Betsy Bird's Blog, page 300

Video Sunday: Trolls, clowns, Harry Potter and drones

Happy Video Sunday to you! I’m pleased to report that I had so many delightful videos today that I had to save some for an upcoming weekend. Woo-hoo!

So I’ve been pretty unaware of this Movies in Real Life series the improv folks started. More fool I since they created a pretty realistic Harry Potter doing his best British accent at Penn Station not too long ago.

Certainly it beat the Lord of the Rings one. For some background information on this you can check out the corresponding Gothamist ar...

Press Release Fun: Lee & Low Acquires Shen’s Books

AFTER TWO DECADES, LEE & LOW BOOKS CONTINUES TO GROW

WITH ACQUISITION OF SHEN’S BOOKS

November 18, 2013— New York, NY— LEE & LOW BOOKS, an independent

children’s book publisher focused on diversity, has acquired children’s book publisher

Shen’s Books. The acquisition is a new milestone in the growth of LEE & LOW

BOOKS, which published its first book twenty years ago and has maintained its

commitment to diversity in children’s books for two decades.

Originally based in California, Shen’s Books was fo...

Book Trailer World Premiere: Ice Dogs by Terry Johnson

I am pleased as punch to announce that here at A Fuse #8 Production today we are showing off the world premiere of the book trailer of Ice Dogs, the upcoming 2014 middle grade novel by Terry Lynn Johnson. Created by Bookcandy, this trailer has everything I love in it. Live action (I’ve REALLY been enjoying the ones I’ve been seeing this year), dogs, and live action dogs. I am a woman of simple tastes.

Enjoy!

For more info you can find Terry at her website here or her blog here. Many thanks to h...

Librarian Preview: Chronicle Books (Spring 2014)

It’s official. Should I happen to leave New York City for any reason (I’ve been saying I would for years, but it’s gotta happen someday) and I work for a publisher I want to work for Chronicle Books. No, really. I don’t what it is about them, but I get a really good vibe off of that company. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re one of the few West Coast publishers you’ll find in the continental United States. They have that easy breezy San Francisco feel to them. Or maybe it’s just the tone of th...

Review of the Day: Jumping Penguins by Jesse Goossens

Jumping Penguins by Jesse Goossens

Illustrated by Marije Tolman

Lemniscaat

$19.95

ISBN: 9781935954323

Ages 6-11

On shelves now.

Here’s a puzzler for you. See what you think. There’s been a lot of talk lately about nonfiction for kids and the importance of highlighting those books that adhere strictly to the truth. That means no invented dialog in biographies and no invented facts. If you conflate facts, you start getting into a murky, sticky area. As Walter de la Mare is reported to have said...

Fusenews: I’m going back to Indiana! Indiana here I come!

Those of you familiar with the Jackson 5 song I’ve referenced in my title are probably now throwing virtual rotten fruit in my general direction. Still, I can’t say it isn’t accurate. This weekend I am pleased to be a speaker at the SCBWI Indiana conference. I haven’t been back in Indiana since my last college reunion in 2010. It’ll be good for me to fill the lungs with some pure uncut Midwestern air once more. A gal need to fill up before heading back into the NYC fray. While you read this I...

Review of the Day: Rose by Holly Webb

Rose

By Holly Webb

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.)

$6.99

ISBN: 978-1-4022-8581-3

Ages 9-12

On shelves now.

Like a bullet whizzing past your ear, I shudder when I consider how close I came to never hearing about Holly Webb’s mesmerizing, charming, purely delightful Rose. It’s an innocuous little book. Doesn’t draw a lot of attention to itself. The American cover, while attractive, simply shows a girl in a servant’s clothing and a white cat while the title swirls about...

Mock Me. Repeatedly.

Folks, I’m working on a secret project that requires your help. Every year Mock Newberys, Mock Caldecotts, and even the occasional Mock Printz meet to cast their votes about what they deem to be the best books of the year. There is no single source collecting these Mocks, however, so the only way a person might hear about it is if the Mock group has a blog or posts their results on listservs like child_lit and ccbc-net.

I aim to change that. Friends, ‘mericans, countrymen, lend me your Mocks....

Librarian Preview: Lerner Books (Spring 2014)

Sometimes you just want to get your hands on some reliable nonfiction. The other day I was in the office and we’d spread out the vast quantities of nonfiction samples we’d been sent from a variety of publishers (all of whom shall remain nameless). And while some things were okay and other things were tolerable, so little of it was of the “Wow! Awesome!” variety. It would be disheartening if we didn’t have folks like Lerner to fall back on. And I’m not saying this to be all chummy with them. I...

Fusenews: Why You Should Go to Kidlitcon (and other interesting facts)

Oh, you lucky bugs.  Do you know what today is?  Today is the first day of Kidlitcon and for those of you still interested in joining (and who wouldn’t be?) you have a last minute chance to be a part of the fun.  Always assuming you’re in the Austin area, of course, but I bet that LOTS of you are located in that general vicinity.  As you’ll recall, last year Kidlitcon was held in New York City and we did very well indeed with the vast hoards of people.  This year it’s a slightly smaller affair, but no less fascinating and fun.  Full details can be found here but don’t worry if you’ve missed the opening ceremonies.  The bulk of the action is on Saturday anyway, so you’ve still time to join.  So go!  Shoo!  Why waste your time here?


I don’t know about you but typically I go through blog reading binges.  I ignore my favorites for long periods of time and then I consume weeks’ worth of material in a single sitting.  I did this recently with the beloved Crooked House.  First, I enjoyed the fact that she highlighted the book How to Do Nothing With Nobody All Alone By Yourself (notable, if nothing else, for the Lemony Snicket quote which reads, “Every great book reminds us that we are all alone in the world. At least this one provides us with the means to entertain ourselves while we’re here.”)  The second post that caught my eye was a transcribed selection from The Mermaid of Brooklyn which I perhaps enjoyed too much.  Too too much.


Now some graphic novel news.  There are two horns worth tooting today.  First, there is the fact that I’m on ALSC’s Quicklists Consulting Committee and we recently came up with a newly revised Graphic Novels Reading List, broken down not just by age levels but by whether or not they’re black and white or color.  In related news, kudos to the folks at Good Comics for Kids as well as Snow Wildsmith and Scott Robins for their A Parent’s Guide to the Best Kids’ Comics: Choosing Titles Your Children Will Love .  The SLJ blog and the useful book were both mentioned on the most recent episode of the popular NPR podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour.  The episode Making Toddlers Into Nerds is a bit of a misnomer and they do a lamentable job of mentioning any children’s literature that isn’t either 50 years old or part of a huge series, but at least they get the graphic novels piece right.


Questions I never thought to ask until Marjorie Ingall made me: Why do chickens play an outsized role in Jewish children’s picture books?  The answer may surprise you.  Or, at the very least, you’ll be impressed with the amount of thought Marjorie has put into this subject.


This is a good one.  Always at the forefront of the diversity issues, Lee and Low recently put on their blog the post Literary Agents Discuss the Diversity Gap in Publishing.  The agents in question are Adriana Domínguez, Karen Grencik, Abigail Samoun, and Lori Nowicki. Much of what they’re saying echoes things we’ve heard from editors over the past few years.  Check it out.


I received this message recently and figured you’d want to know about it.  Ahem.

I just wanted to let you know that ABFFE’s 2013 holiday auction will take place on eBay from November 26 through December 2nd.  Please let your colleagues and friends know that this is the best place to buy holiday gifts! More than 50 leading artists and illustrators contributed to last year’s auction and we are hoping for even more art this year.  Once the auction is live, you will be able to access it from a link on www.abffe.org.

Me stuff.  Recently I was lucky enough to serve on the New York Times Best Illustrated judging committee for this year’s books.  If you haven’t seen the results I came up with alongside Brian Selznick and Steve Heller you have two choices.  You could look at the fancy dancy NY Times slideshow of the winners here OR you could go on over to 100 Scope Notes and check out Travis Jonker’s truly lovely round-up with book jackets and everything here.


Just as I collect children’s literary statues from around the States (I’m STILL updating that post, people, so don’t worry if your favorites haven’t made it yet) I also like to keep tabs on museums of famous children’s authors and illustrators.  You have your Eric Carle Museum, your Edward Gorey Museum, and apparently you also have a Tasha Tudor Museum.  Or, at least, you will when it finds a new host.

You may or may not have heard about the SpotLit list, created by Scholastic Book Group with the help of scholars, teachers, librarians, and other specialists in the field.  Well, two awesome infographics have been created to show off some of the facts behind it.  I like them partly because they’re infographics and partly because in the group picture it looks like I’m snuggling up to Harry Potter while Hedwig swoops down mere moments before removing my cranium.  This list discusses what the committee looked like and this list discusses what the books on the list consist of.

When a new library branch reopens in my city I don’t always report on the fact, but this recent article about the reopened Coney Island Branch is the exception to the rule.  The place looks precisely how you’d want a Coney Island branch to look.  Granted there aren’t any half naked mermaids or rides in the library, but those photographs on the walls are worth the price of admission alone.


Jon Klassen’s right.  Interviews with the great illustrator Arnold Lobel are few and far between.  When you can find one, you post it.  And that’s just what he did.  Thank you, Jon.


Turns out, there are LOTS of children’s literature conspiracy theories out there that I never even knew about.  A hat tip then to Listverse for rounding them up for us.  Clearly the Dodgson is my favorite.  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.


I’m always keen to get a handle on the newest studies that discuss how kids handle technology.  Now the “Zero to Eight Children’s Media Use in America 2013” study has been released and Children’s Technology Review discusses the results in full.  Big time thanks to Mary Ann Scheuer from Great Kid Books for the link!


Hat tip to Travis Jonker.  Without him I would have never known that there are TWO children’s literature podcasts out there that had escaped my attention.  I need to upgrade the old sidebar on this blog, do I not?


And in the world of grants n’ such:

Greetings! There’s still time to apply for the ALSC Candlewick Press Light the Way grant. The deadline is December 1, 2013. This is a great funding opportunity if you have a project or program related to library service to children in special populations. The application is at this link: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/profawards/candlewicklighttheway

Daily Image:

Today’s image may be classified as Best Fan Art Ever, or something along those lines.  How many of you are familiar with Helen Frost’s lovely middle grade Diamond Willow?  Well, it came out in 2008 or so but its fans continue to find it.  Case in point, this young woman who, with her Chinook pet dog, reenacted the cover.  Compare and contrast:

Original:

Fan Made:

Utterly adorable.  Many thanks to Helen for sharing this with me