Betsy Bird's Blog, page 125

Wisdom of Trees: An Interview and Video Reveal for the Latest from Lita Judge

Recently I’ve very much been getting into trees. If any of you are into science podcasts the way that I am, then you might be familiar with Ologies. Host Alie Ward interviews different scientists, specializing in different “ologies” (Vaccine Infodemiology, Bilharziology, Gargology, etc.). Her most popular episode was “Dendrology“. So much so that the fellow she was interviewing, one Casey Clapp, went on to start his own tree-realted podcast (Warning: Bad Pun Approaching) Completely Arbortrar...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Suzuki Beane by Sandra Scoppettone, ill. Louise Fitzhugh

On this most auspicious day in which the Newbery and Caldecott winners are announced (amongst many other fine and wonderful awards), I thought it might be a nice change of pace to do a cult classic. In other words, a book that never had a chance of winning a literary award a day of its life. This book, which I have in my possession was a gift from my friend and fellow co-writer on Wild Things, Peter Sieruta. It is not in print. Good luck finding a copy. But if you’d like to read it for yours...

Review of the Day: Katie the Catsitter by Colleen AF Venable, ill. Stephanie Yue

Katie the Catsitter
By Colleen AF Venable
Illustrated by Stephanie Yue
Random House Children’s Books
$20.99
ISBN: 978-0-593-30632-1
Ages 6-12
On shelves now

It must be so comforting to be a comic loving kid these days. I remember just ten years ago when I ran a children’s book club and one of the kids would come in every week, eyes brimming with hope, asking if there were any new comics in that week. Nine times out of ten the answer was always, “Nope.” Of course there weren’t. Though Raina Telgeme...

Newbery/Caldecott 2021: Final Prediction Edition

And then, in the end, it all comes down to this. On Monday, January 25th at 8 CST the ALA Youth Media Awards will announce a flurry of winners here. Newbery winners! Caldecott winners! Legacy! Odyssey! Pura Belpre! Coretta Scott King! The works! It’s only mere days away and I couldn’t be more excited.

So excited, in fact, that I’m bringing back the old Pre-Game Show. Now I know I’ve promised a Facebook Live pre-game discussion of the potential winners before, but this year I actually know how...

Interrogating the Passover Guest: A Susan Kusel and Sean Rubin Interview

Too much of my life consists of me coming up with kooky theories about different things. For example, is it possible that as a holiday, Passover yields more interesting picture books than Hanukkah? Then again, it’s not exactly a competition and the more Jewish holiday titles we find on our shelves the better. I have always found that Passover books tend to be particularly creative, though. Case in point, The Passover Guest, on shelves today (ain’t that a coincidence?). Do you know it? You sh...

Just Try It: An Interview with Mara Rockliff

“Try it, try it, and you may. Try it and you may, I say.” Anyone who has ever read their children Green Eggs and Ham repeatedly probably has those very lines burned into the folds and crevices of their brains. I sure as heck know that I do, but that didn’t keep me from interviewing author Mara Rockliff about her latest picture book biography, Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat, with art by Giselle Potter.

Now you know I love a biography when it’s of someone I, as an adult, n...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, ill. Anita Jeram

There is a certain type of picture book that can be best described as a Love It or Loathe It title. These are books that some people adore with their whole heart and without irony. And there are books that some people loathe deep down to their very souls without apology. It had been a long time since I’d handed Kate a Giving Tree or Rainbow Fish. So how would she react to this particular old chestnut? Published in 1994 in Great Britain and 1995 in the States, I doubt that few would contest t...

Kingston and the Magician’s Lost and Found: An Interview with Three Authors at Once!

Here’s something new. I tend to do a number of interviews with authors and artists on this site but rarely, if ever, do I interview three people at once. It’s a challenge I’m willing to undertake! But am I interviewing three people or two today? The answer: yes.

Coming out tomorrow is the new middle grade fantasy novel Kingston and the Magician’s Lost and Found. It is ostensibly by Rucker Moses and Theo Gangi. Simple, right? Well, it is, until you realize that “Rucker Moses” is a pseudony...

Review of the Day: Escape at 10,000 Feet by Tom Sullivan

Escape from 10,000 Feet (Unsolved Case Files)
By Tom Sullivan
Balzer & Bray (an imprint of Harper Collins)
$21.99
ISBN: 9780062991522
Ages 6-12
On shelves March 2nd

Thirteen years ago I made a prediction. Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret had just won the Caldecott, which was a momentous occasion considering the fact that the book looks more like a novel than a picture book. At the same time we were seeing these magnificent imports like Shaun Tan’s The Arrival that took comics and sto...

Stand Aside, Summer Reading. Winter Reading Takes the Stage

The other day I got an interesting message from writer and professor Marc Aronson. He wrote:

“The library students in my Masters class on Children, Reading, and Literacy spent several weeks in the course exploring innovative ways that school and public libraries around the country were adapting their programming to the requirements of the Pandemic. For a final assignment they worked in groups to create projects of their own (or to suggest enhancements to existing ideas). The students had many...