/2007

/2006

/2005
December 2004
September 2004
July 2004
May 2004
March 2004
January 2004

OLD WORK

It's been a couple of very exciting months for A Northern Light. In January, the American Library Association awarded the novel a Michael J. Printz Honor, and in February, the book received the Borders 2004 Original Voices Award for Intermediate/Young Adult literature. Needless to say, I am absolutely thrilled by both of these awards. To have my work recognized by librarians, educators and booksellers is an immense honor, and one for which I am very grateful.

In March - March 2, to be exact - The Tea Rose will be published in paperback. The cover is that same as the hardcover version, but it's been colorized quite fetchingly. I'm hoping the paperback format will bring the story to many new readers.

NEW WORK

Ummmm ... not a lot to report right now. See above. Geez, but I hope my publishers aren't reading this.

MY READING

Isn't discovering a great new book the best?! I received two novels by Graham Swift for Christmas and have devoured them. Waterland is a tale about a murder and a family, but it's also about the ineluctable press of history, and how family and home shape us. It was challenging at times, and a bit of a trudge at others, but ultimately very rewarding. I also read Swift's Last Orders, which won the Booker Prize and was made into a movie with Michael Caine, Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins, and loved it. It's about a group of aging friends who get together to scatter the ashes of another friend, Jack. It's told from several points of view, all of which work together to reveal not only Jack but the narrators themselves. It's set in Southeast London and is just heartstoppingly sad and beautiful. It's one of those rare books that takes a handful of people living quiet and unremarked lives, and through them, shows us something of what it means to be human.

Also read Greg Critser's Fatland, on obesity in America. Critser, a journalist, goes way past the obvious - we're eating more and exercising less - to examine the role politics, farm subsidies, biology, marketing, history, schools, religion, and society play in an epidemic that has seen 60% of Americans become overweight, and young children begin to suffer from dreadful weight-related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. It's a fascinating book, exhaustively researched. Critser's passion for his subject comes across loud and clear. He cares deeply about what's happening to his fellow Americans, and - not content to simply point fingers and sound outraged - he gives us a thoughtful and hopeful last chapter titled "What Can Be Done."

DAISY'S READING

Okay, I know I just said in the preceding paragraph that discovering a great new book is the best, but there's a better best, and that's discovering it with a baby. Their wonder and concentration - the little puckering brow, and big eyes, and then the smile and bounce of approval - there's nothing like it in the world, is there?

A friend gave Daisy a boardbook called Go to Sleep, Daisy by Jane Simmons, and she liked it so much that we bought her two more in the series, Daisy's Favorite Things and Daisy Says Coo. They're about a little duck with big feet who's discovering her world and her place in it, all within the watchful, loving presence of Mama Duck. The artwork is beautiful, and I like that children can really see Simmons' wonderful painter's hand. The text is short, and makes good use of rhymes and alliteration, but isn't bound by them. It's perfect for little kids, and of course Daisy loves hearing her name mentioned over and over again.

Another big boardbook hit is First Book of Sushi by Amy Wilson Sanger. Believe me, I'm not the biggest sushi fan - California rolls and the odd bit of salmon are about as adventuresome as I get - but this book is so much fun, it'll get you and your little one laughing even if you don't know your tekka maki from your kappa maki. The rhymes are a hoot and roll around crazily on the tongue, and the graphics are so colorful and compelling, and while quite sophisticated in a way, they - like Simmons' illustrations - definitely look like someone made them. I'm no expert on these things, but I think that seeing and sensing the illustrator's hands at work must give budding artists a great deal of inspiration and confidence in their own endeavors.

Lastly, I learned an important lesson about child-rearing recently. You can strive to assemble a thoughtful and intelligent collection of books for your baby. You can make sure she listens to Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. You can spend time watching educational programs like Sesame Street and Baby Einstein. And it just doesn't matter. Because her cousins will come along and introduce her to www.homestarrunner.com and she will love it and there is nothing you can do about it.

My fifteen year old niece and twelve year old nephew adore this site. When they first showed it to me, I didn't get it. Not a bit of it. They were both saying, "Isn't it great?" and I was thinking, Boy, am I old. But I have to admit, it's starting to grow on me. It features odd cartoon characters in strange scenarios. They have names like Homestar, Strong Bad, Strong Sad, Marzipan and the Poopsmith. Strong Bad is kind of a boxing glove with a Kabuki face ... I think. I don't even know what Homestar is. They like to goof on Japanese cartoons, break the internet, and sing thirties-style ditties. I'm not sure this site is suitable for babies. I'm not even sure it's suitable for adults. What I am sure of is that it's one of those things that definitely makes you feel that the joke's on you.

Daisy adores it, though. She and her dad watch the shorts about The Cheat and Coach Z and sing all the songs. I watch them and sigh and brace myself for the eventuality of my little girl pooh-poohing sweet nursery songs like "Baa Baa Blacksheep" and instead belting out a line like, "Who put the Bengal tiger in the Kaiser's latrine?"

Happy reading!


Copyright © 2006 Jennifer Donnelly