Betsy Bird's Blog, page 117

Trouble Is a Friend of Mine: An Interview with Sarah Prineas About her Latest Science Fiction Endeavor

So I’ve been reading the middle grade science fiction novel TROUBLE IN THE STARS to my six-year-old son recently at bedtime. I didn’t plan to. Technically I figured that once we’d finished the second Wizard of Oz book that we’d do something like The Giver or The Phantom Tollbooth or something. Then he took one look at the cover of the latest from Sarah Prineas and it was all over. Now every time he finds a hole in his sock and wants me to throw it out he’ll proclaim, “Space it, mom! Space it!” L...

Bollywood, Theme Songs, Top 5 Films, and More: Supriya Kelkar Discusses THAT THING ABOUT BOLLYWOOD

What this blog needs is good strong dose of Bollywood. And I know precisely the person to hook me up.

You know those TV shows where there’s a special musical episode and the characters suddenly find themselves in a musical? That’s a popular trope, and an enjoyable one. Far rarer is when the characters find themselves in a Bollywood musical! Now that’s a concept that has some glam and sparkle! And as it just so happens, author Supriya Kelkar has an upcoming novel for middle grade readers that’...

Review of the Day: Magic Candies by Heena Baek, translated by Sophie Bowman

Magic Candies
By Heena Baek
Amazon Crossing Kids
$17.99
ISBN: 9781542029599
Ages 4-7
On shelves September 1st

Part of the problem with being an American reviewer of children’s books is that my ability to see what else is available in that great big wonderful world out there is limited. Unless I hop a plane to the Bologna Book Fair, I’m not able to see what’s coming out overseas (and even then, I’m just seeing the stuff that’s popping up at that fair). It’s severely limiting. For example, when Mag...

Insufficiently Appreciated: Books I Should Have Reviewed

Every year it’s always the same. I manage to scrap together enough brain particles together to do about one review of a children’s book a week, skipping the occasional week when said particles are too wispy to coalesce. Then, by the time the end of the year rolls around. I am horrified to discover a gigantic pile of books on my shelf at home that I had every intention of reviewing. What the heck? How does this keep happening to me? Here’s a secret: Part of the reason I started doing my end-of-th...

The Middle Grade Spotify Playlist: A “The Best Worst Summer” Guest Post

I don’t usually do this, but doggone it, they offered me a Spotify playlist and I ain’t made of stone. You see, I’m fascinated by the different ways in which authors can promote or augment their books. In the old days you didn’t have to do much because the competition wasn’t all that fierce. These days, we have so many books for kids popping up all over the place that it’s a miracle if you can get your own title noticed at all. So the creators of books do all kinds of crazy tricks and treats and...

Review of the Day: Mars Is by Suzanne Slade

Mars Is: Stark Slopes, Silvery Snow, and Startling Surprises
By Suzanne Slade
Peachtree Publishing
$19.99
ISBN: 978-1-68263-188-1
Ages 6 to 10
On shelves now

Mars. That’s an easy one. That’s the red planet, right? The one that’s all dusty and reddish, where Matt Damon lived on potatoes. Mars. Ray Bradbury had tons of stories set there. A dry wasteland, like a desert, where a person could slowly go mad. Unlike, say, Neptune or Uranus, Mars is the one planet that a lot of people here on Earth have ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble

We’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name. Now I don’t usually feel a need to warn you guys ahead of time, but here’s the low-down on this week’s book. Long story short, we don’t much care for it. A little disheartening too that Paul Goble won a Caldecott for this title 43 years before the first picture book Award (not Honor) went to an Indigenous illustrator (2021’s We Are Water Protectors). Kate and I discuss its many of the problematic elements. At length. With relish.

List...

Book Giveaway! Long Road to the Circus by Betsy Bird

The following items appear in my novel LONG ROAD TO THE CIRCUS:

1 bad tempered ostrich by the name of Gaucho who has eyes bigger than his brain and the personality of a sour lemon. 1 elderly ex-circus performer who to this day, in real life, holds the high jump record while riding a horse sidesaddle.1 smart alecky-type kid who just wants to get out of Burr Oak, Michigan and would even ride an ostrich (see: Gaucho) to do it.1 no good, rotten older brother who’s a snake in the grass on his ...

This Very Tree: A Talk with Sean Rubin About the Survivor Tree in NYC

New York City allures illustrators. Since the publishing industry settled there, various artists over the decades have made their mark by depicting the city on the page of children’s books. From Maurice Sendak to Ludwig Bemelmans, from Faith Ringgold to Hilary Knight, it has served as muse. In many ways, it’s like a character you can interpret in a million different ways.

When I lived in NYC I became very fond of artists that could depict the city correctly. Some don’t care. They’ll slap toge...

Prickly Pussycat Predicaments: A Talk with Waffles and Pancakes Creator Drew Brockington

Look, I always liked comics. Ever since I was a kid I’d read interchangeably between Uncle Scrooge, Doonesbury, and the occasional collection of Pogo my parents kept in the house. But it wasn’t until I saw firsthand how well my own kids responded to using comics to learn to read that the possibilities truly blossomed. Yet for all that they’re fantastic teaching tools, the number of comics published with an audience below the age of nine in mind is a bit on the paltry side. Turns out, they’re not...