Jennifer Armstrong News

Intergalactic Medecine Show loves Fire-Us

2007-10-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

Enthusiastic and long review of the post-apocalyptic trilogy I wrote with my friend, Nancy Butcher. This series never got a whole lof of play, but there are some dedicated fans out there, all the same...

NY Public Library uses American Story art on its summer reading brochure

2007-08-13T11:16:00.001-04:00

And incidentally lists the book inside as well....

Mommy Blogs Toronto

2007-07-19T08:46:00.000-04:00

Talking about "print awareness" and Once Upon a Banana.

Design Mom blog suggests The American Story

2007-07-17T11:58:00.000-04:00

I've been starting to read mom blogs. More info soon.

Nutty comment on the Colbert Nation official site

2007-06-21T07:05:00.000-04:00

Somebody is suggesting Colbert have me on the Colbert Report, as I am "the biggest liberal who could ever be spawned in this good country. She claims that she loves America but we all know she is lying."

So evidently some conservative nutter has read The American Story and -- who knows? didn't like the story about Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs? Thought I was "soft" on Native Americans?

Why am I so tickled?

Barre (Vermont) Read Steal Away

2007-06-14T10:53:00.000-04:00

This was back in early May, but I forgot to post this picture of the banner hanging from the public library. I spent two days in Barre middle schools and being feted. Like I always say, being feted is much nicer than being fetid. It was a little weird to discuss a book I wrote fifteen years ago -- the kids I was talking to were more familiar with it than I was. I meant to reread it before I went, but for some reason I didn't. And I couldn't remember many of the details. I said something about one of the characters, and the kids in the classroom all said, "Huh? No she didn't!" Ooops.

Los Altos Town Crier highlights Once Upon a Banana

2007-06-05T17:32:00.000-04:00

Tom Brokaw endorses The American Story -- Again

2007-05-19T13:21:00.000-04:00

Tom Brokaw is in town for Skidmore's graduation -- I think he was a speaker. My friend Emma does the photos. Bada boom, bada bing, and he has an autographed copy of the book in his hands.

The Banana strikes again

2007-05-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

This teacher blog describes the pre-reading activities inspired by Once Upon a Banana.

Magnus at the Fire a nominee for Missouri Show Me Readers Award

2007-04-24T13:29:00.000-04:00

With 50 states its hard to keep up with state book awards, but I just found this listing for 2007-2008 nominees.

What's the Korean word for banana?

2007-04-23T11:50:00.000-04:00

I don't know, but a Korean publisher has bought translation rights to Once Upon a Banana. I know David painted all the signs blank, with the sign text an overlay for just this reason -- so that translations would be possible. But wow, Korean? If they are able to make it all rhyme I'll be amazed!

Live Radio Interview on Tuesday, April 14

2007-04-16T13:55:00.000-04:00

This will be at 2:15 EST on a program called "Awaken With Grace" and she'll be interviewing me about In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer. You can listen in by clicking the link above -- it will take you to the radio station and then if you just click "listen" -- it will open in iTunes or your MediaPlayer.

Best Children's Books of 2007 from Bank Street College

2007-04-11T09:33:00.000-04:00

Once Upon a Banana singled out for outstanding merit.

TV News Clip from Illinois -- Librarian Recommending The American Story

2007-04-07T07:53:00.000-04:00

It doesn't come until the end of the news clip, but you can watch it here.

Children's Literature Assembly 2007 Notables in the English Language Arts

2007-04-07T07:26:00.000-04:00

Phew, that's a mouthful, but the relevant info is that Once Upon a Banana is on this list.

Tasting the Sky, by Ibtisam Barakat

2007-03-26T10:28:00.000-04:00

Some months ago I mentioned that my friend Ibtisam had written a memoir of her Palestinian childhood. Here it is, now published. Please click on this entry title to see the full description of the book, plus blurbs by Naomi Shihab Nye, Suzanne Fisher Staples, and me.

The American Story in action...

2007-03-23T08:44:00.000-04:00

Here's a blog entry from a mom (and fellow writer) whose son has connected current presidential scandal mess to Nixon's devolution, courtesy of my Watergate store in The American Story.

The Winner's Circle running now in New York Post

2007-03-16T10:06:00.000-04:00

This is chapter one of my Saratoga racing-themed serial novel, The Winner's Circle. It's been running in newspapers around the country for about three years, as part of the Breakfast Serials program. It's a ghost story. It's a horse story. Enjoy!

The American Story named one of 2006's best by Chicago Public Library

2007-03-11T13:24:00.000-04:00

According to Andrew Medlar, Chicago Public Library, Children and Young Adult Services,

"Many elements come into play in this selection of the most outstanding
titles for children and young adults that belong in every library and home.
Throughout the year we look carefully for:
* Books that meet high standards of writing and illustration
* Books that have a significant curriculum link
* Books that reflect living in an urban, multicultural society
* Books that present a topic not previously available in a juvenile
format
* Books that add zip to programs and special projects"

They're gonna love me in Estonia...

2007-02-27T09:40:00.000-05:00

I got an email yesterday from a publisher in Estonia, enquiring about the availability of Estonian language translation rights to The American Story.

They are, shall we say, extremely available.

Columbia Tribune says "A book every family should own."

2007-02-21T08:10:00.000-05:00

"The American Story: 100 True Tales From American History by Jennifer Armstrong is one of the best timelines of our history that I’ve come across," says their columnist.

Jennifer, where have you been?

2007-02-21T07:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, to begin with, I was supposed to be in Sarasota, Florida. I had a book signing lined up at Circle Books, and a visit to a school called Open Door Academy. In the time not spent signing books or talking about books, I was going to be playing at a duplicate bridge tournament. See, this article from the Sarasota Herald Tribune says so.

Then the blizzard happened. I was supposed to fly on Wednesday. HA! By 5:30 a.m. my 10:00 a.m. flight from Albany had already been cancelled. Forty minutes waiting on hold with the airline produced the information that there was no way -- and I mean no way -- to reschedule me on another flight before Saturday. And my return ticket was for Sunday. So I didn't go to Florida. Bridge partner James, scheduled to leave the next day, figured he wouldn't get out either, and why go anyway if I wasn't going to be there? And it snowed and snowed and snowed.

So on Wednesday afternoon, Valentine's Day, with the snow coming down at a rate of about 3 inches per hour, the Scrabble tournament convened at my house in front of the fire. There were interludes of shoveling, pushing cars, etc. More Scrabble. More snow.

Then on Thursday, James and I drove to Connecticut to play in a bridge tournament there. We figured we had planned on spending three days playing bridge, so why not just do it at another tournament? It wasn't quite like going to Florida, but when you're playing bridge in the stuffy ballroom of a convention center, it doesn't much matter what's happening outside.

With a break on Friday morning for me to be the guest speaker at an on-line conference, a webinar on Bringing History to Life, we played five matches, approximately 135 hands. Surprisingly there were a number of junior players and college aged players. Wow. A sign that the game is not dying out completely. For the first time James and I were not, at 45 years old, the youngest players in the room.

Saturday morning we watched me on C-SPAN 2, a horrifying experience. If you've never watched yourself on t.v. let me just say that if you have the opportunity to see yourself on t.v. don't take it.

Now I am back in front of the fire, regarding the snow piled up outside. Come on, spring. Come on.

2007 Scrabble Challenge

2007-02-09T08:14:00.000-05:00

Some readers may recall my description of a literacy fund raising event last fall where I played team Scrabble with some friends. These same three friends, regulars at my weekly Game Night, have been my constant adversaries on the great board. 2006 was marked by trash talk and competing claims of Scrabble supremacy.
In the interests of proving once and for all who is the best Scrabble player among us, Rumara proposed a tournament to last for one year. Rules would be official National Scrabble Association; scads of data would be recorded in a spreadsheet. Rumara actually joined the NAS in order to get the OFFICIAL world list (referred to as OWL). She prepared a binder for each of us with rules, strategies, useful word lists (the two-letter words, the three-letter words, the u-dumps, the i-dumps, etc.).

After a few weeks of play, usually on Sunday night but often at other times (for example, for five hours on Wednesday afternoon this week; what a good thing we're all self-employed) we have honed our techniques and policies.

1. In the interests of random seating and avoiding cries of "She always sets him up!" we take N,S, E, and W from the bag, lay them face down, and draw for seating at the start of each match. We then draw for who goes first, in the usual manner.

2. "Style points" are noted on the spreadsheet, although we don't have a way to quantify them yet. They may come in handy in the final accounting, perhaps as a tie-breaker, if necessary. Style points are awareded for any especially clever play on the board, such as forming a box, bridging two particularly problematic letters, making a long side-by-side word, etc. Style points are awarded by consensus.

3. Because there are a variety of ways to determing who is "winning," we've begun analyzing the spreadsheet to figure out the best measurement. Right now we are trying a sum of average score + number of wins + number of points (based on first, second, third and fourth place finishes) + number of bingos (7-letter words). By this method, I'm winning right now; however, if we use median score + number of wins + number of points + bingos, then Rumara is winning and Mike is in second place, with me in third. James is last right now, although last week he was first in scoring. Once we figure which method (average or median) gives us the truest picture of Scrabble mastery, we'll create a function for that calculation in the spreadsheet.

This week my bingos were: BESTING, SILLIER, LOUSIER, RECOUPED, and FALTERER. Michael had one bingo, COSTING, and Rumara tried to play RENAMERS and was forced to retract it after a successful challenge.

Stay tuned for further updates. There will be some breaks in the action -- James and I are going to Florida to play in a bridge tournament, Mike is going to Europe to play hockey, etc. -- but we try to squeeze our sanctioned matches in as often as possible as schedules allow.

Houston Chronicle

2007-02-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

This story is about the writer-in-residence program I was doing at Annunciation Orthodox School in Houston last week. It was an interesting program, where I helped students take research on a historical subject or person and turn it into fiction. Some kids were really receptive and wrote like maniacs, and some were extremely reluctant to make logical inferences about the facts they had discovered. It was a long week, but a good one.

Well whaddaya know...

2007-02-03T13:44:00.000-05:00

Today's mail brought a large, stiff envelope with the return address reading The White House. Huh? says I, inspecting it. I opened it up, hardly knowing what to expect.
Turns out to be an autographed picture of Laura Bush, with a letter thanking me for the signed copy of The American Story which someone passed along to her. I know I signed at least two copies of the book for her -- various people with access offered to pass the book along -- and evidently at least one of them has finally made its way to her attention. "I appreciate your generosity and look forward to reading your book. With best wishes, Laura Bush" is how the letter concludes.

This reminds me of a funny period of my sleep life from six or seven years ago, the period I refer to as "my dreams about Laura Bush." In the early days of the first term I had naive hopes that with a librarian in the White House we might see some really serious attention paid to children's literacy issues. On several occasions I dreamed that I ran into the First Lady at some conference -- a librarian convention, perhaps -- and would begin a conversation something along the lines of, "Hey, it's great to see you, do you think we could get together for a cup of coffee and discuss some things?" She was like many librarians I have met at conventions over the years -- a friendly acquaintance with mutual professional interests.

After a while I stopped having those dreams.

Columbia, Missouri, says Banana should have been a Caldecott winner

2007-02-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

Well, but it wasn't. It was on the Notables list, but it didn't make the Caldecott red carpet, sadly. But thanks, Columbia, Missouri, for the vote of confidence.

Okay, Jen, but how was Houston?

2007-02-02T16:21:00.000-05:00

Houston, which was a school visit trip, turned into a media blitz -- all on one day. I spent four days at Annunciation Orthodox School doing a really cool writer-in-residence project (more on that in another post) and Monday started with an interview with a Houston Chronicle reporter; then my trusty publicist at Random House called to say that a radio station in Beaumont, Texas, wanted to do a live interview with me that afternoon, before my booksigning; and when my hostess and I got to the bookstore at 3 the C-SPAN crew was already there, filling the little store (Blue Willow) with their gear. We did a bunch of lighting tests, sound checks -- to my chagrin they told me what I was wearing wouldn't look right so could I just wear my green cardigan and not the fancy tapestry coat (and I chose it special for t.v.); I went off to a quiet spot to the the radio interview, and when I returned to the store for the 5 o'clock taping we had a full house. I actually gave my full American Story speech, even the part about the -- you know -- atheist anti-war pro-choice vegetarian blue state liberal bit and I wasn't sure if I was imagining the look of horror intensifying with each label. Potentially, it was "vegetarian" that cut the deepest with some of those Houston folks; actually, afterward a bunch of them came up during the signing and joked about it "that's not not not not not us" but book folk are book folk, after all. Lots of people bought books, and even several members of the t.v. crew, who say that in spite of doing bookstore events all the time they NEVER actually buy the book. So I guess I won them over. In spite of the -- you know -- vegetarianism...

South Florida Sun Sentinel

2007-02-02T16:16:00.000-05:00

This piece looks familiar -- I think they picked up the story the Washington Post ran a few weeks ago on The American Story.

"Most brilliant history..." in Chinaberry catalog

2007-02-02T16:09:00.000-05:00

This is a really nice catalog. Obviously they have excellent taste.

C-SPAN, take 2

2007-01-18T08:19:00.000-05:00

Well, some of you may recall that one of my book tour stops last fall was meant to include a taping with Book-TV; it was cancelled for some peculiar reason.

However, my tireless publicist at Random House has continued to knock on C-SPAN's door: my next bookstore event (in Houston, later this month) will be taped.

The date is January 29, 5 p.m. at the Blue Willow bookstore in Houston. If you are in the neighborhood please come by. I don't know when they'll be airing the segment, but it would be great if you can be part of the audience. I'll be giving a presentation about The American Story and taking questions. And autographing books. I'll be in Houston for most of the week visiting Annunciation Orthodox School, doing a history writing writer-in-residence program.

I was about to say, "Whew! it'll be nice to get out of the ice and cold of upstate New York!" but apparenty Texas isn't getting off so easy this winter, either. In any event, I'll be heading south in about a week and a half, and hope to see some of y'all there.

Free-Lance Star (Fredericksburg, VA) picks Banana out of the bunch

2007-01-17T15:25:00.000-05:00

A mock Caldecott group at the local library didn't select it as a winner or an honor, but they just had to mention it all the same, evidently.

Washington Post writes about The American Story today

2007-01-17T09:48:00.001-05:00

And mentions five favorite stories.

If you want to buy any of my books...

2007-01-17T09:36:00.000-05:00

Buying them through the Givezilla site will benefit the Ethiopa Books for Children and Education Foundation, aka Ethiopia Reads. This would be a most excellence confluence of Good Things for me. This is a foundation and mission very close to my heart.

So if you think you'd end up ordering on-line, please consider ordering from Givezilla.

Thanks!

ice getting thicker

2007-01-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

It's beginning to look very much like trees may start falling today. Already there have been power flickers. Are we going to lose electricity? Please, please, please no!

Ice Storm

2007-01-15T08:47:00.000-05:00

No snow this year, which is great if you're not a skier, like me (not a skier, that is). But now this? Since January 1 I have been conscientiously walking at least 10,000 steps a day, as measured by my pedometer. Yesterday the sidewalks were slippy and scary, and by 11 p.m. when my weekly Game Night came to its exhausted end (Scrabble tournament, bridge, hearts, lots of pizza and yelling and a nice fire in the fireplace) I discovered I had only 6,500 steps or so.
So I went out for a walk. It wasn't too cold, but the ice was starting and I walked in the streets instead of on the sidewalks, since that felt safer. At one point I police car cruised past, and I wondered what I would say if, for some reason, they stopped to speak to me, "Well, I have to get up to 10,000 before midnight, officer, so I'm carefully walking in the dark, on an icy night. It's a goal, you see."
I went back in when I reached 8,200 and walked the remaining 1,800 steps in the house. I reached 10,000 at 6 minutes before midnight.
Now we have a crazy glaze of ice out there. How will I do 10,000 steps today? I guess I could go to a mall and walk inside. What a dreary prospect.

Times Union (Albany) did a story about me yesterday

2007-01-15T08:13:00.000-05:00

"Two books, one busy author..."

Magnus at the Fire an IRA-CBC Children's Choice for 2006

2007-01-14T10:13:00.000-05:00

IRA (International Reading Association) and CBC (Children's Book Council) annually invite 10,000 school children around the country to participate in this selection process. According to the listing of the 2006 winners, "Children love this story about a faithful and heroic horse who serves the community well."

Thanks, kids!

Abilene (KS) Reporter-News

2007-01-12T12:40:00.000-05:00

Lists Once Upon a Banana as a Caldecott contender. Go banana, go!

"Oh the wacky exploits that are Once Upon a Banana"

2007-01-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

A fine review in another blog.

A really nice review on "Seven Impossible Things To Do Before Breakfast" Blog

2007-01-05T09:57:00.000-05:00

Calling Once Upon a Banana a "whiz-bang gotta have title."

South Bend Tribune reviews Once Upon a Banana

2007-01-05T09:48:00.001-05:00

Well, it's about a two-line review, but I'll take it.

History Contest Winner

2007-01-04T08:09:00.000-05:00

Nate Crawford, a 5th grade student from Bellevue, NE, was the winner of the December writing contest on my website. Go to the sidebar here (on some computers it drops to the bottom, don't ask me why) and click on "CONTEST WINNERS" to read his letter from George Washington to Lafayette.
An autographed copy of The American Story is going in the mail to him and his class today.

For two chances every month to win a copy of the book, check out my website.

Fuse # 8 gives Once Upon a Banana a Golden Fuse Award

2007-01-04T08:08:00.000-05:00

As the runner-up in the 'wordless picture book' category. Thanks, Betsy!

The air going out of the balloon

2007-01-02T08:02:00.000-05:00

In the heady shopping whirl leading up to Christmas, The American Story and Once Upon a Banana were like colorful balloons bobbing above a sea of shoppers. Now, they are lying on the floor, looking a little shriveled. Well, that was predictable.

Now that my autumn of publicity and the holiday season are behind me, it's back to work. I'm preparing an on-line webinar for February, and revisiting a macabre middle grade novella about a slightly mad dollmaker in pre-Revolutionary Paris which I had started a few years ago and put aside. On the last day of 2006 I emptied all the waste baskets, washed and folded all the laundry and emptied the sink of dirty dishes and headed north to the High Peaks. New Year's Day was the first official day of my 1,000 mile challenge (minimun of 10,000 steps a day) and a walk along the icy banks of the Ausable River was the perfect start. My friends Jane (of the Ethiopia trip) and her husband, Christian, pointed to the icicles growing from the rocks across the river from their beach -- "they'll be there until May" they said. It isn't really cold here yet, but will be soon enough, and winter is the time I typically hunker down in front of the fire and get the most work done.

So along with my 1,000 mile walk this year I'd like to complete a new book.

Here's a mom blog from Toronoto with a nice best books of the year list

2006-12-31T08:30:00.000-05:00

And it includes the noble banana.

Pets now included in disaster planning

2006-12-28T07:24:00.000-05:00

Somehow it escaped my attention that President Bush signed, in October, a new federal PETS Law -- Pets Evacuation and Transportation, a law inspired by the heart-wrenching loss of companion animals after Hurricane Katrina. This past June, at the summer ALA convention in New Orleans, I was a guest of the ASPCA for the Henry Bergh Children's Book Awards (my picture book, Magnus at the Fire, won a Bergh). As part of the ASPCA group, I learned a great deal about pet rescue in the aftermath of the hurricane, and many Gulf Coast residents expressed their gratitude to the ASPCA staff members for the help they received with their animals. It was a really moving experience, and I am really glad to see that the federal government now recognizes the importance of companion animals to disaster victims. I know I couldn't abandon my animals at home.
After the awards ceremony for the Henry Bergh Awards there was an after-hours reception at the Audubon Zoo, where we learned about the zoo staff's efforts to save the zoo animals during and after the hurricane. Our special guest at the reception was one of the elephants, which we all got to pat and examine up close and personal. That was an ALA party with a twist!

From Chicago Tribune, on Christmas Eve

2006-12-26T12:55:00.000-05:00

The American Story the number #5 children's book selling in Chicago area bookstores. Me likey.

Minnesota Parent Magazine

2006-12-24T06:36:00.000-05:00

"Your child or grandchild doesn't have to be a history buff to enjoy this wonderful array of stories celebrating America's history."

Special treasure for older children, says Southcoast Today

2006-12-23T09:54:00.000-05:00

Today's news

2006-12-21T09:06:00.000-05:00

I took a stroll through the regional bestseller lists and found The American Story on the New Atlantic Indpendent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) list for the week ending December 17.

Yesterday's mail brought a royalty report for the Japanese edition of Black-Eyed Susan, which sells really really well in Japan. (I mean, of course the Japanese edition sells well in Japan, as opposed to selling well in, say, Sweden, but you know what I mean). I find it really remarkable that a novel with an American history setting finds a market overseas, or should I say remarkable in the reverse? What I mean is that I find it hard to imagine an American publisher buying translation rights to a novel for kids with a Japanese historical setting. So few kids' books in translation are published here! The American reader is not interested in other cultures and other people's history, apparently. Or at least this is what American publishers presume: other people are interested in us, but we're not interested in them. So, hats off to the readers of Japan, who actually buy more copies of Black-Eyed Susan than American readers do!

Finally! Pictures of Addis, and of some of the kids

2006-12-20T07:11:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to get these captions to line up with the pictures, and I'm too tired from the trip home to keep fussing with it. These pictures are as follows: 1.Emma holding one of the babies at Haregwoin Teferra's orphanage. Haregwoin is the star of Melissa Fay Green's book, There Is No Me Without You. Our driver, Mesfin, was an expert at negotiating the insane traffic of Addis. 2. These are small shops, on a good street. 3. Embassies of other African nations. The embassies of wealthy nations are much snazzier, not surprisingly. 4. more shops -- this is the street where the Volunteer House is. 5. Kids saying grace before lunch at Wanna, the little kids' house at AAI.

When Emma's photos are available on line for viewing I'll let you all know -- she took close to 10,000 images, so it will take a while for her to edit and post. Stay tuned.

.

Publicity Round-up after a week away

2006-12-20T06:33:00.000-05:00

Children's Better Health Institute reviews The American Story; Pooh's Corner Books in Grand Rapids reviews Once Upon a Banana; Playzak.com tells why you should buy The American Story; Metroland magazine puts The American Story on holiday recommended list; here is the New York Times review of Once Upon a Banana.

last words from Addis

2006-12-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

We're packing up now, and getting ready for a quick bite before we head to Layla House to pick up our package. Our flight leaves at 10:45, and we'll arrive in Frankfurt in the morning. Then a flight to JFK and the long process of getting the baby through immigration before we head home. We should be in Saratoga by 8:00 Tuesday night.

We spent most of the day just hanging out at Layla. The older girls spent many hours braiding our hair. My hair, so short and straight, looked completely ridiculous. I pulled the rubber bands out as soon as we walked out the gate to come back here to the Volunteer House. The kids are so eager for conversation, and hugs, and just being acknowledged. They are tremendously well cared for here, but they want families. They want to be someone's son or daughter. The babies are placed with families as quickly as they come in, but the older kids and the sibling groups can be so difficult to place. Amazingly, folks do adopt sibling groups -- tomorrow a family is coming to pick up a sibling group of five. This is such generosity it blows my mind.

This has been a quick trip, but we'll all be back. Maybe next year for Christmas or Thanksgiving. That would be a holiday to remember.

Ciao ciao from Addis.

almost forgot to mention

2006-12-17T10:37:00.001-05:00

Once Upon a Banana was reviewed in the New York Times today (Sunday). That's cool.

Free Hugs Ethiopia

2006-12-17T06:58:00.000-05:00

Do you know about the Free Hugs Campaign? If not, go to their website first and then come back here to read this entry. I'd post a link, but at 31.2 kbps I just don't want to try anything fancy. Just Google it, watch a few clips and read the backstory, and then come back.

My friend, Ibtisam Barakat, sent me a video link of Free Hugs before I left for Africa (thank you, Ibtisam!) and I knew right away we had to do this here. Today was the day. I made a "Free Hugs" sign on the inside of a manila folder, and got one of the volunteers who is learning Amharic to write it under the English, and I drew an Ethiopian flag in the middle. We got to Layla House at around 1:00 p.m., and wandered down to the courtyard for the older kids. One of the teachers, Abiya, a really good looking young guy in sunglasses and an "Africa Youth" t-shirt was there, and we handed him the sign and started about three different video cameras running. Kids started coming up to read the sign, first in Amharic, then in English, and then -- bam! Let the hugging begin! More and more kids began appearing from all the rooms around the courtyard, and some of them started drumming and singing, and we had about 40 minutes of hugging, cheering, singing, clapping, fighting to take a turn holding the sign -- awesome. When we get back home we'll try to edit it down into a really usable three or four minute montage, hopefully with one of their songs running in the background. One love.

Saturday evening, Addis Ababa

2006-12-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

So many things to report, so many bits and pieces of observation:

Driving the streets and roads here one can form the impression that a major event has just let out -- a parade just ended? A football match? People are streaming in all directions on foot. What's happening? one wonders. Then -- of course, this is how they mostly get from A to B. They walk.

Among other things today, we went to another orphanage, Kidane Mehret (I think is the spelling) to take the departure reports of four children. An entirely different orphanage than Layla House -- perhaps twice as many children, and not nearly as well cared for. We did not have the courage to go into the dorms -- we took the reports outside on the church steps, tracing around the feet of the children who will soon be going to new homes, peeking at their clothing tags to get sizes, trying to ascertain did they like soccer? did they like school. Two of the children interviewed claimed Harry Potter as a favorite movie/book. Even here. Harry is beloved even here.

Other bits of news -- we get little news, we are too busy to watch what might pass for t.v. news, and our internet service is too sporadic to make reading news on-line a reasonable ambition. But we hear Somalia declared war on Ethiopia yesterday or the day before. That's not surprising at all, we could see that coming. There is no evidence of alarm here. Perhaps nobody knows the news. They are so busy trying to survive.

But here is one bit of news, one that we actually got just before we left USA -- we are escorting a baby home. We've met her, and she looks like a miniature Don King with hair sticking straight up. We now have a top secret sealed dossier for her, not to be opened until we reach the immigration officials at JFK -- and then we'll hand her over to her new family.

This morning (and forgive me for the poorly organized report) we took 15 kids on a field trip to a missionary church craft fair -- more white people in one place than I have seen since we got here. The kids we took were from Group 3, about 11 or 12 years old. They behaved themselves so well. We had given them all 15 bir (approximately $1.50) to spend, and they held our hands, and looked, and deliberated on what they wanted to spend their money on. What they really wanted to buy were sunglasses and bubblegum, not Ethiopian native crafts. But there were fresh baked things to buy, and long necklaces of seed beads. Acrylic knitted scarves in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. They didn't blow their money; some of them bought nothing, preferring to save their 15 bir for another field trip.

I finished sorting the books today, putting them into groups by age and ability, and bundled and wrapped the rest of the books for the library. We took other books to Kidane Mehret. The rest of the books we will take tomorrow to AHOPE, the orphanage for HIV orphans. It doesn't matter who gets these books -- they are needed everywhere.

We have just a little time left, and several things left to accomplish, but we've knocked the bulk of items off our to-do lists, and so far none of us has been sick, or lost anything, or any of the other travails of travel. The people of this country are unfailingly gracious.

That's all for now.

Greetings from Addis Ababa

2006-12-15T05:52:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, 1:50 p.m. We've just had lunch at the volunteer house after spending the morning at the orphanage.

I haven't yet said anything about the place, or what we've seen and done. So now is the time. But first, the walk to the orphanage.

It's about a five minute walk from where we are staying; the street is in a constant state of slow-paced frenetic activity... small, blue, beat-up Lada taxis ply the street, honking at white people and asking if they need a lift; donkeys with burdens trot by. Roosters crow. Trucks and vans piled high with towering stacks of -- of everything from building materials to giant rolls of foam, like carpet padding. This morning we saw a man in a suit carrying a log over his shoulder. Old people, children in school uniforms, women in head scarves, women in fashionable Western clothes. The street is under construction, although how long it has been in that state is hard to tell. Metal shops are next to embassies, next to groceries, next to tin huts. The sun is powerful and bright. Everything is dusty. Diesel fumes in clouds waft by. Jacaranda trees covered in purple blooms, acacia trees, evergreen trees --- these provide color. Beyond embassy gates we can see glimpses of green, watered lawns.

When we arrive at the oprhanage gate, this all changes. The place is a compound, made up of many buildings -- the upper house, where the babies and toddlers are has a sunny courtyard where laundry is always hanging to dry. In the mornings the baby caretakers bring out a big mattress, and the babies are undressed and laid in the sun, and rubbed with lotion, and tickled. Older children come and play with the babies, and the rat-catching cats blink in the bright sunshine. The toddlers are inside, in their high chairs, having breakfast.

The doctor's office is down a short flight of steps. The doctor starts giving physical exams in the morning, aided by a nurse. A bell is ringing in another part of the compound, calling the older children to class. There is a garden, and swings, and a soccer/basketball courtyard; these some of these courtyards are surrounded by the children's bedrooms. Down more steps to another level and you reach the classrooms, where brightly colored pictures on the wall are labeled in English and Amharic and the kids are learning math, and reading, and music, and crafts. There is a playground with a giant pirate ship to climb. Beyond the orphange wall at this end of the compound looms a multi-story cinder block buidling half-built and never to be finished. There is more washing going on here, and more clotheslines covered with socks, and children's jeans, and sheets and t-shirts.

Wherever we walk in the compound kids stop and say hi, or hello, or wave, or just smile. They are used to seeing volunteers here, and also used to seeing American families coming to get their kids, and so the older children and the workers will say "Mom?" "Volunteer?" to place us. They are fascinated by Emma, who is very tall, and who takes photos constantly. They smile at her and say "my picture!" and wrap their arms around each other for good poses. They are beautiful kids. Really beautiful.

Jane and I have spent a lot of time in the baby room -- there are a lot of babies, and although there are a lot of caretakers there are always babies who are not being held when they want to be held, or played with, because someone else is being fed, or changed, or played with.

Today we delivered to a little girl of perhaps six or seven a letter from her new family in the U.S., who are coming soon to get her. The accountant from the office translated the letter for her, and explained what a snowman is (there was a snowman drawn on the envelope) and showed her the photographs. The men from the gate house helped us unload library books and put them in the store room prior to cataloging. Later, when we go back, we will attend a going-away party. This is a place where there is something to break your heart every five minutes and something to repair it immediately follows.

News from Ethiopia

2006-12-14T08:30:00.000-05:00

To start off with, it looks as though posting photos will be pretty much impossible, so I'll have to illustrate these entries when I get home.

Quick recap of travel:

Emma, Jane and I hauled all of our luggage (9 units weighing 50 pounds each) and two carry-ons each to JFK on Tuesday afternoon, checked in at Lufthansa, and boarded our 4:30 flight to Frankfurt. Nothing of note to report about that.

Arrived in Frankfurt, wandered the terminal for a few hours waiting to board our flight to Addis. We were all getting very tired and rumpled by this time. Our first sight of Africa was our landing in Khartoum, at about sunset. The land from above looked very flat, and very brown, although here are there we could see green farm fields. Our stop in Khartoum was about an hour, for refueling. We took off in the dark for the 1 hour 10 minute flight to Addis.

At the airport in Addis we waited on line for visas, a rather disorganized process but not too bad. Then we collected all our baggage, and were grateful to find Nate Ripley, from AAI, waiting for us. There was another volunteer on our flight, whom we met at baggage claim, a college student intern who has already put in several months here on another occasion.

The orphanage van was loaded (on top) with all this stuff, and we took off for the guest house, arriving at about 10:30 p.m. local time. After some discussion, some light unpacking, we turned in. Awakened in the dark, in the morning, but the broadcast call to prayer from the nearest mosque. We had breakfast at around 7:30, started unpacking books.

By 10 we were ready to go get money and groceries. We walked up the hill, past tin shack barber shops and embassies of various countries -- mixed use zoning, I'd say. Following instructions we went to a glassware store in a mall to find Mike the Money Man, and change money. We then walked to the grocery stores, purchased food and bottled water for the week, and took a cab back. Thank goodness for Hayley, the intern, who speaks enough Amharic to handle these negotiations. After a quick lunch we walked over to the orphanage. More on that tomorrow.

For now we are back at the guest house sorting and sizing pajamas, and getting a little rest and green tea. Emma has already shot over 600 photos and she's now juggling various pieces of electronic photo equipment, electrical adapters and converters, and hoping not to either electrocute herself or blow up her laptop. Stay tuned.

Bye for now from Addis Ababa.

Have arrived in Addis Ababa

2006-12-14T01:23:00.000-05:00

Internet service is dial-up and very slow so I will be keeping these posts brief and unillustrated, for the most part.

I just want to say that we are here, and arrived at the orphanage guest house approximately 24 hours after meeting up at JFK. We are now sorting books, toys, etc. and will be visiting the kids later today.

More later.

Mock Caldecott discussions

2006-12-12T05:46:00.000-05:00

Mock Caldecott list at Minnesota public library includes Once Upon a Banana. So does this list from Rhode Island. (I think it's Rhode Island). Here's hoping it shows up on many more lists as the next few weeks unfold. But most importantly, let's hope it's on the table for discussion by the actual committee.

Dallas Morning News favorite children's books of the year

2006-12-11T17:07:00.000-05:00

The American Story.

Miami Herald favorite books of the year

2006-12-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

Includes Once Upon a Banana

Washington Post Top Ten Nonfiction Books for Children 2006

2006-12-11T07:16:00.000-05:00

Lists The American Story.

Our Kids.com reviews The American Story

2006-12-11T07:13:00.001-05:00

Little Professor puts The American Story on its holiday gift list.

2006-12-10T08:38:00.000-05:00

Packing for Ethiopia

2006-12-08T17:47:00.000-05:00

This is the beginning of the baggage for Ethiopia. Books, school and craft supplies, toys, candy, clothing... Stay tuned for more photos as the packing continues.

Friday grab bag

2006-12-08T08:01:00.000-05:00

MSNBC lists The American Story on its 10 Children's Tomes for the Holidays. Tomes? Ok. On Saturday (tomorrow) I'll be at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, at 1 p.m. for a booksigning.

I found this picture of a snowman and decided to include it. Because. Well, you know. It's getting to be that time of year, right? And I like its hair.

Grand Rapids Press reviews Once Upon a Banana

2006-12-07T08:34:00.000-05:00

"Why are exhaust fumes leaking out from beneath the jacket flap?" the review asks. "Because it is that big."
I'm not really sure what that means, but I know it's a compliiment.

Round-up of wordless picture books

2006-12-06T08:06:00.000-05:00

Again with the "wordless" label. Words, people! Once Upon a Banana has words in it! Just because they aren't in type at the bottom of the page doesn't mean they aren't words!

Also this blogger has a clever way to review books in brief. Really brief. It's a review haiku of The American Story. With all credit to her I quote:

Coffee-table book
highlights key U.S. events.
Good pick for browsers.

This blog has synopses of several stories from The American Story

2006-12-05T16:34:00.000-05:00

I guess she likes the book.

Media clips for December 5

2006-12-05T07:16:00.000-05:00

"Worthy reads incorporate civics lesson," says the Albany Times Union. Books & Books of Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Bal Harbour put The American Story in their holiday gift guide. Susie Wilde's "Wilde Awards" in the News Observer of Chapel Hill lists it as a top nonfiction title for the year.

Today I have a school visit in Slingerlands, just west of Albany. Then back home to continue packing fo the Ethiopia trip. Gotta scoot.

Buffalo News:Holiday season ushers in an avalanche of new children's titles

2006-12-04T17:16:00.000-05:00

"Gifted author Jennifer Armstrong offers a marvelous kaleidoscope of well- and lesser-known tales from American history..."
Shucks. It warn't nuthin'.

Also, good news -- looks like I will be able to take my laptop to Ethiopia and blog from there. Having been upgraded to "humanitarian luggage allowance" means we can take 50 pounds more each, and that will be taking the form of a lot more books. Once we give every kid a book as a gift we'll have leftovers for the school library, and one of my projects will be to catalog them. My camera is fixed, too. So there will be pictures. I'm leaving a week from tomorrow (Tuesday) and will arrive late Wednesday.

More soon.

PW round-up on Christmas bookselling

2006-12-04T07:23:00.000-05:00

This bookseller in Falmouth, Maine, reports she's hand-selling The American Story, and "sold a complete dump of them." This is book business lingo for a floor display. Random House created a lectern-top display case for The American story, with a browsing copy on the top and clean copies inside -- plus flags to give away. Publishers often create these dumps for books they hope will attract a lot of attention, but book sellers are often loath to use them -- they take up precious floor space in stores that are frequently crowded as it is. When a book seller does decide to use a dump it's usually a good indication that the store thinks the book is worth the crowding.

This new librarian's blog lists Once Upon a Banana as one of her favorite books of 2006

2006-12-04T07:12:00.000-05:00

Excellent taste. A blog to watch.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer puts The American Story on its you-know-what

2006-12-03T07:32:00.000-05:00

"Armstrong is a top-notch chronicler of history..."

Mrs. Dalloway's in Berkeley puts The American Story on its holiday gift-giving list

2006-12-03T07:29:00.000-05:00

This is a gardening and book store. How great is that?

Bookpage recommends The American Story for holiday gift-giving

2006-12-03T07:25:00.000-05:00

Belmont Citizen-Herald recommends The American Story for gift-giving

2006-12-02T07:46:00.000-05:00

"This treasury belongs in every home..."

Through the Looking Glass reviews Banana

2006-12-02T07:32:00.000-05:00

"A picture book which all ages will enjoy..."

I promised a glimpse of the snowy fantasy

2006-12-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

I spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon trying to photograph this. This picture is the best of the lot, showing the snow falling from the ceiling, the table covered with snow and ice, and the windows frosted.
Tonight is the candlelight house tour. At last, I get to put away the glue gun...

Kirkus lists their 50 best children's books of 2006

2006-11-30T06:17:00.000-05:00

And guess who wrote 4% of the books on the list? Me, thats right. Me. Both Once Upon a Banana and The American Story are on the list. And since it's alphabetical, they are #2 and #3 (right behind Tobin Anderson at #1).
"This comprehensive compendium is both a tremendous resource and a gift book for the ages," it says of The American Story. And "urban ruckus" and "visual romp" are some of the descriptions of Once Upon a Banana.

Also the Deseret (Utah) News lists Once Upon a Banana in its gift-giving list of children's titles for the season. "A banana peel causes a whole town to fall apart." Evidently we really loosed the hounds of anarchy with this book.

Q. Jennifer, how do you feel about these two books ending up on all these lists?
A. Oh, shucks, I'm just happy folks are reading them. [Subtext: Yippee!]

"La Bloga" blog of Chicano Literature reviews The American Story

2006-11-29T09:55:00.001-05:00

"I’m recommending it to La Bloga readers. No, it’s not Chicano history, it’s not Mexica or even by a Chicano writer; but it’s an amazingly well written book and this is our history too."

Wow! Thanks very much, La Bloga!

San Antonio bookstores recommend Once Upon a Banana in holiday guide

2006-11-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

"Will the madness ever end?" reads their review. Madness and insanity seem to be recurring themes in the reviews of this book. Should I be worried?

Worcester Magazine Gift Guide...

2006-11-29T09:43:00.000-05:00

... recommends The American Story.

Anniston Star reviews Once Upon a Banana

2006-11-28T07:32:00.000-05:00

Seeming to borrow heavily from the Fuse # 8 review... And where is Anniston, anyway?

"Zaniness ensues..."

2006-11-28T07:28:00.000-05:00

From the Times Union (Albany, New York).

"It takes a lot of stories to compile The American Story" says the San Diego Union Tribune

2006-11-28T07:18:00.000-05:00

November quickly coming to a close

2006-11-27T07:47:00.000-05:00

This teacher has some suggestions for using The American Story with students. TAS is now in the OC - Orange County Register gift guide, that is.

This is all the daily obsessive scavenging of the internet has yielded.

On the Christmas decorating front, I can tell you that I made great progress over the Thanksgiving weekend. @#$&*! I wish I had my camera so I could show you all the snow I have now floating down from the dining room ceiling. It's magical.

Reading Rockets Holiday Gift Guide...

2006-11-25T07:54:00.000-05:00

... recommends Once Upon a Banana.

The American Story in Columbus Parent Magazine

2006-11-24T10:48:00.000-05:00

Some feature called "Mom Style" which presumes that dads aren't interested in buying books for their kids. I think it might presume that. I'm just saying.

The Banana reaches Abilene, Kansas

2006-11-23T15:38:00.000-05:00

The Abilene Reporter News calls Once Upon a Banana "part 'Curious George', part Marx Brothers."

Interview on Prairie Public Radio

2006-11-23T15:20:00.000-05:00

I did this interview yesterday afternoon. The host kept calling the book "100 True Tales from American History: The American Story," and it never really seemed like the right time to set him straight. Oh well.

The American Story in San Francisco Chronicle Holiday Gift Guide

2006-11-22T08:03:00.000-05:00

"Goodies Between Covers" is how they style their book buying recommendations.

News roundup

2006-11-21T08:17:00.000-05:00

Okay, let's see, the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser says The American Story is a "keeper." This newspaper serves the "heartland" of New York, although I'm not entirely sure what that might consist of. I live in New York and I've never heard of any part of it being called the heartland. Wherever it is, they like The American Story, too. The book has been holding pretty steadily at under 1,000 on Amazon.com. Of course the problem with tracking sales rank is that you don't know how many books that number actually represents. In addition to sales rank I'd love to see "books sold today." Of course that would just be one more thing for me to obsess over.

On the house tour decorating front, I spent much of yesterday crumbling white styrofoam and mixing it with glue to make piles of snow. Right now these piles of snow are curing in front of the gas fire in my breakfast room. They look surprisingly realistic. The basic idea is to fill the house with ice, frost and snow. And polar bears. No santas. No nutcrackers. No bows. No no no.

The American Story in the SIBA holiday catalog

2006-11-20T08:17:00.000-05:00

Everywhere I have been this fall, booksellers have been saying "this is going to be our big holiday book." Okay, holiday shopping officially begins this week. Booksellers, start your engines...

Let the holiday decorating begin!

2006-11-19T08:32:00.000-05:00

Last year, the director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation asked me if I'd like to be on the "Candlelight House Tour" that the foundation runs every early December as a fund raising event. I declined, saying "please ask next year."

Well, she did.

Why, given everything on my plate this autumn, I agreed to do this, I'm not sure. But I did. Yesterday I spent forty-five minutes or so at A.C. Moore with the masses of other people running roughshod over Thanksgiving and plunging directly into Santas and garland. I'm working on an indoor ice effect and I wanted to get something to frost over my windows. There are several commercial "frost" products in cans, and reading the labels absolutely gave me the creeps. I'm sure I've read those chemical names in descriptions of toxic industrial waste stories. My front windows go right to the floor, perfect for my dachshunds to watch the comings and goings of criminals and aggressors on the sidewalk, and I didn't want them pressing their sharp little noses into something sure to kill them.

So I decided to try stenciling with regular old Elmer's glue. It's water washable, non-toxic, peels off glass, and cheap. After a couple of hours of experimentation, I perfected my technique: wipe on a film of glue, and then pat snow glitter into it while it's wet. The stenciling isn't that effective, but just painting with the glue is. All fall I have been stockpiling acryclic icicles and snowflakes and polar bears, and as soon as Thanksgiving is behind me I will be plugging in the glue gun, unreeling invisible monofilament, and getting to serious work.

WHERE ARE THE PICTURES? you ask. My camera is in the hospital with nonretractinglensitis. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Stay tuned.

By the way, that trip to Cleveland was my LAST trip of 2006 for work. I still have the Ethiopia trip next month, but no more trade shows, conventions, conferences, etc. Ya-freakin'-hoo.

Conference in Cleveland at the Cuyahoga Library

2006-11-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

This trip started very badly. Very badly. Terrible weather on the East Coast on Thursday, including fatal tornadoes in North Carolina, wreaked havoc on airline travel. Flights connecting through Philadelphia were totally messed up. I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say that I finally reached Cleveland around 11:15 p.m., approximately 12 hours after leaving home. I probably could have driven there in about that time.

The next day started early (6:00 a.m.) wake up and then off to the public library for a day-long symposium.

First up were author/illustrator Marla Frazee and her editor, Allyn Johnston, who is the editor-in-chief at Harcourt Children's. Over the years they have formed a close personal relationship which t serves their working relationship very well. Click on the "studio" button on Marla's site and see the photographs of her studio. Adorable! I wish I had a little cottage in the back yard. Actually I do, in a way, but it's full of gardening equipment.

Next up was Margaret Peterson Haddix, adored by middle school readers. One funny anecdote was about a friend of one of her children coming into her house and stopping dead in front of the microwave to say, "this is the microwave of a famous author!" She doesn't have a website, but her daughter is trying to lure her into creating a MySpace page. What's a teen author to do?

After lunch I spoke, and then it was Walter Wick's turn. He showed pictures of his amazing photographs. Some of the most fascinating images were the ones that showed the inner workings and mechanics of the pictures -- how he makes things appear to float in space, etc. Go to his website and check out the video of his balloon popper.

Then it was off to the airport, back through Philadelphia (no bad weather) and finally home after midnight.

Interiew on Kids Bookshelf

2006-11-18T07:52:00.000-05:00

Neither very long, nor anthing you haven't heard me say before.

Later today I'll write up my trip to Cleveland, but first I have to stack a half-cord of firewood. Why? Because that's just what authors do.

Tobin Anderson wins National Book Award for Young People's Literature

2006-11-16T07:32:00.000-05:00

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party is an astonishing book. And it's only volume I. Tobin has been working on this opus for years. I'm not sure when volune II is due to be published, but stay tuned. It will undoubtedly be gripping.

Congratulations, Tobin!

Parents' Choice Foundation..

2006-11-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

... has named The American Story a 2006 Parents' Gold Choice Winner.

That's nice, don't you think?