Fun and Games at ALA & FB

As you can see, the chicks had a BLAST at this year's American Library Assocation annual conference. We think Andrea looks like a natural with that heavy blaster rifle, and Julia and Carolyn have decided to attend all future conferences as a Gamorrean guard and Sandtrooper, respectively.

We loved seeing old friends and meeting new ones, and we've brought back armloads of funny books to share with you in the months ahead. We also met some incredibly fun and charming authors (like him and her) who graciously agreed to visit the coop and answer silly questions for us in the future. Be sure to check back often, or better yet, subscribe.

And in other news, you can now see our smiling beaks over at Facebook. We'd love to see you there!

Bea Rocks the Flock

Bea Rocks the Flock
by Victoria Jamieson
Bloomsbury USA
ISBN: 978-1599902609

Poor Bea has a problem. And although she is a sheep, we chicks can totally relate. You see, Bea doesn't want to be like the other sheep. She wants to bleach her hair and wear black leather jumpsuits and be a rock star like Blondie. Oh wait. Nevermind. That's our dream, not Bea's. But still, Bea just wants to do her own thing and show her true colors, which are anything but white. As you might imagine, this doesn't go down well with the rest of the flock. Not one bit. So Bea packs her bags and heads for the big city, where she delights in the diversity of the crowd. "Great clanging cowbells!" she exclaims. "This is where I belong!"

...Or does she? Will Bea become a city girl forever or will she start to miss her flock? Check out this delightful book by the ultra-talented Victoria Jamieson to find out how Bea eventually resolves her identity crisis. A must-read for creative chicks and sheep everywhere who wonder if they'll ever fit in.

Tumtum and Nutmeg

Tumtum & Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall
Written by Emily Bearn, illustrated by Nick Price
Little, Brown and Company

While we hold chickens near and dear to our hearts, we also have a special fondness for mice. Okay, not real mice that scamper around our feet and make nests in our basements and leave droppings in our silverware drawers. No, not those mice. Storybook mice, like Stuart Little and Despereaux. We like our mice dressed up in little suits and drinking tea, and we just wish that the ones leaving droppings in our silverware drawer would at least leave us cute handwritten notes or perhaps a pair of tiny hand stitched gloves, or something.

We suspect that many children have the same fondness for storybook mice that we do, or else why would mice books be so darned popular? And this particular book, with its British tone, old-fashioned pen and ink drawings, and high adventure is bound to be one of the more popular ones. Poor Tumtum and Nutmeg are quiet mice, and yet they never get a moment of peace in this funny middle-grade novel. They are either battling spinster aunts, fighting pirate rats or freeing wild gerbils. And while the two main characters are endearing, the real star of the show is General Marchmouse, a foolish, impetuous chap who spends most of his time in his underwear. We love, especially, the scene in which his army of mice, dressed in fluorescent orange, battle against the evil, mouse-fearing Aunt Ivy. It was one of the funniest scenes we've read in quite a while.

This is a book to be shared with a classroom of children one chapter at a time. Fans of The Poppy series by Avi and The Redwall series by Brian Jacques will gobble up this series, too. Fast-paced and funny, this book has it all!

In the Coop with Adam Rubin

Those Darn Squirrels!
by Adam Rubin
Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Clarion Books
ISBN: 978-0-547-00703-8

We Three Silly Chicks have a confession to make. Yes, we are silly. We are also friendly and kind and fluffy and yellow. But sometimes, we get grumpy. Wait. That's not the confession. Everyone gets grumpy. The confession is that we enjoy it! It feels good to get cranky. In fact, sometimes we put on our house frocks, roll our feathers in curlers and don on our rattiest slippers and practice saying things like "Get off our coop!" and "You come back here and we'll tell you what we really think!" just because it feels so good. Then, we eat some dry toast and prunes after which we find the mood (among other things) passes.

So imagine our delight at meeting Old Man Fookwire, the main character in Adam Rubin's delightful picture book, Those Darn Squirrels! First of all, we love his name. But even more, we love that he is a cranky, curmudgeonly, crusty old geezer! He's so old he sneezes dust. He hates pie and he hates puppies. However, he loves birds and spends his summers painting pictures of them.

Enter the squirrels. Those darn squirrels also love birds. Well, more acurately, they love bird seed and they are ingenious at getting it. What follows is a battle of wits between the crusty Old Man Fookwire and the Einsteins of the wild kingdom. Our money is on the squirrels.

Illustrated with a funky, playful style, this book is refreshingly offbeat and truly funny. In fact, we loved it so much, we wanted to know more about the author. So we invited him into the coop which made us very happy (and not the least bit cranky)!

Here's what Adam had to say.

The main character of your book, Old Man Fookwire, hated pies and hated puppies. How would he feel about puppy pie?

I imagine he would double hate it.

How do you know when what you write is funny??
I guess I’m never sure that what I write is funny until other people tell me so. I write what I think is amusing or fun and then hope that other people share a similar sense of humor.

Do you have any tips for writing funny books?
I got a good piece of advice from Larry Day. He said, “Create things that you like. If you worry about pleasing other people, you’ll always be disappointed.”

Has being funny ever gotten you into or out of trouble?
I used to carry a clown nose in my pocket. I also stuck a small piece of red felt onto the nose of my driver’s license picture. When people asked to see my ID, I would put on the clown nose while they looked down at the picture. They would wonder what the red felt was all about, then look up at my face and burst out laughing. It got me out of a speeding ticket twice.

What are some of your favorite funny books?????

The Far Side collections were extremely influential to my sense of humor as a kid. I think Gary Larson is a genius. I also love Calvin and Hobbes, there is a magnificent sense of wonder and imagination throughout all of Bill Watterson’s work. I’m also a fan of Dave Eggers’ Haggis on Whey series.

Do you prefer The Marx Bros or Three Stooges?

I’m more of a Buster Keaton guy but given the choice, I’ll go with the Marx Brothers.

What was your best Halloween costume ever?

In sixth grade, our math teacher held a “Mathquerade” for all the students. Everyone had to dress up as something math related. One girl dressed like a car and she was an “infinity,” my teacher was pregnant so she was “multiplying,” I put a rope around my neck and tied it to a small toilet which I held above my head. I was a “High-potty-noose.”

What is your Dream Job for a Day?

I have always wanted to work as a host on the home shopping channel.

How do you really feel about squirrels?

I like squirrels. They are fast, clever and agile which are qualities I admire in both animals and humans.

Clown V. Mime Deathmatch.? Pick your winner.

If there is one less clown and mime on the planet, everyone’s a winner.

Funniest dead person you'd like to meet??

I’d like to meet Mark Twain. He had a cool mustache and a cool pseudonym.

Your resume on your website says that you were an intern at the Daily Show for a summer. How would you describe that experience?

Ugh, that reminds me of how badly I need to update my website… My time at the Daily Show was a blast. Mostly, I answered phones and bought cereal for the writers but I had an opportunity to go on a few shoots and sit in on edit sessions from time to time. Everyone there was extremely nice, especially Ed Helms and Rob Corrdry.

In the Coop with Erica Perl

Guess what? Chicken Butt! Heh heh heh. We chicks have been using that line for years and yep, it makes us laugh every time. And now, children's book author Erica Perl has taken that joke and ramped up the humor times ten. Illustrated by chick fave Henry Cole, Chicken Butt! is a non-stop snort fest of fowl humor for the whole family. You know why? Chicken thigh!

The Three Silly Chicks are very pleased to have Erica Perl in the coop with us today, on the last day of her intrepid Chicken Butt! journey through the wild and wooly blogiverse. To celebrate her safe arrival back home, she will be giving away a signed copy of Chicken Butt! and other treats to one lucky winner. That winner could be you, dear friend! All you have to do is go to Erica's blog, Chicken Feed, and leave a comment today. Easy-peasy! Erica will then pick a random commenter to win the goods. So what are you waiting for? Go go go! Scoot on over there right now and leave a comment! Then come back here, put your feet up, and enjoy our talk with Erica...

How do you know when what you write is funny?

I don't. I just cross my fingers and hope it is. Actually, I read everything I write aloud and I test it on real kids - my own, plus some that are not related to me. If they don't laugh, I know something's up.

Do you have any tips for writing funny books?

Don't write what you think kids WILL find funny, or what you think kids SHOULD find funny. Spend time with kids so you discover what they DO find funny. And also so you remember what YOU found funny at their age. That's how Chicken Butt! came about. I know both perspectives - kid and parent - in that particular goofy face-off intimately!

Has being funny ever gotten you into or out of trouble?

Growing up, I would have gotten into a lot more trouble had my mother not been funny, too (note: I did not realize this until much later). In fact, my mother has requested that when she dies, we have her gravestone engraved to say: "SHE WAS FUNNY." Seriously.

What are some of your favorite funny books?

I love James Marshall's books, especially The Stupids Step Out. I also love M.T. Anderson's Whales on Stilts and Daniel Pinkwater's The Hoboken Chicken Emergency. In fact, I think The Hoboken Chicken Emergency is perhaps the funniest chicken book ever written.

If you could live in one of your books, which one would you choose?

I wrote Ninety-Three In My Family because when I was a kid, I always wanted more pets than my parents would allow. So I decided to write a book about a family with all the pets I could possibly want. As zany as it looks (thanks to Mike Lester's fabulous illustrations), it's clear that this family has a lot of fun together.

Who do you like more, The Marx Bros or Three Stooges?

Marx Brothers, hands down.

What was your best Halloween costume?

I once insisted on dressing up as the school lunch menu. I wore a sandwich board with the week's menu written on it, plus a paper plate hat with plastic food. I like to think that I'm the only person who has ever trick-or-treated in this particular costume… not because it is so funny, but because it makes absolutely no sense.

What is your Dream Job for a Day?

Woozler. It's my invented Dream Job. It involves spending the day at the zoo, cuddling and woozling all the animals.

Clown V. Mime Deathmatch. Pick your winner.

It's a draw. Both are extremely scary.

Funniest dead person you’d like to meet?

Roald Dahl, who was apparently not funny (as in ha-ha funny) in real life. But I would still love to have met him.

Is there anything funnier than a chicken butt?

You know what's more?

Two chicken butts! No -- FOUR!

My Fair Godmother

My Fair Godmother
by Janette Rallison
Walker Books
ISBN: 978-0802797803

We three chicks freely admit to being picture book junkies. We dearly love a fun, simple story that goes straight to the punch in 32 fast-paced glorious pages. A great picture book is like the perfect dessert: a delectable pink-frosted cupcake providing immediate gratification. But when our busy schedules permit and we are not running around like…um…chickens, we often like to indulge in a nice long novel. As opposed to dessert, a novel is a full seven-course meal, a feast to be savored for as long as it takes to get to that cupcake ending.

Recently, we had the pleasure of a deliciously decadent read from start to finish. My Fair Godmother, by Janette Rallison, tells the story of Savannah, a high-school sophomore whose boyfriend dumps her for her older sister. Enter Chrissy, Savannah’s fair godmother (fair as in not all that good), to save the day. Only each time Savannah makes a wish, Chrissy manages to mangle it beyond all measure and go totally Medieval with the wish-granting. Who knew that getting a date to the prom could be so dangerous?

My Fair Godmother is one part fantasy, one part romantic comedy, and one part absolutely charming. Give this book to your favorite tween or teen, your BFF, the chick next door…anyone who likes a good, funny, clean read about wishes and proms and prince charmings. Oh, and did we mention ogres? Yes, ogres. And dragons too. (Trust us, you’re going to love it!)

Day Seven of NaPiBoWriWee--Wheeeee!!

YOU’RE ALMOST THERE! JUST ONE MORE PICTURE BOOK TO GO!

You should be darn proud, peeps! Give yourself a pat on the back and an extra glittery gold star. A brownie with a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s might be in order, too. Rewards are important! Here in the coop we keep a vat of bean dip for just such occasions.

For this last assignment, think of something in your childhood that made you extra proud. Were you the winner of the spelling bee in first grade? Did you stand up to the biggest bully on the block? Were you the best jacks player in the neighborhood?

Think of those moments today and see if you can craft a story out of one of them. Or use the above photo for inspiration.

Still stumped? See if you can use at least one of the following words in your title:

Sock
Rabbit
Zesty
Penny
Stomp

We heartily recommend the blog www.teachingauthors.com for your next venture—revision! The authors on this blog are all teachers, too, and have excellent advice for writers of all genres. Don’t stop now!