Surprised?  Honestly, don't you people watch THE NEWS???

Thanks so much, @LibLaura5, for spreading the word.

Have a great weekend, everyone.  Read a good book!

(That's right, Clover, I said READ.  Not "eat."  Good dog!)

May I also suggest you decorate your walls with book-based art?  Authors love that!

Thanks, Mr. Carlson's class at Northwinds Elementary in Buffalo, MN!

I am happy to report that When Life Gives You O.J. is making its way onto many lists of late ("best of" lists compiled by other people, that is!).  In fact, I'm downright giddy.  Here's a quick wrap-up:

Travis Jonker and John Schumacher's Best 20 Books of 2012 (#14!)

Kids Momo's Holiday List

The Washington Post's Holiday Gift List (extra points will be awarded for referring to me as the author of "the beloved Chicken Butt series"... That's right, people, BELOVED.  Could be a typo for "bewildering" or "bizarre" but I will take it regardless).

Tablet Magazine's Best Jewish Children's Books of 2012

Many of these lists have other great suggestions, too.  Which is good because I am waaaay behind on my Hanukkah shopping.  I'm starting with Tablet's list (Marjorie Ingall's annotations are making me drool... I want ALL these books) and going from there.  You should, too.

The unexpected benefit of this was that I learned a lot about the National Monuments.  The kids had just visited them the week before, so they had a lot of stats at their fingertips.  When it was my turn, I talked about my books, read from WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU O.J. and shared my video (which the kids liked so much they begged to watch it again... always a good sign).  I donated two copies each of WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU O.J. and VINTAGE VERONICA to the school library, to add to those already on the shelves, since the kids seemed pretty pumped to read them.  

At the end, the nametag error was discovered and I was asked to come back the following week to present to the class I should've met with in the first place!  Luckily, as the assistant principal explained, "it's not just career day... it's career month here!"

They are, SLIME:

CLIMB,

and, of course,

Here's the story, by the way, though I encourage you to pick up a print edition for several reasons:

1) You can enjoy seeing an interview with a children's book author positioned higher on the page and taking up more column inches than a piece on Rosie O'Donnell and Russell Brand (poor dears, they are relegated to the spot below the fold).

2) The headline - "Messy Journals Inspire Neat Story" is about as good as they come.

3) When you're done reading about O.J., there's the crossword puzzle (like Russell, also below the fold).

Enjoy!

And the answer is (now more obviously than ever):  NOTHING!

Here's the evidence:

Will you wear funny hats?

Yes.

Will you attempt to train an orange juice jug to fetch?

Yes again.

And now, the question that for many authors is a dealbreaker:  will you allow yourself to be consumed by wolves, or - if you live in a city and wolves are not readily available - attacked by a small rodent in the name of reaching more readers?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

P.S. In addition to these videos, posted by Mr. Schu and Shannon Miller, me, and Kidsmomo, there's a fabulous author interview up by the lovely Ms. Audrey Vernick (a talented author herself, of the hilarious Buffalo picture books and the new middle grade novel Water Balloon) who has also been known to wear funny hats in the name of promoting literacy. 

One can't help but wonder how she feels about guinea pigs...

And not even Supertramp can save me.  Or the Weathergirls.

Though bless their hearts for trying (wow, were low-tech videos awesome back then or what?).

However, here's the bright spot in my week.  A sixth grade boy writing for the website Book Trends gave When Life Gives You O.J. one of the best reviews I've ever received.  And when I say best, I don't just mean that he loved the book (though he did).  He clearly thought about it a lot and wanted to express exactly what about it made it so special to him.  Which is more than many adult reviewer do. 

So Max, wherever you are, thanks!  You made my week!  And if you find your way to my website and read this post, please email me so I can send you a signed copy and some awesome When Life Gives You O.J. tchotchkes.

Thanks again Mr. Schu and Shannon Miller and Mrs. Linde for hanging in there with me!  And please send me those hat drawings... I'm not kidding!  I'll make one into a real hat!

1) This Thursday is International Dot Day!  Inspired by Peter H. Reynold's modern classic, The Dot, which is about making your mark on the world, teachers, librarians and students everywhere will be taking time to do something creative!  Peter has suggested a couple of dot-centric ideas here and I applaud everyone who stops whatever they are doing on Thursday and just spends even five minutes being creative with a pen or crayon or chalk or brush or marker in hand.

2) Several teachers and librarians have told me that as part of their International Dot Day celebrations, they will be using Dotty!  I could not be happier or more honored to have Dotty join in this day of creativity, imagination and, well, dottiness.

3) And - here's the best part! - on Friday, I will be participating in one of these celebrations by skyping with Mr. Schu and Shannon Miller!  I'm guessing the tech-saavy Mr. Schu will find a way to share this, and if so I will follow suit (or, should I say, follow schuit?).  I'm actually skyping twice this week - on Wednesday, I'm skyping with 6th graders at Prairie Creek Intermediate School in Iowa.  MY first question for them is: is your school mascot a prairie dog (and if not, why not)?

Happy DOT WEEK, everyone!  Now, don't be shy... go out and make your mark!