"Let the Wild Rumpus Start!"

That's a quote from Maurice Sendak's book Where the Wild Things Are.  But I have always thought that "Let the wild rumpus begin!" has a more natural sound.  And while I'm at it, don't you think that "Call me Ishy, or call me whatever, just so long as you call me," would be a more powerful opening for Moby Dick?  And don't you think the whale should be lemon yellow, not white?  And don't you think....

Easy, Pete--calm down.  Okay.  Now, where was I?  

Oh yeah, Wild Rumpus.  Last Monday I was at Wild Rumpus talking

about my books and meeting readers.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Wild Rumpus is a fantastical bookstore in the Linden Hills area of Minneapolis with a huge selection of children's books, a knowledgeable and dedicated staff of former children (adults), and a free-ranging menagerie of chickens, cats, and assorted other beasts.*  A wild rumpus indeed.  You should check it out next time you're in Minneapolis, unless you are allergic to fur and feathers.

Here's as pic of me scrawling something on a copy of Godless.

*Including rats, at least one iguana, and probably a unicorn (though he's tough to spot).

My new book, How to Steal a Car...

...including a DVD with instructions on How to Hot-Wire a Honda, will be released in 2009.  

I'm kidding about the DVD, of course, but the book is real.  How to Steal a Car will be published by Scholastic, probably with a September or October 2009 publication date.  I'm not saying too much about it at this point, except to say that it is about a fifteen-year-old girl who, well, steals cars.  I'm excited about this book--it's quite different from my other books.  But you knew that already, right?

And, since you asked (even though you probably didn't and could not care less), here's a photo of some chanterelles I found last week.  It's been a great year for chanterelles in Minnesota--I've harvested several pounds, and they were delicious--one of my three favorite mushrooms, along with porcinis and morels.  Like sweet corn and tomatoes, freshly-picked chanterelles are incomparably superior to their commercially available versions.  I'm hoping for a second fruiting later this summer.