Betsy Bird's Blog, page 283
July 20, 2014
Video Sunday: “Leave out that Oxford comma”
I had the pleasure of seeing just the most delightful show the other day. The Snow Queen’s run is ending, but you can at least enjoy this little number from it. It’s been caught in my head all week. I bestow that honor now upon you.
And the award for best set design in a book trailer goes to . . .
Mildly miffed that this trailer came out in February but that I only found it now, though.
And now the Weird Al video that shall outlive him thanks to English teachers around the world. Th...
July 18, 2014
Fusenews: The Snow Queen – There Can Be Only One
- Some Madeleine facts you may not have known, two straight lines and all.
- The downside of owning your own tropical island, even if you DID do all the art for Th...
July 17, 2014
The Scourge of Upside Down Knitting
When you grow up with a mother who is a knitter, there are certain facts in life that you simply have to accept. Knitting all the time, everywhere, is the norm. A bookshelf full of different kinds of yarn is not weird. Fiber Fests are de rigeur and knowing the difference between a gossip wheel and a walking wheel (when talking spinning wheels) is par for the course. Don’t even get me started on drop spindles and dying wool with Kool-Aid. Not that I ever took to the craft myself. Maybe it was...
July 15, 2014
Review of the Day: Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegretation
By Duncan Tonatiuh
Harry N. Abrams
$18.95
ISBN: 978-1419710544
Ages 7-12
On shelves now
If I blame my childhood education for anything I suppose it would be for instilling in me the belief that the history worth learning consisted of a set of universally understood facts. One event would be more worthy of coverage than another. One person better positioned for a biography than another. It was only in adulthood that...
July 12, 2014
Book Trailer Premiere – Muddy Max: The Mystery of Marsh Creek by Elizabeth Rusch
Occasionally I’ll premiere a book trailer here or there. Particularly when it’s from a children’s author whose work I admire. If the name “Elizabeth Rusch” is ringing some bells, there may be a reason for that. Back in the day I was a huge fan of her The Mighty Mars Rovers as well as that gorgeous Volcano Rising and For the Love of Music : the remarkable story of Maria Anna Mozart. Now she’s debuting her middle-grade graphic novel Muddy Max: The Mystery of Marsh Creek August 5 with Andrews...
July 11, 2014
Fusenews: Because nothing says “birthday” like Barbarsol
First and foremost, hello. How are you? Are you having a nice day? So nice to see you here, but before we go any further I must tell you that you very much need to leave me. Just for a little while. As you may have heard, my book with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta, Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature, is coming out August 5th. To prepare, Jules and I have created a blog that posts a story a day that got cut from our final book. Here’s what you may have missed so far:
- A...
July 10, 2014
Born Reading: An Interview with Jason Boog
Folks, I talk a fair amount about my upcoming book with Candlewick but I’d be lying to you if I said it was the only book I worked on that’s out this year. For lo, I helped write the introduction for another book that will be coming out this month on the 15th and it is awesome. Behold:
Cute, right?
At the end of June The New York Times released the following story: Pediatrics Group to Recommend Reading Aloud to Children From Birth. For those of us in the literacy-minded community, this comes as...
July 8, 2014
Review of the Day: Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
Absolutely Almost
By Lisa Graff
Philomel (an imprint of Penguin)
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-399-16405-7
Ages 9-12
On shelves now.
In the stage musical of Matilda, lyricist Tim Minchin begins the show with the following lines about the state of children today: “Specialness is de rigueur. / Above average is average. Go fig-ueur! / Is it some modern miracle of calculus / That such frequent miracles don’t render each one un-miraculous?” This song ran on a bit of a loop through my cranium as I read Lisa Gr...
July 7, 2014
Librarian Preview: Harper Collins (Fall 2014)
We’re getting into the thick of summer now. Both the BEA and ALA conferences have come and gone. Folks are beginning to get a grip on the fall season. So before we go any further I’m going to provide you with a bit of a sneaky peek at Harper Collins and what all they have ah-brewing for the future. It’s a rather lovely line-up. When this preview took place I was at my pregnant-ist. Muy pregnant. Back pain, gargantuan girth, the works. I think I may have given birth two days later, so take tha...
July 5, 2014
The True, the Cut, the Unedited . . .
So as I may have mentioned there’s a l’il ole book of mine coming out on August 5th by the name of Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature. Co-written with Jules Danielson (of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast) and the late great Peter Sieruta (Collecting Children’s Books) it’s a peek into the stories behind the stories we all love.
How does one properly celebrate such a book? By showing you the cutting room floor, of course.
Consider this a Director’s Cut look at the book...
