Things I Would Stand in a Midnight Madness Line For

I would assume that if you are reading all the same blogs I am, you have been privy to the following revelations. In case you have missed these newsy bombshells let me share what gets my little heart skipping about in a conga line. From what I can gather 37% of blogging is reporting on what has been read in other blogs. Ihope to give credit where credit is due to breaking the news.

Rob Reiner the meathead who directed such masterpieces as The Princess Bride, Spinal Tap, and A Few Good Men (AKA the best written piece of cinema ever) will be directing the movie version of my favorite Wendelyn Van Draanen book Flipped.



Truthfully, I rarely get excited about movies of my favorite books. And I usually pass on buying a movie ticket or even a $1 rental, but I'm willing to give the son of Carl a chance to impress me. Also it can only increase interest among my young students in one the most kid assessable authors currently juggling up to 3 series.

For those of you who, along with myself, have been suffering Grandma Dowdle withdrawal ever since A Year Down Yonder secured its Newbery award oh so long ago. Never fear she is making a return!

Can you bear the magnificence of it? Do I need to find a defibrillator? There is nothing like a loved character, who's time, it would seem, has come and gone, showing up on your door step. Now if I could get a glimpse as to what Lunna Lovegood is up to since evil at Hogwarts was eradicated. (Thanks to Collecting Children's Books for both of the above tidbits.)

The countdown to more Kate DiCamillo is shrinking. It was quite some time ago that I got wind on the Internet about her upcoming The Magician's Elephant. But now the galleys are out and the lucky show-offs are blathering about it at Goodreads.

By most accounts it is a quiet story, but loaded with plenty of brilliance. I did secure the first chapter, as an insert in June's School Library Journal. I can report mystery, longing, and one spectacularly ridicules event.

I just found out about this final revelation mere moments ago. I can thank Educating Alice for this wildly exciting bit of news. My hands are still a bit shaky from the awe of it all, and the defibrillator is cooling off in the corner.

Let me drag on the unveiling just a little bit longer. While the tale of Harry Potter was still being trickled from the conciseness of Ms. Rowling. I had a horrible thought that I might or she might die before I could read that finial page. As you can assume we both survived. Once the world of Potter was safely delivered, I was content to enjoy my other pet series' whenever they should happen to appear, without the worry of impending doom. And then I discovered the world of Megan Whalen Turner's Eugenides. Never since an obsessive romp through space with Miles Vorkosigan have I enjoyed a character more than that crafty Eugenides. It was not nearly enough to have written a thoroughly upside down, inside out, brilliant protagonist, but Mrs. Turner has managed to write plots so tricky and complex that reading them one time through is not enough, not nearly enough. When I discovered Goodreads I created a virtual shelf, series-to-finish-before-i-die, just to put the following book on.

Here it is:

I realize brilliance takes time, but honestly the King of Attolia came out so long ago I could have suffered several heart attacks, been invaded by numerous forms of cancer, eaten by a grizzly, or fallen off a mountain in the meantime. I truly hope Mrs. Turner is wearing her seat belt and eating plenty of anti-oxidants.

I am making this bold statement in the hopes that it reaches sympathetic and empowered ears.

I will bake cookies for, or turn over the pink slip on my first born to anyone that can get an ARC of A Conspiracy of Kings into my greedy little hands.