onto today's book.

By now I know that rhyming is far from my strongest part of writing. But it's so much fun that I keep coming back to it. I found out while doing the marathon that my two favorite types of picture books to write (as I'm sure you've figured out) are wordless and rhyming. So today's book is a rhyming lift-the-flap science book in disguise. You'll see.

Picture Book #25: Why? Why? Why?

Why does the rain fall?
Why does the sun shine?
Why is this so small? (holding something)
Why is it mine?

Why are you looking at me like that?
Why do you care?
Why are you wearing that ugly hat?
Why don't you like your hair?

Why am I in this place?
Why do I have to listen?
Why do I want to run a race?
Why do I have to sit still, then?

Why does my hair get into knots?
Why must I learn how to read?
Why does the doctor give me shots?
Why does a plant grow from a seed?

Why do my ears help me to hear?
Why do my eyes help me to see?
Why do I feel fear?
WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?

ASK THE BOOK!
LOOK UNDER THE FLAPS!
ONLY THEN WILL I STOP
TALKING IN CAPS!


And then you go back through the book and lift up the flaps under most of the questions (the science-y type questions, anyway) and it has a little answer to the question. It would need a bit of research, but I think it would be really cool.

Anyway, that's what I've got! I also have something cool planned for March, but I'm not going to reveal that yet.