Thank You's, Goodbye's, and Archives

Four years, three months, and 530 posts. Also a move from California to Utah and two new books published. But life gets crunched up sometimes, and what I really need is more time for my own writing. So Book Aunt is coming to a close, and I just want to thank you all for sharing the joy of talking about children's books with me.

Yesterday I was standing in a bookstore and overheard a woman trying to pick out a book for her nine-year-old niece. Naturally, I entered into the fray. My only difficulty was that when I asked the child questions about her reading habits and interests, the aunt kept trying to answer for her (incorrectly). I finally got a few words from the girl herself and managed to seal the deal with Half Magic by Edward Eager, though we decided that E.D. Baker's books would be a good option to look for at the library. And so it goes: Book Aunt may not be posting, but she's still lurking in the shadows of the local bookstore, leaping out to hand books to unsuspecting and presumably grateful children plus the adults they haul along with them for purposes of paying for things.

I will keep the site up for a while so that people can access the archives, most notably my large posts overviewing a genre or different versions of the same well-known story or book. Here are some of the more useful posts in various categories:


About Fairy Tales and Folktales

Standout Fairy Tale Books, Collections, and Retellings

Fairy Tales and Books about Witches (A Halloween Post)

Classic Fairy Tale Retellings

An Overview of Trickster Tales


Versions of a Well-Known Story or Book

Versions of A Child's Garden of Verses

Versions of Mother Goose

Versions of Cinderella (Plus Notes on the Possible Demise of Picture Book Fairy Tales)

Versions of Beauty and the Beast

Versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Versions of the Snow Queen


Picture Book Themes

Picture Books for Grieving

Picture Books to Sing

Picture Books about Water

Picture Book Lessons about Being Yourself

Thoughtful Picture Books You've Never Heard Of

Oddball Picture Books:

    --Not Your Grandma's Picture Books

    --Picture Books with Bite

    --Feeling Kinda Crazy: Three Unusual Picture Books


Other Book Batches

Many Mouse Books

Poetry Anthologies for Small Children

A Selection of Christmas Books

Books by Authors about Writing for Children


Best Book Lists

Best Picture Books Ever (2009)

Best Middle Grade Books Ever (2009)

Final Favorites Lists (2013)


How to Pick Books for Kids

Secret Weapons: Choosing the Right Books

Ten Books at a Time


The Pistachio Awards

First Annual Pistachio Awards (March 2011)

Second Annual Pistachio Awards (April 2012)


In Case You Didn't Know...

Why I Love Picture Books (Anarchy of the Imagination)

Again, thank you to all of my visitors. I've made so many nice blog friends. I hope to be able to keep in touch through comments, tweets, and e-mails. And of course, let's continue to rejoice in children's literature and the love of reading!

For those of you who follow my books, I have a picture book called The Tooth Fairy Wars, illustrated by Jake Parker, coming out in Spring 2014 and a poetry collection called Monster School that will probably be out in Spring 2015. No middle grade fiction at the moment, but I'm working on something, so we'll see what happens next. (Isn't that always the case with life and everything?)

Note: The first image above is a detail called "Young Woman Writing" from a wall painting in Pompeii. The second image is a detail from "Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid" by Vermeer. The third painting is "Three Reading Girls" by Walter Elmer Schofield. A print of it used to hang in my grandmother's home. She was a very good first grade teacher and reading tutor as well as a voracious reader who passed the love of books on to her children and their children. The picture now hangs in my office.

Blogger Award - Thank You!

Charlotte Taylor of Charlotte's Library, my favorite sci-fi/fantasy site for children's books, recently gave me a blogging award, the Pertinent Posts Award. Thank you very much, Charlotte!

So whose blogs do I find pertinent? Well, Betsy Bird of Fuse #8 hardly needs me to commend her blog, and Charlotte GAVE me the award, so I can't very well name hers. I have also honored some of my other favorites in the past with previous awards.

I will therefore refer you to a few different children's book or fantasy blogs that I currently consider pertinent:

The Miss Rumphius Effect and poet Laura Salas's blog both offer poetry workshops/challenges that I look forward to happily each week.

Then there's Diamonds and Toads, a blog that focuses on fairy tales in a grown-up, university-ish way, where I've found some interesting tidbits and conversations.

I find I'm becoming increasingly hooked on another blog I'm sure is well known, but I'll say it just the same: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has the most gorgeous interviews, mostly with children's book illustrators, though occasionally with authors.

And a new favorite, Kinderscares, promises to fill a niche nicely, blogging about horror for children, MG and picture books with the occasional YA thrown in for good measure.

You may have noticed that my blog roll is very long. I blame Jen Robinson... No, really, I just think there are a lot of great blogs out there in Kidlitosphere! And every so often I check them all, or update by adding something new and fun. So if you're ever bored on a Saturday afternoon or can't sleep some night, try a few of those blogs.