Chicken Butt Flies...

...off store shelves, into kids' hearts, and through TSA security, as demonstrated by my pal Laila!

More Princeton Children's Book Festival

Here are some more photos from yesterday's wonderful Princeton Children's Book Festival:

Getting a little behind in your reading?  If not, may I recommend:  Fran Manushkin's The Tushy Book, Artie Bennett's The Butt Book and, of course, yours truly's magnum opus derrierus:  Chicken Butt!

Fabulous books coming and going!

My new favorite book-and-hat combo (other than those for my own books, since I am biased):  Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? and its author, Audrey Vernick, in her lovely Buffalo Chapeau, joined by me making my Dotty Hat debut!  Yes, my hat designer, Sara Moses, has outdone herself this time, creating a Dotty hat with horns and mane and gorgeous crocheted swirly dots.  Go to her blog to see how incredibly talented she is... who knows, you may need a literature-based-hat of your own!  

P.S. In this photo you can't see that Audrey is also wearing THE perfect Dotty skirt (pink with swirly, swoony dots), which I almost convinced her to give to me!

The hostess with the mostest joins Team DC:  Jennifer Allison (Gilda Joyce series), Allison Santos (our wonderful Fest Organizer), me, Katy Kelly (Lucy Rose and Melonhead books), and Louise Bonnett-Rampersand (Never Ask a Bear and more).

My Chicken Butt! and Dotty hats practically demand to be worn! 

Hometown hero Brian Lies (Bats at the Ballgame) lamented the fact that I got a lot of pre-event press in the Princeton Ledger (he has a point... one article suggested there were three authors in attendance - R.L. Stine, Margie Palatini and me - instead of the 50-plus authors Allison brought in, and included images of me and Dotty... NOT that I'm complaining, mind you).  

However, with the world's best book-promotion-slash-transportation (not to mention a bestselling picture book series), I have a feeling he has nothing to worry about in the media attention department.  When I showed Mike this photo, he said, and I quote, "Don't get any ideas."  Who, me?  Chicken Butt-mobile, here I come!

Princeton Children's Book Festival 2010

SUCH a good time was had by all at the Princeton Children's Book Festival yesterday.

These photos give the tiniest of glimpses of the fun that was Allison Santos' fabulous fest:

Readers, writers, artists and book-lovers of all sizes, stripes and spots (check out those wonderful dotty socks on my new pal Gracie, shown here riding high!  and check out baby's first literary tattoo on my new pal Clara, age 8 months).  And is that the best book t-shirt EVER?  I think so!  So many more pix that I need to do another post... stay tuned!

What happened (last) weekend

This post was originally posted on The Hiding Spot, which I visited during my Dotty blog tour.  However, I decided to post it here too.  Here goes:

I hold onto a lot from my childhood - books, photos, toys, and especially books - but something happened over the weekend that made me realize that the thing I hold onto most is my ability to play. I think adults should play a lot more, and should bring a sense of playfulness into their everyday lives. I feel very lucky to get to hang out with my kids, who keep me playing and who force me to play even when I am tired and acting too much like a grown up.

What happened this weekend was: we were taking a hike, and the kids started to complain that it was taking too long, so I picked up a stick and announced that it would be the story stick and we would make up a story. Immediately, the longness and uphillness and are-we-there-yet-ness was forgotten. I kicked it off with "Once upon a time there was a toad who wanted to be a frog..." and then I handed off the stick and my younger daughter started spinning the most excellent yarn. Before we were through, there was a unicorn (of course), a blue Yeti, two giants, an enchantress and a very bad cat. We also created elaborate rules as we went, which was fun, too.

The point is, so often I am tempted to say to my kids "go play!" but the fact is, I need play as much as they do. Which is one of the things I was trying to say with Dotty: adults should hold onto their essential childishness as long as possible AND not keep it a secret. One of the greatest gifts you can give to a child is to show that, inside, you're a kid, too. Not all the time, of course, because kids get comfort from reliability and rules and firmness and all that adult stuff. But every so often, just like Ms. Raymond, you have to take them aside and show them that you still have a string.

And if that last line makes no sense, please read my new book, Dotty. Because then it will. 

Your friend, Erica

And her friend, Dotty

PS = Come see us at the Princeton Children's Book Festival TOMORROW (9/11/10) from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

A Very Good Day for Books... Some of Them Mine!

I just have to share the fact that I have had a long and tiring day in the world of children's books (woke up at 5 a.m. and spent the day in a warehouse with my First Book colleagues helping to ship, well, let's just say a WHOLE LOT of books).  

If that's not enough happy news for you, I also have these other fun nuggets to share:

Mockingjay and Vintage Veronica!  An excellent teen book round-up by Scripps-Howard News Service reporter Karen McPherson that recommends both Katniss Everdeen (Mockingjay) and my homegirl Veronica (Vintage Veronica) - "better together" indeed!

My blog tour sprints on with visits to Alison's Book Marks, A Patchwork of Books, Jean Little Library, Pragmatic Mom, and - today - TWO posts at Links to Literacy's Literacy Toolbox and its sister site, Picture This!

Julia Denos (Dotty's wonderful illustrator) gets the 7imp royal treatment at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast... and Susan Kusel of Wizards Wireless suggests Dotty should be shortlisted for a you-know-what-decott (I can't even say it).

My hat designer (don't you wish you had one?) blogs about my new Dotty hat over at Ibby Skibby!

DINOSAUR?  Dotty gets mistaken for one!  But no complaints from me... let her be what you want her to be!

My Chicken Butt! doll finally arrived and he has a LOT to say.

Lois Duncan!  And, last but not at all least, today I arrived home to discover a lovely thank you note from the nice folks at Little Brown had arrived along with copies of the newly reissued Lois Duncan books, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Don't Look Behind You and Killing Mr. Griffin.  I was honored to have the chance to write a little love note to Lois Duncan for the introductory pages... and I was thrilled when Lois herself - who I have long admired for so many reasons - sent an email of thanks.  If you haven't devoured her books yet, take the opportunity to do so now that these new editions are hot off the presses.  There are so many excellent ones (I can't wait until A Gift of Magic is reissued), but these - especially Killing Mr. Griffin - are great places to start.  

I think that's it for now.  More to come soon!  Princeton Children's Book Festival this Saturday (9/11/10) from 11-4!  Stop by and say hi!