I feel much better today, but am still hovering on the edge of the crud. (note - I originally misspelled that as "xrud." I think it works better that way.) BH has had it worse than me. I think another 24 hours of solitude and we'll be all set.

I am feeling just xruddy enough that I have even less focus than usual. So this will be a random and disjointed entry.

Angela wrote to me on my Facebook: What do you think of the new AmazonKindle and the virtual road down which books have now turned? Do you think this is really the end of the printed word, like so many techies do? ... cannot imagine not having an actual "book" in my hand to read.... Troubling, I feel. Your insights would be much appreciated."

I think that Amazon should give me a Kindle so I can really explore this. They gave one to Neil Gaiman, but then they took it back. That was rather ungrateful of them.

Will Kindle-like devices take the place of paper-based books? Yep, I believe they will. But do not rend your garments or gnash your teeth. The concept of Story isn't going anywhere. It is encoded into our DNA. It's just that when technology changes, the vehicle for Story changes and that makes some folks uncomfortable for a while. And then we adjust. I suspect that the need to preserve forests combined with a generation of computer-friendly kids will make paper-based books into historical artifacts. If it helps bring the planet back into balance, I'm all for it.

A note from a Hungarian reader living in Malaysia came in the other day. Yeah, that's what I said. A Hungarian reader in Malaysia. How cool is that? She read SPEAK and was finishing up PROM for her English 10 class. She wrote " I loved Prom, too, though for entirely different reasons. To me, it shed some light onto the lives of "ordinary, everyday" teen-life in Philadelphia. You wouldn't believe the 'bubble' I'm coming from! :)"

Congratulations to the Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team for winning Nationals for the second year in a row!!!

Middle school teachers - you want to read this review of Teri Lesesne's new book, " Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong Readers".



SPEAK at Nottingham was fabulous.

In large part, because the director, Ginny Fennessy, and the cast and crew put so much energy into it. Thank you!

NB: A number of teachers have written asking for information about putting on SPEAK at their schools. Steve Braddock, the playwright, and my publisher will be working out the details of this soon. I expect to post information about how to obtain the proper rights and scripts by the end of January.

Last, but not least, The Creature With Fangs (who now has an album on my Facebook and her own Dogbook account - sigh) completely killed the toy Meredith bought her at Thanksgiving.

The CWF hates to chew hard things, even though she has great teeth. Fangs. She loves to chew soft things. Problem - soft things are easily destroyed. Does anyone know about an indestructible soft chew toy for large beasts?