getting ready

Are you ready for the holidays?  I haven’t even gotten my tree yet…which is unusual for me, much as I love Christmas.  Last night I went to Neesha’s holiday party, which was great fun; I ate delicious food, met beautiful children with *relaxed* parents, and had a fascinating conversation with a man about ending domestic violence.  Joe works for this amazing org: MEN CAN STOP RAPE.  Check out the transformative work they do in middle & high schools and on college campuses—I was so impressed, and Neesha has already presented at their annual conference; I’m hoping to participate in 2010.

I got an email from a friend last night who suggested I think about what I need to let go of as we move into the new year.  It’s a good question.  So often when January 1st rolls around, we think of losing weight, adding healthy habits to our lifestyle.  But I need to give that one some thought.  What are the toxic feelings or unhealthy habits I’ve been carrying around for too long?  I definitely WON’T let up on the pressure to create change within the children’s publishing industry.  Check out this great article over at Paper Tigers: “Call to a New Year’s Resolution.”

And in these times of “economic stress,” we take our hats off to those publishers who are producing a consistently wonderful array of multicultural titles. We do need to keep the voices for diversity heard, written by a diversity of voices, which includes more writers of colour; and we need to ensure that readers from all backgrounds have access to a diverse range of reading material – because that is the only way that kids will be able to fit their own stitches into the vast multicultural tapestry of life.

I’m a bit scattered today, and (thanks to Claudia) I just signed up for the trial of Google Wave…I do want to become more tech-savvy in the new year, less afraid of being open to various communities.  That said, I’d love to curl up with a book and not speak to anyone today!  Am nearly done Percival Everett’s latest novel, I Am Not Sidney Poitier, which is hilarious and brilliant…will write my report soon.  Claudia also just pointed me to this interesting article: “In Praise of Good Curation.”

We need editors and agents and booksellers and reviewers, and we need them to be dependable judges of quality. Yet we also need them to be diverse in their tastes and sensibilities or we’ll all be rooting for the same few characters in the same few books, chosen for us by the same few people and purchased at the same few places.

Agreed!  Have a great week, everybody…