Karen Cushman
Newbery award-winning children’s book author
It’s award season and best of 2014 season, and so I am weighing in. Here are my favorite books of the past year. No money, no gold statue, just my sincere thanks for hours of reading joy. Nest. Middle-grade fiction by Esther Ehrlich. Set on Cape Cod in 1972, Chirp survives a difficult year through the healing power of family,
Ah, Thanksgiving, a holiday all about family and food and being grateful. No wonder it’s my favorite of the holidays. Except for Thanksgiving, 1952. We had recently moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Thanksgiving Day dawned bright and sunny and 80 degrees. My parents were thrilled and set up the picnic table in the backyard. We ate in our shorts
Saturday I was part of the cultural phenomenon that is Lena Dunham. We had brunch on Saturday before I attended her reading and frenzied fan festival. Lena is funny, warm, open, vulnerable, bright, articulate, passionate, and compassionate. She seems to adore her fans, and they are over the moon about her. I had a terrific time. If all goes well,
Each Thursday as I head to my Pilates class, I pass these birds—not crows, not ravens, cravens—on the side of an empty building in Vashon. They make me smile each time. My friend, artist and performer Steffon Moody, painted them last May, free hand and in six hours (time lapse video). Aren’t they wonderful? The building will shortly be torn
The Portland Cushman household boasts two new residents, which Leah calls our grandkitties. Prospective names are Clementine, Mabel, Millie, Gus, Lupe, Penelope, Izzy, Betty, and Veronica. I like Spud, the Colonel, Snarls, Hydrangea, and Rutabaga. Any votes?
Here’s Karen’s advice for today: stop whatever you’re doing and read Esther Ehrlich’s Nest, middle-grade fiction from Random House Children’s Books. It is quite simply splendid. Salt Marsh Lane on Cape Cod in 1972 is home to eleven-year-old Naomi “Chirp” Orenstein and her family. The year brings terrible changes to the Orensteins. Chirp survives through the healing power of family,
Karen and Philip Cushman: 45 years and counting!
In San Diego for a memorial for Frances Cushman, Philip, Leah, and I hung out with the other wild animals at the San Diego Zoo. If you ever get a chance to go, go! It was very hot and most of the animals were asleep or finding shade, but here are some favorites. First up, koalas!
Vashon Sheepdog Trials, August 23, 2014. Now we have to wait until next year, sigh.
The sheep are arriving for the Vashon Island Sheepdog Trials. Sun, beer, black and white dogs stalking sheep–a great time will be had by all.
