I'm All About Anecdotal Evidence and Unscientific Research

If the movers and shakers of marketing and publicity in the publishing world want to know what people are reading at swim meets in New Jersey this summer, I'm their girl. I worked the admissions table (charging an entrance fee and stamping hands) for a good six hours on Saturday. It's remarkable that I could even perform my duties as I had been chased by a bear on the walk to the meet (see yesterday's post), but as I told my brother, it was "for the kids," so I persevered. Sitting at that table for six hours, I saw a lot of swimmers and parents walk in for a long day of sitting around. I couldn't help but peek into their beach bags. Let me just say that about half the women who had books had Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love. I don't even know if they plan to read it, I just think American women feel they must own a copy of it. I was happy to see two women come in with Stieg Larson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as it is my book club's book for this month. Unfortunately, when questioned about it, one woman said she hadn't yet begun reading it and the the other just made a little face (a moue, I believe it's called) and said "Eh." A number of men carried in folded newspapers. Three kids had copies of Zilpha Ketley Snyder's 1966 Newberry Medal winning book The Egypt Game. This piqued my curiosity as my daughter recently checked it out of the library. It turns out those three kids are all in the same grade in a nearby elementary school and that book is their assigned summer reading. One kid walked in with The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch and was really excited to discuss it. Many little girls who would be stuck waiting around for their older siblings to swim had fairy books packed along with their beach toys and towels, but my absolute favorite was a girl with a copy of Tomie de Paola's fantastic classic Strega Nona. That's my kind of girl - one who chooses a lovable Italian witch with a magical pasta pot over a glittery Disney fairy.

The Print Equivalent of Cheese Fries

I wish I could report on some smartypants book I read this weekend. I wish I was walking around smugly having finished the books about educational philosophies and new fangled lesson planning sitting by my bed. I would give fifty bucks to be able to say I've read what I need to for my next book club meeting. Instead, I'm caught up on People and Entertainment Weekly. It was a busy weekend which included my computer crashing after having an explicitly obscene picture pop up and stay fixed on the screen. It was so dirty at first I didn't know what it was, but once I puzzled it out, I felt nauseous for several hours. I was chased by a bear. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but just a tiny bit. At six a.m. on Saturday, as I walked to our local lake to volunteer at a swim meet, I was alone on the shoulder and a smallish black bear was on the other side of the road. We glanced at each other and I ran. I did not see another human being or car until I arrived at the lake parking lot a half mile away. In my book that's as good as being chased by a bear. And finally, on Sunday afternoon, my minivan refused to start while parked in my neighbor's driveway. My husband had to come with his pickup truck and jumper cables to get me out of there. Luckily, they are very nice neighbors who were able to suppress wincing as my husband had to drive a little on their grass and staring in disgust at the mess of sand, gum wrappers, and books on my car's floor. Needless to say, the most challenging thing my mind could handle last night was reading about how J.Lo did actually lose all the baby weight and who the real Farrah Fawcett was.

Foodie Friday Tidbits

A number of blogs I read run a Random Thoughts Tuesday feature. Today's post here could be called Random Friday Foodie Book Stuff. First, we got a hold of Eric A. Kimmel's fun new picture book, The Three Little Tamales, that I wrote about here several Fridays ago. It is a retelling of the three little pigs story featuring adorable tamales. My older kids have read it aloud several times to my six year old son. It begs to be read with accents and silly voices.

We've also recently read Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant about a cute little puppy who learns some etiquette lessons. It would probably be best for a preschooler or kindergartner read together with an adult.

My last bit of Foodie Friday randomness (besides mentioning that I need to get to the grocery store pronto) is that I flipped through Roy Finamore's new cookbook, Tasty, just before bed last night. It is filled with scrumptious sounding recipes that seem relatively simple and don't call for too many ingredients. I had several food dreams last night, including one about sundried tomatoes and crusty French bread which made me drool all over the pillowcase. Sadly, when I woke up this morning, Cornflakes and frozen waffles were my only breakfast options. As I said, I must get to the food store.

Have a great weekend!

Popcorn or Candy?

You know those preference questions which supposedly reveal so much about a person quickly? John or Paul? Beatles or Rolling Stones? Batman or Superman? I've never been good with those because I have few absolute favorites in life, except that my current husband is definitely my favorite (actually, he's my only husband). I guess I'm moody- my favorite husband would testify to that. Some days John is my favorite Beatle, but some days it's Paul. For weeks breakfast is my favorite meal, but then I get really into lunches. Anyway, since some of my favorite books are opening as movies this summer, I thought I'd put a question to you: Popcorn or candy in the movie theater? For the record, I'm popcorn with butter.

The Lunch Lady: Serving Sloppy Joes, Jokes, and Justice!

How happy am I? Lunch Lady happy. That's going to be my new measurement of happy because these books are so enjoyable. When I lose a few pounds or see a great movie, I'm going to tell people the experience made me Lunch Lady happy. Speaking of movies, I've read that Universal Studios has picked up the movie rights to this series with Amy Poehler to star! Now I'm even more Lunch Lady happier (that needs a little work).

Let me back up and tell you that my daughter and I have just finished reading the newly released Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute and Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. The length, humor, and subject matter of these books make them ideal for second through fourth grade readers. The limited color palette reminds me of the popular Babymouse books with yellow here substituting for pink. The plots, however, are very different.

Lunch Lady is, of course, a lunch lady by day, but she's a a crime fighter in her off duty hours. She's wonderful, but the real fun in these books (for me) comes from her sidekick Betty. In the boiler room, Betty, like James Bond's Q or Foaly in the Artemis Fowl series, supplies Lunch Lady with the gadgets that make her crime fighting possible. As we know from Batman, Bond, and Inspector Gadget, all crime fighters without superpowers need super gadgets. Betty invents a spatulacopter, Taco-vision Night Goggles, Hover Pizzas, and more. The possibilities for cafeteria technology are endless and I can't wait to see what author Jarrett J. Krosoczka will have Betty create in future adventures of Lunch Lady.

Only three students in the school, Hector, Terrence, and Dee (aka The Breakfast Bunch) know that Lunch Lady and Betty do more than just ladle out helpings of tuna surprise. It's unclear what grade the students are in, but that's okay. Having them be in a particular grade might limit the appeal of these books. Their involvement creates opportunities for a variety of adventures. For instance, the plot of the second book revolves around the simultaneous release of a new video game system and the annual school book fair. I love that the villains in that one have created The League of Librarians, although one of their number, high school librarian Jane Shelver, makes it clear that she prefers the term media specialist. This and many other little details make the Lunch Lady books fun even for a hesitant graphic novel reader such as myself.

The Clever Stick

One afternoon this week, I read John Lechner's new book, The Clever Stick, to my kids while they ate lunch, my daughter reread it herself, and then I read it to everybody again. It's a short book and I don't provide especially large lunches. According to my daughter, "It's short and sweet, but it has a point." Get it? A point? It's about a stick. Hyuk. Hyuk. The Clever Stick tells of a stick that is quite clever; it appreciates beauty, enjoys poetry, and solves math problems. There was just one problem in that the stick can't speak and its cleverness goes unnoticed. This was the point which inspired the most discussion from my kids. Is it important that other people recognize your talents? Passionate opinions were expressed. Fortunately for the stick, he learns to draw in the sand, and the world, or at least the plants and animals where he lives, appreciates what he can do with his "voice." The whimsy of this quiet fable appealed to my ten year old son and he and his six year old brother agree that this is "the kind of book they read in school." I believe the "they" means teachers and librarians. I agree with them and think it would be a nice addition to a kindergarten and first grade classroom library.

Spending an Afternoon in the 1960s

Rail all day yesterday forced the kids and I inside. Around the time animals in the neighborhood lined up in pairs with ears cocked for the sound of a hammer, we took a virtual field trip to Manhattan in the 1960s. First, we read a few chapters of Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy. My nine year old daughter read it herself last year and chose it for our current read aloud. My sons
are enjoying it, but I can tell they'd appreciate a bit more action. Of interest to all of them is the idea that the parents of a girl not much older than themselves allowed her to roam around New York City (or at least the Upper East Side) for hours every day after school. When we put Harriet down, we created MadMen avatars of ourselves over at AMC. I love the setting of that show. The costumes remind me of pictures of my parents when they were dating and newlyweds. Here's how my son pictures himself looking in 30 years:

My daughter would have me looking like this in 1964:

I gave myself a more schoolteacherish look

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The sun is shining today so I think we're gonna get out there and enjoy July 2009 while it lasts.