Last Friday Amazon.com removed all buy buttons from books published by Macmillan.com because Macmillan wanted to control its own e-books.  Read a much better post than I could ever do about the kerfuffle at Scott Westerfeld’s blog.

This is a big deal because as we all know Amazon is pretty much the biggest bookseller anywhere and taking away an entire publishing house is just sad, bad and evil.

If there are any books you love from Macmillan, let Amazon know you want the buy buttons back!  They were supposed to go back up, after a skirmish in which Macmillan refused to back down.  Yes, Amazon apparently blinked, as Scott Westerfeld says.  The buttons should have been back on Monday.  Here it is Wednesday, and nope, no buy buttons from what I can tell.

You could tell Amazon you want those buttons back even if you don’t have a favorite Macmillan title.  Better yet, go to your local independent bookstore, the places that care about authors and books, not dollars.  Or, if you need to shop online, try Powells.com.  Or Indie Bound.

Thanks.

Yes, it’s time again for Earth Hour (or almost time!).  March 27th at 8:30 p.m. wherever you are.  Play along — it’s fun to see the neighborhood go dark!

Yes, there’s a week for everything, but this one makes a lot of sense!  Check out No-Name-Calling.  It starts in two weeks, which will give you time to hone your skills.

Which somehow takes me to Peter Pan, a book that I just love.  I always wanted to be Peter, never Wendy.  After all, who had the best adventures?  But would Peter participate in No-Name-Calling?  I think not.  And really, he was pretty much a pain in the neck.  His way or no way.  So why is he so attractive?  Maybe Peter’s the epitome of the classic lit bad boy.  Hmmm.

I’m pleased as well as honored to be the New Voices interview on Cyn Smith’s blog Cynsations .  Take a look and wander through her archives if you aren’t familiar with her blog.  It’s chock-full of just about everything having to do with kidlit.

A huge thank you to Erin Murphy from the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Boy, oh boy do I appreciate everything you do.

Thanks!

Oh, my god!  Serendipity Market made the best of 2009 Young Adult List from Kirkus Review!  I knew I was short-listed, but  — well, wow.  Take a look.  Right there on page 2!

How cool is this?  Serendipity Market has been picked by Michael Cart as one of the best speculative fantasies for 2009.  Yep, it’s on the list, right under Japser Dash and the Flame Pits of Delaware by M.T. Anderson!

No one seems to have heard of the poem by Eugene Field.  This is kind of amazing to me sine I think I’ve known it forever.

Wynken, Blinken and Nod one night

Went off in a wooden shoe.

And they fly.  And catch stars.  And the soporific rhyme is perfect for bedtime.

Here’s the interesting thing — Eugene Field was from Chicago, where I live, and there’s a very cool statue of him at the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is something else no one seems to know about.  I’ve asked around and everyone says. “Who?” and  ”At the zoo?  Where?”

Field worked for the Chicago Daily News in the late 1800s.  As a sideline, he wrote verse — and he published over a dozen books.  Many of them we illustrated by Maxfield Parrish.

Aside from the statue in Lincoln Park, there’s a park and a fieldhouse named after him in Chicago’s Albany Park nieghborhood.

Now browse through Serendipity Market and see which story is about Wynken, Blinken and Nod.  And then, check out Mr. Field himself!

I just got my first two fan letters! Cool. They were from local seventh graders and were sweet and complimentary.

I also just found out that I picked up a lovely review in the August issue of VOYA (Voice Of Youth Advocates).

And lately I’ve been thinking of lost books — those wonderful old ones that never seem to surface on lists but are just so great. Right now I’m rereading Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright and it’s probably the 30th time I’ve read it. And it still holds up and holds together and I love it.

Another one is To Nick from Jan by Julie Campbell Tatham, the person who wrote all those Trixie Belden books (which still kind of work, too) and the Ginny Gordon books. To Nick from Jan is a prototypical teen romance and I read and re-read it and I don’t really even like teen romances.

Check them out!

Through the generosity of HarperCollins I now have a cool microsite on their site. Take a look — it was a lot of fun to put up. And there should be a new photo shortly! Headshot day is August 21st — talk about nervewracking.

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/33476/index.aspx