Mimi Power and Magnifico: an author's blog

Is there anything worse for a reader than finishing the last book in a beloved series? We wouldn't mind so much, if only more books for young readers showed the same care and attention to words and pictures that Monika Bang-Campbell and Molly Bang do together in  Little Rat . After all the big sighs, Daughter Number Two still had a few questions about our new favourite furry heroine. So, with a little help, she posed them in an email to the author herself. Here is what we heard back.  Why did Pee Wee chase the cat? Pee Wee does NOT chase cats, he is scared of cats. All horses are scared of sudden movements they don't understand, because they are "prey" animals - in other words, they don't chase after other animals to eat them but instead are eaten by creatures like wolves and coyotes and jaguars and lions and bears and . . . So they are scared by things we feel are very safe, like a running little cat or an umbrella suddenly opening  up. Was Pee Wee a...

In My Heart by Molly Bang This is the time of year when I recommend to every working mother I know In My Heart by Molly Bang. It sits on our living room shelf year round, but if one has need for the ultimate Valentine, then this would be it. "Hearts abound" wrote one reviewer, and they are all full to bursting.

I've been thinking a lot lately about Nobody Particular while scanning the paper for the latest on the oil leak into the Gulf. Everyone's attention span these days is like a computer, with multiple windows open, one of them constantly fixed on a little window on that leaking pipe and whether or not they've fixed that gushing catastrophe. When the top kill operation failed, something very dark settled in my mind. And that is when a remembered Nobody Particular . Molly Bang's unique rendering of the story of Diane Wilson and her fight to protect the Texas bays from rampant chemical pollution. The story is often dark, and takes discouraging turns, which in real life must have been unimaginably difficult for Wilson. My 11-year-old daughter read our copy of Nobody Particular book after school this afternoon. When I asked her what she thought of Diane, she said, "I think she's strong". (I thought "brave", close enough!) It will take many strong Dian...