Month: March 2011

Ellen Raskin in the air

Holly

I haven’t actually seen the reissued editions of Ellen Raskin’s three novels that aren’t The Westing Game, but I guess the announcement’s been floating around me in the kidlitosphere. Something, anyway, led me to this foreword to the 2004 anniversary edition of The Westing Game. It’s written by Raskin’s editor and friend, Ann Durell.

I love that they met in a smoking car.

I love that Raskin practiced for her reading of The Westing Game, the part where Theo sings– by singing herself, on the subway, because it was a tougher audience than a reading. (Don’t you wish Raskin could have met Lynda Barry? Who started off her talk in Portland a few months ago by singing, so that talking wouldn’t make her nervous by comparison? Those two would have hit it off, and with Louise Fitzhugh along they could have taken over the world.)

But mostly what stuck in my head from the introduction was this:

She said, with her usual candor, that she didn’t know what children’s books were like. She read only adult ones. But I never even tried to edit her “for children.” She was too wise, too funny, too ingenious–and therefore unique–to tamper with in that way. She said that she wrote for the child in herself, but for once I think she was wrong. I think she wrote for the adult in children.

I am grateful for that. I think I had a lot of adult in me when I was a child.

So. The reprint rights for the three novels were bought along with a “nearly complete” posthumous book called A Murder for Macaroni and Cheese, which is listed for release in May. And, and and and, “The Westing Quest, a sequel to The Westing Game.” (No “nearly completed” attached to that, I notice.) But this news is from 2007. Is there…? Will there…? Or…?

Probably not. Right? I try not to think about it. Because it could end up like waiting for the fourth Star Wars movie.

printing update

Holly

Now I have been to both class and open hours for both letterpress and screenprinting! I was really nervous both times to go to open hours, where I would have to try to remember what we learned and do it myself with minimal supervision. But I’m glad I went. If possible, I’m going to keep alternating letterpress and screenprinting practice on Sunday afternoons through the rest of the term. At least until my final project takes over and dictates what I need to work on.

At letterpress open hours, I finished off my six-word memoir, printing it onto scrap cards a little smaller than index cards. I’m using them for notes and…lists. :) I know no competent letterpress person would be happy with their quality, but I was proud that I went through the process, period! And I think I know what would have helped that fade-out at the bottom: masking tape on the rails so the rollers get up and over just a little sooner and don’t “wipe” the bottom of the type. Next time I’ll be more exacting.

As for screenprinting, it was (heh) a wash today. Another student and I coated our screens with emulsifier, exposed our images on the light table, and then….everything washed out in the shower. No image. We think that either there was no photosensitive stuff mixed into the emulsifier or it was too old and didn’t work. Our instructor, who was there cleaning a letterpress, was very apologetic and said they’d get the supplies straightened out by next week. My goal was just to go there and see what happened, so no worries. Here’s what I printed in class a few weeks ago, an illustration by Elizabeth Enright from The Sea Is All Around:

It was cool to meet someone from the Tuesday class today, and talk about our final projects a little. Tomorrow my class continues working in InDesign, and soon we’ll get to binding. I really must get my revisions done!