I'm with Mimi...

Want to know how to get me to go camping? This comic by Debbie Ridpath Ohi at inkygirl.com exposes my secret. Just remember to bring a generator for the outlet. Debbie never fails to crack me up with her clever comics. Thanks, Debbie!

Blog of the Week

I love reading the blogs of other children's authors. Something about reading blogs really appeals to my nosy -- ahem, I mean "curious" -- investigative reporter side. It's a bit like eavesdropping on a really good conversation, which we all know as writers, is simply "research," right?

Middle grade author Lisa Yee has a hilarious blog that I love to read. It's definitely one of my favorites. Not only does Lisa feature a TON of cool pictures on her blog but she also has a little stuffed Peep appropriately named "Peepy" who accompanies her on her adventures. It's so fun to see how a best-selling author -- we're talking Scholastic here, people -- spends her time. Maybe someday, that will be me... (Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?)

If you're not familiar with Lisa's work, check out her book, Millicent Min, Girl Genius. Like Lisa's blog, Millicent Min, is a heartwarming and hilarious book. Lisa also has several other best-selling books, including an American Girl book in the new Julie series, Good Luck Ivy. How cool is that?

Wisdom from Honest Abe...

Here's a great quote by Abraham Lincoln, a bibliophile after my own heart:

The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I haven't read.

Ahhhh... Summer Reading!

Whoa! How did the month of June roll around so quickly? I've been rather delinquent about posting lately -- I'll try to do a better job now that summer's here. Really. Honestly. I promise...

I took the kids to sign up for our library's Summer Reading Program the other day. They're all about the prizes, of course. My oldest is now considered old enough to be in the "teen" reading program (even though she's one month shy of her 12th birthday), and the grand prize is an I-Pod, so she's quite motivated and has had her nose stuck in a book just about every waking moment. Brings back memories of my summers as a kid in Chicago. My brother and I would ride our bikes through the park, past the White Castle, and stop at the library at least once a week -- the Scottsdale Branch is still there and looks exactly like it did when I was a kid! Deja vu! I would come home with a huge stack of books, which I devoured in a few days. Some of my favorite authors at the time were Beverly Cleary, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Mary Rodgers. (Her book, A Billion for Boris, was one of my faves.) I also loved reading the original Nancy Drew mysteries -- what girl didn't?

Children's and young adult literature has changed and grown so much since I was a kid; the number of options and genres available now is simply amazing. But one thing has stayed the same: Kids can still get lost inside the pages of a book and are only bound by the limits of their imaginations. And that experience can't be compared to any prize -- even an I-Pod! Hurray for summer reading!