She signed books (and, patiently, bookmarks), chatted to a group of 30 high schoolers during lunch, and gave a more formal presentation to a similar-sized group of middle schoolers. She talked about her writing process and about the travel that inspired Daughter. Both groups were totally engaged and had no shortage of questions. (Here’s two of my middle schoolers on her blog.)

(I’m sure she didn’t intend her hair to be a marketing tool, but boy, my students couldn’t get enough of the hair comments and questions! I think having that to talk about helped them warm up to her. Plus, between that and protagonist Karou’s blue hair, my event publicity design has never been easier.)

At one point, while talking about the challenges of editing, she said, “Just because it’s hard for you doesn’t mean you aren’t meant to do it.” That really stuck with me — she didn’t say it as a Lesson (which probably made it all the more effective), but if there’s one thing I want my girls to get out of middle school, that’s probably it.

She, her Little, Brown entourage, and Wellesley Books were super friendly, flexible, and delightful to hang out with. Thank you again, Laini, Ames, Faye, and Allison!

(That’s me up there in the picture, regretting that this was the first time I’d thought to ask for a dorky author pic for my blog. Better late than never!)

Nine months after effectively banning most fund-raising food sales in city schools, a city panel will vote Wednesday on an amended regulation that will allow student groups to sell items like Pop-Tarts and Doritos during the school day, but not brownies, zucchini bread or anything else homemade.

Ostensibly this is about “health”: they have a whole list of proposed regulations about percentage of calories from fat and allowable ingredients. It could also be about allergies. (My theory, based on the sort of things I’ve heard people say at my school, is that it’s at least partly about sanitation: who knows what could be going on at those other parents’ houses? At least if it’s pre-packaged I know it’s safe!)

Shall we count the things that piss me off here? “Childhood obesity” is a bogus bogeyman. Let’s teach our kids to make healthy choices about their diets rather than micromanaging everything. A list of ingredients and a portion size doesn’t make something healthy — in fact, I would argue that, whatever the fat content, brownies made from scratch are healthier than Pop-Tarts because they’re made out of actual food ingredients pronounceable by human beings. Baking together at home is an educational family bonding activity; stopping by Costco is not so much. And for crying out loud, can schools stop [insert gross metaphor here that I won't use because this is a family site] huge corporations already?

That’s five things, and I didn’t even include my made-up sanitation theory!

2. From Wired: How to Raise Racist Kids.

Step One: Don’t talk about race. Don’t point out skin color. Be “color blind.”

Step Two: Actually, that’s it. There is no Step Two.

Or at least, so says the authors of a recent book researching how kids think about race.

3. And back to food… The Anti-Fridge

While the wall-mounted “anti-fridges” are pretty cool, I’m not sure they’re so practical for large quantities. My current eating lifestyle involves very little refrigeration in production or transportation, but lots in my home. Turns out you have to chill a lot of produce if you a) live in New England, b) don’t buy produce except from the farmer’s market, and c) want to eat something other than root veggies all winter. But it does concern me to be so dependent on refrigeration… clearly I’ve found my next Crazy Hippie Food Project!

The best thing about this link, though, is that it introduced me to You Are What You Eat by Mark Menjivar, “a series of portraits made by examining the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the United States.” It’s not quite as amazing as Material World: A Global Family Portrait, but darn close.

(Thanks for the links, Martini-Corona!)

I’m updating the list, and it really needs a facelift. In particular, I want some older books — I’m pretty on top of what’s new, but I forget about the classics. Bonus points if it’s not fantasy or science fiction, because I’m a bit overloaded in those categories. (Shocker.)

If you’re in the MG/YA lit world and you have a favorite recent (paperback) suggestion, I’d love to hear that, too. Especially if it’s historical fiction, realistic girl fiction, and/or involves characters of color.

(These aren’t required books, in case you’re wondering — you don’t have that much power. Each kid has to choose a couple from the list. I try to shake it up a little every year, so the options don’t get stale. They should have some literary merit, but we’re looking more for enticing than Great Works of Literature.)

Thanks for doing my job for me!

Comment here

I hope I’m not giving anything away to say that she did a couple of storytelling exercises with the girls, my favorite of which involved solving the problems inherent in familiar fairy tales. Why doesn’t the prince ever bring Rapunzel a damn ladder? WTF is up with that?

And, of course, she blogged all about it. That’s my school, right there in the sixth paragraph!

Thank you again, Shannon and the Wellesley Booksmith! You made our day (…week ….month).

Comment here

He read to us from the first book he ever wrote (an adorable pasted-together tale about a jewel thief), showed us the wildly different UK, American, and German covers for his new book Heroes of the Valley, and generally dazzled my girls with his good humor and excellent British accent. I’m told that many an IM status was changed to “quite right” last night.

Fortunately I don’t have to go into more detail than that, because Alison at the Wellesley Booksmith (our hookup for all great author events) did it for me! Thanks for the write-up and photo essay, Alison! (That’s me over by the computer, looking rapt.)

When the whole thing was over, he took the time to talk to each girl individually as she got her book signed, asking her what she liked to read and making suggestions. He was unfailingly generous and friendly, and overall a fabulous guest speaker. Thanks for taking the time to visit us, Jonathan!

Comment here

Who would win in a fight, Capt. Picard or Darth Vader?

I showed my 8th graders the tree octopus page today, by way of teaching website evaluation in a way that didn’t make them start snoring and drooling on their computers. “Why would anyone make a page like that?” they asked in bemused contempt. “He has way too much time on his hands.”

I thought this was supposed to be the Net Generation! Don’t they understand that people with too much time on their hands are the entire point of the internet??

In other news, who wants to watch a whole lot of ST:TNG with me this weekend?

S: I just finished a great book! The Incredible Adventure of…something or other. (I didn’t quite catch the name.)

A: Is it about mice?

S: No, it’s about a rabbit. Why’d you say that?

A: Because those adventure books always have rodents.

The kid’s not wrong!

(Image courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger?.)

And last night I helped a sophomore find a map of Russia. The first atlas we looked at was published in 1991, and the index said “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” I was possibly more politically aware during the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR than I am now — I remember 1991 very clearly. But it was before this girl was born. To her, the USSR is something from history class.

Time marches on…

The global infrastructure is an incredible thing.

Except for the last rabies shot, I am done with my vaccinations. I am impervious to disease! (How I wish that were actually true…) Yellow fever, rabies, MMR (measles mumps rubella), hepatitis A/B, polio, TDAP (typhoid diptheria pertussis), meningitis. I start my malaria pills in a couple of weeks – keep an eye out for exciting odd behavior brought on by crazy dreams and hallucinations! Whee! It does make me feel incredibly guilty to show up with my vaccinations and pills and mosquito-repellent-treated clothes and iodine tablets and “I’m too good to swim in your lake.” Not guilty enough not to protect myself, obviously, but still…I wish I could bring enough clean water and vaccines for everyone. It’s also made me realize how much of the way the first world/third world dichotomy shook out has to do with climate. No tropical diseases/gentler environment for agriculture = healthier population = more time and energy to spend building an industrialized empire.

I sent my donation request to my school, and I have been blown away by the generosity! I now have several offers of laptops, plus children’s clothes and toys, and an offer to run a school supplies drive in the Middle School. In recent weeks kids at my school have also run creative and successful fundraisers for Heifer International, Amnesty International, relief work in Darfur, and to send kids to school in Zimbabwe. There’s a lot that bugs me philosophically about working in a private school, but I think we’re raising these kids to care about the right things and to know what to do with that caring. And since they will grow up to be the people with money who fund the social programs…we’re doing good stuff here.

And finally, the internet tells me that my Ghanaian name is Akosua, for “girl born on Sunday.” Everyone gets a Western name and a Ghanaian name, which is based on the day of the week on which you were born. Kofi Annan? Born on a Friday. How cool is that?