I got some great news recently. My book THINGS TO DO was named a Best Book of 2017 for Kids by the New York Public Library! Here are two links where you'll find the list of the NYPL's Best Books of 2017 for Kids:
In addition, Sammy Juliano of Wonders in the Dark wrote a wonderful review of THINGS TO DO. He thinks the book should be taken into consideration for a Caldecott Medal. I couldn't agree more. I love the artwork that Catia Chien did for the book!
Excerpt: Birds know well the consequence of missed opportunities and the likelihood of a second chance not availing itself anytime soon. Magliaro implores our feathered friends to take full advantage of the unfaltering mantra, “Fist come, first served” by descending down to a lawn where feed has been offered up. A delay will undoubtably result in other birds “seizing the day.” When breakfast has been negotiated the poet advocates airborne tenacity: Stretch out your wings on the brightening sky. Morning’s upon us. Get ready to fly! Chien’s overhead capture is an impressionist gem, featuring the metaphorical image of a bird sporting the wing span and tail of an airplane in a now busy sky of many other airborne creatures evoking Richard Bach’s line from his famed 1970 novella: “and the word for breakfast flock flashed through the air, till a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food.” The artist makes lush use of saturated acrylic red and green projecting out from the flicked brown and tan cross strokes in a scene witness by the intrepid young girl and her inveterate canine.
For this Poetry Friday, I thought I'd post one of the poems that I had to cut from my THINGS TO DO manuscript:
THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE AN ALARM CLOCK
Don’t YELL at me!
Don’t DING-A-LING-LING
with a harsh metal voice
that makes my ears ring!
Don’t jolt me from my sleep
and start my day off wrong.
Sing me awake
with a soft morning song.
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Here are two reasons why I don't have much time to blog these days. My girls keep me busy!
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Mary Lee has the POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP over at A Year of Reading.
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10 comments:
This is wonderful book news - the review & Caldecott idea.
And appreciations for sharing about your distractions.
I especially love THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE AN ALARM CLOCK
because I have switched to singing household
awake, from ringing the alarming alarm.
Feeling same wavelength goosebumps. . .
Thanks, Jan! I don't have as much time to blog or write since I became a nanny granny. That said, I wouldn't change things. I LOVE seeing my granddaughters every day!
Oh, those wee faces!!! I would stay busy with that cuteness, too. And yet! You had time to write a book which sounds lovely! Congratulations to you for being acknowledged by the NYPL AND the Caldecott folk!
Thanks, Tanita! I sold the manuscript for THINGS TO DO a couple months after my first granddaughter was born in 2011. The book wasn't published until 2017. It was a LONG wait!
Yea for the good book news! I enjoyed the alarm clock poem, too!
Picture book publishing is a long haul, but worth the wait! --Diane Mayr
Congratulations and thank you for this lovely post!
Great news! CONGRATULATIONS!
And send me an alarm like the one in your poem, please!!
Congratulations on your news, how exciting! BTW I like waking up to soft music too, thanks!
It's such a wonderful book. Here's to a job well done!
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