Betsy Bird's Blog, page 151

Review of the Day: Honeybee by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera
By Candace Fleming
Illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Neal Porter Books (an imprint of Holiday House)
$18.99
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4285-0
Ages 3-7
On shelves now.

I don’t teach classes on how to write children’s books. I imagine that doing such a thing would be enormously challenging and rewarding, depending on the people involved. Still, that doesn’t stop me from sometimes coming up with a list of writing rules for my class of imaginary students. And as I found myself...

2020 Graphic Novels: An Accounting of Some Standouts

I’m a little embarrassed to confess this to you, but I have been planning this post for a long time. Since October, pretty much. Of all the booklists that I like to produce, this one might be my favorite. And why not? With a newly minted Newbery Award going to a COMIC for the very first time, librarians are knocking down the last barriers between these lovely amalgamations of text and image and young readers. World domination is imminent. Breathe it in. It’s a new day.

This particular list...

Coming, Fall 2022 . . . the Highly Anticipated . ..

I have a scoop.

Not just any old scoop. A scoop that I think will highly please the many folks that thoroughly enjoyed the Dylan Meconis graphic novel Queen of the Sea.

Folks, were you left wondering about the future adventures of Eleanor, Francis, and Margaret at the end of the last book? Have you been hankering for more to the story? Then have I got good news for you! Today, I’ll be speaking with Dylan about upcoming sequel, Prince of the City AND I’ll share a bit of art from the book....

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

Having successfully predicted one of the Caldecott Honors in our last episode, Kate is quick to pop my puffed up ego right from the start of this week’s recording. And good thing too, since the book I bring is none other than that Reading Rainbow classic A Chair for My Mother. I talk about some of the good narrative choices made by this book, while Kate talks about some of the very strange illustration choices.

Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTunes,...

Review of the Day: Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

Echo Mountain
By Lauren Wolk
Dutton (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0-525-55556-8
Ages 9-12
On shelves April 21st

Sometimes we reviewers talk about “nostalgia”. How it plays a role in the books we review and the way we interpret those titles. I’ve been thinking a lot about that word lately. Seems it only really comes up in conversation when you’re talking about works of fiction set in the past. Sometimes such books romanticize history or historical moments. They may have...

Press Release Fun: SLJ, MSRI Launch Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards

Periodically I may mention on this site that for the past couple years I have served on the Mathical Book Prize committee, presented in conjunction with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI). This year I will be co-chairing the committee, so it is with extreme pleasure that I tell you about this new opportunity to get great books in schools.

Or, put another, FREE BOOKS!!! Come and get ’em!

A new award will provide grants to Title I schools to purchase literary fiction and...

Hindsight/The Year is 2020: ALA YMA Wrap-Up

Well, wasn’t that a blast? If you missed yesterday’s announcement of the ALA Youth Media Awards then you’ll be able to find the lovely little round-up of all the winners right here. As per usual there were lots of books I loved, some I thought were so-so, one I outright disliked (I’ll never tell which it was), and tons I never got a chance to read. Here are the highlights for me:

The Newbery Goes to a Comic Book!

We’ve come a long ways from the days of Seduction of the Innocent, have we not?...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell

“I have a big red dog. Accept the reality in which I live.”

I’ve been avoiding Clifford all these years. Why? Because I always remembered the book as dull. So you’ve gotta hand it to Kate. Thanks to her we find far more to talk about concerning Clifford than I ever thought possible. From Emily Elizabeth’s fashion sense to why you wouldn’t want to camp under his jowls to the logistics of pouring hot tea on your dog’s tongue, this book is rife with possibilities. But don’t ask us. Just ask...

Review of the Day: Rita & Ralph’s Rotten Day by Carmen Agra Deedy, ill. Pete Oswald

Rita and Ralph’s Rotten Day
By Carmen Agra Deedy
Illustrated by Pete Oswald
Scholastic
$17.99
ISBN: 9781338216387
Ages 3-5
On shelves March 3rd

When I rule the world, there are gonna be some changes. Some really strange, site-specific changes. For example, let us say you’re a prospective library school student who has decided to take a class in children’s librarianship. On the first day of class it will be a rule, NAY, law that there must be a banner hanging over the door of the classroom that...

Guest Post – What We’re Missing: Gems of World Kid Lit

All right, folks. It’s time to get your larning on. So to speak. Once in a while I like to hand the reins of this blog over to folks that know more about a topic than myself. I learn something. You learn something. Good times.

Today we welcome back David Jacobson. Today, he is proposing a new series on this blog. One that may really help your worldview of children’s literature.

So without further ado, take it away, David!

Any visitor to the Frankfurt Book Fair or the Bologna Children’s Book...