Children's Book Week

Since 1919, Children's Book Week has been celebrated nationally in schools, libraries, bookstores, clubs, private homes, and any place where there are children and books. To find out more about this celebration and scheduled activities visit the Children's Book Week website. You can also find a cute 2008 Children's Book Week bookmark that is not only a bookmark, but also a coloring sheet and paper doll. Visit the Children's Book Week website for this free download.

The Shoppe and Tattered Cover

My sister was down last weekend and we decided to go have brunch at our new favorite cafe, The Shoppe. This time my husband chauffeured us and we all opted for the cornflakes. We also all went a little wild and threw in some bananas. My husband totally enjoyed himself, he later said he loved the atmosphere and they had great coffee. We planned for our next stop to be All In A Dream Comics, but unfortunately they did not open until noon and our chauffeur had places to be that afternoon. From there we headed over to the Tattered Cover Bookstore. After perusing their magazine selection, we headed over to the graphic novels where I grabbed a couple of Neil Gaiman but then ended up relinquishing one to my sister who also picked up a Terry Pratchertt. On our way to the children’s section we passed the humor books and I could not resist adding another book to my Edward Gorey collection, The Secrets: Volume One, The Other Statue. I think we know I will also need Volume Two, The Night Bandage.

Next we headed downstairs to the children’s section when what to our wondering eyes should appear....WILLOW MAY!!!!

I don’t think anybody thought it was strange for us to be taking our pictures next to it, do you?

Trixi Thursday

The Movie Iron Man

My sister and I went to see Iron Man this last weekend and I must award it 4.5 out of 5 cat whiskers. It had the perfect mixture of action interlaced with humor, not to mention an awesome sound track.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the CEO of Stark Industries, which produces advance weapon systems for the U.S. military. He is also a billionaire self-obsessed playboy who happens to be a genius when it comes to inventing technical gadgets. And let me just stop here to say that both my sister and I need his work lab and equipment, there is no way we can build us a super-power suit with our current set ups. Any way, Tony flies to Afghanistan to demonstrate a new weapon. On his way back terrorist using the same weapons he created attacks his convoy. He is wounded and held captive but builds a suit of armor to escape. Back in the states, he perfects his suit only to find out he is being betrayed by his own company.

I thought Robert Downey Jr’s comic timing was impeccable and I enjoyed the humorous chemistry between him and his personal assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). There were several LOL’s.

I highly recommend this movie and will eagerly await Iron Man II due out in 2010.

Trixi Thursday

Amphigory by Edward Gorey

Saturday to take my mind off the dismal performance of the Denver Nuggets, I curled up on the couch with my calico and read Amphigory by Edward Gorey, as one does after watching the NBA playoffs. In reading the 15 tales in Amphigory, I thought they were quite poetic, in a Monty Python sort of way.

I struggle to describe Edwards Gorey’s stories and basically can only sum it up with two phrases, ”hmmm, wonder where this is going,” and ”I did not see that coming.”

Some call his ironic and offbeat humorous stories literary nonsense, but I just call it pure genius. A is for apple and B is for Bear, oh, I don’t think so as you will find in The Gashlycrumb Tinies, "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Bail assaulted by bears.” His illustrations add so much depth to the stories, or should I say darkness in that charming and witty macabre way.

As I writer, I particularly loved this passage in The Unstrung Harp:

“Mr. Earbrass has been rashly skimming through the early chapters, which he has not looked at for months, and now sees TUH (The Unstrung Harp) for what it is. Dreadful, dreadful, DREADFUL. He must be mad to go on enduring the unexquisite agony of writing when it all turns out drivel. Mad. Why didn’t he become a spy? How does one become one? He will burn the MS. Why is there no fire? Why aren’t there the makings for one? How did he get in the unused room on the third floor?"

If you are a fan of British humor than I believe you will quite enjoy the works of Edward Gorey, despite the fact he was born in Chicago and never visited Britain. Other stories in Amphigory include: The Listing Attic, The Doubtful Guest, The Object-Lesson, The Bug Book, The Fatal Lozenge, The Hapless Child, The Curious Sofa, The Willowdale Handcar, The Insect God, The West Wind, The Wuggly Ump, The Sinking Spell, The Remembered Visit.

In honor of the last week of National Poetry Month, I will leave you with this verse from The Listing Attic:

A dreary young bank clerk name Fennis
Wished to foster an aura of menace;
To make people afraid
He wore gloves of grey suede
And white footgear intended for tennis.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

My sister sent me this video with a comment about it being a bit long at 7 minutes and inquiring why someone would even do it, but as a cat lover I found it to be a fascinating documentary on the feline species:

Mad Creator Productions New Book

Besides the The Dangerous Alphabet book with Neil Gaiman, Gris Grimly has another book with Kelly Dipucchio coming out in May, Sipping Spiders Through A Straw Campfire Songs for Monsters:

"In this howlishly fun collection of campfire songs, little monsters everywhere will love singing along to their favorite campfire tunes which have been altered for optimal gross-out effect by the ghoulish Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by the Master of Creep, Gris Grimly. Disgusting highlights include "If You're Scary and You Know It," "99 Bottles of Blood on the Wall," and the classic in the making, "Do Your Guts Hang Low?" Gather your creepy, crawly friends and get ready to slither and slink and howl and stink!"

For those of you in LA and going to the LA Times Festival of Books, Gris Grisly will be there signing books on Saturday, April 26th at the A Whale of a Tale booth from 11-12pm. He warns that this is in the children's area so beware of ragamuffins. On Sunday he will be signing his Wicked Nursery Rhymes 1 at the Baby Tattoo Books booth from 2-3pm. However, you can also catch him from 2-4pm on Saturday and 5-7pm Sunday at the Mad Creator Productions booth at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors.

Trixi Thursday

Book and Lover's Day

Do you know what today is? It is Book and Lover's Day. Every year on April 23rd, Barcelona erupts in a celebration of chivalry and romance. It all began in the Middle Ages with an annual Festival of Roses to honor St. George, Patron Saint of Catalonia, who as a brave Roman soldier allegedly slew a dragon about to devour a beautiful young princess. Accordingly, a rosebush sprouted from the blood of the dragon and the soldier plucked its most perfect blossoms to give to the princess as a remembrance. In 1923, the Rose Festival merged with International Book Day, established to celebrate the lives of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, both of whom died on April 23rd in 1616. Now, bookstalls and flower stands sprout up along the Rambla, a two-mile stretch connecting the city with the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands of Barcelonans crowd the streets to enjoy a festive atmosphere of readings, music, literature, and dance.

Here in Denver, the Tattered Cover Book Store is celebrating complimentary roses and commemorative bookmarks with the purchase of a book. They will also be holding Shakespeare performances in the afternoon at their Historic LoDo and Colfax locations. Also in Greeley, An Open Book will also be celebrating the day with a 20% discount off one book and complimentary flowers.

Happy Book and Lover's Day!

Trixi Thursday

Englewood Public Library Author Open House

To kick off National Library week, the Englewood Public Library hosted an Author Open House this past Sunday with over 50 Colorado writers and illustrators. The illustrious illustrator, Pamela McCarville and I had a fabulous day. It started off with us being escorted to our table where two book bags, pens and thank you notes were awaiting us. Then we had our photo ops with the children's librarian, Karin Martin. Talk about the star treatment. Next we were called into the reception room for quite the spread. I wish I had taken a picture but trust me; it would have made your mouth water. But that is not all; we also had a harpist serenade us all through the day.

We dressed up our table with a mini version of our ringmaster Victor Grimsby in his purple feather coat and three of his little rats in hats friends (the rats ended up stealing the show from the raven ringmaster). We handed out Willow May bookmarks and coloring sheets with some of the characters from the book as well as a small box of crayons with a sticker of one of the characters on the box. Those were a big hit with the kids. For those who bought our book we gave them a Willow May bookplate and button. We also had postcards of our next Willow May midnight adventure, Willow May Goes to the Midnight Zoo and postcards for a Graphic Novel Pamela is illustrating, Dark Wisdom. Then we also had a sign-up sheet, but only three people signed up. Kept forgetting to point it out to people and we mainly had kids coming to our table. We also got too busy and only took a couple of pictures between us; we almost needed a 3rd person for photo taking detail. We thought we had about every aspect of the promo thing covered but in looking around at the other writer's tables, we saw that one writer had made print outs of their book reviews for people to see. What a great idea!

It was fun to visit with everybody and it was really fun to shop around for some great reads. Needless to say, we put those book bags to use.

I received an email from the library yesterday that 450 people came to the event. Wow, what a turn out, no wonder why I am still exhausted. I can't say enough about this fantastic event the Englewood Library hosted and if you missed this years please plan to attend their 10th annual open house next year to kick off National Library Week.

Visit the library's website to see what other fun events are taking place this month.

Trixi Thursday

Englewood Library Author Open House

The illustrious illustrator, Pamela McCarville and I will have a table at the 9th annual Englewood Library Author Open House, "Meet the Faces Behind the Books" this Sunday, April 13th, from 1pm-3pm. We are honored to receive an invitation and to be a part of such an amazing list of Colorado talent. What a great opportunity the library is providing to come and find great books and meet the local creativity behind them.

At our table we will have Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival coloring sheets, puzzles, bookmarks, postcards and buttons. If we have room, you may even spot Mr. Grimsby and his rats in hats.

You can visit the Englewood Library's website for more information on this event, including directions and a list of participating authors.

Hope to see you there this Sunday!

Trixi Thursday

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry month and you can celebrate with Shel Silverstein. On his site there is a special section with activities and games for National Poetry month. You can watch Shel Silverstein animation, play games, practice being a poet, sent poetry month e-cards, find classroom activities and suggestions, print out a poster, and more.


One of my favorite books was Where the Sidewalk Ends. I won't remember the words exactly, but one of the poems I enjoyed was My brother said it was a hat so I put it on / Now my Dad is yelling "Where in the heck has the toilet plunger gone."

For some reason that just reminded me of something my sister would tell me to do.

Trixi Thursday

Neil Gaiman Books, Graphic Novels, and Movies

My sister turned me on to Neil Gaiman about a year ago and I am now a fanatic fan even though I have only read an nth of what he has written. So far, I have read his books Anansi Boys, Wolves in the Walls, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Smoke & Mirrors, M is for Magic, and then my two favorite, Neverwhere and Coraline. For my birthday my sister gave me Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett, which I can't wait to start reading, but currently I have immersed myself in his graphic novels.

Just finished The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, illustrated by Dave McKean, and working my way through the Sandman graphic novels. The Sandman series center around Dream along with his sisters and brothers, Despair, Delirium, Destiny, Desire, Destruction and Death, of the Endless family. They are not gods and goddesses, because god and goddesses die, and they are endless. If I was a hat wearing person, and sadly with my hair I just can't pull that off, I would take my hat off to Mr. Gaiman on this incredible world he created by giving life to our inner psychic. I have read the volumes, The Doll's House (2), Preludes & Nocturnes (1), Season's of the Mist (4), and I just started Fables & Reflections (6). I thought not only would it be fun to read this series, but also to read them totally out of order. Okay, actually, I have not been able to find a bookstore that carries the complete volume set, thus I have been picking up what I can here and there.

I have only seen his MirrorMask movie, which I highly recommend. The main character and her family own a circus, which is reason enough to watch it, but the girl enters into the fantasy world of her drawings where she encounters flying books and square-headed cats...do I need to go on? I still need to catch Stardust (as well as read the book) and Beowulf. Then I can hardly wait for the 3-D animated movie, Coraline. I read that there will be a limited release this December and then the national release in February'09. Do you think Denver will get it in December? It would be so cool if we did.

If that isn't enough, Neil Gaiman has at least three new books coming out this year. The Dangerous Alphabet illustrated by Gris Grimly is coming out the end of April, Odd and the Frost Giants, which doesn't come out until the end of October in the states but I think may already be released in the UK, and then The Graveyard Book is coming at the end of September. However, I think one of the short stories in the M is for Magic book is a teaser for The Graveyard Book, and if not, it is still a great story of a little boy being raised by ghosts in a cemetery.













The cover for The Graveyard Book is the adult cover of the Subterranean Press edition and according to Neil Gaiman's blog will probably also be the Bloomsbury adult edition, but there will be a different cover for the children's edition.

The Shoppe in Denver

My sister read about a grand opening of a new shop here in Denver that serves cupcakes and cereal. To someone who lives on cereal and loves frosting no matter form, or should I say top, it is served on, I had to check it out. Next time my sister was down we headed off to the Blue Bird District on Colfax to dine at The Shoppe.

Disappointed we were not! Over 20 brands of cereal and we were served at our table with big bowls of Special K with our own carafe of skim milk (they have 6 different varieties of milk). They also offer several toppings that you can have on your cereal such as raisins, chocolate chips, marshmallows, strawberries, walnuts and lots more. We chose to have our cereal naked, but next time, who knows, I might go wild and top it with some bananas and blueberries. Then you can follow up your meal with scrumptious vanilla frosting with a cupcake thrown in (or several other flavors). Wow, does it get any better than that? Well, I am glad you asked, because yes it does. They also carry art, books, journals, and other small goodies. Cupcakes, cereal and art, how sweet is that?

I just visited their blog and see that they also have free WI-FI available and I so wish I lived in the area because they deliver. Cupcakes and cereal delivered right to your door, I tell you, throw in a non-fat latte and I would never have to leave my house again.

They are having an Easter cupcake decorating class tomorrow from 12pm to 3pm, a fun and delicious way to celebrate the holiday. Located at 3103 East Colfax between Steele and St. Paul, if you live in Denver or plan on visiting this city, here is one place to add to your stops, The Shoppe.

New Keyboard

My sister forwarded me an email from DailyCandy with an article about custom made keyboards from Datamancer. I thought I was suffering from writer's block, but now I realize that is not the cast. Instead it is I just don't have the right keyboard for the right story...or laptop.











P.S. Are you wearing your sweater?

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Sweater Tribute

I read a small article in the Rocky Mountain News that tomorrow, 3/20, has been named "Sweater Day" to honor what would have been Fred Rogers 80th birthday. Mr. McFeely, aka David Newell the speedy delivery man, who is now the public relations director for Family Communications, Inc, a non-profit company founded in 1971 by Fred Rogers, is asking everyone to wear their favorite sweater tomorrow. He says it doesn't have to be a zipper down one in the front like the one Mister Rogers wore, just one that is special to you.

Here is Mr. McFeely's YouTube video 'Won't you wear a sweater?'



To learn more about Mister Rogers' Neighborhood you can visit PBS Kids. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go find my favorite sweater.

The Movie: 10000 B.C.

My husband is a big history buff and the moment they started advertising the movie 10,000 B.C., he wanted to see it. I tried to explain to him that I did not believe it was a historical documentary, but it did not matter, this was a movie we must see and we must see it in the theater on the big screen. As a chef, he normally works evenings and weekends, but he had this past weekend off, so we took in a Saturday matinee.

10,000 B.C. is a feast for the eyes to say the least. The aerial views were fantastic and the cinematography was stunning. A couple of weeks ago, I watched for the "severalth" time, Chocolat, with Juliette Binoche. I loved how they played with color in that film, basically an unobtrusive setting of bluish greys but then they throw in a brilliant splash of red with her shoes. They play with color the exact same way in this movie, but it is a sea of sand with a burst of red flowing through it. That was my favorite part of the whole show. The special effects with the prehistoric creatures were also amazing. Although, where I thought they did a great job making the woolly mammoths stampedes look real, for some reason the scenes with the saber tooth tiger did not appear as realistic to me, like a Photoshop scene gone bad. I am sure there is some graphical reasoning on why it was harder to work the saber tooth tiger animation in vs. the woolly mammoths, one of which once my illustrator reads this will try to explain it to me. But overall, like I had heard, it was very much an eye-candy movie.

Now as far as historic relevance, in the whole reason my husband wanted to go see it, uh, yeah. For those of you who feel that even a fictional story of prehistoric times should have some bearing on fact and/or geography, perhaps this would not be a movie for you (my husband would fall into this camp), for others who can bypass facts for fantasy and enjoy a good B flick movie every now and then, than here is one your eyes will also enjoy.

10,000 B.C. centers around a tribe that my husband and I referred to as the Dreadlock clan, who were mighty woolly mammoth hunters, and may I add, at times, spoke remarkable modern day English. This clan’s leader was “mother”, a woman who has visions of the future and when a blue-eyed orphan girl, Evolet, was brought to her, “mother” knew the girl was destined to fulfill a prophecy to save her people. At the same time a small boy of the clan, D’Leh, falls in love with Evolet. Many moons passed quickly and the boy and girl are now grown.

Then, whom my husband and I referred to as the Medieval Knight clan, arrived in the dead of winter on their 4-eyed demons and ransacked the village, capturing several of the Dreadlock clan including Evolet. Despite “mother” not thinking he is brave enough, D’Leh took off with the remaining Dreadlock clansmen to rescue his true love and unknowing to him, become part of the prophecy.

His pursuit led him over snow packed mountains in blizzard conditions, through a tropical rainforest where he was attacked by giant ostriches, and to a desert where he was almost eaten by a saber tooth tiger before being joined by the Balled Headed clan, the Weird Tree Mask clan, the Huge Horn in the Chin clan and the Bamboo Wearing clan. These clans had also been invaded by the Medieval Knight clan, and joined D’Leh on his mission to rescue all their people.

After being lost in the desert for days, they finally arrived at their enemy’s doorstep. Turns out the Medieval Knight clan were working for the Dynasty Emperor clan. They were bringing them slaves to build the evil emperor a great pyramid.

Again, if you are going to be a stickler for historical time frames and geography in addition to perhaps frowning upon a little sprinkling of supernatural in here and there, this might not be your movie. However, if you enjoy a little fun or in my husband’s words, cheesy fantasy, once in awhile as well as incredible cinematography, then this might be one to check out.

As we were leaving the theater, we over heard one guy say to the other it was not worth the $5, maybe $2.50, but not $5; the other guy disagreed and thought it was well worth the $5. I enjoyed it, but I will admit, part of my enjoyment was just watching my history buff husband’s expressions all during the show.

Willow May Book Review by Midwest Book Review

I found out through All Us All the Time Publishing that Willow May got another 5-star review from Midwest Book Review (yea!!!!) .

You can find the review at Midwest Book Review or on Amazon.com.

Gallery Showing

The illustrious illustrator of Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival will be showing her work at the Madison and Main Gallery in Greeley, CO, now through the end of April. Here are the details:

Madison and Main Gallery
"Illustrator Gallery Show"

Come see Pamela McCarville's original paintings for her
children's book, Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival
written by Icats Nitram, published by All Us All the Time Publishing,
in addition to the art work of other regional illustrators at the
Madison and Main Illustrator Gallery Show on display
from March 3rd through April 25th
with an artist reception March 7th, 5-7 pm.

Madison and Main Gallery, 927 16th St., Greeley CO 80631

A Belated Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss

I had every good intention of posted this on the 2nd the anniversary of one of one of my beloved authors 104th birthday, Dr. Seuss, but somehow it got to be the 5th? I have no idea how that happened. However, it is my mother's birthday today...a very happy birthday wish to her.

Most celebrated the good Dr's birthday on the 3rd by participating in Read Across America. You can read more about this event and ways to participate on the NEA website. I must be honest; I was totally bummed the Cat-a-Van tour was not coming through Colorado.

If you haven't visited Seussville you should go check it out, the music alone is worth the trip. You will also find games, Dr. Seuss's bio, a list of events and "books n' stuff".

I also stumbled upon these for those of age who are still children at heart and want to drink a toast to the author favorite of most:

Cat in the Hat Martini
Red Fish Blue Fish (plus green) Martini

Loving the illustrations they have with the recipes!