You Can Go Home Again

They say you can't go home again.  But they also say that a woodchuck chucks wood, and he actually doesn't, so what do "they" know?  Please join me for a little stroll down Memory Lane to my hometown, Burlington, VT, where I am currently researching and writing ACES WILD (the sequel to WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU O.J.)...

This is me and Rebecca London Goldberg, the youth services librarian at the Fletcher Free Library (and the sister of my classmate, Rachel London... the Londons were one of the relatively few Vermont Jewish families I knew as a child).  Please note the crazy-high ceilings and the lamp post light fixtures... I read many a book beneath them as a kid.  I especially love how the most gorgeous space in the building is devoted to the children's collection!  Plus, please allow me to brag a little on Rebecca's behalf:  she got 1,300 kids to participate in her summer reading program this year (that's, like, half the K-8th graders in the city) and she threw a huge party to celebrate with music and food and prizes and local dignitaries and the works!  Well done!

Next up:  The Chittenden County Humane Society, where I volunteered in high school (and where my hamsters, Oscar and Harvey, came from... my parents allowed me to work there on the condition that I would NOT try to bring home another dog).  There's a gorgeous new building, lots of smart, kind, dedicated staff members and 200+ volunteers now.  AND there's Camp Paw Paw, run by the fabulous Gina Berk (pictured with me, below).  Yes - what are the odds? - another Vermont Jew!  Transplanted from New York, no less! Gina's mom is apparently also a fan of WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU O.J. and is sharing it with her friends, which pleases me to no end!

Camp Paw Paw is a terrific day camp program for kids who are interested in animal care and welfare.  The kids range in age from 7-12 (there are 7-9 year old sessions and 10-12 year old sessions) and they do everything from socializing the cats at the shelter to meeting with experts in the field to learning how to train dogs. That's where I came in.  Since ACES WILD has to do with Zelly learning to train a dog, I asked the kids to show me what they'd learned.  They did some terrific role-playing, demonstrating for me a dog's eye view of positive behavior modification.  I'm definitely including this in the book, and I was so pleased to have an opportunity to meet with these kids and counsellors (pictured below).

Next up:  Camp Hochelaga, which I attended as a kid.  I was lucky enough to get to attend the camp musical, Seussical, and see so many talented campers in action.  I even got to help with make-up and hair (see an example of our "wired" designs, below on my pal, Nora).

My mom claims that the camp's name, Hochelaga, is the Abenaki indian word for "mosquito."  

I have no idea why.

Notes from My Writing Retreat

Yes, I know, I'm supposed to be writing my BOOK, not my blog, but I am taking a tiny break to make a few quick observations.

1) I am extremely lucky to have friends like Lisa Schamberg and Pat Robins, who have opened up their home to me and provided me with a quiet and lovely place to work.  Complete with my own bathroom, a view of Lake Champlain, a garden full of vegetables, and hot and cold running wifi (which is both a blessing and a curse).

2) I am also lucky to be a stone's throw from Champlain College, where I can also write uninterrupted, with air conditioning, surrounded by their fabulous 5,000-volume children's literature collection (who knew?).

3) And I am particularly lucky that Small Dog Electronics had my computer cord in stock because the one I thought I packed somehow slithered off between DC and VT (here's my desk with Silver, my computer, and her new cord in place).

Okay, that's all for now.  Butt in chair!  Back to the book writing!

Erica

Scenes from vacation

Buy One, Give Two to Kids in Need!

Get this: buy a copy of When Life Gives You O.J. from Politics & Prose this month and First Book will provide two books to kids in need!

It's true... but let me explain how it came about.  Fellow authors, take note - you can do this, too!

This past weekend, some of my favorite people threw a super party for When Life Gives You O.J.  I will post more photos soon, but for now if you did not attend, know that I am sorry:  you missed a blast.  There were adults and kids of all sizes and the weather was wonderful.  While I signed books, the kids built practice dogs galore out of recyclables  - two fine examples can be seen above  - and competed in what might have been the first "practice dog show" ever, with prizes for everything from "friskiest dog" to "best cross-breed concoction", which went to something called "Mousie".  There was plenty of O.J. - and champagne - and bagels and lox, plus mouthwatering orange zest mini-cupcakes and whoopie pies from Grassroots Gourmet.

And, here's perhaps the coolest part:  Politics & Prose, our friendly neighborhood independent bookseller, sold books at the party, and for every book that sold I donated $2 to First Book (the cost of providing a book to a child in need) and Random House matched me by donating another book through First Book.  So, while I sold 100 books (thereby selling every single copy the bookseller brought, and then some), that ended up providing 200 books to kids in need!

But here's the thing:  several friends who were not able to attend asked if their book purchases could "count" toward my totals, and other friends expressed an interest in buying more copies (e.g. as teacher gifts).  So I talked to the nice folks at Politics & Prose and they agreed to keep track so I could continue to generate books to kids in this fashion until the end of the month.  And the nice folks at Random House agreed to keep on matching me with an additional book donated to a child in need through First Book for every book sold!

SO, if you want one or two or ten or more copies of When Life Gives You O.J., please purchase them at Politics & Prose between now and 7/31/11.  If you don't live near enough to the store to walk in and do this, call in your order OR get in touch with me and we'll work something out (like Dan Santat, I'm willing to go purchase your book myself in brick and mortarland, then sign and send it to you).  But please don't put it off... I want your book purchases to count!  

Thanks!  As we say at First Book:  "Books to Kids!"

Read Kiddo Read and more!

I am completely honored by this:  When Life Gives You O.J. is a Read Kiddo Read selection!  And the review is great.  Check it out here.

It is also the XX Factor's Book of the Week at Slate.  Check it out here.

Also @book_dads has a super double-review of BOTH Chicken Butt books on the site now!  Check it out here.

And, as previously noted, @mrschureads is busy doing double duty as Johnny Orangeseed, spreading the word about O.J. to people and places on his Adventures Out West.  To join in the fun, follow him as well as #aow11 (hashtag for Adventures Out West!).  He's also been seen partying with Chicken Butt!  Whatta guy!