Betsy Bird's Blog, page 104

No One Is Born Wise. An African Proverbs Interview with Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole and Nelda LaTeef

It happens every year. My library works on its 101 Great Books for Kids list, and we have to have everything finished by mid-October. Then, precisely one day after we’ve made our final assessments, a book comes in the mail that is so gloriously good that had we seen it we would have included it in a heartbeat. African Proverbs for All Ages by Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, illustrated by Nelda LaTeef, was that book this year. To tell you about it, I’m going to give you the description I’ll be us...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Little Red Riding Hood by Jerry Pinkney

After his recent death, I wanted to do a book with Kate that paid homage to Jerry Pinkney. But having already done Mirandy and Brother Wind and Sam and the Tigers, I thought I might go in a different direction today. Now Jerry was a huge fan of fairy tales, and Little Red Riding Hood has always stood out to me as one of his more interesting books. Setting the book in winter was a fascinating choice, maybe even a challenge, for the artist. The storyline is very faithful to the original Grimm ...

Review of the Day: While I Was Away by Waka T. Brown

While I Was Away
By Waka T. Brown
Quill Tree Books (an imprint of Harper Collins)
$16.99
ISBN: 9780063017115
Ages 9-12

Memory is unreliable. On some level we all know this to be true. Two people can live through the same experience and have two entirely different interpretations of what happened at the time. So when we run across memoirs written with young readers in mind, we have to take them with a grain of salt. Now I’m a bit of a nonfiction stickler when it comes to children’s books. If I se...

What’s Red and Green and Blue and White All Over? An Interview with Lee Wind and Paul O. Zelinsky, Of Course!

My Jewish sister informs me that Hanukkah comes early this year. I looked it up and sure and shooting, she’s correct. Clocking in at an early November 28th for the first day, I hope you have your decorations at the ready and children’s books ready for checkout. Of course, there’s a new book out this year that you might want to consider displaying as well. It’s Jewish. It’s Christian. And it’s created by the singular team of Lee Wind and Paul O. Zelinsky.

It was my supreme pleasure to intervie...

A Bright Star Interview with Yuyi Morales Herself

Oh, what a treat. What a treat and what a thrill. Folks, from the minute I set my eyes upon the book, Bright Star, I was enthralled. For years and years and years I’ve been a fan of the work of Yuyi Morales. When everyone else became a fan too I very much felt like the nerd that’s into a cool band and who then gets pouty when it’s not an underground sensation anymore. But how can I blame you? Inventive? Original? Unique? Horrendously accomplished? That’s basically her CV. And now, today, I get t...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Curious George Takes a Job by H.A. and Margret Rey

Thinly veiled racism! Drug-sniffing monkeys (that are actually apes)! Roving hoards of wiener dogs! A Cervantes-esque arc! Oh, we have just loads to talk about in this episode, that’s for sure. More questions are raised than answered in this latest episode of Fuse 8 n’ Kate and that’s okay. We return to the world of Curious George with all its peculiarities. There’s a lot to discuss here and we’re ready for it.

Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTun...

Review of the Day: Little Witch Hazel, A Year in the Forest by Phoebe Wahl

Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest
By Phoebe Wahl
Tundra Books
$24.99
ISBN: 9780735264892
On shelves now.

I don’t think anyone really understands what “subversive” means anymore. At least not when we talk about books for kids. There was a time when children’s books, particularly picture books, could go a little wild and adults were the ones left shocked. Whether it was the horror of Slugs by David Greenberg and Victoria Chess, the unapologetic nudity of Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitche...

From Out of My Mind to Out of My Heart: An Interview with Sharon Draper

I remember when Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper was first released. Boy, it was a while ago, though. What was it, 2010? More than a decade ago, that’s for sure. Time has passed. The original readers of that novel grew up. Still, that’s the funny thing about middle grade novels. Given the right audience, they just keep perpetuating new readers. Case in point, Out of My Mind is as popular as ever and now, in 2021, we’re finally seeing a sequel. Out of My Heart just came out yesterday and is th...

I’ll Post This Interview When Pigs Fly: A Talk with Rob Harrell

Yesterday I was purchasing a mess of Spanish language titles for my library’s children’s room when I came across a book that just came out October 1st called Guiño. That’s right. It was Rob Harrell’s wonderful Wink, now available in Spanish.

Now if you missed Wink last year, that’s okay. There was a lot going on. Consider it worth rediscovering, though. In that book a kid with a rare form of eye cancer navigates school and his own understanding of music. Think High Fidelity meets junior ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Bill and Pete by Tomie dePaola

Now starring special guest, Ian Lendler!! Author of 2021’s new picture book Nia and the New Free Library, and creator of such books I’ve adored as The Fabled Life of Aesop and the Stratford Zoo comics, to name but a few.

Once in a while we’ll have a guest on. Of course the challenge is for our guests to come up with potentially “classic” picture books that we haven’t done already. But when Ian and I talked about having him on the show, the book he mentioned was Bill and Pete, a.k.a. a boo...