Welcome to Inside the Author’s Studio, where we give you a peek into the minds of your favorite Workman authors.

This weekend SXSW, the music-film-interactive festival, kicks off in Austin, TX, and to celebrate we visit the studio of music maven Jessica Hopper, author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking and freelance music and culture critic whose work appears in Chicago Reader, LA Weekly, SPIN, ANP, and Chicago Tribune–and here and here. Oh, and she’s also the music consultant for the public radio show, This American Life! Here, we ask her a few questions, speed round style.

Recent book you loved/learned from

The Impressionists. I was hungry for each new chapter and wowed as the story unfolded. And/or Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw, for the Top Chef gossip.

Favorite bookstore

Myopic Books, a sprawling 4 floors of affordable used to get lost in, here in Chicago. I park on the couch between gardening, essays and cookbooks–the intersection of my interests.

Hidden talent:
I can draw.

Bookmark, dog-ear, or virtuality?

Dog-ear.

Book you are most ashamed never to have read

The bible. Started, never finished.

Most frequent form of writerly procrastination

Oh, there is finer point I can put on it beyond “puttering”.

Favorite childhood book

Harriet The Spy.

Alternate ambition (i.e. If you weren’t a writer, you’d be…)

A farmer.

Your perfect meal (on tour or at home)

Flamkuchen pizza and a beet salad.

Big dream

Have three more kids, write three more books, have a house in a quiet place with a giant garden and a big dumb Burmese Mountain dog big enough for my children to ride, a la the Clifford books.

Super power of choice
A peace laser that I can shoot from my hand, that makes peace.

Book tour or band tour?

Book tour with a band. You can have it both ways.

Favorite name for future chart-topping girl band

Peace Laser.

What Workman book would you like to receive as compensation for your involvement?

Birthday Monsters, it’s the only Boynton book we do not have!

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See Jessica’s studio above, but to get a sense of what really goes on behind the scenes, we’ve been told that this is a pretty accurate representation of general day-to-day operations:

The Girls’ Guide to Rocking // Adventure from Alan Del Rio Ortiz on Vimeo.

Jessica Hopper is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking.

The holidays are in full swing, but if you’re anything like me you’re probably still struggling to figure out what to get many of the people on your list. Well look no further, because Workman employees have very helpfully told me what they’re getting for their loved ones, and when I put it all together I got (drum-roll please) the 2010 Workman Holiday Gift Guide Extravaganzaaaa!

That’s right—it’s the ultimate gift-giving resource, divided into three easy parts. This morning’s installation is all about gifts for Kids and Kids-at-Heart. So go ahead: Consult the list to find the perfect gift for even your hardest-to-shop-for friends and relatives. Then stay tuned for part two, The Grown-Ups’ Table, and part three, Might-as-Well-Be-Family Friends, coming up later today and tomorrow morning.  Plus, if you’ve got any suggestions for other holiday present-shoppers, leave them in the comments!

For Kids and Kids-at-Heart:

• “I am giving my 1-year-old son Henry Indestructibles: Jungle Rumble! because in the past month he has become a messenger of mayhem. He especially loves ripping up paper, so I’m going to thwart him with this title. Winner: Mama!” —Camille
• “I’m giving Potato Chip Science to my cousins, because they learn best when they are hands-on!” —Cristina
• “My niece is getting Amazing Cows, because she swears by Sandra Boynton, and swears when she doesn’t get Sandra Boynton books.” —Randall
• “My 7-year-old daughter is obsessing over TV ads for the latest toy craze, “Teacup Piggies.” Santa can give her the trashy toy; I’m putting the Pocket Pigs calendar under the tree so she can have real-live cuteness long after the batteries die (and count for herself how many days it is until her birthday!).” —Page
• “My brother gets the Who Farted? Calendar. Yes, he’s in his late 50s, but he’s a pediatrician, so he said he’d put it in his examination room at the hospital and it would really break the ice with new patients.” —Beth
• “I’m giving Doodle: A Chalkboard Calendar to my daughter, to tell her how much I appreciate her goofy creativity. And I Will Teach You to Be Rich goes to my son, who’s just out of college and in a job that pays less than publishing … I’m a Ramit Sethi convert, and I think my son will worry about money less if he automates it more.” —Suzie
• “My youngest sister’s getting a copy of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, because not much rocks harder than a girl drummer. My other sister will love playing all the ridiculous games in The Games Bible with her new college friends.” —Avery
• “I’ll give Generation T and Generation T: Beyond Fashion to my creative niece, who aspires to be a fashion designer. And thought I’d package it with a few blank T-shirts to get her started!” —Kathy
• “I’m giving Beautiful Oops! (not just for kids!) to an aged hippie grandmother friend who relentlessly “embraces” creativity wherever and however she finds it. Which is everywhere.

Keep your eye on this space for Part 2: The Grown-Ups’ Table, coming this afternoon!

All right, bonus edition might be overstating it. But we all love this book (I can’t wait to give it to my nieces), and so we were thrilled when author Jessica Hopper gifted several of us with custom-made, rocking-girl CDs. (Full disclosure: I did not work on the book and hence did not receive a CD–I’m just a nosy fan!)

Without further ado, here is the Unofficial, Totally Uncensored Girls’ Guide to Rocking Playlist.

1. “Les Petits Chevaux” by Brigitte Fontaine (click to listen)
2. “Meadowlands” by Nancy Jacobs and Her Sisters
3. “Holiday Song” by Marine Girls (click to listen)
4. “I Won’t Tell” by Tracy Dey
5. “Poor Little City Boy” by Nedelle (click to listen)
6. “I’ve Got A Feelin’” by Big Maybelle (click to listen)
7. “I’ve Just Begun (Having My Fun)” by Brittany Spears (click to listen)
8. “I Drive My Friend” by Frida Hyvonen (click to listen)
9. “What Can I Do For You?” by Labelle (click to listen)
10. “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways (click to listen)
11. “52 Girl’s” by The B-52’s (click to listen)
12. “Have You Got Someone Else On the String” by Texas Ruby
13. “Victim of Rock and Roll” by Care Bears on Fire
14. “Thank God for a Mother Like Mine” by Kitty Wells
15. “Go Tell It On the Mountain” by Mahalia Jackson (click to listen)
16. “Pink Bedroom” by Lou Ann Barton
17. “Are You Going to Leave Me?” by Shirley & Dolly Collins (click to listen)
18. “Hose & I” by Bat for Lashes (click to listen)
19. “Shadow of a Doubt” by Sonic Youth (click to listen)
20. “I Found a Reason” by Cat Power (click to listen)
21. “You’re No Good” by ESG (click to listen)
22. “A_OL” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
23. “Break In the Road” by Betty Harris (click to listen)
24. “Il Macquillage Lady” by Sister Sledge (click to listen)
25. “The Wait” [Single Version] by The Pretenders (click to listen)