Friday, December 19, 2008

Annie Barrows

Annie Barrows, whose career also included libraries, bookstores, and publishing, is the author of the Ivy and Bean series for children, as well as The Magic Half.

She is coauthor, with her aunt Mary Ann Shaffer, of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Recently I asked her what she was reading. Her reply:
I've just started a reread of Our Mutual Friend. I read it years and years ago, and all I remember is great mountains of slime and trash and filth, but I know, given Dickens, that there's got to be more to it than that. I expect a virtuous but beleaguered girl to show up at any moment. In the meantime, I am riveted by the disgusting descriptions of the Thames. I have a deep personal interest in Victorian sanitation.

Another book I'm reading--with my daughter--is Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, by Lisa Yee. My daughter says, "Eleven-year-old boys are the weirdest people on the planet," and this book delves into the inner workings of one of them. It's pretty funny.
Visit Annie Barrows' website.

--Marshal Zeringue