BookLust

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Shhh...what's that sound?

 

Happy Haloween!

I hope everyone has a splendidly spooky night tonight! Me, I've been battling a cold, so haven't been in the best of spirits. That is, until I got a delightful email from artist pal Paula Becker! Paula was in Point-Claire Village in Quebec, and just happened to notice that the French edition of 13 Ghosts of Halloween was in the display window in the bookstore Babar Books, so she very kindly took some pictures! Ain't that sweet? Check 'em out! Here's the store:

And here's the display!

Thanks, Paula! This is the best Halloween treat a gal could get!

Brilliant BOOX

Every now and then I'll come across a cartoonist who creates something that makes me say, dammit, I wish I'd thought of that! Well, it happened again a few days ago, when the wonderful Paula Becker emailed me this bloody brilliant comic strip called BOOX:

Apparently the cartoonist, Mark Alan Stamaty, creates this comic strip BOOX for the New York Times Book Review. Damn I wish I could read it on a regular basis. Or better yet, I wish he'd get a book published with all his NYT Book Review cartoons. This is cartoonist after my own heart. It's like my Art Imitating Lit series, only like, better and smarter. Now if only I could get a regular gig like lucky ol' Mr. Stamaty...

Silly Poetry Friday 11

It seems only fitting that since today is the deadline for the Good Granny/Bad Granny contest that I choose a silly granny poem. Do you think I had any trouble finding such a poem? Of course not, silly! Today's silly poem is written by a man who was very, very silly, and very, very funny. Anyone out there remember Spike Milligan? I recall listening to recordings of The Goon Show when I was a kid, and just busting a gut, rolling around in fits of laughter. Those guys were funny. I do miss that style of humour.

Any hoo-how, here is Mr. Milligan's silly granny poem:

Granny
    
Through every nook and every cranny
The wind blew in on poor old Granny
Around her knees, into each ear
(And up her nose as well, I fear)

All through the night the wind grew worse
It nearly made the vicar curse
The top had fallen off the steeple
Just missing him (and other people)

It blew on man, it blew on beast
It blew on nun, it blew on priest
It blew the wig off Auntie Fanny-
But most of all, it blew on Granny!

Last Chance To Get Yer Granny On!

Just a quick reminder that today is the deadline for submissions to the Good Granny/Bad Granny contest! I'll be accepting stories until I go to bed tonight, so it's still not too late!

Go granny or go home!

Meet Me On The Danforth

I always thought The Danforth Review concerned itself with just grown-up literary folk. So imagine my surprise and glee when the charming Nathaniel G. Moore asked to interview me and talk about 13 Ghosts of Halloween! You can read the interview here.

And if you're getting sick of all these interviews, don't worry...Halloween is almost over! Of course, then I'll be talking about my next book, hee hee...

Got His Priorities Straight

Actual morning phone conversation:

Patricia: Guy, you won't believe it. As I was coming home from my morning walk, I ran into the mailman. He said he had a bit of a struggle putting a package through our mail slot, but was very proud of the fact that he finally managed to push the sucker through. I got inside the house, and guess what! The package is one of the latest books you ordered, and it was so big that when the mailman pushed it through, it actually ripped off one of the wood panels in our mudroom!!

Guy: Is my book ok?

BACA Off, Jamie Lee Curtis!

Ok, it's about time I do one of these BACA Off! reviews, don't ya think?. Thanks again to Mother Reader for the inspiration! I decided to start with a name that I figure most people know of, Jamie Lee Curtis, former teen scream movie star, and now popular picture book author. I've actually wanted to read one of her picture books for a while now, because I had heard over the years that she is supposed to be one of the good celebrity children's authors. So is she good? Hmmmmm....

I chose Curtis' first book, When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's memoir of Her Youth, which was published in 1993 by HarperCollins. The book is illustrated by Laura Cornell. My honest gut reaction when I read the title of the book? A little bit of eye-rolling. Contrived clever titles like that just annoy me. Not off to a good start. Also part of that annoyance is the fact that this book is obviously set up to "teach" a child all about personal identity. In fact, if you go to the book list of Curtis' site, you can see that each of her books has been written with a little "lesson" in mind, be it the subject of Family and Belonging, Imagination and Loss, or Self Esteem. Reading these descriptions makes me throw up a little.

The writing is nothing spectacular. It is, shall we say – competent. Curtis basically lists all the different things that a little girl couldn't do or wasn't aware of when she was little, and then how she has mastered so much now that she is sooooo much older.  Some examples:

When I was little, I had silly hair. Now I can wear it in a ponytail or braids or pigtails or a pom-pom. [I dunno. This description really bugs me. What the hell does she mean about silly hair?]

When I was little, I rode in a baby car seat. Now I ride like a grown-up and wave at policemen. [Apparently this description got some complaints from mothers on the Amazon site, since a four-year-old kid should obviously still be sitting in the back, in a car seat. I'm amazed the editors missed this one. Maybe Britney Spears can use this book in her defense].

When I was little I ate goo and yucky stuff. Now I eat pizza and noodles and fruit and Chee-tos. [I'm gonna sound like a real stick-in-the-mud here, but was it really necessary to have the product placement? And actually the mention of Chee-tos was another thing that cheezed off some of the mothers on Amazon. Heh. Cheezed Off. Aren't I funny? Maybe I should write children's books. After I get into acting in movies, that is].

Overall, the book didn't thrill me. There really is no story here to grab me. Absolutely no imagination in the writing. And I have my doubts that it's the kind of thing that little kids would get into, either. It's the kind of thing that parents think their kids should read. I'll tell you what kids will like about this book. The illustrations. They are delightful. Full of energy, and so cute and colourful. Had Jamie Lee Curtis not had such a talented illustrator, this book would have been a stinker, in my opinion. And that's one thing I have noticed a lot with celebrity children's authors. They (or their publishers) have enough sense to pick a very talented illustrator who can, quite frankly, carry the weight of the book. Because nine times outta ten, the writing on it's own, just won't do it.

When it comes to picture books, I guess I'm a bit of a grump. Or maybe it's that I'm still able to read picture books the same way I read them when I was a kid. I always looked for funny, snappy writing, an engaging story, and great pictures. I was usually drawn to picture books with very strong characters. Books like Harry The Dirty Dog, Or Curious George or anything by Dr. Seuss. I'm willing to bet big money that kids do not want to be taught a lesson when they read a picture book. They want to be entertained. And if they are entertained, they will discover how much fun reading can be, and they will continue to read.

When I was little, I would have stayed the hell away from this book.

Silly Poetry Friday 10

Two days ago I did a very silly thing. I joined Facebook. This is something that I have scoffed at ever since I first heard word of it, snidely saying that only teenagers and underdeveloped adults would be wasting their time on such a pastime. Well, I guess I'm an underdeveloped adult, because for the moment I'm a little addicted. Ok, a lot addicted. But I'm hoping to join a twelve-step program to get off of it – I'm sure there's some group on Facebook that can help me out.

So anyway, that's the reason for the lack of posts this week – Facebook addiction. It's an amazing brain-sucking habit. And speaking of brain-sucking, today's silly poem comes to you from the wonderful and witty Dennis Lee, Canada's most treasured silly poet. I think under the circumstances, Mr. Lee's poem Greatheart and the Brain Drain is quite appropot. This poem is from his collection The Difficulty of Living on Other Planets: