Happy Birthday, Elvis!

I think all there is to say about me and Elvis has been said. By me.

You can read a little of it, or a lot. 
Or move on to the next blog you're reading.

:)

HERE it is.
and
HERE.

The closest I've gotten to The King lately was at a memorable school visit. Pelahatchie, Mississippi is a small country town near Jackson.  
Here I am with their really super former librarian, Brenda Black. 
And Elvis, of course.

(Yes, that's a jukebox behind me and a neat clock on the wall. Did I say what a great little library this was?)

If you're really a fan, to celebrate Elvis's birthday, you could attend the celebrations going on at GRACELAND right now.

If you're interested in hearing more about my book GLORY BE, and the Elvis connection, here's a blast from the past blog interview. 

Speaking of Author Visits, here are some truly remarkable ones, via Publisher's Weekly.
 (School Visit ideas, CLICK HERE.)

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Elvis! 
I think I'll go have a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Elvis Week Updated!

I almost missed marking it. Going on right now in Memphis.

Check it out, folks. Memorabilia for all! You con't have to be there to bid. 
 Just click on this link to go right to invaluable.com.

Yes, I'd love a few Elvis collectables. I actually have a few mementos. 


 


You can read about my Elvis statue HERE.

Or read about my childhood crush on the king and my career as an Elvis impersonator  HERE.

(Some people just have all the fun. Elvis and his fans. 

At a truly memorable school visit in Pelahatchie, MS. )

And here's a short video. 
Look closely for ELVIS'S LITTLE HOUSE IN TUPELO near the end.

Just Another Boy
Thanks for the memories, Elvis. #ElvisWeek2015
Posted by Elvis' Tupelo on Sunday, August 16, 2015

Junk Poker

(Note, I'm reposting this from May, 2011, written as I prepared for the book's launch. I'm reposting because I just had the nicest comment from a reader, today, and can't resist sharing. Oh, and by the way, the actual wallpaper, deemed valuable, has been retired. But I now have a great facsimile supplied by the kids at one of the schools I visited last year. )

When I changed my Facebook profile picture this week, I had a few questions. Like what in the heck is that shoebox tied up with a big purple ribbon all about?

It's all about Junk Poker.

When we were very little and shared the Sleeping Porch as our bedroom, my sister and I created a game. I remember it vividly, so what if she doesn't?  I was older. I get to elaborate on the memories. So I'm telling the story: we played Blackjack with our "treasures." We hid the shoeboxes under our beds. We took them out during nap-times (every day of the summer to escape the heat and survive polio- but that's another story).

In my upcoming novel, Glory and her big sister play Junk Poker. In fact, I first titled the book Junk Poker, way back when I first began writing it. Back then, it was a short story narrated by an adult caregiver, who also happened to be  the organist/ wedding planner/ maker of tissue paper carnations for the First Baptist Church. What can I say? The story has evolved. Have you never started with one idea and come up with something completely different?

New title, new genre, new characters.
But Junk Poker and the shoebox survived.

Inside my box is my prized possession. I thought it was lost until I rediscovered a manila envelope tucked in the bottom of an old footlocker from Camp Skyline Ranch. The trunk had traveled many miles since my Mentone, Alabama days. When it finally fell apart in our last move, I salvaged the envelope.

I found corsages from old boyfriends, a photograph of my dad's Army jeep that I learned to drive on, and the best treasure of all: wallpaper from Elvis's house in Tupelo, Mississippi.

So that's what I shared in my Scholastic talk in New York. Green floral wallpaper from Elvis's childhood home, tucked into this Buster Brown shoebox just like Glory's, wrapped in a big purple ribbon. Why Elvis's wallpaper? You'll have to wait for Glory and her big sister to tell you...

Meanwhile, it's only fitting that my Junk Poker box serves as my new Facebook profile picture. 

Elvis is in the building...

I have so many great stories (and maybe half-great pictures) from this week in NY/NJ. 
School visits, Book Group chats, walks in my winter coat. Okay, maybe that's not so great.

But for now, in the interest of time (mine) and quality, I'll share two that made me smile.

Often kids give me things to add to my Junk Poker box. This trip, I added grass and surprisingly-close-to-Elvis's wallpaper from the fabulous group at Christa McAuliffe Middle School's amazing after school book club party. 
Those kids had totally read my book's tiniest details.

(They also made the little Junk Poker boxes for everybody. And gave me that book they'd created. Great readers!)

And yesterday, as I was leaving the Nightingale Bamford School in NYC where I'd spoken to the 3rd and 4th grade classes, the teacher handed me thank you notes. 

This one takes the cake, big time. Not sure if she's a big Elvis fan or whether the reference was purely accidental. 
I'm going with the Fan option. 

And thank ya, Thank YOU very much, kids!

Elvis Week!

In honor of ELVIS WEEK, I share with you a piece of my childhood.

I almost titled this post Things I Love. 

But truly, I don't love 45s of Elvis all that much anymore. 

I am delighted to re-discover My Platter Box
from the days my sister and I shared a room.
She found it and returned it, but I suspect some of these are hers.

At least one of records is going straight to my Junk Poker box. 

If the kids I share my treasures with don't know what this is...

do you think they'll have a clue what a record is?

Related Posts: Junk Poker
Me as Elvis Impersonator (Now that got your attention, didn't it!) 

And if you're still reading, here's a little something to make your day.

More about me? And Elvis...

Specifically, about writing Glory Be.

 Here's a link to Holly Schindler's fab blog. ☜☜☜

With a cute picture of my little Elvis statue, now appearing in a Junk Poker box near you.

(How do these remarkable bloggers think of such great questions?)

A Thing I Love: Happy birthday, Elvis

In my past life, I adored Elvis Presley. I've mostly grown out of that, but there are moments when it comes back to me.

Like when this Christmas a gift arrived from Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi.
(FYI: I'll actually be there signing books on March 1! Click here for the link!)

I suspected something exciting when I saw the wrapping.

When I was MUCH younger, I had a Plaster-of-Paris Elvis statue. Maybe it's my imagination, but I remember the bust as being almost as large as a basketball. Other than that, it looked exactly like this one. My mother loved to discard unnecessary things. I'm sure she ditched my Elvis statue as soon as I left for college. Yes, it was a dust-catcher. But thank goodness she didn't get her hands on my Elvis scrapbook. Because now I've finally found the perfect spot for my new statue and my old Elvis wallpaper: Glory's Junk Poker box.

So, on Elvis's birthday, I want to share my newest Thing I Love. Thanks to my niece Amy who sent it from Square Books for Christmas.

Elvis on my Christmas Table-

Or maybe you prefer Elvis the King? He has outfits!

Not as large as a basketball, but small enough to fit into a shoebox. Perfect!

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Absolutely must know more? Click away!

Possibly Related Blog Post:

My Junk Poker Box

One of my Elvis Essays

Elvis and I

I won't go into my elusive career as an 11-year-old Elvis impersonator again. Everything you might want to know, but probably don't, is right here.

Because of my early fascination with The King, I knew I'd love Shelley Pearsall's book: ALL SHOOK UP. Only peripherally is it about Elvis, however. 




Here's the story.
Josh must stay with his divorced dad while his mom takes care of his grandmother. Dad lives in Illinois. Boy resides in Boston. Dad is the disorganized type. Mom super organized. Dad just lost his job. Mom knew nothing about this. Dad is now an Elvis impersonator. Josh is mortified.

That may be the story in a very small nutshell. It says nothing about the funny writing, the terrific voice, emotions, experiences of a 13-year-old boy thrown into complete disarray by something he has no control over. Or the wise, clever Ivory. And her friend Digger, the tree-hugging artist wearing a spiked dog collar. And Gladys. What a fabulous secondary character. Small part, large role.



Some of the things I adored about ALL SHOOK UP.
1. The use of Elvis appropriate tunes/ lyrics, as between-chapter breaks.
2. The tiny Elvises decorating the (bottom) page numbers.
3. The way Josh changes in the book.
4. Funny lines: ex. "As we headed down the hall, I could tell people were noticing that I was walking beside a girl who looked like an unraveling brown carpet..."

Thank you to the Cynsations blog where I first read about ALL SHOOK UP.

How had I missed this book and this writer? Now I'm looking forward to dipping into a few more by Shelley Pearsall. Another great boy voice, in a book with appeal to a wide age span and multiple reading types. Kids who loved Al Capone Does My Shirts, The Absolute Value of Mike, or Okay for Now should be handed this one for sure.

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

When I was quite young, a Rock and Roll King began his career just up the road from where I lived. Even as pre-teens, my friends and I adored Elvis.

In the draft I'm revising of my middle-grade, to-be-published novel set in the early 60s in Mississippi,  Elvis plays a tiny part. Of course, my truly brilliant editor might cut all the Elvis references out. I'll have to wait to see. And that would be OK. But for now, this is my main character, eavesdropping on her big sister. Any clue who this big sister is loosely based on?

“I love Elvis Presley. I have every one of his records,” my sister was saying.

I heard a voice answer, “My mama loves Elvis better than anything. I’m named after him. Robbie, short for Robert Aaron Presley. Elvis Aaron Presley? Did you know Aaron was Elvis’s middle name?”

As if my sister didn’t own a scrapbook full of Elvis stuff and even a plaster of Paris Elvis statue. In fact, Jesslyn was liable to stand up and start singing Love Me Tender right about now.

See, I loved Elvis a lot. And once when we were ten, three friends and I did an Elvis impersonation. With an audience. A few years ago, I rounded up my courage and wrote about it. It was hard to admit to this oh-so-brief career choice, but my critique group thought it was a fine essay and the Christian Science Monitor published it.

So in honor of The King's birthday, here it is. You can click right here to read about our group's winning TV performance. In Memphis. When Elvis was in town.