Betsy Bird's Blog, page 12

Troublemaking: A Conversation with Arree Chung

At my library (Evanston Public Library) we create a list consisting of 101 Great Books for Kids at the end of each year. To make this list, I will receive a slew of galleys and review copies of children’s book titles and then meticulously file them on shelves behind my desk for any committee member to have. In doing this, I’ve noticed that some categories have changed in size over the last few years. Poetry this year, in comparison to 2024, is rather robust. Ditto Fairy Tales/Folk Tales/ Rel...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler, ill. Robert Bollen

“I want to do something with my life, but with minimal effort.” “He’s the hero our children need today.” Today, there is a mystery at work. For the past two years this 1983 beginner book publication has hit #1 on the Publishers Weekly list of top selling picture books around Easter time. But why? What caused this particular P.J. Funnybunny book to become quite so popular again? We endeavor to find out as we tackle today’s title. It’s not very Easter-y, but I guess bunnies will be bunnies. Al...

Myrick Marketing Publisher Preview Spring/Summer 2025: Part Four Featuring TOON Books, Walker Books, What On Earth Books, Albatros, and Barefoot Books

We’ve an interesting array of titles on display for you today. These are all books that have either just come out or are on the near horizon. As per usual, I have Ellen Myrick and Publisher Spotlight to thank for this sneak peek. Here’s to the smaller publishers, unafraid to try interesting, new things. And I suspect you may particularly enjoy the last book on today’s list…

Pencil by Hye-Eun Kim

Publication Date: March 18, 2025

ISBN: 9781662665530

Woot! Let’s hear it for the wo...

More Than Enough: A Conversation with Richard Michelson

Today’s conversation is one that I’ve been looking forward to for some time. Richard Michelson is an old friend. If ever you’ve been to the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA, it would behoove you to also check out the R. Michelson Gallery in nearby Northampton. There, located in an old bank, you will find perhaps the finest gallery of fine children’s illustration available to you anywhere in the continental United States.

Rich’s gallery is not his sole connection to children’s literature, of ...

Educational Justice: A Nikkolas Smith Interview About The History of We

From the moment I saw it, I could see that it was something unique. Something remarkable even.

Now about two years ago I had a running gag with my co-workers about just how popular the Pleistocene was in picture books. I’d joke that you couldn’t throw a dart in a children’s room without hitting two or three of the suckers (Note: Please do not throw darts in children’s rooms). The idea that someone might go back further, then tie everything into the world today in an epic, sweeping, but u...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems

It’s been a day or two since we did a Mo Willems book on the podcast (and you can believe I’m counting down the days until one of those Elephant & Piggie books turns 20). What absolutely kills me is that we did today’s title in complete ignorance of the fact that it was recently adapted into an incredible looking stage production in D.C. with a Chicago-based theater company…. which just closed. Doggone it. This book is interesting for a number of reasons. First off, Mo Willems had already do...

Review of the Day: Candle Island by Lauren Wolk

Candle Island
By Lauren Wolk
Dutton Children���s Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$18.99
ISBN: 9780593698549
Ages 9-12
On shelves

An author that can tell you at the beginning of their book that there���s a big secret lurking in its pages, then subsequently make you completely forget all about it until the right time is, to my mind, a good writer. And I surprise absolutely no one when I say that Lauren Wolk? She is a good writer. Not an easy writer. After all, none of her books ever stri...

Sneak Preview: A Cat Nap Conversation with Brian Lies and a Peek Inside This Fall Release

What do we do when we experience extreme creativity in the picture book realm? Sort of a subjective question, I know. I might find something creative that you find pedantic or dull. And you might think something was brilliant that I feel is repetitive and old hat. But there are rare cases where an author or illustrator goes so far above and beyond the norm that they create something that is, quite frankly, inarguably without compare.

Enter Brian Lies.

Today we’re going to talk about his f...

Trading Pictures for Words: Vera Brosgol Presents Her Middle Grade Debut, Return to Sender

Okay. Fun Vera Brosgol story time.

About six or seven years ago I was at an Annual American Library Association Conference. It was a pretty normal affair and, as is my wont, I attended a fair share of cocktail parties. My Friday night consisted mostly of leaping from publisher party to publisher party. There were two problems with that. 1- I had a slightly runny nose and 2 – I was talking at a very loud volume for hours at a time in heavily air conditioned spaces. By the time my Saturday dinn...

The Vanishing Kingdom: Author Jonathan Auxier and Editor Courtney Code in Conversation

If you’re a regular reader of this site then you know that I’ve a penchant for interviewing authors and illustrators. That’s fun, but today I want to crank it up to the next level. Not simply an author, but an author AND their editor?!? Hubba wha???

That’s right, folks! Before you I present the great Jonathan Auxier himself. Now you may be familiar with Jonathan for any number of reasons. Maybe you’ve always loved his standalone fiction, like The Night Gardner or Sweep. Maybe you got hoo...