Remembering Picture Books

The Internet feels kind of slow today, so I thought I'd better do my part.

The sky is blue here in Saint Paul, and the three or so inches of snow on the ground are light, fluffy, and generally pleasant under one's feet. This is the easiest snow to shovel, but if the sun has its way, soon some little melting will begin, and then the snow will become wet, and heavy. This is how heart attacks happen.

I've been giving the YA MS some additional thought. Not on purpose, you understand. These ridiculous thoughts come to me in the shower or in the middle of the night, when I'm completely unprepared for them. At any rate, I have a brilliant (ha!) idea for a middle section, and -- get this! -- a PART TWO! oh good.

What this means, to sum up, is a final MS, in the who-knows-how-distant future, nearly six times the size of the original draft, which was, I'll admit, quite short.

All that said, Dr. James Orbinski of Medecins Sans Frontieres was on MPR this noontime, and it made me feel like writing about any topic other than genocide is pretty much a waste of time.

I suppose I'll get over it.

Bought a copy of The Snowy Day for Sam today. It was one of my favorites as a child. Which reminds me: I need help finding a book! When I was a child, I had a few favorite picture books. One was The Snowy Day, one was Whose Mouse Are You?, one was Make Way for Ducklings. However, there was another. I cannot recall the title, nor the author, nor the illustrator. But I can remember what it was about:

A boy recalls a trip to the park, sometime around dusk. Shadows fall over everything, and the boy's recollections are skewed. He saw, for example, a man walking with a grizzly bear! But, maybe, that was just a big dog, after all.

Any bells ringing for anyone from that description? Any tips are appreciated, as I'd like to get a copy of that one for my boy (and, yes, for myself, too).

In other news, I managed to stuff a huge lunch into my gaping maw (shout out to Tom Sniegoski!), and now I feel like crap. Salad for dinner is definitely in order.