Betsy Bird's Blog, page 222
March 21, 2017
Applications to Host the 2018 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Now Open!
Some of you may recall that I was given the chance to host the 2018 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Committee. I am pleased to announce that if your host site would like to feature the speech, now is the time to make that request public. See below.
CHICAGO–The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the 2018 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Committee are proud to announce the opening of the application to host the 2018 event featuring National Book Award winning author, Naomi Shihab Ny...
March 20, 2017
Back In Print: A Newbery Honor Winner Returns From the Dead
Let me do a little math here. If I got my library degree in 2003 and was in school in 2002 then I must have first laid eyes on The Winged Girl of Knossos by Erick Berry fifteen years ago. I was in a transitional point of my career. Having taken a year of library school classes already, I encountered my first children’s librarianship class and was immediately smitten. My grad school was The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN and while there I managed to finagle a job at the college li...
March 19, 2017
Review of the Day: The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson, ill. Vanessa Brantley Newton
The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist
By Cynthia Levinson
Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton
Atheneum (an imprint of Simon & Schuster)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0070-1
Ages 6-10
On shelves now
Today I’d like to begin with a small talk about diversity. Not diversity of people necessarily, but diversity of style. Illustration styles, if we’re going to get right down to it. For a long time there has been a single prevalent style used whe...
March 16, 2017
Fusenews: Quoth Walter Cronkite – “Eloise has been kidnapped”
I’m quick and slick and blogging like a . . . like a . . . like a woman who can’t come up with a third rhyme! Doggone it . . .
Look at this guy with this book doing his business like it ain’t no thing. You go, man, go!
If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “But what does Betsy really think of Tasha Tudor?” the answer on the Dream Gardens podcast may surprise you. Turns out, she did my favorite childhood picture book. It’s all in the cupcakes, baby.
The best thing you’re read all day...
March 14, 2017
Caldecott 2018: Spring Prediction Edition
Folks, for 9 years now I’ve been doing these goofy little Newbery/Caldecott prediction posts. I get ’em wrong far more often than I get ’em right but they’re fun and I enjoy doing them. March 15th is normally the date of the Spring Prediction Edition, and as tradition states I’m supposed to show you how poorly I do with a quickie round-up of past posts. So, in that vein:
2008 spring predictions: I get one Caldecott right (How I Learned Geography)
2009 spring predictions: I get two Newberys...
March 13, 2017
Cover Reveal: Longburrow – Podkin One-Ear by Kieran Larwood
Strong with the cover reveals is this one.
Okay, so I’ve a new technique with these reveals. Covers are nice, absolutely. Who doesn’t like a good old fashioned book jacket straight from the designer’s table? But when you run a blog like this one you want to shake it up a little. After all, don’t you want to know a little bit about the person behind the book? Take today’s case, Mr. Kieran Larwood. Years ago I read Mr. Larwood’s book Freaks, which was the kind of book you’d get if you combined...
March 12, 2017
Review of the Day: Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder, ill. Emily Hughes
Charlie & Mouse
By Laurel Snyder
Illustrated by Emily Hughes
Chronicle Books
$14.99
ISBN: 978-1-4521-3153-5
Ages 6-9
On shelves April 11th
Only the jaded should write reviews of children’s books. Oh, it makes sense! Think about it. Children’s books are where the saccharine and overblown and overbearing go to die. Things that wouldn’t cut it in the greeting card world somehow manage to live, thrive, and survive as treacly picture books. Is it any wonder that I say hurrah for the candid,...
March 11, 2017
Video Sunday: Dedicated to Hadley and Fluffles
Hooray! It’s been an awfully long time but at long last Nathan Hale has a new Hazardous Tales story to tell. #7 in the series will be a WWII tale about bombers called The Raid of No Return and it’s due out November 2017. There is nothing I don’t like about this. And best of all, we get a video to accompany the release. So sit back and enjoy Nathan talking about his love of drawing bomber outfits and neckties.
And now, something a bit timely. Good libraries doing good work, all thanks to...
March 8, 2017
Cover Reveal: The Mermaid by Jan Brett
It may be a personal opinion but I’ll stand by it; Children’s books need more octopuses. The reason is simple. The octopus is a truly fascinating creature. Now in 2017 a couple of my favorite illustrators have already tackled the octopus in all its tentacular glory. David Wiesner, for example, has a picture book out with Donna Jo Napoli called Fish Girl that features an octopus prominently. Don’t confuse that book with today’s cover reveal, though. Today, we reveal the cover for Jan Bre...
March 7, 2017
Hey, Baby, They’re Playing Our Song
The hazards of children’s librarianship are myriad. There is the papercut threat, liable to occur at any time without a moment’s notice. There is the distinct possibility, every day, that a small child will vomit on you. The odds may be slim but it’s still possible. But greater than these, more likely than these, more insidious by far than any of these, is the threat that puts all others to shame . . .
The Picture Book Earworm
You’ve been there. You’re either sorting a cart or you’re check...
