Betsy Bird's Blog, page 109

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Stop That Ball! by Mike McClintock, ill. Fritz Siebel

We all we have our pet favorite books for children. Some were the ones we loved when we ourselves were kids. Others are the ones we enjoy reading to our own children. And a few are the ones we enjoy hearing our children read when they’re learning how. This book falls into that final category. And part of the reason I love it is how weird it is. Take a trip back in time with us to 1959 where Ball Boy and Stalker Sally go on a series of misadventures as his ball attempts to destroy itself in a...

Review of the Day: The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo, ill. Sophie Blackall

The Beatryce Prophecy
By Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Candlewick Press
$19.99
ISBN: 9781536213614
On shelves September 28th

As our world sinks more and more comfortably into a general morass of technology, it should be little wonder that recent children’s books have grown increasingly comfortable shrugging off our modern day beeps and boops in favor of (of all things) the Middle Ages. The author that digs deep into the muck of the past sometimes finds literary medals buried there...

Adrianna Cuevas Is Back with CUBA IN MY POCKET: The Interview

In 2020 I was not a great middle grade fiction reader. The pandemic was in full swing and I found that I had difficulty concentrating on a single book at a time. Many was the title I picked up and had to put down again. This is probably why I feel such affection towards THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF NESTOR LOPEZ. It had all the trappings of an “issues” book. Boy living with his grandmother. Dad off to war. The army brat problem of traveling from town to town, never getting to keep any friends. A growing ...

Nonfiction on Display: Melissa Stewart Dishes on the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction

One cannot help but wonder how the fervor surrounding contemporary nonfiction children’s literature compares to that of even a decade ago. For example, since an SLJ webinar she did last fall with more than 1000 attendees, people have been waiting for her next book. Those kinds of numbers don’t grow out of nothing. What is it about Melissa, author of more than 180 science books for children, and her work that taps so directly into where we are in 2021 and the current state of informational bo...

Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: Melissa Stewart Dishes on the

One cannot help but wonder how the fervor surrounding contemporary nonfiction children’s literature compares to that of even a decade ago. For example, recently Melissa Stewart’s fantastic new title 5 KINDS OF NONFICTION had a Zoom launch event with 26 authors. Over 500 people registered from all over the world and just over 200 attended the live event while the rest can watch the recording over the next month. Those kinds of numbers don’t grow out of nothing. What is it about Melissa, autho...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

It’s been a while since we tackled a book with that awe-inspiring, shiny Gold Caldecott medal on its cover. As such, it seemed wise to break out Paul O. Zelinsky’s major award winner. Limiting our Into the Woods quotes to the bare minimum, Kate proves to be the perfect reader for this book, having only seen Tangled once, and that was while drunk and one-eyed. She’s practically a clean slate! Plus, it seems appropriate to do a story on a woman attempting (and failing) to enforce chastity at a...

Review of the Day: New In Town by Kevin Cornell

New In Town
By Kevin Cornell
Farrar, Straus & Giroux (an imprint of Macmillan)
ISBN: 9780374306090
$18.99
On shelves September 7th

You can’t read children’s literature while constantly looking for the elements you prefer in your adult literature. I mean, you can do it, but you’ll almost always be disappointed. Still, grown-ups just love it when a picture book makes a sly allusion only they might get, or tries on a narrative technique they think is slick. I’m not blameless here. I love a clever bit...

Warrants a Discussion: David Wiesner Discusses His Carle Museum Exhibit

He has an exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art July 17th through early December. He’s written wonderful articles on the art of storytelling with pictures only, covering the history of wordless picture books, discussing early graphic novels and how these formats became so popular. And best of all, he’s an award winner in his own right.

Recently I had a chance to join multi-Caldecott Award winner David Wiesner in conversation about the state of picture books past, present, and f...

Low Vision, High Contrast: Books for Kids That Need Contrasting Colors

The other day I attended a remarkable presentation to a group of local Chicagoland librarians called “Building Accessible Library Collections for Individuals with Disabilities.” Presented by Renee Grassi, it offered librarians like myself ways to remove barriers to access for different individuals within our library systems. And with its focus on community engagement and transparency, I found it a particularly timely piece.

Though many of the things Ms. Grassi touched on were interesting, I w...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, ill. E.B. Lewis

Though today you see books about Black hair pride in a lot of the children’s picture books, I credit Natasha Tarpley for creating one of the very first back in 1998. I will also confess that I did consider doing Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron, which came out in 1997, but I don’t think I’m adept enough to tackle the issues that came up when that book hit the marketplace. Instead, Kate and I kvell at the wonder that is E.B. Lewis, discuss realism in picture book literature, and establish that ...