Stephany Aulenback's Profile

Just popping in here to share this photo of Sylvie...

Just popping in here to share this photo of Sylvie as Disgust from the movie Inside Out two years ago... Continue reading

Posted Oct 17, 2017 at crooked house

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What Do Mommy and Daddy Do All Day?

Sylvie's notes on her parents' jobs: "Mommy makes books for me, my brother, and other children." "My Daddy makes money." Nice story, Mom, but Baby needs a new pair of shoes... Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2015 at crooked house

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The Lot

One of my short stories went up on Hobart today. It's called "The Lot" and it was inspired by this Gregory Crewdson photograph. Continue reading

Posted Feb 20, 2015 at crooked house

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Have You Ever Been The Onion in a Thanksgiving Play?

Fans of Harriet the Spy will probably remember that Harriet played the onion in her class's Thanksgiving play. That's her practicing, up above. I never realized before what a perfect costume choice the striped pajamas are. Anyway, I was reading... Continue reading

Posted Feb 19, 2015 at crooked house

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Sylvie's New Title

SO APT. The video in question is here. The destroyer in question is currently in the playroom. Destroying it, of course. Continue reading

Posted Dec 19, 2014 at crooked house

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Help Make the "This Is Sadie" Book Trailer

My friend Sara O'Leary is putting together a book trailer for her gorgeous new book This Is Sadie. She need 30 second video clips of children between the ages of 3 and 7 pretending something. (Making, doing, and being!) Sylvie... Continue reading

Posted Dec 15, 2014 at crooked house

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Staff Pick at Powell's

If I Wrote a Book About You was a staff pick at Powell's, arguably the best bookstore in the world. Continue reading

Posted Oct 17, 2014 at crooked house

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Germs

Sylvie has been bringing a lot of germs home from school. Continue reading

Posted Oct 2, 2014 at crooked house

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Books About Loveys

A thousand years ago, I had an idea for a book devoted to photographs of beloved stuffed animals. Since I'm not a photographer, my idea went nowhere. (I tend to have a lot of good ideas for things I could... Continue reading

Posted Sep 11, 2014 at crooked house

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Blog Book Tour!

My dear friend Sara O'Leary asked me to participate in this blog book tour. This is very exciting and momentous for me because I wouldn't qualify to do it if my first picture book hadn't JUST been published. So thank... Continue reading

Posted Jun 30, 2014 at crooked house

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Sara O'Leary Is Giving Away a Copy of "I Wrote a Book About You!"

My dear friend (and writer extraordinaire) Sara O'Leary answers some interesting questions about writing over on her blog and also offers a copy of my newly published picture book "If I Wrote a Book About You" to a lucky Canadian... Continue reading

Posted Jun 23, 2014 at crooked house

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Cosmo's "What Kind of Female Are You?" Personality Quiz Tells Me I Am Wrong.

Two of my freelance clients are folks who own personality quiz sites. They are very popular and, I am guessing, very lucrative websites right now. People are using the internet like a giant magic 8 ball or a set of... Continue reading

Posted Jun 20, 2014 at crooked house

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Advanced Style: The Coloring Book

I am getting this for Sylvie. (And me.) Advanced Style: The Coloring Book . Based on the blog, Advanced Style, which features fashionable old ladies. Continue reading

Posted Jun 13, 2014 at crooked house

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Sylvie's Dreams

Sylvie woke me up at 6am this morning, weeping, because I wouldn't let her order a suit of armour and a bow and arrow through the mail. (A bad dream, apparently. Because Of COURSE I would let her order such... Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2014 at crooked house

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A Conversation About Mothers in Children's Books

The lovely Kerry Clare, editor of The M Word , will be discussing the portrayals of mothers in children's literature with other contributors to the book. I would love to be there -- it sounds fascinating. And see that, down... Continue reading

Posted Jun 4, 2014 at crooked house

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Babies in Literature: Karl Ove Knausgard in A Death in the Family

Karl Ove Knausgaard is a 46-year-old Norwegian writer who has written an unusual six-volume autobiography called My Struggle. It's getting a lot of attention -- apparently one in 10 Norwegians have read at least some of it and he is... Continue reading

Posted May 20, 2014 at crooked house

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Sylvie in Her Elsa From Frozen Dress (Made From Plastic Tablecloths)

Inspired by the four-year-old and her mom who make fancy dresses from paper, I promised Sylvie a couple of weeks ago that we would try it. She called me on it today so off we went to Walmart to buy... Continue reading

Posted Mar 23, 2014 at crooked house

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Happy Spring Kindle Deals!

Happy Spring, everyone! Did you check out the Google doodle? If not, go have a look. I'll wait. As I was walking up the hill after dropping Sylvie off at preschool this morning, I noticed it felt a little warmer... Continue reading

Posted Mar 20, 2014 at crooked house

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Buzzfeed Headlines I Would Write if I Worked for Buzzfeed

Have you noticed you can't look at Facebook or Twitter without seeing some Buzzfeed (or Upworthy or HuffPo) headline you just have to click on, even though every atom in your body is screaming not to? Yeah, and you probably... Continue reading

Posted Mar 18, 2014 at crooked house

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Luke's Reading Response to Harriet the Spy

We've been reading Harriet the Spy and Luke wrote this week's Reading Response to it, for school. In answer to the question, "If you were a character in your book, what would you do?" Luke wrote: If I were Harriet,... Continue reading

Posted Mar 7, 2014 at crooked house

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Babies in Literature: Harriet the Spy

Ron Mueck's sculpture. Art imitating literature? In Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy , one of the families Harriet spies on is the Robinsons, a very boring couple who like to buy things and show them off. On this particular day,... Continue reading

Posted Feb 26, 2014 at crooked house

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Happy Birthday Dear Harriet!

Harriet the Spy is fifty this week! I wonder what she's writing in her notebook now? Here are some of her early observations: OLE GOLLY SAYS DESCRIPTION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL AND CLEARS THE BRAIN LIKE A LAXATIVE. MY... Continue reading

Posted Feb 26, 2014 at crooked house

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Portrait of the Crooked House

I got this lovely portrait of our Crooked House in the mail yesterday from Emma Fitzgerald, the artist who illustrated "The Best Places to Live in Atlantic Canada" for the Chronicle Herald. (Bridgewater is apparently the best place for young... Continue reading

Posted Feb 25, 2014 at crooked house

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Babies in History: Elizabeth Keckley's Behind the Scenes or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House

After watching Lincoln on the weekend, I googled Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln's good friend, a former slave who lived with the Lincolns in the White House. I was so struck by an anecdote about her early life I found... Continue reading

Posted Feb 24, 2014 at crooked house

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True Story, Just Happened.

On the way home from the library, in the car. Soft music is playing on the radio; sunlight is glinting off the snow. I glance into the rear view mirror and am struck by my daughter’s profile. Her delicate features,... Continue reading

Posted Feb 20, 2014 at crooked house

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