Prompt List Saturday

Monday, August 22, 2011 - What character would you want to have over for dinner and what would you cook?

• I would like to have dinner with Odd Thomas, but not at my house. He’s a fry cook in a diner in Pico Mundo, California; so he can cook for me. His specialty is pancakes and I'm quite fond of pancakes. A pancake breakfast for dinner will be a super celebration for me.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - Would you rather be transported magically into an imaginary world or a different time period in this world?

• Since I'm having breakfast with Odd, I may as well be transported magically to Southern California and save the air fare and the hassle of flying.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - What book did you always take out from the school library?

• When I was in elementary school there were no school libraries. In high school I was not aware that there were books to read in the school library, I thought everything was for reports. But we always went to the public library. The book I remember from my childhood is The Bobbsey Twins. (Aside: I went to amazon.com to check the spelling of Bobbsey and saw a 75th anniversary three book set (1979) with vintage reproductions of the original cover art. I remember those covers. Nostalgia, I ordered the set for someone very special.

Thursday, August 25, 2011 - What do you think about the act of banning books?

• Banning books is not an option. There are books that I would never read, would never let my children read and would advise other people not to read; but I would never try to take away a person's right to choose their own reading material. While on the subject, prepare to celebrate Banned Books Week the last week of September.

Friday, August 26, 2011 - Would you rather publish a work of fiction or a work of non-fiction?

• I would feel more comfortable publishing nonfiction, perhaps a newspaper column. It's what I already do, writing informative newsletters for my school, church and public library. My blog posts are essentially non-fiction being loosely memoirish.

On that note, I have a short episode to share. My 6-year old grandson was in the bath tub. I asked him to leave the water in the tub when he was done so I could rinse my feet off in his water. Then we had this end-of-the-bath conversation:

• GS: Gingie, will you put this plug up?
• Me: No, remember you were supposed to leave the plug in so I can rinse my feet off in your water.
• GS: Oh yeah. Gingie, I needed to go to the bathroom so I just peed in the bathwater.
• Me: Hand me the plug.