Betsy Bird's Blog, page 148

Guest Post: Wrestling with School Library Closures by J. F. Fox

There will come a time when this pandemic ends and we can get back to business as usual. Which is to say, the business of fighting to protect our school libraries and school librarians from the chopping block. Written before the arrival of COVID-19, author J.F. Foxs piece here today is no less timely for what it has to say.

Wrestling with School Library Closures

by J.F. Fox 

Last year the library at my sons school had to cease circulation almost two months before the end of the school year....

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus, Jose Aruego, and Ariane Dewey

Note: To this day Ariane Deweys name is not on this cover.

Since my library is all closed up and Ive no access to the books inside I wasnt able to do a celebrity picture book with Kate this week. Such is the state of the world in which we live today. Not to worry! I have a full library of picture books at my fingertips all thanks to my personal collection. Please bear in mind when you listen to this that we recorded it last week, and even since that day things have changed so much. In this...

Review of the Day: Clever Hans by Kerri Kokias, ill. Mike Lowery

Clever Hans: The True Story of the Counting, Adding, and Time-Telling Horse
By Kerri Kokias
Illustrated by Mike Lowery
G.P. Putnams Sons Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Penguin Young Readers)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0-525-51498-5
Ages 6 and up
On shelves May 5th

A good old-fashioned historical mystery. By gum, thats what we need to see more of on our library shelves! Look here, you want to get your kids interested in history but you want to stick to, yknow, the facts? Well lets see what we can do...

Ancient Wisdom for Trying Times. An Interview with the Duo Behind The Fabled Life of Aesop

I am a greedy gus.

Not long ago (though it feels like a million years ago since the Coronavirus spread) I received a very nice offer. Would I, at all consider, hosting a conversation between the creators of The Fabled Life of Aesop (HMH BFYR, 3/10)? Author Ian Lendler and two-time Caldecott Honor recipient Pamela Zagarenski would discuss this remarkablebook. The description reads:

The Fabled Life of Aesop is the first picture book biography of Aesop his fables are some of the oldest stories...

Call for Submissions: How Do Books For Our Youngest Readers Inspire Action Towards Equity?

Folks, I dont know how many of you enjoy submitting to peer-reviewed journals, but it seems to me that the topic of this particular one is too important to ignore. I also know that a bunch of you out there have valuable information in your craniums that needs to be shared with the wider world. And, its possible, you may have some time on your hands in the coming weeks. If so, I urge you to consider the following:

The Illinois Reading Council is excited to announce a call for manuscripts for...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, ill. Helen Oxenbury

To help out families stuck in their homes with small children, people have been creating videos of people reading picture books. And WHAT, I ask you, is a better readaloud than this storytime classic? Nothing, I tells ya! Nothing! Kate gets introduced to Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury for the very first time. Imagine showing someone who has never seen this story performed for small children encountering this book without that bit of context. We spend a bit of time considering the bears...

Ghosts of Newbery Past, Present and Future? Welcome to This Year’s 90-Second Newbery Film Festival

Last night I received the announcement that due to an abundance of concern about COVID-19 (I never thought Id be using the phrase an abundance of concern as often as I have in the last week) my childrens public school has closed for the next month. We live in unprecedented times. My husband pointed out to me recently that when the Spanish Flu hit American back in the early 20th century, that was probably the last time a pandemic reached this level of national concern. And if youd like to know...

Review of the Day: Fly On the Wall by Remy Lai

Fly On the Wall
By Remy Lai
Henry Holt and Co. (an imprint of Macmillan)
$16.99
ISBN: 978-1-250-31411-6
Ages 9-12
On shelves May 12th

Has the helicopter parent ever gotten its due? Which is to say, where is the great American childrens novel that picks apart helicopter parenting, examining it from every angle, explaining it, maybe even forgiving it a little, but still ultimately finding fault? I dunno, but Ive got this Australian import over here that does the job just as well. Im not sure if you...

A New Podcast for Your Children: Story Seeds Is Live!

You may have heard me mention in the past that Ive been part of a brand new podcast. At a time when a lot of kids are listening to podcasts for fun (particularly when theyre stuck indoors) a new kids and family show The Story Seeds Podcast has launched from Literary Safari. Its host? Well, that would actually be me, and it features an earworm-worthy theme song by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT.

The whole premise of the show is that...

Guest Post: What We’re Missing: Gems of World Kid Lit #2.

It is my supreme pleasure to welcome back again to the blog David Jacobson. As you might recall, David began a series on this blog to shine some attention on issues in the field of childrens literary translation. His previous post Beyond 3 Percent: Translation Childrens Literature in the U.S. came out at the end of last year. Today, his co-authors are Minjie Chen (originally of China), Jongsun Wee (originally of Korea), and Reiko Nakaigawa Lee (originally of Japan).

Many thanks to all four...