Betsy Bird's Blog, page 115

#OwnVoices: Tagging, Cataloging, and Making Your Library Collection Completely Searchable

On June 6, 2021 the organization We Need Diverse Books released the post, Why We Need Diverse Books Is No Longer Using the Term #OwnVoices. In it they stated the following:

#OwnVoices was created as a hashtag by author Corinne Duyvis in September 2015. It was originally intended as a shorthand book recommendation tool in a Twitter thread, for readers to recommend books by authors who openly shared the diverse identity of their main characters. The hashtag was never intended to be used in a br...

Review of the Day: Losers at the Center of the Galaxy by Mary Winn Heider

Losers at the Center of the Galaxy
By Mary Winn Heider
Little Brown & Company
$16.99
ISBN: 9780759555426
Ages 9-12
On shelves now

I’ve told this story before, but I like to mention it periodically. Years ago when I was a children’s librarian in NYC I ran a book club for kids between the ages of 9-12. One conundrum I faced as part of the job was the kids’ rejection of any book with a cover they didn’t immediately gravitate to. I solved this problem by playing a game with them where I would put a b...

Celebrating the Librarians That Work So Very Hard: A Dear Librarian Interview with Lydia Sigwarth

Releasing a new book? Well, I hate to break it to you but the bar just got raised. A lot. Like, I can only just barely make out the underside of it from here.

I am referring, you see, to the recently released Dear Libarian by Lydia M. Sigwarth, illustrated by Romina Galotta. It’s an autobiographical love story to libraries and librarians. What’s interesting about its release is that recently the publisher (Macmillan) encouraged people from around the country to nominate a librarian that had...

2021 Board Books: Some Delights Thus Far

Who’s ready to get crazy about some board books?!?

As you may know, each year in December I do this series called 31 Days, 31 Lists. For each day of that month I post a list of my favorite children’s books in one category or another. But those lists don’t appear out of nowhere. I collect them continually and sometimes there are so many lovely titles that halfway through the year I break down and show them off early. Today is that very day.

Board books have always been near and dear to my ...

Unexpected Jolts of Children’s Literature

Didn’t I just do one of these? Yup. But see, the thing about a good Unexpected Jolt post is that the minute you finish one, you’ll notice about a million things that you could have included a mere day later.

Yes, once again (and so soon!) I’m giving you a peek into the adult books with connections of some sort, no matter how tangential, to children’s literature. Today’s Theme: Children’s Authors Writing for Adults. And I’m beginning with my new favorite:

Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

...

Review of the Day: Ergo by Alexis Deacon, ill. Viviane Schwarz

Ergo
By Alexis Deacon
Illustrated by Viviane Schwarz
Candlewick Press
$17.99
ISBN: 9781536217803
Ages 3-6
On shelves August 10th

What is your greatest illogical fear? I’ll tell you mine, if you like. It’s the idea of being trapped in your own head forever. Perfectly happy. Perfectly content. Perfectly trapped. I don’t know why this idea bothers me so much. It’s probably why I try not to play too many video games in a given week, and why I like gardens and walks and the proof that comes with leavin...

Photography Informs Black Pride: Natasha Tarpley Discusses The Me I Choose to Be

Look at this cover:

Now, I ask of you, is not that gorgeous? THAT is how you sell a book, people. From the moment I saw it I was enthralled. And then, a bit curious. It looked familiar. A bit like this book I’d recently purchased for my library’s adult collection:

Yep. Sure as shooting. That’s the photography of Kahran and Regis Bethencourt at work! No one creates work that looks quite like it. And inside THE ME I CHOOSE TO BE I saw a vast array of amazing, interesting, and downri...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Pigs’ Wedding by Helme Heine

“Somebody’s getting maaarried!” People of a certain generation will know to sing that line to a tune created for the film The Muppets Take Manhattan. Of course in our case, it’s Kate who is getting hitched later this week (on Friday!). So while we do want to do a book in honor of Eric Carle and one in honor of Lois Ehlert, this is not the right week to do so. But what wedding related picture book could I possibly come up with? None other than the very German picture book The Pigs’ Wedding. O...

Remembering Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert

Two of our brightest stars and most important children’s book illustrators passed away recently. Eric Carle, who brought the world The Very Hungry Caterpillar, amongst so many other books, leaves behind a magnificent legacy and a museum with his name. Lois Ehlert, who could go toe-to-toe with Carle when it came to vibrant colors and books for the youngest of readers, may be best remembered for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, but has so many other titles to consider.

In honor of both of these magnif...

Looking for Virtual Literary Summer Camps? Look No Further!

It’s not ridiculous to say that there are quite a few parents out there that are uncomfortable with the notion of sending their children off to in-person camps. With the vaccine not yet available to kids under the age of 12, what should you do with your literary-loving children this summer?

Well, the happy making news of the day is that there appear to a whole slew of virtual camps out there for children. For kids with a love of literature, consider the following:

Story Pirates Creator...