Betsy Bird's Blog, page 14

Keeping Things Sideways to Expectations: A Q&A with Bill Canterbury on the My Life Is Weird Series

I was having a serious conversation with my husband the other day where we attempted to figure out some percentages in terms of which shows out there make it into our speech patterns. And The Simpsons (for all that it is inexplicably still playing on TV to this day) has gotta consist of a good 75% of our vocab. Who is to blame/credit for this? In part, today’s featured guest. Mr. Bill Canterbury worked on the early Simpsons (a.k.a. the best Simpsons) then went on to work on other various sho...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Ducky by Eve Bunting, ill. David Wisniewski

Remember when I was constantly trying to find picture books with tidal waves in them for Kate? Somebody somewhere (forgive me for not writing it down) suggested we try good old Ducky from 1997. It’s been a day or two since I picked up the book, so I gave it a whirl and discovered that it would definitely be an interesting title for the old podcast here. As such, we’re talking rubber ducks, plastic waste, cut paper, and shark sympathy on the old podcast today. Also, this has GOT to be our mos...

Announcing the Winners of the Annual Blueberry Awards for Excellence in Environmental Literature

Hey, folks! It’s one of my favorite awards of the year! Check out our press release on the topic and then take a gander at some of the acceptance videos at the end:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEEvanston Public Library names 2024 Blueberry Award Winners!

The Blueberry Awards honor excellence in environmental literature for children.

EVANSTON, ILL. ��� The Evanston Public Library has named The Great Lakes: our Freshwater Treasure, written by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Jamey Christoph...

The Rodari Conversation: Talking Classic Italian Children’s Literature with the Esteemed Antony Shugaar, Claudia Zoe Bedrick, Jack Zipes, and Matthew Forsythe

I don’t want to overhype this post, but I’m having a hard time containing my excitement. So as I type this, people all over the world are preparing to embark on planes, trains, and who-knows-what-all to get to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. It’s an international rights fair of children’s literature, and a true delight if ever you should find yourself there. It’s the kind of place that reminds you that as often as we speak about American children’s books, there’s an entire world out there beyo...

The Rodari Conversation: Talking Classic Italian Children’s Literature with the Esteemed Anthony Shugaar, Claudia Zoe Bedrick, Jack Zipes, and Matthew Forsythe

I don’t want to overhype this post, but I’m having a hard time containing my excitement. So as I type this, people all over the world are preparing to embark on planes, trains, and who-knows-what-all to get to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. It’s an international rights fair of children’s literature, and a true delight if ever you should find yourself there. It’s the kind of place that reminds you that as often as we speak about American children’s books, there’s an entire world out there beyo...

Happy Book Birthday to ALL These Incredible Titles!!

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here!! My book releases today! Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme, written by me and illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi, edited by Maria Russon, art directed by Amelia Mack, agented by Stephen Barbara and Stephen Barr, publicized by Nathan Siegel and a whole team of other people, and so many other people who were integral to its creation!

But you know what? Book birthdays are great and all. You get to tell people about your upcoming book release parties (Booked in Evanston,...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Fin M’Coul, the Giant of Knockmany Hill by Tomie de Paola

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! You know, this year my library decided to reassess our holidays and in the course of things St. Patrick’s Day got booted from the roster. Why? Because, to be perfectly frank, the number of decent St. Patrick’s Day books that come out for kids in a given year is next to none. Smaller than small. For that reason (and because we’ve covered SO MANY of the usual suspects on our podcast already) I decided to turn once again to the classic fable of Finn McCool or Fin M’Coul...

A Pumphrey Brothers Cover Reveal! Conversation and a Peek at The Old Sleigh

Well, I couldn’t resist. I’m just having too much fun with these cover reveals and Q&As these days. And when I get the chance to premiere the Pumphrey brothers’ latest picture book? AND it’s a follow up to The Old Truck and The Old Boat? AND it’s got this crazy beautiful gold foil on the cover?

Folks, I’m only human.

Today, it is my delight and honor to give you a sneak peek into��THE OLD SLEIGH (on sale 11/4/25). Or, as the publisher likes to describe it:

“On a cold winter���s night o...

Broken! A Cover Reveal and Conversation with X. Fang

Earlier this week I posted my Spring Prediction Edition of the Newbery/Caldecott winners of 2026. Faithful readers may recall that I happened to mention that there was a certain X. Fang book that I wanted to include, but since I hadn’t yet revealed its cover, I felt unable to do so.

That ends today.

I will confess to you that on the sly, I shared a PDF of today’s book with some of my children’s librarians. The only accurate way to describe their reactions to it would be to compare them to...

Cover Reveal and Conversation: Caroline Perry Discusses I Am Not Happy in All Its Hilarious Cuteness

Human beings are complex individuals. Take Caroline Perry, for example. On the one hand, the woman has been instrumental in the Kidlit for Los Angeles wildfire relief efforts, directing a great amount of money to people who need it badly. On the other, she’s a children’s book creator and today, I get to premiere her latest picture book. I’m not going to lie to you either… it’s cute. Like, really really cute.

I Am Not Happy follows the trials and tribulations of a marsupial cursed to look, to...