Betsy Bird's Blog, page 143
June 8, 2020
Adventure Time meets Moomintroll? Chatting with Aliza Layne About BEETLE AND THE HOLLOWBONES
A parent has to make a series of choices determining what is best for their child. You sort through your own childhood to a certain extent, improving on some parts, deleting others. In my own case, there was at least one aspect of my early years that has caused me to embody true Nerd Parentdom: I have bestowed upon my offspring a thorough and unshakable addiction to comics.
I regret nothing. How could I? While I had to be satisfied with Betty & Veronica, Harvey comics, For Better or For Worse...
June 7, 2020
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Little Man, Little Man by James Baldwin, ill. Yoran Cazac
As far as I can tell, I was very limited in what book I could select Kate and myself to cover this week. She wanted me to find one that was pertinent to the times in which we live. After wracking my brain for just the right title I decided to focus on a book by a Black author. Even better, a book that was ahead of its time when it came out and may only find its true audience today. And few books for kids tackle the issue of police brutality as honestly as this one does. Reprinted two years ago, ...
June 3, 2020
In Memoriam: JoAnn Jonas
On April 25, 2020 JoAnn Jonas, a truly great librarian and early childhood advocate (amongst many other things) died. JoAnn was one of librarians that formed my perceptions of what librarianship could do, having preceded me in the Central Children’s Room of NYPL. Today, JoAnn’s 2002 Newbery committee will be paying homage to her life, her work, and her influence.
JoAnn Jonas: Member of the 2002 Newbery Committee Family
JoAnn Jonas, our dear friend and a beloved librarian who died this ...
June 2, 2020
Guest Post: The Child is Mother of the Woman – Using Archival Clues to Write Picture Book Biographies
Amy Alznauer returns to the blog to discuss new issues in the realm of writing nonfiction for kids, particularly as they pertain to one Flannery O’Connor. You might recall my previous discussion with Ms. Alznauer in the post A Good Old-Fashioned Nonfiction/Informational Fiction Debate. Well, sir, we’ve put our boxing gloves aside and I’m yielding her the floor.
Amy, take it away.
Picture Book Biography as Reconstruction
Or as Wordsworth put it, the child is father of the man.
A k...
June 1, 2020
Antiracist Resources and Reads: Lists for All Ages
Silence is complicity.
A blog, no matter what its subject, no matter how large or small its reach, is a platform. You use it to make your thoughts and feelings known. And if the world harbors evil, harbors racism, harbors pain and death and agony to a specific group of people in your society, if you just carry along without acknowledging it in any way, you are a coward. I am a coward. Normally I don’t say much when things are bad, but even I have to open my eyes sometimes and say something. ...
May 31, 2020
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer, ill. P.D. Eastman
For whatever reason, Kate and I spoke for a whopping 45 minutes about today’s book. Somehow, Kate (who is our editor on all this) cut it down to mere 28 minutes, which is a feat worth remarking. We tackle whether or not “Helen Palmer” was or was not Dr. Seuss (the answer is far more complicated than you might think). We delve into what kind of reputation Mr. Carp must have to be on the watch list of both the police and the firemen. And now we have to research when fluoride entered the drinki...
May 27, 2020
Review of the Day: Wink by Rob Harrell
Wink
By Rob Harrell
Dial Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$16.99
ISBN: 9781984815149
Ages 9-12
On shelves now
They say, write what you know. And if what you know is how to lie on a steel table, your head screwed into place, a laser pointed at your face, that might be a good place to start. We live in dark times. How dark are they? SO dark that a book about a kid with a potentially deadly eye cancer is the bit of lighthearted levity we all need and crave. And don’t get ...
May 26, 2020
Social Distancing in the Studio: The Eric Carle Museum Presents Its First Virtual Exhibit
Museums are in a tight spot. We all are, but when you are a space built for the sole purpose of luring in large crowds, 2020 must feel particularly personal. You might respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by simply waiting it out, but haven’t we all been doing that the last 3 months? Perhaps a different tactic is in order. Ingenuity. An attempt at something different. Something virtual.
As of yesterday, The Eric Carle Museum is presenting its first virtual exhibit. Called ART in PLACE...
May 25, 2020
Could COVID-19 Mark the End of the Physical Galley?
History lesson! Travel back in time with me 12 years to a blog post on the site The Swivet run by Colleen Lindsay, the then Associate Director Marketing, Social Media and Reader Experience at the NAL/Berkley Publishing Groups, divisions of Penguin Group, USA. The post, which dates back to September of 2008, is called Pimpin’ Your Book: The Economics of the Galley, or Why You Can’t Have a Zillion Copies, Thanks! To break it down, the post explains the money behind the distribution of galleys ...
May 24, 2020
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Day the Cow Sneezed by James Flora
We haven’t done a cult classic picture book in a while. Really, the ultimate compliment any book can receive from its fans is that their love allows it to see life once more, decades after publication. This was one of the rare titles from the 1950s republished by the publisher Enchanted Lion. I’ve always been a big fan of this book, but as we have learned time and time again, just because I like something, that is NO indication that Kate will as well.
Listen to the whole show here on Sou...
