Betsy Bird's Blog, page 246

Children’s Literary Salon: Ethics in Nonfiction

You know what the kids today are into? Ethics. Specifically, ethics in nonfiction. Could anything be more fun? Actually, no. At least, not the way I play it.

As you may know I’ve started my Children’s Literary Salon series here in Evanston, IL and as luck would have it there are a slew of talented locals about who are actually willing to sacrifice a lovely Saturday afternoon with me. This month I’m pleased as punch to host Candace Fleming (THE FAMILY ROMANOV), Judith Fradin (THE PRICE OF FREE...

Cover Reveal: Welcome to Wonderland by Chris Grabenstein

Okay, a little background before we launch into this one. Before Chris Grabenstein wrote Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (a book for which he is justifiably famous) he wrote a whole heaping helpful of other books. For decades. Seriously, the man has paid his dues. Now he has a new book out with absolutely zip, zero, zilch Lemoncello ties and I get to reveal the cover. Here’s what makes me happy about this:

There is a pink flamingo involved. Motels make me happy, which I’ll admit is odd but there yo...

Building the Perfect Nonfiction Blog/Site

Recently I taught a course at National Louis University on social media as it pertains to various aspects of literature for kids and teens (I believe the official name of the course was “Social Media and P-12 Youth Literature”). Never having taught before, I was a bit nervous. Fortunately my students, a group of savvy teachers and librarians, made for a great group. In our last face-to-face class we discussed nonfiction blogs, websites, and other resources that offer children’s book tie-ins....

Video Sunday: Great Scott!

Ack! Too many good videos, too little time! We’ve an embarrassment of riches today. The only question really is where to start. And the only natural answer is with Obama’s nominee for the Librarian of Congress. Not much of a question there, really.

Next up, there is beginning to be a bit of a tradition of authors and illustrators recording videos of how they got “the call” when they won the Caldecott or Newbery (I almost wrote and/or Newbery, which is an interesting near flub). Last year we...

Smell No Evil

There’s gold in them thar book sales!

So I’m at the Evanston Public Library in their booksale room and lo and behold this beauty jumps out at me.

Putting aside the fact that this is without a doubt the first and only Sesame Street book that repeats the word “evil” in its title, it took me several viewings before I realized that there were three twiddlebugs at the top reenacting the famous three wise monkeys stance.

Now the book is a scratch-and-sniff title circa 1976 (and this is the 4th pri...

Review of the Day: The Storyteller by Evan Turk

The Storyteller
By Evan Turk
Atheneum (an imprint of Simon & Schuster)
$24.99
ISBN: 9781481435185
Ages 4-8
On shelves June 28th

Credit the internet age for doing what the television age never could. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there is a movement around the world that can be interpreted as nothing so much as a direct response to our digital age. You may have noticed it in small things, like the rise of Steampunk or the sudden surge of interest in Maker stations and the kinds of...

Fusenews: Different cultures. Same battlefield.

Happy Leap Day! Unlike Leap Day William here I have no candy to bestow upon the weeping children of the world, but I do have some keen links. First and foremost, this old newspaper article (possibly The New York Times) courtesy of Andrew Fairweather. It’s a little difficult to read here but it says, “THE QUESTION: As a librarian, what was the most unusual request ever made of you?” Between the voracious pygmy pig, the nightingale being attacked and the primo embalmer, these are some good ref...

Review of the Day: ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito, from A to Z by Lulu Delacre

¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito, from A to Z
By Lulu Delacre
Children’s Book Press, an imprint of Lee & Low Books
$18.95
ISBN: 978-0-89239-327-5
Ages 4-7
On shelves now

Adults, I have a little secret. Have you ever wanted to sound smart at dinner parties? Knowledgeable in the ways of the world and how it works? It’s easy to do if you know the secret. Come closer… I’ll whisper it to you. Read nonfiction children’s books. Seriously, do that and watch as your brain expands. If I ca...

The Promise of Booger Beard: The Rights of Diverse Silliness

Last year this book came out:

It’s pretty much just as gross as you might expect. Boy sneezes. The sneeze congeals into a massive beard o’ boogers. The boy is enraptured with his newfound facial “hair”, though his mom tells him to remove it before he eats. He’s disinclined. It was sort of a graphic novel/picture book hybrid. It also starred a Latino hero and had Spanish words nicely integrated into the text. It was, in short, the future I want to belong to.

I shall endeavor to explain. We’ve...

Jolts of Children’s Literature in Unexpected Places

This is one of those series I like to do, regardless of whether or not anyone else finds it interesting. So, in effect, it’s the most self-indulgent of my postings. Still, I think these books say something about how children’s literature is viewed by mainstream culture. And in that there is a benefit.

Onward!

I include this not merely because it takes Shakespeare and applies a Choose Your Own Adventure format to the template, but because of the art. There are images in this book by Kate Beat...