Books by Lorie Ann Grover

Books by Lorie Ann Grover
Kirkus Starred Review, Firstborn: "A fantasy that reads like a lost history tome and deftly examines issues of gender...An engrossing story with welcome depths."

Sunday, June 27, 2010

My new heroine: River Tam!

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/serenity_river.jpg

So, thanks to Jackie Parker, I just finished the Firefly series and movie Serenity from 2005. I HAVE A NEW HEROINE: RIVER TAM. Seriously, ladies. She's super intelligent, graceful, and powerful. Thank you, Summer Glau!

http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/tickermaster/loadimage.cfm?image=serenity.jpg

And don't miss Zoe. She's most awesome as well, but her character isn't given the arc that River receives.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/firefly/images/thumb/1/10/Zoe.jpg/250px-Zoe.jpg

http://www.mutantreviewers.com/rmoviegirlfriends2.jpg

And there's a female mechanic who keeps the Firefly running. Shout out for Kaylee!

If you haven't seen the series, pop over. I mean it's Captain Hammer with amazing ladies of power. Thanks, Joss Whedon!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Poetry Friday: Love Who You Are


It is a thought to
be tended; nourish the love;
bud and bloom beauty.


by Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

This is a gorgeous image by Papaya. I am inspired by their art and was delighted to find they are local artists in Ashland, Oregon. Thank you, ladies, for beauty and encouraging our own!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Open Letter to Children's Publishing

I'm reposting this from readertotz. Just a few thoughts...

*Feel free to repost*

Dear Children's Book Publishing Industry,

As I read PW's article, "An Impassioned Plea for Picture Books" by Judith Rosen, reporting on Ken Geist's plea for picture books at the NECBA meeting, I had a few thoughts.

As the article notes, most picture book print runs which were previously 20,000, now hover at 6,000. What I see as a reviewer of board books is an overwhelming number of picture books being published. So much mediocrity is being churned quickly through the presses, with the hope of one bestseller being found. Smaller runs support this effort to throw a multitude of stories into the pot while watching to see if one bubbles to the surface.

My challenge to you is to print fewer books. Dedicate and determine to publish only the very best, and then show us that you believe in that picture book with a larger print run and your full marketing dollars directly supporting it. Publishers, quiet the voices so that we might find and hear the book you believe in, the book that will touch parent and child, and foster readers for life.

As a corollary, I have to say that, yes, the picture book may create the lifelong reader, but even more likely, the board book will. A high quality, literary novelty or board book is often the child's first encounter with literature. In your pursuit this year to raise the profile of the picture book, don't forget the first books. Here is the reason Joan Holub and I continue to support readertotz. Board books are the roots of picture books. Let them be nourished as well.

Thank you for all you do for our children and literacy, publishers. Now show us your best.

Sincerely,

Lorie Ann Grover, author and illustrator

Friday, June 18, 2010

Poetry Friday: Ingenuity


Ingenuity

Grasping this trunk, I
will arc and shoot high into
glowing, crisscrossed paths.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

Tom Petty at the Gorge

So Justina Chen gifted Dave and me VIP tickets to see Tom Petty and Joe Cocker. It was AMAZING! Everything from at the door parking (a huge boon at the Gorge), to the VIP lounge, box seats, and access to row one at the front of stage. I've never experienced anything like it.

The view alone knocks your socks off.

I didn't snag photos of Joe, but here are the best ones of Tom. How sweet it was! Thank you, Justina!

It was a night we'll always remember!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Poetry Friday: The Magic Kingdom



I'm going to lose it
in this magical kingdom,
trying to mother.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

I remember being mortified over this! I can see it in my crazed eyes. And now it makes me howl. Ah, parenting. :~)

Friday, June 4, 2010

Poetry Friday: Super Grover

photo by Bethany Hammermaster


Super Grover

Waiting quietly
for the need for a hero.
Then just watch me fly.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2010