Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 28, 2024

 The 1950's TV show Lassie derived from the 1943 movie (which starred Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor), which came from the 1940 book Lassie-Come-Home, which began as a story in the Saturday Evening Post in 1938, which was inspired by a short story from 1859 of collie named Lassie who guided adults to two brothers lost in the snow. Another story tells of a collie named Lassie in World War I, who licked the face of a soldier thought to be dead and kept him warm until he stirred and eventually fully recovered. The book Lassie-Come-Home was written by Eric Knight.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 21, 2024

  This contemporary author/illustrator lives in the country in upstate New York. Her grandfather was a cowboy out west, but she grew up in Queens and attended Cooper Union Art College. On her website she says that while she loves writing stories, "drawing pictures is like dessert." Several of her best-loved books feature a big white bear and his goose friend, but she also has books about pigs and even one that stars a time-travelling trio--an aardvark, an anteater, and an armadillo. I was honored to meet her at a Highlights writing conference in Honesdale, PA where she took me shopping at the Goodwill. This is the wonderful Susanne Bloom, "A Splendid Friend Indeed."

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 7, 2024

 This author lives in Massachusetts and has over 400 published books. In the past she has competed in Madness Poetry, where 64 poets are paired up, each pair is given a word to write about, they submit their poems, and the public votes. One continues, one is out, so the field goes from 64 to 32, to 16, etc. This year I'm one of the 64! Please go to the site so you can vote--the poems are fun. The author from my home state of Massachusetts is Jane Yolen, and the word for my first poem is sangfroid. Aaagh! Voting starts May 7, Tuesday.