The best thing about February is that it’s a short month. Not as short as it could be (I’m talking to you day 29), but still brief enough to delude myself into thinking spring is just around the corner. It’s not, but I’m fully prepared to live with my delusions awhile longer, or at least until the Easter Bunny makes his annual appearance. Contributing mightily to the percentage of sane-like particles in my brain is the daily, sometimes hourly, occasionally minute to minute forays into the wonderful world of the interwebs. And chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

Along with the caloric content of a large bag of M&M’s, the most thought-provoking thing I read this week is a report that U.S. kids’ books lack a Connection to Nature. Is it different in Canada? Well, we have a maple leaf on our flag and a beaver on our nickel so it’s fair to say the natural world looms large in our national psyche. More on this soon…

Loved this article entitled Do Book Bloggers Really Matter? I guess it depends on what is meant by ‘matter’, but as a former bookseller, I know that advocacy does make a difference. A blog is a pimped up staff selections section, with a spotlight and a megaphone. Instead of hand-selling a book one person at a time, potentially, I have a much bigger audience, which is especially gratifying when I’m writing about a loved but perhaps less well-known title, or one that’s been ‘resting’ quietly in the dark for far too long. Do bloggers matter? I dunno, but books matter.

To William Joyce, storyteller, illustrator extraordinaire, and now Oscar nominee for best animated short~The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore…um, seriously dude. Is there anything you can’t do, cause you sure know how to write and illustrate gorgeous picture books, and…make one of the most beautiful and moving animated movies ever. Ever ever. Download it on iTunes.

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Christmas brunch with the dog-an annual tradition

Whoa…it’s been almost two months since I posted a Picks & Tweets on this blog! Other than a pre-existing case of indolence, I have two fat excuses-I travelled to Sweden (and Norway) in November, and upon my return, was hit smack in my jet-lagged face with Christmas-the great sucker-upper of time (and everything else.) Didn’t even have time to put rapidograph to paper and ink my annual Christmas card (sorry people.) However, now that we are thankfully passed the fever pitch of festive activity, I have collected a few of my favourite tweets from this month, and parts of the last, in one butter tart-induced burst of hyperglycemic energy. I expect to crash at any moment…

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Just a few days until Halloween, and I still haven’t bought any candy, or at least none I wish to share with miniature ghouls and goblins. The dog, on the other hand, is welcome to whatever falls off my lap. I confess that I’ve been rather busy of late, but I have managed to visit a few of my favourite sites. Here are some highlights from the world wide spiderweb…

A Picture Book Proclamation, signed by the likes of Jon Scieszka, Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen. I may not have published any picture books…yet...but this blog is devoted to, and in celebration of the principles outlined in this manifesto. I couldn’t have said it better, or at least as succinctly, although I have been accused of soapboxing it every now and then. Nice to see folks standing up for art. Hurray!

Speaking of Jon Klassen, Zoe at Playing By the Book takes on I Want My Hat Back in an interesting review which goes against the tide of praise washing over this witty and beautifully drawn picture book. The dry wit may leave some kids cold. Good point. Conversely, the dry wit leaves this sarcastic old(ish) gal all warm and cozy. Who’s right? Well, there is no right and wrong, just individual preferences, and as with the above noted proclamation, I’m just very happy to see people discussing picture books. Good picture books.

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Gorey's Black Spider (courtesy 50 Watts)

An entire month since I last posted a Picks and Tweets? For shame. No excuse, other than the usual craziness that is synonymous with September (in my day-job world), which is somewhat alleviated a month later by the arrival of Halloween candy on store shelves. There are goodies everywhere, and many, many empty wrappers, but it is the non-chocolate variety of which I speak. Where to start? Well, how about with some well-deserved accolades?

Just announced…Migrant, Along a Long Road & Ten Birds are among the nominees for the 2011 Governor General’s Award. All three have been reviewed in this blog, and all three are very deserving. Congratulations to the illustrators, authors, and publishers. Also, I Know Here, written by Laurel Croza and illustrated by Matt James, has won the Marilyn Ballie Award. Congrats all around.

One of several interesting articles from The Guardian: Maurice Sendak ’I refuse to lie to children’.  Yes, he always tells them where the wild things are. Turns out his His favorite story is Outside Over There. Mine too. Falling backwards is one of my many talents.

Really fascinating and disturbing. Loitering in Neverland: the strangeness of Peter Pan. Yes. It’s a strange story, about a strange boy, written by a strange man, co-opted by an even stranger man. Not one of my favourite stories for sure, but there is a very fetching edition of P.Pan with illustrations by Authur Rackham lurking about on my bookshelves. Kind of a palette cleanser. Via the Guardian.

Oh, the dog days of summer, which for me translates into a whiny sort of sluggishness precluding any activity more strenous than hoisting fruity beverages to my mouth and bending over to turn the fan onto maximum velocity. My heat-induced indolence is compounded by the fact that I am moving at the end of the month, so my posts have become sparse as I attempt to pack away decades worth of bibliophyllic overconsumption. Sure, they look pretty on the shelves, but they are a bitch to pack, and you might as well take out shares in Boxes-R-Us for all the stacks of neatly-packed product lining my hallways. Nevertheless, I do seem to find the time to check in with my favourite Twitter-folk and fellow bloggerists, and here are a few gems from the last couple of weeks~      

The Story of Charlotte’s Web by Michael Sims – review via @guardian. This sounds like a very interesting book, about an interesting man, and some pig. Can’t wait to read it! And speaking of Wilbur, I might have mentioned in a previous post one of my favourite passages about this beloved porker. It’s early in the book and Wilbur is explaining to Templeton his typical day, but it seems to me that Wilbur is practicing a kind of philosophy of life that sounds less porcine and more Zen. The procurement of food (middlings, warm water, apple parings, meat gravy, etc.,) and naps plays a significant role in Wilbur’s daily routine, but so does stillness, and allocating time to watch “flies on the boards, watch bees in the clover, and watch swallows in the air…and to think about “what it was like to be alive…” I aspire to live my life according to the Tao of Wilbur, minus the ‘middlings’, whatever they are.

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Not Rupert Murdoch

You’d think there was nothing else going on in the world but the News of the World. I suppose I should be paying closer attention to the grim display of moral impoverishment playing out in the media at the moment, but all I can think of when I see Rupert Murdoch is that he looks like a Spitting Image character. Of course…I had to google it, and wouldn’t you know…he IS a Spitting Image character…amongst other things. Happily, the bits and pieces pasted together for this post were obtained via legitimate and highly respectable sources. No hacking, no bribes or backdoor dealmaking, just the usual I should be working but I’m reading blogs and following links on Twitter, as I am inclined to do on a rainy afternoon…

And speaking of tweets~

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HRH William Shatner, famous Canadian

Happy CANADA Day! As befits such a celebratory occasion, the Duke and Duchess of something or other are visiting our lovely country for the first time, or at least the first official time. Welcome HRH William and HRH Kate. Next time, come to Edmonton, eh?

And now, in true Canadian fashion, a little self-deprecation:

Hilarious and local. The Daily Show does some business in Canada, specifically Alberta. Thank you Oil Sands for your comic possibilities.

L O V E this! Darryl Cunningham Investigates-Evolution. It’s in comic book style so maybe the Creationists will finally get it. Maybe. Nah…

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New blog, old news. Or oldish news, that is, and the blog isn’t new, it just looks like it’s been on holiday and come back refreshed and ready to upload a bunch of new and exciting reviews…that I have yet to write. Sorry blog….I promise I’ll work harder now that you look so pretty. In the meantime, here are a few recent treats from my truly hardworking blogosphere colleagues~  

Chris Van Allsburg in the news again. This week Chris talks about his new book Queen of the Falls (thanks Achockablog), and from Anita Silvey at the fab Children’s Book a Day Almanac Blog, the story behind Jumanji.

From the I’m glad someone said it files, NYT’s Pamela Paul on that Go the F*** To Sleep book causing all the controversy…and probably more than a few tired nods of sympathy. Please oh please oh please let someone hire me to write the f***ing sequel.

The Daily Heller always has great design/illustration-related stuff. Here’s a wistful look back at Mad Magazine: “Look Ma, No Teeth.” A madvertisement for Crust Gum Paste.” Blecch! I hope there are more MAD posts like this in the future.

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What, me worry?

Once again I failed to get raptured. Guess I’ll have to wait for 2012, and fingers crossed, I’ll be spending the End of Days with John Cusack on a giant sea pod. Of course, I’m not expecting to rise up with the righteous. All that High School stuff probably pooched my chances of being picked for the Celestial Dodgeball Team. I’m not even sure I’d want to share my personal space with the True Believers as I suspect they are a rather rigid lot, and probably not at all interested in collecting children’s picture books, especially those reviewed in 32 Pages. Having said that, I do have a kick-ass version of the Bible illustrated by Barry Moser, which I’ve yet to review because I would have to read it, and well, life is short and there may be only 19 months until we all pop our collective clogs. So, while we wait to be smited upside the head, here are some rapture-worthy items from the corporeal world.

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