Sophie's Surprise

On Wed. Sophie's mother had emailed me that "Sophie is REALLY looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. She has a surprise and keeps asking to make sure you'll be there to pick her up. Very excited."

So, yesterday (Thursday), as always, I was there ( her school).

"Hi, Sophie, I hear you have a surprise!"
"Mmmmm," she replied through her clenched lips.
"What is it? I'm so excited!"
She held out--with one hand over her mouth. . . through which leaked giggles. . . .until she settled into her car seat--then off came her hand & she opened her mouth to show me--what you who are reading this have already guessed--she lost her first tooth!
"Grammy, last night, I was so excited to tell you that I woke up in the middle of the night!"
"Sophie, last night, I was so excited to find out that I woke up in the middle of the night, too!"

p.s. Yes, she reported, that the tooth fairy came & left her a note with fairy dust sprinkled on it, although Sophie thought that it was weird to sleep on a tooth.

Check it out

Check out "Swallowed by the Sun Colman" at www.colmanmusic.com
Listen to "Hollywood, Florida" and join the mailing list. The Colman is my son Jon!

Sophie & Woody

Recently, Sophie, who says she's going to be a vet, and her parents adopted Woody, a cuddly, rambunctious kitten. Monday I had a sleep-over at Sophie's, so her parents could stay as late as they wanted at the opening night party. Apparently intrigued, Woody entertained me throughout the night--batting at the venetian blind cords, etc.--and I didn't mind 'cause he's soooo cute!

Hip Hip Hurrah

This is the morning after the opening of "The County of Kings," for which my son Steve is on the "formidable team of producers" to quote from Ben Brantley's fabulous review in today's The New York Times!!!! http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/theater/reviews/13county.html?ref=theater
Congratulations to all!!!

Sophie and a "pourquoi" story

Thursdays I drive into NYC to pick up Sophie after school for our Sophie/Grammie Day in NJ. Today we read How the Ostrich Got Its Long Neck retold by Verna Aardema & illustrated by Marcia Brown. It's a delightful, fun read & Sophie loved it. I also read her the author's note that introduced the concept of pourquoi (the French word for "why") stories, or stories that explain how a particular characteristic of a person or animal or a natural phenomenon came to be. Later, while "hanging out" in the kitchen, waiting for the pasta to cook, I said, "Hey, Sophie, you could make up a pourquoi story--like: "Why did Grammy get gray hair?"

"Grammy," she thoughtfully replied, "got gray hair because she got old."

Sophie's garden

Since August, Sophie has had a vision of expanding her garden all the way to the edge of the sidewalk. I've been stalling, in part because her vision exceeds her time & passion for digging & turning the soil. Plus we'd loose a nice batch of grass. However, last week, as part of our Sophie/Grammy Day, we stopped at a garden store & ended up with a bunch of bulbs, in particular--tulips with fringed edges, which, of course, need a special spot, which, of course, jump started me to get out our shovels and start digging our way to the sidewalk.

My son Steve. . . .

Check out "When Life Names You Lemon . . .," a terrific article in Sunday's The New York Times about "County of Kings," a one-man show by Lemon Andersen that opens at the Public Theater in New York, tomorrow, September 29th. Lemon and my son Steve Colman were two of the stars who shared a Tony Award for "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway." Now, Steve is one of the producers of Lemon's memoir, "County of Kings." (The title refers to Brooklyn where he grew up.) Here's a picture of the cast of "Def Poetry Jam on Broadway that Sara Krulwich of the Times took in 2002. Steve is first on the left, Lemon is third. Here's a link to Sunday's article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/theater/27sont.html?scp=1&sq=Lemon&st=cse

Previews are this week; the opening is 10/12. We've got our tickets!

Chusok, or Korean Thanksgiving Festival

I love being a writer for many reasons, including having learning adventures! For example, in writing Thanksgiving: The True Story I attended Chusok, the Korean Harvest, also called Korean Thanksgiving Festival, in a park near my house in northern New Jersey. Here videos from this year's event: The first are students at Rutgers University who belong to the Rutgers Korean Culture Group. The second group performed on the main stage:

The "R' Word

We are not bumper-sticker people; that is we weren't until Friday, the day Linda led a "Train-the-Trainer Workshop" on the research-based curriculum that she and her colleague Ishita Khemka developed and evaluated--ESCAPE-DD: An Effective Strategy-Based Curriculum for Abuse Prevention and Empowerment for Men and Women with Developmental Disabilities. The workshop was sponsored by the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities (NJCDD) in cooperation with the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women and New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. That's where Linda got a NJCDD bumper stickers protesting the use of the "R" word. Since Linda had objected to the use of that word for years, I wasn't surprised to see it on her car bumper. "Retard" is also a trigger word for bullying. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

On the go

Since my last post, Sophie & I spent a day at the New York Aquarium, Linda & I went peach & apple picking & my semester started at Queens College.
The school bus ride & new school seem to suit Sophie; I'm picking her up tomorrow for the weekend & am looking forward to hearing her stories.
Saturday night I'm speaking to a group of women, who are on a book getaway retreat at the Jersey Shore led by my dear friend Mollie Hoben, co-founder of the Minnesota Women's Press, which among other wonderful activities publishes my favorite literary little journal, BookWomen. You can subscribe to BookWomen, order The Great Book: because women say so (includes a list of 400 titles, selected by book groups from 1986 through 2007, plus lists of books they've used around themes at their "Reading Retreats" and for "Book Groups on the Road") at www.womenspress.com

Happy Day

65th

On a "bright sunny day"--November 12, 1880, Elizabeth Cady Stanton started to keep a diary. She began with: "Today, I am sixty-five years old." In my forthcoming book, Stirring Up The World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, a Biography of a Powerful Friendship, I described how she spent the day in her house, in Tenafly, New Jersey, which is about three miles from where I live (Susan is Susan B. Anthony, Harriot through Kit are her seven children, Henry is her husband): Susan was away for several days, and her family was scattered--Harriot in France; Theodore in Germany; Maggie, Gat and Neil in Iowa; Bob away at college in New York; Kit and Henry were in New York City. Alone, she spent the day "writing letters and walking up and down the piazza."
"Dear Children," she wrote, "This is my birthday. . . . Looking back through life, I feel that our troubles are fully compensate by our joys."
Today, also a "bright sunny day," I am sixty-five years old!!!

Sophie Road Trip

First stop on our recent road trip with Sophie was a return trip to Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut. When she was a toddler, one of the books I kept in the car for her to look at was about Arctic animals; the beluga whale was particularly eye-catching. Sophie was 3 1/2 the first time we went to see the belugas at the Mystic Aquarium. Now, two years later, here are Sophie & a beluga eye-to-eye. The next day we stopped at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, where Sophie rode the carousel, which was built in the late 1880s, had lunch in Port Judith, and then went on to Newport.

Since it was August 26th, Women's Equality Day, the day in 1920 women finally won the right to vote, we toured Marble House, Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont's mansion where she held lavish fundraisers for suffrage. In the gift shop, Sophie picked out a "Vote for Women" button to pin to her backpack.

School starts and "booktalks"

We're abuzz with school starting preparation. So when does school start for us? Tomorrow for Linda at Teachers College, Wednesday for me at Queens, next week for David at Ramapo and Sue at New York University and Sophie, in first grade at a NYC public school, The Anderson School. Dot, my long-time friend and a captivating presence on my blog and in my book Rosie the Riveter, started last week. She's a middle school librarian and here's her report:
Hi Penny,
We started last week. It was one BUSY week! Everything seemed to go well. The 6th graders seemed confused, but no one was crying.
On the second day of classes, the reading teachers brought their students to the library for 20 minutes to select books. They never want to give up much time for this, so I can’t really do indepth booktalks. I had two carts selected; one for 7/8 grades and one for 6th grade. I gave 30 second book talks for about ten books to each group and really whipped through them fast. Almost every book I “talked” went out! I’m hoping teachers get the value of doing that, rather than letting the kids just float around the library.
I enthusiastically second Dot's comments re the power of "booktalks," a terrific technique for anyone--parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, teachers, librarians and strangers--who want to share their passion for reading. Yes, strangers; several years ago a stranger--a woman whose appearance initially made me think she might be homeless--who was standing next to me in the mystery section of an independent bookstore turned to me and said,
"Do you want to read a wonderful book?"
"Sure."
With that she headed off to another section with me in tow, plucked a nonfiction book, Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time, off the shelf, and handed it to me. Intrigued I bought it, read it, and loved it.
p.s. you can also do "articletalks."

Road trip

We--Sophie, Linda & I--are off on a short road trip to the Mystic, Ct. & Newport, RI! Last fling before classes start for me & Linda next week. Sophie's start the following week. We'll see the beluga whales in Mystic, tour Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont's mansion in Newport where she held lavish fundraisers for suffrage, etc . On Wednesday, August 26th, we'll celebrate Women's Equality Day--the anniversary of women finally winning the right to vote (the resistance to woman suffrage is a mind-boggling story). You can download a brochure about Women's Equality Day at http://www.nwhp.org/.

Sophie

Sophie's home! We've had two fun-filled days catching up, including checking out familiar places, e.g., the pond at Flat Rock Brook Nature Center, which, as you can see is covered with duckweed! Sophie spied a frog & pulled out a pocket magnifying glass; her Daddy gave it to her, she said. (The one beaded braid is what remains from the many beaded braids she and her cousins got during their time at Mallorca.)

Sarah Jones

Here's a link to my daughter-in-law Sarah Jones' fabulous performance, "Sarah Jones As a One Woman Global Village," at the 2009 TED conference. Those of you who saw Sarah in "Bridge and Tunnel, her Tony-award-winning one-woman Broadway show, will be delighted to see some of her characters again. Those of you who go to Queens College--listen for her character who "teaches" at Queens College. All of you, I'm sure, will love Sarah and her characters.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village.html

Wonderful Writing and Stone Creek Woman

It's been tooo0 hot to do much more than dust and in the process refamiliarize myself with my books which are stacked everywhere. (Even now at 9 pm sweat is dripping down my face as I write in my un-air conditioned basement!) Anyhow, today I uncovered a beautifully done book--Women in the Wilderness: Writings and Photographs, selected and edited by Susan & Ann Zwinger. On p. 92, there's a gorgeous photo of a slot canyon followed by an excerpt from Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams, a wonderfully descriptive & evocative nonfiction writer. The piece begins with: "Few know her, but she is always there--Stone Creek Woman--watching over the Colorado River. Over the years, I have made pilgrimages to her, descending into the Grand Canyon. . . .It is always a pleasant journey downriver to Mile 132--Stone Creek, a small tributary that flows into the Colorado."
With the thrill of recognition & connection, I exclaimed, "I know that place. I've been there!" Jumping up, I retrieved a copy of my account, Grand Canyon Magic, of my long ago paddle-raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. On p. 28, I read this:
Day Nine, I woke up feeling more rested this morning, maybe it's because I dreamt that I was being towed down the river in my tent.
We spent the morning hiking Stone Creek Canyon. The trail wandered back and forth across the creek, over red rock and multi-colored boulders, through lush vegetation to about a thirty-foot waterfall, surrounded by a profusion of greenery.

Williams describes Stone Creek Woman as emerging "from behind a veil of water. . . with her redrock face, her maidenhair ferns, and waterfall of expression." All those many years ago, did I see Stone Creek Woman? Not according to my written record, but I do now through the connection via William's vivid writing.

Scrabble

Last night--we play Scrabble every night--I "wrote" BLOVIATE--for 101 points (we don't keep score but I couldn't resist adding up the points because the "b" was on the triple word square!)
"Do you know that word from speaking or reading?" Linda asked.
"Reading," I replied.

Dot's summer reading

Readers of my book, Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II, "know" Dot Chastney; they've seen her grade school picture and read about her experiences growing up during World War II. Shortly after I interviewed her for Rosie, Dot moved to Florida where she is a middle school librarian, a continuation of her long career as an awesome & inspiring librarian. We have great e-mail conversations about books, reading, schools, kids, etc. (you'll find Dot in other posts & comments). Recently she sent me the list of books she read this summer. When I asked her if I could post it she replied:
Sure! You can also add that by far and away my favorite of the past six months is HUNGER GAMES, Book One by Suzanne Collins. It is also futuristic, and I prefer historical fiction or non-fiction. However, this kept me flipping the pages until I finished it. Book two is coming out in September and I can’t wait to get it. Our lower school 5th graders are reading it and I would say it would appeal to any age, right through high school.
Here are the books Dot read & her comments:
Hi, Penny,
Here’s a list of the books I read this summer:
SHIFT by Jennifer Bradbury, my favorite. Two boys bicycle across the country after high school graduation. One disappears near the end of the ride.
THINGS THAT ARE by Andrew Clements. This kept me reading, although I thought it was somewhat implausible. A blind girl has a boyfriend who has the ability to fade. She learns that a man who also has the ability to fade is stalking her boyfriend. The FBI contacts her because they are hunting for this man. It seems they fear someone with this ability could use it to threaten the safety of the country.
THE SKY INSIDE by Clare B. Dunkle. I had to force myself to keep going with this one--a futuristic, perfectly ordered society where children are genetically engineered. When the young children are taken away, a boy who loses his little sister begins to question why they were taken and sets out to search for them.
THE GIRL WHO COULD FLY by Victoria Forester. Also had to force myself, although the character development here was somewhat interesting. As the story moved along, some of the characters turned out to be different than they first appeared. It’s another story of a child with a unique ability who is taken away and placed in an underground school where she will be brainwashed and forget about her ability to fly. As she realizes what is happening to her and the other kids, they begin to plot an escape.
WHISPERS FROM THE BAY by John Tkac. (He is a local author; lives in Delray Beach.) A young boy living in Florida has a unique connection to dolphins. He actually talks to them and they carry on whole conversations with him. It’s the first book in a planned trilogy. When a friend and neighbor is kidnapped, he enlists the help of the dolphins to find and free the girl. Honestly, there is no way I can picture a kid having a conversation with dolphins who say, “Hey, Mike, you should fish around here. There are big sailfish in these waters.”
That old saying, “Truth is stranger and a thousand times more thrilling than fiction” seems more TRUE than ever. My next read definitely will be non-fiction. (I added the boldface!)
Dot Emer,
Middle School Librarian
Schmitt Library
Saint Andrew's School
Boca Raton, FL 33434