Appearances!

Lots of fun events and appearances coming up!

California Readers luncheon (Feb. 24), Family Festival of Books at Chino Fairgrounds (Feb. 25), Roynon Elementary (Feb. 27), Newport-Mesa Author Festival and Lincoln Elementary (March 8), Ekstrand Elementary in San Dimas (March 23) and Murrieta Elementary (March 27).

Looking forward to meeting you!

The First Page

Please join me on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at THE FIRST PAGE bookstore in Newport Beach, CA. I will be reading and signing my latest book, Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash! The event begins at 10 am.

For details, please visit www.thefirstpage.net or call the store at (949) 644-5437.

See you there!

My latest children's book, Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash! is now available in bookstores and online. Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand, Smash! Mash! Crash! is a rhyming picture book for the young trash truck lover in your life.



The reviews have been excellent.

From Midwest Book Review:

SMASH! MASH! CRASH! THERE GOES THE TRASH! By Barbara Odanaka will prove a delight for any child, urban or rural, familiar with the early wake-up call of the garbage truck. A rhythmic and noisy text filled with appealing sounds follows two garbage trucks on their route - and dogs, pigs, and more who can't wait for them to arrive! Perfect for read-alouds.


From Julie Cummins, Booklist:

Another book about garbage trucks? Well, yes, but instead of focusing on a swaggering, loudmouthed vehicle, as Kate McMullan does in I Stink! (2002), this book stars a couple of pigs. Leaping out of bed early in the morning, the pigs watch two garbage trucks groaning, gobbling, and grinding as they make their noisy rounds. Hillenbrand's textured illustrations, in egg tempera and ink on canvas, depict the machines as giant, mechanical toads on wheels. The midnight-blue background gradually lightens to cream as daylight comes and the garbage workers (also pigs) pick up their loads, including cast-off furniture and dirty diapers. After the big buildup, the end is rather tame, but the rhyming text is as descriptive as the art ("Gooey, gloppy. / Slimy, sloppy. / Truck's a rolling bug buffet. / Flies a-buzzin' by the dozen-- / lapping up that cheese souffle"). The antics of three dogs drooling after the trucks in anticipation of fallout extend the comedy.

From School Library Journal's Joy Fleishhacker:

PreSchool-Grade 1–Rhythmic, rhyming language abounds as two piglets welcome the early-morning arrival of a pair of Rumbling, roaring garbage trucks. All of the offal details are here as the green behemoths gobble up everything from apple cores and dirty diapers to broken furniture. Smiling porcine workers, with Greasy gloves…sticky boots…/stains a-plenty on their suits, feed the beasts while Flies a-buzzin'/by the dozen enjoy a feast at the rolling bug buffet.

After completing all of the Crushing,/cramming,/screeching,/slamming, the vehicles thunder away, leaving the youngsters to re-create the action with their toy replicas. Done in ink and egg tempera on canvas, the vivacious two-page paintings convey the text's enthusiasm and energy. The trucks, shown from the rear and personified with mouthlike hoppers and red brakelight eyes, gleefully munch their way through an array of vividly colored refuse. The pigs are appealing, and readers can follow the antics of their dogs as they rush outside to be part of the fun. Pair this onomatopoeic offering with other tongue-tingling read-alouds, such as Kate McMullan's I Stink! (2002) and Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha's Trashy Town (1999, both HarperCollins), for a crash-bang storytime on a perennially popular topic.

New Poster

Big thanks to Peter Mounier of Mounier Giclee in Morro Bay, CA for blowing up Ralph Palumbo's photo of me into poster size. Peter is a whiz with the giant scanner!

OC Kids story

Fun story in the September 2006 edition of OC Kids magazine. (Special thanks to photographer Ralph Palumbo and his daughter/assistant for all their patience getting this shot just right.)

East Coast Wrap Up

Had a terrific turn out for the East Coast Mighty Mama Skate-O-Rama last Sunday. Nearly 20 women met at Wakefield Skatepark to spin our wheels. Special thanks to Patti Hurst for going out of her way (so many times, so many ways) to make the event so great. For photos, check out Maggie Winters' shots at:
http://web.mac.com/mj.642/iWeb/Site/Home.html

Below: Patti and I in our post-skate delerium!

Washington D.C. on Aug. 13th

Calling all East Coast skate women (you don't have to be a "mom" to roll with us): the next Mighty Mama Skate-O-Rama will be on Sunday, August 13th in the Washington D.C. area.

We will meet at 2:30 pm at the Wakefield Skatepark in Annandale, VA (skating starts at 3 pm). The skatepark is located at 8100 Braddock Rd. in Annandale, VA.

Phone: (703) 321-7081

website: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/skatepark/

Wakefield Skatepark is offering a special discount rate of $4 for women 18 years old and up. The skatepark rents helmet, elbow and knee pads for $5/day (the Skate Moms highly recommend wrist guards, too, but the skatepark only has a few pair so bring your own). Please wear full safety gear and SKATE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Novice lessons, compliments of the International Society of Skateboarding Moms, available on a first-come, first-served basis.



After a couple hours at the skatepark, we'll grab some grub then move on to an (as of yet) unspecified spot in D.C. for our Rolling for Reading book campaign. This is where we skate while handing out books to kids. My publisher, Putnam, very generously donated several boxes of new children's books for this roll-out. Yea Putnam! If you'd like to participate on this roll-out, please bring a backpack in which to carry some books. If you have new or GENTLY used books you'd like to bring a lot to contribute, by all means do.

Directions to Wakefield Skatepark:

From the Beltway, take Exit 54-A West, skatepark is approximately one-quarter mile off the Beltway at 8100 Braddock Rd. in Annandale, VA. Phone (703) 321-7081.

Please check back here for updates (especially the morning of the 13th, just in case!).