350.org

Does the name “350.org” catch your eye? How about if you knew it was an organization started to unite people around the world to work for solutions to climate change?

350 refers to the amount of CO2 per million in the air. If we can’t get our carbon levels below 350, (we’re now at 392) the problems of climate disruption will continue and increase. Check out some spectacular photos of people all over the world raising awareness on the home page of http://www.350.org/. There’s a cool wordless animated video (1.5 minutes) to explain the problem in a way people of any language will understand at http://www.350.org/mission.

Finally, they’re organizing a Global Work Party on October 10, 2010 (10-10-10) for doing in-the-trenches environmental work, such as planting trees, fixing bikes, installing solar panels, and anything creative people can imagine.

Put Solar on It

What would happen if world leaders installed solar panels on their roofs, such as on the White House? Would this symbolize their commitment to promoting solar energy? Bring attention and galvanize others to follow suit?
          All of the above is the impetus behind “Put Solar on It,” a citizen’s campaign that is part of 350.org’s Global Work Party on October 10, 2010—10-10-10. Citizens all over the world are asked to send a note to their leaders (see link below) which ends,
Install solar panels on your roof, and then enact legislation to make it possible for everyone in your country to join you in the clean energy future. We need you to act symbolically—and then we need you to act for real.
          So far Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives has signed on. Other leaders targeted are Barack Obama, Pratibha Patil of India, Felipe Calderon of Mexico, Hu Jintao of China, Julia Gillard of Australia and David Cameron of the United Kingdom.
If you agree with me that this is a great idea, go to http://www.putsolaron.it/ to write to your leaders and get more information.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

I absolutely loved the middle-grade novel The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Jacqueline Kelly, 2009, Henry Holt and Company) and recommend it to children and adults alike.

It’s the blistering summer of 1899 in rural Texas, and eleven-year-old Calpurnia Tate is having trouble resigning herself to the rigid roles prescribed for girls and women of the times. But when she unexpectedly develops a camaraderie with her curmudgeonly grandfather over their common appreciation of the natural world, Calpurnia’s life becomes more bearable. He shares his knowledge about the plant and insect world, as well as about famous woman scientists, opening up for her a whole new world. Just as importantly, her grandfather understands her when her parents don’t.

Jacqueline Kelly has a knack for turning everyday life into an engaging story, as Calpurnia’s budding ambitions steer her into a collision course with societal expectations. A heartwarming story of love, acceptance, and the triumph of the spirit. Calpurnia is a strong and unforgettable protagonist with a voice both poetic and delightfully humorous.

Keeping up with the Writing Profession

It’s a drag to keep up with any profession. But writers have it the worst. To stay up-to-date we’re actually expected to read everything out there in our genre—can you believe it? I mean doctors have the pleasure of poring over ground-breaking journal articles on the indications and side effects of new pharmaceuticals. My husband, an electrical contractor, gets to take stimulating seminars on updates in National Electrical Code. Meanwhile, as a writer for young people, I have to force myself to sit down and read The Hunger Games and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, when I’d rather be vacuuming.

I’m supposed to read the children’s best sellers, the award winners, the novels by the agents I’m researching. I’m supposed to read any book mentioned in a blog or by a fellow writer because it’s a good example of voice, or plot, or dialogue. And, as if that’s not unpleasant enough, I encumber myself with the additional requirement to read one adult novel a month too—distasteful, yes, but I wouldn’t want to appear ignorant when someone mentions The Help or The Time Traveler’s Wife, now would I?

Does any other profession have it so hard?

I’m not even getting big bucks as a writer, and I’m still expected to shoulder this burden. Maybe we writers should all unite together and demand of publishers, “Stop selling so many books—the work is killing us.”

Are you with me? If so, send me an e-mail. I’ll get back to you right after (sip of tea) I find out what happens in the next chapter of this book I’m reading.

Gardening Dilemma

I spent some time working in my vegetable garden this morning. There is nothing like the calming, productive feeling you get from tending the land with your own hands, especially on a weather-perfect day! I picked some lettuce, planted some edamame, and weeded.

The hardest part was weeding out some of the too-many “volunteer” tomato plants—I hate to pull out healthy, growing plants. I got friends to take some plants, but I still have literally dozens of extras, which by now are pretty big. (Want some?) Today I tried to be ruthless and just pull them. But I couldn’t get myself to weed the ones that already have flowers, even though I know the consequence will be too much crowding in the garden. 

What’s the lesson here? Pull them out when they’re still tiny seedlings, so I don’t feel so bad? Or more “networking”—could I have found a home for every one of them, if I’d tried harder? Or, don’t worry about it so much? In gardening, like other human endeavors, it’s never one hundred percent unambiguous or easy to know what to do, and sometimes your decisions don’t feel quite right.

The Book of Everything

I read The Book of Everything (American edition, 2006, Arthur A. Levine Books) twice because I found it so moving. Written by Dutch author Guus Kuijer, it takes place in Amsterdam of 1951, when the Netherlands are still reeling from the effects of the Nazi occupation of their country. The story of nine-year-old Thomas revolves around his anguish over his father hitting his mother (and himself.) After one such episode we feel Thomas’s distress. “God was silent in every language. The angels tried to dry their tears, but their handkerchiefs were so soaked through that it started raining even in the deserts.”

But what can a young boy do to stop the abuse of his controlling, rigidly religious father? Fortunately some intriguing characters help him along the way, including his neighbor, his aunt, his sister and his mother. The story unfolds almost without noticing, but every detail leads to the powerfully dramatic climax.

A bleak subject, true, but somehow the reader reaches the last page experiencing the goodness of humanity mixed in with its faults. The writing is lyrical, funny at times, and a remarkable journey through the mind of a nine-year-old as he revises the religious ideas his father wishes to instill. I recommend this book to adults, as well as children.

The Baykidi Stones

So many people have asked me what my novel is about that I thought I’d tell about it here. I’d love to know what you think. I am currently searching for an agent.


The Baykidi Stones (pronounced By-kee-DEE)
For ages 11-14

Ethnic tensions are smoldering in the Pacific island of Jalahar, where pockets of combatants challenge the government. Fourteen-year-old Velu, who is of the privileged ruling class, unwittingly interrupts a killing by insurgents, and finds himself on their hit list. He flees from his city, aided by people he barely knows. In his zeal to foil his pursuers, he mistakenly betrays innocent people to authorities. Soon he learns the people he denounced are part of an underground group working to unite the country’s two ethnic groups and to bring change using the “strengths of the heart,” rather than war. Can their methods really gain the release of those imprisoned due to his mistake, and can Velu help an unarmed crowd avert a bloodbath in a stand-off with government soldiers?