Peggy Archer
Children's Author

If you love to read, and ever have the opportunity to go to Book Expo America, don't miss it! I've gone when it was held at McCormick Place in Chicago. The thought of being in such a huge building, surrounded by publishers and booksellers, is mind boggling in itself. THEN you realize there are free books! AND you can stand in line to have your 'free' books autographed by the authors. Be sure to take something along to carry your treasures home.

This year BookExpo was in New York. Children's authors Cory Doctorow, Mitali Perkins, and Richard Peck spoke at the BEA Children's Authors Breakfast presented by the Children's Book Council (CBC). If you missed BEA and the author breakfast, you can still hear these great children's authors speak. Go to http://www.bookexpocast.com/, scroll down the page to the 2010 BEA children's Author Breakfast, and click on the podcast. It's worth the visit there. Of the three, I've heard Richard Peck in person and he is a wonderful speaker. All three are very inspiring and encouraging here.

I can't wait for BEA to come back to Chicago again!

In my newest picture book, NAME THAT DOG!, Xerox is the name for the letter X.

From the tops of his ears
to the tip of his tail
and everything else in between--
he couldn't have looked
any more like his dad
if he'd come from a copy machine!

copyright Peggy Archer 2010
from NAME THAT DOG! Dial Books 2010

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Especially to my husband, Chuck :)

Windows, blogs, websites! Facebook, twitter, e-books and now iPads! Just when I get comfortable with something new, the next thing comes out!

I'm ok with updating my website, when I have plenty of time to do it. That's one of my goals for June (maybe July?). I want to change a few things, and add a few things, like activities for NAME THAT DOG!.

The thing is that when I finally get something down, it changes! I just got Windows 7. I know where to find the help tools I need to click on in XP. Did they really need to change the locations of those in Windows 7?!

I've gotten the blog thing down, sort of. I still sometimes have difficulty adding pictures. Facebook is ok, too. Only I wanted to create an album of pictures there and forgot how. I don't have an iPhone. I have enough trouble figuring out anything more than using my cell phone to send and receive calls. Although I did learn to text recently.

I've not explored twitter yet. E-books and iPads are another thing I haven't tried. Actually the iPad looks great. I got a look at it when Stephen Roxburg was here for our SCBWI conference a few weeks ago. His company namelos publishes ebooks for YA (Young Adult) readers. He thinks that picture books on the iPad will be coming, too, down the road. I've got mixed feelings about that.

Stephen showed us a Dr. Seuss book on the iPad, and all of the interactive things you can do with it. You can sit next to your child and read together, just like holding a book. At first thought it seemed great. But I've seen my 2, 3, and 4 year old grandchildren watching a TV program. With their eyes glued to the screen, so mesmerized by what's going on, it's difficult to break their concentration. Their TV time is very limited, and I can see why. Will reading via an electronic book do the same thing? On the other hand, they're 'reading' a book, so can it be all bad? Progress--or just change--is sometimes hard to accept.

I've been told that it's the reading that's important, not the means they use to read. So I'll keep on writing for children, with pencil on paper, before finishing up on my computer. And hope that I'll have another book, made of paper and board, to hold in my hands some day.

My post is rather late this week, and not entirely focused! I'm still in down time after our daughter's wedding on Saturday. We welcome a new son into our family! It was a wonderful wedding, and a great day to celebrate two wonderful people.

Second to celebrating the bride and groom, children really make weddings such fun. Sarah and Chad had two ring bearers, both going on four years old, and a flower girl who was two. The boys were each to carry teddy bears wearing ties and holding rings, down the aisle. One left his at home so the other gave him his bear and decided to carry his favorite horsey instead. The flower girl, who looked like a bride herself, smiled and walked down the aisle, princess style.

A few hours later, with a few more kids at the reception, the dancing couldn't start soon enough. They danced before dinner, would have danced during dinner, and danced again with renewed spirit after dinner! Later they probably danced in their sleep.

Oh, to be a kid again! To carry your new friend's teddy bear down the aisle for him. To walk down the aisle with that familiar old blue horsey to give you courage. To eat the icing and leave the cake. To dance when no one else is dancing. To sit on the floor when you're tired.

Oh, to feel like a kid again! Their innocence, their energy, their smiles and inhibitions will do that to you.