Prospect Park West Contest Winners

Congratulations Amy and Roberta you won! My husband tried to enter.
His entry:
"Name of your child's current school: Peter Stuyvesant HS
Thing you love: Go Peg Legs! (that is really the name of the football team)
One challenge that the school faces: The spelling of its name...does it end in 'ant' ,'ent', 'end'?
Keep that book in the family!"
I have disqualified him and he is not allowed to read the book. He thinks that "Sex in the City" is a documentary and he would never be able to do his coop sift in peace again.
I think the new neighborhood parlor game should be who will play "you" in the movie. Heh, Sarah Jessica, I am not in the book, but I would like to be played by Laura Dern and my husband is Colin Firth. Your turn.
Thanks for all the entries.

My first impressions of Prospect Park West

I had a consult in Manhattan with a lovely family who is moving to the Slope so I finally had a chance to crack open Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn for a few quick stops on the F train. I howled through the first chapter, got off the train to talk about nursery programs and when I got back on the F the first thing I read was an abridged list of the schools that I had just recommended. Of course it wasn't accompanied by the well researched data and keen insight that I provide, but if I had been drinking milk at the time, it would have come out my nose. I am going to institute a new rating system. So far Prospect Park West gets 4 out of 4 individual serving organic, antibiotic free milk boxes.

The thing is that it has tons of realistic details as well as exaggerated characters. It is like having a famous author in the family. You were at the dysfunctional Christmas reunion. You know the people and what happened. You can gleefully enjoy the embellishments safe in the knowledge that as the boring third cousin, you won't be mentioned. We all know what we love about the neighborhood. We don't need to see that in print. It would be boring. Comedy is cruel and this is comedy set in a very familiar locale.

I have one request. I would like Simon & Schuster to come out with an indexed addition, "people and places that Joyce knows". Otherwise I am going to have to go through it with a highlighter.

There are still a few days left to submit entries for the "Win the Book Contest". Email me joyce@nycschoolhelp.com with the name of your child's current school, one thing you love and one challenge that the school faces. If your child is not in school yet, tell me what grade level you most fear and why. I will be picking an entry at random on Friday, Sept. 18 at 4pm.

Win a book!

I have a copy of Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn to give away. I am dying to read it. As soon as I finish updating all of my school data sheets with new progress reports (heck, they are all A's anyway!) I am going to take a "guilty pleasure afternoon" and crack it open.
Here's how to play:
drop me an email with "book" in the subject. joyce@nycschoolhelp.com
Tell me one good thing and one challenge that your child's current school is facing and tell me the name of the school. If your child isn't in school yet, let me know what grade level you are most anxious about. The deadline is Friday Oct. 18 at 4pm. I will pick an email at random and send you a book.

Thank you Simon & Schuster! I love giving things away. Feel free to send me more books anytime, and I will let you know what I think about the Prospect Park West in upcoming posts.

My kids are prepping for the SATs. Heh, Barron's or Princeton Review - they are happy to try out any test prep books that you are giving away!

Ms. Yingling is Giving Away Books

Ms. Yingling blogs "One Librarian's attempt to read all the Young Adult Literature in the world and shoot her mouth off about it." She wrote me to say that she is giving away some books, so I thought I pass the information on.

"Thanks to Nicole Bruce of The Book Report Network, Ms. Yingling is giving away a three book set of Patrick Carman's Atherton Trilogy. It's easy to win. You will need to do the following:

E Mail her (MsYingling@yahoo.com) a very short message about your favorite science fiction or fantasy series. What is it and why do you like it?

• Deadline is 3:00 p.m. on Friday, June 5th.

• Be prepared to give Ms. Yingling your actual mailing address if you win. Kids, check with a parental unit to make sure this is okay. She will need to give your address to Ms. Bruce.

That's it. Winners will be decided by Ms. Yingling and her board of student helpers!

Author/Illustrator talks to schools

I just heard Melanie Hope Greenberg speak to several elementary classes this morning at the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. She is the author/illustrator of many picture books including "Down in the Subway" and her current "Mermaids on Parade". She was adorable and so interesting and the room of 60 or so kids just ate it up. She describes her process in a very engaging way. She walked us through the illustration process from her plans through preliminary sketches to the finished work. She described the editing process and how it is helpful and hard sometimes. She showed us pictures and told us stories about her inspiration and gave personal details that she weaves into her work, which made us feel like real insiders. The kids were jumping out of their seats to ask questions and she spoke to them with an ease that let me know that she was with her people. Today she was speaking in conjunction with the show of her work in the youth wing of the Central Library (free to the public through June 13)
She is always available to speak to local elementaries. All you PTA's should call her to set up a program for your librarian!
Also a little shout out for the libraries. If you have a little to spare they are in dire need. You can contribute to your own local branch too. No amout too small.
They are also planning a special start to summer reading festival on June 4. Come sign up for your summer reading goodies and have fun in the plaza. That is a school holiday so come and enjoy the library! More information on that shortly.