POT EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN? (yes, this is in jest)

Here's a good one:



This is a review from SLJ since there doesn't seem to be a publisher description of the book:

Kindergarten-Grade 3–It would be helpful to have a book explaining who uses the substance and why, possible reactions, responsibilities, and legal implications, but this picture book is not it. Jackie wakes up late at night and finds her parents smoking pot. They give a simple explanation and promise to talk to her about it the next day, which happens to be Halloween. The awkwardly drawn, full-page art shows Jackie and her mom in odd costumes riding their bikes to see the marijuana farmer, and then to a doctor who explains that some adults use the drug, but that children absolutely should not. When they pass some stores and the child recognizes the now-familiar sweet smell, she sees a group of African-American men smoking. Implausibly, they stop and explain some details about marijuana and hold still when the police arrive. Even more surprising is the officer who explains why the drug is illegal and that people are trying to change the laws; he then lets the young men go with a simple warning.–Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City

It seems that there's plenty of pot heads out there to give the good old book 5 stars to counter act any negatives. Nothing wrong with a little pot smoking around the kids at story hour, now is there?

I don't want to make any judgements since I haven't yet read it. It is out-of -print, so it may be hard to get my hands on a copy, since a new one goes for 588.46. Gotta love the 46 cents tacked on to the end there. But I will try! There's a used copy for an affordable price that I found because it had a "beer stain" on it. Of course it would be beer! Got to drink beer while passing around that joint while reading to the little one. But that stain could be apple juice, right? I will try to get a copy of IT'S JUST A PLANT and report back. Maybe it promotes goodness! No pot smoking until you're waaaay past 12. It is, as we all know, JUST A PLANT.

THE POWER OF MANY

Someone sent me this. It's amazing!



Happy 4th.

ATTENTION PROBLEMS AND READING

I was in Philadelphia yesterday as the keynote speaker at the Children's Literacy Initiative. During the Q&A a teacher asked me the question: did I have any advice for how to handle kids with ADD, with reading problems, during school. For those of you who don't know - I had major attention problems. I thought I'd talk about my thoughts here since I always think of better answers after the fact.

A few things: One, I remember that we had reading groups in elementary school. There would be three levels. I think I was in level 2. The smart kids were in 1 and the dumb kids were in 3. Obviously 2 isn't a bad place to be... it's just mediocre. I mentioned this before in front of my sister. I said "Why did we have different levels? It made any of the kids not in level 1 feel insecure and stupid." She said, "Well, what about the level 1 kids. It's not fair to them to be with the other kids. They need to be challenged." Well of course she'd say that since she was always in level 1. But here's the thing: Why assume that the other kids wouldn't have valuable things to contribute to a conversation about books? Just because I had problems paying attention doesn't mean that I was stupid. I am convinced that having these levels kept the kids under level one staying in those levels because they were convinced that that's where they should be. I also had to leave class to go to a special teacher for math tutoring. My mother says this is because the teacher couldn't figure out how I was getting the answers - what my method was. I don't care what the reason was - leaving class like that also made me feel stupid. I knew what remedial class was. And TALK to the kids! I remember being brought in for testing in the 4th grade and no one told me what it was for. I thought my intelligence was being tested! No one told me it was for ADD. I knew I had problems paying attention. If some one sat me down and said, "Meghan, we need to find ways to help you pay attention better and to help you read with more ease," I would have understood! I wouldn't have felt stupid.

What I'm saying is that there has to be better ways of structuring classes.

Another thing teachers could do is allow kids with attention problems to listen to books on audio (maybe when they get home). Allow them to listen to several chapters on audio and then tell them to read the next several chapters by themselves. My problem with reading is that I have trouble getting going. Once I get into a book I can sail through it. Also, the key is finding something the child is interested in. When I was negotiating my book contracts I read the most boring law books with ease. Most people would not be able to get through them yet I did without a problem. Why? Because it pertained directly to me and was something I was currently dealing with. Perhaps a kid is really interested in robots. You might be surprised that he or she can eat up some adult-like material on the mechanics of robots without a problem yet can't seem to read a really short chapter book. It's all about interest level!

So those are my thoughts on helping kids with attention problems. If anyone else has any suggestions or disagrees let me know!

POTTERMORE

JK Rowling has a new site. Rowling goes digital.



Right now there's not much on it but come October she's promising lots of exciting stuff for her old and new readers--extras, backstories, and a chance to enter Harry's world. This is what she has to say: “It’s a great way to give something back to the fans. I still receive a huge amount of stories, drawings and ideas and the site is a great way to continue the conversation.”

Also, this site will be the only place where readers can purchase digital versions of the Harry Potter books. Rowling says that ebooks are here to stay. Lucky for her, though, that she gets to solely control how much each book costs. We other authors don't get to control percentages of each book that goes into our pocket. Perhaps that's why I'm not so rah-rah about the whole thing quite yet (among other reasons).

BORDERS IS..NOT...DEAD... YET.

Last week Borders's bankruptcy meeting was held before a judge to prevent the closing of 50 of its stores. Borders will now pay 1 million dollars for an extension to maintain its base while it looks for a potential buyer. The judge said “I’ll approve it with reluctance. I think you’re getting raped is the best way I can describe it. The other side of the coin is, it’s the only game in town. It’s very close to me saying no.” Borders told the judge that if it did not get an extension then it would be faced with immediate liquidation.

I love how some judges describe things. They can make mundane things seem way more interesting.

DOES AUTHOR APPEARANCE MATTER?

I have an article posted on "Guide to Literary Agents" on the topic of appearance. I wrote it a long while ago but I guess I feel the same way. The very first book I published I had my photo on the back but I've never done it again. If my editor asked me I'd have my photo posted but no one has really asked. There isn't enough room because they'd rather advertise my other books on the flap. I will say that thanks to the prednisone I'm on my face gets puffy sometimes and that makes me insecure so I'd have to use a photo pre-prednisone.

What I question in my article is does appearance matter? Does it change how you feel about the book or the author? Is it better to not have a photo? I always think it's funny to see Shell Silverstein's photos because he looks a little scary. Then there are the photos that are clearly when the author was like 20 years younger.

Check out my article and make a comment. A free book goes to a random commenter! Of course you can always comment here as well.

STUFFED SHELVES

This actually looks a little hazardous.

THE RUNAWAY BEARD

This is a fun little story -- Dad shaves off his beard and tries to "hang" with the boy but finds that the beard doesn't really belong on his young face so the beard must find a new home, finally ending up on his bald uncle's head - but what I really love about it is the art and design. PLUS it comes with a beard!


Published in 1998.