Tag: Oz Events (Page 1 of 2)

‘T-Rex Time Machine’ travels to Lemuria

Two hungry T. Rex Dinosaurs?

A time machine?

What could possibly go wrong??

When two hungry dinosaurs travel from the age of the dinosaurs to the future in a time machine, the time machine lands in the drive through lane of a fast-food restaurant called “Burger Town.” The dinosaurs are amazed by all the food that can be found everywhere! As they chorus: “THE FOOD COMES TO US!” The T. Rexes go on a jaunt around town, scaring the townspeople (unintentionally) while eating everything from pizza to noodles. When the police show up to arrest the dinosaurs, they scatter, running through a donut festival and back to the “magic egg,” (a.k.a. the time machine). While inside the time machine, they can’t figure out a way to travel back to their own time, and the green dinosaur wails, “I didn’t get a donut!” What they don’t know is that the time machine is voice activated. The time machine says, “I didn’t quite get that. Did you say… ‘I want to dance with King Tut’?”

Do the dinosaurs make it home? Or are the great pyramids in their future…

T. Rex Time Machine by author/illustrator Jared Chapman is a hilarious picture book that will leave you hungry for french fries and donuts–and more dinosaur adventures! Jared Chapman’s illustrations are eye-catching and the humor is for children and adult readers alike. Some of Chapman’s clients include Walt Disney Television Animation, Nick Jr., Nike, McSweeney’s, Hallmark, Jib Jab, and Mudpuppy.

Don’t miss a story time and book signing with Jared Chapman at Lemuria Books on Saturday, September 22 at 10:00 a.m.! Jared Chapman will be drawing dinosaurs, reading T. REX TIME MACHINE, and signing books. Fun for the whole family (with snacks for both hungry little dinosaurs and their parents), there will be photo opportunities with a REAL T-Rex and a Time Machine!

Call 601-366-7619 or visit lemuriabooks.com for more information.

Southern secrets haunt ‘The Good Demon’ by Jimmy Cajoleas

By Clara Martin. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (September 16)

“And, soft as a moth wing, out slipped a torn scrap of paper that fluttered to the floor.
I picked it up. Scribbled in Her handwriting, all bubbly and little-girly, the way She made my hand move whenever She wanted to write something:

Be nice to him

June 20

Remember the stories.”

This is the first clue left behind by Clare’s demon in The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas (Amulet Books). In an unnamed Southern town, Clare has been delivered from her demon by a preacher and his son. One month later, she finds messages hidden in old books she doesn’t remember taking to Uncle Mike’s Used and Collectible, the thrift shop in her town. Clare’s demon was her friend, and she’s doing anything she can to get Her back, even if it means befriending Roy, the boy who separated Clare from her demon in the first place. Their friendship will lead them to uncover other mysteries in their town, specifically regarding Uncle Mike’s missing daughter, Clea, and a wooden box filled with secrets worth $1000.

A spooky psychological thriller and mystery, Jimmy Cajoleas’ young adult novel debut will have readers on the edge of their seat. In The Good Demon, there is no doubt that Cajoleas is a powerhouse of a writer in this atmospheric novel with an undercurrent of fear and faith. Featuring three-dimensional characters who keep generations of secrets from each other, the reader isn’t quite sure who to trust. If you like to be scared in broad daylight, if you want original writing and the kind of quirky and complex characters who occupy the nooks and crannies of the South, then The Good Demon is for you.

Jimmy Cajoleas is originally from Jackson, Mississippi and graduated with an MFA from the University of Mississippi and now lives in New York. He will signing and reading The Good Demon at Lemuria on Wednesday, September 19 at 5 p.m.

Event for Kids 7-12: Meet Jodi Kendall, author of ‘The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City’ on 8/29/18

Maybe there was a time before, when I loved books and loved stories. But I like to think of my life as before and after. Before Charlotte’s Web, I listened to stories. After Charlotte’s Web, I read them.

For every bibliophile, story-addict, or word-junkie, there is a book, or a story, that turned the tables. So, living my life in a post-reading Charlotte’s Web world, I am always drawn to stories that remind me of the friendship between Wilbur and Charlotte, strong girl-characters like Fern, and comedic entertainment in Templeton the Rat. I found this exact blend of comedy and childlike wonder in a book with big heart called The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City.

If you are looking for a story that will take you back to the wonder of ‘SOME PIG’, then you will want to meet Jodi Kendall, author of The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City next Wednesday, August 29th. The signing will begin at 5:00 p.m., with a reading to follow at 5:30 p.m.

In The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City the book opens on Thanksgiving Day, at the dinner table. Josie Shillings’ college-aged older brother Tom brings home a baby pig he has named Hamlet who was the runt of the litter.

Josie’s father is adamant: “ ‘Not a chance,’ Dad said, pointing at Tom with a silver fork. ‘Pigs don’t belong in the city.’ ”

It is Josie who comes to the rescue, convincing her father to let her keep the pig, on the condition that she finds a home for it by New Year’s. Josie must juggle her upcoming gymnastics competition, surviving close-quarters living in a large family, a grumpy next-door neighbor, and buying pig-food for Hamlet, who is rapidly growing into quite the porker.

You will fall in love with Josie’s determination, Hamlet’s antics, and the Shilling family. As Josie’s favorite book is Charlotte’s Web, there are references to E.B. White’s classic within this novel as well.

Animal lovers and readers who enjoy a good family story in the same vein as The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall or The Moffats by Eleanor Estes won’t want to miss this event next week!

Author Jodi Kendall

This review originally appeared in Charlotte’s Web Turns 65: Here’s What to Read Next

Children’s Panel Preview for the 2018 Mississippi Book Festival

On Saturday, August 18, 2018, don’t miss the Mississippi Book Festival downtown at the State Capitol. From fantastic picture books to young adult blockbusters, there are panels with authors who have written books for kids of all ages.

Here’s the roundup:

9:30 AM a.m. – Angie Thomas: Kidnote: Galloway Sanctuary
Presented by the Phil Hardin Foundation, the de Grummond Collection and the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival

Angie Thomas, New York Times Bestselling author of the Black Lives Matter young adult novel The Hate U Give, will be speaking in the Galloway Sanctuary. The Hate U Give has been made into a film directed by George Tillman Jr., and is set to release October 19, 2018. Just three years ago in 2015, Angie Thomas announced at the first Mississippi Book Festival that she had just signed with her literary agent. For Thomas, so much has happened since then, and don’t miss the chance to hear one of the brightest literary stars speak right in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi.

10:45 a.m. – Hope (Nation) and Other Four-Letter Words: Galloway Sanctuary
Presented by the James and Madeleine McMullan Family Foundation

Following Kidnote, this is a powerhouse panel filled with some of the biggest names in Young Adult Literature. Dr. Rose Brock, one of the founders of the North Texas Teen Book Festival, and editor of the collection of Young Adult short stories in the book Hope Nation will moderate.

  • Becky Albertalli: (Leah on the Offbeat) Albertalli is also the author of Simon and the Homosapiens Agenda, which you may know by the recent film, Love, Simon. Leah, Simon’s best friend, gets her own story.
  • Angie Thomas: (The Hate U Give) *see Kidnote!
  • Nicola Yoon: (The Sun is Also a Star) A love story that takes place in 24 hours, with two teens in New York City: one is doing everything she can to keep her family from being deported and other is about to have an interview for Yale to fulfill his family’s expectations. Yoon is also the author of Everything, Everything with a film by the same name.
  • Nic Stone: (Dear Martin) Following the lines between being black and white, Dear Martin is an incredible story of race, education, and the story of one Justyce McAllister, an honors student who gets put in handcuffs because he’s black, and who keeps a journal writing to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Julie Murphy: (Puddin’) The sequel to Murphy’s first novel, Dumplin’, which is so hilarious that I laughed hard enough to cry while reading it. The sequel does not disappoint.

12:00 p.m. – Picture This!: STATE CAPITOL ROOM 201 A
Presented by Sara and Bill Ray

Led by Ellen Ruffin, curator of the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi, this collection of children’s authors and illustrators celebrate the vital, enduring and delightful Picture Book – the gateway to literacy for all ages.

Picture books are NOT just books with pictures. They are interactive stories, histories, and an intricately interwoven book that must combine a visual and auditory form of reading—and keep the attention of small children!

This picture panel features THREE illustrators (Charles Waters, Don Tate, Sarah Jane Wright) and two collaborative projects. The first of the collaborative projects, Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship is by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, who write letters back and forth between their fifth grade selves is a powerful look at race and friendship. In Lola Dutch, newcomers and husband and wife team Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright, whose lively little girl character Lola Dutch (who is just TOO much) may just be the next Eloise (by Kay Thompson) or Madeline (by Ludwig Bemelmans). Then there are three phenomenal non-fiction picture books including two biographies, beginning with A Child’s Introduction to African American History by Jabari Asim to Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Bethany Hegedus, and Strong as Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became the Strongest Man on Earth, by Don Tate (who also illustrated this biography!)

  • Jabari Asim: (A Child’s Introduction to African American History)
  • Bethany Hegedus: (Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird)
  • Irene Latham and Charles Waters: (Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship)
  • Don Tate: (Strong as Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became the Strongest Man on Earth)
  • Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright: (Lola Dutch)

1:30 p.m. – Meet Me in the Middle: STATE CAPITOL ROOM 201 A
Presented by the de Grummond Collection and the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival

Moderated by yours truly, I’m excited to present some of the best middle grade books (for kids ages 8-12) published this year.

Lions and Liars is the funniest, laugh-out-loud story I’ve read for kids in a long time—think Holes meets summer camp gone wrong. The Parker Inheritance, is a mystery involving race, family, and the South that takes place over the course of several generations, culminating in present day Lambert, South Carolina. If Candice and the boy across the street can solve this mystery, they may be able to right an injustice done a long time ago. The Night Diary is a remarkable work of literary historical fiction featuring the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan where 12-year-old Nisha is half-Muslim and half-Hindu, and trying to find out where she belongs as her family flees the only home they’ve ever known. Charlotte Jones Voiklis is the granddaughter of Madeleine L’Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time) and Voiklis’ biography of her grandmother, Becoming Madeleine, is truly a labor of love and a fascinating look at the young life of L’Engle, one of the first female science and fantasy writers for young readers, who left a huge legacy in children’s literature. In Ernestine, Catastrophe Queen, young Ernestine Montgomery is obsessed with the apocalypse, but instead of fighting off zombies, she uncovers a murder mystery in a grave-yard—think Harriet the Spy meets Coraline.

  • Kate Beasley: (Lions and Liars)
  • Varian Johnson: (The Parker Inheritance)
  • Veera Hiranandani: (The Night Diary)
  • Charlotte Jones Voiklis: (Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by Her Granddaughters)
  • Merrill Wyatt: (Ernestine, Catastrophe Queen)

2:45 p.m. – Mississippi in the Middle: STATE CAPITOL ROOM 201 A
Presented by the de Grummond Collection and the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival and University of Mississippi MFA Program

Augusta Scattergood, author of Glory Be, The Way to Stay in Destiny, and Making Friends with Billy Wong, will moderate this panel with authors who have Mississippi roots!

There’s a plethora of stories for kids set in the South, from Southern Gothic fairy tale (Goldeline) to a South Mississippi Electric Ghost Town and Walter Anderson-esque art mystery (Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe), and in A Long Line of Cakes, Wiles returns to Aurora County—the setting of books by Wiles including Love, Ruby Lavender and Each Little Bird that Sings—where the Cakes are a rambunctious family who travel from town to town setting up bakeries until it is time to move again—until they move to Aurora County, where Emma Lane Cake meets Ruby Lavender who teaches her something about friendship. An in Jackson’s A Sky Full of Stars, readers will return to the same 1950s Mississippi found in Midnight Without a Moon, where Rose wrestles with her decision to stay in Mississippi, even after the murder of Emmett Till.

  • Jimmy Cajoleas: (Goldeline)
  • Jo Hackl: (Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe)
  • Deborah Wiles: (A Long Line of Cakes)
  • Linda Williams Jackson: (A Sky Full of Stars)

An incredible literary event right here in the heart of Mississippi, don’t miss this year’s Mississippi Book Festival! Find out more information at msbookfestival.com

Author Q & A with Jo Watson Hackl (Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe)

Interview by Clara Martin. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (July 8)

In Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, you’ll find a ghost town in the middle of the woods in South Mississippi, a girl named Cricket, a cricket named Charlene, and a poetry-loving dog. They’ve got eleven days to find a mysterious room painted with birds, and thirteen clues will lead them there. Combine the Mississippi Wild, a Walter Anderson art mystery, and a young girl who is taking a chance on herself, and you have Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, great for kids (and adults!) ages 8 and up. You’ll laugh, maybe cry, and have a lot of fun reading this book. In an interview with author Jo Hackl, she talks about her inspiration for this story, and what it means to be a writer for children, writing about a place like Mississippi.

Where are you from, and where do you live now?

I was born on Keesler Air Force base in Biloxi and moved to the real-life ghost town of Electric Mills when I was eleven. I now live in Greenville, South Carolina, but still have deep ties to Mississippi. Most of my extended family lives in the state and I get back whenever I can.

Do you do anything else besides writing books for young readers?

Jo Watson Hackl

My husband and I have three children who keep us very busy. I also practice corporate law (part-time), operate outdoorosity.org, a free resource about nature, and volunteer in the community. I’m working with a local school to develop a cross-curricular plan of instruction to use Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe to teach art, creative writing, geography, math, literature, science and social studies and to help the school incorporate nature into the school day. Together we’re building a flower fort, just like the one in the book, that will be used as a reading space.

In your own words, what is Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe about?

Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe is about learning to take chances on yourself. The story takes readers on an adventure with 12-year-old Cricket and her companion, a field cricket named Charlene, through an overgrown ghost town in Electric City, Mississippi, to solve a thirty-year-old clue trail in search of a secret room that may or may not exist, all to try to win back Cricket’s run-away mother.

Cricket must use her wits and just a smidgen of luck to live off the land in a Mississippi winter, survive sleet storm and snake-bite, and work to solve an increasingly baffling clue trail left by an eccentric artist with a logic all his own. Along the way, Cricket meets the reclusive last resident of the ghost town, enlists the help of a poetry-loving dog, and takes up a touch of grave-robbing. These experiences awaken Cricket to the possibility of finding strength in the most unlikely of places—within herself.

“The woods smelled like a hundred and fifty years of dark. A goose-bumpy ghost-town kind of dark.” This is Electric City, Mississippi. An abandoned electric lumber mill town, where honeysuckle vines grow around pillars that used to prop up houses, and weeds push through a sidewalk, left right in the middle of the woods, and it is where Cricket makes her makeshift home while she searches for her Mama.

You actually lived in Electric Mills, Mississippi, the inspiration for Electric City. Can you talk about what it was like to grow up in a place that was neither here nor there? A ghost town, of sorts?

Growing up in a ghost town made every day interesting. The real town still has a few houses, but I made the fictional town empty to make it better fit the story. Growing up, I loved exploring the woods, walking the old sidewalks, and searching for signs of the people who used to live there. Many of the things that people had planted in their yards–rose bushes and daylilies and privet bushes–still were there, even though the houses were missing, and I tried to imagine the houses that had once stood where toppled-over pillars and thick thorny rose vines now reigned.

Can you tell our readers what a doogaloo is?

A doogaloo is a coin that the mill used to pay its workers. I am happy to say that I have a real doogaloo from the original town and I kept it propped on my desk for inspiration as I was writing the book.

Explain how the presence of art, nature, and the creative process are intertwined in your book. Cricket says, “And if you’re going to last any time out in the woods, you’d better get comfortable with whoever it is you are.” What is your own creative writing process? How did you start writing Cricket’s story?

I absolutely believe that art, nature, and the creative process nourish each other. Writing the book, I surrounded myself with art of all kinds, visited galleries and museums, and talked to visual artists. I also spent a lot of time in nature and my home office overlooks our woods so that I can be close to nature even when I’m inside. I started writing Cricket’s story in my head back when I was a child exploring the woods. As I grew older, I knew I wanted to write and I knew I wanted to set the story in the ghost town. In a lot of ways, Cricket’s advice about the need to get comfortable with whoever it is you are applies to my writing process. I had to learn to take chances, to try things that might not work, and to write the scenes I was more than a little scared to write. I brought my whole self to the process, vulnerabilities, quirks and all, and tried to create an experience that would draw readers into Cricket’s world and make them feel like they were right there with her.

Cricket is in search of her mother by way of a “Bird Room,” and clues that lead Cricket closer to this mysterious room painted with all kinds of birds, trees, and flowers, painted by a man named “Bob.”

Please explain why you decided to use Walter Anderson and his “Little Room,” as inspiration? Do you have a favorite Walter Anderson painting? If so, please share!

I am a life-long fan of Walter Anderson’s work. He drew from direct observation of nature and his quick, efficient line-work captured the essence of whatever he was drawing or painting. As Cricket says about the fictional artist “Bob” in the book, “some pictures weren’t much more than thin pencil strokes. But they showed more than I could ever say in a lifetime about a raccoon or a dragonfly or a duck.” My favorite Walter Anderson piece is the “Little Room,” where he captured the beauty of a day on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Walter Anderson used the light from the windows to illuminate the paintings, beginning with sandhill cranes and a rooster at dawn, as the sun moved throughout the day. This was the inspiration for the “Bird Room” in my book.

Of course, writing about serious subjects doesn’t mean there cannot be humor! I loved the moments of comedy in your book, particularly the opening scene in Thelma’s. What was one of your favorite scenes to write?

Great question! One of my favorite scenes to write was at the end when, without giving anything away, Cricket finds herself in the middle of Aunt Belinda’s trailer with Aunt Belinda and her suffocating hairspray and hidden tattoo. The pastor and the entire and the whole youth group are there as Aunt Belinda tries to hide the fact that she accidentally left Cricket in Thelma’s Cash ‘n’ Carry even though she told the whole town that she suspected foul play. Let’s just say that Charlene, the cricket, plays a leading role in adding some humor to the situation.

As a writer from Mississippi, what does it mean to write about the South, the place you grew up, and incorporate art, nature and family? Why do you think young readers will enjoy Cricket’s story?

I think that Mississippians have a unique sense of connection to place. The land where I grew up is a part of me, and I wanted to share that with readers. I also wanted to combine art, nature and the importance of family, no matter who your family is. Young readers have told me that they’ve enjoyed being part of Cricket’s world, experiencing the woods, exploring the ghost town, and using their wits to solve the clue trail. One of the great things about being a writer is that, if you can figure out a way to work a really cool thing that interests you into the book, you can do it. Without giving away the clue trail, I worked a lot of really cool things that interested me into the book and I hope that readers enjoy solving the trail as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Jo Watson Hackl will be at Lemuria on Thursday, July 12, to sign and read from Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe. Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe is Lemuria’s July 2018 middle grade selection for our First Editions Club for Young Readers.

Meet the Creators Behind Finn’s Feather! Story Time at The Eudora Welty House and Garden on 6/21/18

Interview by Clara Martin.

When Finn finds a feather on his doorstep, he knows that it is a feather sent from Heaven from his brother Hamish–who died and is now an angel. When he shows his mom and his teacher a feather, they give him a smile and a hug. With his friend Lucas, it is different. Lucas and Finn take the feather on an adventure. They giggle when the feather tickles them, they build castles, climb trees, and look up at the sky–all with Finn’s Feather in tow. Finn’s Feather is a beautiful book about friendship, dealing with sadness, and remembering our loved ones.

Come to Story Time on the Porch at the Eudora Welty House and Garden this Thursday, June 21 at 3 p.m. to craft a feather pen, write a letter to a friend, and meet the team behind Finn’s Feather.

Author Rachel Noble and Zoey Abbott will be at Story Time on the porch reading their book, helping with the craft, and signing books that will be available for purchase through Lemuria Books.

Here, I interview author Rachel Noble and illustrator Zoey Abbott on their picture book, Finn’s Feather.

Where are you from, Rachel, and what is your background in relation to writing children’s books?

RN: I live in Queensland, Australia with my husband, four children, dog and kitten. Before becoming a writer, I was a journalist, radio producer and voice-over artist. After the loss of my son Hamish in 2012, I started writing constantly. I don’t know how or why I started writing picture books but I suspect I wasn’t finished telling my son stories. I also realised I’ve been reading picture books to my children for 15 years and perhaps I had a few stories inside of me!

You were inspired to write this story after the loss of your own son. Did this story come in bits and pieces or all at once?

RN: All at once! Like a flash of lightning! I was driving home from my daughter’s netball game and the plot for Finn’s Feather came into my head. I immediately burst into tears. I was terrified I would forget the story by the time I got home, so I replayed it over and over in my head. When I got home, I found a feather on my doorstep and I decided that this story needed to be in the world.

What was the experience of writing this story for you, and how did you know you wanted it to be for picture book age children?

RN: I’ve written stories about grief for all ages, but I felt there was a need for a picture book told from the perspective of a sibling. This was something I looked for after Hamish passed away and couldn’t find. I felt that if I was looking for it, perhaps other people were too.

Why do you think it is important for picture books for young children to contain seemingly difficult subjects such as death, grief, and hope?

RN: Picture books are a wonderful, gentle way to approach difficult topics. We live in a world filled with challenges and I believe it is through stories we can tenderly prepare our children. I think Finn’s Feather looks at grief in an innocent and tender way, but I also love that it looks at broader themes such as empathy and resilience–all children can benefit from Finn’s story.

Who do you hope your picture book reaches, and what would you like readers to take away?

RN: I hope Finn’s Feather flies into the hands of every child who needs to read its story of hope and friendship. I also hope that every child (and parent) who reads it, feels a little lighter afterwards.

Who would you write a letter to, and why?

RN: I would write a letter to Hamish (just like Finn does in Finn’s Feather). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a mail box in Heaven?

Where are you from, Zoey, and what is your background in relation to illustrating children’s books?

ZA: I live in Portland, Oregon with my husband, two children and a big dog named Carrots. Over the years I have loved bookmaking, painting, drawing and ceramics. The biggest kismet moment for me was finding a children’s book illustration class taught by Victoria Jameison (Newbury Award Winning author/illustrator of Rollergirl) at Pacific Northwest College of Art. She is the teacher that got me on this particular path. I am forever grateful.

When you saw this manuscript, there was obviously the image of the pristine white feather, but you use such bright and colorful images to balance it. What was your artistic process in creating this book?

ZA: When I first read the manuscript I was overwhelmed by it’s tenderness and truth. I could not believe that I was being offered and opportunity to illustrate this beautiful story and from THE publisher I had admired and loved a for over a decade, Enchanted Lion Books.

When I researched who Rachel was and found out that Finn’s Feather was based on her own family story, I felt even more of a desire to make the book as “good” as I was able. Deciding to make something “good” can really get in the way of making something “true”. It took time and I had to dig deep to get to the truth. Our publisher, Claudia Bedrick, and I did a lot of work together to get to the essence. She guided me in this discovery. At one point my agent also said to me, “Don’t worry so much about making it good just make it your own.” That sliced to my soul. I had to figure out what the story meant to me.

It became important to me to show the great range of emotions in the story, including immense joy. I also wanted Hamish’s presence to be felt in nature, and for nature to be a link to Hamish. I looked at the paintings of Nicholas Roerich, Albert Bierstadt and Milton Avery, works that felt spiritual and big and light filled. I think these intentions and inspirations came through in the brightness and color.

How did you choose to illustrate the evolution of Finn’s feather from Finn’s discovery of the feather to almost losing it, and the adventures the feather goes on?

ZA: A picture book is a strange beast. It is two stories, on layered on top of the other. The words comes first, then the images. If the illustrations just describe what is in the text, it is received as flat. The task of the illustrator is to love the story and look for another essence somewhere between the lines. What is there that isn’t there?

Early on I felt like the best thing I could add to the story as the illustrator was bringing the gift of the feather back full circle. What else could the feather be used for? The last line was such an invitation and a challenge. It felt so right when I realized Finn could write a letter back to Hamish accompanying Rachel’s beautiful last lines, “The feather was no longer white, no longer perfect but it was still amazing.”

Who would you write a letter to, and why?

ZA: I lived in Japan for four years and I have been wanting to write a letter to my sumi-e brush painting teacher, Shihan. She would be in her 90’s by now. Her family lived far up north and mine lived across the Pacific ocean so she would invite me to her house for lunch every Sunday after class. We made traditional Japanese foods together while we talked about art, history, life and meaning. She was 80 and I was 24. I miss her.

I had better start writing that letter …

Author Q & A with Lauren Hill

Lauren Hill was born in Jackson, Mississippi. She is sixteen years old and currently resides with her parents and older brother in Pearl, Mississippi.

Lauren Hill

Lauren enjoys creative writing including fictional short stories with inspirational outcomes, meaningful poetry, and beautiful essays. Lauren enjoys writing about important issues present in the world today. One of her stories has been published in mississippimatters.info

She wrote a collection of short stories called Standing Up with the Well Writers Guild, started by Joe Maxwell. To learn more about young writers publishing their own stories with the Well Writers Guild, Joe and Lauren signed books at Lemuria on June 11 and talked about their experience publishing together.

Joe Maxwell explains about the Guild: “The Well Writers Guild identifies talented young writers in the Jackson area and helps them advance their creative skills while enjoying peer interaction and experiencing the thrill of being published. Other youth have their “select” groups commensurate with with their high level of talent; young writers deserve this too.”

Maxwell continues, “Right now we’re mentoring 16 young people at my offices and in groups formed at the request of the Madison Public Library. After one year, our growth is truly humbling.”

Angie Thomas, author of The New York Times-bestselling young adult novel The Hate U Give, says “I wish I had had the chance to be a part of a group such as The Well Writers Guild! …. Joe Maxwell taught me in college writing classes and gave me great encouragement to pursue my goals. I still lean on Joe for advice and encouragement, and I am excited to support The Well Writers Guild on several levels.”

Tell me a little bit about your collection of short stories, called Standing Up.

Well, there are five short stories, all centered around important themes. The first story, “Standing Up,” is about bullying; the second story, “It’s All About Faith,” is about believing and having faith during difficult times, and the third story, “Every Step of the Way,” is focused on friendship and teenagers struggling to do the right thing, despite peer pressure. The fourth story is a personal memoir of mine, and it is about learning to resist fitting in if it means hurting others. The last story is centered around online safety and the consequences of making bad choices online.

You write about bullying, faith, changes in friendship, and making tough decisions at the risk of losing friends. What do you hope your readers will take-away from these kinds of stories?

Each story has its distinct theme that I want readers to be able to extract from them. However, the main point I really want to communicate is that doing what is right is the best choice to make in any situation.

What would you say to other young writers like yourself?

Never doubt yourself. With enough hard work and determination, you can accomplish anything, no matter how hard you may think the task is. You can do anything you put your mind to.

Dr. Seuss bus rolling into Banner Hall

In 1954, Dr. Seuss had already published nine books, including If I Ran the ZooScrambled Eggs Super!, and Thidwick the Big-Hearted-Moose. They were funny and meant for kids.

Dr. Seuss & friends

Dr. Seuss & friends

However, in schools, there were no books for children that taught them how to read. And so, Dr. Seuss, as a writer for children, was asked to write a beginning reader using only the words on the “No-Nonsense” list.

When Seuss was stumped, he wore a collection of different and unusual hats while thinking up new ideas. Seuss, who loved making up nonsensical words, wanted write something using the words “zebra” and “queen,” but none of those were on the list. “Bird” wasn’t even on the list. However, words such as “cat” and “hat” and “thing,” “one,” and “two” were available for use. And so, pulling out his pencil, he started to sketch.

A cat wearing a hat who could juggle a book and a fan–all words that were on the “No-Nonsense” list. And so, only using 236 words, he wrote The Cat in the Hat, which was received really well across America. And then, he received a challenge to write a book using only 50 words. Can you guess what that might be? If you guessed Green Eggs and Ham, you are correct!

To celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday (March 2) a little early, Lemuria will be hosting the Dr. Seuss’s Super-Dee-Dooper Bus Tour on Saturday, February 24. The Cat in the Hat himself will be rolling into Jackson on a bus with an interactive Dr. Seuss exhibit for kids. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Dr. Seuss will be parked in front of Banner Hall at 4465 I-55 N and open to the public. This is a free and family-friendly event!

Find out more about how the Cat in the Hat came to be in the book Imagine That! How Dr. Seuss Wrote the Cat in the Hat by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes.

suess bus card

Come catch the holiday spirit with Greg Pizzoli’s ’12 Days of Christmas’

We all know how the song goes: “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…a partridge in a pear tree.” 12 days of christmasFollowed by turtle doves, french hens, and five golden rings. Greg Pizzoli re-imagines this classic Christmas carol in his newest picture book for children, The Twelve Days of Christmas. With each introduction of a new day of Christmas, an elephant family receives the gift that corresponds to each day according to the carol. Have you ever really stopped to think about what would happen if you had a room filled with an assortment of birds? Namely, six geese a-laying and seven swans a-swimming? It would be chaos. Pizzoli takes the this carol and makes it literal, making parents and young readers alike giggle over the growing amount of gifts that the little elephant family just does not know what to do with.

You may recognize Greg Pizzoli from his picture book The Watermelon Seed, which won a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award in 2014. Join Greg at Lemuria Books on Friday, December 1, to kick off the holiday season with a signing and story time for The 12 Days of Christmas, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Can’t make it but want to reserve a picture book as a gift for the holidays? Call us at 601-366-7619 or visit our website.

Interview with Jimmy Cajoleas, author of GOLDELINE and Jackson, Mississippi Native!

author photo (1)A little girl with shining hair helping rogue bandits in the dark forest of the Hinterlands, discovering her magic while escaping the evil Townies who killed her mother for being a witch, Jimmy Cajoleas’ book GOLDELINE is a richly told story that is perfect for fans of David Almond, J.A. White’s The Thickety, and anyone who loves a story that might be scary to tell in the dark. Jimmy Cajoleas is a native from Jackson, Mississippi and he currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. He received his MFA in Fiction from the University of Mississippi. Here, Jimmy Cajoleas answers some questions regarding GOLDELINE, his new novel for kids ages 10 and up.

What are you currently reading?

Oh man, so much good stuff. Last week I read Jesmyn Ward’s new book, and I thought it was great. I’ve been slowly reading Raids on the Unspeakable by Thomas Merton a little at a time, and that rules. And yesterday I finished My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, which is the rare horror novel that actually made me cry.

When did you start writing? How did growing up in the South affect your storytelling and the kinds of stories you are drawn to?

I started writing not long after I learned to read. I remember making scary picture books when I was a kid, with monsters and skeletons in them. They usually ended with my friends coming to my house and us all eating pizza.

To be honest, I spent most of my childhood imagining I was somewhere else. A jungle, an old haunted castle, Gotham City, a primeval forest…anywhere except where I was. Also, in the South you learn that things are never simple, and never easy, least of all people. All that complication is where stories come from.

Did you ever expect to write a book for children?

I never did! GOLDELINE was my MFA thesis, and it was originally a novel for adults. It became a kids’ book after my agent Jess Regel told me to let the story be what it wanted to be.

In your own words, tell me a little bit about what GOLDELINE is about & when and how you started writing it.

Goldeline is a book about an orphan girl who lives as a bandit in the woods. I don’t really want to say too much more than that, if it’s okay with you. I hate when I know what a book is about before I read it! I won’t even read the backs of books for that reason.

Goldeline herself came from a freewriting exercise. I used to work at a vintage clothing store in Oxford, MS, and there would be long stretches of time when no one came in. So I would sit down with a blank notebook and just write, for hours and hours, with no plan and no agenda. One day I sat down and started writing, and this funny little voice came out. I kept going for an hour in this voice, just yapping on the page. Eventually I figured out it was the voice of an eleven year old girl hiding in the woods. The rest of the story kind of told itself from there.

Of course, that was just a twenty-page short story for adults that no one would publish, which is how Goldeline sat for six or seven years. I never stopped thinking about her—worrying about her, really—though I didn’t quite know what to do about it. Goldeline didn’t become a novel until I was in graduate school. I’d just finished a mostly-realistic novel that I absolutely hated, and I wanted to try and write something better. I told the story to my teacher, the writer Megan Abbott, and she encouraged me to make it a novel.  

Who is Goldeline? Where does she come from? The name, it seems, combines Goldilocks and Coraline, (but I may be off!) Those are both female characters from completely different stories, and do either of those protagonists relate to your own?

The name “Goldeline” actually comes from this Neutral Milk Hotel song called “Oh Comely.”  In the song it’s “Goldaline” (pronounced Gold-a-leen) but I misspelled it by accident and liked it better my way, so now it’s Goldeline (rhymes with Coraline). Mistakes are a key component in my writing!  

The Goldilocks thing is a good call though, since so much of this book happens in threes, same as that fairy-tale. I love Coraline too. Actually all of Neil Gaiman’s stuff (especially The Sandman).

What was your favorite scene to write in GOLDELINE?

My favorite scene to write was the dinner scene at Bobba’s house. It took me a thousand tries to get it right. I remember when I finally nailed it, sitting out on the balcony at Square Books. I think I stood up and yelled, which is something you’re not supposed to do at a book store.

The way I can describe this book is a Southern-Gothic-Fairy tale. The first question is whether you agree with that assessment, and if you do, then the second question is why are you drawn to themes of magical-realism, and fairy-tales?

Sounds good to me! Though I should make it clear that the story isn’t set in the American South: it’s not supposed to be in the “real world.”

I like fairy-tales and magic stories because I feel like they tell certain kinds of truths better than so-called realism ever can. Sometimes big emotions need a ghost behind them, or a magic house, or a generational curse. Strict realism can’t always account for what happens out there. It’s a convention, a compromise, same as anything else.

What is your favorite folk/fairy tale?

So many! My favorite one now is a Russian fairytale called “Vasalisa the Beautiful.” It’s about a girl who has a talking wooden doll that teaches her how to steal a skull-lantern from Baba Yaga so her family’s house won’t be dark anymore. I’d never heard of it until I saw this terrific Annie Baker play called THE ANTIPODES, which makes a small (and thrilling!) reference to it.

What were your favorite books as a kid?

How do I even start? I think my very favorite book was The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs. I loved the Lord of the Rings and R.L. Stine and Madeleine L’Engle as well.

Will you be writing more books for kids? What do you hope people who read your book take away from it?

Yes! Lord willing, I’ve got a Young Adult book coming out next year, and another Middle Grade book after that.

Honestly, I just hope people like the book okay. It was really fun to write!

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Author Jimmy Cajoleas will be signing and reading GOLDELINE at Lemuria Books on Saturday, November 25, at 11:00 A.M.

Call 601-366-7619 or visit www.lemuriabooks.com to reserve a signed copy today.

 

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