Betsy Bird's Blog, page 27

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg

While doing another Chris Van Allsburg picture book may seem like a relative no-brainer around the Halloween season, maybe there’s a reason we hadn’t done this particular title before. Unlike The Stranger, The Widow’s Broom (which I mistakenly call “The Witch’s Broom” on the podcast), or even The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, this particular title feels less like a tribute to the uncanny and more like a failed 1991 diatribe against television. The monkey sailors have NOT aged well, and it jus...

Where’s All the Short Fiction for Kids? A Talk with Ren��e Watson and Torrey Maldonado on These Much Needed Books

It all began with a school library media specialist named Christina Chatel. Author Torrey Maldonado noticed that in an issue of School Library Journal she had an open letter asking for shorter middle grade books. You know what she means. There’s been a need for years for teachers and librarians to give kids shorter books with the same complexity as thicker titles. Trouble is, there’s no built-in pre-existing market for that particular need, and, additionally, only a handful of authors are capabl...

Review of the Day: A Terrible Place for a Nest by Sara Levine, ill. Erika Meza

A Terrible Place for a Nest
By Sara Levine
Illustrated by Erika Meza
Roaring Brook (an imprint of Macmillan)
$19.99
ISBN: 9781250861221
Ages 4-7
On shelves now.

I don���t like to brag, but stupid birds and the horrendous places that they decide to make their nests are kinda my specialty. Not simply because I, like a lot of homeowners, have had to deal with robins putting nests in downright stupid locations (robins are apparently somewhat infamous for this) but also because at my library where I w...

The Tri-Interview Spectacular! Winkler! Oliver! Santat! It’s a Detective Duck Interview Extravaganza

It seems to me that when you have a chance to interview Henry Winkler AND Lin Oliver AND Dan Santat, all at the very same time, that is a good move to make. The three worked together on a little book called Detective Duck in 2023. Now they’re back together again and doing the rounds (like so). Why? Because Detective Duck 2: The Case of the Missing Tadpole is out today (today!) and that’s worth celebrating with the rare triple interview.

Now interviewing three people at once? It’s a challenge ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Do Not Open by Brinton Turkle

We are in the thick of spooky season! I came a hair’s breath from trying to do The Vanishing Pumpkin again (you can listen to our previous episode here) but at the last possible second I did a hard right turn and decided to go with yet another Brinton Turkle title (the previous Turkle was The Boy Who Didn’t Believe in Spring, which he illustrated). Not to spoil anything but Kate was unexpectedly charmed by this tale of orange cats, incredible interior design, and banjo clocks. It’s hard to t...

Early Sleepy Lines: A Cover Reveal(ish) and Q&A About Wheetle by Cindy Derby

My title today is a lie.

Or perhaps “lie” is too harsh a word. More of a stretching of the truth. Cindy Derby isn’t technically revealing her cover today since she already premiered it on Instagram and her website n’ such, but I like to think that you never really debut until you get a Q&A out of it as well.

Now you all remember Cindy Derby, I have no doubt. She first came to my own attention when she illustrated Climbing Shadows by Shannon Bramer back in 2019. She would then go on to illu...

Bringing Tikkun Olam Forward: A Q&A with Ruth Spiro About ONE SMALL SPARK

���Do your little bit of good where you are; it���s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.��� ��� Desmond Tutu

I’m that person at the party who continually says that she gets all her information (historical, scientific, cultural) from children’s books. Yeah. I’m that guy. And today’s topic is no exception to this rule. How many amongst you are familiar with the Jewish philosophy of tikkun olam? For me, it’s entirely unknown. But then I had never seen it in a picture ...

Cover Reveal – Earhart: The Incredible Flight of a Field Mouse Around the World by Torben Kuhlmann

If you know anything about the magnificent German author/illustrator Torben Kuhlmann, then you know that he has no parallel. The closest I can come any given year is to describe him as Beatrix Potter meets Brian Floca. Which is to say, fuzzy animals in clothes meets illustrated technical prowess.

Over the years I’ve premiered a fair number of the man’s book covers on this site. There was the cover reveal of Moletown and the cover reveal of Einstein. And, of course, before that there were my r...

Cover Reveal – Earhart: The Incredible Flight of a Field Mouse Around the World by Torben Kuhlman

If you know anything about the magnificent German author/illustrator Torben Kuhlman, then you know that he has no parallel. The closest I can come any given year is to describe him as Beatrix Potter meets Brian Floca. Which is to say, fuzzy animals in clothes meets illustrated technical prowess.

Over the years I’ve premiered a fair number of the man’s book covers on this site. There was the cover reveal of Moletown and the cover reveal of Einstein. And, of course, before that there were my r...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Wee Winnie Witch’s Skinny by Virginia Hamilton, ill. Barry Moser

I’m so pleased. For years I’ve waiting for today’s book to hit its 20th anniversary in the hopes that we might discuss it on the podcast. Now, at long last, we finally have the chance to kick off the Halloween season with Wee Winnie Witch’s Skinny: An Original African American Scare Tale. There is just so much to talk about with this book. We’d already done a Barry Moser in The Mushroom Man, but this one is VERY different. There’s trauma and woodcuts, but don’t let that get you down. There a...