Betsy Bird's Blog, page 265

A Call for Art! Judy Blume Art! Celebrate the ABFE

So you think you love Judy Blume? Prove it. As you know, each and every year The American Booksellers for Free Expression has a book art auction. It’s where people go to get really really good stuff. And this year, since the ABFE is celebrating Judy Blume, they’re not only looking for artists willing to do something in her honor but also people willing to buy those selfsame pieces.

Think about it. You probably know a die-hard Judy Blume fan already. Now imagine you give that person some aweso...

Fusenews: “It’s like a shoe of flesh”

Mmm. Vanity straight up. So I never quite know how to post “me stuff” news when it’s particularly nice. On the one hand I could post the link with the typical “I’m not worthy” statement attached, but that always sounds as if I doth protest too much. Or, I could go the other route, and just celebrate the link with a whole lotta hooplah and devil take the consequences. I think, in the end, I’d prefer to just preface the link with a long, drawn out, ultimately boring explanation of why these li...

Video Sunday: “You fill me with inertia.”

Hallo, folks!

So today is the last day of National Library Week. In celebration, enjoy this delightful video from Common Craft for your average non-library literate layman. If you are a librarian, show this video to those members of your family who heard you had to get a Master’s degree and asked you, “What? So they teach you how to put your hair in a bun and go ‘Shh’ all day?”

More info here.

There is a saying in my family: A music video isn’t viral until soldiers perform a version of it. A...

Press Release Fun: The 21st Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference (Professional Development Credit!)

Howdy, folks. You may recall that in the past I’ve mentioned that there’s a lovely 21st Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference coming to NYC this June. Well, for those of you with professional development credits to accrue, guess what? You can get one by attending. See below for more details:

EDUCATOR LITERACY PROGRAM

presented by

21st Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference

Teaching Literacy Through Nonfiction

Sunday, June 14, 2015 • Manhattan College, NYC • Smith Hall

8:30 AM – 2:30 PM

1...

Fuse #8 TV: Aaron Starmer and Reading (Too Much) Into Easy Books

YES! It is time for yet another episode ofFuse #8 TV and today we have a doozy. A fair frolicsome, lithe and lovely episode wherein I take Are You My Mother? and destroy your ability to ever read it again. And if I fail to do even that, just read this version over at The Toast and voila. Instant nightmares.

But enough about other sites. Today our special guest is the marvelous Aaron Starmer. If you read his 2014 book The Riverman then you might want to know a bit about the brains behind the b...

Review of the Day: Beastly Verse by Joohee Yoon

Beastly Verse
By Joohee Yoon
Enchanted Lion Books
$18.95
ISBN: 978-1-59270-166-7
Ages 3 and up
On shelves now

Poetry. What’s the point? I say this as a woman who simultaneously gets poetry and doesn’t get it. I get that it’s important, of course. I only need to watch my three-year-old daughter come up with an ever increasing and creative series of bouncy rhymes to understand their use. But what I don’t get is Poetry with a capital “P”. I have come to accept this as a failing on my own p...

Searching for the Real: Children’s Literature When Fiction and Reality Intersect

Eventually it will become clear that the bulk of my posts these days are inspired by Radiolab discussion topics of one sort or another. In today’s case, there was a recent show that made a close examination of those moments when fiction and reality intersect in interesting ways. The show began with a look at professional wrestling and the moment it became the entertainment it is today. Then it transitioned into Don Quixote (naturally) and the fact that it had a lot of fun going meta when its...

Fusenews: Spring is here, spring is here / Life is skittles and life is beer

The weather! She has warmed here in NYC! The crocuses and daffodils and purple flowers that I can never identify are blooming in my front yard. The birds are singing and there are buds on the trees. Tis spring spring spring! To celebrate, we begin today with a poetic celebration of baseball (a very spring thing) written by none other than my father. You may have known that my mother was talented in this manner. So too mon pere. Enjoy! News That Did Not Make a Sufficient Splash in America:...

Review of the Day: Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon

Castle Hangnail
By Ursula Vernon
Dial (an imprint of Penguin Group)
ISBN: 978-0803741294
Ages 8-11
On shelves April 21st

These are dark times for children’s fantasy. Dark times indeed. Which is to say, when I pick up a fantasy novel for kids, more often than not I find the books filled with torture, violence, bloody blood, and other various unpleasant bits and pieces. And honestly? That is fine. There are a lot of kids out there who lap up gore like it was mother’s milk. Still, it’s numb...

If you could change any rule . . .

Let us say that the gods have decreed that you shall now be The Supreme High Muckety-Muck of the American Library Association, hitherto allowed to command your librarian minions throughout the Americas. Let us say that in your infinite wisdom you have decided to use this power for only good, and not evil. Now you are seated at the great High Table of Librarianitude. Your faithful hoards await your simplest command, you need only utter it.

The question before you then is this: You have the pow...