I'm really excited about a book coming out in March/April from my publisher, Abrams Books For Young Readers. It's called The Strange Case Of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger. The wonderful cover looks like this:


Nice, Chad Beckerman, very nice.

We here in the Ashburn house are big, BIG Star Wars fans. BIG. Jack collects and builds Star Wars Lego ships in any spare time he has and watches the movies, um, regularly. We have more lightsabers than General Grievous. And we sometimes talk like Yoda. But don't tell anybody :)

Henry is also a fan (although not as rabid) and by coincidence, he is also ridiculously skilled at Origami.

And we all love MG books :)

So, you can understand my excitement. I haven't read it yet, but have heard *very good* things from people who have. And there's a video over on StarWars.com that shows you how to make your own origami Yoda. Here is what Henry made for me:



Adorable, no?? He is now residing on my desk, quietly telling me "Do or not do. There is no try." I think everyone needs one!

:)

My kids love the game they discovered via this book:



Thanks, Erica Perl, really, thank you so much ;)

Jack can play this game forever! But my kids, my twisted kids, are putting their own little spin on some of the traditional responses.

"Guess what?"
"Chicken butt." Of course that one is never gonna change- ha! But then we move on to:

"Guess why?"
"Chicken STIR-FRY!"

Ahhh, I would expect nothing less from my children...

:)

I am on a Wonderful Mid-Grade Book streak! Gosh I love reading good books.

It started with When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.


A HARD act to follow, no? But seriously, it has been followed by a whole string of fun, worthwhile books:


And right now I am laughing my way through A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

(I'm only a third of the way in, but so far it's hilarious!)

This streak is something of a hodge-podge (well, it's not THAT much of a hodge-podge, but I love any excuse to say the word hodge-podge), but I'd recommend every one of these books! I'm loving reading this many winners in a row...

:)

January is always a busy month around here, capped on the 26th with my twins' birthday. Happy Birthday, Jack and Lily!

They are NINE this year. And I know it's just an arbitrary number, but it is making me particularly sad this year.

Why, you might ask? Well, back in 2005 when I started writing picture books and sold my first one, they were four years old. Prime picture-book age! Technically, you know, picture books are for children aged 4-8. Give or take.

And today I officially no longer have picture-book aged children! Oh, so sad. We still share picture books around here, but I know those days are numbered now

I'll always read picture books because I love them, I'll read them because I write them, I'll read them for research, but it just won't be the same, will it?

(sigh)

Do you know these books? We have these books. I don't know where they came from. I don't know how we ended up with probably the whole series. They came out forever ago. They are hardcover. They are big and happy-looking and have all the art straight from the movies.

But these books, THESE books, are the longest freaking books in the universe. They take about as long to read as it takes to watch the actual movie! And the text is not exactly...ahh... inspired. I'd rather watch paint dry than read one of these again. These books do not make reading a Disney story a treat. And Disney tells a great story! So sad.

But wait. What's that?



THAT is a fabulous new version of Peter Pan, written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson with the original storyboard art by Mary Blair from the movie. Hyperion has issued several of these, based on different movies, written by wonderful writers like Jon Scieszka and Cynthia Rylant. I think I even posted about them a while back.

But I tell you what- THIS is the way to tell the Disney stories. Subtle, humorous, CONCISE storytelling with drop-dead art and impeccable design. And this is my favorite of these re-tellings so far! (sorry Jon- but I still loved yours too!) (you know, just in case (cough, cough) he's become a regular Life On The Bookshelf reader)(Ha!)

I digress. Anyway, this series is the one to share with your children- they are... luminous. Click on the book cover and go buy yourself a copy from indiebound. You will not regret it.

:)

If you are a children's writer and you are not reading Nathan Bransford's blog, you should be. Every one of his posts is accessible, informative, and just make so much sense. They are not always focused on the children's writing world, but I always learn something anyway. And it's fun watching him go from being an agent to being an author as well (he has an MG under contract)- although I bet his "author experience" is a little different from the rest of us. But it's nice to see occasionally how it is affecting his perspective in some ways.

His post right now about authors and marketing is a must-read. And unlike the thousands I've read that make me feel that I'm never doing enough promotion-wise (and lousy after I read them!), his made me feel like I just might be doing a few things right. Whew. Confidence like that is priceless.

:)