The winner is ....

Laura Purdie Salas!

Laura, I'll be mailing your signed copy of Operation Yes and your YES wristband this week. And since it's Random Acts of Publicity week, I'm going to add that Laura also has a brand-new poetry book out and it's perfect for the beginning of school:

Stampede is funny and honest about the "wild side" of school, plus Laura does amazing school visits and teaches courses on poetry. It's ironic to me that she writes so wonderfully about the "wild side" of life when she inspires me to be more organized and calm!

See some sample poems here in this review by Elaine at Wild Rose Reader. Cool book activities from her book launch are here.

Thanks to everyone who commented here and at my new site. I wish I could sign copies for all of you.

Wait! I can! Details to follow . . .

Poetry Friday: Poetry Meets Improv

I'd like to find a copy of this book so I can see if that punchy cover matches what's inside. Poets.org describes its beginnings this way:

"Lauded poet Christopher Merrill hatched a brilliant plan: invite six other poets to join him in four days of writing in Iowa City. The poets would write for 30 minutes, creating a poem of 15 lines, and then read it aloud to the group. As poets heard the poems, they noted memorable words, images, and lines, which they would borrow to insert in subsequent poems of their own. These rounds continued, until, in a process of call and response and unprecedented collaboration, 80 poems had been composed."

Okay, that sounds either fabulous or terrible. Poetry meets improv and becomes book. I suspect it's fabulous, but even if it isn't, I'm picturing the glee of the poets in that room. Imagine, poetry built on call and response, playfulness, and letting go of your own self-importance. I could dive into that.

Poetry Friday---another ongoing event of "unprecedented collaboration"---is rounded up today by Kelly Herold at Crossover.

A Generous (and Genius) Idea

Thank you, thank you, everyone who came out to dance with me to celebrate the launch of Operation Yes. Reading the comments was almost as good as having you all rocking out at my house, and probably less hard on my carpet. There was even SOUP made in my honor. (Thank you, Jama!)

There's still time ('til midnight Friday, wherever you live) to win a signed copy of the book and a "YES" wristband. Just go here and leave a comment. (Internet Explorer users: I'm sorry, but iWeb refuses to play nice with IE. Can you possibly use Firefox or Safari? I promise your life will be better if you do. But again, if you have trouble, leave your comment here instead.)

In other news, the innovative Darcy Pattison has put forth a generous (and genius) idea: Random Acts of Publicity Week.

Darcy says "I’m declaring next week, September 7-11, as the RANDOM ACTS OF PUBLICITY WEEK, a week when you do something to promote a friend’s book, or to promote a recent book you’ve read."

(Looks like Liz is starting this early, with her lovely tribute to Marcelo in the Real World, aptly titled "Some Books Just Blow Me Away.")

Seriously, having friends who write books I love is one of the major blessings of my life. I know other bloggers struggle with how to review books by friends (and I do too, sometimes) but mostly I just pinch myself that I'm part of such a generous and talented community. So, like Liz, I'm starting the RANDOM ACTS early, too.

On GoodReads, I posted a mini-review of Tracking Trash, written by my friend, Loree Griffin Burns. Because yesterday afternoon, my mind needed a strong dose of non-fiction, and Tracking Trash cleared out my head with its prose as clear as a pristine bay. Plus, it made me smile and remember why scientists are the biggest kids on the planet, pursuing the most fun questions with their never-still minds. (That includes you, Loree!)

And this Sunday, I'll be headed to Hooray for Books! in Alexandria, Va, to see my friend Kristy Dempsey, who will be signing her new picture book, ME WITH YOU. It's hard to describe a book that does such a good job of being its own perfect self, but I'd call ME WITH YOU a hug in book form. Yeah. If want to let someone know that you really love them and would hug them every second if you could, this is the book you buy to share together.

More random acts next week!