Her debut novel, Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different, made me laugh and want to know more about her. So here she is, coming to chat with us all the way from Nashville, Tennessee.

Welcome, Kristin! How did you come up with the idea to write your first novel?

I grew up in Athens, Tennessee, about an hour and a half south of Cades Cove. We visited the park dozens of times when I was a kid, when my cousins would visit from Chicago.

But in 2002, I went on a tour of the Cove, and was standing in John Oliver’s cabin when the tour guide mentioned that at one point, 12 people lived in the tiny log dwelling. Twelve people! This place had no running water, a handful of windows, and was slightly larger than a luxury closet. How in the world did they live?!

It occurred to me that this place that I’d visited dozens of times as a tourist had once been someone’s home. I wondered: how does one’s home become a national park?

I’ve visited Cades Cove many times, but once I got the idea to set a novel there, I returned and took dozens of pictures and many notes. Too, I came across a research goldmine: in the basement of the Sugarlands Visitor’s Center near Gatlinburg, there is a library/archive that is solely dedicated to preserving the culture and artifacts of the people who lived in the areas that are now part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

They’ve collected everything from recipes and church hymnals to school textbooks and photographs. Land deeds, descriptions of school-yard games, farming techniques — it’s all there. Heaven for an historical fiction researcher!

Are there any locals still around who remember what it was like when the government came in and turned their homes into a national park?

All around East Tennessee, there are people who were born in Cades Cove and spent their childhoods there. I’m constantly amazed at how many people tell me part of their family is from there.

One such person is Dr. Durwood Dunn, a professor at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tennessee. Dr. Dunn was very patient, answering several of my questions while I wrote the book. He’s considered one of the foremost scholars on the history of Cades Cove, and his book, Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community, 1818-1937, was one of the most useful books I used in the research stage.

Have you always had an interest in writing historical fiction?

Absolutely! I love reading historical fiction, and research is one of my favorite parts of the writing process.

Are you anything like your main character, Autumn? Do you like to “do things different” as well?

I wish I were more like Autumn! She’s spunky and spirited and creative, and she definitely does things different! I’m much more of a rule-follower than Autumn.

Autumn is so funny. Did you ever crack yourself up while writing?

Thank you! Actually, yes, I did crack myself up a few times while writing this book. (I also cried near the end — but NO SPOILERS from me!

I think if you’re immersed in the writing that much — so much that it makes you laugh and cry and feel so deeply — your readers are much more likely to get that from the story, too. At least, I hope so! Of course, anyone who knows me knows I laugh and cry VERY easily!

What was your favorite scene to write?

Probably the opening scene. I’d been researching Cades Cove for several months, and I was itching to begin the writing process. A contest was coming up, and I wanted to enter it. I pounded out the opening scene, title of the book included, in about an hour. (Of course, it went through MANY — manymanymany — rounds of edits after that!)

Something that strikes me as odd about the writing process: I can remember exactly where I was writing, what I was thinking and feeling, when I reread sections of the book now. It’s like listening to an old song, one that transports you to a specific place and time. Just one more thing I love about writing!

That’s all so interesting, especially for an adult reader to know more about your writing process. OK, here’s a question on a different subject. I heard that you actually got to INTERVIEW one of my all-time favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle. Can you share with us how it all happened? That is truly amazing!!

I know, right?! When I was in sixth grade, my fantastic elementary school librarian, Sheila Rollins, instituted a wonderful program: any student could read three of an author’s books, then interview that author by telephone. I remember exactly two things about the interview:

1. The interview was conducted via a speakerphone! It was the coolest piece of technology my 11-year-old self had ever seen. Very Charlie’s Angels.

2. When I told Ms. L’Engle that I, too, wanted to be a writer, she responded, “Good for you! Keep reading and you can do it.”

Wow! I’m sure she’s inspired many of her readers to become writers. Well, Kristin, after reading your book, some friends and I are trying to plan a family trip to Cades Cove. Do you have any recommendations for places we should visit?

You absolutely need to visit the Arts & Crafts Community, a loop just outside Gatlinburg about 8 miles long with dozens and dozens of artists working and living in a gorgeous, creative community.

If you have time, check out the Arrowmont School and see if they’re offering a craft class that you’d be interested in taking. There are always festivals and celebrations in nearby Gatlinburg, so check with the Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce to see what might be going on while you’re there.

And of course, you’ll want to hike the many trails throughout Cades Cove and in other sections of the gorgeous Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Thanks for all these great tips! Can you tell us a little bit about your next book?

Sure, here’s the jacket copy for Selling Hope, which will be released November 9 from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan. I wish I could share the cover with you, because it is SOOOO PRETTY!

It’s May 1910, and Halley’s Comet is due to pass thru the Earth’s atmosphere. And thirteen-year-old Hope McDaniels and her father are due to pass through their hometown of Chicago with their ragtag vaudeville troupe. Hope wants out of vaudeville, and longs for a “normal” life—or as normal as life can be without her mother, who died five years before. Hope sees an opportunity: She invents “anti-comet” pills to sell to the working-class customers desperate for protection. Soon, she’s joined by a fellow troupe member, young Buster Keaton, and the two of them start to make good money. And just when Hope thinks she has all the answers, she has to decide: What is family? Where is home?

Our family loves Buster Keaton! Here’s one last question: do you have any tips for parents who are trying to carve out a little time and energy to write while shuffling kids into carpools and packing school lunches? How do you manage to squeeze it all in?

I wish I could say that I have this amazing time-pause button, or a clone machine, or an inherited gene that allows me to stay awake for weeks on end. But in reality, I have a wonderful husband who knows that when I’m starting to look stressed, a little writing time will go a long way toward curing that.

I also have a sitter who watches my youngest (a very active 3-year-old boy) a couple of times a week while I write and promote. I have a voice-recorder app on my iPhone, and I record ideas on it when I can’t get to a pen (which is almost always).

So yes, CARVING out time is exactly what I do. Writing is a priority for me, and I treat it like a career. The best career in the world!

Thank you so much for your inspiration, Kristin, and for sharing with us your behind-the-scenes process of writing!

You can read more about Kristin O’Donnell Tubb on her website and her Do Things Different blog. And here’s a really fun video I found about Cades Cove, in case you’re feeling the itch to travel to Tennessee.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.

Last Sunday, our preacher recited this entire book from the pulpit. He does this every year, and every year I cry. It’s embarrassing. My kids worry about me when my face gets all crumpled and I start plowing through my purse for tissues.

The occasion is always graduation. We had nine high school seniors graduate from our church this year, and we wished them well, sending them off to great places. As soon as we got home, I pulled this book off our shelf and read it again. It was published in 1990, the last work of Dr. Seuss.

We have a little graduate in the Class of 2010 this year. Our youngest daughter finished her preschool years. This means we’ve finished out an entire decade of preschool. Our oldest started in 2000, same school, same wonderful teacher. I can’t believe this season is behind me.

OK. When I get sad, I try to remember another quote, also attributed to Dr Seuss:

As I reread Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go, it made me realize we’re all in the Class of 2010, aren’t we? We’re all on the move. Nothing ever stays the same. All of us are finishing up something and starting something new. Or we WANT to be starting something new, but we’re scared. We’re scared of failure; we’re also scared of success.

It’s time. Let’s graduate together. I’m holding up my mug of coffee to you. Cheers!

In high school, I used to be a cheerleader, holding up my green megaphone encouraging fans to cheer on our school team. If I were cheering now, I’d have Betsy-Tacy written all over my uniform! Go Team Lovelace!

I’ve written the people at HarperCollins Children’s Books to thank them for bringing the Betsy-Tacy books back in print, and you can too! And today I found out my post about the Betsy-Tacy houses being recognized as National Literary Landmarks made the Betsy-Tacy Society News Page!

YAY! I feel like my feet are in Georgia and my heart’s in Mankato today! Thank you, Betsy-Tacy Society, for all of your hard work!

My oldest daughter started wearing her hair in braids recently, and I wasn’t surprised to see she’d tucked a Betsy-Tacy novel into her backpack. I love it that she’s reading this series for the second time, and in the world of Betsy, cell phones haven’t been invented yet.

For anyone who is a fan of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series, you can rejoice along with me that there’s a big celebration going on this week in Mankato, Minnesota. After years of publicity efforts, fundraising, and restoration, both the Betsy and Tacy houses will be dedicated as National Literary Landmarks in a ceremony Thursday, May 20th starting at 6 pm.

If I lived anywhere near Minnesota, this is where I’d love to be.

I started reading the Betsy-Tacy books only a few years ago, after I discovered a copy of Betsy and the Great World in a used book store on St. Simon’s Island. I recognized the series from Gladys Hunt’s wonderful book, Honey for a Child’s Heart.

I’m so happy that HarperCollins Children’s Books has brought all ten of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books back into print. The Harper Perennial Modern Classic editions, published in 2009, are gorgeous, with covers illustrated by the original artist, Vera Neville.

I’d love to gather a whole set of these books for my three daughters to take with them someday when they leave home. I hope HarperCollins will continue to keep these books in print for fans like me who are raising the next generation of Maud Hart Lovelace readers.

Here are the ten books of the series:

1. Betsy-Tacy
2. Betsy-Tacy and Tib
3. Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
4. Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
5. Heaven to Betsy
6. Betsy in Spite of Herself
7. Betsy Was a Junior
8. Betsy and Joe
9. Betsy and the Great World
10. Betsy’s Wedding

There are three other companion novels set in Deep Valley (Mankato). I especially enjoyed Emily of Deep Valley. HarperCollins is due to release these new editions in October 2010. You can pre-order your copies here.

1. Winona’s Pony Cart
2. Carney’s House Party
3. Emily of Deep Valley

The Betsy-Tacy Society has a whole upcoming calendar of events, including a Victorian Lawn Party, Ice Cream Social Concert, Neighborhood Walk, and Victorian Christmas.

In her introduction to the new Betsy Was a Junior/ Betsy and Joe 2009 edition, author Meg Cabot writes:

How could a series of novels in which the heroine has neither red hair, a tiara, magical powers, a boyfriend who is a vampire, or a cell phone be so bewitching? Well, Betsy won my heart not just because of the humor, vivacity, and realistic emotion with which her creator, Maud Hart Lovelace, imbued her, but also because of her believable struggles to find her voice as an author…not to mention true love (both of which echoed my own struggles not just at Betsy’s age but through my twenties and even beyond.)

These books do so much toward preserving a beautiful time period of American history. I’m thinking a field trip to Mankato would be a nice way to help bring literature to life!

Update: If you’d like to contact HarperCollins Children’s Books to show your support for bringing the Betsy-Tacy books back in print, you may contact them with this email address: feedback2@harpercollins.com. Let’s keep these books in print for the next generation!

Parents today face many challenges trying to raise children who are kind, respectful, and exhibit good character qualities. Sometimes it seems like an impossible task.

I’m in the thick of it, with my kids still in preschool, elementary school, and middle school. I have no idea how they’ll turn out, and I cringe at the thought of giving anyone advice on parenting.

Still I have hope, which is all we need, right? What I do is try to surround myself with amazing people who are experts in certain areas, and I seek them out for advice. So here, I want to point out to you a wonderful program that has been an immense blessing to our family.

You can read about the National League of Junior Cotillions on their website. In our hometown, this program reaches sixth through eighth grade students, and it’s one of those word-of-mouth things where you hear about it from somebody whose kids are in it. There’s a limited space, and it fills up extremely fast.

So I’m telling you about it now, because if you’re interested, you can look up your state on the website, find out if you have a local program, and contact the director. The directors are planning the 2010-11 season now, so if you want to get involved, now’s the time.

Here are a few topics the classes cover:

EVERYDAY MANNERS
* First impressions
* Introductions
* Greeting and shaking hands
* Paying and receiving compliments
* Correspondence
* Telephone manners
* Family dining
* Table manners
* Polite conversation
* When to rise
* Doors and coats
* Sports etiquette

FORMAL MANNERS
* Formal dining
* Party courtesies
* Hosting a party
* Receiving lines
* Eating unusual foods
* Instructional dinners

CHARACTER EDUCATION
* Honesty
* Integrity
* Promise keeping
* Fidelity
* Caring
* Respect
* Citizenship
* Excellence
* Accountability
* Handling peer pressure

ELECTRONIC ETIQUETTE
* Cell Phone Courtesies
* Phones and Digital Manners at Home
* Electronic Etiquette at Home, School, or Office
* Fax, Copier and Printer Protocol
* Digital Courtesies in Public Places
* Parent’s Guide to Electronic Etiquette

TODAY’S “NETIQUETTE”
-Rules associated with the use of web surfing, emails and instant messaging
* Responsibility
* Ethicality
* Consideration

DANCE
* Music appreciation
* Teamwork
* Timing
* Coordination
* Basic dance courtesies
* Current popular line dances
* Dance include the Waltz, Fox Trot, Cha Cha Cha, Shag/Swing,
Rhumba, and Tango.

Our local program hosts two balls: a winter ball and a spring ball. For all of us moms whose daughters have grown up reading books and watching movies about princesses, these balls are dreams come true. In the spring, the girls all wear white dresses, with elegant white gloves, and the ballroom scene creates a gorgeous picture of budding womanhood. The boys, I must add, look mighty handsome in their coats and ties.

In her novel, Betsy in Spite of Herself, Maud Hart Lovelace, describes the dance programs that were being created for the Leap Year Dance of 1908:

Tacy and Alice are making the programs. They’re terribly cute, with a bar from the ‘Merry Widow Waltz’ painted on the cover. But fifteen dances, Julia! Cab will ask me for one, of course, and Tony, and Dennie, and Pin, and Al, probably, and Squirrelly and Harry, but that’s only seven. I’ve fifteen to fill.

Over a hundred years later, I have the feeling that Maud Hart Lovelace would be pleased that girls are still filling out dance cards and waltzing through their coming-of-age years. As a parent, it was a happy experience for me, and I’m passing my joy along to you.

Hello. My name is Heather, and I’m a Book Blogger.

I just wanted to write that to see how it looked. I’ve introduced myself in many ways, but never as a “book blogger.” Apparently, there are lots of us, tons of us in fact, who blog about books, and now there’s even a convention full of people who will be meeting together to discuss blogging about books.

Here are a few of the topics that will be presented:

* Professionalism/Ethics
* Marketing
* Author/Blogger Relationships
* Social Responsibility
* Writing/Building Content

I would love to be there, but since it’s May 28 in New York City, alas, I won’t. That’s the last day of school for us, and I’ll be busy loading up kids and the contents of their newly cleaned-out lockers.

If YOU would like to go, I hope you can, and I hope you have a great time. You can read all the details here. Admission to the Book Blogger Convention also allows you access to roam the celestial BEA (Book Expo America), which is billed as “the largest publishing event in North America.” Here’s a rundown of all the exciting events going on for children’s book authors, editors, publishers, agents, booksellers, and other people crazy about kid lit.

I would like to be a fly on the wall for the session entitled “Speed Dating with Children’s Authors” (for booksellers only).

Are you in a book club? Here’s a contest where you can spread the word about your ten favorite books, and maybe even win a prize in the process!

Reading Group Guides is hosting a contest in honor of their tenth anniversary. From the website:

We know what book clubs do best — the discussion of great books and great authors among readers who often become great friends, or at least feel connected by their passion for books. Through the years we know book groups have discussed books that have motivated, moved, inspired and just made for great conversation.

In honor of our 10th anniversary, we’re looking for your book group’s Top 10 Favorite Discussion Books. Share them with us and you will be entered to win one of FIFTY (50) gift certificates worth $200.

Consider this a chance for your group to buy a month’s worth of your discussion books — on us! The gift certificate can be for your group or you can opt to donate your prize to the library, school or other organization of your choice.

Hey, the contest opened up only a couple of days ago, and ends August 31, 2010. So you’ve got plenty of time to mull over your list, and get everyone in your group to enter. Then you’ll have more of a chance of winning $200 worth of free books. Details are here.

Reading Group Guides will use these contest entries to compile a list of the Top 10 Most Popular Titles. What a great idea — I’ll be eagerly awaiting this news.

I’ve been in so many “book clubs” over the years, though they’re often called “Bible studies” or “parenting groups.” I don’t know what I would have done when I became a new mom 14 years ago if I hadn’t been able to join a parenting group through my church. We met and discussed books on how to grow spiritually as moms and wives.

I learned more from the women in my group than from the books themselves, to be honest. One older woman, who had grown kids, let us meet in her beautiful, clean home once a week. She organized childcare in another home around the corner, where we paid $1 for a homeschooled teen to watch our babies. Oh, relief, joy, to be out of the house around other moms.

As the years have gone by, I’ve been in other groups where we’ve discussed Francine Rivers’ novels, Beth Moore Bible studies, and plenty of other books that give us women an excuse to get together and chat, unload, share, and eat good food.

I’m not in a book club right now because I’m mostly reading children’s novels (connecting with my kids) and books I’m weirdly drawn to for some reason or other (currently, Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward Angel.) I would love to hold a book club in my home someday with my kids and their friends. Maybe I will, now that I’ve taken the time to blog about it.

I guess I do hold my own nightly book club when I read out loud to my preschooler and first grader. Funny, how their siblings always lurk around the corner when they hear us reading out loud together, laughing. They don’t want to admit that they still enjoy a good picture book. I don’t think I’m any happier than when I’ve got kids piled all over me listening to stories. Last night, it was The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss (again), because we’re fresh out of library books. Time to make another library run.

Now, here’s an article you MUST READ if you struggle with insomnia. If you don’t fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, it may be because you’re brain is still wide awake from your ipad, computer screen, or TV.

Here’s what the expert says:

“I wish people would just take a boring book — an old-fashioned book — and [read] by a lamp. Make sure that it’s not too bright — just so you can read,” said Alon Avidan, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at UCLA. “And if they do that, I think they’ll feel a lot better and they’ll be able to relax.”

See? We Book Clubbers have known all along that the best way to get a good night’s sleep is to read a chapter or two of our favorite book. Unless, of course, it’s something that we want to blog about, then it can be hard to turn off that voice in our head. Know what I mean?

The Children’s Book Council, in association with Every Child a Reader, announced the winners of the third annual Children’s Choice Book Awards at a gala in New York City last evening.

Children across the country voted for their favorite books, author, and illustrator at bookstores, school libraries, and at Book Week Online, casting over 115,000 votes.

Below are the finalists and winners. I think this is exciting for kids to know they have a voice in sharing their favorite books!

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year

* The Birthday Pet by Ellen Javernick, illustrated by Kevin O’Malley (Marshall Cavendish)
* Lulu the Big Little Chick by Paulette Bogan (Bloomsbury USA)
* Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban, illustrated by Henry Cole (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
* The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett (Simon & Schuster)
* Opposnakes by Salina Yoon (Little Simon/Simon & Schuster)

Winner: Lulu the Big Little Chick by Paulette Bogan (Bloomsbury USA)

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year
* The Book That Eats People by John Perry, illustrated by Mark Fearing (Tricycle Press)
* Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange, illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins)
* Gonzalo Grabs the Good Life by Janice Levy, illustrated by Bill Slavin (Eerdmans)
* Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Knopf/Random House)
* Oceanology by Ferdinand Zoticus deLessups (Candlewick)

Winner: Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Knopf/Random House)

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year
* The Adventures of Benny by Steve Shreve (Marshall Cavendish)
* Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster)
* Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca (Atheneum/Richard Jackson/Simon & Schuster)
* Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee, Sam Hart, and Artur Fujita (Candlewick)
* Zoobreak by Gordon Korman (Scholastic Press)

Winner: Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renée Russell (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster)

Teen Choice Book of the Year
* Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4) by Richelle Mead (Razorbill/Penguin)
* Blue Moon (The Immortals, Book 2) by Alyson Noel (St. Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan)
* Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
* City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, Book 3) by Cassandra Clare (McElderry/Simon & Schuster)
* Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)

Winner: Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)

Author of the Year

* Suzanne Collins for Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) (Scholastic Press)
* Carl Hiaasen for Scat (Knopf/Random House)
* Jeff Kinney for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw and Dog Days (Amulet Books/Abrams)
* James Patterson for Max (A Maximum Ride Novel) (Little, Brown)
* Rick Riordan for The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 5) (Disney Hyperion)

Winner: James Patterson for Max (A Maximum Ride Novel) (Little, Brown)

Illustrator of the Year

* Peter Brown for The Curious Garden (Little, Brown)
* Robin Preiss Glasser for Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire! (HarperCollins)
* Victoria Kann for Goldilicious (HarperCollins)
* Susan Roth for Listen to the Wind (Dial/Penguin)
* David Soman for Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy (Dial/Penguin)

Winner: Peter Brown for The Curious Garden (Little, Brown)

Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners!

From The Children’s Book Council website:

The CCBA program, launched in 2008, was created to provide young readers with an opportunity to voice their opinions about the books being written for them and to help develop a reading list that will motivate children to read more and cultivate a love of reading.

About the CBC:

The Children’s Book Council, established in 1945, is the nonprofit trade association of publishers of trade books for children and young adults in the United States. The CBC promotes the use and enjoyment of trade books for young people.

I know this is supposed to be a blog mainly for women, but I can’t help sharing with you this awesome story about a father whose home-grown bedtime stories for his son became New York Times best-selling books and now movies.

I somehow ended up on author Rick Riordan’s Myth & Mystery blog the other day, and as I searched through his early archives, I came across this story. His words sent delicious chills up my spine, and I knew I wanted to share it with you!

In his post from September 2005, The Learning-Disabled Hero, Rick shares how he came up with the hero, Percy Jackson, for his son:

As Haley struggled through second grade, his saving grace was Greek mythology. He loved those old stories. He would actually read them willingly in class. He knew I’d taught Greek myths for years in the middle school, and so every night he would ask me to tell him a bedtime story about the Olympians.

One night, as we were lying in bed for story time, I realized I’d run out of myths. We’d done all the gods, the heroes, the monsters. I was fresh out of Minotaurs.

‘Well, make something up!’ Haley said, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

I thought about that.

I thought about Haley’s struggle with ADHD and dyslexia. I imagined the faces of all the students I’d taught who had these same conditions. I felt the need to honor them, to let them know that being different wasn’t a bad thing. Intelligence wasn’t always measurable with a piece of paper and a number two pencil. Talent didn’t come in only one flavor.

Then I thought about the heroes in the old myths – sons and daughters of gods and humans – and all the troubles they’d had to overcome because of their mixed heritage. Off the top of head, I began a story about a 12-year-old boy named Percy Jackson, the modern-day son of the Greek god Poseidon, who among his many other problems has ADHD and dyslexia. He struggles in school. He’s constantly being labeled a lazy troublemaker. Yet Percy finds that his learning disabilities are actually indicators of Olympian blood. He is a hero – a child of the gods.

It took me three nights to tell of Percy’s epic quest across the United States to retrieve a lightning bolt stolen from Zeus. When I was done, Haley told me I should write the story down.
I took him seriously. I spent a year on the manuscript, not sure anyone except Haley would ever want to read it.

I was wrong. The story seems to have struck a chord.

To date, The Lightning Thief is being published in seven languages and the film version is underway. I’ve gotten a flood of appreciative emails from readers, many of them ADHD/dyslexic kids who usually dislike reading. It’s tremendously gratifying, and yet the book remains a very personal story from a father to a son. Like the Greek stories of old, The Lightning Thief is an attempt to explain a natural phenomenon — a myth to help my son make sense of who he is.

Oh, I just love this! The creator at work, inspired by his own son. According to wikipedia, Rick Riordan finished writing The Lightning Thief in 1994. It was initially accepted by Bantam Books in 1997 and later sold at auction to Miramax Books before being released on July 28, 2005.

Five years later, the five-book Percy Jackson & the Olympians series is a huge hit! For this dad, his mission of telling a great story to his son was accomplished on a grand scale!

And then there’s me. In February, I ended up in a big pack of moms and kids going to see “The Lightning Thief” at our small-town theater. I think I was the only one of our group who had never heard of these books. Embarrassing to admit! (I read mostly girly novels, OK?)

The movie was fantastic, and I thought I’ve got to get these books for my son, who wasn’t able to come to the movie with us. Well, they were completely sold out at Borders, so I ordered a boxed set, and we had to wait a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I’m hearing the buzz that everybody is reading Percy Jackson books — and this is in a Christian school where parents are careful about what they let their children read.

Finally, the books arrived, and my kids DEVOURED them. Then we had to go see the movie again, all of us! I enjoyed it even more the second time around because I wasn’t so scared of the action parts, and I could enjoy the humor so much more. We’ll be eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Reading this story on Rick Riordan’s blog reminds me why our children can be our greatest inspiration to write! If you have a minute, here’s another interesting Myth & Mystery post full of advice for writers, The Well-Written Life.

I love this poster. In honor of Children’s Book Week, why don’t you pull your favorite children’s book off the shelf and read it again — to yourself or to someone you love?

It does my heart and mind good to know that people are celebrating children’s literature around the world this week. You can read more about official events going on here.

I think tonight I’ll surprise my five-year-old daughter by reading HER favorite books — the three that I’ve hidden because I can’t bear to read them for the 101st time. Surely, I can find some new detail to keep me energized while reading Victoria and Elizabeth Kann’s PINKALICIOUS, PURPLICIOUS, and GOLDILICIOUS. They really are cute books, well-illustrated, and oh-so-popular with the preschool girl crowd.

What will you be reading this week?