The Man Who knew the Man Who Wrote The Stinky Cheese Man

One day  I was in my elementary library and a man came walking down the hall -- and since I did not recognize him as a parent, I stepped into the hall and inquired about his presence (we were very aware of people in our building).  He explained that he had gone to Harrison and that he was back in town and just wanted to take a look at his old elementary school.  I invited him in and he was interested in the computer catalog and the collection.  He sat down at a computer and questioned outloud "I wonder if my friend's name is in your computer?"  We  suggested he type the name in -- it was Jon Scieszka.  Of course, it was in our system.  My secretary who LOVED Jon Scieszka's work nearly fainted :>).  Come to find out Jon Scieszka and this man had roomed together in art school.  My memory says that he said that he stayed in touch with Jon but was not a close friend, just a casual friend at this point.

	Jon Scieszka was the Library of Congress's First Ambassador for Children's Books. Katherine Paterson was selected as the second ambassador in 2011. In 2012 Walter Dean Myers was the choice as ambassador.

That is my Jon Scieszka story.  The story reminds me always of the line in Patricia Polacco's Pink and Say, "This is the hand that touched the hand that shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln."  So this was the man who knew the man who wrote The Stinky Cheese Man.  A thrill by any standard.

Lessons My Mother Taught Me! - In a Round-About Way

My mother lived to be 88 and worked hard all of her life.  She earned a high school diploma when others in the family did not.  She sold seed corn when only men were allowed to do so (she used her husband’s name).  She wanted me to be prepared for life, too.  She said I would need to know how to “dress” a chicken and would have to know how to pick strawberries without stepping on the just emerging berries on other plants.  Both jobs were ones that I detested.

HarperCollins, 1963

Even though I could fry up a chicken dinner by the age of nine, I avoided learning how to dress a chicken.  I could scald a chicken and pluck its feathers off and deliver the bird to my mother’s cutting board – but she had to handle the knife.  I was having none of that part of preparing the chicken for the table.  By the time I had my own household, grocery stores were routinely selling dressed and cut-up chickens ready for the fryer or oven.  I neither had to pluck the feathers or cut up the chicken (more like undressing than dressing in any case).  The knowledge did serve me well though when my teaching colleagues seemed to share Amelia Bedelia’s (Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parrish, 1963) confusion about the meaning of the term “dress the chicken.”

Whenever Amelia Bedelia got into trouble – so to speak with Mr. and Mrs. Rogers she made a delicious pie or cake and softened the effect of her misdeeds.  She was well known for her Lemon Meringue Pie.  Now pies I could make without blinking an eye — when first married and beginning my own baking regiment however, I found out the recipe I had in my head was for 5-7 pies.  I soon figured out that I was not feeding threshers or hired men (or at that time a large family) so I quickly cut back on the quantities.  Check out a great Lemon Meringue Pie recipe and read someone Amelia Bedelia's book. 

Lesson #1:  Always let someone else "dress" your chicken, but bake your own pie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harcourt, 1999

And picking strawberries.  Strawberries are native to the United States and Native Americans used them often.  But since they grew wild strawberries were not cultivated in North America until the 1830s.  Now over 75% of the strawberries consumed in the United States are grown in California.  So that ended my directive.  I was happy to support the state of California – and even now they need all the support they can get.  What better way to support my fellow countrymen and women than to help them make a livelihood sending me strawberries.  Berries I neither grow or pick.  I’m happy to stem them and prepare them for strawberry shortcake.

Take a look at a literary sequel to the well-known “Little Red Hen” story, in Janet Stevens’ sequel Cook-a-Doodle-Doo!  In this tale Big Brown Rooster (the Little Red Hen’s great-grandson) meets up with Turtle, Iguana, and Potbellied Pig as they set out to make the most “wonderful, magnificent strawberry short cake in the whole wide world.” 

You can find strawberries is any major grocery store – most months of the year; fresh or frozen and not have to pick even one of them.  You might want to use Big Brown Rooster’s

Great-Granny's Magnificent Strawberry Shortcake recipe from Janet Steven's book.

Lesson #2:   Find a great produce department from which to purchase strawberries and help the growers in California support their families -- and enjoy a great strawberry shortcake often.

National Brothers' Week - March 2012 - National Sisters' Week

For those who are looking for verification of the National Brothers Week (March 7-13, 2012) or National Sisters Week (March 25-31) you might look to these documents to understand the origins of these celebratory weeks.

National Brothers Week always falls on March 7 through 13 regardless of the day of the week that the 7th falls on.  This month was designated as it is the only month THE McElmeel family does not have special celebration and the dates avoid any numeric guy celebration in any other month.  National Sisters Week will come later in the month but usually the sisters do not need an occasion to say nice things but they can celebration anyhow.  Those dates will be March 25th to the 31st.

100th Birthday of the Oreo Cookie

Today - March 6, 2012 is the 100th birthday of the Oreo Cookie.  Now I LOVE Oreos but they don't quite fit my image of a sophisticated dessert -- but a scrumptious Oreo pie is a great choice for a meal.  Next year I think I will have a 101 year birthday party for the Oreo and serve an Oreo pie.

Here's a quick recipe adapted from a Cool Whip® version:

Make in the morning - Serve at Dinnertime Oreo Pie

• 1 package Oreos
• 1/2 stick butter (margarine if you must)
• 1 1/2 cups cold milk
• 2 packages (4-serving size) vanilla-flavored instant pudding
• 1 eight-oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed

Use a blender or food processor to crush 3 dozen cookies (if you do not have a blender or food processor - use a Zip-Loc® bag and a rolling pin).
Mix the cookie crumbs (reserve 1/3 of the cookie crumbs for the pudding mixture) with melted butter and pressed onto the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
Beat milk and pudding together until thick (approximately 1 to 2 minutes). Carefully stir in whipped topping and blend well. Fold the reserved cookie crumbs into the pudding mixture.
Spoon pudding mixture onto crust.
Garnish each piece of pie with a dab of whipped cream, a maraschino cherry and an Oreo and refrigerate for at least four hours.

Read:

Lukas, Catherine. (2000) The Oreo Cookie Counting Book.  Illustrated by Victoria Raymond.  Little, Simon (a board book, 11 pages)  

And, yes it's a blatant placement of a product being advertised in a children's book so if you don't want to buy your children (or spouse or anyone else) Oreos then probably best not to purchase this book.  But I buy Oreos anyway.

 

Oodles of Noodles - and Lots of Kolaches

All of my mother's life she made the best cinnamon twists and noodles.  She often came to my house and made several batches of cinnamon twists and I would partially bake them, freeze trays of them, and then when I wanted freshly baked twists I would just pop them into the oven, bake them off, frost and enjoy.  I miss those still.  She also made the best egg noodles.  She would make batches, we dried  them, froze them, and they too were fresh for cooking.  Very delicious.
While I don't have anyone to make my twists, but my son, Matthew, has mastered the noodles.  He brought some for Thanksgiving and we popped them into some broth -- and once again I had my very favorite food.  They were wonderful.  I gave him the one noodle cutter, of my mother's,  that I had.  However, it was one that wasn't in the best condition.  He found one that worked better, or hand cuts them, I'm not sure which. But the memory of noodles comes from that old metal noodle cutter -- with that wooden handle.
A few days ago my sister found one -- just like Mom's and actually just like the one she had, from Mom.  So here is mine.  Mine has a red handle while hers has a green handle -- I like mine best.

So maybe now I have to learn to make my own rolled out noodles -- or maybe, for the holidays, next year I'll just ask Matt to make some batches of noodles -- freeze them and gift them to me.

My memories of my mother's noodle making sessions, makes me think of one of my favorite books -- now out-of-print based on a child's memories of kolaches being made during the author's childhood.    The twists my mother made was her best bakery -- but she made a great kolache as well.

My Day With Anka by Nan Ferring Nelson (HarperCollins, 1996) is actually based on the author's own childhood - a childhood spent in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a center of Czech immigration in earlier decades.  The book is described in a Kirkus review as, "Nelson's first book ... Karrie, a little girl who looks forward to her time with the family's nurturing, maternal housekeeper, Anka. Anka is a Czechoslovakian immigrant who bakes kolaches and other good things, cleans the house, and makes everything fun. In a day of making the house shine, Karrie learns humor, creativity, and tolerance for others with different backgrounds. Anka is a real charmer, bringing memories of her trip to America into everyday activities: The vacuum cleaner is a train to Prague, and the window-washing water is the Atlantic Ocean. The story is loving and respectful, but remains very much a tale of several decades ago; Farnsworth's acrylic on canvas illustrations are muted, warm, and comfortingly nostalgic.".  Bill Farnsworth created wonderful illustrations for the book.  In the book Nelson talks about the savory Czech Kolaches open faced and filled with delicious fruit filling.   Farnsworth was only able to find closed Kolaches popular in larger cities, so Nelson's father who still lived in Cedar Rapids went to a local bakery and shipped a dozen or more kolaches to the publishing party in New York.  A painting of those kolaches ended up on the jacket flap of the book.  They look just like the kolaches often sold in Cedar Rapids -- and made during Nelson's childhood and mine as well. 

Here's a great recipe for authentic Czech Kolaches:

1. Dissolve:
   2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
   1 tablespoon sugar in warm milk [2 cups warm milk (110° to 115°)].
   Let Stand for 10 minutes 
2. While the yeast mixture is standing, mix in a large bowl:
   2 cups flour
   1/2 cup sugar less the 1 tablespoon used with yeast
   4 egg yolks
   1 teaspoon salt
   1/4 cup butter, softened
3. Stir in the yeast mixture and an additional 3 3/4 cups to 4 1/2 cups flour as needed - mix until smooth and a stiff dough is formed.
4. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. 
5. Add additional flour, if necessary. 
6. Place dough in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. 
7. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. 
8.  Punch dough down and allow to rise again. 
9. Roll out on floured surface to 1/2-in. thickness. 
10. Cut with large glass or 2-1/2-in. cutter. 
11. Place on greased baking sheets; let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. 
12. Firmly press indentation in center and fill each roll with a heaping tablespoon of filling. 
13. Brush dough with egg white. 
14.  Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until rolls are light golden brown. Yield: about 28 rolls. 

You may used canned filling - prune, poppy seed, cherry, lemon, or my favorite apricot filling.  But my preference is to make my own from scratch.  Here is one recipe for poppy seed filling -- and the apricot filling.

Poppyseed filling

• 1 cup poppy seed
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup chopped dates
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts
• Dash of cinnamon
  
  Combine the filling ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until it thickens, stirring often. Set filling aside to cool.

Fruit Kolache filling

• 1/2 pound of dried fruit such as apricots or prunes, raisins, cherries, whatever you wish.
• Sugar to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
• Lemon zest

Soak the dried fruit in water for a few hours or overnight.
When fruit is re-hydrated, cook on low for 15 minutes, adding sugar to taste, cinnamon and lemon zest. Mash with a potato masher until you have a puree.

Find a copy of My Day With Anka, bake some kolaches -- read and enjoy.
Sharron

Happy Valentine's Day

Heart Animations provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

1. Approximately how many boxes of chocolate were sold for St. Valentine's Day in 2003?
36 million. This figure comes from the Chocolate Manufacturer's Association.
2. The oldest known valentine that is still in existence today was written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife.
Where was Charles when he penned this valentine? In the Tower of London. The greeting is now located in the British Library in London.
3. Approximately what percentage of Valentine's Day cards are purchased by women?
85%. This is according to the Greeting Card Association.
4. Approximately how many Valentine's Day cards are sent each year?
1 billion. Valentine's Day is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. Christmas is first with approximately 2.6 billion cards sent.
5. Cupid is whose son?
Venus. Venus was the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
6. How many towns in the United States honor St. Valentine.
Two – Valentine, Nebraska; and Valentine, Texas
Fun facts:
More than two million couples get married each year in the United States
One billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually.
One-fourth of Valentine’s Day cards are humorous.
More than half of shoppers spend more than $3 for a Valentine’s Day card.

PR Hints from Katie Davis, for YOUR book

Write, Publish, Promote (and a copy of Katie's newest book, How to Promote Your Children's Book *) — Many ideas for promoting YOUR interest (book, library, literacy)
Over and over again I hear those who love children's and young adult books, muse about writing their own book.  Each of us dream of writing and having published that best-selling novel, book of non-fiction, or picture book.   But as most published writers know, the writing is only part of the process of getting a book into the hands of the young readers the book (YOUR book) that has been published.  By now most writers know that they just must have an online presence, and most who want to promote books for young readers must also have an online presence.
Katie Davis is a well-known author, and she is the creator of a popular podcast about children's literature.

 

and now she has shared some of her knowledge about how to promote YOUR book.  

But there are many of us who will not ever have a book to promote -- Katie's book has some great suggestions that we can glean and adapt for promoting our own interests -- some of her suggestions will apply to our libraries, our blog, any interest we want others to share.  

A GIVEAWAY

Read Katie's seven top tips (below) and make a comment sharing your library/literacy promotion adaptation of the hint and on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14th) we will select a winner to receive a complimentary copy of Katie's e-book sharing ALL of her hints.

Top Seven Things To Do To Promote Your Book

Well, Sharron when you asked me to compile a list of the top promotional tips I had a hard time picking! I figured if I’m going to promote my new ebook, How to Promote Your Children's Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller I didn’t want to leave anything out! Finally, I winnowed it down to these seven.

My top seven things I’d recommend to promote a book are:

1.    A Book Trailer

Remember, no slow, loving pans of your cover, one minute long, and don’t tell the whole story. I am proud to say that this one just won a School Library Journal Trailee award.

2.    Other Video

You don’t have to show yourself if you feel uncomfortable. Create videos that could help teachers or colleagues with a screen casting application (I like Screenflow. Make sure your audio is great, and upload not only to YouTube (the second – maybe first now – search engine), but Teachertube and other video sharing sites.

3.    Blog Tour

Doing this blog tour has been a blast! I’ve gotten to connect with my hosts and figured out how to make it easy for them – whether virtual or in person, you always want to be an easy guest, right? Best of all, not only am I promoting my own book, but in doing so, I am widening the reach of my hosts by linking them daily, having them on a podcast, and spreading their URLs around the social media landscape!

4.    Connect, aka Reciprocate

Create your community – not to get something, but to share knowledge and support. This book was only possible because of the friends I’ve made. I put the word out for contributors and people responded. Then they were promoted in the book, and linked. Then I gifted each with a copy of the book and then many gifted me by supporting my blog tour. I could get dizzy with all the ‘round and ‘round!

5.    Join Up!

There are so many fantastic organizations that connect and support writers, many of which are listed in the book.  You can learn so much through an organization’s newsletters, workshops and conferences, not to mention connecting with others with your same interests!

6.    Be Selfishly Unselfish

Reciprocity is the key. Early in my career I was desperate to promote my books and I was guilty of only pushing my own work. Not only did I get really bored with that but I’m sure others were bored of me too! When I became interested in other people, my whole world opened up. I’ve said this hokey stuff before, and I’ll keep saying it: the more you give, the more you get. Give away freebies on your site, make comments on other people’s blogs, retweet your tweeps, send thank you notes, and promote other people. It’s actually selfish because it feels good to you to be unselfish.

7.    Grow Your Mailing List

Make sure you have opt-ins on all your pages, not just your home page. Collect cards at conferences but always ask if it’s okay to add them to your list, and mark the back of the card so you don’t forget. Don’t abuse your list, make your newsletter attractive (mailchimp is great for that) and offer useable information to make it worthwhile for people to join.

===================================================================

So submit (via the comment function for this blog) your library/literacy adaptation of one of these seven promotion hints shared by Katie and you might just be the winner of the FREE e-book How to Promote Your Children's Book.  If you want to order the book outright, it is available for the Kindle, Nook, or iPad.

Cheers - and for more about Katie's book join her on her blog tour.

✓   Feb 1 - E is for Book - www.eisforbook.com

✓  Feb 2 - Banana Peel Thursday - bananapeelin.blogspot.com

✓  Feb 3 - Creative Spaces - chrischengauthor.blogspot.com

✓  Feb 6 - DearEditor.com - www.DearEditor.com
 ✓  Feb 7 - Writing With a Broken Tusk - umakrishnaswami.blogspot.com
 ✓   Feb 8 - Shutta Crum - shutta.com
 ✓   Feb 9 - McBookWords - mcbookwords.blogspot.com
 ✓   Feb 10 - Kerem Erkan- keremerkan.net
 ✓   Feb 16 - Elizabeth O. Dulemba-  www.dulemba.com/
 ✓   Feb 17 - Fiction Notes -  www.darcypattison.com/
 ✓   March 1 - 12x12 in 2012 -  writeupmylife.com
 ✓   March 2 - Christine Fonseca, Author - ChristineFonseca.blogspot.com