Betsy Bird's Blog, page 281

Video Sunday: Sneaky Peek Edition

Currently I am maxing and relaxing in Stratford, Ontario enjoying a play or two. Just kidding. By my calculations what I’m actually doing as you read this is driving hell-for-leather out of Canada back to New York City while seated in a rental car’s back seat next to a 3-year-old and a 13-week-old. For hours. And hours. And hours.

As you digest that pleasant little mental image (fun fact: someone in this car gets carsick regularly and it’s not me) I’m going to do you a solid. In case you misse...

Fusenews: “… by her mouth there was a scar”

Okay. So we’re still in the thick of book promotion here. As such, I’ll be taking a trip to my home state on Saturday. Yup! It’s a Michigan appearance at Book Beat, the bookstore beloved of my deceased co-writer Peter Sieruta. The Oakland Press did a nice little write up of what’s to come and barring floodwaters (a real concern) I shall be there with Jules Skyping in. Here’s Book Beat’s info on the matter.


Enough me stuff. Let’s look at some other books for adults about children’s literature....

Film Review: The Giver

[SPOILER ALERT: This whole review pretty gives away every plot point in both the book and film versions of The Giver. Abandon ship all ye who wish to remain surprised.]

On Sunday night I had an extraordinary experience. I was sitting in a theater, just about to watch Guardians of the Galaxy, and seeing what had to be the lamest run of movie trailers I have ever experienced. I’m talking horrible stuff. The Annie trailer (which ends with a prostitute joke), the Alexander and the Horrible, No Goo...

Review of Day: The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee by Barry Jonsberg

The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee

By Barry Jonsberg

Chronicle Books

$16.99

ISBN: 978-1-4521-3351-5

Ages 9-12

On shelves September 9th

It often takes a while to figure out when you’re falling in love with a book. A book is a risk. You’re judging it from page one onward, informed by your own personal prejudices and reading history. Then there’s this moment when a shift takes place. It might be a subtle shift or it might be sudden and violent but all of a sudden it’s there. One minute you’...

Video Sunday: “I’m a Reno Sweeney bunny!”

There was a time when I worked in the main branch of NYPL with the big old stone lions out front. No longer. These days I work at BookOps, a dual entity that encompasses both NYPL and Brooklyn Public Library. And in my workplace there is a great and grand and massively impressive sorting machine. It’s very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-esque. I give tours of it all the time. It sorts and assigns all the holds and returns of the system, so you know it’s gotta be cool. Now, thanks to drone...

The State of Children’s Literary Blogs Today (Prepare to Update Your Blogroll)

As you may or may not have heard the offices of School Library Journal moved/are moving to a new location here in NYC. As such, a fair number of folks have been cleaning house. One such person wrote me an email letting me know that they had extra copies of “my” SLJ issue and they wondered whether or not I wanted them. I most certainly did (my sole copy was water damaged years ago) but boy, talk about something that makes me feel old. Remember this?

Published in November of 2009 it was a piece...

Fusenews: This. That. Those. (A Trilogy)

As per usual there are some Wild Things links I’d love to share today. Lemme see here . . . Well we got a real stunner of a review over at Chapter 16. That’s some good and gorgeous stuff going down there. Phil Nel called us “Punchy, lively, and carefully researched.” The blog The Boy Reader gave us some serious love. And today on our blog tour we’re at There’s a Book. And then there’s the video at the Wild Things blog. N.D. Wilson sent us a vid of the true behind-the-scenes story of Boys of...

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for . . .

And by “you’ve all” I mean “me”.

Yes, today marks the official release of my book co-written with Julie Danielson and Peter Sieruta, Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature!! To celebrate we’re engaged in a blog tour. Head on over to 100 Scope Notes for our first post in which we are grilled by the great children’s authors, illustrators, and librarians of the past or, if listening is more your thing, check out my appearance alongside Jules on the Let’s Get Busy podcast (and then...

Review of the Day – Issun Bôshi: The One-Inch Boy by Icinori

Issun Bôshi: The One-Inch Boy

By Icinori

Little Gestalten

ISBN: 978-3-89955-718-3

$19.95

Ages 4-8

On shelves now

In the past, determining a bias in the publication of folk and fairytales was a fairly straightforward business. Too many European maids of hair as fair as the silk of corn on your shelves? Bias. But now we’re in the thick of a downturn in the publication of folk and fairytales. We not only need diverse fairy and folktales but we need more fairy and folktales at all! If you can find...

Press Release Fun: James River Writers Conference returning in October

JAMES RIVER WRITERS CONFERENCE RETURNING FOR 12TH YEAR WITH IMPRESSIVE LINEUP OF SPEAKERS, WORKSHOPS

Registration is open for one of Virginia’s most popular events for writers

RICHMOND, Va. – What do New York Times bestselling authors, literary agents and award-winning illustrators have in common? They’re all going to be networking and sharing a wealth of knowledge at the 12th annual James River Writers Conference.

The James River Writers Conference returns to Richmond from Oct. 17-19 with new,...