Anyway, I’m thankful for how weird eels are, and grateful for all the eel news and images that people send my way. I definitely saw a publishers marketplace announcement for an eel book for kids that I am looking forward to in 2026! I didn’t write it, but it’s from one of my favorite children’s nonfiction writers, Nicholas Day, and I know he’ll do an amazing job. I loved both his books about the Mona Lisa theft and John Cage. Always looking forward to more eel books even if I have to wait.
I’m thankful for my local library and my book and writing communities, both online and irl. I’m thankful for my family and friends, and cozy sweats and warm gloves. I’m thankful that you’re here reading my random eel updates and supporting my book writing and author endeavors. Thank you!
Now onto the Eel Report Gift Guide (with zero eels this year)
If this fall has you feeling stressed out and you’re looking for deeper meaning in your holiday celebrations, ordering a solstice circle bundle from my family-friend and bonus mom is a great way to have some open-hearted conversations. I always love to see how everyone decorates their solstice candles, what we share, and highly recommend a solstice bundle.
And of course, a gift guide would not be complete without a grumpy christmas tree frog. Share with friends who are also obsessed with the color yellow, libraries, and reading freely.
What is not pictured in this gift round-up is a library association membership. In this extended period of book banning and attacks on libraries and first amendment rights, a nice gift would be to buy a membership to your state library association— for me, in Idaho, that’s a membership to the Idaho Library Association. For Idaho, they have different price points and you don’t have to be a library employee to be a member. You can be a card carrying friend! I imagine whatever state you are in has ways to join and support your state library association.
Check with your state, but membership fees often go to support the advocacy work your state librarians are doing, and in Idaho where book ban laws have already gone into effect, fees also go to the legal defense fund for Idaho libraries. Plus, I got a sweet membership card, and laminating it is high on my weekend to-do list. Please enjoy this messy-hair-don’t-care-long-weekend-morning photo of me and my membership card:
A free thing that you can do if you’d like to give back to your community is attend library and school board meetings. I suggest adding every library and school board meeting to your calendar. It’ll take maybe ten minutes to throw those events on the calendar, but having them on your calendar is one step closer to attending, and letting both boards know that the ability to access information and read freely is important. I am bad at attending school board meetings, but I like to sit in on library board meetings when I can make it work with my schedule. Here’s to more advocacy to fight for the freedom to read in our public libraries and schools.
*Please imagine me delivering this next bit with like face paint and chain mail and from on top of a horse even though my horse skills are nonexistent.*
If you are here and are an author, illustrator, editor, bookmaker, etc. if you haven’t joined Authors Against Book Bans, please join us! It is free and supportive, and excellent community. The first time I attended an AABB zoom, I turned my camera off and cried because it was so nice to know we aren’t alone in this fight.
*This is the part where I’m still on a horse and still wearing chain mail, but my face paint is now tear-stained because we’re all on horses and holding hands together and crying. We are Matisse’s The Dance, but on horseback in chainmail and crying. Those are the vibes, but also angry and united and organized.*
That’s all! A record quick eel report! In brief writing news, I’ve been deep in some nonfiction research tunnels, my library holds, article requests, and book stacks are extremely out of control. Subscribe to stay up to date on my book and writing shenanigans:
I lied! One event update! I’ll be doing a banned book picture book story time at the Moscow Public Library on December 23rd from 6-7pm as part of the Moscow Banned Book Club. If you are local, come hear me read from challenged picture books! Follow the moscowbannedbookclub for details.
I’ll have more updates in 2025 on places I’ll be talking about books and being in community with writers in the new year, but for now, support local businesses, support your libraries and schools, and take care of your community.
I hope this holiday season is filled with great books, all the yellow cocoon-like feelings, and significantly more eel photos than eel dishes.
Who are very smart and mouthy if this were a John Scalzi novel
Ceci n’est pas une anguille
It was only a matter of time until the Eel Report was a full-on correction update. The “eels” on the Customs House in Sydney from last month’s Eel Report are not “eels” at all— it’s fine, I feel like this frequently happens to eels who are mysterious and refuse to be known.
In July, I emailed the Customs House Visitor Center in Sydney about the ornamental eels, and the visitor services team emailed me back mid-August. This is my favorite email I have ever received:
Sometimes tone is hard in emails, but this makes me laugh so much, like they are being so kind and patient and generous with their email and information, but also, I am a silly little American peasant who can’t read signs and wouldn’t recognize family crests and maritime symbols if I saw them carved in stone. Which, honestly, they are correct. I am so sorry.
These are dolphins in their heraldic form. Y’all. Heraldry is wild. My personal favorite is the dolphin with an elephant trunk. To be fair, if you asked 14th century me to draw a dolphin, I would be like, what? you want me to draw what?
Eels are unfortunately not as popular as dolphins in heraldry and family crest representation. The linked heraldry sources in the caption were provided by the Sydney Customs House Visitor Center services team— above and beyond customer service. Still need to get back to Australia ASAP.
Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival is this Saturday!
I can’t wait for the Bigfoot Kids Book Festival in Redmond, Washington. I’ll be sharing a spot with author-illustrator, Ellie Peterson, signing books from 11:30am – 12:30pm! I’ll have mermaid coloring sheets! And The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime door hanger swag. I’m excited to meet readers and spend time with so many amazing northwest authors and illustrators.
Books can be pre-ordered for the event from Brick and Mortar Books. I’m starting my own booklist for Saturday, and trying to decide if I should bring all my copies of The Princess in Black and my worn out copy of The Goose Girl to have Shannon Hale sign them.
Books Books Books
Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s books are fun, cute, violent, and a little bit ridiculous. And Colton Gentry’s Third Act is made for life-rebuilding rom-com Hallmark movie magic. And Some Desperate Glory is intense in its anti-fascist, deprogramming explorations, (it is an adult novel). Actually, all of these novels are for adults.
But I really want to tell you about Big Bear and Little Bear Go Fishing which feels like a classic picture book. I love this book with my whole heart in its everyday tenderness. It’s perfect. I would 100 hundred percent recommend it as a perfect gift to everyone with a small child or new baby.
If you’re looking for a teacher gift, I would recommend We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang as the book to add to every teacher’s classroom picture book collection that they didn’t know they needed about helping strangers and showing kindness.
And Emergency Quarters by Carlos Matias and Gracey Zhang for all the parents and kids navigating new moments of independence as kids head back to school. We are all so lucky that so many amazing picture books are being made and created. And that’s only a few very small examples! What a treat.
Labor Day Newsletter
I’m writing this newsletter on Labor Day, and I think this Labor Day, it’d be great to get out your stationery stash or open up a fresh email and let the librarians in your life know that you appreciate all the work that they are doing to bring wonderful books and programs to their communities.
Last week, I had a conversation with a library director who was navigating book ban requests, and someone in their district had submitted five requests to have materials removed or relocated at their library. The library staff, director, and board, dutifully worked through the process, following their own procedures, doing the necessary reading and analysis, and when it came time to discuss the materials and decide their fate at their board meeting, the person who filed the complaints couldn’t even bother to show up.
The time and resources wasted. The disrespect. And this doesn’t even include the whole book banning nonsense and emotional stress of mentally preparing for a potentially hostile interaction at board meetings that are usually about budgets and library maintenance.
Anyway, Banned Books Week is just around the corner, September 22nd – September 28th, and if you use your public library, I’d encourage you to let the librarians, board, and staff know how much you appreciate the work that they do in your community. And if you’re not a regular library patron, get on that! Libraries are amazing.
I’ve got books with library holds on them that need to be read, a manuscript that needs some serious, serious revision, and some letters to my local librarians to write and events to plan. Until next month!
Thanks for reading this newsletter. If you’re in the Seattle area, I hope to see you at the Redmond Town Center this Saturday! And if you’ve got friends in the Seattle area, send them to the Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival, the lineup is jam-packed with amazing children’s book makers!
Boise, Idaho! I’m coming for you with two events! A double story time with my friend, Lisa Frenkel Riddiough— we’re bringing Pie-Rats! and Mermaids to the Treasure Valley on August 10th at Rediscovered Books on 8th street in downtown Boise.
There will be author readings and banned book giveaways, and the League of Women Voters in the greater Boise area will be there to register citizens to vote. I can’t wait to meet more readers, book lovers, and librarians who are passionate about protecting everyone’s freedom to read.
If you’re in Boise, come say hi! If you have friends in the Boise area, share this newsletter and story time and read-in invite!
Bring a book, bring some signs, bring a blanket or a sun shade. I can’t wait to meet you and hear about what books you love reading, and even better what books you sneaked and read because you really wanted to. It’ll fun, and probably hot, and I’m definitely bringing lots of water.
It’s a garbage law that says (abbreviated version—not a legal expert) if a child “obtains” library materials that are deemed “obscene,” and a parent/guardian complains, then that book must go through a review process, and if it is determined “obscene,” and is not moved to an “adult-only” section, then that person can sue the library. I’m paraphrasing and using lots of Bennett Brauer air quotes, but you can read more about the whole ridiculous thing.
In Idaho state law (reminder that I am not a law expert or an eel expert), “obscene,” includes any reference to homosexuality, so pretty much any book with LGBTQ+ content is defined as “obscene” in the state of Idaho. If this sounds discriminatory and like a major government overreach in a state that loves individual freedom, well, welcome to the contradictory ridiculousness of living in Idaho!!!
As a reader and a writer, and just general book nerd, I don’t think every book is for every reader— actually, I know every book is not for every reader. And that some books are meant for certain ages and audiences, and that readers know best what they’re comfortable reading and when.
But conversations with kids and teens about what to read, those should happen with the adults in their lives—not someone else or the state deciding what should and shouldn’t be read or accessed. *Triple dismounts soap box, wobbles a bit, but mostly sticks the landing.*
Well, honestly, if you are in America, and your state has not passed a bill limiting what children can check-out and read at their public or school libraries, it is likely that your more conservative state representatives are going to try. And coming from a state where these laws have passed, it sucks.
I’ve been to library board meetings where precious time is spent figuring out how to navigate the new library bill. Libraries that can afford an attorney are having to use limited resources on legal council, and libraries that can’t afford an attorney are trying to navigate confusing legislation on their own.
It’s the small, rural libraries that are going to be hurt the most, and it’s the small, rural libraries that need the most support. And the kids who use these libraries on a daily basis know that there are bills and laws dictating what they can and cannot access, and that the books they love might be taken away, and that the spaces that are meant to be safe, suddenly feel less so.
One more time for the people in the back: THAT THE SPACES THAT ARE MEANT TO BE SAFE, SUDDENLY FEEL LESS SO.
So we’re going to gather and talk books and read together on the Idaho State Capitol steps on August 10th—and if you’re in the Boise area, I hope to see you there.
Thanks for reading The Eel Report & Other Things! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
So very little eels— none!—in this eel report! Always thinking about eels even if I’m not writing about them. Thanks for reading, hope to see you in Boise!
In solidarity,
Eija Sumner, eel nerd, newsletter writer, and kidlit author
Saved the newest Emily Henry for this summer in the air.
I Channeled Steve Irwin and Saw an Eel in the Wild
The important thing about this eel report is that I saw an eel in real life, in a little lake at the Hobbiton movie set in New Zealand. I should say, the really truly important thing about this eel sighting is that my daughter saw the eel first and came running to find me, and then explained to a lot of people traveling with us on an educational tour that I write a newsletter about eels.
I had to tell them it’s not a scientific newsletter, I’m just a fan, and eels are so amazing and weird. Like how did a bunch of eels get into this little lake tucked away in the idyllic farm hills on the north island of Aotearoa?
I was not the only person excited about the eel on the edge of the lake, and our tour guide told us that there are plenty of eels in the lake but that for a short time there was also a seal, Sammy. A seal who followed rivers and streams inland and found himself at a little lake in The Shire. From a New Zealand entertainment site: Sammy the seal, “has been spotted throwing and chasing the eels.” SAMMY THE SEAL HAS BEEN SPOTTED THROWING AND CHASING THE EELS. I love eels, but I also love this image of a seal having the best adventure of his life.
I am not sure if I would choose to be an eel, but if I were an eel, I imagine apart from a week terrorized by Sammy the Seal, being a healthy little eel in the lake at Hobbiton with its manicured gardens, hobbit homes, and extremely enthusiastic visitors would have to be one of the best places to be an eel.
So many of the middle school kids on our tour talked about living and moving to Hobbiton. Like, I’m gonna live in this hobbit house with the yellow door, or I’m going to come back here and live in New Zealand and be a tour guide—so many big plans! Which I fully support and also 100% recommend watching 12 and 13 year olds discover and see themselves in the wider world in this way. And those eels are doing it—they found their way up rivers and streams to a little lake outside Matamata where the doors are round, every minute detail is considered, and the cider and stouts at the Green Dragon Inn are lovely.
If Hobbiton is on your travel bucket list, or the bucket list of someone you know, you can share my newsletter for some more travel inspiration and reminder to look for eels when you get to the lake. It was an amazing experience, created with so much care! Such beautiful eels! And wonderful, wonderful guides and gardens.
Bonus Eel-Like Imagery
These are eels right? This is a large clock on the exterior of the Customs House in the Circular Quay—the heart of the business district in Sydney Harbour. Eels can have pectoral fins, fins on the side of their bodies behind their head, so I think these are eels. Definitely eel-like. Honestly, I should have asked someone because this Customs House is an informative center for visitors to Sydney. I guess this means I will have to go back to Oceania, and double-check on these ornamental fish and then also travel to the suburbs and catch a Parramatta Eels rugby match while I’m at it. I loved Oceania.
Author Life Highlight
Before I travel anywhere I like to try and connect with local and independent bookstores, and I was so excited when I realized that Little Unity Bookstore in Auckland, New Zealand was going to be walking distance to my hotel while in the City of Sails.
An author-life highlight is seeing my book in the window of a bookshop in Auckland, New Zealand, which is so far away from my home that you have to fly at least 15 hours and cross the international date line to get from one to the other. Signing copies in the shop was such a treat. Like I know books exist in different places, but holy moly, sometimes it’s a totally different feeling to see it in person. *cries in small things that feel big*
Author Tip: Reach out to bookstores or work with your publicist to reach out to bookstores before you travel to new places. It’s much more likely that your book will be on the shelf, or it will give time for an indie bookstore to order stock if they’d like to have copies signed.
One of my favorite things about traveling is finding books that I can’t find at home, so I’ve got a whole book haul from New Zealand and Australian authors from Little Unity bookshop.
This trip was such a whirlwind and jam-packed, and I’m really looking forward to reading these stories and revisiting photos and jumping back into all the rich details. I journaled a little bit while on the trip, and kept a food diary of all the new things I ate and tried. When school is back in session and routines become more regular, I’ll revisit all my photos and slip back into what it was like to walk through the Sydney Opera House, or what it smelled like waking up in Rotorua with their very potent sulphuric geothermal gases.
Writing exercise: Look back at photos from a trip—recent or older. Give yourself a few minutes per photo, and write down all the details that you remember from that experience. What time of day, what was the weather like, what was the mood, what did you notice, what did it smell like, how did you feel in this new place? After you’ve revisited that experience, what kind of details are just outside the frame? Is there potential for story in the images? Is there a kernel of a new idea? Give yourself more time, like five or ten minutes, to explore new ideas and free write.
Stay up to date on all things eels and author news from yours truly, Eija Sumner. You’ll want to be subscribed to catch all the details on a double-header day and story time with my friend, Lisa Frenkel Riddiough, and a Read-In at the Capitol in Boise, Idaho with Authors Against Book Bans on August 10th!
I’m saving all the information for August events for a whole bonus newsletter because this newsletter is getting out of hand and Substack is sending me error messages about email length! This is the Substack equivalent of the orchestra playing me off the stage. Please subscribe for more info, and if you made it this far, bless you, please keep reading for steamy romance reads.
Summer Romance Reading
I think it’s fair to say that I’ve never traveled so much in one summer (or one year), it’s been everything from educational tours with middle schoolers, to work trips, to writing reunion trips, and it’s been a lot of time in airports, airplanes, hotels, and buses.
I love being in new places and trying new foods and seeing new things. But the flying is not my favorite. I need to totally escape or cocoon myself the best that I can with eye mask, face mask, noise canceling headphones, hooded sweatshirt, neck pillow— full on I can’t see you, you can’t see me—complete dissociation on the airplane. Imagine one of those single pop-up pods for soccer mom sidelines to stay dry and germ free—that is me on an airplane.
So when I am not cocooned and sleeping while hurtling through the air, I read romance novels. Complete escape. So here’s my list of summer romance reading. Excellent characters, dialogue, and meet-cutes and knowing that everything is totally going to work out. Which is exactly what I need to keep my brain from spiraling while over 30,000 feet in the air. I love reading romance, but I stock up on the Libby app and save all my romance recs for when I travel. I would say that Luster is less what I would call Romance, and more of a sexy literary novel, but look at the cover design showcasing that for readers.
To round out all the romance reading and think about where Romance fits within the publishing industry and it’s cultural impact and significance, it’s been fun to listen to and read all the segments on the romance book industry from Culture Study by Anne Helen Peterson.
I’m a paid subscriber to Anne’s Culture Study newsletter and podcast because I think she’s brilliant, and her guests are brilliant. It’s one of two podcasts that I do not miss, it’s a space that always feels like sitting in on a really great cultural seminar.
If you made it this far, thank you for spending some solid time with me. If you liked this newsletter and want to share it with people so that they can weigh in on my ornamental eel poll on Sydney’s Customs House, I would appreciate it. August and September are going to be busy—more soon!
Thanks for reading The Eel Report & Other Things! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Look at this cute little eel or eel-like fish that my nephew sent me. He spotted it in a tide pool along the Northern California coast.
I don’t know what it is. I thought it might be a type of cusk-eel, but I’m not sure if a cusk-eel is even an eel. I feel like the more I read about eels the more I find out about eel-like fish who are not actually eels because they don’t originate from the Champagne region of France. I’m kidding. But it’s confusing!
According to Wikipedia, cusk-eels aren’t true eels, because “true eels diverged from other ray-finned fish during the Jurassic period, while cusk-eels are part of the Percomorpha clade, along with tuna, perch, seahorses and others.”
I only know what like one of those words means.
But I learned that a clade is like a natural family grouping of a species who have a shared ancestor. And that clades and cladistics (amazing word) is the most common way to classify animals and that cladistics has maybe rocked the taxonomy boat a lil bit. Anyway, long story short story, I guess cusk-eels have different ancestors than a True Eel™. But I’m still not sure if the eel in this photo is a cusk-eel or another eel imposter or a real bonafide True Eel™.
If you know what type of eel or eel-like fish this is, please reply to this newsletter!
Book Events and News
I’ll be heading to Rediscovered Bookshop in Boise, Idaho on August 10th to do a joint story time and book signing with my friend, Lisa Frenkel Riddiough. More details as we get closer to the date!
Save the date for the Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival in Redmond, Washington on September 7th, 2024. They have an amazing line-up of authors and illustrators, and I’m so excited to participate and see writer community friends from the west side of the state!
I’ve had a handful of parents in the past week share with me little stories about the door hangers my publisher, Tundra Books, made for The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime. Everything from making sure their door sign is flipped so they can have their privacy in the bathroom, to making sure it says, “being a good a little mermaid,” before bedtime. I love these little stories of autonomy and independence, which is so much at the root of The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime.
If you’ve read The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime or Crocodile Hungry and want to review them on Goodreads or The StoryGraph, or wherever you buy books, that is a nice thing to do to support books and authors and I’d appreciate it.
Stay up to date on all my book events and news and subscribe to The Eel Report & Other Things for all the eel, kidlit, and writing updates and shenanigans.
Authors Against Book Bans
The Idaho legislature passed a library book removal law, HB710 this spring, and it goes into effect July 1st. Read about it here. Since the law passed, I’ve been trying to go to my library board meetings so I know what’s going on and how this law will affect our libraries, communities, readers, and authors.
I’m a member of the single-issue grassroots organization Authors Against Book Bans, and if you’re an author, editor, illustrator, translator, contributing writer to an anthology, poet— basically, if your name is on a copyright page, I encourage you to join.
AABB is building a great network of support for creatives, and if you were like, I’d love to speak out and show up for myself and my fellow authors but don’t know where to start, or I don’t want to feel alone in this book ban fight, or I’d love to know how to help against book bans, AABB is here.
Writing Research and Ghost Stories
I don’t really read scary books, I am what you might call an L-7 weenie scaredy pants extraordinaire. I have only read one Stephen King book, and it was about writing, and even then when Stephen King wrote about his accident in On Writing, I was SO FREAKED OUT, like is he going to be okay? is he going to make it?? knowing full well that SK had to survive the accident in order to write about it.
But I have an idea for a ghost story— it’s an idea I’ve had for a few years— and I’m trying to figure out if I know enough about this idea and ghost stories to actually try and write it.
So I’m doing my research and reading ghost stories which have their own rules and conventions.
So what’s next in this idea development story writing phase— honestly, maybe not much. I don’t know if I know enough about this story to write it, which happens sometimes.
Maybe that feels like the yips, but I am convinced that no matter the genre or audience, all writing is like building a puzzle. Sometimes a piece is missing, or a whole chunk, sometimes a whole other puzzle is mixed in— rude!— and so many times there are pieces that should look like they fit but then they don’t.
What I like about ghost stories is the opportunity to bridge time periods and histories and for whatever is haunting the ghost, whatever keeps them tethered, that story more often than not parallels the protagonist’s story, adds meaning and depth, or can reveal hidden mysteries.
So I have this idea, this setting, this specific moment in time connected with the present day, I know the historical events that led to the creation of this ghost, but I currently know more about my modern-day living protagonist. Because I don’t yet know what puzzle, what deeper connection there is for the ghost, what is haunting them? Which is a big piece of the ghost story writing puzzle.
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote something about a shared inspirational pool in Big Magic— about a story idea, a development, an obsession— and how ideas will find the right writer. So for Gilbert, she had this idea, and explored it, but also that story wasn’t right for her, and the inspiration for it left, but it was right for Ann Patchett, which had similar inspirations and eventually led to what is now State of Wonder. Not like a shared writing experience or plagiarism or anything like that, but an acknowledgement that maybe ideas live in this mysterious ether and find the right writer who has all the puzzle pieces.
As an aside, I also feel like sometimes I could use a little picture book inspiration sharing from the ether! Like helloooo, hey, idea ether, send me some inspo!
Anyway, I’m not ready to let this ghost story go and release it to the imagination pool that we all like to play in. I don’t know if I’ll figure it out, sometimes with stories, you have to explore enough to know whether or not it’s a story you can tell.
I thought I might write about generative AI for this newsletter, and my thoughts and experiences— especially when so many workplaces, people, professionals are willing to adopt and incorporate generative AI tools. But the thing I keep thinking about the most, is that as a writer, as a creative person, generative AI tools make me want to show my work. To show how I think, to show how an idea develops. So maybe this ghost story will get shelved or maybe it’ll find a writer that isn’t me, but here’s to showing my work. Here’s to still exploring.
If you read scary stories, please send me more ghost story recommendations and all your favorite hauntings. And also as a little sneak peek into the setting, what books should I read that are set in the British Isles?
Happy reading and happy writing.
If you like this Eel Report Newsletter, and you think someone might want to know about eels, or can identify cusk-eels, or have some great ghost story recommendations, you can share it with a friend:
I watched Jeopardy, the trivia tv show, only once during April. During that one episode there was a clue about eels and I was so excited, but dear reader, I did not solve the clue. The question was like, “Blah blah blah, eels swim to this North Sea…” and I was like North Sea… the North Sea? The North Sea is a sea in the North.
But here’s the deal with me and trivia clues in general, if there’s a first answer that feels like a true possibility, I will not come up with the correct answer because my mind will be laser-focused on the first word association answer that sounds sort-of right. The North Sea is a sea, and it is in the North. Boom. Wrong according to Jeopardy.
The correct answer was the Sargasso Sea, and I was like duh, of course. This is like the mysterious oceanic home base for so many eels. It’s like that moment in How to Train Your Dragon where all the dragons are bewitched and return to dragon island with their fish tributes. That is what I imagine eels are like when they swim to the Sargasso Sea. It’s very unscientific. This is your periodic reminder that I am just a lady with an internet connection and not an eel expert— can’t even answer Jeopardy clues on eels correctly.
Anyway, back to Jeopardy and eel clues. I was like, wait a minute, the Sargasso Sea is considered North??
Like what would you consider a North sea? Like what seas would make you think, ah yes, this is a northern sea? Because I was thinking a northern sea would be sharing water with the Arctic Circle… like the Baltic Sea and North Sea type of North, and the Sargasso Sea is definitely sharing water with the Bahamas.
But this feels like we all could use a geography or oceanography refresher since I apparently need one:
The Atlantic Ocean is split into the North Atlantic Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean. The Sargasso Sea is in the North Atlantic Ocean (But ahem, not what I would consider North). But maybe because I live in a more northern state? (Is this a very self-centered way to think about directions?) Or is it because the Sargasso Sea is also near a lot of southern states? (Is this a very US-centric way to think about directions?) Is the equator all that matters here, or is there a moment when something is generally considered North? Or is this all relative?
I feel like this is close to spiraling into a SHE WORE A CROWN AND CAME DOWN IN A BUBBLE, DOUG. Like, THE SARGASSO SEA IS NORTH OF THE EQUATOR. IT’S A NORTHERN SEA, EIJA.
Forget directional rules and the ocean and please enjoy this photo of a garden eel. I love him. My daughter sent it to me. Isn’t he cute?
Real Mermaids and Smart Lights
I had a very mermaid storytime at Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane, Washington with a couple of amazing mermaids. Auntie’s is a downtown Spokane staple, and one of my favorite book stops in the Lilac City! It was so fun to watch the kids listen to the mermaids and talk with them after the show— a once in a lifetime moment to share a reading with mermaids.
When I first found out about my book being included in this interactive initiative, I was really excited but I didn’t really know that smart lights existed. Did you know about smart light bulbs? Or smart color changing light bulbs? Penguin Living Stories works with Philips Hue Bridge smart lighting thingamabob system, and then you’d need a color changing light bulb that works with the Hue Bridge.
I do not have any of these things, but I’m so curious what sounds and lighting effects happen with The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime when you read it aloud with these devices. I really want to know what happens when you read, I AM A PREDATOR!
I’ll be joining my friend, Tara Karr Roberts and new writer pal, Christian Perry, and many more at Pop-Up Prose in Moscow, Idaho on May 18th at the best local place to get lunch (or warm pita bread if you just need a lil snack). I love Mikey’s and am excited to participate! I have no idea what I’ll read, something shelved and weird.
Stay up-to-date on all book news and events and hit that subscribe button for monthly updates and random eel info from yours truly.
Reading New Books and Lurlene McDaniel
There are just so many good books. Steve Sheinkin is an instant read for me, I love all of his non-fiction books which are so well-written and well-researched. Once More with Feeling is for any and all musical theatre nerds out there, and I’m really enjoying Andrea Beatriz Arango’s emotional middle-grade novel in verse, Something Like Home.
March Madness was wild, I loved watching the college women’s games, and am forever grateful for Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing and perspective on life and basketball, and how a book about basketball is really about life. But honestly, as a lifelong bball fan, I will always believe that basketball is also about life.
I also picked up a Lurlene McDaniel book, Too Young to Die, from a local little free library. It was emotional, cleanly plotted, there was a high school crush and a college-age boyfriend, some hot air balloons, a PSAT test, and even a death all in 166 pages. Incredible.
I know there are always side conversations happening in kidlit-land about teen books needing to be for actual teenagers, and the need for shorter books, straight to paperback options, or more affordable books. I am fully aware that Lurlene churned these books out, but wouldn’t it be nice to have 200 page paperback stories for teenagers?
I would also join a bookclub that only reads books from your youth. Where can I join an Animorphs bookclub or Sweet Valley High (which I’ve never actually read) reading group. A bookclub where you revisit some pop-culture titles from your tween era, everyone could read the same book or pick like one author and see what happens. Could be fun. Please let me know if you do this, bonus points for an accompanying PowerPoint presentation.
I also love how the eels on this page are like, “yes, floss your teeth, you are divine, you have beautiful gleaming teeth, you must brush them.”
Nici’s illustrations in The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime are so excellent, and it’s really fun to make up what all the other fish are thinking throughout the story. Highly recommend commentary from all the fish while you read.
Mermaid Book Events
Since The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime published on March 5th, I’ve been busy doing book store visits and author signings, which have been a blast! It is very exciting to see a book you wrote on a shelf in a bookstore. I am so grateful.
I started off my mini book tour at Wishing Tree Bookstore in Spokane, Washington, a beautiful bookshop in the South Perry District. I love doing storytimes, and it always feels so special to connect and share a storytime with kids and families.
At the event, I’ll share a little bit about the writing process and how this unhinged mermaid story evolved to become this final physical book, and I’ll read the story and sign copies. I’ll also have coloring sheets! If you’re local, I’d love to see you out there.
Next Saturday, on March 30th, I’ll be at Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane, Washington, with a couple of mermaids! Auntie’s regularly hosts mermaid storytimes, and I’m so excited to have mermaids join me for my reading— I can’t wait to meet them!
If I’ll be in your neighborhood for the next couple of events, I’d love to meet you! Be the first to find out about events and book news.
How does anyone have time to read when a book is being released?
That is a great question, but it helps to read mostly picture books, which are lovely and short and just the right amount of story and escape. And it helps when a novel is written by a middle-grade writing master, like Erin Entrada Kelly or Anne Ursu.
Thanks for reading the Eel Report Newsletter, can’t wait to share more with you next month!
This newsletter’s eel report is all about Lough Neagh, a large freshwater lake in Northern Ireland. Lough Neagh almost sounds like lock knee, lock neigh? People have fished for eels at Lough Neagh since the Bronze Age. If you are like me and don’t know or remember when the Bronze Age was, it was about 5,000 to 2,000 years ago. It’s when humans produced and used metal for the first time. I can’t keep those kinds of facts in my head because there won’t be enough room for new information about eels and internet memes.
Anyway. Lough Neagh is the largest wild eel fishery in Europe. The waters are publicly owned, but the bed and soil of Lough Neagh are owned by Lord Ashley, aka the Earl of Shaftesbury. Nicholas Ashley-Cooper is the 12th and current Earl of Shaftesbury (he used to be a DJ in New York, this is like incongruent for my brain) his brother Anthony Ashley-Cooper was the 11th Earl, and their father, also Anthony Ashley-Cooper was the 10th Earl, but he was brutally murdered by his wife and her brother. A dwindling number of Earls, like a dwindling number of eels in the waters of Lough Neagh. Sorry to the Earls and also the eels. Lough Neagh really does have low eel numbers and algae blooms and plenty of sand extraction. Perhaps it’s all related, but at least the eels won’t be thrown into a ravine in the French Alps like the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury. But maybe it’s worse to have your habitat slowly ruined over decades until it’s uninhabitable? I’m not a scientist, nor an eel expert, nor do I have any authoritative knowledge about the complicated ecosystems of water ways in a warming world. I didn’t even know when the Bronze Age was until ten minutes ago. I do have library cards for four different libraries, and I am very good at using them.
I don’t know how you segue away from that, but late January is when I go wild with library holds because it’s when the American Library Association presents its youth media awards. Sometimes I have read and loved books that get honored— this year my friends Claire Forrest and Ari Tison had books recognized; I cried, texted, and then I went to work and tried to act normal. I love library youth media awards mornings, they are a big celebration for children’s literature.
Usually, I find books that I haven’t read and some I’ve never heard of when the awards are announced, and some I want to read again, and then I put all of the books on hold. My library holds list is so long, and I’m still working my way through those books. The reading has been fantastic.
I stopped by Green Been Books while I was visiting Portland earlier this month and got some excellent book recommendations, like bookseller favorite, Dim Sum Palace by X. Fang and A Daydreamy Child Takes a Walk by Gianna Rodari and Beatrice Alemagna. So I’ve mostly just been reading. January and February were also excellent for rom-com movie watching marathons and Nora Ephron reading. Which I always recommend.
New Picture Book & Book Events
This newsletter is really supposed to exist so I can tell you about my own books and writing, not eels or Earls or what I’ve been reading— but I like sharing all those things. We are officially two weeks away from book publication day on March 5th for The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime.
I have fun events lined up all throughout March. I’m kicking events off with a reading and signing on March 10th at Wishing Tree Books in Spokane, a kid-centric bookstore in the South Perry District.
Still ironing out details on another Spokane event towards the end of March, so make sure you’re subscribed to stay on top of all the book news and event updates.
My author copies of TGLMGTB arrived last week, I can’t wait to share more details and Nici Gregory’s incredible illustrations.
As we get closer to publication date, more book reviews for The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime have rolled in and I’m so happy with the response!
“This book is utterly original, delightfully dark, and as twisted as a branch of undersea coral.”
– Booklist
Pre-orders are a great way to help authors and their books, The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime is available to pre-order everywhere that books are sold. I’ll have door hangers and stickers for my local indie and at events.
Thanks for reading this little newsletter— I appreciate all the support. Hope to see you at an event this Spring!
My very important eel update is that I saw one at an aquarium. Here we are together, just a couple of pals hanging out and breathing deeply.
And also, some scientists have discovered that the shock from an electric eel (not actually an eel) has the power to genetically alter fish. Pretty wild, no? Just out here casually altering the DNA of other fish— extremely superhero (or villain!) (or X-men) behavior.
The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime (TGLMGTB)
My first book had a title that was two words long, and this next book is seven words long, which I am learning is quite a lot of words for a title! First trade reviews for The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime are slowly rolling in, and I’m delighted with this review from Publishers Weekly. A little blurb below:
We’re just under two months away until publication day, which means I’m getting book events finalized! More details to come, but safe to say that there will be one virtual event, and that March weekends are filling up with book events both near and far. And that there will be some seafaring book events with friends!
My local bookstore, BookPeople of Moscow, practically raised me. I’m so grateful for their support and to be doing an event with them after everyone is looking for fun things to do post-Spring Break. I’ll be signing pre-orders at good ol’ BP, and sharing event details soon!
To stay up to date on events and all things eels and reading, hit that button below:
If you like to track your reading, you can add The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime on The StoryGraph or GoodReads. Also, you can request your library purchase a copy, which is fun, and then everyone with a library card can read it. Libraries are the best.
Shows and books that I’ve enjoyed
I love the Netflix Formula 1: Drive to Survive series. It is so dramatic, competitive, and petty. It’s a ridiculously expensive sport that didn’t have a spending cap until recently. Honestly, it’s a great series, and my instagram feed is now half Formula 1 memes and updates from the ridiculous and luxurious travel updates from the drivers and principals. This Culture Study podcast convinced me to watch it, and I’m now obsessed. If you want to speculate about what’s next for Guenther Steiner, please message me asap.
Amy Poehler’s Podcast, Say More with Dr? Sheila, but you have to say “Doctor?” with a question because Dr? Shelia is not a doctor. It’s improv couple’s therapy and it’s a mess but in all the good ways.
For the past couple of years, I’ve picked a book to send to my oldest childhood friends— usually it’s something that reminds me of our collective adolescence. This year’s pick was, The Only Way to Make Bread, by Cristina Quintero, illustrated by Sarah Gonzales.
It’s a lovely book about the process of baking bread, all types of bread, and the importance of sharing bread, which is why I sent it to my oldest friends for all my memories in all of our different homes and kitchens, and how we always knew which day was a bread baking day.
I would just like you all to know that the Dave Matthews Band essay ranking his romantic hits in Samantha Irby’s newest book is hilarious and turned into a whole afternoon of DMB. Maybe you need an hour or two of DMB on a dreary January afternoon??
Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts, takes a minor character from Moby Dick, Mrs. Hosea Hussey,and spins her story into a novel of four generations of women searching for their own home, history, and answers. It’s lovely. You do not need to have read Moby Dick to understand the novel. And there’s a whole section set in historical Moscow, Idaho.
Time-Management Writing Update
I haven’t newsletter-updated in awhile, but I haven’t had much to update! I’ve been slowly reading and trying to find the right concoction of time and brain space that allows for writing, reading, revising, life, etc.
I feel like I’m in a good idea gathering phase. Which is like a nice, exploratory creative phase— a no commitments, just vibes type of phase.
This January, I’ve been having fun going through Tara Lazar’s StoryStorm for picture book idea generation. With schedule changes this past year, I haven’t been able to meet with my local critique group, but I’ve hopped back on the 12×12 picture book challenge and am excited to join that picture book community and write lots more picture books in 2024.
On a fun, exploratory project, I’m sending notes back and forth with my writing buddy because maybe writing something together is more fun than writing on your own.
Thanks for reading, expect more regular updates on picture book news and event details! Cheers!
Thank you for reading The Eel Report & Other Things. This post is public so feel free to share it.
Every eel report newsletter begins with something about eels because there’s always something about eels, because they’re mysterious and strange. I don’t know if there are any Mainers here, but if there are, what’s going on with the baby eel fishing quotas? Are eels something that everyone in Maine is familiar with?
Did you all know that baby eels aka elvers are a delicacy? I feel like I included tinned baby eels in my holiday round up. But did you know that baby eels are a lucrative fishing export? Baby eels are a more valuable export than scallops or lobster, which I feel like is an important thing to know. A pound of baby eels is worth more than $2,000! That’s wild.
More here from the AP news on the high prices for baby eels, a major export out of Maine. Maybe by my next newsletter, I will find out if Maine fisherman got the approval to up their quotas so that they can harvest more baby eels (and make more money). I’ll keep you posted on any eel conservation efforts and upping eel quotas in Maine like I’m Steve Kornacki in khakis.
For less business-y eel news and some ocean related fun, one of my favorite instagram accounts is @mister_tinu who always has great ocean photography—sometimes there are eel photos!
Also, not about eels, but I read this article about a colossus whale—like the heaviest animal ever, heavier than a blue whale, whale—and you should read it also. It had a teensy tiny head, and a big giant body. It’s wonderful.
Artificial Intelligence Can Eat My Shorts
I’ve been postponing writing this newsletter because well, number one I revised a novel and now I’m jumping into querying that novel, which is my main priority. But also, I’ve had a bunch of book-related topics that I wanted to explore and wasn’t sure what to tackle for this newsletter.
I read this great article in LitHub in support of more weird books for kids, and of course I want to talk about darker and strange books for young readers. They’re some of my favorite books, and I want more of them, and I want to write more of them.
I saw the Barbie movie and I loved the playfulness of the staging and set design and the importance of dolls and playing. I’ve been thinking a lot about how kids are experts at imaginary play, and I want to write about dolls and playing and books for kids that showcase all of that. Thanks, Barbie!
I think there’s something to be said for calling AI, artificial intelligence. It’s an artifice. Words have power, and we should remember that. It’s deception. It isn’t genuine and I think that using the abbreviation creates distance from the fact that using artificial intelligence is manipulating other people’s writing, other people’s artwork, other people’s voices and appearances, and it is a deception. For me, the novelty has worn off.
And as we are finding out, it’s often data culled and trained on original work without the permission of the initial creator. It’s theft, beloveds, and if it’s the future, then catch me on my way to Ludditetown.
If you want, you can skip my artificial intelligence rant for an author interview and cover reveal for my next picture book at the end of this newsletter. A picture book that I wrote, and that so many people worked on to try and make it the best book that we could. I’m serious! The final pass pages for my next picture book have almost 80 comments from nine different editors and contributors—this is all fine-tuning before the book goes to print! All well after the book had been initially drafted, revised, workshopped, critiqued, edited with an agent, and then initial edits and story conversations with my editor when it was acquired and rewrites again after that. And then that process repeated itself with the illustrator who had their own creative process, visual character and story developments, edits, and changes.
Books look like a singular achievement, a singular product, but it takes a village and time (it takes years!) and expertise and so many people working behind the scenes to make them happen.
So, I guess I am inclined to be passionate or upset when there are articles like, make a picture book in 72 hours using AI! No thanks. Absolutely not. That’s not a picture book, that’s theft, and it’s bad.
Have I played with artificial intelligence generators? Have I tested them out? No and I don’t really want to. I’m sure there are a number of ways that I’ve helped train AI with my data that I wasn’t necessarily aware of, and I’m not really interested in doing that on purpose.
All the tech companies embracing artificial intelligence makes me want to crawl into a hole and delete everything that I’ve ever shared online so that I am not feeding artificial intelligence data with any of my writing or narrative voice. I’m not there yet. I’m holding off because I genuinely like social media. I love soccer twitter. I like the eel historian guy. I like this silly newsletter even if it is very randomly sent out. I like my online twitter (RIP) and threads water cooler moments with writer friends, writer friends who I only see once or twice a year irl if I am lucky.
As an author, social media is a way to promote and market books, connect with teachers and librarians, connect with readers and build your book community. It is also, frequently, a double-edged sword. I often think about a comment that I believe Julie Falatko made, like, “do I want to write tweets or do I want to write books? do I want to be good at social media or do I want to be good at writing?” My apologies Julie if I got this wrong! Her newsletter is great, she is rarely online, and is a wonderful role-model and writer.
Would that we all could be Suzanne Collins and write some absolute bangers and then disappear from the digital realm forever. She is living the dream.
I think the pressure for newer authors to be online to grow their audience and have some kind of social media presence to make connections with peers and the book community is a very real pressure. I don’t know if anything authors do actually helps with marketing, but anyway, I’m trying not to turn this into a general discussion about author support and publishing as a business—I only have so many hills to shout from in this newsletter!
Before people log on and play with artificial intelligence there should be some deeper questions and reasons exploring why. I don’t think just because I can is a sufficient answer. Why am I doing this? Who does this harm? Am I exploiting anyone? What’s the meaning? What’s the purpose?
I feel like when I’m writing, or writers in general, we’re all looking for meaning—it doesn’t always have to be serious—but looking at the heart of the subject, the why. Why am I writing this? What does this mean? Why do I feel called to write this story or poem this way? Is this the best way to tell this story? Is this the right word? Is there a better word? What point of view should I use? What narrative devices? What poetic techniques would help? What’s the structure? What’s the setting? What moment am I trying to capture? How do I feel when I write this? How do I want my readers to feel? And before all those questions, the really important ones . . . Who are my readers? Who is this for? Am I the person to tell this story? Is this my story to tell? Am I exploiting anyone?
Writing is a million and one decisions and choices and to pretend otherwise is a scam.
Earlier this summer, I was listening to Laurel Snyder talk about picture book writing, and she said, “there are best practices for good books. There are no best practices for great books.”
There is no data or formula for writing a great book, because great books are built on human ingenuity, creativity, heart, craft, and connection. They often surprise us and make us feel all the things, because those books are teeming with heart and use the tools that writers spend years and decades developing through practice. And then those great books are carefully ushered in with a team of editors and readers that all believe in making the best book possible. There’s no easy button for that.
Whenever I’m workshopping or critiquing stories with other picture book writers, the thing that comes up the most is, what is the heart of the story? In picture books, you have to be concise due to the format and word count constraints. Every line or every choice needs to reinforce the heart of the story, that thing that is what the picture book is about, that one true thing that carries through the whole story, that’s the heart. And that usually takes time and practice to create and discover.
I read that Google was promoting its own artificial intelligence program, (hello, please enjoy this bonus article), and that you could connect their AI with your own google drive documents so that the AI program could learn about your writing to help you revise—what patterns are present, what words, what phrases in your own writing . . . an artificial intelligence in tune with your own quirks and voice! Just what you wanted!
Again, no thank you. Who asked for this?
The reality is that if you’re a writer or you want to write, you need to do that yourself. Having trusted readers and critique partners helps! If it sounds like work, that’s because it is work. But it’s necessary work. It’s good work.
You need to sit with your pages and ask yourself, what phrases do I overuse? What patterns in theme and word choice are present? What’s the summary? What am I exploring? What’s the synopsis? I know writing a synopsis can be painful, but it can also be an excellent writing tool and something that you’ll be asked to write and you should know how to to do it. All those things that the google AI can do, you can do, too, as a critical reader and writer.
Dig through your own writing and reading; critically reading and editing your own writing is part of how you learn. That’s why it’s so important to read and analyze other people’s writing and look at what craft tools they’re using and how they make it work. It’s how you learn to write. Sure, you can ask artificial intelligence to help you with that, but then you haven’t gained any insight through the process. The only way out is through, and that process is how a draft becomes a book, it’s how writing skills develop, and like most good things, it takes time and effort. It’s work.
There’s this great essay in The Sun, called Run Home, by Margot Steines. It’s about running and the author’s relationship with her dad and what running and running marathons means for them both. But there’s this moment where I was like, hmmm, this is also about writing.
Substitute run with write, and you have it. “Why write? The only real answer is: Because you told yourself you would. Because that’s how you learn who you are—by telling yourself things and seeing if you can will them into being true.”
Writing and publishing is a marathon. It’s not easy, people do it because they want to do it, usually because they love it. Or because they love what writing let’s them learn about themselves and what they think. Writing is hard and frequently difficult, but it’s also a joy and a gift to be able to sit down and explore all the things—to perpetually learn about yourself and this world.
Much more eloquent writing on artificial intelligence:
Normally, I list all kinds of books from picture books to adult fiction that I’ve been reading and that I recommend, but I’ll do it a little differently this time.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang is my most recent read, and since artificial intelligence is built on theft, lies, and entitlement . . . I highly, highly recommend Kuang’s newest novel which explores all of that (minus the AI) along with privilege, systems of power, and race in this thrilling and messed up satire. R.F. Kuang is brilliant, brilliant.
I thought I’d throw in more book recommendations on artificial intelligence that I want to read, and some books on the craft of writing that I have found helpful.
My kids are all getting old enough where they are very picky about what they read, so here are some titles that my youngest has really enjoyed this summer. The whole Sinister Summer Series is to die for! *ba-dum-tsssshhh*
Author Update and Cover Reveal
The cover for my next picture book is out in the world! I had a lot of fun working with the Tundra team to put together a cover reveal and interview over on their site. Check it out for all the details on wild first draft shenanigans.
And if you don’t want to read the interview . . . drum roll, please . . . here is my next book! It’s illustrated by the amazing Nici Gregory and published by Tundra books. So many people worked on this to try and make it the best book possible, and I’m incredibly proud of it. Also, there might be eels. Or eel-shaped fish, I’m only a fake arm-chair eel expert, which is not an expert at all! It publishes on March 5, 2024, and is available to pre-order wherever books are sold, or you can pre-order a signed copy at my local independent bookstore, BookPeople of Moscow.
Thanks for Being Here on the Internet Together
If you liked reading this, bless you. You can share it with friends and family and whoever you might think wants to read my rant about artificial intelligence or stay up to date on my author news and writing ramblings. It gets ramble-y! and grammatically questionable, which is why editors and copy-editors should never be replaced with robots or artificial intelligence. I’ll have more news and events coming up in the Fall! Cheers, book friends.
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