orichalcum

So, this is the Week of the Young Child, and there are a bunch of special activities going on at Mac's school. The two he's most excited about are today, when he gets to see a firetruck and meet real firefighters, and Friday, when the Stanford Junior University Marching Band is giving a performance for the kids.

Unfortunately, some confusion may have resulted as a consequence of some earlier conversations:

#1: Me: And on Friday, you get to see the Band!
Mac: I want to be in a band! Like the cows! (in Boynton's books)
Me: Oh, you want to be a drummer like the cows? You can be in a band when you're older. And maybe practice at someone else's house.
CP: (calling out) That's never the way it works. They always practice at the drummer's house.
Me: Maybe you can play the guitar in the band, Mac.

#2: Mac: I want to see the fire truck! And the ambulance!
Me: I'm not sure there will be an ambulance too, Mac. But there might be. And you can see the ambulances when we go by on the way to school.

#3: (This morning, as Mac wakes up) "I'm going to go to school and drive a guitar ambulance!"

I hope the firetruck satisfies his dreams...

An interesting discussion about what what UK YA and children's book editors want right now.

I'm not even sure what a "modern Anne of Green Gables" would mean, though. Part of the whole appeal of that story is the relative simplicity and limited scope of the characters' lives. I find it harder to imagine the life of a modern Anne who never travels more than 100 miles from her home, though maybe that's just my experience.

I really do think there must be a huge untapped market for YA classical-era novels, though. In my "copious free time," I may see if I can rework my novel idea this fall into something specifically YA.