Betsy Bird's Blog, page 201

Cover Reveal and Interview: Pearl by Molly Idle

I’ve heard you. I’ve heard you when you slip into bed at night and stare with wide insomniac-laden eyes at the ceiling thinking, thinking, thinking to yourself, “Why hasn’t Molly Idle ever done a mermaid book?”

I hear you, man. I understand where you’re coming from. You figure that since she knocks it out of the park with her Flora books and her Tea Rex titles that it would only be right, real, and natural for her to go the mythical route. For years now you’ve waited patiently.

Well. All that...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Super Special Caldecott Contender Edition

I’m so excited! Kate and I are taking a little break from our usual schtick this week because a week from today is the most exciting day of the year. You know the one I mean. It’s a week until the ALA Youth Media Awards where they’ll be announcing the Newbery and Caldecott Awards!!! I’m so giddy. I think Kate’s giddy about it too. And the best way I could find to make her giddy was to show her three top contenders. Three top contenders that all feature light blue skies on their covers. That’s...

Review of the Day: Hazelnut Days by Emmanuel Bourdier, ill. ZAÜ

Hazelnut Days
By Emmanuel Bourdier
Illustrated by ZAÜ
minedition (an imprint of Michael Neugebauer Publishing Ltd.)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-988-8341-54-2
For ages 6 and up
On shelves May 1st

I’m on a children’s book committee right now with an interesting mix of members. Some folks are old hands that have read more picture books in their lifetime than I could ever attempt. Others are fresh-faced newbies, coming onto the committee with their own ideas of what does and doesn’t constitute approp...

Not In Any History Books: Digging Deep Into the Past of the New York Times Best Illustrated List

Leave it to the experts, that’s what I always say.

Some time ago I was contacted by librarian Cecilia Horn, currently the Juvenile Collection Development Librarian for the Kenton County Public Library in Northern Kentucky. Cecilia was researching the New York Times Best Illustrated List, which is presented yearly to ten different picture books. It’s a remarkable award in many ways, and I had the pleasure of serving on its committee twice within a span of four years. After Cecilia and her part...

Cover Reveal and Excerpt: Rosetown by Cynthia Rylant

Okay, we’re going to do something a little different with today’s cover reveal. Apparently in 2018 the publishers all put their heads together and said “Cover reveals on blogs are fine, but you know what the people really want? Excerpts from the books themselves.” I can hardly argue. As such I’ve had two such offers to reveal not just the book jackets of titles coming out, but selections from the books as well. How does a blogger decide whether or not to follow up on such an offer?  Well, whe...

Weeding the Formerly Famous

Is it wrong to wait patiently, patiently, patiently, for a popular series you loathe to die?

I’ve always been very interested in the longevity of children’s books. The other day I had a conversation with someone who told me that word on the street has it that many of the committee members on the Newbery committee that selected Bridge to Terabithia didn’t much like the book at the time. Now this might all be hearsay and conjecture, but it raises the very real point that when a children’s book...

Everything Old Is New Again: Fantastic Picture Book Bios You May Have Forgotten

Folks, I’ve been in this game a long time. Not as long as some, but if you take into account my blogging years I’m a verifiable crone. I started back in 2003 and it’s been nothing but typing ever since. Now this year, in 2018, I’ve been very encouraged. A lot of the picture book biographies I’ve seen have done a particularly good job of adhering to facts and not throwing faux dialogue in willy-nilly whenever it suits the story (though there are always exceptions). Many of us have said that we...

The Inexpensive Way to Keep Up With the Oscar Contenders

Yesterday, on Tuesday, January 23rd, the Oscar nominations were officially released. There was good news (yay, Get Out!), bad (boo, Three Billboards!), and everything in-between, but all in all it was a lot of the films folks had already been discussing as award contenders. If you’re anything like me, it can be hard to keep up with what’s out there. That’s why I devised a solution using my favorite resource: children’s books. Too busy to see the hottest critically acclaimed films? Then just r...

Review of the Day: Nothing Stopped Sophie by Cheryl Bardoe and Barbara McClintock

Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
By Cheryl Bardoe
Illustrated by Barbara McClintock
Little, Brown and Co.
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0316278201
On shelves June 12th

I think we’ve done it. I think we’ve finally moved completely into a new era of biographical picture books. High time, says I! Gone are the days when a picture book biography had to be of somebody already famous. Gone the days of scanning the Biography section of the children’s room in the l...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

I don’t usually pay much attention to the universe outside my peculiar little brain, but once in a while I poke my head out of the metaphorical dirt and realize that there’s a great big, wonderful world out there.  A world filled with movies based on picture books. Movies like the upcoming Peter Rabbit film. So to honor (slash counteract) its debut in theaters, I decided to launch it in full at Kate. In all its teeny tiny glory. Kate in turn, manages to find things about it that I’ve never re...