Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

One of my wee daughters is slightly ill, and I don’t have as much time this evening (Sunday) to devote to doing up today’s Robert’s Snow schedule all pretty with some gorgeous snowflake from a previous year. I have just about enough time to merely post today’s schedule — and add my usual comments: Don’t miss yesterday’s great features, and don’t forget this page with the master schedule of all the features thus far. Enjoy today’s features. Until tomorrow . . .

Monday, November 5, 2007:

• Anna Alter at The Longstockings
• Laura Huliska Beith, featured by Andrea and Mark at Just One More Book!!
• Cece Bell, featured by Jo Whittemore at Jo’s Journal
• Denise Ortakales, featured by Cynthia Lord at cynthialord’s Journal

{Note: Please see the post below this one for today’s Robert’s Snow schedule and an ’04 snowflake that will take your breath away}

Jules: So, a while ago I read this intermediate-aged book called Billy Hooten: Owlboy (Yearling; released in July of ’07). Have you read it yet? It’s good stuff, the first book in a fantasy-comedy series for children, all about a misfit kid who becomes an unlikely superhero. Billy Hooten is what most people would call a nerd and gets picked on a lot at school. But after he tries to help someone in need in the cemetery bordering his back yard, he stumbles upon bizarro, creature-ridden Monstros City, which lies underneath Billy’s hometown of Bradbury, Massachusetts. When he finds out that, indeed, the residents of Monstros City believe him to be the next Owlboy — their revered superhero and the protagonist in a beloved, old-skool comic book series — he has to determine for himself if he can live up to the name.

Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, wow. Look at that snowflake.

As you know, a whole ton of bloggers are featuring some of this year’s snowflakes and their artists in this Blogging for the Cure effort, which is over half-way complete, for Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure. I committed to featuring each day’s schedule here at 7-Imp, and — since I can’t stand to post without images — I started posting pictures of older snowflakes. Then I started posting images of ’07 snowflakes that were not assigned to a blogger. But, the last time I checked, there weren’t any more not already featured or assigned to a blogger (if any illustrator out there reading this isn’t already assigned to a blogger and wants to send me your snowflake image, I’ll be happy to post it one day). So, now I’m back to posting images of older flakes, and I just stumbled upon this ’04 snowflake by Jane Yolen, which brought tears to my eyes. Here’s the note under the snowflake at the Robert’s Snow site:

Grace was sitting in Jane’s living room, meeting for the first time, and showing her the first dozen snowflakes. They had bonded immediately, and not just because they are children’s book people. Both their husbands were struggling with cancer, though 30+ years apart. Jane sighed. “I wish I could paint. I’d do you a snowflake in a heartbeat.” Grace smiled, “Write a poem. I’ll get someone to calligraph it.” And so it happened. Not in a heartbeat. Poems don’t happen quickly, but with plenty of heart.

I. love. that. Be still, my heart.

Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule. Read the rest of this entry »

{Note: Please see the post below this one for today’s Robert’s Snow schedule}

Some of you may have read about this already at A Fuse #8 Production this week, but we’re going to post the same content, as passed on to us from author Rose Kent. Here is an announcement about November being National Adoption Month, in the words of Ms. Kent:

Read the rest of this entry »

Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule.

The snowflake pictured here is an ’05 one, “A White Chanukah,” created by Ann Koffsky. Ann’s ’07 snowflake, “Jerusalem, City of Peace,” can be seen here in Anne Boles Levy’s feature of it on Tuesday of this week at Book Buds.

Did you see yesterday’s features? It was a good day for illustrators talking about their art-making processes in several interviews, including Jeremy Tankard at the excelsior file and Sara Kahn at Kate’s Book Blog. (And did you know that Kate Messner at Kate’s Book Blog is a middle school English teacher and that her students are collaborating with her on her series of illustrator profiles? They ask some good questions of their illustrators).

And remember Betsy Bird’s feature on Thursday of Meghan McCarthy’s ’07 snowflake? Well, yesterday she showed us the box Meghan made in which the snowflake will be placed. Look at that thing! Wahoo!

Saturday, November 3, 2007:

• Susan Miller, featured by Paula Willey at Your Neighborhood Librarian
• Ellen Beier, featured by Adrienne Furness at What Adrienne Thinks About That
• Hideko Takahashi, featured by Pam Calvert at The Silver Lining
• Judith Moffatt, featured by Jo Whittemore at Jo’s Journal
• Wendell Minor, featured by Elaine Magliaro at Wild Rose Reader

Don’t forget this page with the master schedule of all the features thus far.

{Note: Please see the post below this one for today’s Robert’s Snow schedule (and a Poetry Friday snowflake if we ever saw one)}When Jules and I were gestating this little blog idea, we tossed around a few ideas for titles and designs, but we kept coming back to Alice. She’s the perfect symbol for what we’re trying to do here, because we’re adults, reading children’s and adult books; and Lewis Carroll’s books can be enjoyed on different levels by children and adults. Also, Alice is one of those characters that Jules and I (and I know we’re not alone) fell in love with as children, really identified with her – her curiosity, her frustration with pointless rules, her ability to see the pointlessness of a lot of adult behavior – in a way that stayed with us as adults.

And when my husband and I watched Mirrormask the other night, we started talking about something I’m going to call The Alice Motif: that pattern that repeats itself over and over in children’s books, where a girl is transported to another reality, and has to figure out how things work there, forge alliances, and complete some kind of quest before she’s allowed to go back home. I’m pretty sure it began with Alice, and then continues with Dorothy, Meg, Coraline… etc. The male version is different: a boy is transported to another reality and takes on a quest, but usually it’s linked to discovering the secret of his own identity, in a version of the Arthurian/Joseph Campbell/Heroic Epic motif: Frodo, Taran, Will, Harry… and so on. The Narnia Chronicles are a notable hybrid, in that they combine male and female protagonists; and also because of the way they merge the concept of the identity quest with the protagonists being able to go back and forth between the realities. The only “classic” children’s book I’ve been able to think of with a male protagonist following the Alice motif is James and the Giant Peach. Anyone else have a suggestion?

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, Alice is THE icon of children’s literature for a lot of us, and means a lot to me (and Jules) personally for being a gateway drug into literature in general. We pay homage to that with the title and header image here at 7-Imp. So when I saw this posted as a featured poem on the Poetry Foundation’s website, I knew I had my Poetry Friday pick.

“And as in Alice”
by Mary Jo Bang

Alice cannot be in the poem, she says, because
She’s only a metaphor for childhood
And a poem is a metaphor already
So we’d only have a metaphor

Inside a metaphor. Do you see?
They all nod. They see. Except for the girl
With her head in the rabbit hole.

Click here to read the rest.

*Edited to add: The Poetry Friday Roundup for this week is at Mentor Texts, Read Alouds and More, and it is fabulous. Check it out.

Below is today’s Robert’s Snow schedule.

Today’s ’07 snowflake by Alissa Imre Geis, “Hope in Winter,” was already featured this past Monday by Elaine Magliaro at Wild Rose Reader. But, since it’s so beautiful and has some verses by Emily Dickinson on it, I figured it’d be a fitting Poetry Friday snowflake today. Go read Elaine’s feature to learn more about Alissa, the snowflake, and the auction dates for bidding on that beautiful work of art.

Friday, November 2, 2007:

• Tracy McGuinness-Kelly, featured by Sam Riddleburger at his blog
• Sara Kahn, featured by Kate Messner at Kate’s Book Blog
• Sylvia Long, featured by Emily Beeson at Whimsy Books
• Jeremy Tankard, featured by David Elzey at the excelsior file
• Holli Conger, featured by Josephine Cameron at Please Come Flying

Did you see yesterday’s features? I think Elizabeth Burns at her feature of Diana Magnuson’s beautiful snowflake put it well when she wrote:

You know the problem with all these snowflakes? It’s like books. Every time I look at a new one, I go, “oh, THIS one is my favorite! This is the one I must own!”

Probably a lot of you are nodding your head right now. Word, Liz.

Don’t forget this page with the master schedule of all the features thus far.

I’ll close today with Cheryl Klein’s mantra, which she posts at all her snowflake features: FIGHT CANCER! BUY SNOWFLAKES! YEAH!

{Note: Please see the post below this one for today’s Robert’s Snow schedule}

For our final post over at ForeWord Magazine (we’ve been guest-blogging all month and have enjoyed it), we offer a co-review of Haven Kimmel’s latest novel, The Used World (Free Press; September 2007; review copies), which is made of awesome-ness (that’s not a very eloquent way to describe an eloquent book, but it’ll have to do for now). Eisha and I adore Haven’s books, and if you do, too, head on over to this week’s “Shelf Space” column to read our co-review, if you’re so inclined. We may — at a later date — post the co-review itself here at 7-Imp, but for now if you want to read it, you’ll have to click once. That’s not too much effort, no? Enjoy.

Here’s a zippy-quick post about the Robert’s Snow schedule for today. Hey, I’m typing this on Halloween night and am mostly tricked-and-treated out, so it’s a bit shorter than my usual posts.

Thursday, November 1, 2007:

• Karen Lee, featured by Stephanie Ruble at sruble’s world
• Diana Magnuson, featured by Elizabeth Burns at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
• Melissa Iwai, featured by Cheryl Klein at Brooklyn Arden
• Victoria Jamieson, featured by Gina Ruiz at AmoXcalli and at Cuentecitos
• Molly Idle, featured by Alyssa at The Shady Glade
• Meghan McCarthy, featured by Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production

Did you see yesterday’s features? They were all fabulous. Who made me laugh out loud when he said, “I have always been terrified of snowflakes. I distrust their uniqueness and they way they lurk”? You’ll have to read all the features to find out.

Excuse my hasty post. As I am every day, I am filled with much gratitude for all the bloggers doing these features, and I thank them all. That’s my story for today, and I’m stickin’ to it.

{Note: Please see the post below this one for today’s Robert’s Snow schedule}

Jules: Happy Halloween! I am starting this post, to which Eisha plans to add some comments. And let me tell you that when she sees this image, she just might kill me. It’s taking a great deal of courage for me to post it to begin with.

That’s an image from the Bell Witch legend, a story, according to that link, which is “America’s Greatest Ghost Story.” Or so says Dr. Nandor Fodor, a researcher and psychologist. Or, if you grew up in middle Tennessee, it’s the “One Story That Will Scare the Holy Utter Crap Out of You for the Rest of Your Life,” or so say bloggers Jules and Eisha. The image you see there (in the public domain) is an artist’s sketch of Betsy Bell. Perhaps the most widely-used “Bell Witch” photo in existence, it was created in 1893. (The printing plates were made by Sanders Engraving Company out of St. Louis, MO and were used for M.V. Ingram’s 1894 book, An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch).

And as for the book cover image below and what it has to do with the Bell Witch, well, I’ll get to that in a moment.

If you saw the movie “American Haunting” last year, you may know the basic story of the Bell Witch. Author and historian Pat Fitzhugh will tell you everything you need to know about the legend at this site (and, specifically, on this page). Here’s the basic summary, as found on this informative Wikipedia page: “The Bell Witch is a ghost story from American Southern Folklore. The legend of the Bell Witch, also called the Bell Witch Haunting, revolves around strange events allegedly experienced by the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee, in 1817–1821.” And this might help (from this site), which will tell you a bit more:

“The spirit identified itself as the ‘witch’ of Kate Batts, a neighbors of the Bell’s, with whom John had experienced bad business dealings over some purchased slaves. ‘Kate’ as the local people began calling her, made daily appearances in the Bell home, wreaking havoc on everyone there. People all over the area of soon learned of the witch and she made appearances, in sounds and voices, all over Robertson County.

The ghost became so famous that even General Andrew Jackson decided to visit. He too experienced the antics of the witch and his carriage wheels refused to turn until the witch decided to let them.” Read the rest of this entry »