An editorial query

For an upcoming article, we need to compile a list of children's and YA authors and illustrators, living or dead, who are/were vegetarians (don't ask; just subscribe!). Can anyone point me to any such verifiable persons?

From Cape Cod to Christmas

My mini-break at the Cape was lovely for all kinds of reasons, most notably the best ice cream I've had in a long time, at Four Seas in Centerville. I tried the chocolate, peppermint, peach and butter crunch--all sublime. Closes September 13th for the winter so hurry on down. Richard and I stayed just a block away at the Long Dell Inn, which went a long way in alleviating my suspicions of the term bed and breakfast. Nice bed, great breakfast, friendly innkeepers. Kept myself occupied each morning at the beach with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo while Richard one-upped me with Midnight's Children.

Oh yes, work: the writers' conference afforded me (and the attendees, I hope) a great six-hour discussion with Mary Lee Donovan, Debbie Kovacs, Alison Morris, Nancy Werlin and Martin Sandler about contemporary children's publishing, from the nitty-gritty of getting an agent to larger questions about the future of the market. Everybody seemed to think that we were not seeing enough picture books (the form, Mary Lee suggested, most likely to survive as printed book) and perhaps too much YA. Nancy wisely advised the audience to cover its ears when we moaned about the current depressing economic situation--since you need to write the book you need to write anyway, she said, discouraging words can only harm.

And I finally got to meet Mitali Perkins. Yup, she's tall.

Now the Christmas books are calling--I have to go write a review of Jim Murphy's forthcoming Truce, about the sadly ephemeral Christmas peace on the Western Front in 1914, for our Holiday Books feature. Ho-ho-ho.

May/June Horn Book Magazine

The May/June issue is out, bedecked with a pastelly portrait of Frances the badger digging into her bread and jam. Along with the articles you can read online--an interview with Sarah Dessen, Jack Gantos on booze and books, Janet Hamilton on science books--the print edition includes an essay by Linda Sue Park about food, glorious food in children's books with associated anecdotes by Lynne Rae Perkins and Peter Sis and a heartbreaking poem by Arnold Adoff; Lizza Aiken writing about her mother Joan; and writer Debby Dahl Edwardson on what raising children in the Arctic taught her about the who-can-write-what-about-whom debates. Caldecott Honor winner (and once co-conspirator with me in creating the perfect birthday present for Elizabeth) Melissa Sweet contributes the Cadenza, "4 p.m." Subscribe, already.

I felt like The Wicked Child

at the Seder last night, but, being a good goyische guest, I kept my smarty-pants moyl shut when someone talked about the inspiring "true" story about the quilts that mapped the way to the North for enslaved African Americans before the Civil War. It's a nice idea but, "Escaping tonight? Oh, let me sew you a map!" Please.

Blogging Bolognese

Just typing that, I'm hungry. I know things have been quiet 'round here; we're in the middle of our remodeling/move and my mind is perpetually elsewhere. But I have been keeping with with the Bologna Book Fair via Craig Virden's excellent posts over at PW; do take a look. And our faithful friend Elizabeth is there as well and I'm hoping she'll pop in with a comment.

Okay, what's for dinner?

March Notes

The latest issue of Notes from the Horn Book should or could be in your inbox now. Bon appetit, he says, already deep into laying out the May Magazine, which features an essay about food (and a recipe) by Linda Sue Park along with madeleines from Arnolf Adoff, Jack Gantos, Lynne Rae Perkins and Peter Sis.

Isn't this why they brought us blue M&Ms?

The New York Times has an article about parents making kids afraid of Oreos, but one nutritionist offers sensible advice:

All an 8-year-old kid should know is that he or she should eat a variety of colors, and don’t supersize anything but your water jug.

Happy New Year

With our best girls Charlene and Lori at Lorraine's in Provincetown last night. Ptown was hit by a blizzard yesterday so it was something of a haul getting to the restaurant but the streets sure looked pretty with the Christmas lights twinkling against the snow. I've discovered a problem with bringing lots of books on vacation--it's hard to settle on one. Currently I'm dividing my time between an audiobook of My Cousin Rachel, an ebook of an old Lisa Scottoline favorite (on my new iPod Touch--thank you honey) and Tana French's The Likeness. Hope you all are having an equally relaxing week.

Monday catch-up

--Claire has a new booklist of fairy tales up on our site.

--Cynsations interviews my pal Cathie Mercier, director of the terrific Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature, which includes among its founders Horn Book editors Paul and Ethel Heins, and for which I will be leading a seminar next summer.

--Mother Reader offers sixty-some suggestions for book-allied presents, like pairing a copy of Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek with a set of Lincoln Logs. If Santa is listening, I'll take a copy of A Little Princess coupled with a secret midnight feast delivered by a dark and handsome stranger.

Got the Horse Right Here

What interests me most about the new William C. Morris award for new YA writers is the presentation of a shortlist from which the winner will be chosen. While standard procedure for some children's book awards in other countries and for our own National Book Award, this is a new twist for ALA.

I'm of two minds but mostly I like it. The announcement of contenders allows librarians--and kids--the chance to invest themselves in the process and thus the award. It also allows for two chances of outrage, joining "they didn't even nominate X" to "they picked Y?!," that second chance currently the only one available to Newbery, Printz, etc. watchers. Outrage is good for an award and has kept the Oscars going for decades. (Go see Slumdog Millionaire, by the way.)

On the other hand, I've talked with NBA finalists and winners who hate the whole horse race aspect of the thing, disliking being put into competition with their peers and, frequently, friends. The thinking seems to be that literature is meant for better things and finer feeling. We all know that the Oscars are essentially a sham, driven by politics and money as much as by sincere regard for a film's achievements, and are happy that, whatever their failings, the ALA book awards are largely free from such pressures. (Yup, they are.) The knowledge that one of a certain five books is going to win an award makes the whole publisher's-dinner drama (that's not a post in itself, it's a chapter. Of my memoir.) at ALA more suspect than usual, yes? Luckily, the stakes are small.

Is It Worth Waiting for?

Claire has a new booklist up about food.

And don't forget, tonight I'll be moderating a panel with Susan Meddaugh, Susan Moynihan, Anita Silvey and David Wiesner to celebrate the work of James Marshall, artist and cook. Yummers!

Read and Grow Thin

The New York Times is reporting that reading a novel about weight loss can help you lose weight. I'd love to believe this. But don't.

New and new

The new Notes from the Horn Book should be in your inbox.

And Claire's latest list--Summer Reading--is up on our site. I think I should confess that I am hooked on Beach Blondes, wherein Summer has three hot dudes vying for her attention and a possible fourth who may be her long lost big brother. For me, it's the kind of book that goes great with a sandwich but is completely stultifying if I'm not simultaneously chewing.

Because fried potatoes go with everything.

Becky's Book Reviews led me to the Grasping for the Wind blog and this seductive challenge: to read "5 books you think will challenge your thinking about any topic." My first thought was to reach for a book by Ann Coulter, but then I realized that, if properly taken up, the challenge is subtler than that. After all, I don't think reading a book by Coulter would seriously challenge my thinking, and it would be only lip service to equal time. So what will it be? What book could make me seriously consider the arguments for atheism, creationism, the death penalty? Which one could talk me out of my aversion to Westerns? What would convince me to believe in astrology? Who could make marine biology interesting? That Stephen King is not a hack? That hamantashen are better than latkes?

Hungry?

Then get on over here for information about Simmons College's Center for the Study of Children's Literature's 2007 Summer Institute, Food, Glorious Food, held July 26-29. I've participated in several of these events and they are always enlightening, spirited, and impeccably managed. PLUS: Susan Bloom, Professor Emerita of the Center and I believe still mistress of the Institute, is one fabulous hostess and chef, and you know, given the theme, that she will be forced to outdo herself. So come for Alice Hoffman and stay for the cupcakes.

For those with more than a weekend's time on their hands, Deborah Stevenson, editor of the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, will be leading the summer graduate-credit course that leads up to the Institute. Deborah is the smartest person I have ever known, and the fact that she will always be two steps ahead of your question before you've even asked it should not deter you from taking this class. She's as funny as she is formidable, too.

One more point re food, children's literature, and Deborah. When we worked together at BCCB, Deborah figured out exactly what kind of book I liked to read while eating my lunch. I would hear her call "lunch book!" while waving a galley at me from across the office. I was thinking about this last week while watching a Law & Order re-run and eating pretzels. It was a good episode, and one I hadn't seen before (murder among Iraqi emigre caviar dealers), but as soon as I ran out of pretzels, I ran out of interest, too. It's the same with lunch books: they are books I can read only when I'm eating. As soon as I'm done eating, whammo, I'm done reading. It happened recently with a new Alias-knockoff teen paperback original. I guess it has to do with how much attention a book requires, and it explains why people who watch TV get fat--there's nothing on that would get between me and my food.