Betsy Bird's Blog, page 177

January 15, 2019

Review of the Day: Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu

EventownEventown
By Corey Ann Haydu
Katherine Tegan Books (an imprint of Harper Collins)
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0062881021
Ages 9-12
On shelves February 12th

Every year various dictionaries and encyclopedias try to determine what the Word of the Year is, and every year they make some pretty good choices. Here’s one that I don’t think they’ve done yet, but that’s been on a lot of minds anyway: Discomfort. There’s been a lot of talk about it lately, particularly in terms of the value of uncomfortable/v...

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Published on January 15, 2019 21:00

January 13, 2019

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: 2019 Caldecott Contenders

Caldecott-MedalLast year Kate and I discussed three potential Caldecott winners, and two later received medals. This year, Kate and I are discussing Dreamers, Blue, and We Don’t Eat Our Classmates. And as per usual, Kate brings up stuff I never considered before. Questions like, how exactly does Penelope Rex eat her classmates so quickly (does she unhinge her jaw?). What does “caminantes” mean? And does the guy in Blue rename his girlfriend’s dog? Kate has a violent reaction to one of the three books that I...

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Published on January 13, 2019 21:00

January 10, 2019

Newbery / Caldecott 2019: Final Prediction Edition

2019 Caldecott Predictions

At this point in the proceedings, after doing a mess of reading, and reviewing, and contemplating, and pondering, you have a sense of how the year has shaped up. What kind of an award year will this one be? Will there be a lot of surprises or familiar faces? What are the dark horse candidates?

This year, as with every year, I am going to make my predictions. Often they’re wildly off-base. Last year I did pretty darn well with the Caldecotts (three out of five ain’t...

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Published on January 10, 2019 21:00

January 8, 2019

Review of the Day: Let’s Have a Dog Party! by Mikela Prevost

LetsHaveDogPartyLet’s Have a Dog Party!
By Mikela Prevost
Viking (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0-451-48117-7
Ages 4-7
On shelves March 19th

Do you remember the book Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman? It’s one of my favorites. The whole thing is just a series of random encounters between various dogs. There’s no storyline (aside from the infamous “Do you like my hat” sequence) but that doesn’t mean the tale doesn’t build. At the end you see huge numbers of dogs going up a tree. Why? W...

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Published on January 08, 2019 21:00

January 7, 2019

Cover Reveal (and Q & A!): Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

Okay, back it up a little there, people. I want to tell you a little tale about a book that came out in 2017. Back then, the name Dusti Bowling was unknown to a lot of us. When Sterling released the debut author’s middle grade novel novel Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, there wasn’t anything on the outset to garner notice. But the people who actually went and read the book found it to be rather extraordinary. This, in spite of the fact, that the premise sounded exceedingly diffi...

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Published on January 07, 2019 21:00

January 6, 2019

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, ill. Lillian Hoban

BreadandJamFrancesHungry? With the new year comes a whole set of resolutions. Not knowing that Kate is on the Whole30 again, I have forced her to read a book where bread plays a major role. Bread, heck. This is a book that could turn children into bonafide foodies. In spite of the fact that all badgers are born in February, we’ve decided to do this book in January. And then, in the course of things, Kate starts looking up what the USDA recommendations are for children, we consider the wackadoodle utensils of t...

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Published on January 06, 2019 21:00

January 3, 2019

Cover Reveal: Mira’s Curly Hair by Maryam al Serkal, ill. Luciani, Rebeca

MirasCurlyHair1Never before has the presence of hair in children’s picture books been under as intense a scrutiny as it is now. In 2018 alone we saw titles like My Hair Is a Garden, Don’t Touch My Hair, Can I Touch Your Hair?, and other books. In 2019 the trend continues, but the titles we’re seeing are branching out beyond African-American hair. On April 4th, Lantana Publishing will release Maryam al Serkal’s tale about a little girl that wishes her curly hair were straight like her mama’s. Filled with vib...

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Published on January 03, 2019 21:00

January 2, 2019

Guest Post: Brian Lies presents Got to Get It Right

GotToGetBearsOn 8/31/15 I wrote the blog post Girls: Beyond Eyelashes and Bows, which, in turn, was already rehashing some of the ideas I’d had in the 4/10/13 post Are There Any Girl Bears?: Gender and the 21st Century Picture Book. Long story short, both posts were close examinations of how children’s books choose to portray the physical appearance of male and female characters. Today, I am pleased as punch to announce that Brian Lies, a great illustrator and author, whose picture book More I once turned...

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Published on January 02, 2019 21:00

January 1, 2019

The Real Way to Get #ownvoices Books Into the Hands of Readers (But It’s Not Sexy)

ownvoices-300x150The Dilemma: A patron connects to a library’s catalog. The patron wants to find books that would be considered #ownvoices titles. They type into the catalog “#ownvoices black”. No hits. They refine their search to just “#ownvoices”. They get one book, the middle grade novel The Sky at Our Feet by author Nadia Hashimi. Why? Because the term #ownvoices appeared in the plot description. But nowhere in the library catalog, in the metadata, does the term #ownvoices appear. The search is useless.

#...

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Published on January 01, 2019 21:00

December 30, 2018

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2018 Picture Books

Oh. We made it, readers. We made it. That was 31 days, all right. 31 days that covered loads of books. Good ones and weird ones, but all of them worth reading in some way. Not a bad book in sight. Nothing to yawn at. And so, as a reward, here are the best beloved. The picture books. The titles closest to the heart of the children’s book community.

Thank you, all of you, for reading.

 2018 Picture Books

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal

As seen on the list: Bilingual Books

...
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Published on December 30, 2018 21:00