Latest Delicious Read: Aristide

Aristide visits his grandma to eat her sumptuous French cooking and explore the seaside, but he accidentally floats from France to England on his blue and white air mattress. His trip is cold and dark, and when Aristide bumps ashore, he's taken prisoner by a red-haired kid who happens to be preparing for a full-scale water pistol and sand balloon attack on the enemy. Aristide, though, changes the course of the war.

Spoiler: when Aristide finally reunites with his distraught maman, she cries so hard she soaks her pillow. His father, in contrast, says, "It's good to see you, son." I laughed so hard I soaked my own pillow, but when I told my husband about the excerpt, he said, "Ha, ha. Very funny." It's weird how men can't appreciate even the most enjoyable digs at their gender's emotional restraint.

Aristide is hilariously written by Rosemary Friedman and illustrated by Quentin Blake. What more could you want? The English version, perhaps? I read the slim, sweet book in French, but there must be an English one kicking around.

Brainpicking Children's Author Karen Krossing

Karen Krossing writes novels and short stories for children and teens. Her latest novel, The Yoyo Prophet, will be published in the fall of 2011 with Orca Books. Karen is the current president of CANSCAIP. She volunteers at Red Door Family Shelter and lives in Toronto with her family.

Best time/place to write

I get my best ideas when I’m falling asleep. I repeat them in my head a few times and then write them down once I get to my desk.

Author you wish you had for a high school English teacher

E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web and other books. He could write a mean sentence and explain why it worked so well.

Your thoughts on flossing

The need for flossing should be banned from my world.

Favourite background noise for writing

Absolute silence. Except for birds twittering outside, or the sound of rain and wind.

Bad grammar pet peeve

Life’s too short to get peeved about grammar.

Biggest obstacle to getting the work of writing done

The need for sleep. If I didn’t sleep, I’d have eight more hours each day to write!

Favourite writing tool

I love talking about a writing idea with someone who will listen, nod and inspire.

Do you believe in aliens?

Yup. Life has evolved on Earth. Why not elsewhere?

Literary character you’d like to invite for dinner?

The protagonist from my current work-in-progress so that I could fully explore what he thinks and feels.

Alternate time, place or universe you’d like to visit

The world of my current work-in-progress – to smell, touch, hear and see details that I could then write about.

Current writing project you dare to mention

Eeep! I can’t talk about it yet. It’s too fragile.

Latest Read: Watching Jimmy

When I brought home Nancy Hartry's Watching Jimmy (Tundra, 2009), my nine-year-old pounced on it before I could crack open the cover. We agreed to share the novel as a bedtime read-aloud. That worked well, although my daughter wanted to keep reading all night.

In the novel, 11-year-old Carolyn guards an uncomfortable secret about the reason for her next door neighbour's brain damage. The novel's 1958 setting encouraged mother-daughter discussion about terms like "galoshes" and concepts like "washing your mouth out with soap", (seen as horrifically hilarious) and even the beginnings of Canada's health care system. Nancy Hartry's writing is seemingly effortless, powerful and moving. I ended up in tears with my daughter stroking my back. Four thumbs up--two big and two small.