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April 1, 2009 by Betsy Bird

Savvy Giveaway

April 1, 2009 by Betsy Bird   4 comments

When I decided that the Savvy Giveaway would require that people interested in owning a copy send me a response that discussed what their savvy was, I was unaware that my readers were so . . .  so . . . so bloody blooming creative (consarn it)!  Really, they were a mix of real life savvys and savvys people wished they could have.  So I’ll print up the savvys (savvies?) of the winners, but why should I be the only one who gets to enjoy other people’s creativity?  I’m printing them ALL here for your enjoyment.  And the winners of the random drawing are . . . .

Drumroll please . . .

#1 is Anna Hebner.  Her savvy:

"I can clear sinuses WITH MY BRAIN!
Or anyway, that’s the superpower I *want*."  – Anna Hebner


#2 is Michelle Budzilowicz.  Her savvy:

"My savvy is reading by osmosis. Because there are so many great books and so little time, my savvy would allow me to put a book (or two or three) under my pillow at night. By morning, I would have read the entire book by osmosis and it would be ingrained in my brain as if I had read it normally. My savvy would allow me to accomplish my first favorite thing (reading) while doing my second favorite thing (sleeping).

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My savvy also allows me to find super comfy pillows so that sleeping on a book doesn’t give me a crick in my neck!"

#3 is Laurie Slagenwhite.  Her savvy:

"My savvy — no joke — is that mosquitoes hate me.  It served me very well the summer I spent time in deep-woods Wisconsin.  I was the envy of the entire camp."

Congrats to all our winners!  And now for my other, very clever readers:


I have the power to make animals behave very oddly. Either that or I have an aura that attracts oddly-behaving animals.

As a child I had a dog that enjoyed riding the BookMobile around town. Not chasing it – riding in it.

I woke up one New Year’s Day to a donkey in my suburban back yard (and no, I had not been drinking).

A wren once flew into my window and before it hit the ground a chipmunk dashed out, grabbed it by the throat and hauled it off. (I called the wild animal shelter about it and they were very surprised.)

I’ve also had a rabbit stalk the house for months and a crow that spent the summer cleaning his road kill in my birdbath. (Wild animal people were perplexed by that one, too.)

I’m trying to hone this talent in order to do some good in the world. Although if that yippy dog that lives behind me doesn’t quiet down, she just might find herself riding the ice cream truck out of town… – Dawn Mundy



I must admit, I have a very special savvy.  Unfortunately, it is also one that gets me in trouble.  I say things before thinking them through.  They just pop out of my mouth, without my consent.  I tell you, this special talent can make for some very interesting situations. – Melissa Baldwin


My superpower is C-List Actor Retention. I remember the names of every "celebrity" who has ever appeared on Fantasy Island or The Love Boat.  If you have done a guest turn on Burn Notice or Monk, I will recognize you when you appear on Law & Order or in a Snickers commercial. Without fail. My husband is constantly asking HOW CAN WE MONETIZE THIS?? but if I made money off my gift, that would not be very superheroic. (Also, don’t know how. Can’t go on jeopardy b/c they’d ask me about famous rivers.)

Incidentally, my mom’s superpower is knowing when a small semi-toilet-trained child, anywhere in the vicinity,  is starting to poop. It’s AMAZING. we were having dinner last weekend and suddenly she swiveled her head like a Terminator and called to my 2-yr-old niece, IN ANOTHER ROOM, "Shirley, do you have to go to the potty?" and sure enuf it turned out that shirley was TOTALLY in the process of dropping a load at the time. This was confirmed by my brother when he returned from the bathroom with her. My mom could do this with my children back in the day too.

So, uh, I come by my completely useless superpower honestly. – Marjorie Ingall


My savvy is figuring out who-dun-its on TV. Five minutes into the show, I’ll know the plot.  My family hates it! – Mary Jane


My Savvy is one shared by moms all over the world.  I have an acute sense of hearing.  I can hear when the book goes thump on the floor at 10pm, and shows me that my little one was reading with her flashlight oh so late past her bedtime.  I can hear when the cookie jar gets opened up.  Who ever needed a baby monitor, really?  I could hear my baby’s cry no matter where I was in the house.  And really, I can hear silence – that silence that tells you that your kids are planning something very tricky.  Eyes in the back of my head? Nope. Just really an acute sense of hearing. – MaryAnn Scheuer


My SAVVY is the power to set up a brand new library media center on a limited budget.  We have 574 students who are eager readers coming together from four other schools.  We are developing a new community of learners. I hope to instill the life long love for learning one book at a time. – Margo Jantzi


My savvy is the ability to encase myself in a beautiful protective bubble. It’s really quite a nice place to be, safe from the evil eye. – Amy


Dog hair won’t stick to my clothes! – Deborah Dwyer


My savvy is that I untangle things.

Got a necklace in knots?  An extension cord coiled?  Is your hair in a heap?  Are your shoestrings spaghetti?

I’m your woman.

I’m also pretty good at dislodging disagreements. 🙂 – Jody Jensen Shaffer


Yes. I had to think, but it’s real. My savvy is finding four-leaf clovers. I spot them everywhere. Walking in the forests, picnicking with friends, chasing the dog. They pop out at me, neon. Once I found seven in a single half-hour hike in the mountains. I pressed them into my journal. I often lose my way, but I can double-spot those four-leaf clovers. – Janet S. Fox


Mmm, I don’t repel bees–I repel potential boyfriends. I’m an average 22-year-old who has never been asked out. Ever. It’s like a force shield or something. Quite handy in certain circles … when among nuns, for example. Or a-holes. Seriously, think of the agony some heroines have, rejecting queues of unwanted suitors. I have none of that grief. And all thanks to my savvy. – Noel De Vries (Fuse Sez: Hey! That’s my savvy too!  Who knew it had such fabulous implications?)


MINE involves increased energy production in the form of methane. I can, within an hour of eating any meal, exhaust the gaseous elements of that meal. Most people take at least 8 hours to accomplish this remarkable feat. My wife and kids find niggling side effects to complain about regarding my remarkable power, but they cannot deny that it is stunning. – Sam Hranac


I control the minds of pigeons. – Cara Llewellyn


When I walk at night with people I like, streetlights will go out. A useless power, but kind of nice when it happens. – Paul Acampora


My savvy — the ability to control the power of the sun. The sun could be used for heating places, used for solar energy purposes, used for clearing up cloudy days, and helping plants grow! – Megan Goedge


My Savvy is that I can make myself itchy at will.  Which is really pretty useless (USELESS, I say, only this time louder) and impossible to prove that I’m actually doing it.

In fact, I’m doing it right now. Making myself itchy.

See?

No, of course you don’t.

sigh…  – Mr. Warburton


I make Murphy’s Law come true.  If I’m at ALA Midwinter on professional leave, my school is out 3 snow days.   If I can’t go to the final 4 round of the state basketball tournament, my team wins their elite 8 game against the number one team in the state.

Whatever it is, if Murphy’s Law applies–that’s my situation. – Becky Jackman


My savvy is that if someone is having some trouble with their computer – something minor but funky – all I have to do is walk over and stand by them and when they try to do the same thing again it will miraculously work just fine. It doesn’t work for myself but my coworkers all appreciate my savvy. – Kim Wier


My Savvy is that whenever I enter a random drawing my name will be drawn.

Actually what I really desire is the ability to read faster.  I want the power to knock off two to three hundred pages while I wait for dinner to finish simmering, or while I wait in a check-out line, or am waiting for the light to turn green.  My life would be so awesome and I would truly be a sight to behold. – DaNae Leu


My Savvy is that I am a Collector of Coincidences. I have been one for years. It started out small. The word I was reading in a newspaper at that moment was the same one being sung on the radio in my office. No biggie. Then it moved on to someone mentioning the Iditarod, and then reading about it within several hours. Many years later, I’m coasting with coincidences. If I need an answer in the crossword, I wait an hour, and it either pops out of a friend’s mouth or appears on a billboard. Every time. – Leslie Gallager


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My Savvy is I am a Plot Magnet. I go into a book with no sign of a Plot but trust in the magnet to haul one out at the last moment. – Jane Yolen


My Savvy is that I can’t get lost. I can always find my way. Also, that I can pack more things in a car for a trip than any other living human being — still leaving lots of room for the family to be comfortable. The things I pack are not only necessary for when we arrive at our destination, but I also make sure to pack enough food and things to keep kids busy and happy during the trip. (No, you can’t touch the food until we are at least an hour away from home.) – Wendie Old


Well, I suppose my savvy is for languages and words.  I can figure out basic words in most European languages and still am a reasonably fluent reader in Spanish and French after 20 years out of college.  I can read quite a bit of Portuguese, Italian and Catalan based on their similarities to Spanish and French.  For that matter I still remember how to spell out Hebrew characters and have figured out some basic Yiddish.  I love acrostic puzzles since it’s about seeing word patterns and recognizing words and sentences. I don’t think this is a really unique savvy though!- Jenny Schwartzberg  (Fuse Sez: I disagree. Them’s a savvy to beat all savvys.)


I live in the vortex of weird. The funny things is if you hang around me long enough weird stuff will start happening to you too. – cstirokat


Savvy… I remember the day I learned that word as a child. An eye doctor told me something (now THAT I DON’T remember) and then he said, "Savvy?" He must have been a good eye doctor because he saw in my eyes that I had no idea what that meant. Anyway, my savvy is the uncanny ability to travel through time to unlock the mystery of what book a child is remembering. (I think the eye doctor gave me the power that day). When a child says, "Remember that book I wanted to read last year but somebody else took it? Well I’d like to read it now." I am able to do a sort of mental time travel with them (the process starts with a quiet heave of breath while I adjust to the knowledge that I have to engage my savvy)… where were we standing? what were we looking at? how big was the book? was anybody with us? were we looking high or low? until VIOLA (as the Smothers would say) we find us the book. I think it’s a great super power. I wish I could use it to find my own glasses. – ChrisVA

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. nw says

    April 1, 2009 at 4:29 am

    Oh, my God, I wish I had Jane Yolen’s savvy. I think I am a plot repeller.

  2. Sam H says

    April 1, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    And thus the League of Super Book Lovers was born.

  3. Ingrid Law says

    April 5, 2009 at 9:04 pm

    How in the world did I miss this? And why can’t I control the minds of pigeons?

    Very cool contest, Betsy! And so many cool savvies here. It makes me think my own savvy needs to be something much better than my talent for spilling things on my shirt at dinner parties…

  4. Fuse #8 says

    April 6, 2009 at 5:53 am

    Hey, that’s my savvy too! We should become The League of Legendary Soup Spillers. Clean shirted villains beware.

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