Betsy Bird's Blog, page 217
June 19, 2017
Fusenews: Always Pegged Batman as More of a Tomi Ungerer Fan Myself
Happy ALA Conference Week! Starting this Thursday or Friday or so the librarians will descend en masse upon our fair Chicago. To better prepare you please be so good as to check out Andrea Vaughn Johnson’s piece for the ALSC blog Chicagoland Mini-Tours for Book Lovers. That will fill in any gaps you might have if you arrive too early or depart too late.
Now I know at least some of you have that handy dandy little ALA app that helps you arrange your schedule at the conference. I highly sug...
June 18, 2017
Book Trailer Premier: How It Feels to Be a Boat by James Kwan
Let me be clear – I don’t actually post every book trailer I’m asked to premiere. If I’m lucky, I may already love a book and then find myself offered the chance to debut it after previously falling for it hook, line, and sinker. How It Feels to Be a Boat by James Kwan fits the bill perfectly. It dwells in a kind of gentle illogical logic that kids really dig. You know what it reminded me of the most? Rude Cakes by Rowboat Watkins. Silly, sweet, oddly moving stuff. Best of all, creato...
June 15, 2017
Newbery/Caldecott 2018: The Summer Prediction Edition
Did Betsy drop the ball in her last Spring Newbery/Caldecott Prediction post?
Yes, Betsy did drop the ball in her last Spring Newbery/Caldecott Prediction post.
Will Betsy do better with her Summer Newbery/Caldecott Prediction post?
Yes, Betsy will do better with her Summer Newbery/Caldecott Prediction Post.
Back in the spring I ran into a bit of a puzzler. Normally by March, I will have read at least 3-4 potential Newbery and Caldecott winners apiece. But this year, 2017, for the first tim...
June 14, 2017
New Podcast Alert: Mine!
It’s a little kooky to say, but as strange as it may sound I’ve jumped back into the podcast biz. Years ago I created a little personal project in NYC that was fun but exhausting! Today, I am pleased to announce that there’s a new children’s literature podcast in town. Called Fuse 8 n’ Kate, it stars me and my sister Kate. Here’s a description of what the show consists of:
Two sisters, one in L.A. and one in NYC, both move to the Chicago area and start a podcast. The premise? Picture book...
June 13, 2017
Review of the Day: Town is By the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, ill. Sydney Smith
Town Is by the Sea
By Joanne Schwartz
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
$19.95
ISBN: 978-1-55498-871-6
Ages 4-9
On shelves now
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how a parent can engender empathy in their children. It’s a good question and worth a lot of discussion and listening. As a parent I’ve wondered about it myself, but it’s not the only question I’ve asked myself. How do you give a child a sense of self-worth without false ego inflation? Does responsibility linke...
June 11, 2017
We Need Diverse Collectables: Why the Collectors of Children’s Books Need to Diversify
We need diverse books. But it’s not as simple as you think.
When I do presentations for up-and-coming authors and illustrators of children’s books I sometimes show them this slide:
Impossible to read here thanks to the teeny tiny type, this is my breakdown of the different factions that make up children’s literature. To spare your eyes I’ll just list them for you now:
Children’s Literature Fandom Simplified
Bloggers International Focus Librarians Parents Authors/Illustrators Booksellers A...We Need Diverse Collectables: Why the Collectors of Children’s Books Needs to Diversify
We need diverse books. But it’s not as simple as you think.
When I do presentations for up-and-coming authors and illustrators of children’s books I sometimes show them this slide:
Impossible to read here thanks to the teeny tiny type, this is my breakdown of the different factions that make up children’s literature. To spare your eyes I’ll just list them for you now:
Children’s Literature Fandom Simplified
Bloggers International Focus Librarians Parents Authors/Illustrators Booksellers A...June 8, 2017
Never Meant for Children: The Odd Consumer-Driven Rise of the Graduation Book
This comes just on the tail end of graduation season, but I’m sure we’ve a couple schools going through the process here and there even now. And across this great nation, at graduation parties for high schoolers and college grads alike, gifts will be exchanged. And inevitably some of those gift will be children’s books. Inspirational graduation-style children’s books.
The graduation book as a genre has fascinated me for years. Where did it come from? How did it start? And precisely at w...
June 7, 2017
Forgotten Favorites: Remembering the Monster Blood Tattoo Series
To Do in 2017:
Get The Winged Girl of Knossos back in print Watch America finally come to grips with the true glory that is Frances Hardinge Get America to now appreciate Monster Blood Tattoo . . .That’s the nice thing about a To Do list. You can always find something new to put on it. Things you never even thought would come to pass pop up and even though you didn’t have diddly over squat to do with them (see: Winged Girl of Knossos & Frances Hardinge) you feel some odd sense of accompl...
June 5, 2017
Review of the Day: Real Friends by Shannon Hale, ill. LeUyen Pham
Real Friends
By Shannon Hale
Artwork by LeUyen Pham
Color by Jane Poole
First Second (an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan)
$12.99
ISBN: 978-1-62672-785-4
Ages 9-12
On shelves now.
The autobiography assignment. I don’t pretend to know precisely why teachers give it out or what they hope child readers will get out of it. About ten years ago, when I was a children’s librarian in New York City, it was to be feared. A small child would walk into my room, belly up to the reader’s a...
