Betsy Bird's Blog, page 138

Girls Who Build: An Interview with Katie Hughes

I don’t normally do this, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Here is a good method one might use when enticing a blogger into an author interview.

Step One – Show them this cover:

Yeah, that’s it. That’s all it takes.

By all accounts GIRLS WHO BUILD (Black Dog & Leventhal / on sale October 13 / ages 8-14) is created by Katie Hughes, who founded the Girls Build nonprofit after getting frustrated at finding herself the only woman on construction worksites. To change tha...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Imogene’s Antlers by David Small

While this may not be the first time we’ve ever covered an illustrator that I’ve collaborated with (remember when we discussed Dan Santat and After the Fall?) this is one of the few cases where we’ve done a collaborator of mine who has an honest-to-goodness older classicky classic. We discuss the strength of Imogene’s neck muscles, you get to hear an impromptu jingle for the Emergency Hat Service, I manage to work in a tiny reference to Gregor Samsa, and we marvel at Imogene’s good nature. A...

Review of the Day: All Because You Matter by Tami Charles, ill. Bryan Collier

All Because You Matter
By Tami Charles
Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Orchard Books (an imprint of Scholastic)
$17.99
ISBN: 9781338574852
Ages 4-7
On shelves October 6th

Say a phrase repeatedly and there is a very real danger that it will begin lose its initial power. When the words “Black Lives Matter” were first pronounced so loudly and clearly at the beginning of the wider movement, that power was there. Never before have so many considered the implications that rest on the word “matter”. Years p...

A Brand New Jon Klassen Picture Book Cover Reveal. Because We Deserve Something Nice.

2020 got you down?

Feeling like you need something, ANYTHING, to get you through the remaining months? Looking for a bright spot on the horizon, no matter what the source of it might be?

Today, we premiere that bright spot.

In April of 2021 a new Jon Klassen authored and illustrated picture book will hit shelves everywhere. The book is called THE ROCK FROM THE SKY and here’s the book’s description straight outta the publisher:

“Turtle really likes standing in his favorite spot. He li...

Why Does He Draw Like He’s Running Out of Time? R. Sikoryak Discusses Constitution Illustrated

May it please the jury, I direct your attention to the following book jacket:

You may remember R. Sikoryaks’ previous works, including Masterpiece Comics, the formidable challenge in which he fully illustrated Apple’s Terms and Conditions, and The Unquotable Trump. Mr. Sikoryak possesses a remarkable, at times downright uncanny, ability to mimic the artistic styles of comic artists from the past as well as today. Yet never before has he so fully embraced contemporary children’s comics as ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Chato and the Party Animals by Gary Soto, ill. Susan Guevara

When we consider classic Latinx picture books that would qualify as #ownvoices, only a few have been covered on this show. I mean, sure we did Pura Belpre’s Perez and Martina a while ago, but let’s get a little more contemporary, eh? Today’s book premiered in 2000, which means it just barely squeezes in under the 20 year rule for inclusion. Now, granted, I probably should have started with the first book in the series, Chato’s Kitchen. The only problem with that is (A) It’s not as good and (...

Saying Goodbye to Bank Street Bookstore

Photo from 2015 of the opening of the Bank Street Bookstore in its new location

This pandemic in which we find ourselves has taken a lot from each of us. It has leveled families, and destroyed whole economies, and shuttered businesses. Here in Evanston, we have two bookstores in particular that I’ve been watching closely and worriedly. Maybe you all have your own bookstores you’re monitoring. Of course, it never occurred to me to worry about the old bookstores I used to visit when I lived in ...

Excellent Black Lives Matter Picture Book Bios (Some Pre-BLM)

It should come as no surprise to anyone that there are not enough books for kids being published in 2020 by and about Black people. That isn’t to say that there aren’t some remarkable ones out there. Just off the top of my head I can say that I’m a huge fan of picture book bios like Don Tate’s Swish (to say nothing of his William Still and His Freedom Stories), Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera, A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights...

Review of the Day: A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted

A Cat Story
By Ursula Murray Husted
Quill Tree Books (an imprint of Harper Collins)
$22.99
ISBN: 97800-06-293205-1
Ages 9-12
On shelves October 6th

You ever encounter a comic so pretty that it feels like a dare? Like picture books, comics are an infinite juggling act between the eye and the ear. Or maybe I should say between the eye and the brain. On the one hand you have the art of the book. Some of the best comics I’ve ever read in my life have been drawn with an extremely limited hand. They ge...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

A lot of this show consists of me thinking up an author (say, Patricia Polacco) then saying to myself “What’s their most famous book?” In the case of Ms. Polacco, I was a bit stumped. This book was definitely in the top five, and I figured it would make for an interesting choice. Particularly since its shiny Sydney Taylor Award on the cover was intriguing. With its 1988 pub date, there’s still a lot to really enjoy about this title. It’s aged nicely, and ties in well with stories like Jacque...