Book Love: WITH MY HANDS (Giveaway!)

Valerie Everett

Because I share poetry daily, National Poetry Month can get a bit tricky with all the "extras" I want to to squeeze in! I hope you'll indulge me if I step away from the dinosaur party a couple times this month to share something a little different. (Besides which, those dinosaurs can get pretty LOUD!)

Today I'd like to talk about Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's latest book...

WITH MY HANDS: Poems About Making Things
Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Lou Fancher & Steve Johnson
Clarion Books (March 27, 2018)
ISBN: 978-0544313408
Find a copy at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble or via Indiebound.org.

Amy was featured on Today's Little Ditty in March 2016. If you haven't read that interview, I sincerely hope you will, since it brings to light what a special poet, teacher, and human being she is. At the time, we were discussing Every Day Birds, but since then, her fans have gratefully welcomed a few more of Amy's books into the world: Read! Read! Read! and Poems Are Teachers in 2017, and Dreaming of You and With My Hands in 2018.

Along with her books, don't miss Amy's website and blogs, especially The Poem Farm, which I've recommended time and time again to teachers and parents of creative young poets-in-training.


With My Hands is a collection of poems about making things.

It's about the personal experience of building, baking, folding, drawing, shaping... starting from scratch with "empty space, ideas, hope and stuff" and creating something new "that never was before." This is something that all makers can relate to, and if you're reading this blog, I suspect that you're one of them! You'll also love Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson's joyful, collage-style illustrations that help bring Amy's words to life.

Among Amy's many gifts as a writer, probably the one that impresses me most is her ability to tap into her inner 7-year-old while simultaneously presenting a safe and accepting place for young readers. She's a lot like Mr. Rogers in that regard. It's a quality that comes from unconditional love and writing from the heart. For young readers, Amy's voice is as familiar as it is nurturing, providing children with the confidence to grow into themselves.

There are so many delightful poems in this collection (visit Jama's Alphabet Soup for an in-depth look), but the poem I'd like to share today is one of my favorites. It brings back lots of memories from my own childhood and from my chidren's growing-up years as well.

From With My Hands, © 2018 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, used with the author's permission.

From my own childhood, I remember snow forts my brother and I enjoyed when the picnic table in our backyard was heaped with the freshly fallen white stuff. I also recall how my bedroom closet served as a hideout when I needed time to myself.

My children were fort makers too. Dylan's favorite "toy" was his useful box. When he was eight, he made this elaborate castle fortress for his sister's fifth birthday.

Beware the crocodiles in the moat!

He also made fort-like structures using legos, blocks, and even groceries when Mummy came from food shopping. (I had to put the refrigerated and frozen items away quickly lest he get to them first!)

For his eleventh birthday, Dylan's party guests were divided into two groups. Each team was asked to design and build their own fort using masking tape and packing paper left over from our move. After that, they battled it out with slingshots and ping pong balls.

Ready... aim... Oops! Wait for the photographer to get out of the way!

From an early age, Miranda was a lover of cozy forts—the kind you can spend hours (or days) in, since they were usually equipped with books, toys, snacks, stuffed animals, and blankets for impromptu napping.

The book selection was as vital as the fort itself.

 In a pinch, a clothes line or dining room chair would do.

As she got older, her forts became more elaborate and included seating for guests. (Lucky me!)

There's no place like home!

What memories of childhood forts do you have? 

Does anyone besides me remember this wonderful poem by Buffy Silverman?

Leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy of With My Hands: Poems About Making Things courtesy of Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Alternatively, you may send an email to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject "With My Hands giveaway." Entries must be received by Wednesday, April 18, 2018. The winner will be selected randomly and announced next Friday, April 20th.


And speaking of giveaways, don't forget The Best of Today's Little Ditty giveaway I'm running to celebrate National Poetry Month and my blog's fifth birthday! I'm giving away five sets (volumes 1 & 2) to educators—teachers, caregivers, volunteers... anyone who shares their love of poetry with students of any age. To enter, just contact me at some point during the month—via blog comment, email, Facebook, or Twitter. I'll be compiling a list (separate from the With My Hands and Don't Ask a Dinosaur giveaways) and drawing five names at the end of April.

Spotlight on Marcus Ewert + DMC Challenge

MARCUS EWERT

I was first introduced to children's author and poet Marcus Ewert during the 2013 March Madness poetry tournament, sponsored by Ed DeCaria on Think Kid Think. With poems about interlocking puzzle pieces from different boxes, a heart-dwelling oyster and jellyfish, a confrontation between and vegan and a vampire, and the internal struggle of an ex-mermaid, I was enchanted again and again by Marcus' unique approach, fertile imagination, and enthralling stories. I wanted more.

Next, I picked up his award-winning 10,000 DRESSES (Seven Stories Press, 2008). It's about a transgender child who dreams of wearing magical dresses, like one "made of crystals that flashed rainbows in the sun" or another "made of windows, which showed the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids."  Not only did Marcus fill an important need by addressing gender identity in a picture book, but he did so with heart and his characteristic imagination. 10,000 DRESSES has since been incorporated into anti-bullying curricula throughout the English-speaking world.

MUMMY CAT
Clarion Books (July, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0544340824
Find at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble,
or via Indiebound.org

Earlier this year, when I discovered a new rhyming picture book was on the way, I jumped at the opportunity to feature Marcus on Today's Little Ditty. My next available opening was October.  Mummies... Halloween... purrfect! Little did I know that MUMMY CAT would be so much more than a seasonal book. It is a treasure at any time of year.

The foundation of this book is a compelling story about a mummified cat who wakes for one night each hundred years to search the tomb for his beloved mistress, Queen Hatshupset. At the same time, we witness another, more perilous story that plays out in the murals on the walls. Elegantly designed, Lisa Brown's gorgeous and detailed illustrations capture the feel of ancient Egyptian art, and are truly a feast for the eyes.

On top of that, you'll find layer upon layer of intriguing information for young Egyptologists– about ancient Egyptian royalty and culture, their reverence of cats, the practice of mummification, a large assortment of ancient Egyptian artifacts, plus, at the back, a glossary of hieroglyphics to find within the pages of the book. This is not a one-time read. Children will be poring over and "unwrapping" the story of MUMMY CAT again and again.

But now, my friends, let's delve into the mystery of Marcus Ewert. Who IS this man who lives in an honest-to-goodness turret and is allergic to cats (except for the mummy variety)?  


Perhaps a few favorites will give us some clues....

Favorite color:  Green
Favorite sound:  Rainfall
Favorite children’s book:  The Hobbit
Favorite country you’d like to visit:  Finland! And Iceland!
Favorite children’s poet:  Dr. Seuss (I liked him just ok as a kid, but I really love his work now, as an adult.  Faultless euphony.)             
Favorite subject in school:  History, hands down!
Favorite quote:  “Candor ends paranoia.” ~Allen Ginsberg

What drives you to write for children and what do you enjoy most about being a children’s author?

All the books that had the biggest influence on me were ones I read as a kid. Kids react to life in such a primal way – they haven’t learned how to hold anything back. So they throw themselves into books in a way we adults never can. Why wouldn’t you want to write for such an amazing, rapt audience?
 
Besides, you can be way more creative in a kids’ book. Kids take whatever you tell them as ground-zero. I could say to a kid: “Once upon a time there was a world made entirely out of kites. The people were kites, the trees were kites, and all of the buildings and rivers and mountains were kites too.”

And a kid would be like, “Yes. And then what happened?” No hesitation. That’s priceless.


Can you tell us a little about your writing routine?

Oh man! It’s taken me years and years to get to a routine that’s workable for me. I had a boyfriend once who wrote for hours and hours a day, every day, and although I can do that sometimes, when I judge myself by a 9-5, five days a week schedule, I’m doomed. It’s taken me a very long time to be ok with the fact that sometimes I can only write for four minutes at a time, before I get too worked up. My current goal is an hour a day, which often looks like twenty minutes in the morning, seven minutes on the bus, ten minutes on a break at work, another seven minutes later, two minutes here, five minutes there... whatever it takes to add up to sixty.

May I also just take a moment to say that my very first boyfriend (not the guy cited above) was the poet Allen Ginsberg? I say this not to brag (okay, 5% bragging) but instead to say how DISempowering this was for me. Allen was very dismissive of my writing for a long, long time and that utterly paralyzed me. It took me a long long long time to feel confidence in my own poetic voice and compass. I have a hefty inner critic anyway; a lot of my daily craft and discipline involves facing down my myriad fears and anxieties. Three minutes of writing at a time, sometimes is all I can muster! Or two minutes! Or one!

You have to sneak past your inner critic however you possibly can.


What inspired MUMMY CAT?

I was thinking about what might make for a cool kids’ book, and I landed on ‘mummy.’ But mummies have been done before, a lot. So I mashed ideas up in my head: mummy robot, mummy dentist, mummy dog, mummy...cat! “Ooh, a mummy cat!” I thought. “That’s a great idea - and the Ancient Egyptians did mummify cats, so that even makes it historical...”

And as soon as I had that title/concept, “Mummy Cat,” I immediately I saw the long, lean form of a mummified cat – very horizontal – and he was padding down these long horizontal halls, and over his head long horizontal murals stretched. And I knew the story would be told in verse, in long, horizontal lines, and that the meter would be the footfalls of this dead cat as he strode the long halls... a soft, funereal tread...

 © Lisa Brown

So the whole thing came to me very clearly, in other words. And I knew at once that the murals above the cat’s head would be bright colorful scenes of when he was alive, and they would contrast with his dull, dry, dusty gray present existence, and they’d torment him. They’d invoke all this longing in him.

MUMMY CAT, text © Marcus Ewert, illustration © Lisa Brown (clike to enlarge)

Another point of inspiration for the book: the very first thing I ever wanted to be as a kid was an Egyptologist! So working on Mummy Cat was a way to cherry-pick from that treasured childhood dream.

One last impetus/influence/inspiration: How sad I was as a very young kid - as a very young gay kid - whenever I heard “Puff the Magic Dragon.” It was about two male characters who loved each other – it was, in fact, the ONLY example I had of two male characters who were explicitly said to have love for each other – i.e., not familial love, but instead love for each other as individuals – and then the boy totally turns his back on the magical creature and abandons him! And then- and it’s utterly heartbreaking - Puff is left alone in the gloom, completely bereft, voiceless, despairing, and - my god! - even his scales are “falling like rain” – in a kind of depression-induced dragon-mange! This KILLED me as a kid! If someone would just turn Jackie Paper around, and let him see what his once-friend was going through! Surely, surely, he’d feel some sympathy!

So, in Mummy Cat, I wanted the book to have that same terrible longing and sadness... but I ALSO wanted the love between the human and the magical creature to be REQUITED. Hat-shup-set adores Mummy Cat just as much as he adores her. She wants them to be re-united just as much as he does. I desperately wanted that parity.

From MUMMY CAT, text © Marcus Ewert, Illustration © Lisa Brown

Lisa Brown, Illustrator

In the making of a picture book, usually there is little, if any, communication between author and illustrator. But for MUMMY CAT, you were able to meet with Lisa Brown and develop the rich layering of the story together. Can you describe for us what those meetings with Lisa were like?

We both live in beautiful San Francisco - in adjacent neighborhoods, even - so it was easy for us to meet in person and discuss.
 
Let me back up a second: before working with Lisa, for about a year, I was working on the Mummy Cat poem myself, in private, very very slowly and painstakingly (see question #2). Sometimes it took me a month or more to complete even a single couplet. And I hadn’t shown the piece to ANYONE. But, all along, as I was working, I pictured Lisa’s artwork illustrating the poem - even though I didn’t even know Lisa’s art all that well, at the time! 

VAMPIRE BOY'S GOOD NIGHT
by Lisa Brown (HarperCollins, 2010)
Click HERE to watch trailer.

I really just knew one book by her: Vampire Boy's Good Night. But always, as I kept plodding along on Mummy Cat, my inner voice said: “Lisa Brown does the art. Lisa Brown does the art.” My inner voice was insistent that she was the illustrator for the book, no argument.
 
But I only knew Lisa a little bit at this point. And was very nervous about imposing too much on our nascent friendship. Thus, I was too shy to ask her outright to illustrate the book. For one thing, what if she said no? I’d be so bummed! That said, from time to time, I’d post these little updates on Facebook, like “Mummy Cat stanza 14: complete!” And one day Lisa commented back: “I love drawing cats. Hint hint.” And I was floored. I immediately messaged her saying “OMG, you are who I’ve been picturing all along!” and she said, “Well, why don’t you send me the ms. and let me see.” And I DID send it to her, and I was SO nervous! I mean, in the privacy of my own heart, I thought the poem was pretty great, but maybe I was totally delusional? What if the poem made no sense at all, and had absolutely no narrative traction? (See my response above regarding all my doubts post-Allen Ginsberg!) Luckily, she really, really liked it - and Lisa doesn’t even like rhyming books! But she liked this one. And so we began working together (all of this is still probably about two years before we submitted it for publication anywhere).

Okay, so once we were “officially” working together, we’d meet every few weeks at a great tea house here in town called Samovar. And, as I remember it, a lot of what we were doing was “merely” gushing about how cool ancient Egypt was, and wouldn’t it be cool if we included X and Y in the book? Hieroglyphs, for instance. 

"Meow" © Lisa Brown.

And we showed each other pictures of beautiful artifacts, etc. Or tidbits of Ancient Egyptian life & society.  “Let’s get that in the book too!”

So, I think mostly what we did was egg each other on: encouraging each other to really pour all these things that we loved into the book.

Surprise! Look under the book jacket! © Lisa Brown.

On a more technical note: Lisa is a very good editor, and she made some great redactions to my text, especially at the end, which originally rambled on a bit. She just flat-out chopped a few couplets. For the better. And the whole back-story, regarding Hat-shup-set’s evil sister, that all springs from Lisa! (Lisa’s such a fan of Edward Gorey!)

And I offered some not-too-unclever (IMHO) thoughts/feedback about a few of Lisa’s spreads. And then of course, once Anne Hoppe at Clarion Books bought the book, we both worked with her (and with our art director) very closely. So then even more elements got teased out and combed, and then even more tightly and gracefully interwoven.


Would you share a favorite selection from MUMMY CAT?

From MUMMY CAT, text © Marcus Ewert, illustration © Lisa Brown

I like this section because it’s very earthy and concrete (something Allen always would get on my case about!). (Boy, I seem to be mentioning him a lot on this interview! Well, why not? Clearly he was a big influence on me, for good and for bad.)

The details are very specific, and very cat-like, I think. And yet these specific, natural details are being used to paint a very supernatural picture: a mummified cat is rising from the dead (again).

Also, points to me for spelling rustling with extra s’s, to get some onomatopoeia in there. Also, points to me for remembering to include details that are auditory as well as visual.


According to the informational section at the back of your book, “the Ancient Egyptians had many different beliefs about souls and the afterlife, but generally they believed that a properly mummified person would spend eternity enjoying the things with which he or she had been buried.”  If you were “properly mummified,” what would you hope to have in your tomb?

Books, books, books, and books. Books to read and books to write in. Pens. 
And internet access.


Can you give us a hint about what’s coming up next for you?

Well, Lisa and I definitely want to work on another book together, and we’re mulling over several different idea-babies.

And I’m working on a middle-grade sequel to my very first book, the transgender-themed children’s picture-book 10,000 Dresses. The sequel is called Bailey & the Valentine Castle.

And I have a bunch of other picture-book ideas: we’ll just see which one gels first and/or most successfully.

And finally, I’m working on a very very long rhyming epic called The Zillion Scoops. It’s like The Divine Comedy meets Animal Farm meets There’s a Wocket in My Pocket. It’s for older-aged kids than Mummy Cat is, though it’s possible that’s it’s ultimately for a very fervent audience of just one person: me. We’ll see!


If you had all the world’s children in one room, what would you tell them?

10 year old Marcus at a Japanese temple

Please be very nice to each other. Insults and meanness can be incredibly cruel. Just like you, everybody on the planet has something that they struggle with, something that’s very hard for them. And most of them time, we can’t see what they’re struggling with: it’s invisible to us. So please, don’t add to anyone else’s invisible struggles with meanness or cruelty.

Similarly, please don’t be mean to yourself. Don’t insult yourself, don’t harshly compare yourself to someone else. Something that might be very easy for someone else might be incredibly hard for you. Please try to give yourself the love and understanding and encouragement that you would give to a dear friend.


Finally, please tell us what you have chosen as this month’s ditty challenge.


Write about a long-time love that seems unrequited, but which ends up being requited after all.

Is that too heavy for a ‘ditty’? It could be about your [un]requited love for ice cream... or maybe the [un]requited love between ice cream and a waffle cone– that totally counts!


Are you kidding? I LOVE it! 

         ...but does it love me back?  Probably too soon to tell.


Please join me in thanking Marcus for today's interview, and also for generously offering a copy of MUMMY CAT, signed by both Lisa Brown and himself, to one lucky participant in this month's DMC challenge! A random drawing will be held at the end of the month.


HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

Throughout the month, send your love poem to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right.

For children under 13 who would like to participate, please read my COPPA compliance statement located below the contact form.

BLOGGER FRIENDS:  Thank you for publishing your poems on your own blogs– I love that!  Please also remember to send me a copy of your poem or a direct link to your post. That way I know I have your permission to post your poem on Today's Little Ditty.

Some poems may be published on the blog as daily ditties, but all of them will appear in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, October 30th, 2015.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Last month's ME poem challenge, courtesy of Lee Bennett Hopkins, was all I expected and more. With fulsome thanks, I must echo Lee's comment on the celebration post:

"THERE is SO much herein; SO much within; SO much therein. Thanks to all of you for reaching back, giving forward."

Random.org has determined that the winner of an autographed copy of JUMPING OFF LIBRARY SHELVES: A BOOK OF POEMS selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, with illustrations by Jane Manning is:

JESSICA BIGI – Congratulations, Jessica!

 

In celebration of Poetry Friday and diversity, Heidi Mordhorst has a juicy little roundup for us today at my juicy little universe.