Betsy Bird's Blog, page 145

Nature When We Most Need It: Nikki Grimes Guest Posts in a Time of COVID-19

It must have been around ten years ago. I was still living in Manhattan and had just finished an ALA Conference in a city that has long since faded from my brain. I was in the line in the airport when lo and behold I recognized the woman in front of me. Nikki Grimes is, perhaps, one of the most easily recognizable Childrens Literature Legacy Award winning / Virginia Hamilton Literary Award accepting / NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children recipients out there. So, naturally, I...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: A Time to Keep by Tasha Tudor

Because Kate was moving into her new house, this episode is coming in about a week late. Hence the references to my/Shakespeare/Buchanans birthdays. And because it was my birthday I got to choose a book that was my favorite when I was growing up. Upon hearing this, Kate thought my vote would be swayed in terms of whether or not it was a classic. Not necessarily! And lemme say this about Tasha Tudor. The Queen of England herself is second only to Tasha Tudor in terms of corgi love. Tasha was...

Who, Where, When, Why, What Lane? Talking with Torrey Maldonado

But first, an ode to the interview process.

Interviewing a subject and moderating a discussion, these are two very similar endeavors. You want the focus to be squarely on the person being featured but, at the same time, you have to make it different from the 500 other interviews theyre being forced to conduct in the course of their book promotions. For my part, I always try to make mine just a hair different from the rest. That can be hard when the book is dull or I have nothing to say. And...

Review of the Day: Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy by Tara Dairman, ill. Archana Sreenivasan

Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy
By Tara Dairman
Illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan
G.P. Putnams Sons (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0-525-51806-8
Ages 4-7
On shelves May 12th

You know how in the Star Wars movies each planet has just a single solitary type of terrestrial biome? You know why that is? Because its simpler, thats why. We, the movie watchers, are perfectly happy to point at one planet and say ice planet or forest planet or weird red salt planet. More than one type of...

What We’re Missing: Gems of World Kid Lit #3, edited by David Jacobson

Its back!

For those of you keeping score at home, David Jacobson occasionally stops by this blog to highlight issues, books, and other topics pertaining to global childrens literature. Here in the States, many of us are awfully interested in what our homegrown writers create. We dont really care much about the rest of the world. There are, however, some people who like to feel the pulse of whats being published overseas. And since the Bologna Book Fair has been cancelled for 2020, consider...

A Book That Demands Respect: Interviewing the Creators of We Are Water Protectors

Now todays post is a bit on the late side. Id intended for it to come out for Earth Day (for reasons that should become obvious) but have you noticed that the world is a little bit, how shall we say, chaotic right now? Even so, my head is screwed on enough to know that todays discussion with Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade about their book We Are Water Protectors is bigger than what day it appears on my tiny blog. Here is its official description:

Inspired by the many Indigenous-led...

Book Chat with Molly Idle: In Which the Poor Woman Gets Interviewed Doubly

There aint no rest for the weary. You know how it is. You go off and win yourself a Caldecott Honor and the next thing you know youve got video interviews and written interviews and who knows what all eating up your time. But if youre someone who is as nice as artist Molly Idle, you probably dont even mind.

In these COVID-laden times in which we live, Im just hungry for any kind of human connection. Victoria Stapleton, Little, Browns Executive Director of School & Library Marketing, has...

Story Seeds: A Podcast for Our Time

Folks, theres a thin line between letting you know about something and inundating you with information about it. But now that Story Seeds is up and running for real, I feel like I just have to sing its praises. So right off the bat here, lets cover the basics:

I host more than one podcast. The one with my sister (Fuse 8 n Kate) is cute but its not professional. The professional one is Story Seeds, where authors are paired with kids and they write stories together. Story Seeds has a pretty...

Spring Prediction Edition: Newbery / Caldecott 2021

Today is my birthday! And what better way to celebrate than to discuss the prospects of various Newbery and Caldecott contenders, I ask of you? Its the gift I give myself.

Now this years first round of predictions varies somewhat from those of the past because (and you may have noticed this) I am releasing the list in April rather than March. Turns out, pandemics are not good for forecasting. Ive only just now gotten my head in order enough to try and offer a paltry take on what may or may...

Kittens, Mittens, and Pie: A Dip into The Three Little Kittens with a Barbara McClintock Interview

Thats it. Im done. I dont wanna talk about COVID-19 or bats or tragedies or social distancing or ANY OF THAT anymore! You know what Id like to do as a break? Just once? Just for friggin once this week?

I wanna talk about kittens.

Yep. Thats right. Cute cute kittens. With mittens and pie and all that jazz. While I was stewing in that frame of mind, into my in-box waltzed Scholastic, and boy were they awfully clever. They asked, Would I like to talk to Barbara McClintock about her new picture...