Grasshopper New Media Presents...

GNMParents is made up of a team of folks who are dedicated and talented. They share with our community on a volunteer basis, and over the past 11 months we have gotten to know quite a bit about who they are and how they feel. In effort to deepen our community, we have decided to sprinkle in some questions within our regular columns that will tell you a little bit more about the folks within GNMParents.

Today, Doodaddy shares his answers to the 1st 3 questions we posed. If you have a question to ask our contributors, please send an email to Megin.

The GNMParents editors have asked all us contributors to answer some questions about ourselves by way of introduction. Here are my responses to their first few queries…

1. What is your favorite children’s book?

I have a personal rule never to pick “favorites” of anything, and I’ve always loved kids’ books, so I’ll just give you a few that I enjoy. (I’m leaving dozens off this list.)

• Of toddler’s books, I like most Peggy Rathmann books. Good Night, Gorilla and Officer Buckle and Gloria stand out in particular. We have dozens of great ones, though — try also The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein; be warned that it’s a tear-jerker, though.
• Of chapter books, I think Morris Gleitzmann is nothing sort of genius: try Blabber Mouth, especially. As much as I think books are to be read, Gleitzmann’s audiobook recordings of his own books really bring out the Australian quirkiness of the stories. I love E. L. Konigsburg; From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View From Saturday stand out. Also great is the Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald, and especially Judy Moody Gets Famous.
• Finally, I’m a fan of young adult fiction, especially Jerry Spinelli; his Stargirl and Eggs strike me as simultaneously unusual but still very authentic to the teen experience. Catherine Murdock’s Dairy Queen was another recent favorite.

2. What part of becoming either/both of your parents do you really hate?

I can’t really say, because I more or less like everything I’m becoming — although it’s a long process, I feel like I’m on the right track. I suppose I don’t like that I’m less politically active than I was as a younger adult, and in that way I somewhat resemble my father as he aged. But I don’t really believe that I’m “turning into” my father: whatever I’ve gotten from my parents I thank them for, but my failings are my own.

3. If someone offered you a free 2 week holiday to be taken in the next year where would you go and what would you do?

Not much, not far, and not for very long. We might like a week in a warm clime down the coast — San Diego, say. Or maybe in a cabin up north, on the Sonoma or Mendocino coastline. But for the most part I’m a homebody; I live here in San Francisco because I like it here.

If I were to travel, I would not sightsee. I really don’t see the attraction of “one more temple” or “one more Old Master.” When we go somewhere, we rent a house as a home base and relax, spending as much time out of doors as possible, and doing all the things we don’t have enough time for at home, like baking bread and reading.

4. Where else do you write?

Mostly just my blog, Doodaddy — at least until that novel we’ve all got inside of us shoots out of me some day! (I’ll let you know…)

[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, books, Peggy Rathmann, Good Night, Gorilla, Officer Buckle and Gloria, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, Mordicai Gerstein, Catherine Murdock’s Dairy Queen, travel, holiday, Southern California, San Diego[/tags]