Happy Thanksgiving!

I know. It isn't really Thanksgiving yet. But this time last year, I released the book, A Murder of Crows and Other Woes. In celebration of that one year anniversary, I am giving away twenty signed copies of the book. Enter to win at Goodreads!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Murder of Crows and Other Woes

by Shoshanah Lee Marohn

Giveaway ends November 25, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

And... stay tuned for the next big thing, coming very, very soon...

The Second Grade Challenge

Today was the big day! It's been in the works for months. I read A Murder of Crows and Other Woes to Little Z's second grade class and...

I was so nervous before, honestly. But at the end the kids had all sorts of questions, and then it was time for them to go home and they were all like,

"My favorite drawing was the hoola hoops!"

"My favorite drawing was the mosquitos on the finger!"

"My favorite was the giraffes!"

etc.

Little Z (my publicist) seemed quite content. She pointed out details her classmates might have missed (i.e. the "tree" is really the leg of a giraffe who appears after the page turn). They all said they could see that she was the model for the drawings. And her teacher is an artist, it turns out! She's thinking of changing over from second grade teacher to art teacher. Now I want to see her art.

I had to keep quiet about the fact that some of their parents had already purchased the book for them for Christmas. At least three parents from Little Z's class came to my book signing last Friday and bought copies, sans children. Today, I was thinking, Good thing you like my book, because that's what you're getting for Christmas! But I kept myself from saying it out loud. I did hint that I thought I had seen Santa Claus buy a few copies.  [Little Z goes around the house lately saying, "All I want for Christmas is something other than my mom's new book. I mean, I like it, but something else would be nice."]

After school, I went to Selah Vie coffee and tea house to drop off some books. They put up this poster in the window:

They're nice people at Selah Vie. 

All in all, a good day. 

A Murder of Crows and Other Woes Preview

It is 12:01 AM and that means A Murder of Crows and Other Woes, by yours truly, Shoshanah, has just become available.

Here is the book trailer for A Murder of Crows and Other Woes:

 

And here is another place you can buy it. 

"A Murder of Crows and Other Woes" Helps You Avoid Awkward Situations

Are you a child? Have you ever been a child? Do you know any children? Perhaps you saw a child once in a shop, and it piqued your interest? Or maybe you like funny pictures of animals? I have written a book for you! And it is now available for pre-order in its Kindle version. The Kindle version is actually quite nice. I spent a lot of time on it. You can click on phrases in the drawings, and the words pop up nice and BIG! Fancy and stuff.

Reserve your copy today! They're going fast! They're going like hotcakes! Don't delay! We're running out!*

The digital cover is elongated to match their silly format at Amazon. (I love you Amazon! Shout out!) The paper book is square, and is not as yet available for reserving. (I'm working on that. Stop texting me, Gerald. [I love you Gerald! Shout out to long-time reader Gerald!] November 25th, friends, is when the book will be released! November 25th!)

Less than $2 in full color digital format! 30 pages of fun!

Sometimes it's nice to have a kids' book on your Kindle, just in case you find yourself alone in the room with a child, and you sort of start to panic.What do you talk about? "Hey, have you ever read this book? It's about a kid like you who cuts school for two weeks and plays with deadly dangerous animals! Want to read it?"

So now I've done my good deed for the day. I've helped you deal with awkward situations with children. You're welcome.

* Technically, I suppose we will never run out of digital copies to download. But figuratively, you know... okay. I'm just lying about running out. 

A Band of Jays

This is just a rough draft. I know what you're thinking, though. What kind of band would have a pedal steel player and a harpist? * They're a blues band. And how could they be on the power cords, with all of those instruments? Well, I was going to pose them on the street, but I didn't want promote jaywalking.

A Murder of Crows and Other Woes comes out November 25th.

*Update: this kind:

A Scourge of Mosquitoes

Childish "Wanda" Font, Typed Onto Picture

"A Murder of Crows and Other Woes" comes out November 25.

Update (after comments) following suggestions:

More playful, I think, and also this is the right finger.

Toads

Two things seem, for technical reasons, to be best:

1. All of the backgrounds should be white, so it blends with the white pages of the Create Space formatting.

Little Z believes I need to add roads to go with the road sign. Criticism noted.

2. The words need to be part of a picture, so as to combine pictures and words, the way kids like. Otherwise, I can't have it be an ebook. (Ebooks don't mix pictures and words, at this point.) Not that it really needs to be an ebook, although I thought it would be nice.

I have been looking at children's books, and the words aren't usually too fancy... nevertheless I might end up typing them out. I can't decide.

And another thing:

3. I think it would be good for me to choose a drawing style, and stick to it! I'm narrowing it down. All of the drawings will be slightly different in the actual final version.

4. May I have your opinion? Typed words or hand written? Number two is hand written. Here is typed:

I didn't escape until a quarter to three

except that
A clutter of spiders was waiting for me
They spun their webs
Most vehemently
I didn’t escape 
Until a quarter to three
(The Scissors in my backpack
were what set me free.) 

... and 1 More Illustration for "A Murder of Crows and Other Woes," coming Nov. 25

Then a whole smack of jellyfish
Came stinging at me
I thought I was dead
Until I grabbed onto a tree

It's difficult to anthropomorphize jellyfish... so I didn't.

More Book Illustrations

I'm still working on some book illustrations for A Murder of Crows and Other Woes.


Oh, Daddy I wanted to go! 
The Monday before last
I remember it well
I had just finished breakfast
When I heard the school bell
I went running so fast, 
past the old Chestnut tree
(It’s a really nice way, I think you’ll agree)

My Personal Publicist Is Seven

A few weeks ago, as soon as I said I was writing a children's book, Little Z came up with a plan: I should write it and read it to her, make sure she likes it, and then read it to her class at school. If it plays well to her classmates, I can publish it. If not, I should rewrite it.

I did not necessarily entirely agree with this plan, but I knew I would end up going with it, because this is how she is. She is deaf to negativity. "Come upstairs and watch my play," she might say. "No," you might say. "Okay then," she will say back, "I'll see you upstairs in five minutes! And bring a kangaroo." That's just how she is.

Little Z is in second grade now. I ate lunch with her today at school. Heading down to the lunch room, two kids asked me whose grandma I was. Children are so sweet.

I ended up sitting between Little Z and a young man with a red mohawk (probably colored for the homecoming parade today). His teeth were a little too large for his head, having just grown in. Otherwise, he had the look and mannerisms of a personal banker.

"So, how's the book going?" he asked me, tilting his head and smiling. How does he know about the book? I wondered.

"Oh, fine. I wrote the text and now I'm working on the pictures."

"Are you going to read it to our class when you're done with it?"

"Um... sure. Yeah. It might be three or four weeks yet, before it's finished."

"Books take a long time to write," he said with a knowing nod. Clearly he had written several.

Birdie is waiting for her big debut.

I turned around to Little Z, who had just gotten a lunch lady with scissors to help her open her yogurt squirty thing .

"That boy asked me about my book," I said to her.

"Oh, yeah..." she blushed, "I may have mentioned it once or twice... or three... or four times."

The way she said it, I think she meant more like ten or twelve times.

I'm actually a little bit nervous. What if they don't like it?

A Tower of Giraffes

And then I was saved By a tower of giraffes Just in time for Saturday! Oh, we shared such laughs. For A Murder of Crows and Other Woes, a children's book for ages 7-adult, due to come out November 25.

A Murder of Crows

When they got over their fright
The crows named me “Otis”
I stayed there all night
And you didn’t even notice!

Part of a work in progress, A Murder of Crows And Other Woes, due for release November 25.

Text for "A Murder of Crows and Other Woes"

Here's the rough draft of that children's book I'm working on. It's not actually punctuated yet, because I don't actually know how to punctuate a rhyming story. English majors and other knowledgable folks, comment in the comments on this. This is really rough, but I feel like showing you all. (That's probably bad form. I try to do the wrong thing here as much as possible.) The final version will be illustrated, with one wacky picture for each type of animal which she encounters:

A Murder of Crows and Other Woes

My daughter, my sweet
I got a note from your teacher
And it wasn’t so neat
It said you’d missed school
For two weeks- a fortnight!
You shouldn’t miss school
You know that it’s not right
What could have happened?
Why didn’t you go?
I told her you’re a good girl
This couldn’t be so.
Love,
Dad

Oh, Daddy I wanted to go!
The Monday before last
I remember it well
I had just finished breakfast
When I heard the school bell
I went running so fast,
past the old Chestnut tree
(It’s a really nice way, I think you’ll agree)

except that
A clutter of spiders was waiting for me
They spun their webs
Most vehemently
I didn’t escape
Until a quarter to three
(The Scissors in my backpack
were what set me free.)

On Tuesday I left
With a spring in my step
Stepped out the door,
With a certain amount of pep
When a scourge of mosquitoes
Stung my right finger
I went on to school,
But I didn’t linger.
(Since I couldn’t write anyway,
on account of my finger.)

On the way to school on Wednesday,
I had the choice of two roads
And then while I was thinking
I saw a knot of toads
The toads told me stories
Until I fell fast asleep
And I dreamt of all their glories
Until I woke with a leap

The next day I decided
That I would carry my lunch
When a large gang of weasles
Came and hit me with a punch
They were clawing and gnawing
And nearly tore off my sleeve
But then while they were pawing
I managed to leave.

Friday I decided
That my safest bet
Would be to go to the shore
And swim with a net

Then a whole smack of jellyfish
Came stinging at me
I thought I was dead
Until I grabbed onto a tree

And then I was saved
By a tower of giraffes
Just in time for Saturday!
Oh, we shared such laughs.

On Monday, not daunted,
I swam the waters of dread
And found a fever of stingrays
Just hopped out of bed

I swam as the river flows
To that very same tree
Only to find a murder of crows
Pecking at me!

When they got over their fright
The crows named me “Otis”
I stayed there all night
And you didn’t even notice!

Tuesday, I saw no boats
And no sign of humanity
On Wednesday, a tribe of goats
Came and took back my sanity

With their bleating
They told me, “jump on my hide!”
And when they were done eating,
They would give me a ride
home to rest from my ordeal.
I let the goats be my guide.

On Thursday, I got dressed
And put on my shoes
I was rested and well
I was nimble and new
I went out the door,
And to my great surprise
I found a wisdom of wombats
With crazy blue eyes.
They showed me their secrets
And told me their names
And I played with them all day
And joined in their games.


But Friday was the most
Amazing of days
I went outside
And couldn’t see through the haze
When a band of jays
Came to show me the way
They mistook me for a gypsy
And told me to play
But I only knew one song
It was “Tommy Had One Ear”
And I only got done playing
Just in time to meet you here

Oh, Daddy dear, don’t judge me too harsh
I’ve had great adventures
I’ve travelled a marsh
I’ve learned to play music
And heard stories from toads
I’ve eaten with goats
And what I’ve learned was loads!

So I’ll go to school on Monday
I swear it;
You’ll see!
As long as no animals
Are looking at me.