A Mime in Times Square

I found this video clip where Dave Catrow talks about being an editorial cartoonist. It's kind of fun to see him live on video. I'm obviously thrilled to have him illustrating THE MIDDLE CHILD BLUES. To view the clip, click here. Yesterday my sister was giving me a hard time about writing a "middle child" book when I'm an oldest child. Well, let's just say that being the oldest child put me in the position of hearing all the middle-kid complaints, so I know them well. And, being a mother of seven means I've got five middle kids of my own. But hey, I HAVE written an "oldest kid" manuscript which is currently being evaluated by an editor, and I would love to write a "youngest child" story as well. We'll see if I get lucky enough to see them in print.

I was excited to learn that COOL DADDY RAT has been chosen as a 2008 “Blue Ribbon” Book by the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. It was one of twelve picture books chosen for the year. Click HERE to see the web page with the announcement. My editor at Putnam emailed me four pages of full-color illustrations by David Catrow for MIDDLE CHILD BLUES. They are fantastic. He’s very talented, and I’m so lucky to be connected to his great talent. I also received my official contract from Scholastic for SKELETON CAT. However, last week I learned that my editor (the one who acquired the manuscript and was so enthusiastic about it) is leaving to work for Hyperion. She’s not taking the manuscript with her; she’s leaving it with a different editor at Scholastic. So I’m waiting to hear from the new editor, and these transitions are always a bit scary. As an author you hope that a new editor will love it as much as the previous one did, and will have a similar vision. I’m confi

I’ve had a weird “blog writers block” going on. There’s so much to write about, I don’t know where to begin. It’s kind of like the state of the laundry in my house. Where do I start? I guess the answer is, somewhere, anywhere. Snow is back. Once again we’re slipping and sliding on the roads, scraping windshields, and finding that our van has slid down the driveway and is blocking the street. Winter. Yet, it’s also breathtakingly beautiful. There’s a quiet stillness at night that is so nice. I took some photos of my kids, all dressed up to play in the snow. My sons built an ice slide and used a cardboard box to surf down it. There are icicles on my back window. The children are MORE than ready for Christmas, but I am not. This is a wonderful holiday but a huge undertaking for a mom of seven. So many gifts to wrap. So many cards to send. So many cookies to bake. I ordered quite a few gifts on Ebay several weeks ago that still haven’t arrived. A little scary, but I’m ha