A Friday Round-Up
A number of interesting literary items to report as we enter the homestretch to the weekend.
Zombies vs. Unicorns and more Zombies!
First up: A podcast from three Oklahoma young adult librarians that’s just perfect for Halloween. Adrienne, Emily and Karl review the Zombies vs. Unicorns anthology edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalesiter. We like the quote from the Booklist review on the Amazon.com site:
Can the chatter of the YA nerdosphere launch a successful book? This imaginative collection answers with a resounding yes. Beginning in February 2007, editors Black and Larbalestier debated zombies’ and unicorns’ strengths and weaknesses on Larbalestier’s blog, and the resulting interest roped in stories from a number of impressive authors…”
Only young adult authors and librarians could come up with this kind of stuff, and you have to admit that it’s pretty much beyond kewl!
Speaking of Zombies, AMC launches it’s new series The Walking Dead this Sunday. It’s based on Robert Kirkman‘s monthly comic book series, which is also beyond kewl! Go here for an Interview with Kirkman on the adaptation of his work to the small screen.
Festival of Books for Young People
The Oklahoma Library Association held their biennial Mildred Laughlin Festival of Books for Young People yesterday in Midwest City. More than 100 Oklahoma youth librarians attended the event at the Tom Steed Center at Rose State College. Special guests were children’s author and illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger, chilidren’s author Stephen Krensky, and Tamora Pierce, author of fantasy literature for young adults. I have to tell you, I was completely blown away by Seeger’s talent, and I’m going to be getting her Lemons are not Red and One Boy books for my grandniece, Brooklyn. Also loved Krensky’s What Do You See? and I picked up a copy of that. Pierce is a big, popular talent with young people, and two of her teenage fans trekked from southeastern Oklahoma to meet their favorite author. ‘Twas a good day!
Finally…
…we leave you with a slide show from The Huffington Post Blog on Nine Non-Writers Who Influenced Literary History. Who knew? You do now.
George, Robin and you too.
Good Morning America goes to Scholastic’s new site: You Are What You Read!
I think Literary Kittie wishes she had found this one first, but real Kitty did.
Be patient the site was very slow for me, but it’s a lot of fun and I’m sure your kids will be just as pleased to give it a go.
My start with science fiction was the grade school library book, Stowaway to a Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron. Nice reminder this morning, that I’m definitely what I read.
Site of the Week: Book Lust Forever!
Our literary cat escaped last week and got into all kinds of trouble! He’s back now and brings with him this suggestion for our Site of the Week: Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust Forever. (We already knew about this site, and we suspect our cat did to. What have you been up to cat?!)
Pearl is a former librarian (she even has her very own action figure). But more than anything, she’s a reader. Book Lust is all about what Nancy reads and recommends, and she’s often on NPR talking about her latest discoveries. Dive in and have a great time. (That’s all we have to say right now, because we’ve got a bad cat to deal with here! Bad kitty!)
This post is about Mostly Monsterly. Mostly.
Blogging is a funny business. For example, I started this post this way:
Halloween is just around the corner, so it’s time to recommend an appropriate holiday book for the youngsters in your life. How about Mostly Monsterly by Oklahoma’s own Tammi Sauer? Yes! Definitely Mostly Monsterly! Personally, I can’t wait to get a signed copy for my grand niece, Brooklyn.
Then I went here…
Many children’s books are about kids accepting themselves just as they are—a so very important lesson for young people since they will meet a diversity of human beings as they grow up and move through life. If they can accept their own quirks and idiosyncrasies, isn’t it easier for them to accept the oddness of others? It’s a great lesson for our young ones, and Sauer does it so well.
And since I’m a Tammi Sauer fan, and I’m obviously indoctrinating the kids in my family, I told you this:
Just last weekend, my sister read Sauer’s Cowboy Camp to my grandnephew, Tyler. It’s all about Cowboy Avery, the most unlikely cowboy in the world, who saves his fellow campers from the meanest cowboy in the world; and he does it just by being himself. Brooklyn is already a fan of Sauer’s award-winning Chicken Dance, which is about hens Lola and Marge, and how they reach their dream, just by being themselves.
And then I had a Eureka! moment:
But where Cowboy Avery inadvertently succeeds by being himself, and Lola and Marge must make a conscience decision to be themselves (because they have no other choice), the protagonist of Mostly Monsterly has to work to fit in with her monster friends without compromising her personality and unique self.
Mostly Monsterly is the story of Bernadette, a little monster who has the unfortunate quality of being… sweet. She likes kittens and flowers and loves to bake. Her monster friends are appalled by Bernadette’s goodness, and our little monster must find a way to fit in with her antagonistic buddies, and still be true to herself. The solution Bernadette comes up with is the punch line, the guffaw, the laugh-out-loud part of the book. But beyond the entertainment lies a theme that author Sauer has been playing with and expanding upon during the course of her career. What we have here, folks, is the third book in a great little trilogy about acceptance and self worth.
And then I added these distracting bold lead-ins and changed the post title before closing:
Get a behind-the-scenes look at creating Mostly Monsterly on the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog. And then go immediately to your bookstore or library and get you and your young one some Tammi Sauer reading!
Okie Bookshelf fills with YA, and Chocolate
Two “new” (copyright 2009) Young Adult books have popped up on the Okie Bookshelf. Here’s a promo directed by Anna Myers daugther to get you excited about “Time of the Witches” .
Time of the Witches from Anna Myers on Vimeo.
Anna Myers is a very successful and highly regarded Oklahoma book author, so you can’t go wrong picking up one of her titles for your teen reader.
Next Paris Pan takes the Dare by Cynthea Liu. The cover is charming, and it’s fun to know Cynthea grew up in this part of the country especially since her book is set in Nowheresville, Oklahoma. We’ve all been there. 
Amazon readers seem to give it a BIG thumbs up. It looks like Cynthea is very socially networked, so follow her on Twitter if you Dare! @cynthea
Now for a little adult fiction with Pirates and Chocolate. JoAnna Carl has a new one in the Chocoholic Mystery Series. Pirates have landed in Warner Pier, and all is amusing with our buccaneers until a dead body turns up. And if you didn’t already know, JoAnna is our very own Eve Sandstrom.
Start Monday off with some teen reads and chocolate without the calories.
National Book Award Winner to Speak at OSU Stillwater
The H. Louise & H.E. “Ed” Cobb Speaker Series is the largest fundraising event for the Friends of the OSU Library. On Nov. 5, Dr. Charles Johnson headlines the annual dinner, lecture and book signing.
Johnson has written 18 books, including Middle Passage which won the 1990 National Book Award for fiction. He has also worked as an editor, cartoonist and journalist, and until his 2009 retirement after 33 years of teaching, was a very popular professor at the University of Washington.
His work focuses on the most philosophical issues of our time, and he regularly challenges readers’ beliefs. His ultimate goal is articulating the broader view of the human experience that transcends race.
This year’s H. Louise & H.E. “Ed” Cobb Speaker Series will be held Nov. 5 in the OSU Library. The welcome reception begins at 6 p.m., with the dinner and lecture at 6:45 p.m. A book signing will follow at 8:30 p.m., where selections of Johnson’s work are available for purchase.
Individual tickets are $100; half is a tax-deductible gift to the Friends of the OSU Library. (That’s a good deal!) Sponsorship opportunities are also available. All proceeds from the event directly benefit the OSU Libraries.
For more information or to make reservation call 405-7901 or visit www.library.okstate.edu/friends/.
I’ve been to the Cobb Speaker Series before, and it was a nice, intimate evening with the guest author.
Lordy! God and Football
Young Bill Young here, back from a short vacation. Thanks to Kitty for keeping the blog rolling with great posts on her lack of power, Joss Whedon’s latest, and a call-out to Carolyn Leonard, certainly one of the best friends of writers and genealogists in our great state.
Occasionally, I come across a book that I have no intention of reading, but one that I think would make the perfect Okie Read. Such is the case with Chad Gibbs‘ work God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC.
OK, before you go all Big 12 on me, think about it: Oklahoma is a religious state, and Okies love their football more than the best sliced bread ever baked. I’m sure we can compete with the best of the SEC when it comes to the number of folks who alternate their weekend worship between the football field and local church pew.
And Gibbs is really on to something here. In writing the book, he wanted to talk to fanatical football fans who were also Christians to find out how they balance these two areas of interest. Count how many Oklahomans you know who spend their weekends with football and God. Right. You don’t have enough hands, do you?
It’s possible the SEC folk are little more fantatical than the Big 12 folk. I base this on how fans of the two conferences show their disdain for the opposing teams. For example, OU Sooner fans offer up an upside down Hook ‘em Horns sign to show their dislike of the Texas Longhorns, while SEC fans regularly yell “Go to Hell Ole Miss, Go to Hell!” when their teams take on the University of Mississippi.
The level of football fanaticism aside, I suspect there is much relatable fodder here for many Okies.
So, why am I not reading this book? I’ll tell you a brief and painless story. I used to follow the University of Oklahoma Sooners. OU is my alma mater, and my father has followed the team since the glory days of Bud Wilkinson. But there was a big problem: if the Sooners lost their Saturday match-up, my weekend was ruined. A funk descended upon me, and Sunday didn’t seem as bright as it should. At some point in my twenties, I decided not to have the perceived success of my weekend dependent on the outcome of a gridiron game.
But many of my friends continue to follow their Cowboys or Sooners, basking in the glory of the gridiron. And then, the next day, they put on their Sunday best, pick up their Bible, and bask in the glory of God.
There be more…
Chad Gibbs has a small group study guide for God and Football.
Here’s Chad’s blog where you can also connect to him via Twitter or Facebook.
More on Chad and from Chad courtesy of beliefnet.
Site of the Week: WritersReminder and more…
I’m always posting about Carolyn Leonard’s Writers Reminders every month, so it’s time you bookmarked this site or get subscribed to her email. There is always lots of book events, conferences, notes about authors, signing, etc. going on at her site. 
Meet Carolyn: She does a fantastic job for Oklahoma Writers, Readers, and Genealogists. She has a blog, book reviews and much more on her website, including a link to WritersReminder.
And staying close to home, Jeanetta Calhoun Mish has sent me this announcement:
Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac will be featuring THREE poems by Ken Hada on three different days this month, all from Ken’s 2010 Mongrel Empire Press collection, Spare Parts! Here are the poems and air dates:
“Old Men” (10/25/2010) “A Blessing” (10/27/2010) & “Mormon Missionaries Pay Me a Visit” (10/20/2007). The show can be heard on KOSU-FM 91.7Stillwater, OK, Mondays through Fridays 09:00 AM. A list of other stations, and online downloads and podcasts of the broadcast are available at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/
A friend of mine just pointed out, that Oklahoman Mike Hinkle won the California Independent Book Festival 2010 book award in the fiction category for Butane Gospel.
What really happened in Jerusalem on that fateful Passover?
When Leon Butane climbs into the cab of his semi one late January night, he never dreams that a near fatal crash will catapult him into a world of bizarre visions, unexplained miracles and religious intrigue. He wakes from a forty-day coma with an assignment from God, delivered via the famed puppet Pinocchio: discover the names of the criminals crucified with Jesus of Nazareth, or face the consequences of your past actions.
Keep your Bible handy as you accompany Leon on an adventure that twists and turns with action, humor, and love. Did the translators of the New Testament gloss over critical facts? Do these facts shed light on the crimes and betrayals lurking just below the scriptural surface? Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for a shock when The DaVinci Code crashes into The Big Lebowski to produce The Butane Gospel.
Boy, that sounds like a wild ride.
Power, or powerless; Slayer; and Columbus Day
Lately I’ve been feeling less than powerful in the workplace, so as I walked by the new bookshelf, POWER: Why some People Have It–And Others Don’t by Jeffrey Pfeffer practically leapt off the shelf into my hand. The bad part is that by page 4, I already understood why I don’t have any. Now I’m afraid to continue, it can only get worst. Saved by an Interlibrary Library Loan request for the book and I gave it up for another reader.
Finished Fray by Joss Whedon, 
and it’s good to know we’re going to be saved from demons in the future by another Slayer. Whedon uses the same snarky dialogue to move Melaka Fray through her initiation into slayerhood. Karl Moline is the gifted artist giving us a flatter chested, kick butt female heroine. I found her definitely likeable.
I don’t know about you but this whole Columbus Day thing isn’t very exciting when you’re at work. Give the Huffington Post a read about why we shouldn’t give Old Christopher the day anyway.
Letters about Literature reminder, New Baseball book
I just received an email reminding me to remind You, about Letters about Literature.
This is an annual contest and the deadline for entries for this year’s competition is December 10, 2010. You can get the how-to-enter guidelines and required entry coupon by visiting the website.
What is LAL?
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First and foremost, LAL is a writing contest for young readers in grades 4 – 12. How has an author’s work–novel, nonfiction, poetry–changed your view of the world or yourself? That’s the LAL writing challenge. Don’t write a book report, we tell our young readers. The author already wrote the book and knows what it is about. What the author does not know is how YOU responded to his or her work. Write about that–your personal reader’s response!
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Who will be Oklahoma’s state winners this year?
Retired Oklahoma librarian, Fritz Buckallew has penned a new book on baseball great, Carl Hubbell, titled A Pitcher’s Moment : Carl Hubbell and the Quest for Baseball Immortality. Nicely done and would be a good Christmas gift for the hard to buy for male. (I know there are female baseball fans out there, being a Cubs fan myself, so you might want to pick one up for them also). Sorry I missed the program at the Oklahoma History Center. 
