Courtship

Have a Terrific Day

Well thank you, Blog, for sharing this with us today, on the birthday of Judith Viorst, author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Read a bit about Judith Viorst, and some of her poems for children, at www.poets.org.

Zero Gravity

Aristotle said, “Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.”

Aristotle said, “Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.”

Turn ON the Tube Week

You know I love books! But the winter is long, and some things are worth watching.

Jumpin’ Jive! Listen to Cab Calloway and watch the truly amazing Nicholas Brothers (don’t miss them from 1:32 to the end) in Stormy Weather, 1943.

If the world is round, would a lion fall off?

 

I feel the responsibility profoundly of doing illustrations that will be worthy of your book. I do feel that an illustrator can only out do himself when he really feels the challenge of a wonderful story…

- from Clement Hurd, to Gertrude Stein.

Today is the birthday of Clement Hurd, illustrator of Goodnight Moon.

That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.

 

Dear Reader,

You may be here because you googled the name ‘Deborah Freedman’. I am sorry to say you have not found Deborah Freedman the New York painter, or Deborah Freedman, the interior designer from Palm Beach Gardens. This is not the site of Deborah Freedman, the Maine storyteller. Or the Deborah Freedman who married Eric Belt in 1993. Nor have you reached the financial advisor from New Jersey, the Managing Attorney of Law Center North Central, or the Research Associate of the Population Studies Center (may she rest in peace). None of those Deborah Freedmans are me. I also am not the author of the Technical Editor’s Handbook. If you were looking for those Deborah Freedmans or any of the other many Deborah Freedmans searchable on the internet who I am sure must be lovely women but are not the person who writes and illustrates children’s picture books, then I thank you for stopping by and hope you might visit again some time, anyway.

But if you were looking for that Deborah Freedman, well then – you have found her.

Sincerely,
Deborah Freedman

BLOG! You know that isn’t true!
You only see me when I’m on my computer!
I do have another life… a REAL one…

You may attend a party where strange customs prevail.

 

Choose your own fortune for 2010.

And have a Happy New Year!
Debbie, and Blog

It’s Dark Out

It’s dark out
It’s dark out
Although the hour’s early;
It isn’t even five o’clock
And yet it’s dark all down the block
Because the season’s winter
And the sun has gone to bed.

By Mary Ann Hoberman
Illustration by Norman Hoberman
From Hello and Good-bye, Little, Brown & Co., 1959

Time for Bed

It sifts from Leaden Sieves —
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road —
read the rest here

- Emily Dickinson

Happy Hibernation and Holidays to all!

I Want the Moon Too!

ONCE UPON A TIME, in a kingdom by the sea, there lived a little Princess named Lenore. She was ten years old, going on eleven. One day Lenore fell ill of a surfeit of raspberry tarts and took to her bed.

…[and the princess said] “I want the moon. If I can have the moon, I will be well again.”

From Many Moons, written by James Thurber and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin.

Today is the birthday of James Thurber, 1894 – 1961.
Stop me if you’ve seen this before:

Madam

Have you ever noticed
how blogs are read backwards…

I’

…from the order
in which they are posted?

m Adam

Have you ever noticed
how blogs are read backwards…

Giving Thanks

WE? Why aren’t WE posting? Since when do you do anything around here, Blog?

I have 20 people coming over in two days. I have COOKING to do! I have to make stuffing! and pies! and… well, honestly, Blog, I don’t have time for you today. Just this once, couldn’t you help out a little bit?

Oh.

Well, THANK YOU for all of that, Blog.

 

THE RECIPE: SWEET POTATO PECAN PIE
(adapted from Paul Prudhomme)

Pie Dough:
Your own favorite recipe, or use Paul Prudhomme’s.

Sweet Potato Filling:
2 to 3 sweet potatoes, or enough to yield 1 cup cooked (baked or microwaved) pulp
1/4 cup, packed, brown sugar
½ egg
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pecan Pie Filling:
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ dark corn syrup
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups pecans

• Place and arrange pie dough in a deep pie dish (1½”) or cake pan. Refrigerate.
• For sweet potato filling: combine ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat until batter is smooth. Do not overbeat. Set aside.
• For pecan pie filling: combine all ingredients except pecans and mix thoroughly until the syrup is opaque. Stir in pecans and set aside.
• To assemble: spoon the sweet potato filling into the pie dough. Pour the pecan filling on top. Bake at 325∘until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1¾ hours.
• Cool and serve with barely sweetened whipped cream.

How to Fry an Egg

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings horses
and all the kings men
Couldn’t put Humpty
together again.