Post #1000: Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been watching the little blogger counter for the past couple of weeks and am amused to see it roll over to this -- our one thousandth post! Yes, those are balloons flying past your head and confetti raining down. There are more things to celebrate: Mr. Aquafortis just got his sabbatical plans approved, to which we exclaim, "A whole year off?!" It will be a working year, but how very lovely! More confetti and more balloons, and copious sips of tea! (Yes, tea. Or, eggnog, if you prefer.)

And now back to business.

Did you know that the NY Times is serializing a new Gene Yang graphic in The Funny Pages? Check it out, it's in .pdf form so you can save it to your desktop and read it when you have time. He's already posted Chapter 2 of Prime Baby.

Mindy @ Propernoun has a really cool contribution to MotherReader's original Book&Gift pairing (21 Ways to Give a Book) idea -- a really cute picture book for the wee ones, and a felt sandwich. And cheese. No, really. It makes more sense at her site.

At The Reading Zone, this brave teacher uses Twilight and Midnight Sun as contrasting examples of point of view in writing. Brave teacher! Beguiled students! People learning! This is undeniably A Good Thing, and you all know how much I HEART Twilight. (Not.) Lesson plan included.

Whatever Blog reveals the ideas behind the book called Where Am I Wearing, by Kelsey Timmerman. Imagine this fascinating book paired with a compass -- or one of those really neat etymologist's atlases that make the whole world seem like Middle Earth.

Liz has a stupendous idea for gifts to shop for after this weekend -- non-new books. (Of course, this leaves my book out, but it's still a great idea.)

"Give something not published in 2008.

Give something that you loved, loved, loved, yet, somehow, was overlooked; something that did not get on any of the awards lists, but, in your humble opinion, should have been on those lists."

I really like that idea. One tiny drawback of only reading a few of the same kidlit blogs is that I see the same books reviewed and loved and gushed about repeatedly. I tend to review more books that I get from the library than new ones, and I hope to continue that trend and encourage people to beef up the backlist and get the word out about books that are super special. Add to the suggestions for more non-2008 books.

Mitali is giving away books -- to those whose Thankfuls can be traced to specific person or events in the past. Where would your family tree have stopped if not for... ? Check it out.

In the mood to choke with horrified and disbelieving laughter and be grateful that YA doesn't need to include too many sex scenes? the Bad Sex Awards are up. Be afraid.

The Baltimore Sun newspaper carried a piece by a woman whose Thanksgiving traditions never included sweet potato or pumpkin, but carrot soufflé. Today's pre-Thanksgiving task is to figure out how to modify it in pie form, since it's about three degrees in my house and it's warmer with the oven on.

And then I will get back to procrastinating on this WIP.

I so enjoyed reading the Thankfuls at the 7-Imps; it was like a middle-of-the-week kicks break. I have to agree, I'm grateful for the tight embrace of the YA/kidslit blogosphere, which gives me somewhere to go and someone to talk to when writing novels alone is too lonely (and baffling) -- and generally something to laugh at. Happy Thousandth Post to us, and Happy Thanksgiving to you.