Oh My!

It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Or rather, pumpkins.  I found these two giants sitting on the lawn in front of the Town Hall.  I think they must have come from the Topsfield Fair (which happens to be the oldest country fair in America, and I look forward to it all year long).

I wish I had someone get in the picture because you really can't get an idea of how enormous they are.

Unfortunately, they're not very pretty.  They remind me of Grace Lin's book, The Ugly Vegetables.


Sometimes, smaller is better.  I much prefer the small, bright sugar pumpkins, like this little gem I found sitting in a window box in Rockport.

On My Night Table…

Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny, a collection of short stories by Isak Dinesen.

This short story is truly a feast;  a sumptuous banquet of disarming characters, luscious language, and delicate descriptive passages.

What a lovely treat to unexpectedly come upon a short tale of such depth and beauty.

Here is a morsel:

"The hostesses made their little preparations in the sitting room.  They dared not set foot in the kitchen, for Babette had mysteriously nosed out a cook's mate from a ship in the harbor–– the same boy, Martine realized, who had brought in the turtle–– to assist her in the kitchen and to wait at table, and now the dark woman and the red-haired boy, like some witch with her familiar spirit, had taken possession of these regions.  The ladies could not tell what fires had been burning or what cauldrons bubbling there from before daybreak."

How delicious.

Now I have to try to find the film.  I remember seeing it a long time ago.

Still Waiting...

It's been a rough couple of weeks.

I'm still waiting for some good news about my new manuscript.  I've had several rejections so far, which are always hard to swallow, but I'd rather wait and get an editor who really loves my story.  That's what happened with Angus MacMouse and I was so grateful for the wonderful editor I had at Bloomsbury.

Then, my car broke down.  That's never fun (or cheap).

I've had a miserable cold that won't go away.  (Cough, cough, sniffle, sneeze.)

Then more expensive car repairs.

Now we are supposed to be getting a nor'easter... in October!

I know I'm not alone in this, but something yummy always makes me feel better.  So–– especially with snow coming, I decided to treat myself to some comfort food.  We are lucky to have lots of seafood restaurants on the North Shore to choose from, and since one of my favorite little spots will be closing soon for the season, I headed over to Farnham's in Essex.  They get my vote for the best fried clam strips ever!

My happy face!

What Is It?

It's a book!  But what kind of a book?  Is it a children's book, or an adult book disguised as a children's book?  Is it a book with a message, or just something fun and funny?

Well, it's definitely a BOOK, and it's stirring up quite a bit of chatter.  It's called It's A Book, by Lane Smith, a well known author/ illustrator. Perhaps he's best known for illustrating The Stinky Cheeseman, which was also edgy and ground breaking when it first appeared about a decade ago.

It's A Book is a simple story with two characters, a monkey who is trying to read his book, and a donkey who keeps interrupting him with questions.  "Can it text?  Blog?  Scroll?  Wi-Fi?  Tweet?" he asks.  "No... it's a book," replies the monkey over and over again.

I just watched a short video on Amazon of Lane Smith talking about It's A Book, and I love the way his own story and illustrations still make him chuckle.  Apparently, he did not intend it to have a message, but my first reaction when I read it was, YAY!!!!  Here is a champion of good old-fashioned books–– books made of paper, with bindings, and glue, and real pages that you can turn and feel, and–– even better–– he's poking fun at all those modern reading gadgets with funny names.  Hurray for Lane Smith!   Rah!  Rah!

My second reaction was, 'uh-oh!'  This is a picture book, which normally means it's for children who can't read yet, so–– I can't imagine most young children getting the point.  Will they even know what blogging and texting and scrolling mean?

So...  is it a picture book for grown-ups?

Actually, I think it is a picture book for grown-ups to read and explain to children.  And I really hope they do.  I hope parents will start early to promote the reading and enjoyment of REAL books to their children.  It's A Book is a funny (and touching) story which happens to have a valuable message.

But, there is one more "uh-oh."  It's the use of the word "jackass." It's the punchline of the whole book, referring to the donkey, of course.  It's not technically a bad word, (and Lane addresses this issue in the interview on Amazon), but I'm sure there will be some parents who will automatically want to ban this book just because of that word.  It's too bad.

If you want to get an idea of what the hoopla is about, go to Amazon and look up It's A Book, watch the interview, and see what you think!

Squeak of the Week

This quote is from the book I am currently reading, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books."  (p.53)

How true, and...  how fortunate!

My New Car

I have wonderful friends…  One of them gave me a new car!

It's a sporty, little red cabriolet.  Isn't it splendid?

The catch seems to be that it only goes in circles.  You drive and drive and never really get anywhere.  (Could that be a metaphor for something?)

That's Stuart Little behind the wheel.  I suppose that means I'll have to let Angus take a spin, too.

Many thanks to my friend, Jeanne, for the zippy new car!

A Nice Review

I found a nice review for Angus MacMouse and thought I would share it.

I didn't want to start off MouseSqueaks with a lot of chatter about my own book.  I thought that might get boring pretty quickly, and it seemed rather uncouth as well.  Better to talk about writing and books in general.

But, since Angus is really the driving force (although a diminutive one!) behind MouseSqueaks, I really should mention him once in a while, right?

So, here is a link to the review, if you'd care to take a peek.

Thank you to "Curled Up With A Good Kid's Book," and especially the reviewer, Bob Walch.  I like that he mentions the opera connection, because that is such a huge part of the story.  Angus could not exist without opera!

Here is the link:

 http://curledupkids.com/angusmac.html