KidLitCon teams up with Reading is Fundamental

KidLitCon* is joining up with Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), a nonprofit children's literacy organization. Colleen Mondor of Chasing Ray has the scoop:

KidLit Con teams up with RIF because it is the right thing to do


*From the website: "The “KidLitosphere” is a community of reviewers, librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, publishers, parents, and other book enthusiasts who blog about children’s and young adult literature."

Tribute to Bridget Zinn

Upstart Crow Literary posted a tribute to Bridget Zinn, who died from cancer yesterday morning. Bridget Zinn was a Teen/YA librarian, blogger, and author, with her first novel, Poison, due to be published next summer by Disney/Hyperion.

I'd met Bridget at the second Kidlitosphere conference in Portland, Oregon. We found we had a mutual friend: a college friend of mine was her library school friend in Madison, Wisconsin. When friends started an auction to help pay for medical expenses, I donated a sunflower root child doll. I didn't know her beyond the Kidlitosphere conference and online connections, but I was glad to know that she had a wide circle of family and friends.

My wish for all of you is that you should have that kind of compassionate support that Bridget had, regardless of what you endure. I wish for you courage, strength, and grace.

The Author and the Baker in Doll Form

The author and the baker are happy with their new dolls. They were so much fun to make!

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Muffins et al

I posted a Gluten Free Sweet Potato Spice Muffin recipe over at the Natural Kids blog. The muffins freeze well. Here are some other yummy gluten-free* items I've made recently from Gluten Free on a Shoestring, by Nicole Hunn (blog link has her book link on the sidebar):

Popovers


I boiled the bagels...


...and then baked the bagels:


When a friend said that he wanted biscotti, I baked those, too:


I haven't yet attempted Hunn's newly-developed gluten-free pita bread recipe, but I've got my pizza crisper now, and I'm going to make it. Soon.

*My daughter is on a trial gluten-free diet. So far, so good.

My Felt Wee Folk Hero*

Jules has posted her interview with Salley Mavor over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Mavor is the author/illustrator/embroiderer/master crafter of Felt Wee Folk, a Pocketful of Posies, and other books that you can find here. Thanks to Jules for the interview and The Library Lady for alerting me to the existence of A Pocketful of Posies.


*That's corny, but sometimes I can't resist.

Reticence

Author Sarah Prineas wrote a guest blog-post I appreciated on Shrinking Violet Promotions. It's called I Will Be Your Friend But I Will Not Be Your Fan: A Rant About How Authors Use Social Media Promotion. I took time to read through the comments as well as the post, as they provided some good counterpoints to the rant. Prineas follows up that post with Solutions: One Way to Deal With the Self-Marketing Frenzy, Plus a Shout-Out to Publishers.

I am reticent to do self-promotion for my online shop because I am easily overstimulated, and operate from the assumption that you are easily overstimulated as well. Still, I would like for people to find my shop easily through internet searches when what I offer is what they want. I've considered a paid ad, but as one who doesn't often click on ads, I wonder how prudent the expense would be.

Enough about promotion! I am happy that I now have a childhood favorite book called Little Witch, by Anna Elizabeth Bennett. I plan to read it to my daughter after slogging through the rest of The Road to Oz. I enjoyed rereading the first few books as an adult, but despite the presence of Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter,I realized I was Done With Oz when we came to the chapters with the head-throwing Scoodlers.

Felt Board Tutorial

Kristy of Textiles4you has a tutorial on how to make a travel felt story board. She's quite crafty and is passionate about upcycling.

Adrienne, Amish Guitar, Handwork, and Odd-Fish

Here are a few items that I have gathered into one blog post. If I were clever all the time, I would have made them four separate blog-posts, but I am only clever on Tuesdays and alternate weekends.

1.
The wonderful Adrienne of What Adrienne Thinks About That came to visit me in Seattle after the Public Library Association conference in Portland, Oregon. She drove up with a friend on my birthday and we got to hang out for a day and a half before she had to fly back to New York. That visit was a wonderful birthday present. This was the first time my husband and daughter got to meet Adrienne, and my daughter was besotted. She would occasionally burst out with, "Adrienne? I loooooove you." I felt the same, but was less demonstrative.

2.
At PLA, Adrienne met up with Amish Guitar who gave her a handy Emergency Guitar Kit to deliver to me. This kit came in a zip-lock bag with a number of smaller zip-lock bags that included:
a. Emergency Guitar Strap with lock-clip (string with a bread-tie)
b. Emergency Capo (toothpick with rubber band)
c. Emergency Chord Charts (need a magnifying glass to read them)
d. An I.O.U. for an Emergency "Bad Gig" candy bar

Not included: Emergency Guitar Tuner


Emergency Guitar Kit

3.
Angela Mobley of The Artist the Mom wrote a guest post on The Magic Onions about handwork in the Waldorf curriculum. Here's the post: Discovering Waldorf- Handwork in a Waldorf School.

4.
A couple of months ago, James Kennedy, the author of The Order of the Odd-Fish, sent me an email to let me know about fan art inspired by his book. I was intrigued, but when I went to my library system's online catalog, the only copy of Odd-Fish was in electronic format. After the rigmarole of downloading the program required to read it, downloading the book, and attempting to open the file, I remembered why I had deleted the program the last time I tried to read an electronic book, and gave up in a short burst of temper. However, James Kennedy had the publishing house send me a copy of Odd-Fish newly released in paperback. Thank you, James Kennedy!

Book widget recommendation?

Today, Jen of SewnNatural presented a nice writeup of some of my latest activity with the NaturalKids team. The book suggestions I will be posting on a regular basis in the sidebar will need a nice, neat widget. Are there any recommendations out there? I have a GoodReads account, but my initial attempt to make a widget just for specific book recommendations on a bookshelf has not been successful, as it ends up pulling books from other bookshelves.

Update: We're going with Shelfari.

The Magic Onions: a guest blog post

I wrote a guest blog post on storytelling as part of the "Discovering Waldorf" series in The Magic Onions. You may find it here: Discovering Waldorf- Storytelling.


Spring themed storytelling dolls on a nature display

Storytelling in the Bathtub

This blog post was written for Share a Story, Shape a Future's Blog Literacy Tour 2010 and is part of day two of the tour by The Book Chook. Here is the roundup of posts: Literacy My Way.

Storytelling in the Bathtub; Practical Aspects of Family Storytelling

Once upon a time, when my daughter was three years old, she hated to have her hair washed. I understood her vulnerability. A certain amount of trust must be in place in order to allow an adult to tip the child’s head back, pour the water on the hair and keep the water off of the face. Despite the presence of the washcloth, water inevitably trickles into the eyes. As my daughter shrieked that she didn’t want her hair washed, I said, “Have I ever told you about Pepper’s eleven brothers and sisters?”

My daughter stopped yelling. Pepper was my daughter’s beloved little Playmobil princess who shared her interests and fears, but before that moment, she hadn’t known about Pepper’s family. The Twelve Dancing Princesses was my inspiration for the number of siblings, and as I began to wash my daughter’s hair, I gave them plant names: Carnation, Jonquil, Heliotrope, Johnny-Jump-Up, Violet, and so on. In subsequent baths, I told my daughter about the day they all decided to go on a picnic, what they brought with them, who they met along the way, and what they played when they got there. As I told the story, I didn’t try to create an intricate plot, but I took some inspiration from the book Picnic by Emily Arnold McCully. If any of this sounds familiar to you, it’s because I wrote about it three years ago and included a bed-time story as well in the post Three Wishes and One Too Many Shaggy Dogs.

Public storytelling performance is different from family storytelling. When I tell stories for an audience in a bookstore or library, I make sure I know my stories thoroughly and provide proper attribution. Some storytellers are able to make up stories spontaneously for an audience. I am not one of them, but I do know that my colleagues’ spontaneity is possible because of the abundance of stories they already know.

When I do family storytelling, I draw inspiration from Western folktales like those collected by the Brothers Grimm (Germany) and Joseph Jacobs (Great Britain) because I know that I will not be infringing upon another culture’s sacred stories. Certain motifs in those stories by Grimm and Jacobs are probably already familiar to you: a journey, a series of events that happen in threes, a smattering of magic, a symbolic challenge to deal with. I often used my daughter's character of Pepper in stories to help my daughter work through her own struggles from swings and slides to dogs and sirens. Over the years, I've employed other characters meaningful to her.

Two in-print books I recommend are:
Bringing the Story Home: The Complete Guide to Storytelling for Parents, by Lisa Lipkin

A Parent's Guide to Storytelling: How to Make Up New Stories and Retell Old Favorites, by Margaret Read MacDonald

If you are inclined toward folktales, here is a link to help you with the inspiration for your stories: Sur La Lune.

Four Seasonal Naturescapes

Quiet reflection in the living world is a rare, dearly sought-after state. Quiet on the blogfront comes across at best as benign neglect. I should at least let you enjoy some visuals of what I've been working on to put together for this year's gala auction class project:

Four Seasonal Naturescapes

I miss you. I will return. At the very least, I have a blog post to write about storytelling for The Book Chook's hosting day as part of the Blog Literacy Tour, Share a Story- Shape a Future 2010. That should be up by March 7. Hold me to it!

Winner of the Astronomy Magus Doll Announced

I'm pleased to announce that Wendy of BirchLeaf Designs is the winner of the astronomy magus doll in the Five Year Anniversary and Giveaway. Bede provided the hat, Lucia drew the name out of the hat, and I provided the little doll. Many thanks to all of you for writing in with your stories, story ideas and songs. (No one opted to explain quantum theory?!) I enjoyed reading them. If I ever locate the books for which you're searching, I'll let you know.

Many blessings,
Farida

Five Year Celebration and a Giveaway

[Note to those reading this in RSS readers: this is the real blog post.]

Five years ago, I started a storytelling blog. My daughter was not yet two years old and I was still working as a children's librarian on a substitute basis. I had as a goal for that year to learn guitar or sewing, and surprised everyone (most of all myself) when I started lessons for both. Throughout the years, I've learned to know new people through blogging and have even got to meet some of them. Relationships with old friends with whom I'd been out of touch as well as acquaintances who've became good friends have been possible because of blogging.

I'm thankful for all of you. Today's celebration is in thanks for your friendship. I am hosting a giveaway of a doll I made especially for this day: an Astronomy Magus to aid you in storytelling or inspire you as you work.

The doll is made with hand-dyed dark blue wool felt and embroidered with blue and white stitches. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post with a reflection on one or more of the following items:

1. A description of a beloved story from your childhood that you have not yet located. Be as specific as possible, and someone might be able to find the information to reunite you with that story.

2. A song you really enjoy that you don't think a lot of people know. Please provide a verse or two.

3. A scenario of a book you would love to read that to the best of your knowledge has not been written. Only share the story idea if you're not planning to write it yourself!

4. Explain quantum theory as if it were a story.

I will need to be able to contact the recipient of the Astronomy Magus, either through an email address found on your blog/website profile or through a private email you sent directly to me at: saintsandspinners [at] gmail [dot] com. If you send me a private email, please be assured that I will not use your address for any purpose but this giveaway.

"Why an Astronomy Magus?" you might ask. Some of you know how much I love outer space. The science-fiction I enjoy most has to do with interplanetary travel. You might not have been aware that when Carl Sagan says, "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be," my soul leaps with joy, but you've probably suspected that I watched every episode of the new Battlestar Galactica series. It is my hope that when I bring my first book-length story to completion, it will incorporate stories, songs and textiles into a science-fiction genre. That is why the Astronomy Magus is my gift.

The drawing for the Astronomy Magus ends Friday, February 26, at 6 P.M. Pacific Standard Time. You may comment multiple times, but each name will be entered only once. Parents and siblings of the House of Glee plus Brad the Gorilla are welcome to comment but will not be eligible for the drawing.

Five Year Blogging Celebration Planned

Sunday, February 21 is my five year anniversary for blogging on Saints and Spinners. I have a little celebration planned that includes a giveaway. Please join me! My post will go live at 12:01 AM PST on February 21.

Snow Child tutorial on NaturalKids blog

I'm glad to be able to present for Crafty Thursday a tutorial on the NaturalKids blog about how to make a wood and felt snow child. The pattern and tutorial comes courtesy of Beth Curtin of Acorn Pies and the Etsy shop Primroses.

Do you know how labor intensive tutorials are? I tried to do one last year when I made a felt lion for that year's class auction progress, and quickly lost steam. I realized that if I ever got a tutorial together, I would need to start with a simple project. Anyway, tutorials like the one linked give me a renewed appreciation for the process of teaching.

Briefest of Updates

The "wheels spinning in the mud" metaphor is apt for my current mode of thinking. I know that emerging from a hard place takes a certain kind of mindset that allows for gentle pressure of the gas pedal plus a goodly amount of spare cardboard to put under the wheels (wasn't it lucky that I had cardboard the last time the car got stuck in the mud?). Still, I'm a little amazed that when it comes to writing, my mind just goes blank. I can't even come up with original metaphors! I was glad when a customer gave me inspiration for a series of dolls to do for the NaturalKids "spring challenge." Here are four Blossom Princesses:

By the way, my five year blog-anniversary, sometimes called a "blogiversary," is coming up on February 21. That's a little over two weeks from now, and I'd like to do something nice for you all to celebrate.

In other news, my daughter had her first public performance last Friday. The assistant kindergarten teacher gave a concert where she sang and friends accompanied her on instruments and vocals. Lucia sang "Hey Ho, Nobody Home" with the teacher for the last song. She enjoyed herself on stage and was beaming for hours afterward.

Tanita Davis Wins Coretta Scott King Honor Award

I'm thrilled that author, blogger and friend Tanita S. Davis won the 2010 Coretta Scott King Honor award for Mare's War. You can find all of the rest of the American Library Assciation awards at the press release found here (good luck finding it merely by going to http://ala.org).

I need to get a sticker now... and make a cake, too. Tanita, I'm making you a cake!

Rainmom: A Blog About Parenting a Child With Autism

Rainmom is an assistant professor of religious studies and a mom of two children, of whom the elder has autism. When I went to college with her, I got to enjoy her stunning soprano voice in productions of La Boheme and The Marriage of Figaro. Now, I read her thoughtful, insightful blog about raising a child with autism, and though I don't often comment, I take courage and wisdom from it.

My daughter's challenges are different from her son's, but there is definitely overlap in what we deal with as parents. When Rainmom wrote, "The Ohio House of Representatives has voted that insurance companies cannot decline to cover expenses related to autism and diabetes" (Little Victories), I realized that I had better find out where Washington State stood in that matter. I found the Autism Society of Washington (where you can find explanations for the wide range of diagnoses from "classic" autism to Pervasive Developmental Disorder).

We're still waiting for appointments to have our daughter assessed this spring. It's possible that she'll get a diagnosis that will help her obtain the services she needs, but it's also possible that like my youngest brother, she will be classified an "enigma."

I want Lucia to get the help she needs. I want her to have friends who accept her, quirks and all. It's very painful to see her run up to children, eager to be friends, and watch them shrink away from her into their parents. I understand why they do that, and I certainly don't like it when anyone invades my personal space. Still, I internally grumble, "Where are all those exuberant, extroverted kids when I need them? They're allegedly supposed to be in the majority."

July 25, 2010: Now that Lucia is older, I feel it is no longer appropriate to write about her. I decided not to delete older posts, but I want to respect her privacy by not writing about her in a public forum, even if she does have a pseudonym. If you have been reading the blog for awhile and wonder what is going on these days, please feel free to contact me through email.

Children's Book Blogger Triumvirate

Congratulations to Jules Danielson of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Peter D. Sieruta of Collecting Children's Books and Betsy Bird of A Fuse # Eight Production for Candlewick's acceptance of their book proposal, tentatively titled Wild Things! : The True, Untold Stories Behind the Most Beloved Children’s Books and Their Creators. Each link has each blog's announcement of the book-deal plus details.