Betsy Bird's Blog, page 224
February 19, 2017
Review of the Day: Grandfather and the Moon by Stéphanie Lapointe, ill. Rogé
Grandfather and the Moon
(Originally titled Grand Pere et la Lune)
By Stéphanie Lapointe
Illustrated by Rogé
Translated by Shelley Tanaka
Groundwood Books
$18.95
ISBN: 978-1-55498-961-4
Ages: Your Call
On shelves May 1st
“Flummox” is a good word. Very descriptive. It sounds like it defines. Some people are flummoxed constantly. Others are stoic non-flummoxers. I’m somewhere in-between on the flummox-spectrum scale. In life, I flummox occasionally but in books I’m generally quite stoi...
February 16, 2017
Walking and Talking with . . . Rebecca Stead!
There is much to love in this latest edition to the Steve Sheinkin “Walking and Talking” oeuvre. Since today’s guest is Newbery Award winning author Rebecca Stead there are insights into her process. There is careful consideration of the act of writing, and what you chose to tell or not tell. And, most important of all, there is a random walk-on by M.T. Anderson. If I had my way with the universe, every single “Walking and Talking” update would include a brief Anderson-like moment like th...
February 15, 2017
Surprising Jolts of Children’s Literature
By Day: Betsy is a mild-mannered Collection Development Manager, purchasing adult titles, and ONLY adult titles, for her extremely literary suburban library system.
But By Night: Betsy transforms into FUSE #8, blogging about all aspects of children’s literature. And that includes adult literature . . . when it happens to mention children’s literature in some fashion. This month the books are almost entirely for adults by people in the children’s literature business. I see ’em. I collect ’...
February 13, 2017
Fusenews: Don’t Go Breaking My, Don’t Go Breaking My . . .
Happy Valentine’s Day! It has been QUITE a while since I’ve done one of these Fusenews (Fusenewses? Fusenewsi? What’s the plural?)! Honestly, I’m not sure if they’re as pertinent anymore as they used to be. What with PW Children’s Bookshelf, and Twitter, and Facebook, and The Niblings, getting your children’s literary news has come quite a ways from the days when I used to randomly collect tidbits for my Blogger blog (and we had to walk uphill, in the snow, both ways, and we were grateful!)....
February 12, 2017
The Series of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”: A Netflix Consideration
I suppose that’s the thing with a streaming series these days. Either you’re the kind of person who jumps on board immediately or you’re the type who waits it out, gives it some time to breathe (and garner reviews) and then you dip a toe or two in. Though Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events dropped in January, I’ve taken my own sweet time exploring it. Back in the books’ heyday I read them all in their entirely (even The Beatrice Letters) and reported on the rather epic closing party...
February 9, 2017
Press Release Fun: Get Thee to Symphony Space! On the Double.
Apparently NYC is covered in snow at the moment. I had to go onto Facebook to confirm this since it seemed so unlikely, but there it is. The Big Apple all in white. This got me thinking about things that happen in NYC, like Symphony Space and the fact that their stellar children’s literature book club is going on all the time. You want a star studded line-up? You got it, baby.
New York, January 13, 2017 – Symphony Space’s...
February 8, 2017
Review of the Day: The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet by Carmen Agra Deedy, ill. Eugene Yelchin
The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!
By Carmen Agra Deedy
Illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
Scholastic
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0-545-72288-9
Ages 4-8
On shelves now
Allegorical tales are not supposed to make you giggle. They’re steeped in seriousness. Rooted in meaning. Awash in heartfelt feelings that are meant to make you think deeply about the state of the world today. When such tales are rendered as children’s picture books they often retain that same earnest quality. Now I’ve always been squa...
February 6, 2017
Children’s Books Vs. The Nazis
If the days following the 2016 election have taught us anything it is this: Children’s authors don’t like Nazis. In fact, they kind of hate them. A lot. But let’s not think of this as a new trend or anything. As it happens a LOT of children’s authors out there have hated Nazis for a very long time. Pretty much since Nazis started to exist. This got me to thinking . . . what are some of the most obvious anti-Nazi stories surrounding children’s literature and that come straight out of chi...
February 5, 2017
Cover Reveal: Miguel’s Brave Knight by Margarita Engle, ill. Raul Colon
When I worked in the Donnell Central Children’s Room I got used to handling all kinds of interesting reference requests. One that I got frequently was parents looking for child-friendly versions of Don Quixote. The pickings were, to say the least, slim. There was Eric A. Kimmel’s Don Quixote and the Windmills and one other title aaaaaand . . . . that was it. Maybe Robot Zot by Scieszka and Shannon, if you want to go that far. Certainly nothing graphic novelish (paging Gareth Hinds) and c...
February 1, 2017
Art in the Children’s Room: Elisha Cooper Style – Part Two!
In 2012 I wrote a piece for this blog entitled Art in the Children’s Room: Elisha Cooper Style. In it, I wrote the following:
Here at New York Public Library you might think that the branches are filled to brimming with the art of local authors and illustrators. While it may be true that we have some lovely pieces by Ezra Jack Keats and Faith Ringgold here and there, it doesn’t come up all that often. So I need not tell you how excited I was when I heard that Elisha Cooper had volunteered...
