Mimi Power and Magnifico: an author's blog

Christmas came for me in November this year, when Magnifico won the 2008 F.G. Bressani prize in the novel category. I was thrilled to be able to attend the awards ceremony at the Italian Cultural Centre (can you see it in my face?). A few days later, I gave an email interview to Anna Foschi, founder of the prize. Here's what she asked, and my replies: What was your first reaction when you learned that you had won the 2008 Bressani prize for the novel category? I am tremendously glad that there is such a prize that connects heritage with literature. For me, the Bressani award is an affirmation of time well spent. It makes me feel that the year I lived every extra moment working on the story was worthwhile. Once a book is published, it goes beyond the author and all that matters is whether it captures the reader’s heart and interest. A prize says this must have happened with the jurors, and they have discovered a book they would like others to know about. There is something else,...

By now you know what a bad blogger I am, that it has to be a really BIG deal to get me to update my blog. Anyone who's done a Barbie cake for the first time knows what I'm talking about. You can't wait for the party to be over so you can throw a picture up on the web, even if your blog is about books, you will do anything to diverge from the subject and show your Barbie cake to the world. There are dozens of websites chronicling the trials and tribulations of doing a Barbie cake. This is just my proof that if I can do it, you can to! All it takes is about $60 of upfront supplies (you could do it for less, but if you are like me and have fear of failure, you will buy more supplies than you need) a night to bake and then the next night to decorate. Give not up if the first hour of decorating leads to a steady strain of self recriminations of the "why did I decide to do this" and mental comparisons to the much better cakes your mother made for you. Persevere! It'...

Remember the feeling you had in school waiting for the cast list to come out, in the hopes you were on it? Or the posting of the honour roll? Making the first string of the basketball team? (I imagine this feels the same, but definitely can't say from experience). Well, when the 2008/09 Red Cedars were announced, that's how I felt. I've wistfully studied the annual Red Cedar poster for years now, hoping that Magnifico would share in the limelight one day. And it has!! I'm thrilled! Of course, the wonderful but dreaded "Cheese Pirates" have made an appearance as well. "Hamish X" won the Manitoba Young Readers Book Award, a well-deserved triumph, which nonetheless gave me my first experience with Magnifico in the truth that it's enough to be nominated. Same feeling with the outcome of the Chocolate Lily awards and Rocky Mountain Book Awards. Still, it's been a great ride for Magnifico , peaking with this year's Red Cedars--the fourth li...

Left to right, this year's Henry Bergh award-winning authors : Barbara Cole; Mary Alice Monroe; Helen Wilbur; Beth Finke; Maribeth Bolts; Sue Ann Alderson; Me; Joanne Ryder and a very talented book designer of "Ape" whose name slips my mind (very sorry!). I was so impressed by these authors. Beth Finke is not only beautifully dressed in this picture, but had us all in stitches with her straight-up sense of humour about life with a seeing-eye dog. It was lovely to see Sue Ann Alderson , also from Vancouver and a talented author on Tradewind Books list. Vancouver has a very close community of children's book writers but I haven't seen Sue Ann in a few years, so it was especially nice to be reunited with awards in our hands. Mary Alice Monroe is the talented novelist of some beautiful books, including "Time is a River" which I borrowed from the North Vancouver Public Library and thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks to Joanne Ryder for reminding us all of the impo...

One of the events the ASPCA treated authors of this year's Henry Bergh books was a chance to visit and read at the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA), a local Anaheim animal shelter, on June 29th. So if I look a little flushed in this picture, well, it was warm and I was unlucky enough to have come down with stomach flu the day before. Proceeds from the sale of the books that day were donated to SEAACA and benefit homeless animals in the area. It's an absolutely lovely shelter and every inch is immaculate, what a great refuge the staff provide for those animals. We learned later that they have a very high adoption rate, no surprise in such a welcoming place. The real surprise of the day was "Henry", a little black dog on the loose on the streets of Anaheim. He was running in such a confused and startled way we could tell he hadn't just raced ahead of his owner, he was definitely on his own, skittish and scared. We spotted him when we were just a fe...

A big thank you to the Canadian Children's Book Centre for including Old Mother Bear on their list of Best Books for Kids and Teens 2008 . Molly and I very much appreciate the affirmation!

Years ago, when "Sea Otter Pup' received an "Our Choice" seal from the Canadian Children's Book Centre, a little boy at a school reading pointed to it--I think he was too young to read--and said, "that means it's GOOD!" Exactly. Old Mother Bear now has her own seal of approval, the 2007 Henry Bergh Award from the ASPCA for the category of fiction, ecology & environment. The ASPCA's definition of "GOOD", in Henry Bergh terms, is "to honor books that promote the humane ethic of compassion and respect for all living things." In doing a little "who was Henry Bergh?" research, I came upon this quote attributed to him "Mercy to animals means mercy to mankind." It is one more way we find our humanity, when we extend kindness beyond our own species. I'm so glad "Old Mother Bear" is seen to have done this. So glad.

I'm so excited to be going to the ALA. The ASPCA has invited me, along with all the other winners of a 2007 Henry Bergh Children's Book Awards for Excellence in Humane Literature. I'll be there representing "Old Mother Bear". Anyway, I went to the ALA's website to see who's speaking at the conference and found this cute little graphic in the process. I also found out Dianne Carroll will be the closing speaker. Too bad I'll be on a plane home when she steps up to the podium. I would have loved to have heard her, I had a "Julia" doll when I was about 7, the best Barbie ever!

"Seeds of anemone from far away" That's one of the last lines in Old Mother Bear and I was reminded of it recently, on a visit to Leeds Castle in England. Behind me in this picture is an anemone meadow. I recognized it instantly from my imagination. Husband did as well, and patiently worked around the tourists to create my new author photo.

This is probably the cyber-equivalent to scrawling my phone number on the wall of a public washroom stall, but here goes... Rumours are swirling out there that there's film interest in Magnifico ! I always thought it should be a movie and it sounds like there's at least one producer out there who agrees. I hope they call soon to talk to me, or my agent at Curtis Brown. We are keen! An Italian-Canadian family story, a plucky 11 year old, a handsome accordion teacher, a "royal" time in history, a dramatic underground survivor story and a tale of two countries--leaving Italy and coming to Canada -- with a superstar musical instrument at the heart of it all, well, sounds like a movie to me! I hope we get this sorted out soon so I can uncross my fingers!

  The youngest "reader" in our household.

"For as long as he could remember, Eli Edward Earnest had dreamed of being a chief of chocolate...a captain of cocoa...a chocolatier." from: The Chocolatier's Apprentice; Echo Memoirs, 2007. Talk about a plum assignment. Last year, Purdy's Chocolates in Vancouver was looking for a unique way to celebrate their upcoming 100 year anniversary and support a charitable endeavour at the same time. In collaboration with the company Echo Memoirs, they came up with the the idea of a children's book, and illustrator Lee Fodi and I took it from there. Pounds of chocolate were consumed in the process, but you do what you have to for a story. I'm pretty sure I sampled everything they make, a few even plucked (with permission) fresh from the conveyor belt. And I had a wonderful time with the Purdy's people, who inspired, from their own experiences, many of the scenes in the story. Eli stacking four thousand pounds of peanuts? That was chocolatier "Todd" of Tod...

Old Mother Bear I will not tell you how many years this book was in the making, I think it broke a record. But was it ever worth the wait. Molly Bang has outdone herself with the most extraordinary bear picturebook imagery I have ever seen. And believe me, I've looked at a lot. This is one beautiful bear family, but Old Mother is the best of all. Happy New Year!

What a launch! In June, we celebrated the launch of "Magnifico" at The Secret Garden tea room in Vancouver with family, friends and a performance by special guest, accordionist-extraordinaire, Joe Morelli.

"In my heart" by Molly Bang I was so fortunate to be able to read the text of "In my heart" long before its 2006 release as a picturebook. Fortunate, not just for the privilege from Molly, but also because, at the time, Roo was only three years old, and just beginning what would add up to be two and a half years of daycare. There must be countless blog entries on the minor morning heartbreak of the daycare drop-off, and the feeling of all put back together that comes with the afternoon pick-up. How many days did I go round that circle? Hundreds. And early on came these words from Molly, that begin "In my heart": "You know how every morning, I put on my shoes and coat, kiss you good-bye, And walk out the door? Well just as I'm leaving, I feel something in my heart. I look inside, And what do you think I find? You! Right here in my heart." Roo and I memorized that the very night the story landed in my email. And the next day, during the ride ho...

Okay, I know you can read a review of it below, which gives you a plotline as well. But I came across this summary from the publisher, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, which is a nice straight line through the story. Magnifico a novel by Victoria Miles (ages 11+) Mariangela dreams of playing the piano, but when she arrives home from school one day to find a curious-looking suitcase in the living room, she has a sneaky suspicion that she can no longer hide from her 'some-a day inheritance' Waiting for her in the suitcase is her grandfather's old accordion. Her Nonna is thrilled, and Mariangela, well--she wanted a piano! ...instead she finds herself pulling the old, ugly accordion behind her on a red wagon--the only way she can get to her lessons--through the streets of Vancouver. How embarrassing! Even her handsome accordion teacher, all the more intriguing for his missing two fingers, can't inspire a passion in Mariangela for the instrument. What does interest her though, is ...

Every reviewer picks up on something different. And they are all right! If you're curious about the plot of "Magnifico" this review, from May's Quill & Quire describes it better than I can (no authors don't write their own flap jacket summariesthat tricky work is the job of the editor). Magnifico Victoria Miles; $19.95 cloth 1-55041-960-9, $11.95 paper 1-55041-991-9, 262 pp., 5x8, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, May (ages 11+) Reviewed from unbound galleys Victoria Miles, already known as a science writer, turns her hand to historical fiction in this novel, set in 1930s Vancouver. Although she has asked for a piano, Mariangela Benetti finds that her grandmother and parents expect her to play her deceased grandfather's accordion, lovingly transported to Canada when the family emigrated from Italy. She resists with all her might, despite the jaunty playing of her music teacher, an Italian immigrant and ex-miner who has lost three fingers in a mining accident. But...

"It happened by the grace of God that Joseph Santangelo won his wife in a card game. This fateful game of pinochle took place in the back room of Santangelo's Sausage Shop, on Mulberry Street, in New York City, on the last night of the record-breaking heat-wave of September 1949. That summer, each day dawned hotter than the day before, and the nights were worse than the days. All night, pregnant women draped wet washcloths over their faces, begged the Madonna for a good night's sleep, and thought how lucky Mary was that her baby had been born in December. Children, three and four to a bed, squirmed to escape each other's sweaty skin until their fathers' curses hissed through the dark and they dozed off only to wake, moments later, stuck together like jelly apples." --the beginning of the novel "Household Saints" by Francine Prose, c. 1981, St. Martin's Press

Until I figure out the sidebar linky thing (did I mention I'm new to this?)...

Have you read Magnifico yet? Maybe that's why you're here. Or maybe you were looking for a particular brand of pasta, and wound up here instead. Sorry, you can't eat this book, unless you make a steady diet of children's literature. Which I do, supplemented by chocolate and cheese. The Magnifico at the heart of this blog is Magnifico by Victoria Miles (me); Fitzhenry and Whiteside; c. 2006. I hope you'll find it blogworthy. The thing about writing a book is, you spend all this time at a desk, and then it is months and months in production and finally out it comes and you want to talk about it because even though it's done, you're still having thoughts about it. There is some satisfaction, if not talking, to be typing. And a book goes through stages, beginning its life in the marketplace, and you're along with it, reading the reviews, dreaming of screenplay possibilities, and how old you might be if it ever made it to the big screen, who you'd cast...