Happy new year, and welcome to a perfect new-year baby

Here we are in Provincetown with friend Pam (other friend Lori was taking the picture), replete from days of Chex Mix and chocolate and Yahtzee, a game I thought I had mastered after years of battling AI opponents only to lose every time in this my first experience with the non-virtual dice variety. Also did some running and dipped into lots of books while only managing to complete one, A Taste of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell, overstuffed and a bit lurid, just right for vacation reading. My holiday movie-going was more systematic, and I finally got to see Hugo. (Eh, the book was better, the score was annoying, and I hate wearing those stupid glasses.)

And while my pal Elizabeth can never say anything less than rapturous about the literary, televised and film editions of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, I would have walked out of that one had I remembered to bring a book. Never have a seen a movie more tailored to people who were seeing it for the second time. I’ll stick with MI-5, which, in the episode we watched last night, got rid of two members of the team at one go. That’s how I like my TV: ruthless.

And congratulations to Walter Dean Myers, succeeding Katherine Paterson as our Children’s Book Ambassador. SLJ has a good interview with him; I had to roll my eyes when the NYT said “the choice of Mr. Myers represents a departure from his predecessors.” Considering that Myers is only the third person to hold the position, who wouldn‘t seem like a departure, particular since the first two (Scieszka and Paterson) are not exactly peas in a pod? But I think Walter is the perfect choice: friendly, personable, and omnivorously curious about the world and other people. He’ll be swell; he’ll be great.