Project Sunshine: Lincoln Hospital

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting the children at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx with Project Sunshine, a non-profit charity that sends volunteers to visit hospitalized children.

Needless to say, whatever I thought I was giving, I got back ten thousand fold. Thanks to my brilliant publisher (Random House) and editor (Anne Schwartz) and publicist (Noreen Marchisi) we were able to give away 70 books to these children. How cool is that?

They are a very brave group of children. What an honor. I got to chat with them in the wards and in the ICU and read to them and laugh with them. We read How To Be A Baby: By Me, The Big Sister and Handbag Friends and we sang The Handbag Song and watched the mini movie.

For more information or to volunteer for this great organization, click here.

I'm part of the Book Club. Here's how they describe it:
"The Project Sunshine Book Club brings distinguished children’s book authors, illustrators and celebrities into pediatric medical facilities to provide special reading events. The Book Club enables children to meet authors and illustrators, to expand their interest in literacy, and to share in the joy of reading by learning how books are created."

written to be read aloud

"All really good picture books are written to be read five hundred times." Rosemary Wells

"The longer I live, the more I see there's something about reciting rhythmical words aloud — it's almost biological — that comforts and enlivens human beings." — Robert Pinsky (b.1940), poet.

It's odd, but have you noticed that what you hear in your head as you write is completely different from what you hear when you read it out loud? And that even reading something out loud to yourself isn't the same thing as hearing it read to you?

It's something many writers talk about. C S Lewis, for instance, read his books out loud. Here's Fran Lebowitz: "In conversation you can use timing, a look, an inflection. But on the page all you have is commas, dashes, the amount of syllables in a word. When I write, I read everything out loud to get the right rhythm."

Here's another tip: get a friend to read your work out loud to you (you provide snacks and cups of tea to keep their strength up!) that way you can hear where they stumble. And know what to fix.

But, of course, there's the ultimate test for a children's book: read it to some real life actual children. The good news is: they're not very good at pretending when they don't like a story. The bad news is: they're not very good at pretending when they don't like a story.

Carousel designer

this is something to make you smile, from the new york times.

Jennifer Connelly in charity: water Clean Water Africa PSA

a cool commercial for a wonderful charity called charity:water that helps build wells in Africa and provides clean, safe drinking water. Only $20 will give one person clean and safe drinking water for 20 years. Help them dig wells. Find out more at: Charity:water (It was directed by Hotel Rwanda's Terry George, cinematography by Ellen Kuras. Its national commercial debut was on American Idol Gives Back.)

Mental ABC's of Pitching

Last week, David Brooks of The New York Times did a great Op-Ed piece on baseball.

Ok. Wait—I know. I have a British accent and what do I think I'm doing talking about baseball.

No, you see, it really was a brilliant piece all about skills, it seems to me, that hold true of Brits as well as baseball fans, and of writing as well as lots of other things.

Brooks talks about a book called The Mental ABC’s of Pitching by a sports psychologist named H.A. Dorfman. And then quotes the Dorfman man (?):

“Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear — and doubt.” — H A Dorfman

Which means, clearly, I must stop blogging immediately and get back to writing at once. Goodbye.

trouble the water: award-winning documentary

With no means of escape, Kim and Scott (seen above at their home in the Ninth Ward after the storm) had no choice but to ride out the storm.

"Two weeks after Katrina made landfall, New York filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal flew to Louisiana to make a film about soldiers returning from Iraq who were now homeless. But the National Guard closed off access. Just when the filmmakers were ready to disband their crew, Kim and Scott Roberts, streetwise and indomitable, introduced themselves. Kim had bought a camcorder the day before the hurricane, and using it for the first time, she captured the devastation and its pathetic aftermath, including the selfless rescue of neighbors and the appalling failure of government. The strong center of Trouble The Water, though, are the Roberts themselves who survived all the storms of their lives.."

Ultimately, the levee that protects Kim againts the devastating storm is her irrepressible faith in God. It's the only levee that holds.

That's the amazing thing about this film: in the face of overwhelming tragedy and loss, Kim and Scott continually demonstrate the triumph of love over hate, faith over fear, forgiveness over hideous injustice, and hope over despair. Everyone should see it.

Grand Jury Prize: Documentary 2008, Sundance Film Festival

"One of the best American documentaries in recent memory"
Manohla Dargis, NYT

“When the hurricane struck the Gulf and the floodwaters rose and tore through New Orleans, it did not turn the region into a Third World country… it revealed one.”
Danny Glover, Executive Producer

To do something, click here.

For more info, check out the Trouble The Water website. You can watch a clip here and listen to some of Kim's music (her rap name is: Black Kold Madina), here.

Tim Keller in The Washington Times

The Washington Times article recognizes what a distinct, reasonable, civil and disarming voice Keller's is, especially today where it seems it's impossible to engage with differing convictions without belittling and disdaining.

Clearly there is a need for a voice like his. Tim Keller's book, The Reason For God, hit the NYT Bestseller list one month after it was published.

Jago canvas of the Storybook Bible

Jago (drum roll please), the fabulous illustrator of the run away bestseller, The Jesus Storybook Bible, has figured out how to get prints of his illustrations (that are done on computer but don't look like it because he uses an ultra top secret technique*) printed onto canvas so that now they look like oil paintings. Yes, he has.

AND (another drum roll please) some very clever people have bought one: from left to right, it's Lily Grace (3 1/2), Noah (7), Lindsey (5 1/2), Ben and Mary Kate—the brilliant and proud owners of Jago's inaugural transatlantic canvas from the book! (The illustration is from The Big Picnic showing Jesus and the little boy.)

To order a print or find out more, click here.

(* As he puts it: "I work almost entirely digitally, using a secret blend of the finest textures, papers and digital paints. I could tell you how I make each picture, but then I'd have to kill you." )