Friday Stuff and Item

Did you know you can WIN a copy of the awesomely awesome Pink over at Lili Wilkinson's blog.

It's the US hardback edition. Fancy!

This puts me in mind of a word game I used to play with my US family on long road trips.

It's called Stinky Pinky* and here's how it goes:

1. Think of a two-word rhyming phrase. eg 'Stinky pinky'
2. Give everyone a two-word (or thereabouts) description of that phrase. eg 'Smelly finger'
3. Everyone tries to guess the rhyming phrase from just the description.
4. The person who guesses correctly gets to go next

The more syllables in the rhyming phrase the better.

• One-syllable 'stink pinks' (Description: amphibious web-diary, Answer: frog blog) are relatively easy.
• Two-syllable 'stinky pinkies' (Description: cool primate, Answer: funky monkey) are more advanced.
• But the most coveted of all is the a three-syllable 'stinkety pinkety'. (Description: ever-young vicar, Answer: peter-pan preacher-man)

Sometimes two people will come up with different but possible answers (Description: Imitation baked-good. Answer: fake cake OR faux gateau). Then you can fight about who gets to go next all the way to your destination. Good times. good times.

So, here are a few Pink stinky pinkies** for your Friday afternoon entertainment:

Theatre tantrum

Protagonist rescuer

Mountainous author

* If you've played it before - yay! If not, bear with us, it's not what you're probably thinking.

**We will provide answers to the Pink stinky pinkies. But not till Monday.

Five questions for the Tall Designer

We didn't ask them. Spike did.

They are interesting questions, and he answered in a very interesting fashion.

Go forth, read, enjoy, and discover behind-the-scenes stuff about the cover design for Lili Wikinson's Pink!

If we had asked Bruno five questions it would have looked more like this:

1) I'm going for coffee - is your KeepCup clean?

2) Well, I like it, but what is it, exactly?

3) Do you think we could add the title to the front cover?

4) How do I work the scanner again?

5) Can I have the archive files for Zombies vs Unicorns?

Which would have been far less interesting for everyone, especially Bruno.

Pink is the new black

Dear 4-colour process printing,


Sometime ago we wrote to express our hope that you would not be offended if instead of using a CMYK approximation of pink, we used PMS 806 pink on the cover of Scarygirl by Nathan Jurevicius - because we really needed a dramatic, fluorescent pink that we knew that you would struggle to achieve.

This is just a follow-up letter to show you how splendidly the PMS performed.



You will note that we made excellent use of your wonderful range and processes on the inside pages and the endpapers ...























... and the inside jacket: What ho - a poster!










We now have another little confession to make. It seems we are having an elegant sufficiency of pink at the moment, and it wasn't just for one book that we opted for a pink PMS.

So we are hoping you will also forgive us for going to PMS 182 for the cover of (this aptly titled) gorgeous Pink by Lili Wilkinson, because, my, hasn't it come up a treat - both inside and out.




We do hope you are as pleased with the results as we are.







Don't they look fine in all their pink glory. We (and Nathan & Lili) thank you again for your generosity of spirit and colour and trust you and the PMS spectrum can continue to live together in harmony.



best,

Eds

What's in a name?

Penni over at Eglantine's Cake posted recently about the super-seductive world of Sweet Valley High. At least one Onion was a devoted Elizabeth and Jessica fan. Browsing the Wikipedia entry for the series, I was reminded how awesome is Francine Pascal's facility for names - you don't need the line or two of synopsis to figure out what sort of character each might be. A skill Ms Pascal shares with Mr Charles Dickens.

Here is a small quiz:

Winston Egbert
a) hot quarter back, or b) class clown.

Mister Smallweed
a) amoral money lender, or b) good-hearted, if simple, hero.

Enid Rollins
a) slightly drippy best friend of main character, or b) outgoing gorgeous prom queen.

Sir Leicester Dedlock
a) old and crusty baronet or, b) impetuous and handsome young man.

Caddy Jellyby and Prince Turveydrop
a) ravishing, 'perfect size 6', blonde twins, or b) amusing minor characters who live a hard but happy life.

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield
a) ravishing, 'perfect size 6', blonde twins, or b) amusing minor characters who live a hard but happy life.


The other day I came across My Name in Books: A guide to character names in children's literature. According to the Amazon description: 'Because youngsters delight in reading about characters with the same first names as their own, this guide is a great way to motivate them to read!'

It does seem a leetle strange. Will 10 year-old Gilbert Blogs who is into trains and extreme sports really be motivated by reading Anne of Green Gables? But then again, I do remember the frisson of delight I felt on reading my own name - spelled correctly with an 'h' at the end and everything - in Playing Beatie Bow. (It was suggested by the mother as a possible witch's name - Coolest. Thing. Ever.)

PS. The author of My Name in Books is Katharyn E. Tuten-Puckett (for real).