Celebrity Lullaby

The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip

In case anyone in the Portland area felt the ground shaking this morning, it wasn't an earthquake. It was me laughing at George Saunder's book "The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip." This book is insanely funny and wonderfully weird. It's about a girl named Capable who has to stop gappers from smothering her goats, so she takes up fishing, and the gappers go after her neighbors' goats instead. I'm sure after reading that description, you are rushing out to buy copies for you and all your friends and all the kids you know.

I've read some adult fiction by George Saunders and I'm a big fan. I want him as my teacher, like Mr. Miyagi was to the Karate Kid. We'll have our own theme song. Instead of "Everybody was kung fu fighting," ours will be "Everybody was kids' book writing." I think this is a good plan.

And thank you, Colin, for recommending this book. Colin's blog is http://www.thebookpirate.com/

The joys of being a mentor

Today I met up with my 6th grade mentee, as I do every Friday afternoon, and we made our own artist trading cards. My mentee did not grant me permission to show the cards she made, but you can take my word that they look fabulous. They will be of tremendous value in the artist trading card world, which actually exists.



About a year ago, my friend Anne told me about these shindigs at a local restaurant where people meet and trade cards every month. I was interested, but I never found the time to go. Now that I'm buddies with a 6th grader and have to think of fun things to do, I'm thinking one of those parties might make a good field trip.


I've volunteered with the David Douglas Mentoring Project since May 2009. It's has been a wonderful experience. I wanted to become a mentor because I was inspired by Barack Obama, and I wanted kids to inspire me in my writing.



Over the summer, I went with my mentee to Powell's Books. It was her first time in Powell's. We filled a basket with books and went upstairs to the art room so she could make her selections. I still remember the books she picked: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic, Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator, Half Magic, and Pippi in the South Seas. It is not required that mentors buy gifts, but I figured  going to Powell's and not buying anything is like going to a restaurant and staring at the food.

Later that day, I read the book "Richard Wright and the Library Card," which I highly recommend. In this book, a man named Jim Falk lets Richard Wright use his library card so he can check out books from the whites-only library. I wondered if being a Falk meant having a proclivity for providing people with books. Then I wondered if my mentee might grow up to be a famous novelist like Richard Wright. With books like Pippi Longstocking and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic, she is definitely on the right track.