Author Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Happy, happy, happy Friday, friends! I am celebrating this beautiful July day with author Jennifer Chambliss Bertman. We chatted about Book Scavenger, a special map, Sarah Watts, reading, and San Francisco. I wrote the words in orange, and she wrote the words in black. Thank you, Jennifer! 

Emily and James are way better at puzzles than I'll ever be! I love puzzles, but I'm not opposed to flipping to the solution page after a good effort of trying. Studying the "how" of a puzzle helps me learn more tricks for my next puzzle-solving attempt and usually prompts an "oh cool, so that's how that works" response. But I can't imagine Emily and James flipping to the solution page. Especially Emily--I think she would be horrified to read this answer.

Garrison Griswold thinks books make the world a better place. He also wants to inject happiness and fun into everyday life in order to counteract the bad and difficult stuff.

This map amazes me! It is so exciting that people are actually hiding and finding copies of Book Scavenger. I hope that trend continues!

Explore Sarah's website. 

Sarah Watts’ illustrations are awesome. She has such a fun, cool flair. And she designs fabric too! I've grown a little bit addicted to following her on Instagram . . .

Creative Spaces is an inspiration. I'm always interested in how and where creative people work, and I love thinking about decorating and design and organizing. Starting the Creative Spaces interviews five years ago gave me a way to participate in the children's literature world that I have been passionate about my whole life. I have been humbled and amazed by the people who have shared their workspaces on my blog, and I hope to feature a whole bunch more in years to come.

Read Margie Myers-Culver's review. 

Have you played book cover BINGO? It is a game I hosted on my blog to tie in with the Creative Spaces interview series. I made Bingo boards filled with book covers from the authors and illustrators I featured in my interviews, and gave away some of their books as the prizes. For a month I posted new covers to call out Bingo spaces, until enough winners scored Bingo. It was SO MUCH FUN! I would do it again in a heartbeat if it hadn't been so time intensive for me to create the Bingo boards. I created 150 unique boards manually by making a table in Word and dragging and dropping each cover into place, and then saved the file as a PDF (so people couldn't cheat and rearrange their covers). If anyone out there knows a way to make automated Bingo boards with a selection of book covers, I'd love to hear about it!

Reading is comforting. An escape. A window. A doorway. A secret passage. A rocket ship. Enlightening. Brain-expanding. Essential.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me... If I could play a game with any person or group of people, who would you pick and what game would it be?

I'd like to play Capture the Flag with all the characters in Book Scavenger, ideally at Chrissy Field in San Francisco on a crisp blue-sky day, topped off with a round of It's-Its enjoyed while lounging on picnic blankets.

Borrow Book Scavenger from your school or public library. Whenever possible, please support independent bookshops.