Betsy Bird's Blog, page 293
March 5, 2014
Review of the Day: The Griffin and the Dinosaur by Marc Aronson with Adrienne Mayor
The Griffin and the Dinosaur: How Adrienne Mayor Discovered a Fascinating Link Between Myth and Science
By Marc Aronson with Adrienne Mayor
Illustrated by Chris Muller
National Geographic
$18.99
ISBN: 978-1-4263-1108-6
Ages 9-12
On shelves April 8th.
I remember back in 2007 when the American Museum of Natural History in NYC premiered a show called “Mythic Creatures”. It made a fair amount of press and with good reason. It’s not every day you see full-scale models of mythical creatures presente...
March 4, 2014
Press Release Fun: Two Big Authors Visit the Thalia Kids’ Book Club
Good old Symphony Space has two HUGE authors in the realm of children’s books coming to speak. And though you won’t see it in the press release below, I’m slated to interview the Newbery Honor winner amongst them. Woo-hoo! So take note:
Thalia Kids’ Book Club events with top authors
Tickets: $15/$12 members
http://www.symphonyspace.org/events/series/96/thalia-kidsrsquo-book-club
Saturday, March 15, 4 pm: Kevin Henkes
Spend the afternoon with the beloved author ofLilly’s Purple Plastic Purse,winner...
March 3, 2014
Fusenews: No snow day for me. Better blog then.
Avast! Tis me sister, me hearties! Finding yet ANOTHER fun and crafty way to work children’s literature into your lives. Children of the 80s and 90s (and perhaps the 70s for that matter) may remember the old board game Guess Who with fondness. So what about finding an old run-down copy at a garage sale and turning it into your own personalized version? Kate shows you how. She also works in
Giant Dance Party
while she’s at it. Kudos, sis.An ALSC Graphic Novel Award? No, I’m not saying they’re...
February 28, 2014
Review of the Day: Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin
Nightingale’s Nest
By Nikki Loftin
Razorbill (an imprint of Penguin)
$16.99
ISNB: 978-1-59514-546-8
Ages 10-14
On shelves now.
Magical realism in children’s novels is a rarity. It’s not unheard of, but when children’s authors want fantasy, they write fantasy. When they want reality, they write reality. A potentially uncomfortable mix of the two is harder to pull off. Ambiguity is not unheard of in books for youth, but it’s darned hard to write. Why go through all that trouble? For that reason...
February 27, 2014
Press Release Fun: 2014 Children’s Book Week Poster Revealed!
BESTSELLING FANCY NANCY ILLUSTRATOR ROBIN PREISS GLASSER’S OFFICIAL 2014 CHILDREN’S BOOK WEEK POSTER UNVEILED AT BOOKWEEKONLINE.COM
PREISS GLASSER’S OFFICIAL POSTER COMMEMORATES THE 95TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF CHILDREN’S BOOK WEEK (MAY 12-18, 2014), THE LONGEST-RUNNING NATIONAL LITERACY INITIATIVE IN THE COUNTRY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY — February 27, 2014 – The Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader have unveiled Robin Preiss Glasser’s official 2014 Children’s Book Week poste...
February 26, 2014
Top 100 books by Indigenous Masters
Everyone loves a good list but finding lists that reflect the intelligence of experts in a given field can sometimes be tricky. Consider, if you will, books about American Indians for the kiddos. I can’t tell you how many summer reading lists I see every year that have The Indian in the Cupboard, The Matchlock Gun, or even Rifles for Watie on them. Just once it would be nice to see a Top 100 list of books that could serve as guidelines for folks searching for good books about indigenous peopl...
February 25, 2014
Book Trailer Premiere: The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern
For a blog that only does videos on Sundays regularly, I’m often surprised when folks offer to premiere their book trailers here. I am, however, always flattered, particularly when the trailers are as good as the one you’re seeing here today. The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern falls into the category of books-that-are-turning-my-youth-into-historical-fiction. This appears to be a big trend for 2014 (I’m looking at YOU, Riverman). In this case, the book is set in 1988 and follows one y...
February 24, 2014
Review of the Day: Anna Carries Water by Olive Senior
Anna Carries Water
By Olive Senior
Illustrated by Laura James
Tradewind Books
$18.95
ISBN: 978-1-896580-60-9
Ages 3-7
On shelves now.
I was recently engaged in a high-energy search at my library to locate as swiftly and surely as possible a listing of any and all children’s books set in the Caribbean. We were eventually able to locate 21 picture books in my system, but when you consider how many picture books are published in a given year it was hardly an overwhelming number of titles. This ha...
February 23, 2014
Video Sunday: Ice ice, baby
If you’re anything like me you probably found this video of the YOU WON calls given by the Caldecott, Newbery and Coretta Scott King committees to be a heckuva lot of fun. I could watch people getting good news all day, I could. Particularly when it’s people I like.
Tongue . . . tongue stuck so firmly in cheek it is difficult to remove . . .
Thanks to Lara Morris Starr for the link.
Ah, children. When you have your own you can make SUCH good use of them! For narration purposes, for example:
Appar...
February 22, 2014
Review of the Day: Space Mountain by Bryan Q. Miller
Space Mountain: A Graphic Novel
By Bryan Q. Miller
Pencils and Inks by Kelley Jones
Letters by Rob Leigh
Colors by Brian & Kristy Miller
Disney Press (an imprint of Disney Book Group)
$12.99
ISBN: 978-1423162292
Ages 9-12
On shelves May 6th
It sounds at first like a bit of a joke. You take a typical Disney indoor roller coaster with a late ’70s look and name and you write a graphic novel for it. It appears to be silly, but then again look at the success of movies like The Pirates of the Caribb...
