Light Refreshments Served

Once upon a time my little sister Amanda had a boyfriend named Derrick Brown. Then, after over four years they broke up. But after so many visits and shared experiences in Target with the whole family riding those special carts, and trading favorite books and movies, we wanted to keep tabs on him. You know how people call themselves “poets” and you wanna roll your eyes because it’s such an insult to those who really are? Well, Derrick is a real poet. For. Reals. And the other day, he sent us this book I have loved (I have the earlier copy that my kids devour):

HOT HANDS AND RALPH IN THE WEIRDO WINTER
by Derrick Brown
Illustrated by Matthew Carver

“A young girl whose hands are made of fire has trouble making friends. All she wants is to do is build a snowman. She meets a boy who teaches her that being different is a wonderful thing.” A refreshing story about the joys of being different.

It is delightful! It’s original. It’s a book that is touching, and sweet, but not sentimentally sticky. It is funny and clever and all of my kids appreciate it for different reasons (ages 2-11.5!) If you are a kid book lover, you really need to get this. It’s one of those books you won’t get sick of reading (I’m so over the “book” Elmo Loves You, I want to shred it, but if I do, Margaret would never forgive me) Buy it HERE.

Writefuzzy is a great place to get creative, different, soon-to-be classic children’s books. Visit their website HERE! This is how they define themselves:

WRITE FUZZY is a privately held, successful publisher of high – quality, fiction and non – fiction children’s books. All titles are educationally sound and are age appropriate. ‘Neato’ is our favorite learning tool. Weird is our invisible friend.
These are the books we wished we had when we were kids.
WRITE FUZZY markets its books primarily to blue-chip retailers, schools, libraries, and special markets. WRITE FUZZY titles are available at bookstores including Barnes & Noble. We print 10 new titles for publishing each year, complementing an active backlist. Formats include soft cover and hardcover books. These are the books we wished we had when we were kids.

I am going to order this one for my kids for Valentine’s Day:

Doesn’t it look cool?

Speaking of cool, if you are into poetry and what the cool kids are reading, read more about Derrick Brown’s work HERE. Scandalbra, the newest collection of poems and fiction from Derrick Brown has been named one of the best books of 2009 by about.com.