Books for Kids: Valentine's Day

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Love is in the air! Since love is a commodity that parents store and share in unlimited amounts with their little one, Valentine’s is the perfect opportunity to remind them what love is all about. Have fun reading these books about what was at the origin of your little bundle of joy.

Do You Love Me? 
Written and illustrated by Joost Elffers + Curious Pictures
The eternal “do you love me?” question is one that’s easy to answer for parents but this book will help you give your answers a poetic and modern twist. Illustrated with computerized images, the short and easy text makes the book accessible to very small children while brushing reassuring topics of a child’s life. “Do you love me? Always, dear. Do you need me? Ever near. Would you leave me? Never ever.” If that were not enough, the cute characters will give you an irresistible urge to rub noses with someone very special.

Plant A Kiss
Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
This beautiful little book will have your heart grow double the size by the last page. The simple story of how Little Miss plants a kiss and watches it grow will delight young readers who will anxiously wait for the kiss to sprout from the ground. With funny rhymes and short sentences, the book is perfect for short attention spans but will be intriguing enough for older ones too. Tactile kids will love the textured and sparkly renditions of the kiss invading the pages. A must-have for your home library.

Snowy Valentine
Written and illustrated by David Petersen
When Jasper the bunny sets out to find a special Valentine’s gift for his sweetheart, he doesn’t realize his journey in their snowy valley will be full of surprises. Indeed, what makes a perfect Valentine’s gift? Could it be the box full of chocolate-covered flies coveted by the frogs? This charming book is an ideal bedtime story where your child will follow the adventures of this fluffy hero – to a wonderful Valentine finish.

Hugs from Pearl
Written and illustrated by Paul Schmid
Pearl loves to hug but hugging is a thorny issue for Pearl – she is a porcupine and when she hugs her friends, it’s always an ouchy hug. As a result, Pearl needs to refrain on her hugging impulses. What child wouldn’t feel sorry for the adorable Pearl? Fortunately she is as resourceful as she is lovable and the book will teach young children that any problem can be solved with creative solutions - even if it takes a little trial and error. Pastel-colored pages enhance the warm and fuzzy feeling of this story.

Amelia Bedelia’s First Valentine
Written by Herman Parish, illustrated by Lynne Avril
This new adventure of the spirited Amelia Bedelia as a little girl will have your children in stitches. Not literally of course, that would be Amelia Bedelia’s reaction. She heats up a Valentine’s card that says “you’re too cool” and she hits a friend who would like a little punch – in his cup. Ah Amelia Bedelia, you make us laugh with your ingenuity! If your child has ever taken an idiom literally or is about to face his first Valentine at (pre)school, this book is a perfect introduction and should answer all questions with a fresh perspective.

This review first appeared in the Golden Gate Mothers Group Magazine, February 2012, as the Books for Kids column. I've been writing gthis column since 2005 and now I'll post my reviews on Frog Mom as well.

Book review: "The Year of The Dragon" by Oliver Chin

Gung hay fat choy - Happy Chinese New Year! And not any new year, mind you. 2012 is the year of the golden dragon (which is my dad's sign) and I'm celebrating it with a book review. Last week we kicked off the Chinese spirit by seeing the Beijing Wushu Team perform an extremely acrobatic martial art show at Stanford University. My girls were excited to see one of the main actors of the movie The Karate Kid on the floor while I marveled at the hyper-flexibility (or absence of joints) of the performers. Now comes the book review.

Today is the actual Chinese New Year day and after moaning that they wished their school was closed, my girls perked up when I offered them this book: The Year of The Dragon by Oliver Chin. Last time we stopped at The Warming Hut they were literally drooling over it and I thought they'd enjoy a copy at home.

Review
Despite the title, Oliver Chin's The Year of The Dragon is not a traditional tale of the Chinese zodiac but rather a playful spin on the characteristics of a traditional Chinese zodiac animal. It is, in fact, utterly unconventional and that's probably why my girls like it so much. No big blah blah explanations, no cultural accuracy at all costs. Their main comment when looking at the book was "how cute" the dragon looked. They always fall for the big wide eyes. Well, that's precisely my issue. The dragon is cutesy, the emperor and empress of China are likable, and even the bad guys are good sports at the end. My point is, the book is sweet in the sweet/saccharine sense. Slightly too much sugar and not enough salt.

While I wished the plot had more bite to it, there are lots of elements that redeem the story. If your family wishes to learn about the Chinese zodiac, it's a good introduction to the dozen animals that represent the lunar new year in China. Take the dragon's adventures in this book. To win a boat race organized by the emperor of China, the dragon gets help from his friends the tiger, the goat, the rat, the pig, the ox, the snake, the monkey, the dog, the rooster, the horse and the rabbit. There they are all, all the animals of Chinese astrology, all united to help the main character win his quest. Kids will like looking for them on the pages. After all, isn't the dragon the mightiest animal of them?

"Remember, dragons are special." says the dragon's mother. "No one can soar as swift or swim as deep." The father dragon adds: "Who blows the winds? Who commands the rain? Who advises the Emperor? We do." This page alone could trigger afternoons of research at the library or online on the magical powers of dragons.

In this book, I also like how the dragon, usually represented as a master of the skies, becomes the hero of a boat race thereby showing off his aquatic skills and versatility over various elements. Earth, sky, sea - the dragon is apparently quite the multi-tasker. The story's little dragon is also a creative problem-solver and that's one quality that will have kids root for him.

Last but not least, the book's plot revolves around dragon races, a popular midsummer festival celebrated in many parts of the world. If you can find one near you, go see it and read the book before! It'll be an excellent and recreational tie-in. The San Francisco International Dragonboat Festival takes place in September each year. Now that I've described the book in more words that appear on the book's pages, I'll say this. Dragons are fascinating creatures for all ages, whether sweet or sour.

The book will be great for...
.... parents of babies born in 2012 or any of the other dragon years. Kids who love anything dragon. Kids who like reading an engaging tale of friendship and leadership in a Chinese setting. Little fans of Nickelodeon's  series T.U.F.F. Puppy for which Jennifer Wood (the illustrator) is an animation designer. Ages preschool through 3rd grade.

Details: The Year of The Dragon

• Interactive app: 3-D Peek'n Play Story App
• Book: 36 pages, Immedium Publishing, January 2012
• Written by Oliver Chin, illustrated by Jennifer Wood 

Frog Mom Note: I decided to review this title on my own, not because I received a complimentary copy (in fact I didn't and had to use my very own piggy bank). I just thought today was a good opportunity to review a book by one of the Bay Area's authors. 

Hugo: A Reading Contest for Kids of All Ages

Unlock the secret of reading

Update November 8, 2011: After two readers let me know they went to the Richmond branch and the Noe Valley branch where librarians were not aware of the contest, I investigated with the San Francisco Public Library this morning. It looks like all branches in San Francisco have received a packet with the entry forms and instructions but since the reading contest is linked to a promotion of the movie "Hugo", libraries can decide not to set it up. If you express interest at your local branch, they might decide that it's worth it. Regardless, you should call your local library to make sure they are participating. I thought that all public libraries were in on this but I was wrong. Happy reading anyway!

Initial post
Incredible news for our budding and experienced readers: kids of all ages can enter a reading contest until November 23, 2011 and enter to win prizes as exciting as a private screening of the movie Hugo for 100 people. When I say "kids of all ages" I mean it - even kids who can't read can participate if their parents will read a book to them. Now, my blog is not connected in any way to this contest but as a mom and a fierce book advocate, I was so elated about a movie contest getting kids to read books that I made it a point to share the news. Plus, the movie can't be all that bad - based on the award-winning Brian Selznick middle-grade historical fiction "The Invention of Hugo Cabret", it has been adapted on screen by Martin Scorsese. Nothing less.

Photo courtesy of San Francisco Public Library

Here is how I learned about the contest: hanging out at the library. Last Saturday at the West Portal library in San Francisco, I was in the room for kids with my 6-year old who was playing on the computer. Waiting for my husband to pick us up after our other daughter's soccer game, I was browsing the shelves for picture books when a green xeroxed paper caught my eye: "Unlock the Secret of Reading! Read and Win!" Oh, such a tease, I couldn't resist.

There was an illustration of an old-fashioned key. I read quickly for details and all I could find was "See librarians for details!" Obediently, to the librarian I went. Though the child librarian wasn't aware of the contest, another librarian at the front desk knew everything about it and brought me two entry forms with a smile. Gotta love the public libraries!

Here is what I found out and I would love it if you sent that to all families where you know children - especially boys. I keep reading that boys don't like to read and it'd be great if this contest could motivate a handful to get out of video games to pick up a book.

Rules of the contest (drum roll please):

• Go to your local library and find a small white entry form for the contest. At West Portal, it was by the check out machines. Your library might be set up differently. Good luck.
• 2 entry forms are allowed per child
• Fill in the info: child's name, city, contact details, library
• Turn the entry form over and write down the name of 4 books your child has read for the contest or 4 books that you have read to your child - no cheating! But I know kids love a good story so I'm trusting you on that one.
• The book can be any book but I'm thinking the phone book wouldn't be much fun to read - better ask your librarian for recs that are age-appropriate
• Return to your library and drop the forms in the little box before November 23, 2011. That's the day before Thanksgiving, in case you were wondering if you could drop it late. The answer is "not likely".



Book cover art

• Optional but recommended by Frog Mom: pick up The Invention of Hugo Cabret and read it before the movie comes out.

As soon as I explained all the contest rules and prizes at stake to my 3rd grader, she couldn't wait to get back home to start a book. This weekend she read Judy Moody: Around the World in 8 1/2 Days. This morning she picked up the copy of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief I had taken out of the shelves for her. She's completely stressing out about not finishing on time but I know she'll be OK. She's a total book-eater. My 1st grader is a lot more relaxed since she cannot read so she's asking me to read books to her.

At the end of the day, I told my girls it didn't matter whether they won or lost the contest because by reading the 4 books at home, they've already earned a right to watch the movie with me when it comes out. Win-win situation, I can't wait to read the book and see the movie myself!

Related events
Brian Selznick is currently touring the US for his new book Wonderstruck. I'm bummed I missed him in San Francisco last week. Try to catch him along the way, I bet he's fantastic.

Winners of the book giveaway: Best Hikes with Kids: San Francisco Bay Area

Frog Mom never, ever, hikes without chocolate. Photo by C.G.

Last month I wrote a post on my hiking guidebook for families Best Hikes with Kids: San Francisco Bay Area. In that post, I encouraged people to comment and talk about their favorite Bay Area trails with kids. In the meantime my book got a review in Bay Nature magazine, a blurb on Daily Candy, was part of a contest on SFKids and soon you should hear me on KQED give my Perspective on creepy crawlers. Seriously!

Now I've selected the 2 winners via randompicker.org and I would love to announce them today. Drum roll. The winners of my contest are ... Ammo and Nicole!!! These two lucky winners will receive by mail an autographed copy of my book - sorry I can't draw even when I try hard - and a bar of high quality completely delicious dark chocolate to motivate them to go hiking! That's because I've now included "dark chocolate, bittersweet please" in my list of must-haves for hikes. No less.

Now you may be curious, what Bay Area trails did people share that they like so much? Here is what parents had to say on Frog Mom:

• So far, my favorite place to hike with little ones has been the Zinfandel Trail at Picchetti Ranch in Cupertino. The trail is very short and leads to a pond with tiny frogs. 
• Our favorite hike is what we call "the ridge" and it is our favorite place to hike and walk the dog, in fact we go several times a week. You can hike for hours or just a quick 1/2 hr if that is all time allows. The kid highlights are: great views of the bay, grazing cattle, ponds in the spring (with frogs in various life cycle stages), lots of different routes and lots of exploring. The hike is actually part of Wildcat Canyon and the trail we call "the ridge" is actually off the belgum and san pablo ridge trail. Here is the link. 
• Bernal Hill was our first "hiking excursion" and we're branching out.
• My favorite bay area hike is in the Presidio.
• My husband and I have different favorite hikes with our 3 year old. I love hiking up over the beach/cliffs at Marin Headlands. My hubby takes our son to the Mary Bowerman Trail at the summit of Mt Diablo almost every weekend (I'm expecting so not hiking so much right now!)
• My girlfriends and I hike weekly with our kiddos - usually at our favorite Wunderlich - shade from Redwoods and Eucalyptus keep the moms happy and the awesome burned out old growth Redwood tree is always a win with the kids.

Obviously if you don't have my book yet, you should get yourself a copy right now. According to my husband, it almost reads like a mystery novel. Yes, it's that thrilling, take it from a reliable source. Aw, ok, it's not quite The Game of Thrones but it'll help you get fitter and the kids will become total creatures of the trails. How's that for thrilling?

Thanks so much for participating and stay tuned for more Frog Mom fun!

Best Hikes with Kids, San Francisco Bay Area: My Book is out!

At The Warming Hut holding my book! Photo by Becky

Taking notes at Pirate's Cove. Photo by C.G.

Last year brought to me an incredible adventure and it's about time I write about it because the result is now out in book stores. In late January 2010, a freelance editor contacted me. The Mountaineers Books, a Seattle-based outdoors publisher, was looking for an author to write a new "Best Hikes with Kids: San Francisco Bay Area." The editor had come across my blog Frog Mom and wanted to know if I was interested. Interested? More like eager - I loved the idea! The original 1992 book by Bill and Kevin McMillon had been updated in 2002 and needed a new version. As I had the book on my shelves, I read it cover to cover and turned my hiking brain on.

By late February, I submitted 3 sample hikes, a table of content with 90 hike destinations (mostly different from the original book) and a book proposal with ideas. Anxiously I waited and kept telling myself it'd be ok if they rejected me because I was not a published author and you can't always get what you want.

Hiking with my dad at Tennessee Valley.
Photo by C.G. 

Two weeks later, I received an official book offer and fell off my chair! When the contract came a month later by April, the deal was the following. The 65,000 word manuscript was to be submitted in September 2010 with sample maps for each hike, 140 digital photographs, an author bio and a table of contents. That gave me 5 months to explore, research, photograph and select 110 hikes in the Bay Area.

I had no idea where to start a book so I started by looking at a map of the Bay Area. OK, so officially the Bay Area includes 10 counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Contra Costa, Alameda, Solano and Santa Cruz. I decided to follow 3 rules.

Hiking at Stebbins Cold Canyon. Photo by Inga

First, I wanted my book to be fair to each county and represent the diversity of the Bay Area wherever you lived - not just for San Francisco families. That way, you could take the book with you on a day trip to Sonoma or a day trip to Santa Cruz and still find stuff to do. That meant popular Marin hikes would not be included but people would be able to discover the green side of Napa or Solano.

Second, I wanted to include sightseeing and nature facts sidebars because I love to combine trails and travel. Seemed like seasonal events would be cool additions too. Third and last, I wanted each hike to have specific kid appeal - animal farm, cool nature fact, animal migrations, historic buildings, famous children's books locations, shipwrecks, native American way of life, etc.

My brother and niece were at Ano Nuevo too! Photo by C.G.

On that basis, I started the actual "professional" hiking in March 2010. At the beginning I was hiking about 3 trails a week but the winter rains lingered well into spring and summer which meant I had to forego several days on hiking at a time  - which I dedicated to writing and research. When the weather dried up around June, I counted that I needed to complete 5 to 7 hikes per week to reach my goal. My goal was to hike 20% more than the final result so I could weed out 20 hikes and end up with 110 perfect hikes.

Goofing up with hubby at Uvas Canyon.
Photo by Olivier

By then my girls were out of school and I was glad I had selected their summer camps based on my hikes. Since I went on day hikes, I needed to be able to drop off my girls at camp in the morning, cover whichever miles I needed to drive to the trailhead, complete the hike while jotting down notes and taking photographs, eventually ask for families on the trail to photograph them and have them sign releases, maybe do a second hike nearby and rush back for pick up time at camp. I cannot count the number of times my girls were the last to get out of camp.

At the end of the summer, the hiking pace picked up as I saved the farthest parks for the last. Some weekends, I left my husband take care of my girls, left at 6am and returned at 8pm having covered 2 or 3 parks that day. Needless to say, I was in great shape. But in dire need of a new pair of hiking boots - 400 miles later, my shoes were neither waterproof nor mud proof.

Desperately seeking new boots! Photo by Frog Tadpole

At the end of the day, my family and friends all took turns volunteering to come hiking with us and the GGMG Magazine team outdid itself to contribute young hiking models and provide book support efforts. Thank you all!

Even my mom hiked despite a bad hip. Photo by Frog Mom

Come September 2010, I submitted my manuscript and it went through several rounds of careful edits until late spring 2011. I re-did some of the hikes to confirm details, I changed a couple hikes because of new information and I got serious headaches on non-accurate maps. Fortunately The Mountaineers Books team was tip top professional and Ben Pease the cartographer incredibly knowledgeable about the area.

Book signing at REI San Francisco. Photo by Christine

The book finally came out on August 12 and has been in Bay Area bookstores since early September 2011. It's 365 pages long and weighs 12.6 ounces - I couldn't help weighing it. You can get it on Amazon.com here or at your regular book store - if they don't carry it, encourage them to do so!

I did my first REI presentation in San Francisco on Wednesday September 7 and it went great. Here is a calendar of my upcoming events, until I manage to get myself a decent author website.

Upcoming Talks on Hiking with Children and Bay Area Trails
- Wednesday September 14, REI San Carlos, 7-8.30pm
- Wednesday September 21, REI Concord, 7-8.30pm
- Monday October 24, REI Saratoga, 7-830pm
- Tuesday October 25, REI Fremont, 7-8.30pm

I also have a healthy snacks cooking class in the works (exciting!) and more author events in store. I'll post details as soon as I have them. If you know of a good place to hold a talk or a book signing, please contact me by email at frogmomblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Zee book!

Giveaway
To celebrate my book, I'm organizing a giveaway for 2 lucky readers! It's easy. Write about your favorite Bay Area kid trail in this post's comments and you'll be entered to win. Double your chances by commenting on the Frog Mom Facebook page and by referring friends to Frog Mom - tell them to mention you referred them in their comment.

Deadline: September 30th, 2011. 5pm PST

The winner gets an autographed book from me with a special surprise and I'm not tellin' what it is before the end.

To the question "What do we do now?" in the movie Rango, the main character always answers "We ride!"

I say,

"We hike!"

Book Giveaway: The Nature Principle

It's time for my first giveaway on Frog Mom, the first of a new era! After the great feedback I got on my Conversations with Richard Louv on Children and Nature, I contacted the editor of the book and I was lucky to get 2 copies of The Nature Principle to give away to my readers. Yay for Algonquin Books!

To win this great book, simply leave a comment on this post on the following topic: what is your favorite nature memory as a child?

You can increase your chances by leaving a comment on my Frog Mom Facebook Page (don't forget to like it too!) and encourage your friends to participate. If they say you sent them, you increase your chances again. That's like, the over-the-top increase!

I will randomly pick a winner from the comments left by Sunday, August 28 at 10pm Pacific Standard Time. I'll announce the winner in my post on Tuesday the 30th.

OK, no one likes to take the first dance so I'll start. I was about 8. We lived in New Caledonia and my family flew for the weekend to a small island called Ouvéa. We stayed in beach bungalows with roofs of woven coconut leaves. Well, just before dinner one night I was swimming in the lagoon and found a purple seashell buried in the sand. I couldn't believe how smooth it was, how shiny it looked in the setting sun. So withdrawn in my daydreaming I didn't see a wave coming and ... away floated the seashell. It quickly sank. I poked around in the sea until it was dark but never found it. It's my favorite nature memory as a child because all my senses were wide awake on that evening. The warm temperature of the sea, the rainbow colors of sunset, the lulling sound of crashing waves, the salty taste of the lagoon and the smell of the dinner's barbecue ashore. It was a full on sensory experience and I still remember it fondly. That purple seashell found a better home than my bookshelves.

Now, what's your favorite nature memory as a child? It may seem obvious but don't comment anonymously - I won't be able to contact you and announce the winner. Good luck to you all!

Bodie, Ghost Town, Turns 150

Feels like it's 1859. Bodie, the largest unrestored ghost town in the USA, is blowing 150 candles this Saturday August 8, 2009. It's not everyday you can celebrate a 150th anniversary in California, so grab your camera, get in the car and cross the sierras!

As I write this, a severe storm is moving in from the Central Valley and some wild weather, including snow, is expected above 8500 feet today and tomorrow. Bodie is situated in the Basin Range east of the Eastern Sierras at 8,375 feet, between Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe - a perfect location for freaky weather. However, the storm will have moved out by late Friday and if you are lucky, you'll snap a rare August shot of Bodie with snow patches.

On the Endangered Parks List Why go now to Bodie, why not wait til the fall? Sadly, Bodie State Historic Park is on the list of 100 parks that may close due to the California budget drama and the good or bad news will fall after Labor Day.

Saturday August 8 Highlights Saturday's big event will also feature exceptional "behind the scenes" opportunities:

- some buildings that are usually closed will be open, such as the church or the firehouse

- Friends of Bodie members will be treated to a night of entertainment in the city after hours.

How cool is that? "We're expecting 2,000 people," says Terri Geissinger, director of the Friends of Bodie non-profit. Get there early to get a good parking spot!

A Walk Through History When we went to Bodie in July (right after my swim across Tenaya Lake), Bodie was buzzing with visitors and the temperature reached the mid 80s, making the sun nicely bearable. Indeed As you walk down the streets, city map in hand (get it, it's worth it), the remains of Bodie's troubled past unfold before your eyes. Gold was discovered here in 1859, ten years after the Gold Rush. The town boomed and thrived, boasting a population of 10,000 people by 1879. So wicked were the citizens of Bodie that a little girl whose family was taking her to the infamous and remote town, wrote in her diary: "Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie." The mine was up on the hill, a small gaping hole leading to a labyrinth of tunnels and shafts in the mountain. A riveting 65 saloons feasted on the miners' hard knock lives, offered social relaxing opportunities - and late-night fights and murders. Why, this was a real Wild West town.

However a vein of gold only lasts for so long and by 1912, the last newspaper was printed. In 1942, the post office closed. Twenty years later, only 10 people still lived in Bodie and the vandalized town was declared a California State Park.

Arrested Decay Of a Ghost Town What you see today is a ghost town in a state of arrested decay (see Rae Somarsono's Journey through Bodie photo gallery to judge of the place's beauty), not a restored ghost town with a theme park flavor like Calico Ghost Town. When you peek inside the houses, furniture, wall coverings and lightings will be just as they were when the last inhabitants departed. If a family dragged their oven in the living room and it decided to do without, well it might very well still be there. If the cupboards were left open after a last bowl of oatmeal, it'll be like the family left in a hurry ... only 50 years ago. The thin dust layer that coats the homes' interiors acts like a frame in time.

As we glued our faces to the windows of the school, our girls were thrilled to count the little desks and tried to decipher the neat cursive hand writing on the blackboard. Tom Miller's stable and icehouse bears witness to days gone by when ice would be cut off from local ponds during winter, and stored in sawdust to last through the summer.

A Gold Rush Chinatown Bodie's Chinatown offers a rare example of preserved mid-1800s Chinese town within a town, with a Taoist temple, opium parlors, boarding houses and gambling halls. The works. Other California examples of Chinese tradition include Weaverville's Josh House State Historic Park or the Sacramento Delta's Locke town.

Got Customers? The Boone Store & Warehouse's shelves are still waiting for clients to decide on the right brand of biscuit (in period tin cans) or the right shoe shine. Across the street, under the porch of the Wheaton & Hollis Hotel. are possibly the only inhabitants of Bodie: caked mud nests of sparrows with feathered mates peeping in and out of their holes. I could go on with a listing of jails, banks, carpenter shops, assay offices and other regulars of ghost towns. However to really take in the whole experience, you have to go there and stroll through the streets, trying to imagine life as it was.

Bodie in Books for Children One person who turned her creative juices about life as it was in Bodie into a children's book is Christiane Cassan Wiese. She co-authored Oliver and The Ghosts of Bodie with Allen Johnson, and illustrated it with her marvelous paintings. It's the story of a dog lost at night in Bodie and two children looking for him, wandering into friendly and not-so-friendly ghosts and memories. When I read the part about both children climbing into a silvery shining stagecoach at night with a mysterious lady in black, my girls shivered and huddled together. Quite an adventure. If you do decide to become a Friend of Bodie and attend the evening party on Saturday, make sure you read the book ahead to get a flavor of Gold Rush days. For another Gold Rush children's story on California ghost towns and how Redwood trees came to turn red, read Anne Isaacs' The Ghosts of Luckless Gulch. It is a fantastic read for children ages 6 and above, with eternal winter in a gold mining town and ghosts stealing fantastic creatures from a running young girl to make them slave away in the mine. Plus, Anne Isaacs is a gifted storyteller who excels in threading feisty yarns around American tall tales.

Epilogue Now back to Bodie. In two days the party will be over. You can still visit the town on occasion, but you won't get the costumed parade, the live music , or the costume rentals if you feel like dressing up. And if heaven forbid Arnold decides to close the city, you will have seen it in its arrested decaying splendor. There. Get the car keys. No public transit to Bodie.

NaPiBoWriWee: A Picture Book Writing Contest

You have until Thursday May 7 11.59pm PST (that's tomorrow night for you West Coast) to complete 7 picture books to honor the National Picture Book Writing Week initiated by Los-Angeles based author Paula Yoo. I just learned about the NaPiBoWriWee on Facebook through Chris Eboch today, at Day 6 of the 7-day contest. How's that for an incentive? Writing contests are great because they have the chopping block advantage. It's all about deadlines. I like the kick in the butt that screams "Come on now, stop procrastinating. It's writing time." News from Ms. Yoo's contest actually came on an auspiciously scribbly day. This morning at the DMV, I had to wait over an hour to ask for a car sticker. When I have that much time on my hands, writing is a therapeutic exercise. I took my notebook out of my bag and started scribbling away. I had been swimming in the rain at Brisbane's Community Pool so I started with a rainy rhyme: I went to swim under the rain, In the lovely city of Brisbane. Looked at it. What would Brisbane folks think of a rainy rhyme? While better than insane or plain, it's not as great as mane. Scrap the rain. I swam with Ben's hen in the city of Brisbane. A little absurdity doesn't hurt, but why exclude nearby communities? In the Bay Area, it's all about being local. I picked my brain until number B080 came up. I swam with Ben's hen in the pool of Brisbane. I surfed with Doug's frog in Pacifica's fog. I hiked with Paco's buffalo is San Francisco's Presidio. I biked with Mel's snail on San Rafael's trail. I climbed with Maddox's fox at Berkeley's Indian Rocks. I took Ming's red-winged bird iceskating at Santa Rosa's ring. Tough to find an animal that ends in -ing... Fortunately, B080 came up before I slaughtered Larkspur (that I wanted to rhyme with vulture) and Mill Valley (rhyming with osprey). Oh well. That's my notes of a DMV morning. And yes, I've completed a picture book manuscript today. It's called Bad Hair Day. With a title like that, I can already see it climbing the ladder of the New York Times' children's books best-seller list.

SCBWI: Spring Spirit - Davis Conference

The SCBWI Davis Conference 2009 has come and gone. It was a long day and as expected, I feel galvanized to keep on writing and keep on revising.

The carpool experience to the conference was great as I got to know author Mark Elkin (whose book comes out next spring with Tricycle Press) and author/illustrator Lea Lyon (pronounce "lea" as in "tea"), also coordinator for SCBWI San Francisco/South illustrator events.

The conference started with Diane Muldrow, an editorial director at Golden Books/Random House. With humor and perspective, she introduced the Little Golden Books series as an element of post-WW2 Americana (25 cents books anyone?) as well as a living books series to which many talented authors and illustrators keep contributing. As an example, she passed around several books amongst which the upcoming Ocean's Child by Trish Holland and Christine Ford, illustrated by David Diaz, a gem of a book whose lyrical text is beautifully illustrated with Inuit-inspired art.

Presenting several books in the series, she explained the "Little Golden" feel of a book: a lively book for children who are more interested by the crane down the block than fairies and elves, an exciting everyday experience that's new to a child. I'll certainly look at Little Golden books with a different eye now. Honestly until yesterday, I had no idea new titles were still published.

Ms. Muldrow was followed by Chris Eboch's presentation on virtual school visits, a most useful tool for authors/illustrators who want to stay home and offer school visits at lower costs. Better get used to Skype!

I was personally interested in Ms. Eboch's The Well of Sacrifice, a historical fiction novel on the Maya for ages 9-12 and bought a copy to read right away. Her upcoming series Haunted about ghosts also sounded intriguing.

Then, Sara Kahn presented on two German children's books museums (Troisdorf's picture book museum and Munich's international youth library), as well as Persian storytelling techniques.

There's no book conference without online talk now, so Linda Joy Singleton author of the Dead Girl series (and other paranormal series) talked about online book promotion. "This whole online world is keeping me out there," she said. As a matter of fact, she sells her books online, starting with a strong MySpace presence (more than 3,300 MySpace friends including fans of her books). She also blogs and following a recent trend in YA novels, created a book trailer for her book Dead Girl Walking. Yes, books like movies need trailers to attract the younger crowds.

Will picture books need animated trailers on Disney Channel or the Cartoon Network to attract book-savvy preschoolers? I hope not. Let books be books and let parents' voices fill the imaginary gap between page and text.

Next on the editor side came Kendra Levin, editor at Viking Children's Books who offered some heartfelt wisdom on the writing craft and the true inspiration of an author. Why do we want to write on a topic and why now? Being published feels nice, sure. However authors should also want to write the book because deep inside they have a story to tell. To overcome the writer's block, she advised to write a letter to a young person who really needs your book.

I found this very thoughtful. Book writing should not be about following trends and the big bucks (which, apparently, are a rare instance unless you're a celebrity like J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snicket).

She also compared the author-editor relationship to a love match, a feeling echoed by Nathan Bransford when it comes to the author-agent relationship. In short, take your time when choosing to work with one or the other.

Ms. Muldrow came back to speak as an author, as she authored a successful lift-the-flap board book called Mama, What's In There? where you lift a pregnant mama's belly to reveal her baby preparing for life. Aha! Now, that's a new concept.

A discussion ensued on what an author's voice is, a concept that's hard to explain. As I understand it now, the story is told through a unique person's perspective. If your character reacts as anybody else would in a given situation, then the character doesn't have a voice. There. Voice it, people!

Now I'm back in front of my computer and I feel partly depressed partly amped up. Breaking into (and maintaining yourself in) the children's book industry is no picnic. But my head is full of stories to tell, so I'll keep writing them until I'm actually paid not to write anymore.

SCBWI: Social Media Workshop for Children's Books Authors in Walnut Creek

Bay Area children's book authors Lynn E. Hazen and Susan Taylor Brown have their hands full. Between the two of them, they gather no less than 30 online presences. They are, like, crazy connected writers - which was the point of the drive to St Paul's Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek today. The message is clear: writers cannot just write, illustrators cannot just illustrate. They have to get online big time.

You thought a tweet and a Facebook wall were enough in your life besides your Linkedin profile, your IM and your Sunday afternoon blog? Not so.

Lynn and Susan told a crowd of writers and illustrators the ins and outs of (children's) literature-specific web tools such as BookTour, Children's Literature Network, Filedbyauthor, GoodReads, or JacketFlap. The idea, if I understand correctly, is to do the job a good PR person would do for you: get your work out there, promote yourself.

Some websites I knew, others I sure did not suspect, but now I'm looking at the list and pondering, "Hmmm, where do I get started?" My neighbors' consensus seemed to be the blog, the Web 2.0 interactive ever-ecolving gadget for the tech-challenged (cuz you don't even need to know the dreaded html to publish on a Blogger or LiveJournal pre-formatted blog).

OK for the blog, but what about? Apparently I was not the only one to wonder what to write in my blog. During the break, I was very happy to find Eve Aldridge, a fantastic woman I met at the New York Conference in January.

She was the person whose last name I could not remember and ordered a classic cocktail with Tara Callahan King and myself at The Campbell Apartment.

It was a great surprise to see her there, together with illustrators Kieren Dutcher, author Deborah Davis and another woman whose name I'll provide once she writes me an email. They were all wondering what to write about on a blog.

I mean, it's fine to write, but write about the writing process? What if you are an illustrator and don't produce an illustration a week? Blogging less than once a week is on the verge of lame these days. Take two writers blogs as examples and let's analyze the contents.

Lynn Hazen's Imaginary Blog is not so much about the writing process as about her published books, author appearances and media she appears in. As I'm not published in the field yet, I can scrap that angle. However once I am, Lynn's blog is a fun way to go about it.

Susan Taylor Brown's Susan Writes blog is closer to my idea of a blog on writing. It can be anything that catches her attention and writer's eye.

On that basis, I could write that I only take the time to revise my stories one evening on the night before my critique group, which means that I only work on my children's book manuscripts every other week. Not much of a practice, is it?

The rest of the time, I turn the words and the characters around in my head. Sometimes, they wake me up in the middle of the night.

"Hey, how about this instead of that?"

"Thanks, I was sleeping."

"Hey, don't go back to sleep. We just had a better idea."

"Quiet up there!"

It can go on for hours. Things slowly mature in my head and on D-day minus 1, I get on my computer and type away.

My critique group partner, Emile Duronslet Jr - who can never leave a pencil and a blank piece of paper alone, as the photo up there shows - writes every day. When he doesn't write, he draws away in his sketch book and creates characters for his stories or imaginary scenes straight out of his imagination.

Different techniques. Different results too. I got to get back to today's notes: where do I find that 25th hour to write on writing?

What Stacey's Taught Me: A Manifesto in the Defense of Bookstores

Stacey's is closing. Now you can even buy the fixtures of the octogenarian bookstore located at Market and Second Street. Saturday March 14, 2009 will sign the last page of a sweet turned sour love story between the bookstore and San Francisco's Financial District.

When I went there two weeks ago to stock up on young readers and chapter books, the shelves already looked right out of the post-Soviet era: two thirds empty, one third full of random titles in unpredictable numbers.

Stacey's falls victim to the economic crisis, sure, but didn't we all sign its death warrant by using Amazon.com in the first place?

It's like in that horribly bad movie with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks called You've Got Mail. The movie's corny at best but it sums things up pretty well. Small children's neighborhood bookstore thrives. Big bookstore opens around the corner. Small bookstore slowly abandoned by formerly loyal customers and authors. Impossible love hate story between big bookstore capitalist owner and small bookstore book-lover employee. The (happy) end. Except in Stacey's case, no white knight came to the rescue.

Amazon.com is easy to use. You don't have to go to it, it sneaks to you inside your home on your favorite companion - your computer screen. It jumps at you - more like - if you get blasted by regular marketing emails.

Check mate dear old Stacey's. The lunch-time author readings, the partnership with the Commonwealth Club, the gift-wrapping service on the mezzanine were not enough.

Is this the end of bookstores? Hopefully not, but it's a sure wake-up call to traditional bookstores. Guys, you gotta shake things up if you want to survive. Sadly, bookstores cannot just be bookstores anymore.

The Corte Madera illustrious Book Passage probably gets more revenue from its conferences, workshops and writing salons than from its book sales. Good thing they're friends with Isabel Allende too.

Other bookstores become community centers with books on the shelves. Last Saturday, I attended a small party at Red Hill Books for the second printing of Bernal Eats, a cookbook by the Bernal Heights community to fund the renovation of its library branch. I contributed two recipes and co-author Judy Shei (here on the picture) asked me if I could make one of them for the party. I obliged and brought three different jars of grapefruit marmelade.

It was sweet. There was live music by OctoMutt, kids running around, a buffet prepared by local families and a beaming employee of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. "We sold 250 copies of the book over the holidays and we'll probably sell another 100 today," she said.

Meanwhile, my husband was reading books on how to mummify your relatives to my Egypt-obsessed junior crew. Bookstores like that bring a lot more than book readings to a neighborhood.

Another great example is Cover to Cover in Noe Valley. It holds a special place in the San Francisco teen literati hall of fame: when J.K. Rowling toured the US to sell the first Harry Potter, the only stop she made on the West Coast was at Cover to Cover. There. Since then, the bookstore has organized late night pajama parties for the launch of each of the books of the series.

As Noe Valley is stroller heaven in the southern part of the city, they also have a very good selection of children's books with - my favorite part - a small wooden house in the kids section where children love to hide and play while parents browse. Storytime every Friday. Cover to Cover also delivers free of charge to Potrero Hill, Noe Valley, the Mission and Bernal Heights. Now, are you convinced?

Now, what have I learned from Stacey's slow funeral? Last Friday I was eavesdropping at the office in the kitchen. Two guys were talking loud. They wanted to see the movie "Watchmen" but anticipated disappointment as they so much loved reading the comic book. One guy particularly talked about his hardcover edition from his teenage years.

It made me want to read the book. That same afternoon, I logged on Amazon.com. I selected two hardcover copies (one for my husband, one for my older brother). I hit "Checkout", selected a credit card and was about to hit "Send" when I thought about Stacey's.

I deleted the screen, found the website of Cover to Cover, and emailed them my order. "You'll have your books by Tuesday," they replied that night. Fine, I could wait. No hurry.

Today I dropped by. My girls played in the little wooden house while the bookseller wrapped the books. I felt relieved. Phew! I almost used Amazon.com again. Books don't belong in virtual reality. They need shelves, papery neighbors and above all, a good bookseller who knows his books better than a librarian. Hopefully other people will start using their bookstore not just as a place to browse through books you order later online, but as a place to buy books.

And why not, knitting or book club places too? Now, if only San Francisco saw wine bars/bookstores like in Paris La Belle Hortense, wouldn't that beat any online experience?

New York - Morgan Pierpont Library & Museum

How would like to see Le Morte d'Artur by Sir Tomas Malory, a 1470 manuscript compiling for the very first time the adventures of the legendary (and historically debated) King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?

Or the handwritten 1665 original of the blind poet John Milton's Paradise Lost? Or the handwritten 1695 original of Charles Perrault's Les Contes de La Mere L'Oye, the mother of all Mother Goose rhymes?

These treasures - and there is really no other word for them - are part of the extraordinary collection of the Morgan Pierpont Library in New York.

Before going to New York, I asked for some advice from an online network called Works For Me (a Yahoo! group for working mothers). Someone suggested I check out The Morgan Pierpont Library.

She said: "A great place to visit is the Morgan Library & Museum located at 36th & Madison, just 6 blocks from Grand Central. It was the former Morgan Family Robber Baron's house and was turned into a museum. I highly recommend it for a more "unusual" museum in NY. "

Since my conference ended at 1pm, I had ample time to walk there before thinking about getting at the airport at 5pm.

The morning session of the SCBWI Winter Conference brought us great talents such as Robert Sabuda (master extraordinaire in pop-up books, such as Peter Pan here), Tomie de Paola (the Strega Nona culprit) and the hysterically funny Jack Gantos (of Joey Pigza books fame).

The latter said: "Everybody can write the first chapter of a novel. It's Chapter 13 that is vicious." To the question "Why are we here?" he replied "You want to write a book that is going to be in the hands of a reader who will remember it all along his life."

True, I remember and cherish my childhood books and would love nothing more than to write a book one child will cherish and remember - if only for the cover's strawberry gum flavor!

As soon as they were done, wrapped up and all, I bid goodbye to new found friends and walked towards the Morgan Pierpont Library.

A few minutes later I was there and bought my ticket. After a could-have-been-faster lunch, I walked inside Mr. Morgan's library.

An absolute treat for book (and mystery) lovers. Three levels of binding-to-binding books of various periods, books that weathered happy and sad owners, natural catastrophes and countless wars. It was incredible. I walked over the guard to ask him how anyone could get to the upper levels. I didn't see any ladder.

"See this handle in the corner of the bookshelf?" he said, pointing to my right. "There are hiddden staircases behind." Hidden staircases? Tell me more, I like that. I was starting to feel in a medieval fiction already. It reminded me, on a modest scale (if you can call modest a multimillionaire/world rated historical book collection), of the gorgeous library of the Prince de Condé at the Chateau de Chantilly. I'd move in a heartbeat ... if they asked me, that is.

Since nobody asked, I climbed up two flights of stairs to the exhibitions hall to see a very interesting display of historic bindings covering from the Carolingians through to André Suarès' Cirque.

After that, I still had two hours to kill. I had promised my girls to bring them back something special from New York: bagels. A friend has suggested Ess-A-Bagel on 3rd street so I looked at a map (street numbers don't really help without a cross street) and headed towards what I fantasized would be a lovely tea place with trays overflowing with plump and shiny bagels as well as other delicacies.

On the way, I made sure to catch a glimpse of Sniffen Court, an unspoilt row of 1864 carriage houses (150-158 E 63th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues). The neat brick houses were lined up behind an iron gate and it seemed to me that they lacked the charm of London's mews. Too square, too clean.

I guess I was expecting to stumble upon the seven dwarfs' thatched cottage or something. But then, I haven't been inside these houses so my view can only be a superficial winter view from behind iron gates. I kept on walking, and walking, and walking, until I reached the long-awaited Ess-A-Bagel.

I almost missed it. Too many commercial signs on the same building. Looking at the photo, I can hardly make the dark green letters of Ess-A-Bagel. It's really for people-in-the-know.

Sadly, the experience was disappointing. I bought 8 mini bagels (4 plain, 4 sesame) but the next morning in San Francisco they were extra hard and even toasted, not as delicious as I expected. Add to that a nothing-special interior for the shop. I don't think I'll go again.

Noah's Bagels will do just fine if I ever feel the urge.

Fairy Tales: Fact or Fiction?

"Mom, did Cinderella really happen?" asks the five-year-old on her way to school.

I could have brushed it off with a few words and simultaneously crushed five years of patient fairy tales brainwashing. "Sweetie, it's about time I told you the truth." Of course, that would have led Santa to the dump of adult lies together with leprechauns, lutins, elves and unicorns, and I'm not even mentioning the Tooth Fairy. Sadness and bitter tears would have ensued and I would have lost all my bedtime allies.

But deep inside, I love fairy tales and flying creatures more than I crave blunt honesty so I just answered. "I don't know Sweetie, I'll need to look into it." And so I did.

So that you know, I don’t drive a mouse-powered carriage. I don’t expect birds to fold my laundry in the basement. And my husband doesn’t return from work on a white stallion with a feather on his head.

Having said that, it was worth taking a closer look at fairy tales. After all, I wondered, why wouldn’t there be some hint of historical facts in them as with many folk tales?

On a GGMG mom’s suggestion, I started my investigation with Hansel and Gretel. “Hansel and Gretel is based on some truth of famine during the dark ages,” she wrote, “Not sure you want to share that with the kid yet.”

I googled it and sure enough, Hansel and Gretel is a crowd-pleasing 19th century German tale referring to the hardships of medieval times when infanticide was common practice during famines. Not sure my five-year-old could stomach that idea, so I moved on to Snow White. Bingo!

Snow White is loosely based on the real (sad) story of Contessa Margarethe van Waldeck.

Born in 1533, Margarethe was a beautiful young woman with fair hair. She grew up in the mining town of Bad Windungen, a town where miners were children commonly called dwarves because of the difformities caused by their back-breaking life. At age 16, Margarethe was sent to the imperial court of Brabant where Prince Philip (the later King Philip II of Spain) fell head over heels for her.

Bad news, the marriage would have caused political turmoil. Like Snow White, Margarethe had a problematic relationship wityh her stepmother who hated her. Margarethe died poisoned at the age of 21.

What about the apple then? Well, it turns out there was a man in Windungen who poisoned children through apples to keep them from stealing them off his trees.

Fast forward a few centuries, mix the two stories and you have a fair young woman dying in the hands of a wicked stepmother with a poisoned apple.

I have long wondered whether the death-like sleep of Snow White (or the Sleeping Beauty for that matter) could be connected to that medieval disease when seemingly dead people were buried alive and later woke up in their coffins, scorching their fingernails trying to escape. However at this point, that's pure speculation.

On with another tale, Cinderella. The earliest version of the theme may be found in the real life of a 6th century BCE Thracian slave turned courtesan called Rhodopis. As explained on Wikipedia, "It is said that as Rhodopis was one day bathing at Naucratis, an eagle took up one of her sandals, flew away with it, and dropt it in the lap of the Egyptian king, as he was administering justice at Memphis. Struck by the strange occurrence and the beauty of the sandal, he did not rest till he had found out the fair owner of the beautiful sandal, and as soon as he had discovered her made her his queen."

That's an exotic substitute for Disney's glass slipper that totally satisfies my quest for historical anecdotes. But Cinderella transcends cultures as different versions can be found in China, Korea, Japan and in the West, France, Italy, Germany and more.

"What about Aladdin then?" asked my five-year-old. The controversy over where the Thousand and One Nights originate is a scholar-stuff brain-twisting discussion but it looks like sadly, Aladdin was not inspired by a real person.

A much less debatable loved thief would be Robin Hood. The Search for the Real Robin Hood is a website entirely dedicated to linking the folkoric icon with existing outlaws having lived in Yorkshire and practiced their art in the Sherwood Forest.

The good news is, there are several Robin Hood candidates to pick from: Robert Hod, Robin of Loxley, the Earl of Huntington, plus other minor thieves. The bad news is: we don't know for sure.

But as my mother says, "Children need pixie dust to dream." So forget the historical anecdotes. They're fun but fairy tales are better bedtime material than "taking the dog out on a rainy day". If we told fairy tales as living history, our children would go to sleep out of boredom. Add a little glitter.

Plus, as Bruno Bettelheim wrote in his book The Psychoanalysis of Fairy Tales, "Fairy tales are psychologically way more convincing than "realistic" tales for children. By guaranteeing the child that he can earn the [fairy] kingdom, fairy tales also teach the child additional values:

to find your kingdom, you'll have to leave your home;

your kingdom is not readily accessible;

you will have to take risks and fight obstacles;

you cannot do it alone and need outside help;

to get outside help, you will need to wield in to their requirements."

Fairy tales are about imagination. What better place to escape the world than your imagination?

Book: Toby Alone

Tobie Lolness is finally out in US bookstores under the title Toby Alone. Yeepee! Since I read this wonderful tale of nature and man-hunt last summer, I couldn't wait for it to be translated into English so I could share it with my friends. Think about it: what if your world was narrowed down to a branch and you grew up on that branch and you couldn't see the big picture which is the tree? "Tobie Lolness was one and a half millimeter high which was not tall at his age" is the first sentence of the book.

Although the book is primarily meant for tweens, it addresses universal themes (justice, environment, love) that everybody can relate with and I simply adored the story. Before I turned the second page over I was hooked and shortly after, I ordered the second book online from France so I'd be able to follow the story without interruption. I was not disappointed and after I read the last words, I would have wanted that imaginary world to exist forever.

I talked about the book to the librarians at the San Francisco Public Library and they told me they knew nothing about it. I wrote to Gallimard (the French publishing house) and found out it was going to be translated into English. Then I waited patiently. Walker Books finally released it in the US in April 2008. Has anyone even noticed? This book so deserves to be read.

I like that Timothee de Fombelle the author, has named the heroin for his little girl Elisha. I like that you can read the story on a literal level as an heroic epic story and at a deeper level as a fable on urban sprawl and eco-disasters. I like that both girls and boys will be able to identify with the two main characters of the story. I like the nitty-gritty details about tree pests and worms and diseases. I like how the book opened my eyes on the life cycle of trees and altruism in the world.

If 10% of children's books were written with such passion and research, I'd hand over the world to the next generation with my eyes closed. Bravo Mr. de Fombelle and thank you for this magical tale!