Betsy Bird's Blog, page 165
July 30, 2019
Like My Co-Writer? I Made ’em!
The other day I got a nice email from someone about how much they liked Jules Feiffer’s book Bark, George. They then commented that they ran into the man’s daughter, Kate, at an event recently but, unfortunately, they spent the whole time praising her father’s books and failing to mention her own. I mean, we’ve all been there. You meet someone cool and end up using most of your time talking about someone else’s books entirely. Of course, this got me thinking about the collaboration Kate did...
July 29, 2019
Book Trailer Premiere: Cape by Kate Hannigan
Nazis suck. Books full of female kid superheroes defeating Nazis do not suck. Ipso facto, we should have more of them. Yet to the best of my knowledge, and I could be wrong in this, there really aren’t a ton of female-kid-superheroes-banding-together-to-defeat-the-forces-of-evil middle grade novels out there. Does this represent a gap in the marketplace? It does. Is there a remedy at hand? There is. And that remedy goes by the name of Kate Hannigan.
Now you may know Ms. Hannigan by previous...
July 28, 2019
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: George and Martha by James Marshall
ALERT! Before we begin, I’d like to make note that this is number 97 of our podcast so far. To celebrate our upcoming 100th we have (A) Created a Facebook page and (B) On Monday, August 5th at 8 p.m. CST we will record a Facebook Live episode of episode #100. So in case you’ve ever wanted to see the images as Kate discovers them, now you can.
This week, we wonder something. Is Martha the better hippo? Hard to determine with a single George and Martha book, but we have some serious opinions o...
July 25, 2019
Cover Reveal + Interview: Amphibian Acrobats with Leslie Bulion and Robert Meganck
It’s not like the old days when I used to do cover reveals. Not too long ago a reveal consisted of me briefly introducing the title and topic, showing the cover, and that was that. Betsy gets to go to bed early and all the world is well. But ooooooh, no. I had to go upsetting the applecart. These days, I’m not satisfied with just showing you a jacket. Oh, you’ll get your precious book jacket, don’t you worry, but I’ve set my sights higher. I’m going to make the authors and illustrators I reve...
July 24, 2019
Review of the Day: Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women retold by Kate Forsyth, ill. Lorena Carrington
Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young WomenRetold by Kate ForsythIllustrated by Lorena CarringtonKane Miller (a division of EDC Publishing)$16.99ISBN: 978-1-61067-979-4Ages 6-12On shelves now When the same ten fairytales get told and retold and told once again, you could understand why children would get the wrong impression about the whole genre. Children, heck. Listen to how grown adults talk about fairytales when they’re writing their think pieces. Over and over again you’ll he...
July 23, 2019
Because I Said So: Three Books Dare to Ask “Why?”
You can tell it’s July when I start writing copious posts about books that have certain, interesting aspects in common with one another. You see, by July I’ve seen a vast number of publications slated for both Spring and Fall. That means the similarities are bound to become more apparent. For example, last week I discovered that a slew of 2019 releases were all talking about perceptions and perspectives. And this week? The single word most identified with a young child’s speech gets its own m...
July 21, 2019
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey, ill. Gustaf Tenggren
It seems very odd to me that one of the most commercially successful children’s books to ever be published in the United States has an almost entirely obscure author to its name. The mystery of Janette Sebring Lowrey hangs over our latest episode of this podcast. Neither Kate nor I had ever read this book before, and yet it bragged back in 2001 of having sold nearly 15 million copies. The illustrator’s wife once joked that the artist was pleased that he’d given the Bible a “run for its money...
July 18, 2019
Review of the Day: The End of Something Wonderful by Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic, ill. George Ermos
The End of Something Wonderful: A Practical Guide to a Backyard FuneralBy Stephanie V.W. LucianovicIllustrated by George ErmosSterling Children’s Books$16.95ISBN: 978-1-4549-3211-6Ages 4-7On shelves September 10th When The Funeral by Matt James was first released, I showed it to a woman I knew at a dinner. Upon seeing it for the first time her face contorted into a moue of disgust and she proclaimed, in no uncertain terms, “Clearly he has never lost somebody important to him.” Which was (A)...
July 16, 2019
It’s All Relative: An Unexpected Trend in What We Value
I have a very mischievous mind. It likes to play tricks on me. Say a person walks up to me in a social setting and then asks something casual like, “So what are you reading right now that’s really good?” Instant brain freeze. My jaw constricts. My eyes glaze. I babble for a while until the first book I can think of pops into my head and, inevitably, it’s something I read back in 2012 that has nothing to do with what’s popular today.
The same response comes when people ask me what trends are p...
July 15, 2019
The Black Mermaid Booklist
The big news of this past weekend was the announcement surrounding the latest live action Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. In a surprisingly refreshing move, the studio cast Halle Bailey, an African-American actress, as the new Ariel. The response was universally supportive.
Yeah. I wish.
No, as you might expect, the racists came out of the woodwork in droves and got all kinds of nasty online.
Following the decision, The New York Times featured the opinion piece Mermaids Have Always Been...
