We're back!

No sooner did we get permission to move into our new house than we had to turn right around and leave for a week. But since we were going to the beach, we didn't mind too much.

That's right - a North Carolina beach in January. It was cold, but still wonderful. Alan had several school visits scheduled at the Crystal Coast and a member of the Reading Council donated her beach house for him to stay at - so Jo and I went along with him. Fun!
The house was fabulous - and right on the beach.
There's a nice walkway over the dunes and you're there.
One day when Alan had work all day, Jo and I marked the tide every hour and talked about how the moon makes the tides.Alan repeatedly tried to convince Jo that this whole bit about the moon and the tides was nonsense, that everyone knows the Kraken causes the tides when it breathes in and out. Jo thought this was hysterical. She kept asking Alan to tell her more about the Kraken. Every story was greeted with wild peals of laughter, followed by a breathless, "Daddy you're so stupid!" Ha ha ha ha ha! Honestly, for a while I was a bit worried that he was undoing all my "teaching" - but then I heard this exchange. . .
Alan: How can the moon cause the tides? It doesn't touch the water at all! Everyone knows the moon is a big lantern in the sky.
Jo: Hahahahaha! Daaaaaaaddy! The moon's not a lantern! Everyone knows the moon doesn't make its own light! It just reflects the light of the sun! Hahahahahahaha! Tell me more stupid stuff about the Kraken!

Well - ok then.

On Monday Alan didn't have any events, so we all went to the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.It was a really great aquarium with exhibits about all kinds of NC habitats - starting in the mountains and heading to the sea. They even had tanks for a golf course pond and a roadside ditch. Very cool!

Jo got up close and personal with a box turtle named Flo at a presentation about turtles.
Isn't this terrapin the prettiest turtle ever?
It wasn't all educational. We played lots of Blokus (one of the very best family games ever!) and we went bowling for Alan's birthday. Look at that form!
And Jo demonstrated that she doesn't just kick my ass at Wii bowling. She can beat me at a regular bowling alley too - though she needs the help of gutter guards and this contraption. . .
What you're seeing here is a ramp. Yes - she just aims the thing, sets her ball on the top, gives it a gentle push, and. . . beats the pants off me.

Oh yeah - and Alan did some work too. Jo and I joined him for a presentation to a great group of kids at Broad Creek Middle School.
We spent all day yesterday moving in to the new house and the kitchen is almost all set up. I'll take some pictures today when the light is good and get them posted asap.

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 21

Jo only read a couple of books last night - and we all agreed on the favorite. Lilly's Big Day by Kevin Henkes is very cute. Lilly - the fabulous little mouse from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse is back. Her teacher is getting married and she's sure she's going to be the flower girl. When her teacher gently tells her that his niece will be the flower girl, Lilly is devastated. . .but she accepts a role as "flower girl assistant." On the big day the flower girl freezes just as she's supposed to walk down the aisle.Lilly - of course - saves the day in a totally unexpected way. Very nice.

Jo also read I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Seuss writing as Theo LeSieg - the name he used for books he wrote but didn't illustrate. For a beginning reader, it was oddly difficult for Jo to read. I think it's because the language isn't really natural. There's a lot of repetition that she would try to condense into a more normal sentence, and she kept skipping right over lots of the little words that made the meter Seussian. Maybe we haven't read enough Seuss to her so she's not as familiar with the feel of the language in them?

Read-a-thon status so far: 72 books read
Books culled so far: 15

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Twitter #1: Snow Coming

I can't get to my sewing machine right now in all the house chaos, but I've been doing some handwork in the quiet hours of the evening and I finally finished my first Twitter.

I posted an early version of this here. It actually took me three tries to get him right - but now I'm happy. The snowflakes look nice and crisp against the dark blue of the nighttime sky, they're delicate and feathery (as opposed to overworked and clunky), and I decided not to do the hand-quilted swirls all around - too distracting. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this guy (or the others in my head) but he sure makes me smile. . .

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Gratz Industries HQ: Moving Day, sort of

We've been quiet here at Gratz Industries after a virtual flurry of post-holiday posts--sometimes even two or three a day!--for a few reasons.

First, we could not feel our fingers. The mobile home we're living in until the new house is habitable ran out of fuel oil--again. And just like the last two times--one on a weekend, the other on a holiday--this depletion proved to be horrible timing. We returned home Sunday night from spending a delightful day in the company of friends in Asheville to find the last of our oil gone and the mobile home already down to a chilly 50 degrees. Then the snow began. Lots of snow. And the temperature dropped, both inside and out. It was Wednesday before we could get down the mountain to buy more fuel oil. We had the fireplace in the mobile home, but overnight on the last day, after the fire died, the temperature dropped to 36 degrees. Inside.

But by day, we were toasty and warm. Why? Because our new house was entirely habitable BUT for two piddly, insignificant things: we hadn't drilled a hole for the drier exhaust (even though we haven't moved a drier in yet), AND because one of the switches in the breaker box needed to be an arc fault switch and not a regular breaker switch. (A code thing. It works just fine the way it is now.) That's it. Otherwise, it has working toilets, working faucets, and, most importantly, working heat.

Though our building inspector--regretfully, he admitted--could not give us our certificate of occupancy, he did give us permission to begin moving our things in, which we did with gusto. (Pictures follow.) We also spent every moment we could in the new house, save the shivering evenings before the fire where we ate from our still-functioning mobile home kitchen and slept under piles of blankets. Had we been snowbound one more night, we would no doubt have moved our futon over and slept in the new house, certificate of occupancy be damned. But we managed to remain legal--perhaps more out of perversity than anything--and so we will be able to celebrate even more heartily when the building inspector gives us the final-final go-ahead.

Now the drier hole has been drilled and the vent attached, and the electrician has promised to be out today, around noon, to fix the one problem that remains in the breaker box. After I finish this post, I am calling the building inspector to see if he can come out this afternoon, and perhaps--PERHAPS--we may officially be in tonight. I remain cautiously optimistic. (As I often tell Wendi, with my best Austin Powers voice, "'Caution' is my middle name, baby.")

And so, to the promised pictures!

The newly installed drier vent, from the outside.

And the less distinguished inside.

Jo's playroom/art room, in progress. The quilt is where we eat our picnic lunches.

Jo's new IKEA loft bed!

Jo's reading nook, in progress.

Jo's "closet."

Wendi's craft room hutch.

Wendi's craft room shelves.

The new IKEA wardrobes in the bedroom.

My office, deconstructed.

More bookshelves like that lonely fellow will eventually line the back of those wardrobes, with a corkboard equivalent above them.

More news soon!

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The Great Picture Book Culling - Days 18, 19 and 20

Sorry for the bit of a backlog in the book reviewing - but we've been really busy here at Gratz Industries HQ. Alan gives all the great details (with pictures!) here so I'm going to jump right in to the last three days of reading.

Jo's favorite from all three days was Spring Cleaning - an old Sesame Street book by Pat Tornborg with art by Nancy W. Stevenson. It's classic Bert & Ernie. Bert is very efficiently going about their spring cleaning. Ernie has the best of intentions but he makes everything worse. As in this scene. . .
Ahhh - classic Sesame Street. Brings a smile to my face every time. :-)

My favorite of the bunch was Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems. What a great book! Leonardo really is a terrible monster - terrible at being a monster, that is. He just can't seem to scare anyone, though he tries very hard.
Sorry about the appaling quality of the scan. The book has a lovely, generous trim size, but I can't get a full page on my scanner bed and there was bad light leakage all around. But you get the idea. . .

So Leonardo is a terrible monster, but he ends up being a wonderful friend. Speaking of Sesame Street (I know I wasn't just speaking of Sesame Street, but it was the last book I talked about) Mo Willems used to be a writer on the show and he really does the nice-but-not-sappy thing to perfection. I just love all of his books.

Finally - Alan's favorite of the bunch was There's No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent. Another really fun book - so weird in its matter-of-factness about this dragon. Billy wakes up and finds a small dragon in his room. No big deal. His mom tells him there's no such thing as dragons - so he ignores it. All day long he and his mother climb around it - no big deal - while it grows bigger and bigger. Finally it runs down the road after a bread truck, taking the house with it.
And then the mailman chases the house - not because the dragon is freaky, or because he feels like he needs to save the family, but because he has mail to deliver. And the text on the next page is priceless.
"When Mr. Bixbee came home for lunch, the first thing he noticed was that the house was gone. Luckily, one of the neighbors was able to tell him which way it went." Great stuff.

Jo also read Angelina Ballerina's Invitation to the Ballet - her favorite Angelina Ballerina book because it has lots of envelopes inside the book filled with letters, cards, tickets, etc. Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin with art by Harry Bliss was lots of fun. Pie in the Sky by Lois Ehlert has gorgeous cut-paper art showing a cherry tree (and all the birds and bugs that inhabit it) throughout the year. And there's a cherry pie recipe!

Read-a-thon status so far: 70 books read
Books culled so far: 14

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 17

Day 17 was a fabulous day for art. Story too - but art takes center stage with these books.

Jo decided to read all the rest of the Henry books. (I blogged about Henry Hikes to Fitchburg here.) She and Alan both chose Henry Works as their favorite for the night. In Henry Works we see Henry start his day with a long walk in the woods - tending to the forest, helping friends - generally being part of a community. People think he's not doing anything, and his response is always, "I'm walking to work." When he gets home, he sits down and begins to write. Today I took a walk in the woods. . .

A beautiful story, beautifully told, with beautiful art. On this page Henry is giving some water to the plants along the path. Click on the picture to make it bigger.Do you see the ladybugs? How about the deer peeking around the tree? Jo always notices these tiny details and D.B. Johnson's paintings are full of them.

My favorite of the night was Henry Builds a Cabin, in which Henry builds his cabin at Walden. Henry's friends keep coming by while he works and tell him that his cabin is "too small to eat in," "too dark to read in," etc. Henry's response is always "It's bigger than it looks" as he shows them the place outside the cabin where he will do all those things. At the end he says, "It's bigger than it looks. This is just the room I wear when it's raining."

We also see Henry use an old shed for lumber, old shingles for the walls and roof, and used windows for light. I love the message of simplicity, building just what you need and no more, reusing things that are still good. But it doesn't hit you over the head with it and the book never feels preachy. Johnson's text is just like his pictures - something grown-ups will appreciate but never forgetting that kids are the real audience for the book.
Again with the tiny details. Jo always notices the little snake in one corner, and she loves the bird stealing a bite of Henry's sandwich in the other. It's all just wonderful.

Jo also read Henry Climbs a Mountain - the last of the Henry books. This one is about the night he spent in jail.

And we ended the night with something completely different - Little Boy with a Big Horn by Jack Bechdolt with art by the incomparable Dan Yaccarino. I already blogged about this book here - but I neglected to include a scan of the art, so here is most of a two-page spread.sigh

I love his art.

Read-a-thon status so far: 64 books read
Books culled so far: 11

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More Triangle Toys!

Karin over at Made by K has been busy as a beaver (ha ha ha). Look at the awesome beaver she created from my triangle toys pattern. He makes me laugh out loud.

She also make this terrific squirrel.
Find out how she made that fabulous tail here. I posted here about some other things Karin made from my pattern - check them out!

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 16

We are now officially more than halfway through Jo's read-a-thon month. So let's get right to the books, shall we?

Jo's favorite of the night was Max & Pinky: Best Buds by Maxwell Eaton III. This is my favorite Max & Pinky book too. And this is my absolute favorite page.When Jo was younger, every time we got to this page she would point and say, "Look! He's a dirty rotten liar! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Now she just laughs and laughs. I love it when we're reading a familiar book and she starts giggling in anticipation of turning to a favorite page.

Alan's favorite of the night (mine too) was Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems. This is a sequel to the equally fabulous Knuffle Bunny and I love, love, love this little scene where the two girls argue over the pronounciation of Knuffle. I can only imagine how many letters Mo Willems has received asking him which is the right way to say it. The answer is here - if you're curious.
I'm a big fan of all of Mo Willems's books but I especially love the art in the Knuffle Bunny books - a terrific combination of photography and drawings.

Jo also read Max by Bob Graham - a sweet story about a superhero baby who grows to become a superhero boy who protects small animals.

Read-a-thon status so far: 60 books read
Books culled so far: 11

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 15

Last night Alan got to read with Jo because I was over in the new house until late - scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees. You see - when the drywall guy said they would "clean up" after they were done with the job, it turns out he actually meant they would pick up all their tools and go - leaving piles of dust and clods of dripped mud on the floors. This, of course, was after they did their best to grind that fine dust into the surface of the floor. We rented a shop-vac to clean up and we mopped several times, but it just wasn't doing the job. So yesterday - after the heat had been on all day and the concrete slab was warmed up, I hit my knees and scrubbed one third of the floor. I'll do another third tomorrow. In the meantime - Alan picked THE BEST books to read with Jo. Truly - some of my all-time favorites - chosen because they were sitting in a pile in Alan's office where he could study them as perfect picture books.

Jo's favorite was Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. When I was a book buyer I kept telling HarperCollins that they really needed to do a board book edition of this fabulous book - it appeals to a huge range of ages, from toddlers through elementary school kids. It's just about perfect, with such a simple concept. Every time George's mother asks him to bark, the sound of another animal comes out. His Mom takes him to the vet, who pulls a series of ever-larger animals out of George.
When he pulls out an enormous cow they think the problem is taken care of - but there's one more awesome surprise at the end - guaranteed to make you laugh.

Alan's favorite of the night (and mine too) was Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson. This is a perfect picture book - perfect in every way. Henry (modeled on Henry David Thoreau) and his friend are planning to go to Fitchburg. Henry decides to walk. His friend will work to earn enough money to take the train. They'll see who gets there first.

There's a lovely parallel to how their days are spent. We see Henry's friend cleaning out a chicken house. . .. . . while Henry finds a bird's nest in the grass on the facing page.
The parallells continue on every spread and the art is simply fabulous. We hope to someday acquire an limited edition D.B. Johnson print - available here. That would be a real treasure.

Jo also readMax and Pinky: Superheroes by Maxwell Eaton III - loads of fun.And Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor with art by Robin Preiss Glasser. Alan cracked me up with his comment on this one. "I was surprised by how good Fancy Nancy was. She really captures the way six-year-olds think covering every inch of something with sparkly crap makes it look beautiful." That's Jo all the way!A great night for books!

Read-a-thon total so far: 57 books read
Books culled so far: 10

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When I'm alone I BEEP myself. . .

Oh My God! One of the funniest things I've seen all year. No - one of the funniest things I've EVER seen.



Warning - do not watch this while eating or drinking anything. I'm not kidding. The best part is right after the middle and we were all laughing so hard it hurt. Jo - of course - has no idea what was so funny. At least - I hope not. . .

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Le Retour du Capitaine Nemo

Greg says, "Totally check out this YouTube clip for some weird French version of Nemo with a cameo from Burgess Meridith. That movie has to rock. It has underwater lasers and weird stiff fish people or something."



Not only underwater lasers and stiff fish people and Burgess Meredith, but cryogenic freezing chambers, massive explosions, primary-colored jumpsuits, fighting robots, and Jose Ferrer as le Capitaine Nemo. Ah, I've never wanted to understand French so badly in all my life! I'll have to see if I can find a copy of 'Le Retour du Capitaine Nemo' with subtitles.

And why exactly is Burgess Meredith running around barking orders at people?

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 14

Another Charlie and Lola book! Huzzah! Last night Jo read I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed by Lauren Child. This book is made of awesome. Every page, every word, is just perfect and it is so much fun to read aloud. Now that Jo knows there's no such thing as 13:00 this is one of her favorite pages.
I especially love the ones where Lola has come up with yet another fabulous reason she can't get ready for bed. This is an "I don't wanna go to bed yet" that I never, ever get tired of. :-)

Note: I was just adding the links to this post and all I could find for this book were used copies. Can it possibly be out of print? It's still showing on the Candlewick website but Amazon doesn't carry it. I went ahead and linked to the used sellers for anyone who wants to buy it - but if this is actually out of print I'm going to be very, very sad. Every child should have this book.

Jo also read a picture book version of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown with art by Scott Nash. She loved the part where Stanley's parents put him in an envelope and mail him off to visit a friend in California - and she loved him being a surfboard for his friend to ride on.
Read-a-thon total so far: 53 books read
Books culled so far: 10

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A star for The Brooklyn Nine!

I was actually on the phone with editor Liz when an e-mail hit her inbox with the news that The Brooklyn Nine is getting a starred review from Booklist in the February 1st issue! Booklist is the official review journal of the American Library Association, and I couldn't be more thrilled. Booklist and ALA both have been very supportive of me and my books since giving Samurai Shortstop a starred review of its own, and naming it a top ten book of the year.

Here's the review. I've thrown in a little star, because I can. :-)

Gratz (Samurai Shortstop, 2006) builds this novel upon a clever enough conceit—nine stories (or innings), each following the successive generations in a single family, linked by baseball and Brooklyn—and executes it with polish and precision. In the opening stories, there is something Scorsese-like (albeit with the focus on players, not gangsters) in Gratz’s treatment of early New York: a fleet-footed German immigrant helps Alexander Cartwright (credited with creating modern baseball) during a massive 1845 factory fire; a young boy meets his hero, the great King Kelly, who by age 30 is a washed-up alcoholic scraping by as a vaudeville act. The pace lags a bit in the middle innings, where a talented young girl stars in the WW II–era All-American Girls Baseball League and a card-collecting boy lives in fear of the Russians, Sputnik, and the atomic bomb. But the final two stories provide a flurry of late-inning heroics: a Little League pitcher’s shot at a perfect game told with breathtaking verve; and a neat stitching-together effort to close the book. Each of the stories are outfitted with wide-ranging themes and characters that easily warrant more spacious confines, but taken together they present a sweeping diaspora of Americana, tracking the changes in a family through the generations, in society at large for more than a century and a half, and, not least, in that quintessential American pastime. — Ian Chipman

Thanks, Ian, and thanks Booklist! The Brooklyn Nine goes on sale March 5th.

Author's note: Interestingly, this is the second review in a row that has called my writing "polished"...

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Paper Dolls

So over the holiday break I decided to try something new. I got a good deal on some canvases. I had some paper I had painted with lovely textures. I had an old dictionary I was willing to tear up. And I had some simple drawings of girls in my sketchbook.

Shy came first.I did the sketch a couple of months ago - not sure what I was going to do with it. I thought she looked bashful or shy and I think of her as sort of a self portrait. When I found the dictionary I thought, "If the page with the definition of shy on it has shy in the top left corner of the page, I'll use it as a background for the paper doll." I turned to the S section and - can you believe it? There was "shy" right where I hoped it would be. What are the odds? So that's how Shy came to be. She's finished with a shiny glaze, which I'm not sure I like. I used a matte glaze to finish Adventurer.Adventurer started with the dictionary page. I liked the effect of the collage over the definitions so I went flipping through the dictionary looking for good header words where I wanted them. I liked the sound of adventurer and I immediately thought of those Victorian ladies in pith helmets trekking through Africa. I started sketching, doodled away until I had something I liked, and then thought she really needed a butterfly net. I showed her to Alan and asked what he thought, and he said (I kid you not), "I think she needs a butterfly net or something." So a butterfly net she got.

You can click on either picture to see more detail. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these - but they were fun to make.

Next up - Vigilante. I've got an idea but first I need to paint some papers with black and very dark purple textures. . .

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The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 13

Finally! Jo finally got to a Charlie and Lola book in the teetering pile. Last night she read But Excuse Me That Is My Book - I would say it's my favorite but they are all equally awesome. I love the voices, the interplay between the brother and sister, the fun read-aloudability, and the terrific art by Lauren Child.

In this one, Charlie and Lola are visiting the library and Lola is upset because she can't find HER book - Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies - the one she checks out every time they go to the library. We all love this spread where Lola explains just why Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies is the best book ever.She loves the part where the beetles get stuck on their back with all their little legs waving around - just the scene that would appeal to Jo too. That image is echoed in this two-page spread later in the book, when Lola spots a girl checking out her book, but can't get out of the beanbag chair to stop her.

Pure genius! Charlie - the most amazingly patient older brother ever - eventually helps her find a new book that is just as good as her favorite, so all ends well. Jo and I both picked this one as our favorite of the night.

Alan was torn, but eventually chose Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott. I love all of his books, but I think this is my favorite. It's a great story with the perfect rhythm for reading aloud - and also terrific art. Look at the milky way in this scene!Jo also read Jazzy in the Jungle - a non-Maisy book by Lucy Cousins. The art is this book is terrific - and lots of fun for kids. All the pages are die-cut around the edges and have die-cut holes. The row of red flowers and the three palm fronds are the top edge of the next page to turn. When you turn the page that blue dot is revealed as a parrot's eyeball, and the back of that page builds a new composition on the left side of the book. It's really a marvel of engineering and so much fun for kids to pore over, but it's hard to describe - so just find a copy of the book and see for yourself.

Jo also read Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson with art by Jane Chapman - a lovely book, especially for springtime, and Alice the Fairy by David Shannon.

Read-a-thon total so far: 51 books read
Books culled so far: 9

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