Betsy Bird's Blog, page 256
September 30, 2015
Cult Picture Book Favorites
Not to be confused with picture books about cults. *shudder* There’s a genre we needn’t plumb.
No, today I’m talking about those picture books that are released, do moderately well, or maybe not well at all, fall out-of-print, and then long after their demise accrue a kind of cult following. The fans swell, demand that it be republished, and sometimes it actually is.
I mention all this because the other day I found out that a friend of mine is a big time fan of Who Needs Donuts? by Mark Alan...
September 28, 2015
Who Was Beatrix Potter? by Ellen Handler Spitz
Today I am pleased to introduce to you Ms. Ellen Handler Spitz. Author of Inside Picture Books (Yale University Press, 1999), Ms. Spitz currently holds the Honors College Professorship of Visual Arts at University of Maryland. She is, as you can see, a smart cookie. She is also a Beatrix Potter fan. Indeed, amongst her other accomplishments, she reviewed Alexander Grinstein’s The Remarkable Beatrix Potter for “The International Journal of Psychoanalysis”.
It is with great pleasure that we are...
September 27, 2015
Fusenews: Saving the Second Penny
The problem with this Fusenews feature is that if I don’t do them regularly then the news out there builds up, builds up, builds up, until there’s so much of it out there that I’m almost embarrassed to do anything with it. Such is the case today! And, as per usual, I’ll say that I’m just going to type these pieces up very fast, when in truth it’s pretty much going to be the same kind of thing I always do. Truth! Let’s do it.
I highly recommend that each and every last one of you guys move to...September 26, 2015
Video Sunday: Hits ’em With His Head Edition
So, fun fact. I read a serious 2017 Newbery contender a couple months ago and it looks like they may release it in the nearish future (February 2nd). I’m calling 2016 as The Year of the Fox, by the way, since both Sara Pennypacker and Kathi Appelt have fox related middle grades on the horizon. This is a particularly nice little book trailer for the Pennypacker book, and not just because they get my current workplace correct. It’s a classy little number.
Betcha bottom dollar you’ll need to re...
September 23, 2015
Review of the Day: Robo-Sauce by Adam Rubin
Robo-Sauce
By Adam Rubin
Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Dial (an imprint of Penguin Books)
$18.99
ISBN: 978-0525428879
Ages 4-6
On shelves October 20th.
When I whip out the old we’re-living-in-a-golden-age-of-picture-book-creation argument with colleagues and friends, they humor what I’m sure they consider to be my hyperbole. Suuuuuure we are, Betsy. Not prone to exaggeration or anything, are you? But honestly, I think I could make a case for it. Look at the picture books of the past....
September 22, 2015
Picture Book Pairings I’d Like to See
The greatest advantage to being a children’s book editor, as I see it, is the power to occasionally pair your favorite authors with your favorite illustrators on a picture project near and dear to your heart. We know on a logical level that it is rare when an editor manages to attain the precise perfect pairing they’ve always dreamed of. There are schedules to work with, egos to stroke, and sometimes it’s just the wrong project for your chosen duo. But since most of us are not real editors, w...
September 20, 2015
Newbery / Caldecott 2016: Fall Prediction Edition
Around this time of year people start discussing what kind of a publishing year it has become. Is this a strong year for picture books? A weak year for nonfiction? An unusually peculiar year for fiction? It’s all based on personal assessments, containing little to no empirical evidence one way or another, culminating, in the end, in personal opinions. Of which I’ve a mint!
So, from my sole, solitary standpoint, 2015 is shaping up to be . . . well, it’s fine. There really haven’t been that man...
September 16, 2015
Fuse 8 TV: Rita Williams-Garcia
“Who can turn the stove on with her smile? / Who can take a bubble bath and suddenly fill it with crocodiles?”*
If you answered: Rita Williams-Garcia then you are more than correct! The illustrious, charming, all around nice woman stopped by the Harper Collins offices to do a little talky talk with me the other day. Heck, here’s the proof of it:
Though, if I’m going to be realistic, the proof is the fact that I have today’s video at all. On the surface it may appear to simply be a talk with...
September 15, 2015
Maris Wicks Cover Reveal: Coral Reefs
The other day I wrote the following on Facebook about my four-year-old:
“We’re reading my daughter a graphic novel for 9-12 year olds every night (her insistence) called Human Body Theater by Maris Wicks. Basically it goes through all the different parts and functions of the body. Well, tonight she was once again swallowing her toothpaste rather than spitting it. I called her on it and this was her response. I’ve written it as close to her own words as possible:
“It’s not my fault. It’s calle...
September 14, 2015
App Review: The Other Side by Mental Canvas
Foof! It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these so forgive me while I stretch the old app-reviewing little gray cells for a second.
There was a time, best beloved, when I thought this little blog would do it all. V-blogging. Podcasting. And, yes, app reviewing. But reviewing apps is an arduous process that takes an entirely different set of muscles than those used for book reviewing. Still, once in a while you encounter an app that speaks to you. Particularly if it is a very rare litera...
