Happy November!
Pretty freaky — it’s 11/1/11. *cue in ominous music*
Although winter has already tried to chase autumn away with a bit of messy weather this past weekend, we at alphabet soup are standing our ground.
We will not let the shorter days and ever chillier nights prevent us from celebrating our small joys. We will continue to slurp warm soup at every opportunity, wink at tattily dressed mustached men, and gorge ourselves on eat sensible portions of apple crisp. We will revel in saying things like, “hockey stick monkey face underpants.”
Things making me smile today:
1. Received my contributor’s copies for a blog-post-turned-article in The Girlhood Home Companion. A couple of years ago, I wrote two posts about The Secret Garden by Frances 
Hodgson Burnett (my all-time favorite children’s book). They purchased one time print rights for a shortened version of the first post. In case you’re not familiar with the publication, the Girlhood is a Christian magazine for mothers, daughters and grandmothers which features inspirational articles and stories, along with craft ideas (sewing, crocheting, etc.), poetry, and recipes (“A Secret Garden Tea”). I especially like the piece about setting an Edwardian-inspired table and the Mary and Colin paper dolls. I thought it was kind of cool to be able to “recycle” one of my posts this way, especially since they contacted me, and I didn’t have to revise any of it. ☺ Copies may be purchased via their website.
2. Today is official release day for one of my favorite picture books of the year, Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011)! I’ve made it pretty obvious how much I love love love Melissa’s work, and she’s really outdone herself with this picture book biography about puppeteer Tony Sarg, who invented the giant balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’ll be reviewing the book next week with some commentary from Melissa about her work on this project.
3. I won a copy of The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy & Randall Wright (Peachtree Publishers, 2011) at Anastasia Suen’s Chapter Book of the Day blog! I’d been anxious to read this book ever since I first heard about it months ago, because it takes place at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a historic London inn which I’ve visited several times. It’s associated with literary luminaries like Dickens, Goldsmith, Tennyson, Yeats, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Samuel Johnson, and serves a fine plate of Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding. ☺
4. The Little Bitty Bakery Blog Tour is underway! Jules at 7-Imp is kicking things off today. Here’s the full schedule:
Leslie Muir and Betsy Lewin will discuss different aspects of the book at each stop. Sure to be totally delish. Don’t miss it!
5. It’s always a good day when Inhae Lee posts a new episode featuring ickle and Lardee over at My Milk Toof. See what happens when this winsome pair is left in charge of looking after the house. “Home Security” features pinch-your-cheek adorable miniature tools, hard hats, and Inhae’s trademark gentle humor. It’s the perfect happiness fix.
6. Picture Books will receive some extra, much deserved love and attention this month thanks to author/storyteller Dianne de Las Casas, who’s created an initiative to designate 
November as Picture Book Month. The newly created website will feature “Picture Book Champions,” a series of essays by notable members of the children’s literature community, such as Jane Yolen, Tammi Sauer, Denise Fleming, Eric A. Kimmel, and Dan Yaccarino. A theme calendar for parents, educators and librarians, as well as resource lists and links to PB authors, illustrators and kidlit bloggers are also available.
Looks like November is off to a good start. My dad (still my most faithful blog reader), will be turning 97 on the 17th! Yes, he’s still making mischief on Facebook and noshing all day long. ☺
Have a good month, everyone. Good luck to those of you participating in NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo! ♥
——————————————————————
Copyright © 2011 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Read Full Post »
Now, I know you’ve been wondering about the maracas. Plenty to go around. Paprika wants you to choose your favorite design, but DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT shake them until instructed to do so.
