Friday Five

It’s been a busy week, so I’m sneaking in under the wire with five quick things on a Friday…

1. SeaMonsters…  I had a phone conference this week with the editor for SEAMONSTER’S FIRST DAY, one of my picture books with Chronicle.  We talked about the illustrator sketches, which are so funny and awesome they make me bounce up and down a little every time I see them. Also, I love that my job involves having serious conversations about what a sea monster’s belly ought to look like.

2. Tractors…  I’m reading Marina Lewycka’s A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN, which is a book I probably would never have picked up on my own (because, really… tractors?) but the band director at my school recommended it.  That’s enough for me, since he is also the person who told me about Elizabeth Kostova’s THE HISTORIAN, Jean Hegland’s INTO THE FOREST, and another book, the title of which has eluded me, but it was gorgeous, rich, full of longing, and set in a circus in Venice.  Anyway, TRACTORS is turning out to be not about tractors so much as family and forgiveness, our weaknesses as human beings, and our strengths.  It’s making me laugh, too.

3. Audio Books… Confession: I am kind of an audio-book failure. I start listening with the best intentions, but Inevitably, I end up drifting off somewhere else in my mind, only to tune back in after several minutes have passed and I am hopelessly lost.  Until this week, when I popped in this CD during my drive to a couple school visits.

If you haven’t already heard people raving about Jandy Nelson’s THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, it’s a YA novel about a girl whose sister has died suddenly, and she finds herself feeling both crushed with grief and filled with passion for two different boys who fill totally different roles in the new life she’s trying to navigate.  It’s funny and sad and joyful, full of music, and life-affirming, and after I finish, I’m going to have to go get the print version, too, because I love it so much.

4. Number Four is a secret. Sorry. Forget I mentioned Number Four.

5. Vacation… My school’s spring break started today, so I’m  looking forward to a week of family, reading, and playing outside. I’m taking a bit of an Internet break, too, so the blog will be quieter than usual. I hope you have a great week, full of good books, good news, and sunshine.