Tanya Lee Stone

 On October 29, 1998, John Glenn went up in space--again. It was another historic moment in space history, and every moment is space history should be celebrated, as far as I'm concerned. But for me, it's still bittersweet, and that's all because I now know Jerrie Cobb.

I know that Jerrie Cobb wanted to be there, in his place. There was a huge rally in support of giving her a shot at it, many decades after she first yearned to reach the stars. But I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Still, she contributed a great thing to our space history. She challenged the status quo, she pushed the boundaries, she asked the tough questions. And even though it wasn't her, eventually, women got there, too.

So here's to you, Jerrie Cobb. And Sally Ride, and Eileen Collins, and all the rest of the brave women who continually reach for the stars. 

 Wow, a week has already passed since we went to Boston for the wonderful evening. Great fun was had by all, and the Horn Book folks even videotaped the acceptance speeches. Bonus--now the 'rents got to be there in spirit! Here is the site for video clips of all the acceptance speeches. It was really quite an exceptional night, with thought-provoking comments by all.

 Jane Lindholm, the most-excellent host of VPR's Vermont Edition, interviewed me for her program. It aired on Vermont Public Radio today. Give a listen, if you like! Find out who those American heroes behaving badly were, as well as those 13 women who dared to dream.

Listen to the Interview

 

Hey Stephen Colbert,

Do you think it's only those long, dry nonfiction books for adults, without any interesting photos, that can blow the lid off scandals in America? No! I'm here to tell you that books written for younger readers pack the same punch. You want American heroes behaving badly? I've GOT American heroes behaving badly! You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! But kids can. They know right from wrong, and plain old American injustice when they see it.

I bet you didn't know that there were 13 women pilots who took all the Mercury 7 tests to answer one burning question waaaaay back in 1961--are women just as qualified as men to be astronauts? The answer was YES. But NASA said NO. Think that's the end of the story? Not even close...

ALMOST ASTRONAUTS is PERFECT for The Colbert Report! Pass it on...

 I am thrilled to be heading to Boston on October 2nd for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards as Almost Astronauts is one of the two honor titles this year. One of the things I’m most excited about is being in the company of the other two authors in the nonfiction category—David Macaulay and Candace Fleming. 

I have long admired Macaulay and Fleming. Candy and I, happily, have had occasions to see each other. But David I have yet to meet, even though we share a home-base state. The closest I have come is hearing him give a downright brilliant speech several years ago in New York. I have been a fan of the mind and the man (and of course, the books) ever since.

It was actually my son, an avid non-fiction reader from a young age, who first brought Macaulay’s books into the house.Underground and Unbuilding were both eye-opening for me. They showed me that however I, as a writer, wanted to look at a topic, was just fine. The old rules didn’t apply. These books have a perspective unique to the author and that was a revelation to me. He also helped me think of my writing in visual terms even though I am not an illustrator. His newest book, The Way We Work, is his latest gem, and the other honor title for the BGHB award. 

The winner in the nonfiction category this year is Candace Fleming’s The Lincolns, a book that I have pulled off my shelf over and over again this past year, always to discover some new tidbit or interesting item. I thought The Lincolns was by far one of the most outstanding nonfiction titles of 2008 and literally let out a “Hooray!” when I read she was the winner. Candy’s skill shines out from the pages of this book. But that’s no surprise to me. I became a fan back in 2003 with her Boxes for Katje picture book. Not only did I love the story, I admired the way she took a real story about adults (based on her Mom’s experience) and transformed it in a way that captured the essence of its meaning so kids could better relate to it. 

So why am I using my monthly blog spot on INK to gush about my fellow BGHB nonfiction colleagues? It is not simply because I am a fan, but also because it’s important to recognize the lessons we continually learn from our peers as we grow and evolve as artists. Whether it is conscious in the moment or not, there are nuggets we respond to in other people’s work that tells us something about our own truths. And for that I will be forever grateful. 

And now…I have to go buy new shoes!

 Nonfiction writer Marianne Dyson did a great job on Great Day Houston this morning! As an added bonus, the anchorwoman started off the segment with a mention of Almost Astronauts and a nice loooooong cover shot. Thank you Great Day Houston! Watch the short video, if you like.

Last week I was in Manhattan for a much-needed city fix (read, editor meetings and hanging out with writer friends) when some vair vair exciting news was announced. ALMOST ASTRONAUTS was named one of 2 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor titles for Nonfiction! I am THRILLED to be in the company of the award winner, Candy Fleming's THE LINCOLNS and the other honor, David Macaulay's THE WAY WE WORK. I adore both of those books and they already had a permanent residence on my bookshelf. 

I am told this honor comes with a swanky dinner at the incredible Boston Athenaeum and an engraved silver plate, so I guess it's time to buy a new pair of shoes! 

 Throughout the many revisions of Almost Astronauts, there was one constant--poems. Poems that captured the women as girls--girls newly bit by the flying bug. In the end, though, the poems were the one thing that did not mesh with the final version of the book. So Candlewick kindly designed this ancillary booklet so I could pay tribute to the women who have grown to mean so much to me.

So in honor of National Poetry Month, here are Thirteen Little Pilots.

 Can't believe it's been since 2008 that I have jumped on here. I've got to get better at this. I really don't know how people keep up! 

Good news stuff:

Sandy's Circus has been chosen as one of 10 Red Clover books for 2009-2010. That means that 20,000 kids next year will read the Red Clover books and pick their favorite!

Elizabeth Leads the Way has been named an Amelia Bloomer book, ALA Notable, Notable Social Studies, and Kansas State Reading Circle.

And Almost Astronauts, which came out on Feb 24 has gotten 3 starred reviews so far. Wowza. As Glinda would say, "I couldn't be happier!"

In honor of Almost Astronauts and Women's History Month, my awesome publisher (Candlewick) is sending me to DC for a mini-tour in which I'll be speaking at the--gulp--National Air & Space Museum. At the nose of a space shuttle, no less! And doing two events at the fantabulous Politics & Prose. I hereby promise to try to blog about this trip. See how noncommittal that was?

January also saw our annual retreat, Kindling Words, which was somehow even better this year. Great fun was had by all, as well as serene writing time with writer pals, and Ashley Bryan in rare form, charming us with his poetry and his personality.

Happy Spring? Well, not yet, but I can hope. It was 50 degrees here today and lovely--until it started raining. But I ain't complaining! Have a great weekend, everyone.

Picture a young person asking for a cell phone. Then picture an apparently old, cranky person delivering a ranting monologue on how the current generation is in danger of producing a severe lack of thinkers, scientists, inventors--people who may be poised to solve many of the world's problems simply because they are all so plugged in that there is no quiet time in which to just think.

Ok, so I'm cranky. But I'm right. 
;-)

And so it goes. Another day. Another censored book. Sigh. It's a never-ending battle but one we must continue to fight nonetheless. One day, perhaps, sanity will prevail over fear. For now, the news story du jour:

It seems a high school in New Rochelle assigned Girl, Interrupted to an English class until--Gasp--one person decided there was a scene that was inappropriate for teenagers to read. (Full story here.) Was the decision to stop teaching the book? Nay, it was not. It was instead decided to defile; I'm sorry, "bowdlerize" the book in question and make it sanitary for young ears and eyes to partake.

Let's examine said term "bowdlerize," shall we? Bowdlerize is a term that means to expurgate by omitting or modifying parts (generally in a book) considered vulgar. The word was coined to immortalize Thomas Bowdler, an 18th century doctor (who never actually practiced medicine) whose father used to read Shakespeare to the family and leave out the scandalous bits unsuitable for women and children. You won't get any argument from me that a parent has the right to make these choices for their own children. But when young Thomas was grown and had the means to take it upon himself to better the world, he decided that it would be a tragedy if only his clan could benefit from his father's genteel ways and that lesser readers without the intelligence to edit on the spot for themselves should really be given the chance to be bettered by his father's expurgated Shakespeare. So Thomas assembled a collection of Shakespearean works, edited them similarly so as not to offend the ladies and littles, and published a volume entitled Family Shakespeare. Well done, lad, well done. Instead of bastardizing--sorry, bowdlerizing--Shakespeare, he could have just written his own clean little stories, but I suppose that would not have been as noble an undertaking. Or as easy.

So that is how censorship came to have a synonym in "bowdlerizing." Sounds much better, doesn't it? Methinks I'd like to delve a bit deeper into the life history of Thomas Bowdler and see if I can't find an un-expurgated version of his days on god's green earth. There may be some really juicy parts to leave in so those of us who detest censorship can live Happily Ever After. 

 And I absolutely, positively cannot claim the simple brilliance behind this post. No, I was directed to it by Betsy Partridge and thought there was little more to say and that I should just redirect anyone else who hasn't found Editorial Ass right to the source. So if you love books, work in the field, hope to be published one day, or are simply a reader, BUY A BOOK THIS WEEKEND!

 Yes, it's raining. And yes, it's foggy. And yes, my arm is sore from the flu shot. BUT...

Sandy's Circus made the Kirkus 2008 Best Books for Children list. Bam! And the NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing. Ya! Go Mr. Boris Kulikov. Your art is Spectacular!!

And...Marjorie Priceman is going to illustrate my next picture book! Hip-Hip Hooray!

Despite a bad cold/flu bug that put me on a plane home 12 hours earlier than anticipated (after fulfilling my commitments, of course!), the Texas Book Festival was incredible. I've done it once before, when Bad Boy came out. This time I went for my new picture books and the Ella bio.

First stop: Pillow Elementary School. And it was Halloween! Even though I couldn't breathe, all those dragons and princesses and spider-men fired me up! They were a great audience and asked fantastic questions. And I can't describe what it feels like to hand out 600 books, one by one, as all these costumed cuties filed past and thanked me for coming. I even got hugs! Yes, the Texas Book Festival bought a book for EVERY SINGLE KID IN THE SCHOOL! Then it was off to a lovely luncheon for all the Reading Rock Stars (I think there were 10 of us) and the incredible volunteers who did many things to pull off such a well-coordinated day. The highlight of lunch for me was getting to know the twinkly and wise Ben Saenz.

That night there was a party at Clay Smith's house, the literary director of the festival, who is about as smart and savvy as they come. I can't say enough about how well-designed this festival is, and we have Clay to thank for that. It was great catching up with old friends like Lauren Myracle and Varian Johnson, and meeting new ones--Jenny Ziegler, Paula Yoo, Margo Rabb, Heather Vogel Frederick (we knew each other online only), Don Tate, Melissa De La Cruz, and more!

Okay, must get tissues now. Can't breathe. Links not working! Will post about Saturday later.

Did everyone remember to turn back their clocks?

In the past few days, there have been two major articles on Alexander Calder and his Cirque de Calder in the New York Times. Huzzah! What perfect timing for my brand new picture book on this VERY topic! Sandy's Circus: A Story about Alexander Calder explores how Alexander (a.k.a. Sandy) became an artist and brought movement and play to the art world. The illustrations by Boris Kulikov are nothing less than spectacular.

So, the writer asks her community--how can a writer benefit from this very timely media attention of Calder and his circus and help her book be noticed by the masses? If anyone has suggestions to share, shout 'em out! Not just for the sake of this picture book, but to perhaps help each other with similar situations. It takes a village, right?

My new picture book, Sandy's Circus, comes out in a few short weeks and the reviews are starting to come in. As Glinda would say, "I couldn't be happier"...except...I mean it! I just updated my website (which I'm having trouble with...ugh...for some reason the home page just lost all it's formatting, even though if you click on book covers it takes you to normal pages...go figure!) But here's the news on Sandy. I'm doing my official first reading this Thursday night because the amazing Shelburne Museum (the largest museum of Americana in the country--if you've never been, put it on your summer list of places to go!) is having a grand re-opening of their circus exhibit building--which was pretty incredible before, so I don't know what to expect on Thursday). And oh--all my LJ formatting isn't working either---Technical Difficulties!! No linking available, apparently.

Sandy's Circus

Meet Alexander Calder, the man who invented the mobile and set the art world on fire with his magical, moveable Cirque de Calder. With incredible illustrations by Boris Kulikov.

Starred Review, Kirkus: "The lively text shines with apt details....spritely, noteworthy"

Horn Book: "Stone's narrative is as animated as Calder's figures...Kulikov's [art] vibrant with energy and color...would pair interestingly with Selznick's Hugo Cabret."

Booklist: "beautifully illustrated...spare, direct...Kulikov's elegant, fanciful multimedia collages extend the story...will ignite curiosity in Calder."

A Junior Library Guild Selection.

That NYT review of Mamma Mia was dead-on. Lighten up, people! Who cares if it's hokey, over-the-top, or Pierce Brosnan can't sing? Not me. I LOVED IT. Sat there with a big old grin on my face for two whole hours. Life is too short, too dark, too fraught with potential disaster to not just adore a production that is so life-affirming. I loved watching Meryl Streep let loose and just have fun. And the credits at the end were a riot! The only question I had was why not switch Colin Firth (who actually can sing) and Pierce Brosnan--it didn't really matter which one played which, did it?

If you need a smile, go park your fanny in some theater seats and sing along.

Am I repeating myself? Or have I just been complaining about lawnmowers in my head for so long that I think I must have blogged about this before.

I. Hate. Lawnmowers. Or more precisely, I hate the constant, obsessive, non-stop drone of lawnmowers that seem to be all around me. In the winter, it's snowblowers. In the summer, you guessed it. Can't it ever be QUIET! Doesn't anyone else want to hear the chipmunks and the barking dogs and the twittering birds. Even a distant phone ringing would be better than first one person mowing their lawn, then someone else, then someone else, then someone else. Couldn't they all just have a meeting and decide that on Monday at 1 pm everyone will mow the lawn at the SAME TIME?

Is this really too much to ask?

Okay, I will try to concentrate on my manuscript now. Nope, there goes another one!

 We being Laurie Halse Anderson and me, Tanya Lee Stone, at ALA this coming Saturday. 

So here's the scoop. 

On Saturday, June 28th at 5:30 pm, Laurie and I will be hanging out in the lobby of the Grand Californian hotel together, ready to chat about our new picture books about some truly spectacular women in American history--INDEPENDENT DAMES and ELIZABETH LEADS THE WAY. Please feel free to stop by and talk about these books, and any other writing-related topics you care to spark. We've got all kinds of behind-the-scenes juicy details to divulge (yeah, those early American women were a crazy crew!). And if we run out of things to say we can always channel Coffee Talk and discuss my hometown--New Haven. It's neither new, nor a haven. Discuss!

And now, the full schedule (so Mom and hubby can find me)

Sunday, June 29th, Newbery/Caldecott Banquet
(I guess I'd better put on a dress!)

Monday, June 30th, 8:00-10:00 am 
Research Fuels the Author's Fire
Tanya Lee Stone, Jacqueline Briggs Martin, and Carol Gorman; Sharron McElmeel moderating
Anaheim Convention Center 304 A/B

Monday, June 30th, 11:00 am-Noon, Penguin Young Readers Booth 2617 
Signing Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald and Sandy's Circus (f&gs)

Monday, June 30th, 2-3 pm, DK Booth 2625
Signing Amelia Earhart & Abraham Lincoln

Monday night Printz reception
(another night to dress up!)

Thank You to the wonderful folks at Penguin Young Readers!

Please head on over to I.N.K. this morning and read/comment on this morning's post (my monthly contribution) about what happened during my book launch for Elizabeth Leads the Way.