Children's writer Paula Danziger, 59, best known as the author of The Amber Brown series and THE CAT ATE MY GYMSUIT, died yesterday from complications following a heart attack. Penguin notes in a statement, "Danziger has published over 30 books, with millions of copies in print. Known as a flamboyantly funny and deeply honest writer and speaker, Danziger's books have won young reader medals in almost every state in the US and have been translated into dozens of languages. Danziger was especially known for her ability to connect with audiences spanning a large range, from beginning readers to young adults."

President of Penguin Young Readers group Doug Whiteman says, "Paula
will long be remembered for the many hours she gave to aspiring writers and young editors as she tried to help bring along the next generation of
publishing talent. All of us at Penguin loved her dearly and will miss her humor, warmth and compassion."

There's nothing more depressing than losing the heroes from your childhood.

Pam,

The Children's librarians here at the Vista Branch just gave me their most recently Amazon packing slips for our Wish List file. Books from Topeka KA, Edina MN, Portland OR, Los Angeles CA, Long Beach CA, Stamford CT, and Davidson NC. Who would have ever believed it possible!

I can't wait for our adult books to start arriving so that I can open gifts from such exotic and faraway locations! Thanks again to your wonderful readers.

Sandy Housley
Reference Librarian
Vista Branch, San Diego County Library
760-643-5119

Hi Pamie--

I just wanted to give you an update on my donation of the Spiderwick Chronicles to the Fletcher Hills Public Library. I received a very nice thank you note from the Branch Operations Manager today, thanking me on behalf of the staff and patrons of that Library for my gift. I don't think I've ever gotten a thank-you note that made me happier...so thank you, Pamie, for making this possible!

all best,
Anne Geiger

Hi Pamie! Just checked your website and once again your donors have amazed me. The UPS man was just here and the first three packages have arrived. We're sooo excited and feel truly blessed by your readers' generosity. Please thank everyone for including our little branch in this program and we love reading their comments.

Respectfully,
Vickie Mulrean
Campo-Morena Village Branch

Pamie -

I'm attaching a not-so-wonderful photo (I'm in the green, Brenna is in the Summer Reading t-shirt) of the stack that was delivered the other day. It's as tall as Brenna! (She's the Branch Librarian).

Again, thanks for thinking of us. The response from around the country is inspiring!

Barbara

The former Senate aide, who serviced inside-the-Beltway players and blogged about it Jessica Cutler's THE WASHINGTONIENNE, to Kelly Notaras at Hyperion, in a significant deal ($251,000 - $500,000), for publication in summer 2005, by Michael Carlisle and Pilar Queen at Carlisle & Company (NA). The author will also pose for Playboy.

In what issue? The Ladies of Blogger?

You'll see this elsewhere. Hell, I've already posted this elsewhere. But, I mean, come ON:

Dem Picks Gephardt As VP Candidate

Come ON, New York Post. You get to report. You DO NOT GET TO DECIDE.

The conspiracy-loving part of me says that they did this on purpose so they could tell us later that Kerry changed his mind at the last minute on account of being such a -- sing it with me if you've swallowed the Bush team's talking point -- flip-flopper.

That paper should be drowned. How lucky that its offices are located on an island.

I don't like my personal information stated loudly when I'm standing in line. It comes from working as a desk clerk and a night auditor. Actually, it comes from one night in specific, when I accidentally said a guest's room number out loud. She looked at me as if I'd just given every weird guy in line a key to her room and said, "Thanks for the discretion."

Then I looked around at the other guests in line with her and suddenly they all looked creepy.

Since then I try to be on the cautious tip when I'm dealing with hotels and banks. When I'm depositing or withdrawing money, I don't like everybody in line to see my pin number and then hear my account balance. I hate when tellers loudly count back the bills. Someone could just follow me outside, knock me over the head and then use my ATM card to withdraw my exact balance.

But I'm dealing with Bank of America, the bank so bad that I once saw a carving on a BofA ATM that read: "Fuck BofA." If it's so bad that while people are waiting for their cash to spit out of a machine they need to carve graffiti? Your bank has some problems.

I handed the check over to the teller and said, "Half in checking, half in savings." I swiped my card and punched in the code. The teller stood there, holding the check.

"How much in checking?" he asked.

"Half of that," I said. "I didn't make the deposit slips because I don't have my savings account number on me, but you have access to both accounts right there, don't you?"

"Yeah," he said, staring at the check. "How much do you want in savings then?"

"Half."

"Half of this?"

"Yes."

"Then how much would you want in checking?"

It started to seem like a trick question. Maybe the check was an odd amount and I hadn't noticed. I looked at the check again. Nope. Even numbers. Here is where I actually said, "You would take that amount and divide it by two."

He tried to pretend he was doing something computer-y, but it was clear he had pulled up the computer's calculator function. Now people were looking because what kind of check required a calculator to divide the amount in two?

I looked at the check in his hand and whispered the amount. "That's what you put in checking and how much you put in savings," I said.

He smiled at me and gave a relieved sigh. "That's what I got, too!" he boasted.

"Yay!"

I don't ask much from my tellers, but being able to divide by two? Shouldn't that be a question on the interview?

Sometimes it just makes sense to have a song stuck in your head all day. Yesterday, it was this one. It's a very good song.