Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

Hiatus again. Drat.

Okay, nothing says "go away and don't come back" more than announcing a blog vacation. But I get so many folks emailing (2-3 a day, at least) that I feel I owe both newcomers and longtime readers an explanation for my absence.

It's time for Book Buds' annual, totally involuntary, curse-my-blogging-luck hiatus. My first summer (2005), I gave birth, and, being the lazy sort, decided that if I managed to scrounge a half hour of peace here and there, I should spend it sleeping. Selfish, I know.

Back then, I was getting 12 hits a day, so it was no big deal. I'll probably go down to that again before the summer's out, but I'm afraid to look at my stats counter.

The next year (2006) I moved cross-country from L.A. to Chicago. Who emptied out the house, schlepped back and forth to Goodwill, packed and re-packed and futzed and fretted? Why, me. Who blogged? Not me.

And then last summer, my mother died of cancer. No blogging then, for all the obvious reasons, plus I had to pack up a sizable part of her house too.

That brings us to this summer. We're moving to Arizona. It's a dream come true--I still can't believe I talked Brett into this. No, I didn't need to convince him that lifestyle, family and health issues are no less important than career fulfillment, and it was time to achieve a better balance. He'd been saying that for years. What I did was finally lay out the roadmap for getting us there and then drop from shock when he listened.

See, ladies? They do sometimes ask for directions.

Now, I have to hold up my end. That means more boxes.

And less blogging.

I'll be back in mid-summer (I hope I hope). And of course this in no way affects The Cybils.

Happy summer, everyone.

Mmmm ... berry tasty

Blackberry Banquet
by Terry Pierce; illustrated by Lisa Downey
Sylvan Dell

This snappy rhyming text has all the woodland animals zeroing in on a blackberry bush with its yummy, just-ripe treats. That is, until growly Bear turns up, sending them all scurrying in a farcical cascade of mishaps. But who will get the last berry--and the last laugh?

Pierce keeps the text light, with lots of appropriate onomatopoeia  for all  the animal noises when they're happily munching. Downey's lifelike art captures just a hint of whimsy in their gleeful gobbling. And, of course, there's more info on blackberries and their place in the "food web" and a yummy recipe for blackberry smoothie.

This is one of Sylvan Dell's better outings this season, with a more imaginative and sprightly treatment of a nature topic, but one that doesn't stray far from its factual basis.

Rating: *\*\*\

Blackberry blog tour

No, not that Blackberry, silly. Author Terry Pierce will be answering questions about her delightful new nature book from Sylvan Dell, Blackberry Banquet. I plan to run a review on Wednesday, so check back here.

I would've participated too, but I've got boxes piled shoulder high in anticipation of our imminent move to Arizona. More on that another time, though.

Meantime, Pierce is slated to appear twice this week:

Tuesday she'll be at illustrator Elizabeth Dulemba's blog.

Thursday she'll answer questions from the always-terrific, kidlitosphere goddess Anastasia Suen.

And don't forget to drop by on Wednesday for my review.

Thanks to the folks at Sylvan Dell for their hard work setting this up.