Review #123: "I Love Ewe" and "Hug a Bull"

Dad:  Today we’re celebrating two new books:  “I Love Ewe” and “Hug a Bull”!

Elijah (age 7):  I want to tell everyone something.  These books are written by my dad.

Dad:  Does that seem strange?

Gracie (age 12):  It seems normal to me.

Elijah:  Lots of dads make books.

Dad:  They do?

Gracie:  These books would be good for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Dad:  Thanks, “Marketing Department!”

Gracie:  You’re welcome.

Isaac (age 14):  These are also “learning books.”

Elijah:  They are about Daddy and Mommy animals.  The books tell you their names.

Dad:  So, animal moms and dads have names.

Elijah:  Of course they have names!

Dad:  Names like “Mac” and “Thorin” and “Darleen”?
Elijah:  No those are just the names of my fish.  My fish that died. 

Dad:  You’ve had a lot of fish that have died.

Elijah:  Yeah.  Also my fish Bob.  And Bob 2.  And Bob 3.  And Burp.

Dad:  So what kind of names are in these books then?

Lily (age 10):  I know!  I know!  Boy and girl names.  They teach you lots of animal names you never knew before.  And some of them are fun to say – like “Gobbler.”  And “Peahen.”

Dad:  Let’s all say “Peahen” together.

Elijah:  And a mommy octopus is called a “Hen.”

Gracie:  The little baby octopus on this page is the cutest little thing ever!  He’s adorable.  And I’m falling in love with that little crab.  I love all the little underwater babies!

Lily:  I know another name!  Guess what a mommy cow is called?  A Rhino!  Wait – I mean a mommy rhino is called a Cow.

Dad:  Yeah – it doesn’t work in reverse.

Lily:  Hee hee hee!  A mommy cow is just called a Cow.

Dad:  Simple and confusing at the same time.

Isaac:  Is a girl goat called a “Hootin’ Nanny” or just a “Nanny”?

Dad:  Nanny. 

Isaac:  Because “Hootin’ Nanny” sounds awesome!

Dad:  Well, a hootenanny is like a southern… music… party… thing.  See, I made it into a pun for the book.  There's lots of puns and wordplay.

Gracie:  I hate puns.

Dad:  Oh!  A glowing endorsement for these books!

Gracie:  I do like the puns in these.  I only hate annoying puns.  Like when they are on Valentines cards.

Lily:  I just made up a rhyme: “The Mayor of Horse / is the Mare of course.”

Gracie:  Dad, you had to draw a horse for this book.  You hate drawing horses.  Which do you hate more?  Drawing horses or cows?

Dad:  Cows.

Gracie:  And you had to draw cows twice.  For the Ewe book and the Bull book.

Dad:  I had to do both of them twice.  A cow and a horse for each book.

Gracie:  Actually even more!  Parent cows and baby cows for both books.

Dad:  Four of each.  Wait – and then there are cows on the cover too.  And in the charts in back.  And on the title page.  Even more!

Gracie:  Poor Daddy.

Dad:  Six horses and nine cows all together.

Gracie:  Nine cows!!!

Lily:  I like drawing horses and cows.

Dad:  Well, I’ll have you do it next time!  I paid my horsie due.

Gracie:  Horsie doo?  That sounds disgusting.

Elijah:  I never noticed that it’s called “Hug a Bull” and there’s a Bull on the cover!

Lily:  You just thought it was because cows are huggable?

Elijah:  They hug and snuggle.

Dad:  How do you think cows hug each other?

Gracie:  They just rub together awkwardly.

Dad:  I had wanted to put an elephant Bull on the cover because it could hug with its trunk.  I think cows might just stab each other with their hoofs if they tried.

Lily:  Ouch.

Dad:  I almost put a turkey on the cover and called the book “Wobbly Gobbler.”  That’s what I originally wanted to do first.

Gracie:  That would not have been as good as “Hug a Bull.”

Dad:  But it’s so fun to say!  Imagine… “Here’s my book, “Wobbly Gobbler.”

Gracie:  It does match the title of your “Chuckling Ducklings” book better. 
Lily:  (flipping through the pages)  Kangaroos!  Boinggie – boinggie!  They are so cute!

Gracie:  Oh my word!  I love the little possums.  Every time I see your tiny animals, my heart melts into little possum puddles. 
Lily:  And this page has a baby mole!  We actually saw a little tiny mole once.  He was so cute!  Even though he was dead.  Remember when you ran over one with the car in the driveway?

Gracie:  The little donkey baby is adorable.

Lily:  He’s got Elijah-hair!

Gracie:  He does!  He does!  You made the donkeys look like Elijah!  The little donkeys have his hair and the same expression he gets all the time.

Elijah:  “Ee-honk!  Ee-honk!”

Gracie:  That is NOT a donkey noise!  I don’t know what that was.

Lily:  It’s more like a squeaky rocking chair.

Dad:  So now I’ve done a book about Baby animals, one about Moms, one about Dads…

Elijah:  Next you have to do Grandmas!

Dad:  I’m sure there’s a big list of grandma animal names out there.

Kids:  Ha ha ha!

Dad:  Well, thanks for the review, guys!

Lily:  (Starts rapping) 

  Pssh -- pssh -- pssh…

  This is a book

  Which is about

  Lots of fuzzy animals

  And they love to shout!

  It tells all the names

  In poems and rhymes

  And I love to read them

  All of the time!

Dad:  Word.

Lily:  It’s about Dads and Moms and such

  And barely any of them…. are… Dutch!

Kids:  Hah ha ha hah…

Dad:  How about:  Cows can’t hug

  But their heads can touch!

Gracie:  Yeah!

"Ee-honk!" by Elijah

 

 bull and calf, by Isaac

 

vixen, kit, and tod; by Gracie

vote Mare for Mayor, by Lily

Author/Illustrator:  Aaron Zenz
Published, 2013: Walker Books
Like them?  Here they are!


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This week, some wonderful blogs have highlighted "I Love Ewe" and "Hug a Bull."  I'm so very thankful!  I invite you to stop by and leave these folks some thoughtful comments:

Mon May 6:  Bookie Woogie
Tue May 7:  Reading to Know
Wed May 8:  Playing by the Book
Thu May 9:  Sharpread 
Fri May 10: City Book: Hug and Ewe
Sat May 11:  From the Mixed-up Files

Also very cool news!  "I Love Ewe" and "Hug a Bull" were featured on my favorite NPR program "A Way With Words"!  You can listen to the episode's intro below...

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And now time for a Giveaway!  Thanks for your support over the years!  Just leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered to win one of three prizes:

Prize Pack #1:  signed copies of "Hug a Bull" & "I Love Ewe" + three other books I've authored/illustrated: The Chimpanseeze, The Hiccupotamus (new in boardbook!), and Chuckling Ducklings (new in boardbook!)




Prize Pack #2:  signed copies of "Hug a Bull" & "I Love Ewe" + three other books I've illustrated:  Nugget on the Flight Deck, Skeleton Meets the Mummy, and Five Little Puppies Jumping on the Bed




Prize Pack #3:  signed copies of "Hug a Bull" & "I Love Ewe" + an original piece of artwork - crafted specially for you - depicting the animal of your choosing!  for example:




To be entered, just leave a comment here!  
The Giveaway will run through the end of the month, May 31, when we'll randomly select three winners.  Best of luck!

Review #99: Ribbit Rabbit

Lily (age 8):  "Ribbit Rabbit."
Isaac (age 12):  By Candace Ryan.  Illustrated by Mike Lowery.
Gracie (age 10):  I love the way he did those pictures.
Lily:  They kind of look like kid drawings.
Gracie:  They do.
Lily:  But they look like awesome kid drawings.
Gracie:  It's not just a scribble.
Isaac:  I've tried drawing like that before.  It's not as easy as it looks.
Lily:  The characters are cuties.
Gracie:  They are SO cute!
Isaac:  It's about this frog and this rabbit.
Gracie:  And Pillowcase Man.  He's awesome.  I love that Pillowcase Man.  It only shows him in two pictures.  But he's awesome.  The frog and the rabbit were making monsters while they played.  Pillowcase Man is just a blue pillow that they scribbled eyes, a mouth, and teeth on.  But he's awesome.
Dad:  So... Frog or Bunny?  Did you have a favorite?  Ribbit or Rabbit?
Gracie:  Rabbit.
Lily:  Ribbit.
Isaac:  Ribbit.  Rabbit!
Gracie:  Rabbit.
Lily:  Ribbit.  Ribbit.
Gracie:  RABBIT!
Isaac:  RIBBIT!  RABBIT!  RIBBIT!
Lily:  RIBBIT!
Dad:  Alright, alright...  Zip it!
Gracie:  Zap it!
Lily:  Zip it!  Zap it!
Isaac:  ZAP IT!
Dad:  Shhhh....  This is going to be the dumbest review ever...
Gracie:  Ha hah haa...
Dad:  But is it fun to talk like that?
Kids:  YEAH!
Dad:  So, can you tell what is going on with the word choices in this book?  "Ribbit" and "Rabbit."  What is different between those two words?
Gracie:  One vowel sound.
Dad:  How about "Trip it" and "Trap it"?
Gracie:  The vowel.  The author changes one vowel sound in the words.
Dad:  Can you make your own?
Gracie:  Wop it.  Wap it.
Isaac:  Wap it.  Whoop it.
Gracie:  Coop it.  Keep it.  Slip it.  Slap it.  Lily.  Lolly.  Shilly.  Sholly.  Gilly.  Golly.
Dad:  Gracie's on a roll.  Can we do the whole review like this?
Gracie:  Sure.
Dad: (pointing at the book)  Lookit.
Gracie: (pointing at herself)  Like it!
Dad:  How about this one... (pointing at Candace Ryan's name)  Wrote it.
Gracie: (pointing at herself again)  Read it.
Dad:  How did you like the book, Lily?
Lily:  Loved it.  Laughed it.
Dad:  Good one!  So the word play in the book is fun.  The pictures are fun.
Gracie:  They are so cute!
Dad:  Is there a storyline to the book?
Isaac:  The frog and the rabbit are best friends and they do all kinds of stuff together.
Gracie:  They should have another adventure with Pillowcase Man.
Isaac:  Then this robot they are playing with accidentally breaks.  And the frog and the rabbit each grab one part.
Gracie:  They are being selfish.  Dad... you picked this book out for us on purpose.
Dad:  Ha ha!  I didn't even notice that plot when I picked it!  I was attracted to the art and the wordplay.  Honestly, I looked at this book three or four times before I even realized there was a lesson inside.  What is the lesson?
Gracie:  Share.
Isaac:  Don't be selfish.
Gracie:  I still think you picked this book out on purpose.  Now Dad's going to make us be good.
Dad:  Encouragement can never hurt.
Gracie:  We try to be good.  Trust me.  I try and try and try, and it never works.
Dad:  Hang in there.
Gracie:  I took a personality quiz, and these were the exact words.  It said, "You should be a little more patient. You usually think about yourself, and you like to be the center of attention most of the time."
Dad:  Ha ha...  Hmmmm, that doesn't sound like you at all.
Gracie:  Yeah it does!
Dad:  But what did Frog and Bunny learn?
Gracie:  Things work better when you work together.
Dad:  Just like the author and illustrator had to work together to make this book.
Isaac:  Candace Ryan, are you the bunny or the frog?

kick it, crack it  - by Isaac

rock it, racket  - by Gracie

wake it, whack it  - by Lily

Author: Candace Ryan
Illustrator: Mike Lowery
Published, 2011: Walker
Like it?  Here it is

Review #89: Chuckling Ducklings

My first book, "The Hiccupotamus," came out 5 years ago.  Since that time I've had the pleasure of illustrating 10 additional books for other great authors.  Now at long last, I once again get to wear the author hat as well.  I'm happy to announce the recent release of "Chuckling Ducklings"!  The kids are excited to share the book with you from their perspective.  And we've got a Giveaway as well.  A super giveaway.  In fact, in the first round of entries, one in every five people will win something!  Be sure to read all the way to the end of the review for the details!  And now for a chat with the Z-Kids:


Lily (age 8):  This book is called "Chuckling Ducklings."
Gracie (age 10):  By Daddy Zenz!  It is adorable.  You have the cutest illustrations, Daddy.
Dad:  Well, thank-you my dear.  But perhaps you are biased.
Gracie:  I think it's the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Even if you weren't my dad, I would still say so.
Dad:  Aw, thanks.
Isaac (age 12):  Inside this book you'll find little baby animals.  The book tells kids about baby animals and their names in a cute, fun way.
Dad:  What are some of the baby animal names that most people would be familiar with?
Elijah (age 5):  A baby rabbit is a "bunny."
Lily:  A baby dog is called a "puppy," and a baby cat is called a "kitten."
Dad:  How about some surprising names?
Lily:  A baby llama is a "cria."  I didn't even know that.  I learned something.
Gracie:  I know all the baby names.  Because I memorized the book.
Dad:  Well, what about when I was first working on the book?
Gracie:  I didn't know a baby hare was called a "leveret."
Dad:  My absolute favorite word in the book is "puggle."  It might even be my favorite word in the world.
Gracie:  A "puggle" is a baby platypus.  Our new baby sister Maggie is a puggle too.  We called her Puggle when she was in the womb.  And, well, she also resembles a platypus.  Kind of.
Dad:  Ha ha ha...
Lily:  I like the picture of the cubs stacked up upon each other.
Gracie:  It's a cub tower.  They're adorable.
Isaac:  I like the baby raccoon cub.  He's awesome.
Elijah:  I like the tadpoles.  They look like they are playing tag and having fun.
Isaac:  I changed my mind.  I like the tadpoles.
Gracie:  Evie... there's an owl!
Evangeline (age 3): (gasp!)  Owl!
Isaac:  I changed my mind.  I like the baby eel -- the "elver."
Evangeline:  Owl, owl, owl, owl!  Owl!
Isaac:  I changed my mind again.  I like the big puffy bird.  I don't even know what it is.  Is it a vulture or something?
Gracie:  There are a whole bunch of birds boogie-ing by a tree.
Evangeline:  Owl!
Gracie:  Evie's favorite page is the one in the back.  The page that shows the heads of ALL the adorable baby animals from the book.
Lily:  It's like a chart.
Gracie:  "Giraffe -- Calf.  Goat -- Kid.  Goose -- Gosling."
Lily:  On the top it tells the kind of animal, and on the bottom it tells the baby name.
Gracie:  I like the chart too because you can see all the cuteness of the whole book together on just two pages.
Isaac:  The names are in alphabetical order on the chart.
Dad:  That way if someone is wondering, for instance, what a baby kangaroo is called, they can check the chart and see - "...H, I, J, K - Kangaroo.... Ah, it's called a 'joey.'"
Lily:  My favorite animal is the chuckling duckling.
Dad:  I know...  You are the duck girl!
Lily:  Yeah!
Dad:  What else is special about this book and you and ducks?  You and this book and ducks all come together somehow.
Lily:  I'm dedicated to it.
Dad:  Ha - you are dedicated to my book?  Or is the book dedicated to you?
Lily:  Ha ha ha hee hee... the book is dedicated to me!  I've loved ducks ever since I was little teeny two year old.
Gracie:  Even the lettering is fun in this book!  Most books have just flat sentences in columns.  But this book has bouncy lettering.
Dad:  Yep, that style of lettering was included in my initial mock-up pitch.
Gracie:  It adds to the fun, because the lettering does curves and jumps and is moving with the animals.  It's really active.
Dad:  How is "Chuckling Ducklings" different from "The Hiccupotamus"?
Isaac:  "The Hiccupotamus" is more cartoony and funny.  This one is more "educational" and "cute."
Gracie:  Hey Dad!  There's a purple hippo in this book too!
Dad:  I know.  I put him there.
Gracie:  A purple and pink hippo!
Dad:  Not very purple.  He's colored a bit more realistically.
Gracie:  Yeah, but he's cute.  And he's purple all the same.
Lily:  He's the Hiccupotamus' cousin.
Dad:  Do you have any memories from when I was working on this book?
Lily:  I remember going up into your office every morning to see all the pictures.
Dad:  Yes, I work at night while the house is quiet.
Isaac:  Every morning we'd go up there to see what picture you drew while we were sleeping.
Gracie:  I can remember you looking up baby pigeon pictures and trying to find a way to take the ugliest bird in the world and make him cute.  No offense to all you pigeon lovers.
Dad:  Many baby animals are not naturally very cute.  And some animals were more challenging to make cute than others.  The toughest was the baby pigeon.
Isaac:  Baby pigeons are the ugliest things ever.
Gracie:  Everyone... look up a baby pigeon on the internet.  You'll see why.
Lily:  It makes me want to throw up.
Gracie:  But Dad did a good job.  His baby pigeon is adorable.
Isaac:  Didn't you once have a crocodile in this book instead of the porcupine?
Dad:  Yep, but there was a mistake in the book.  I said that a baby crocodile was a "crocklet," but it wasn't true.  I had gotten some bad information.
Gracie:  What is it really called?
Dad:  A "hatchling."  And I already had some other hatchlings in the book - the baby tortoises.  So we swapped the crocodile out for a baby porcupine.  But it had been very cute.  It was a baby crocodile with a ton of baby mice sleeping on his head.
Gracie:  But you can't do a ton of little mice sleeping on a porcupine!  That would hurt.
Dad:  They'd get skewered.
Gracie:  Awwwwahhhh!
Isaac:  I remember when you did the endpapers.  You had to go to the store for colored paper.  And all the paper was bent!
Dad:  That's right!  I forgot about that.  All the yellow paper had big creases in it.  You and I went through every single piece to find the ones with the least amount of wrinkles in them.
Isaac:  And the ones we picked out still had a lot of folds in them.
Dad:  Fortunately it doesn't show in the final prints.  Also interesting, that was the first time I've ever used my colored pencils on colored paper.
Isaac:  And it worked out great.
Dad:  I figured it was safe to experiment with colored paper since it was just endpapers.  Now that I know how it looks, I'll have to do it again sometime.
Gracie:  I bet you would have loved to use colored paper on the pages with underwater animals.  The backgrounds are all blue.  I remember you coloring in all that water.  You were sighing, and you were only one third of the way done.
Dad:  It did take a long time.  But you're right - now that I know colored paper works fine, I'd probably use that instead.
Isaac:  How long did it take?
Dad:  It took one hour just for half a page of blue background.  So for a two page spread...
Gracie:  Four hours!?!
Dad:  Yep, four hours to lay down the blue, and then another hour to touch up the edges around where the animals and background met up.  So five hours just for the blue background.
Lily:  Wow.  I could not stand that.
Dad:  Colored pencil art is a lengthy process.  At least the way I do it.
Gracie:  You did the pictures with Prismacolor colored pencils.
Isaac:  They are better than any other kind of colored pencil.  But they are really expensive.
Dad:  Should we wrap this up?
Isaac:  Please, please buy the book!
Gracie:  So we can afford food!
Dad:  Ha ha ha... Every purchase of a book feeds a Z-Kid for a day...
Gracie:  Hey Dad, can you give us a new scoop on what your next book is going to be?  I already know what it is.  But can you give the readers out there a scoop?
Dad:  Well, "Chuckling Ducklings" is the first book in a series -- at least two more books are coming, hopefully even more after that.  This one was about baby animal names.  The next one is going to be about "daddy" animal names -- like bull, boar, and gander.  And paired with that book will be one about "mommy" names -- like doe, ewe, and hen.  So there's more animal fun coming along!  How's that for a "scoop"?
Gracie:  That's a good scoop!  I was talking like a reporter there.  Gracie Zenz, signing out!

bear cub, tortoise hatchlings, hummingbird chick, lamb, and duckling; by Lily

oyster spat and tortoise hatchling, by Isaac

humming bird chick, cub tower, and pinky; by Gracie

seal pup, by Elijah

Author/Illustrator:  Aaron Zenz
Published, 2011:  Walker Books
Like it?  Here it is!!!


Time for the Great Chuckling Duckling Giveaway!

It's not every day that your second authored book comes into the world!  To celebrate the release of "Chuckling Ducklings" and to thank our great readers, we're giving away some one-of-a-kind prizes.  To be entered, just leave a comment.  Easy-peasy!

Within that comment simply mention your favorite animal.  Each randomly selected winner will receive an original sketch by Aaron Zenz depicting a baby version of your animal!  Make sure your contact email is accessible (either by clicking the link back to your own profile page, or included in your comment.)  One entry per person/email.

We'll select a winner out of every 5 comments.  Yes!  One in five!  So... one person from comments 1-5 will win some original art.  One person from comments 6-10 will also win.  On and on, every five comments.  If by chance we get up beyond 100, at that point the count will continue on at one out of every 10 comments.

On top of that, we will randomly select THREE people to win a signed copy of "Chuckling Ducklings"!  The Giveaway will end on March 20 with an announcement of the winners.  Good luck!  Spread the word!

Update: see the winners here!

Interview #2: Patricia Newman

I recently had the privilege of illustrating a wonderful book written by Patricia Newman called "Nugget on the Flight Deck."  As is typical, Author and Illustrator didn't have contact with each other during the book's creation.  We've emailed back and forth a bit since the project's completion, but we hadn't had a conversation -- until now.  I thought for Bookie Woogie's  One Year Anniversary, it would be fun for the kids and I to have a conference call chat with Mrs. Newman about our new book!

(Portait of Mrs. Newman by Gracie)

We've got a treat to start this post off...  A few months ago Mrs. Newman wrote to say that she was putting together a trailer for the book, and she wondered if one of my kids would like to narrate.  I taped both Isaac and Grace reading the script in order to give her a couple of recordings to choose from.  Well, she couldn't bring herself to pick one over the other, and she ended up making two versions of the trailer!  So before our review and interview, here are both the Isaac and Gracie versions of the trailer for your viewing (and listening!) pleasure:






Dad:  Alright guys, why don't you first tell our readers about Mrs. Newman's two books, "Nugget on the Flight Deck" and "Jingle the Brass."  One is about aircraft carriers, and one is about trains -- but how are they similar?
Isaac (age 11):  You learn all about this stuff -- these fancy words.  These books teach people about different words.  Jargon.
Dad:  Give me an example of pilot's jargon...
Lily (age 6):  A "meatball" is this light that helps a plane to land.  It tells the plane if it is too low and is going to bonk into the ship, or too high and pass over the ship.
Dad:  What about the names for the different jobs on a carrier?
Lily:  "Yellow Shirt," "Green Shirt," "Blue Shirt," "Red shirt," and "Grape!"
Gracie (age 9):  You'd think they would call it Purple Shirt, but it's "Grape!"
Dad:  Do you remember what job the Grapes do?
Gracie:  Fill the planes with gas?
Dad:  Woo!  Good memory...
Gracie:  I'm a lucky guesser, baby!
Dad:  Mrs. Newman is very talented.  It could have been boring writing about jargon...
Isaac:  But it's really cool!  She made "Nugget on the Flight Deck" into a story.  A really exciting, cool story.
Lily:  Nugget on the Flightdeck is about a little boy named Nugget.
Dad:  Now, do you think his real name is "Nugget"?
Gracie:  Nooooo.
Isaac:  "Nugget" is his name because he is a new recruit.  "New recruit" on the flight deck.
Gracie:  But his real name is "Filipino McGravy."
Dad:  Filipino?
Gracie:  Ha ha ha ha HA!
Lily:  The Lieutenant takes him around the ship.  And then they sail off in a plane!  Then another plane comes and they do a "dog fight."
Isaac:  A "dog fight" is an air battle.
Dad:  Yep - so there's another jargon word we learned.  Would you like to go up in a plane and have a practice dog fight?
Gracie:  I don't want to pull no G's!
Dad:  Ha, ha, ha...  Tell every one what it means to "Pull G's."
Gracie:  A "G" is the force that brings you back to earth.  Gravity.  A "G" is also me -- Gracie!
Dad:  So does "Pulling G's" mean I get to yank on you?
Gracie:  Gravity is pushing on you.  1 G is gravity.  So imagine 12 G's pushing on you!
Dad:  So if you are pulling G's that means you feel the force of gravity extra strong.
Gracie:  The force is with you!
Dad:  Good job guys!  Now it's time to share our interview...  And who are we talking to today?
Gracie:  Patricia Newman!
Dad:  Yes, Mrs. Newman.  It's nice to talk to you!
Patricia Newman:  It's nice to talk to you guys!  I have heard your voices once before...
Gracie:  (Giggle giggle)
Patricia Newman:  Do you remember when?
Dad:  Remember when you guys did the trailers....
Gracie:  I was talking about the book!  With Isaac.
Patricia Newman:  That's exactly right.  Thank-you for doing that.
Gracie:  You're welcome.
Dad:  Did you guys like reading for those trailers?
Isaac:  It was fun!
Dad:  We had to record it a lot of times, didn't we?
Isaac:  I kept sneezing.
Dad:  And there were a couple of tricky words that were hard to pronounce.
Gracie:  "Jargon."  I could never say "jargon."
Patricia Newman:  Well, I think you guys did a great job.  And I've shown the trailer to a lot of my friends, and they love it.
Gracie:  Yea!
Lily:  Can I talk too?
Dad:  Sure... you can talk.  What do you want to say, Lil?
Lily:  How did you learn about the plane stuff and the train stuff?
Dad:  Oo - Lily is launching right in with a question, right off the bat.
Patricia Newman:  The plane stuff and the train stuff...  Well, let's start with the "train stuff" since that book came first.  I live in Sacramento near a railroad museum.
Lily:  Awwww!
Patricia Newman:  I was walking around the museum one day, and I got an idea for a book -- but for much older kids, like a novel.  So I started to do some research.  I went back to the library that the railroad museum has, and I talked to a retired railroad engineer - a man who actually drove locomotives.  He took me on a tour of the railroad yard...
Gracie:  Sweet!
Patricia Newman:  And he started using all these cool words like "bending the iron" and "putting on the nosebag" and "eggs with headlights" and "on the plush."  And I thought those words sounded really fun.  So I put aside my long chapter book for older kids, and I decided to write "Jingle the Brass."
Gracie:  Cool.
Patricia Newman:  Then for "Nugget on the Flight Deck" I thought, "Well, train engineers have such cool sounding jargon - or lingo - or slang.  Maybe pilots do too."  So I called a friend of mine, Dennis Fitzpatrick, who was a pilot on board an aircraft carrier for the Navy, and he answered all of my questions.  He's taken off and landed on a carrier hundreds of times.  Plus, my neighbor across the street was an Air Force pilot, and he taught me a lot about flying.
Gracie:  Wow - you were lucky to have all those people near you.
Patricia Newman:  I was lucky.  But you know, if you keep your eyes open, I bet you'll find people that you can use as experts for your ideas too.
Gracie:  Do you like writing books?
Patricia Newman:  I love writing books.  I think it's a lot of fun.  But it's a lot of hard work too.  Sometimes when things are going really well, I make myself laugh when I write, and I think "Oh man!  I'm having the greatest time!  This is so much fun!"  But on some days I think, "Oh, this is just too hard...  I never want to do this again...  I'm going to stop..."
Gracie:  Does that mean you're not going to make any more books?
Patricia Newman:  Oh -- no!  In fact, I already have two more books that I sent to my agent.
Gracie:  Writing is hard work for us too.
Dad:  What if Mrs. Newman had quit?  We wouldn't have these great books, would we?
Gracie:  Aghhhhh!
Dad:  Does that encourage you to keep trying even if it's hard?
Lily:  Yep!
Patricia Newman:  I have a question for Gracie and Isaac and Lily...  What do you think it feels like to land a plane on an aircraft carrier?
Isaac:  Bumpy.
Gracie:  Bumpy!
Lily: (starts bouncing up and down)
Gracie:  It would hurt!
Patricia Newman:  I don't know if it hurts -- because pilots are strapped in pretty well with their seat belt harnesses...
Lily:  And their tight flight pants!
Patricia Newman:  But it is extremely bumpy.  I talked to one pilot...  do you guys know what a blender is?
Gracie:  Our grandma has one.  She makes awesome peach smoothies.
Lily:  Yeah!
Patricia Newman:  Well, I talked to one pilot who said landing on an aircraft carrier is like being in a blender.
Gracie:  That would hurt!  A blender has sharp knives!
Dad:  I don't think he meant painful -- probably just shaky.
Patricia Newman:  What things are moving when a pilot lands?
Gracie:  The plane.
Patricia Newman:  Do you know what else is moving?  The carrier is on the water, and the waves are rolling it back and forth.
Dad:  Yeah guys, it's not like landing in a parking lot.  The pilot is landing on a surface that is bouncing all over the place.  There are lots of exciting things about flying a plane -- even the landing!  So guys, do you have a favorite part from "Nugget on the Flight Deck"?
Gracie:  The words.
Dad: (laughing)  The words???  Hey now...
Gracie:  Yeah!
Patricia Newman:  Do you mean the pilot jargon?
Gracie:  Yes!  Jargon!
Patricia Newman:  I like those too, Gracie.
Dad:  How about you, Isaac?
Isaac:  Probably the jargon.
Lily:  Yeah, I like jargon too.
Isaac:  And the pictures.
Dad:  Ha, ha -- Good boy...   Now, I also love jargon.  It feels so close to nonsense, and you know I love nonsense words.  Why do you guys like the jargon?
Gracie:  Because they are silly words!
Patricia Newman:  What are some of the silly words in the book that you like?
Dad:  What about the word "Nugget"?  That word has special meaning for our family, doesn't it...
Gracie:  That's what we called Elijah while he was in Mommy's tummy.
Dad:  Yeah - that was our nickname for him while he was in utero.
Gracie:  We called him Nugget!  Nuggie, nuggie, nugget!
Dad:  And the kids also have a second blog - an art blog - with "Nugget" in the title...
Gracie:  Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty!
Patricia Newman:  Chicken Nugget Lemon... what?
Gracie:  Tooty!
Patricia Newman:  Tooty?
Dad:  Ha ha... So there's some Zenz family jargon for you...
Patricia Newman:  Yeah, I guess so!
Gracie:  Did you ever get really worried about how the pictures were going to look because you weren't making them?
Patricia Newman:  I have pictures in my head when I write my stories, but they are not very detailed pictures.  So when I send my story to my editor, I trust my editor to pick out great artists... like Mr. Aaron Zenz...
Gracie:  Daddy!
Patricia Newman: ...artists who can make the stories come to life.  So I have a lot of faith in the illustrators who are assigned to my books -- I know they are going to do a great job.
Dad:  Do you kids have any particular memories of me working on this book?
Isaac:  I do.  You made me pose and keep changing poses for the very last picture.
Dad:  That's right - I forgot -- you did pose for that one.  So I could get the salutes right.
Isaac:  You had to keep moving me and making me put my hand up higher... then lower...
Patricia Newman:  Isaac, do you look like Nugget?
Isaac:  Uhhh...  Dad, do I?
Dad:  Not really.  Isaac is a blondie.
Gracie:  Everybody in the family is a blondie.  Except for Mommy and Daddy.
Dad:  I gave Nugget red hair because most of the book is full of gray and blue -- all those cold colors of sky and ship and water.  I was looking for every opportunity I could find to splash some brighter colors in there.  That was the reason for giving him red hair.
Patricia Newman:  Well I love his red hair.
Gracie:  Dad!  Is that why you made the outfits on the Red Shirt and the Green Shirt and the Yellow Shirt and the Grape so bright?
Dad:  They are bright.  Probably brighter than they would actually be in real life.  But yes.  That's to help add some popping color in there.
Patricia Newman:  I visited a school the other day...  I told the kids at the school that your dad used up 72 pencils and broke 161 pencil points drawing "Nugget."
Dad:  Yep.  That's become a quirk of mine...  I always save the broken tips from each project and count them up at the end.  I have little plastic baggies with the pencil tips from every project that I've worked on.
(Laughter from all)
Dad:  I label them -- I have a "Hiccupotamus" bag full of broken pencil tips, and I have a "Nugget on the Flight Deck" bag full of tips...
Lily:  And a "Howie" bag!  And guess what - he has this little wooden wishing well thing, and whenever pencil tops fall off he saves them.
Dad:  Yep - that's my spot for the tips from all my miscellaneous art that isn't for a specific book.  That one is filled almost to the top by now.
Patricia Newman:  Do you kids know which picture in "Nugget on the Flight Deck" is my favorite?
Lily:  Which one?!
Patricia Newman:  My favorite is the one where the aircraft is landing on the carrier.  It's still in the air, it hasn't quite touched down yet... but it's coming in, and everything looks a little crooked and it kind of makes my stomach feel queasy...
Gracie:  You mean the picture with the "meatball"?  The light?  The yellow light?
Patricia Newman:  Yep - the one with the meatball.
Gracie:  When we read the book earlier today I said, "What if the Grape Shirt was holding the meatball?"
Patricia Newman: (laughter)
Dad:  She thought that would be funny... a grape holding a meatball.
All: (laughter)
Patricia Newman:  That is funny.
Lily:  I'm going to make a picture about that!
Patricia Newman:  I'd like to see a picture of that too.
Gracie:  I have one last question.
Patricia Newman:  What's up, Grace?
Gracie:  Which is your favorite book?  "Nugget on the Flight Deck" or "Jingle the Brass"?
Patricia Newman:  Well, let me answer your question with a question, and we'll see if you understand what I'm saying.  Who is your father's favorite child?  Gracie, Isaac, or Lily?
(long pause)
Gracie:  I get it... (giggle giggle giggle)
Patricia Newman:  It's too hard to choose.  I love them both.
Gracie:  Hee hee hee hee...
Patricia Newman:  She's giggling...  I can hear her.
Gracie:  Thank-you for letting us interview you!
Patricia Newman:  You are welcome!  I'm really glad you guys called me today.  Thank you very much.
Lily:  Guess what.
Dad:  Oh, I guess Lily's not done yet...
Lily:  We got a new captain's bed.
Patricia Newman:  A new bed?
Dad:  Ha ha ha...  that's random.  Yep.  The girls got a new trundle bed.  We still have to put it together.  The boxes are sitting in our living room.
Lily:  It's called a "captain's bed"!
Patricia Newman:  Well if it's called a captain's bed, when you get on it at night, you'll have to say, "Permission to come aboard, Captain?"
Dad:  You can pretend you are on an aircraft carrier!
Patricia Newman:  Right!
Lily:  I want to be Nugget!  I'm a nugget!

Lt. Gutts and Nugget, by Gracie

suited up, by Lily

F/A-18 and carrier, by Isaac

bonus!  Grape holding a meatball, by Lily

Author: Patricia Newman
Illustrator: Aaron Zenz
"Nugget on the Flight Deck" published Fall 2009: Walker Books
Like it? Please find it!


Time for a Giveaway!

How would you like to win a copy of "Nugget on the Flight Deck"?  In celebration of the book's release and the 1 year anniversary of Bookie Woogie, we're giving away a copy -- hot off the press -- signed by both Patricia Newman and myself.  To enter, just leave a comment on this post between now and November 15, and we'll randomly select a winner!  Good luck!