Potter Party Pics! :-)

Last Friday my mom hosted a Harry Potter party at her library.

Here's what we saw in the lobby.


My sister and I decided to go as brothers:


One kid said to us, "Nice hair! Who are you?"

We put our heads together and said, "Ummmm, what do you think?"

He said,' OH! Right! Which one's Fred and which one's George?"

We kind of had to fight over it, given what happens in book seven.

Here's one of the other moms as Professor Sprout.

Isn't she great??

We each got sorted into houses with a real sorting hat!


I was Ravenclaw. Very relieved I didn't get put in this house:

(My sister and son weren't so lucky.)

Here's my mom as Madam Hooch.


We played Quiddich inside with a balloon and feather dusters. Believe it or not, it got kinda ugly! Professor Sprout pulled my hair off! My my house still tied for first!

We also had to take OWL's. I think my house tied for second place. And then, we had a scavenger hunt for the Sorcerer's Stone, which involved visiting Moaning Murtle's bathroom.

After the house cup winners were announced (my house tied for first! yay!) and the prizes were given out (Burtie Botts Every Flavor Beans), we had some refreshments.

Owl droppings:


Olivander's wands:


And Aragog's babies:


It was such a fun night. I was so impressed with all the kids' costumes and the way my mom put it all together. Hopefully she'll have another party this summer to kick off the final movie. I'm sure there will be tears. Do any of us really want to let go of the magic?

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Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Write to the prompt, "I knew it was finally over when..."

She's here!

It seems so early, since the book doesn't come out until July.

And yet...

PEARL is here!

And the best part? This is my first book my son is old enough to read! (Along with his very patient cat.)

On the back:
 

"Meet Pearl and Henry: misfits, best friends,
and—possibly—one another's first love."
Henry Holt, July 19 (ages 12 and up)

I'm hoping there will be ARCs available at NCTE/ALAN, which (holy cow!) is in just a few weeks! Will you be there? I'm not scheduled to do any signings but I'll be around to meet up. My workshop is on Monday at 12:30. I am determined NOT to let my nerves ruin the weekend. Ahem. *plans escape to the Wizarding World*  :-)

Hoping it will get better

Since I am home all day and no one can see me, this is me today,
thinking of Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg,
Raymond Chase, Billy Lucas and all the other children we've lost.


I wish we could have made it better for these kids before it was too late.

I hope we can all work to make it get better for the young people out there who feel the pain of bullying every day.

It has to get better now, not someday.

LGBT youth in need of immediate help should contact The Trevor Project's 24/7 Lifeline at 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386) or The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To read some thought provoking comments on The Contemps blog yesterday, visit HERE and read the comment section. Lets keep this conversation going. Thanks.

Parties books and more parties :-)

1. Congratulations to Barry Golblatt on his TEN YEAR AGENCY ANNIVERSARY!
Wednesday afternoon, Cindy Faughnan and Robin Wasserman were my trusty co-pilots on a mad-cap drive to Brooklyn for the party. We were pretty late, but we were thrilled to make it in time for the toast. Here are a bunch of people listening to Barry give a fantastic speech about his journey:

Thank you, Barry for all you do. It's amazing to think about all the dreams you've helped come true. Here's to many many more!

It was really fun to see Barry's clients outside of "retreat" mode. I made the dopey comment that it was fun to see everyone dressed, by which I meant in fancy clothes, but some people took it the wrong way. Oh well! ;-P

Here are two of my favorites, Sara Ryan and Dan Poblocki.


And here are Sara, Cindy and Me. Cindy just signed with Joe Monti! YAY!!!!!


2. PEARL is coming in July!!

It does seem like SOOOOOO far away, but it's nice to know an actual pub month! :-)

3. While in NY, I also signed the contract for SEE YOU AT HARRY'S!

I was thrilled to see the book classified as "ages 10 and up." Middle school! Woohoo!!! I love middle schoolers! And finally my sister can stop saying, "When are you going to publish a book I can actually have in my library?" (She's a school librarian in a k-8 school) :-)

4. It's not too late to do the Banned Books Meme!

I was really excited to see this one yesterday. Thanks ! xo

5. Join the JoNoWriMo party!
This afternoon we'll be checking in at the community page and on Twitter with the hashtag #JoNoWritingParty All are welcome!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

Banned Books Meme-Time!

It's Banned Books Week!!!

A couple of weeks ago, The Hate Mongering Tart asked readers to send her photos of themselves reading their favorite banned book. Her posts were really fun and informative, which led me to think, HEY! More people should do this!

So, a little meme:

1. Go find your favorite banned book.
2. Take a picture of yourself with said book.
3. Give that book some love by explaining why you think it is an important book.
4. Post it to your blog.
5. Spread the word!



My favorite banned book is The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier.

The first time I read this book, I was in high school.

It changed my life.

This was the first book I read that I felt got it right. Understood. Saw. Knew why people did bad things. This book made me look at the "bad" people around me and see beyond what I was afraid of and look for the story that made them who they were. Human.

And then I began to look for that second story in everyone.

I began to stop making snap judgments about people. I began to wonder, "What's your story?" Why do you behave the way you do?

Instead of saying, "She's just a bully."  I started to say, "I wonder what happened to her."

I didn't know it then, but this book made me a writer.

It also made me more compassionate.

And while critics insist the book has none, it gave me hope.

I didn't care about or notice the swears, Mr. Scroggins.

I didn't care about the masturbation scene, Mr. Freeman.

What I cared about was how all those characters became who they became. I cared about how one character's actions could profoundly affect another. And even though in this book those actions were mostly for the worse, it somehow showed me that the opposite could be true as well. Jerry dared to disturb the universe. And I wanted to, too.

I didn't become a trash-mouth masturbating scoundrel after reading the book. (I know, I know, *laugh laugh laugh* that is a funny sentence).

No.

I became a more caring, compassionate person.

Books don't harm, people do.

So please. Go share a book and help make the world a better place.

:-)


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Monday Morning Warm-up:

Your turn!

What is the Opposite of Clean? Part II

You've probably heard that Laurie Halse Anderson's groundbreaking, life-saving book SPEAK is under attack again by a man who claims the content is pornographic because apparently all sex, even if its rape, is.

And you've probably read lots of blog entries defending Laurie's book and all books that deal with rape and other realities Mr. Wesley Scroggins would like us to pretend don't exist.

These entries have all been incredibly moving. But the one that is pressing most against my heart is Sandra Mitchel's post in which she heartbreakenly explains:

"And as I walked home, I cried- not because this man had just raped me. I cried because I was embarrassed, because I knew better than to talk to strangers, because it was my fault he did this dirty thing to me. I wasn’t going to tell my mother."

Can you imagine how a seven-year old girl came to the conclusion that what happened to her was dirty?

Ask Mr. Wesley Scroggins.

Ask the book banners.

Instead of thinking what happened to her was an act of horrific violence, her thought was that it was dirty. And she wasn't going to tell her parents it happened.

Three years ago, I wrote a post here called, What is the Opposite of Clean?" There was a great discussion in the comments.

I wonder if it's time to have it again.

I know the people who make "CLEAN BOOKS" lists are well intentioned. This is not an attack or accusation. It's a plea for all of us to think about the potential power of our words.

Couldn't we think of a better, more accurate term to describe books that don't contain sex or swears? Because I am very worried that the message, whether intended or not, is that any book that does not fall in this category contains something dirty. So it must be bad. It must be wrong.

And I wonder how that makes the 7% of girls in grades 5-8 and 12% of girls in grades 9-12 who have been sexually assaulted* and see these classifications in her school or public library feel about the secret she's keeping right now.

The opposite of clean is dirty.

When we hold books up because they are "clean" we're implying that there must be something wrong with or bad about the other books. And what does that tell these girls? There must be something wrong with or bad about you.

Words are powerful. Mr. Scroggins shows us that. Laurie Halse Anderson shows us that. And Sandra Mitchell shows us that.

Why can't we just call these books "sex-free" or "swear-free"?

Why can't we just be honest?

Thanks for listening.



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Monday Morning Warm-Up: Speak



*Statistics gathered from RAINN.org

Channeling my inner Rocky and cheering for brave librarians

Do you ever feel, sitting in the quiet, facing a mountain of work, the need for some theme music to get you pumped up?

That is me this morning. I need the Rocky song.

Some of you know I have been feeling kind of odd and uncomfortable about having my book, Lessons From A Dead Girl on the official American Library Association's "banned books list".

Shop Indie Bookstores

Well, recently, I have been feeling better about it. Because suddenly I am getting all of these Google alerts for the book. And they are not of the "this book is evil/perverted/sick/harmful/inappropriate" ilk.

No!

They are of the "Hey, this book is on the 'Read a Banned Book Challenge' and you should put it on your list so we can talk about it!" variety.

Yes!

And why this change? Because Banned Books Week is coming up and because there are these amazing librarians out there putting lists together to give these books some love and positive exposure by encouraging readers to put them on their to-read lists.



THANK YOU librarians, for taking on the book banners with humor, thoughtfulness and intelligence. Thank you for caring and understanding that talking about books that challenge our way of thinking about the world, about society, about secrets that shouldn't be makes us stronger, not weaker or more vulnerable. Thank you.

And thank you to all the bloggers who have joined the Lit Bites challenge to read and discuss these books!

While I'm not a fan of making books fight each other, I love that it can open discussion about both books. If you'd like to give Lessons From A Dead Girl some love (or the other book!), you can go to the Lit Bites "Book War" page where Living Dead Girl and Lessons are doing the Rocky thing. Go here and vote/comment. :-) Thanks!

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Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Write a cheer to get yourself motivated and post it in the comments so it can get me motivated too. :-)