Betsy Bird's Blog, page 163

Cover Reveal of DARING DARLEEN and an Interview with Anne Nesbet

Context Context Context!!

Okay. Author Anne Nesbet. When did I first read one of her books? The only honest answer is: Too late. Have you ever read someone’s books and then started kicking yourself because you’ve been missing out on them for a great deal of time? That’s me and Anne. Though I was aware of her books CABINET OF EARTHS, A BOX OF GARGOYLES, and THE WRINKLED CROWN, I’d read precisely none of them. But then she released CLOUD AND WALLFISH. And that book . . . ahhhhh. There was so mu...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, ill. Caroline Binch

A British book just snuck into the pack. When I picked it up from the library for Kate to read, I was positive that what we had on our hands was an American title through and through. Not as such. Mary Hoffman, a white British woman, wrote this back in 1991. It was also a Kate Greenaway Honor book when it was released, which is impressive. This book is not without its controversial elements, but in my own personal library the only edition available was the reprinted 2015 edition. And, as you...

Review of the Day: Up Verses Down by Calef Brown

Up Verses Down: Poems, Paintings, and Serious NonsenseBy Calef BrownHenry Holt (an imprint of Macmillan)$19.99ISBN: 978-0-8050-9929-4Ages 9-12On shelves now

Calef Brown gives me hope for the world.

A bold statement but not an inaccurate one. Bear with me on my reasoning on this one, because I think I’m on to something. First off, I want you to think long and hard about what the role of published children’s poetry is in the 21st century. How do publishers approach it? Do they think it sells?...

Book Trailer Reveal: Little Libraries, Big Heroes by Miranda Paul and John Parra

If a pile of money was suddenly plopped into your lap, what would you buy? Let’s say you had to spend the money on something superfluous. Something that wasn’t a necessity. What would you buy?

Me? I’d buy a Little Free Library.

Now about three years ago there was a sudden influx of think pieces online about why people sometimes hate Little Free Libraries. I just now read a whole slew of them, but none of them have made so much as a dent in my enthusiasm. To my mind, if you’ve an area that ca...

King of the Mole People: An Interview with Paul Gilligan (Now with 50% More Mary Worth References!)

Guys, the last thing I want is to be considered predictable. I’m a wild card, baby. You never know WHAT kind of book for kids I’m going to like next. It could be a mystery. It could be a board book. It could be some nonfiction title for 7-year-olds on banking. It could be . . .

. . . could . . . uh . . . hey. Wait a minute. What’s that book over there? Does that title say KING OF THE MOLE PEOPLE?!? Oh, sweet mystery of life, at last I’ve found you, gimme gimme gimme!!!

*sigh* Okay. Fine. I’m...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Minisode with Phil Nel

Summer is almost over, the children are off to school again, and those of us able to take last minute vacations are doing so with gusto. All this is to say that we figured now was a perfect time to release our first “minisode”. We came up with the “minisode” name when we thought it would be shorter than our usual length. But then I got it into my head to talk to renowned children’s literature scholar Phil Nel for our first minisode and, naturally, it blossomed into a full-blown episode lengt...

Breaking Down the Changes to E-Content in Your Local Libraries: What You Need to Know

In the beginning, when libraries around the world started buying and circulating ebooks for the very first time, publishers were concerned. Very concerned. Suddenly the old lending models didn’t seem to apply anymore. Why should libraries be allowed to circulate digital titles, books that will never show wear and tear after multiple uses, without needing to buy replacement copies? With that in mind, publishers instituted “metered copies”. Essentially, a library buys an electronic book or audi...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

It’s the 100th episode! Woohoo! After all this time it’s finally come. The challenge of this episode of the podcast was to come up with a book for #100 that is widely known but that we hadn’t done already. And this book was waiting in the wings all along. Why? Because thanks to a great deal of scholarship out there on the topic, the “Cat” is no longer the simple beloved character he once was considered to be. This isn’t an easy book to do, but we managed it somehow.

Listen to the whole show...

Interview – Making the Leap: Author/Artist David Kirk Creates His Own Publishing Company

Imagine, if you will for a moment, that you were to create your own book publishing company. Would that be a nightmare for you, or a dream? For David Kirk, it’s neither: It’s a reality. And if his name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the man behind the Miss Spider book/TV series, as well as a brother to fellow children’s book creator, Daniel Kirk.

To be honest with you, I’ve always fantasized about starting a publishing company. The next best thing to that? Talking to someone who already...

Guest Post: The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival Wants YOU!

Hi, this is James Kennedy of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. We’re the annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create short movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds (and adult help is totally OK). Big thanks to Betsy for letting me hijack her blog to showcase this year’s entries, and to encourage everyone to make movies for next year’s film festival! (Indeed,it’s right here on Fuse #8 that we first debuted the 90-Second Newbery, eight years a...