I Need Some Young Parent Feedback on The Dark

   I read the new (2013) book by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klaassen, called The Dark, and I would love to know how young parents and their little ones enjoy it.
   The color scheme reminds me of the "Earth tones" in my 1970's kitchen--brown, rust, olive, off-white--and lots of black..  Does it appeal to kids?The Dark is a character in the story--do kids get that?  And there is one page where the dialogue between Laszlo and The Dark is interrupted by 4 paragraphs of writing!  If I were in Lemony's critique group, I'd have suggested he peel that page right out of there!
    But, I'm 62 years old, and I prefer books with colorful illustration and rollicking text.  What do young readers think of The Dark?

I've Been Asked to Speak on Magazine Writing

   The Garfield County libraries are asking local authors to share their work, and I'll be talking about writing for magazines at the Glenwood library on April 12th and the Silt library on April 19th.  It means I'll miss the SCBWI event on revising in Grand Junction, but Meg Miller's ReviMo has got me revising on my own.
    I realized that my poem for Susanna Leonard Hill's October contest, One Lonely Halloween, was 100 words--exactly the right length for a rebus!  So I fine-tuned it and mailed it off to Joelle Dujardin.  I also revised my poem for Susanna's holiday contest, Seriously Santa? (I do love Susanna's contests!) and sent it off to a humorous poetry contest, which won't pick a winner til this summer.  But, there's a $1,000 prize, so it's worth the wait!
   Ever since seeing Kathy Doherty's portfolio of her magazine work last fall at the Highlights Barn, I've been meaning to get my pieces copied and put in a binder.  Now that I'm presenting at the library events, I'll finally get it done!