I took my wife and one of my daughters to a Dodger game over the weekend  It was great, even in the 100 degree heat.  I'd forgotten what a great game baseball is.  One thing I love about the major leagues is they still use wooden bats...so you can still hear the crack! when someone connects, not the annoying tink that you hear everywhere else.  What I don't like is how the players wear their uniforms.  The pants are way too tight and I can't see the socks!  Baseball pants should come just below the knees, not down to the ankles.  Only one Dodger wore his uniform correctly, showing off his socks, and get this: he's the leading hitter on the squad.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Speaking of basball, check out Mark William's Danger Boy .  It involves time travel, a talking dinosaur, and baseball.  Best of all, it's some of the best writing I've seen in a while.  The first book in the series is called Ancient Fire.  Greg 

I took my wife and daughters to see Ratatouille over the weekend.  Once again, Pixar proves they are far and above any other computer animation on the planet.  It's as good as anything they've created thus far...and they never stoop to potty humor, which makes their gags all the more funny.   I plan on getting the DVD version when it comes out so I can take a gander at all the how-to and behind-the-scenes stuff.

An interesting thing about movie making is the concept of the story boards.  I love being able to see the whole story like that.  I wonder if it's something we writers can utilize.  I was at a workshop a few years ago put on by novelist Val Hobbs and she had us use Post-It notes as a kind of story board for our novels (everyone had to show up with a completed novel).  On each Post It we listed the chapter number and then one sentence on what that chapter was about.  Then we could lay it all out in front of us and it was very easy to see where the story sagged, etc...a storyboard in a sense for those of us who can't draw.  Happy 4th of July!  Greg

The latest news on the planet is that the iphone has hit the stores and the demand is huge.  I have to say, I'm intrigued...I'm a long-time Apple fan, but I'm also not an early adopter of anything.  I don't even have an ipod, which really doesn't matter, since I have a wife and two daughters who have them and they don't mind me borrowing it to go to the Y.  But here's the major flaw of the iphone (Apple, are you listening?), it only works with AT&T, the world's worst cell phone service.

Maybe I'll wait for the next generation iphone, when they fix this glitch.  Otherwise the device is too cool.  Now, what does this have to do with kid's lit?  Hmm...let me think.  Books on tape!  Whew!...I made a connection.  Greg  

The other day I wrote that there should be a genre between chapter books and middle grade novels...something I call twapter books.  This seems to be something Elmer Fudd would enjoy.

Elmer puts a finger to his lips.  "Shhhh!  I'm weading twapter books."  I'm thinking he might like scwewy twapter books best of all.  But, of course, this is just one writer's opinion on the subject.  Greg

As you know, the Melvin Beederman books run a little older than the typical chapter books, which turns out to be a good thing for those readers in fourth and fifth grade who aren't ready for full-length novels yet but have moved beyond The Magic Treehouse type of book.

This got me thinking (yes, I do occassionally think)...you know how they have middle grade novels and teen novels and in between they have tween books?  It seems to me that there should be a transitionary genre between middle grade and chapter books for those struggling older readers.  I call them twapter books.

So don't you dare call me a chapter book writer.  I'm a twapter book writer and proud of it!   Greg 

I've been tagged by my fellow children's book author chum (although she's not a fellow) Terry Pierce .  Being tagged means I have to share eight things about myself and then tag some other bloggers.  It's called "8 things meme" or some such.  Well here goes...uh...something.

1.  I was the only guy on my high school wrestling team to make it to the state championships, but my real claim to fame happened the previous year when I accidently knocked out my opponent...13 seconds into the first round. 

2. I once inner tubed across Lower Castaic Lake at midnight.

3. The Curse of the Bologna Sandwich (my first book) sold to the first place I sent it.

4. Prior to that sale I went through 12 years of rejection.

5. I've been married for 23 years.  As Maxwell Smart says..."And loving it!"

6. My favorite snack at the movies is M & Ms.

7. I can sing any Beatle song in Kermit the Frog's voice.

8. I spend part of every summer fishing in the Eastern Sierra with my best pal Steve Frye.  In the evening we stoke up the campfire and read our latest manuscripts to each other.

Okay, now I have to tag some other bloggers.  Who should it be...hmmm.  Greg Pincus , Disco Mermaids , Barbara Beitz , Mark Williams , Heather Tomlinson?  Hard to pick.