Good News for Jennifer Phillips (and Great Information too!)

SCBWI WWA member Jennifer Phillips reports that two of her children's biographies recently received AD ratings from the Puget Sound Council For Reviewing Children's Media, meaning they meet library standards and can be purchased to fill additional, specific needs.

The network of librarians volunteer their review services to help each other out with acquiring books for their collections. Their comments also are helpful to authors/publishers open to feedback about what librarians like and what they think could be better.

You can learn more about the biographies--ELIJAH LOVEJOY'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM and ROBERT WADLOW: THE UNIQUE LIFE OF THE BOY WHO BECAME THE WORLD'S TALLEST MAN----on Jennifer's website. Learn more about this review option here.

Having a Book Birthday?

Here's a great idea from fellow SCBWI WWA member Jenn Chushcoff. She noticed fellow members with books coming out are having book "birthday" parties. When her book came out last year she had book "birth" announcements printed, complete with name, date, weight and size. It was fun and a great conversation starter. A great idea from Jenn for fellow author/Illustrators who are looking for unique promotional ideas.

Thanks for the great idea Jenn! I'd love to hear from other members who have book "birthday" ideas and/or promotional ideas to share with our members!

You can find out more about Jenn, and her work, on her website.

Low-Tech Presentations Post

Here's a link on low-tech presentations that fellow SCBWI WWA member Carole Estby Dagg wrote for Blurb is a Verb. Costume and show and tell work especially well for historical novels!

Thanks Carole!! For more information on Carole, and her work, visit her website.

Good News for Lois V. Harris

Ring those bells! Time for some Good News for Lois V. Harris!!

Lois V. Harris received an early Christmas present: The Midwest Book Review, Children’s Bookwatch, The Art Shelf, Vol. 21, Num. 12, December 2011, said "MAXFIELD PARRISH: PAINTER OF MAGICAL MAKE-BELIEVE is especially recommended for school and community library American Artist collections, and a pleasure for non-specialist general readers to browse through from beginning to end.”

For More information on Lois, and her work you can visit her website.

February portfolio review--deadline extended!

Attention Illustrators!

We had a slight mailbox glitch, so some of you weren't able to submit your portfolios for the February Professional Series Meeting by the original deadline of December 20th. It should be all cleared up now, so you are free to resubmit until December 23rd. Happy holidays!


If you tried to submit your portfolio, but got an email error message, please do submit again. If you received a reply from Dana Arnim, then your submission was received and you do not need to re-send your files.

Get your portfolio tuned up by Caldecott Honor illustrator Margaret Chodos-Irvine. We are now taking submissions for this fantastic opportunity. Margaret will curate a group of the submitted images for review and commentary during our February meeting. (Note: Not all submissions will be used.) Margaret will provide suggestions and comments on how to improve everyone's portfolios for conference shows, as well as for submission to agents, art directors, and editors. It will be a stellar night for illustrators at the February Professional Series Meeting!

The Details: Email 5 or 6 .jpegs to art@scbwi-washington.org by December 20. Please reduce your file sizes to no more than 2MB per image. Please label each image: FirstName_LastName_01.jpg, FirstName_LastName_02.jpg, etc. Failure to follow these submission guidelines will result in your images not being sent to Margaret for review.

Cookie Recipe

Looking for a cookie recipe to use this holiday season? Fellow SCBWI WWA member Dawn Simon (who was First Runner-Up at our Annual Holiday Cookie Contest) is graciously sharing her recipe and experience from the meeting! She made Chocolate Dipped Toffee Bits Cookies (I'm going to make these! Yum!).

Here's the blog post to check out!! Thanks so much to Dawn (and Dana Arnim for suggesting she send the post/recipe to post).

Good News for Grier Jewell

Good News and WOHOO for fellow SCBWI WWA member Grier Jewell! Her story, MOVE OVER. SCROOGE, is online at the LA Times Kids' Reading Room? Here's the link: (it was in the 12/18 issue). The above picture is the illustration by Laura-Susan Thomas.

You can also visit Grier's blog, Fizzwhizzing Flushbunker (love that name!) to see her Views and Reviews on Children's Literature.

On Your Holiday Wishlist: 2012 Conference Tuition?

Registration will be in mid-January, but why not ask for conference tuition this December? Instead of that deluxe Justin Bieber parfum collection. Do you really want to smell like teen spirit when you could, instead, be making great strides in your children's book career?

We're thrilled to announce the speakers (and scroll down to find out about groovy new opportunities we'll have at our conference happening April 21-22, 2012  at the Redmond Town Center Marriott (opportunities hipper than the word "groovy" for starters):

SCBWI Western Washington's 21st Annual Conference: 

A Parade of Words and Pictures

Artwork from Balloons Over Broadway. Copyright © 2011 by Melissa Sweet. Used with permission Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

Keynotes! Top L-R: Sweet, de la Peña, Becker, Vail, Hale

Keynote illustrator Melissa Sweet has won many awards, including a Caldecott Honor. Check her out on the Martha Stewart Show!

When keynote author Matt de la Peña isn't writing award-winning novels and picture books, he's teaching creative writing to adults and talking to kids all over the place.

Winner of oodles of awards and accolades, including SCBWI’s first Crystal Kite Regional Award for “A Bedtime for Bear,"keynote author Bonny Becker is a local treasure.

Keynote author Rachel Vail wowed us at SCBWI International. And we're thrilled she's written for every age,  from toddlers to teens, including those elusive beasts, lower elementary.

With an unrivaled flare for humor in his popular middle grade series, The Chet Gecko Mysteries, Bruce Hale is also a pro at reaching his target audience, whether it's at school visits, in workshops, or on Skype.

Art Directors & Illustrators! L-R Cummins, Magoon

Lucy Ruth Cummins is all over Simon & Schuster's pages! As an award-winning art director on the colophon page, and on the half-title page (and cover!) of THE TAKING TREE, which Lucy illustrated.

When he's not busy running for charities, Scott Magoon runs the risk of being too talented. He's a fantastic art director at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Boston, as well as an award-winning illustrator and author of numerous picture books.

Editors! Top L-R: Karre, Chang, Welch, Conescu

Andrew Karre is the editorial director of Carolrhoda Books, Carolrhoda Lab, and Darby Creek, divisions of the Lerner Publishing Group in the currently cold and snowy (odds are, right?) lands of Minnesota.  He has an omnivorous appetite for books for all ages.

Senior editor with Tor books, Susan Chang acquires fantasy and science fiction middle grade and YA novels for the Starscape and Tor Teen imprints.


Andrea Welch, fellow West Coaster, edits at Beach Lane Books's beautiful La Jolla headquarters. She adores picture books, and it's no wonder—she gets to work with the amazing Mem Fox!

Executive Editor Nancy Conescu at Penguin's Dial BFYR is a dynamo with a heart and loads of experience. Read about one of her recent acquisitions here.

Agents! Top L-R: Bent, Pfeffer, Gamarra, Richman

Whether it's commercial fiction or heart-warming picture books, Jenny Bent has made representing bestsellers a habit. Learn more about her at Literary Rambles or The Bent Agency.

With 35 years in the publishing industry before donning the agenting cloak, Rubin Pfeffer has the eye and experience it takes to find the diamonds in his submissions box. Find out more at East West Literary and see a clip of him on an editor/agent panel.

Former professor and current smarty Eddie Gamarra is a literary manager/producer with The Gotham Group, representing screenwriters, directors, animators, authors, illustrators, publishers, and animation studios around the world. He specializes in children's and family entertainment, of course!


Chris Richman, agent with Upstart Crow Literary, loves books for boys, unforgettable characters, and fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Distinguished Faculty! Top L-R: Landalf, Sauer, Sun, Lawrence

Seattle writer, dance teacher, and SCBWI WWA member, Helen Landalf's YA debut FLYAWAY, debuted this month from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt!

Tammi Sauer is a picture book dynamo (TWELVE and counting!) who has worked with Bob Shea, 2011 keynoter Dan Santat, and fellow faculty member Scott Magoon!

Senior Publicity Manager at HarperCollins, Caroline Sun's recent campaigns include Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy's Wildwood, Shel Silverstein's Every Thing on It, and 2011 National Book Award winner Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai.


Tricia Lawrence is an energetic star on the rise. As the newly minted associate agent at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, where she is also the social media strategist, Tricia is currently building her list as well as tweeting and blogging her way around the internet.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!

Ask to have your stocking stuffed with these incredible Friday (April 20, 2012) extras:

  Hands-on Collage Workshop with Melissa Sweet!
Illustrator Master Class with TWO Art Directors!
Fiction Intensive with Matt de la Peña!
Non-fiction Intensive with Andrew Karre!
Published Pros Workshop!

It's going to be another, incredible conference—won't you join us? Registration opens online in mid-January! Watch this blog, @scbwiwwa, and your inbox for news. Don't forget to make sure your SCBWI International membership is up to date to receive any and all conference tuition discounts!

Good News for Dana Sullivan

Good News and a Big WAHOO for our own Dana Sullivan! Dana has just received a contract from Sleeping Bear Press for OZZIE AND THE ART CONTEST!!!

You can see the story of his Good News at Dana's amazing and always entertaining blog.

Saying Goodbye Is Bittertweet: Wish Joni and Laurie well on Twitter!

Those of you that attended Tuesday's fantastic December meeting know we sent Laurie and Joni off on their elven retirement boat across Middle Earth's Great Sea, to the West.

No—that's not right.

Those lovely ladies are not pulling a Frodo! They are, in fact, staying with us, in other roles on our SCBWI Western Washington Advisory Committee.

And we want to thank them for leading our region so wonderfully, for their three years of incredible volunteer service.

Please join us in the thanking by sending Joni and Laurie well wishes of 140 characters or less. Contribute by addressing a tweet to @scbwiwwa and add our hashtag: #byeJandL

 LOVE YOU GUYS!

Sidewalk Crack Cookie Photos

Did you miss Tuesday's professional series meeting Tuesday? Or just yearning to look more at the amazing cookie making talents of our fellow members? Thanks to fellow SCBWI WWA member Lida Enche you can check out photos of her incredible "Sidewalk Crack Cookies" on her blog.

Thanks Lida!!!

Exciting changes

Everyone at our Professional Series Meeting last night not only enjoyed terrific presentations from our library panel, moderated by Liz Mills, and YA authors Liz Gallagher and Heather Davis, they also got to celebrate with laughter as our region's new co-regional advisors, Kimberly Baker and Jaime Temairik, officially took over from now-former co-RAs Laurie Thompson and Joni Sensel.

Leading this wondrously vibrant region has dominated our lives for the past three years, and giving up those reins is both bitter and sweet. We’ve both loved having the chance to serve this valuable organization—the best part of which has been the many friendships and relationships we’ve built along the way.

When we began our terms, our primary goal was something akin to the Hippocratic Oath: “First, do no harm.” We here in Western Washington had such a good thing going already, the most important thing we could do was simply to not screw it up! We did bring one big goal to the table, though—to increase the sense of fellowship and community. Towards that end, we created two new volunteer roles on the advisory committee, a social coordinator and a published member liaison. We had pub nights and buzz sessions, think tanks, and an anniversary dance. With plenty of help, we launched the Chinook Update blog and Twitter account and Facebook group. We wanted to get you talking, in person and online: making friends, sharing secrets, and supporting one another. Given that we now have trouble getting you to sit down and listen to even our most sought-after speakers, it seems to have worked!

And that is exactly why the time is right to get the next team in. They have exciting new goals to add to the mix! Your new leadership team consists of a trio of familiar faces, all of whom are experienced and dedicated SCBWI Western Washington volunteers. Kimberly Baker has been our assistant regional advisor and chairperson, while Jaime Temairik has served both as a former assistant regional advisor and illustrator program coordinator. Brenda Winter Hansen, former social coordinator, is moving into the assistant regional advisor role. These three ladies have great ideas, along with boundless energy and enthusiasm to carry them through.

We won’t be going far, though! As announced not long ago, Sara Easterly has stepped down from her role as published member liaison, and Joni will be taking over those responsibilities. Laurie will continue managing our event registrations and contacts database, as well as launching a new position as nonfiction coordinator. We're excited to have a little more time both to write (we hope) and to slow down and talk with many of you at events!

Thank you for making these past three years such an amazing experience for both of us. We have felt and appreciated your support and gratitude at every single event, and we hope you felt it right back from us.

-- Laurie and Joni

Query Contest!!!

Fellow SCBWI WWA member Dorine White is giving us a chance for an early holiday present! Her blog, The Write Path, is having a query contest.

Editor Stan Trembley, from Variance Publishing, has agreed to pick his favorite query and give them a 5 page manuscript critique! Second place will get a critique of their query. For those who are wondering- Variance publishes upper middle grade and YA.

The free contest runs from Wednesday, December 14 until midnight Wednesday, December 21. Please enter by posting your query on the Query Critiques Entry page here at her blog.

This contest is run by Dorine White and not SCBWI WWA. Thanks Dorine for another great way to help out your fellow members!!!

Wondering what to do with that NaNoWriMo novel?

Lois Brandt is teaching a novel revision class through Bellevue College’s Publishing Institute.

This is an intensive hands-on class. You will be expected to work on your novel and complete assignments between class sessions. In-class exercises and critiques will help you recognize the parts of your manuscript that convey story and those that don’t. Each student will compile a list of edits necessary to revise their novel. Prerequisite for the class: a completed draft novel. Cost: $195.00

Novel Re-Vision: Editing Your Manuscript for Story

Saturdays, January 7 – March 3

10 a.m. – 12 noon

No class 2/25

For more information please follow this link to the Bellevue College website.

If you have any questions about whether this is the right class for you, please feel free to email Lois (Lois@LoisBrandt.com).

Too busy for a class? Read Lois’s quarterly “Mew’s Letter” for writing tips and prompts. Send an email to Lois@LoisBrandt.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to receive this free newsletter.

TOMORROW! COOKIE CONTEST, MEGA RAFFLE, GOODBYES!

Get there early! It's a DECEMBER PROFESSIONAL SERIES MEETING TO BLOW YOUR FUZZY WOOLEN SOCKS OFF!

First, incredible main and mini sessions that will stick with you for the rest of this year and into 2012:

Mini-Session: 8 THINGS YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO ASK A LIBRARIAN (OTHER THAN THE LOCATION OF THE RESTROOMS!) with Thomas Brown, school librarian at Laurelhurst Elementary School; Jackie Parker-Robinson, teen librarian at Lynnwood Library; Merilee Hudson, school librarian serving special needs students; and moderated by local author Liz Mills.

Main Program:  HOW TO START A FIRE: INSPIRATION NOW, INSPIRATION LATER with Heather Davis and Liz Gallagher. Some people think you need a big idea to write a novel, but the truth is that you just need the tiniest spark. Liz and Heather talk about places they’ve found ideas that grew into full novels and give you some sources to go hunting yourself.

And if that's not enough for you, we have a ton of holiday fun planned.

Well, one, not so fun thing. Our supreme leaders, Laurie and Joni, are stepping down. On Tuesday night, we'll be saying so long, and thanks for all the fish.

If by "so long" we mean "transitioning to other roles in our Advisory Committee," and by "fish" we mean "three years of stellar stewardship and incredible volunteer work."

But to counteract this blue note, we will have COOKIES! The conclusion of our RAFFLE! The annual BOOK SWAP!

COOKIE CONTEST DETAILS: Enter by 6:45. Bring a plateful of your favorite homemade holiday cookies (the judges will pull off 3 cookies from your plate, and/or dish). The rest will be set out to share with everyone. The judging will be done shortly after 7 p.m., and the winner will be announced during the meeting (with fabulous prizes).

BOOK SWAP DETAILS: Bring new or gently used books for the book swap. You can take home as many as you bring with you. Any extras left at the end of the night will be donated to charity (not Shirley Maclaine.)

RAFFLE DETAILS: Get your raffle ticket when you pick up your name tag. Drop your ticket off as you enter the lecture hall. Three people will win a UBS gift card. All past winners plus December's winners will be entered to win the grand prize, free SCBWI WWA 2012 Conference tuition, a billion dollar value!


Oh, yeah, and we'll be announcing the 2012 Conference Faculty on Tuesday, too!

News from Holly Cupala

Holly Cupala just uploaded a sneak preview of DON'T BREATHE A WORD (which Booklist compared to SPEAK!). Here's the link!

She is also planning a book launch party for January 7, location to be unveiled...!

You can find out more information on the book's website.

Upcoming PSM Librarian Panel

Greetings!! Getting excited for cookies and book swaps and more?


At the Dec 13 PSM, I will be moderating a panel of librarians--both school and public. As the panel only lasts 30 minutes, we won't have time to take questions. So I thought I would ask you to share any questions you have now so that we could include them in our discussion. 


We may not have time to get to every question, but some of the librarians may be able to stay until the end and if not, I can also ask them offline.


So go ahead and email me at chinook@scbwi-washington.org or post below. We want to hear from you! You have until Tuesday at 5 pm.


I look forward to seeing you! 


Liz Mills


(ursulav.deviantart.com)

Whidbey Writers Workshop January 2012 Residency Opportunity

The Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA Program is offering a holiday special!

Participation in the January 2012 Residency Only Program at The Captain Whidbey Inn, plus a water view cabin for 9 days and nights for only $1500.

For details about the Residency, including twice as many guest speakers as ever before, see the website.

The Residency begins with orientation sessions on Friday, January 6, with classes beginning January 7 and ending January 15, 2012. Our own amazing Joni Sensel will be one of the speakers on the first weekend!

For more information about the program content, contact Wayne Ude at ude@nila.edu.

For sign up and registration information, contact Asharaine Machala (Student Services Coordinator) at nila(at)whidbey.com.

Attention illustrators: Call for art submissions!

Announcing SCBWI's new Bulletin column: Art Spot!

Starting with the January/February issue of The Bulletin, SCBWI will feature a member illustrator and a piece of spot art they submit to The Bulletin. In addition to worldwide recognition, the featured illustrator will receive $100 for their winning piece. 

All SCBWI members are eligible to enter by submitting one or more spot illustrations following the guidelines below. Each month several other runner-up artists will be selected. Each runner-up will receive $25 for their art and have their name and piece published in The Bulletin.  SCBWI retains only the first-time rights, the artist keeps all other rights to use the art.

We hope you'll submit spot art for a chance to be featured! You can find more info here:    

http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Submit-Art-to-The-Bulletin

Good News & More From Lois V. Harris

Good News and reviews for Lois V. Harris, and her new book MAXFIELD PARRISH: PAINTER OF MAGICAL MAKE-BELIEVE. Check these out:

“...an excellent introduction to an artist/illustrator who deserves to be remembered for his ability to do something quite miraculous: create a magical make-believe world that both children and adults would like to walk into for an extended vacation.”—TheBloomsbury Review, Vol 31/Issue 2, 2011

“Lavishly illustrated" are the review words of my new Maxfield Parrish: Painter of Magical Make-Believe book in WORLD Magazine, by Susan Olasky, December 6, 2011---many thanks Maxfield Parrish!”

Lois also sent this link to an interesting article for our members, especially for those of us interested in The Arts. We’ve heard about STEM and now there’s STEAM...remember, steam provides power and energy.

For more information on Lois, and her work, you can visit her website.

Registration is now open for The Great Critique!

Help your work evolve from good… to GREAT! Your SCBWI Western Washington Region will again present THE GREAT CRITIQUE during our first 2012 meeting on January 10, 2012. This popular event offers you the opportunity to experience a model critique group led by a published professional. This year’s critique group leaders include:

Peggy King Anderson,	Barbara Jean Hicks,	Julie Paschkis,
Kevan Atteberry,	Laura McGee Kvasnosky,	Deborah Reber,
Donna Bergman,	Helen Landalf,	Karen Lee Schmidt,
Janet Lee Carey,	Kirby Larson,	Suzanne Selfors,
Holly Cupala,	Meg Lippert,	Wendy Wahman,
Kevin Emerson,	Lish McBride,	Richard Jesse Watson, and
Sundee Frazier,	J. Elizabeth "Liz" Mills,	Jim Whiting.
Ann Gonzalez,	Craig Orback,

Participants will receive feedback from the group leader as well as from a small group of 5 or 6 of their peers. We will do our best to place you in a group with others within the same genre. This event offers writers and illustrators a chance to experience how critiques can help strengthen their work, and offers those who already participate in a critique group feedback from a fresh set of eyes and ears.

WRITERS can bring a maximum of five double-spaced pages or 1200 words.

ILLUSTRATORS and WRITER/ILLUSTRATORS can bring a dummy or up to 5 illustration samples.

This event is free for anyone who has paid for a passport to SCBWI Western Washington’s Professional Series Meetings. SCBWI International members who have not purchased a passport will need to pay just $8 to participate. For all others, the cost is $10.

You MUST register to participate. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis, and this event usually fills quickly, so don't delay! Please carefully consider whether you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, however, and don't register unless you are sure you plan to attend. If you sign up, we expect you to show up, and so will your assigned critique group! To register, simply click on the link below.

Click here to register. 

Attention illustrators! Submission Deadline is December 20!

Get your portfolio tuned up by Caldecott Honor illustrator Margaret Chodos-Irvine. We are now taking submissions for this fantastic opportunity. Margaret will curate a group of the submitted images for review and commentary during our February meeting. (Note: Not all submissions will be used.) Margaret will provide suggestions and comments on how to improve everyone's portfolios for conference shows, as well as for submission to agents, art directors, and editors. It will be a stellar night for illustrators at the February Professional Series Meeting!

The Details: Email 5 or 6 .jpegs to art@scbwi-washington.org by December 20. Please reduce your file sizes to no more than 2MB per image. Please label each image: FirstName_LastName_01.jpg, FirstName_LastName_02.jpg, etc. Failure to follow these submission guidelines will result in your images not being sent to Margaret for review.

Join Judy Blume tomorrow! Booktalk Nation Preview #2

Our Booktalk Nation preview continues tomorrow evening, December. 5, at 7 p.m. EST.

Join Judy Blume for this half-hour, national phone-in event. (The event is free, except for your usual domestic long-distance charges.) JUSTIN CASE author Rachel Vail will take readers' questions and interview Judy. After the event, Judy will be signing four books for delivery to readers across the country (great gift!).

Booktalk Nation Preview Event #2
Judy Blume with Rachel Vail
Monday, December 5, at 7 p.m. EST
Sign up here (also the link for ordering personally inscribed books from Judy)

Feel free to forward, post and tweet.

If you participate, please let us know your thoughts. The formal launch of Booktalk Nation will be in January. Read more about Booktalk Nation here.

Attention P.A.L. members: Enter your 2011 books now!

The 2011 Crystal Kite member choice awards are now open for submissions!  Encourage your friends and colleagues who are SCBWI PAL members to update their profiles with any books published in 2011 so that these books will automatically be entered for a regional Crystal Kite members choice award (guidelines are on the website).  The first round of voting will begin February 1st!

To be eligible for the 2012 Crystal Kite Awards, be sure to update your member profile with the publication information about your book published in 2011 by a P.A.L. publisher by January 31, 2012. Simply log in at SCBWI, click on "Manage Profile" and the "Publications" tab. Enter your book published in 2011, and click the box that reads "Yes, I would like to submit this publication for Crystal Kite Awards nomination." Once voting has begun on February 1, 2012, no books will be able to be added to the competition.

SCBWI Nevada Mentor Program

SCBWI Nevada is accepting applications for our next Mentor Program until December 15th. This six month program includes two retreats and intensive critiques designed to move your writing or illustration to the next level. Added this year, a track for agented/PAL members, with special mentors Holly Black, Kathleen Duey and Ellen Hopkins. Plus tracks for illustrators, picture book authors and pre-published chapter book/novel writers. Please visit our website for details and success stories from our previous three programs. .

Bellevue Book Readings

Saturday is a great day to get some Christmas Shopping done! It's also a great day to get out and support fellow SCBWI WWA members! We have several fellow members who will be at local bookstores and other venues doing book readings and signings! And we all know that books (especially signed by the author and/or illustrator) makes wonderful presents!!

You can catch Wendy Wahman, Samantha Vamos, Carmela D'Amico at the Bellevue University Bookstore tomorrow, Saturday December 3, at 11:00 a.m, for A Very Special Storytime!!!

While you're in Bellevue you can head over to Bellevue Square Nordstroms and catch Kevan Atteberry who will be reading and signing BOOGIE MONSTER (written by Jodie Bissett and illustrated by Kevan) from noon to 2 p.m.

Clear out those bookshelves for the book swap!

(via Flickr)

If you have a few extra books lying around the house (and let's face it, don't we all?), now is the time to start clearing them out! At this month's Professional Series Meeting on December 13, we'll once again be hosting our holiday book swap. Bring as many new or gently used books as you wish to the swap, then select up to that many to take home with you. 


Any extras left at the end of the night will be donated to charity, just in time for the holidays.

Carpool wanted--Eastside

(via Flickr)

Do you wish it didn't take so long to get to the monthly Professional Series Meetings at SPU? Zoom by in the HOV line with a kidlit buddy while you watch everyone else crawl their way to the bridge.


Adele Freedman is looking to form a carpool from the Eastside (Redmond) to the (especially the Great Critique in January). If you're interested, please email her at  adelefre (at) gmail (dot) com.

Paul Schmid Reading and Book Signing

Paul Schmid will be at Bellevue Art and Frame this Saturday, December 3, reading HUGS FROM PEARL, and signing books, from noon to 4 p.m. Great Christmas present idea!!!

For more information on Paul, and his work, visit his website.