Betsy Bird's Blog, page 308

Fusenews: Et tu, Mike Inkpen?

New Blog Alert: There’s a CCBC blog.  Did you know that?  I didn’t know that.  I am, of course, perfectly aware that only a good 15% of my readers instantly can call to mind what CCBC even stands for.  It’s the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and for years I’ve followed ccbc-net, their listserv.  I must have missed the day they mentioned starting a blog, however.  According to the first blog post the site began this way:

The CCBC has been much in the news lately due to a recent NPR report that used our multicultural literature statistics. We’ve had quite a few email messages and phone calls as a result — and, of course, this all happened while we were all away attending the annual conference of the American Library Association. Over the next week or so we’ll continue the discussion here on our new blog in order to provide some context for the statistics and discuss the sorts of issues they bring up. We welcome your own observations and questions.

So far the posts have covered the stagnation in terms of multiculturalism in 2013 titles, a follow-up on 2013 titles with authors and illustrators of color, some featured titles, and a shocker of a Walter Dean Myers article from 1987.  There you go.  Yet another blog to follow.  You’re welcome.

Speaking of multiculturalism, over at Tablet Magazine, Marjorie Ingall has cooked up yet another tasty treat of a article. This time it’s called New Books for Your Kids’ Summer Reading List: Jewish-Themed Fantasy Stories.  Good choices.  I’ve heard of all three but hadn’t gotten the inside details.  Thanks to Marjorie Ingall for the link.


I read with great interest the piece How Book Covers Have to Evolve in the Digital Age with the hope that it might have something to say about the JUV and YA industries, but no such luck.  In fact, so little of the piece seems to apply to the current state of designing book jackets for youth that I am led to wonder if the uptick in adults reading YA might not have a little to do with how interesting they find the jackets.  Worth chewing over, anyway.  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.


Back in the day in the year *mumble mumble mumble* I proposed creating a blog for a branch of NYPL and was told that wouldn’t be possible.  These days, NYPL hosts its own blogs and many of its fine and talented librarians contribute.  Case in point, 66th Street Branch Manager and children’s librarian Jill Rothstein.  Jill recently penned the piece In Praise of Odd Children’s Books.  Some of these you may have heard of.  Some you most certainly have not.  For example, if ever there was a disjoint between a cover and a plot it would have to be Amy’s Eyes by Richard Kennedy.  I mean, does this cover look like it would discuss “singing frogs [and] biblical numerology” to you?

Clearly the Aussies had a better sense of the thing.

This is gold.  Leila Roy over at bookshelves of doom decided to tackle a subject that, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever tackled before.  Namely, she set out to determine the effectiveness of a variety of different book recommendation engines out there.  Her test subjects?  Howl’s Moving Castle and The Book Thief.  Could the engines suggest honestly good titles along the same lines?  The answer here.


I’m one of those Americans who only knew the latest British heir was born when someone at work asked her to check CNN for them.  Apparently this is a big thingy thing to some folks.  Okey-doke.  Not something I think much of, but it doesn’t get in my way either so that’s fine.  That is, until I heard about the royal baby books.  A crazy number of otherwise legit British illustrators decided to cash in and illustrate books with titles varying from Baggy Brown and the Royal Baby to The Royal Nappy.  The Guardian piece is worth reading if only for choice phrases like, “small children – monarchists to the last” and the horrifying information that there was a Princess Diana picture book of equal ilk back in the day.  Thanks to Playing By the Book for the link.


You didn’t hear it here first, but I thought it worth mentioning that in addition to the obituary of Marc Simont you will find in the New York Times, Phil Nel had a stellar write-up over at his blog Nine Kinds of Pie.  There’s a nice bit of an interview between  Simont and Phil that touches on how Ruth Krauss was to work with.  Recently I had the chance to handle a dummy of The Happy Day, and that was just a thrill.  Godspeed, Marc.

Daily Image:

Look on my works ye mighty and despair.  Meet the 150 meter (we aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto) library table.  Designed to meander and adapt to current students’ needs.  Behold:

No one is denying that it’s beautiful. It is, however, somewhat difficult not to agree with the commenter who said, “Cool… until you want to be on the other side of it.”  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

Review of the Day: Yes, Let’s by Galen Goodwin Longstreth

Yes, Let’s

By Galen Goodwin Longstreth

Illustrated by Maris Wicks

Tanglewood Publishing

$15.95

ISBN: 978-1-933718-87-3

Ages 3-7

On shelves now

It’s tempting, when you look at the sheer number of picture books published in a given year, to assume that every topic under the white hot sun has been covered by this point in time. Tempting yes, but inaccurate, a fact any children’s librarian will attest to when facing a patron looking for, oh for example, a Quaker-centric story for two-year-olds on weaning from breast feeding. But while there will always be gaps for obscure topics, there will also always be gaps in areas you were convinced were already covered. Take family hikes. Find a picture book about a family that goes hiking for the day. Even as I type this it sounds like a no-brainer. Surely with the nation’s current fixation on health and wellness there should be loads of such books on the market. Nope. And if it were a book solely good at filling such a gap I would be on board with Yes, Let’s anyway. Yet as it happens, Longstreth and Wicks have penned a truly fun outing chock full of gentle cadences, genuine familial affection, loads of hidden details, and at least one instance of squirrel-based thievery.

“Let’s wake up extra early, / before the day gets hot. / Let’s pack a picnic, hurry up / – ready or not.” And with that we meet our intrepid family adventurers. A mom, a dad, their four kids, and a good-natured sheepdog head into the car for a day trip to a local forest for some low-key hiking. The usual trials and tribulations of moving any big family come up, but after a picnic, a dip in the local river, some games, and a hike on back to the car, the now thoroughly exhausted and happy family head on home and, justifiably, collapse as one.

I’ll confess now that unlike other picture books, my first encounter with Yes, Let’s took place years ago at a little comic convention in New York City called MOCCA. The day had, for the most part, been a bit of a bust with very little worth noting. While I love comics, my focus is on the 0-12 year-old set. The great wide swath of comics out there come nowhere close to this limited range. I would have written off the whole day as a bust book-wise had I not stumbled across a teeny tiny perfectly square self-published comic called Yes, Let’s. It was exactly what you will find in the current production. A quarter its current size, its charm leapt off the page. I was instantly enchanted but neglected to review it like I should have. Fortunately, Tanglewood Publishing picked up where I left off. Phew! Cause I can assure you that as good as this was in a snack size, it’s loads better when you can actually make out the details.

There is much to be said for the picture book that rewards rereading. And rereading. And rereading. Parents have been known to go more than a little nutso when forced by their beloved offspring to repeatedly read schlock. So much more preferable is a book like this where you actually do see something new every time. I’ve probably read this book to my own kiddo more than 15 times but even paging through it just now to review it I stumbled on the fact that the dad in the family somehow manages to be the only family member bitten repeatedly by mosquitoes in the course of the trip (a fact reflected in the final posed picture and final shot of the book itself). Did you notice that the yo-yo obsessed brother sports a “Yo-Yo Champion” t-shirt that he wears to bed? Or the owl asleep in the beginning is the same as the one at the end? I could go on. As for the artist herself, if the name “Maris Wicks” sparks a synapse in some darkened recess of your hardworking little gray cells it may have something to do with her other 2013 title of the year. That would be the young adult graphic novel Primates by Jim Ottaviani. Evidently it is a very short step from displaying uncivilized animals going nuts in nature and, you know, primates.

Text-wise it might be easy to miss the fact that the entire book consists entirely of suggestions. That is, until you reach the final (and very satisfying) answer, “Yes, let’s.” I’m not entirely certain how much input Longstreth had in terms of the family itself, of course. Showing this book a friend of mine she noticed something I had initially missed. “It’s a large family!” she cried, inordinately pleased. As the youngest child from a similarly large clan she had long since noticed how few books reflect this kind of home life. It’s not a ludicrously large one, mind you. There are plenty of picture books out there that indulge in clans so big as to be ridiculous. No Wicks has given us a realistic big family of a mom and dad, two boys, two girls, and a dog. Not exactly Cheaper by the Dozen levels, but also much bigger than most books out there. I know there will be a fair number of big families out there that rejoice in this fact.

It’s nice to once in a while encounter a picture book without subtext, ulterior motive, or snark. We’ve grown accustomed to books that break down the fourth wall or upset our expectations. There is much to be said for a book that just wants to present a day in the life of an average American family in a straightforward manner. Perfect for hikers, wannabe hikers, big families, small families, and anyone that takes delight in seeing siblings and parents take delight in one another. Shocking in its lack of shocks, hiking finally has its day.

On shelves now.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy Shaw


Spike and Ike Take a Hike by S.D. Schindler


Pictures From Our Vacation by Lynn Rae Perkins

Other Blog Reviews:

Feathered Quill Book Reviews
Literary Grand Rounds
Robot 6 (Comic Book Resources)

Professional Reviews:

A star from Publishers Weekly
Kirkus

Interviews: Children’s Literary Comprehensive Database (CLCD) speaks with author Longstreth about the book’s creation.

Misc: Take a gander at the insides of this book here.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham: The Movie

There are videos that go into Video Sunday and then there are videos that deseve their very own posts.  This is one such video.

In the wake of the Trayvon Martin court decision it seems to me that we need something good for once.  And I admit it.  I wouldn’t have pegged the Hallmark Channel to provide that good thing I need, but then I saw today’s trailer for The Watsons Go to Birmingham (no titular 1963).  On the one hand I see no reason in the world why this movie couldn’t have been in theaters first.  That said, the facts that (A) It was made at all and (B) Proper money was put into it (as the wife of a sometimes director of noir films, I can tell you right now that period pieces are bloody expensive) are more than enough to satisfy me.  There’s more info on it at The Huffington Post, naturally.

Anything to replace kids having to watch Glory in school.  The film is on September 20th at 8 p.m. ET.  Set your TiVo and DVRs now.

Video Sunday: It was Officer Edgar Mallory that caught me most off-guard

Meet Isol.  Incredibly badass Isol.  The fact that you may not know her name instantly is a crime.  We Americans are fairly . . . how to put this . . . screamingly awful about paying attention to authors and illustrators from other countries.  Isol won the most recent Astrid Lindgren Award, but she’s hardly a household name.  Heck, she’s hardly even known within our profession.  That’s why I’m doffing my cap to the award folks who put together this video for her ceremony.  See artists?  If you’re good pookies and do well with your illustrations then maybe you too could get a killer video about you and your work presented for all the world to see.

There are even blooming bagpipes.  Brilliance.

The Newbery/Caldecott Banquet may have already occurred (yes, I’m still editing my interviews from that night…. sigh) but that doesn’t mean the Caldecott is any less a 75-year-old.  Thus we have this peppyperky bit of free use.  In the future I’d love to see a Billy Crystal-esque medley of the winners a particular year.  That’s my dream anyway.

Open your copy of The Hunger Games and you’ll see that it’s dedicated to some bloke called James Proimos.  Jim’s been known to those of us in the picture book community for a number of years now (and his Stunt Frog is required watching today if you haven’t already seen it) thanks to books like Todd’s TV and Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace.  The two buddies have now paired together on a fictionalized picture book memoir from Suzanne’s youth, Year of the Jungle.  Here the duo discuss the book and their collaboration.

Here is why it is so difficult to be friends with fellow blogger Phil Nel.  Because even on his worst days, he’s still more prolific than I am on my best.  I don’t mean just in blogging, but in being a bloody professor and writing books.  To top it all off, he’s one of the most generous bloggers as well.  Check out his recent post Sendak on Sendak where he shares NINE videos of Maurice Sendak.  NINE!  I’d not personally seen the interview on NOW with Bill Moyers from 2004, so that’s the sample I’m presenting to you today:

Head on over to Phil’s for more.

I don’t personally have many pet projects I believe in, but Wireman may be the exception.  The idea of creating a quality graphic novel with the 500 most common words for struggling older readers is a no-brainer.  But making a good one is remarkably difficult.  Difficult but not impossible, I should say, since author Sue Stauffacher took on the project years ago and the result was Wireman.  Now Sue has turned to Indiegogo to help fund the third, as of yet unfinished, volume.  She’s halfway there to the funding but needs more!  Failing that, if you happen to be a big-time publisher who wants to publish the books yourself, all power to you.  But in the short-term, Sue needs a boost.  Here’s a video explaining more:

 

Sure, your summer reading program may be cool and all . . . but did it beat a bloody Guinness Book World Record?  All hail ye, Seattle.

Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

And for today’s off-topic video, here we have John Green revealing 44 actual names of fictional characters.  Mental Floss was savvy to tap him for this (and who knew they were in the video business these days?).  Fun fun funning.

My husband was disappointed that he didn’t mention Dr. Seuss’s first name.  No, not his real name.  The first name that went with the last name of Seuss.  20 points to the first person who guesses it correctly.

Review of the Day: Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents by Marilyn Singer

Rutherford B., Who Was He? Poems About Our Presidents

By Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by John Hendrix

Hyperion Books for Children

$17.99

ISBN: 978-142317100-3

Ages 7 and up

On shelves December 17th

There is a brief moment of doubt when you first cast eyes upon the title of this book. It’s partly the design of the cover, I suppose. Your eye immediately alights on the words “Rutherford B., Who Was He?” and you find yourself thinking, “Is this some kind of lushly illustrated picture book biography of Rutherford B. Hays? Thankfully, no. An overwhelming sense of relief consumes you as your eyes alight on the subtitle, “Poems About Our Presidents”. Whew! Not to say a Hays picture book bio couldn’t exist, but to read it, even if it was brilliance on a page, would feel like the dullest kind of homework. Singer’s latest title, however, is anything but boring. A visually explosive mixture of fact and verse, this may not be the first presidential poetry collection for kids out there, but by gum it’s the best.

Our presidents. Who the heck were they? What was their deal? Were they villains or heroes? Memorable or forgettable? Did they serve out their term or die in a variety of grisly fashions? Stretching her poetic chops to the max, Marilyn Singer summarizes each and every fella. Sometimes they have long poems, and sometimes nothing more than a few sentences. Accompanied by artist John Hendrix’s eclectic art, the two weave these disparate men together, tying up their faults and finer distinctions. Backmatter includes a description of the job of the president, Presidential Biographies, and a list of Sources that Singer used to make this book.

Comparisons, sadly, are inevitably going to be made between this volume and The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems About the Presidents by Susan Katz, illustrated by Robert Neubecker. Both books go president-by-president bringing up facts about each feller. However, while Katz takes a lighthearted trivia take, Singer is talking about the real issues and problems these guys faced. Take the titular Rutherford B. Hayes. In Katz’s book we’ve an amusing diversion about how he installed the telephones in The White House. In Singer’s we’ve a clever poem explaining why he was called “His Fraudulency”. And while Katz wouldn’t touch Reagan’s controversial aspects with a ten-foot pole (his story is about accidentally treading on a lady’s train at a fancy gala), Singer dives right into it showing both the Democrat and Conservative contemporary thoughts on the man. More to the point there were things I “learned” in Katz’s book that I completely forgot until I read Singer’s. Cleveland served as president twice with Benjamin Harrison in between terms? Who knew? Best of all, Singer doesn’t do one poem per president in a traditional fashion. She mixed it up a bit. She puts guys like Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren in conversation with one another. Or she’ll cram all the dullards into section together, their accomplishments and failures popping up willy-nilly. It’s freeing, really.

Singer also does something that most books about the presidents eschew: She shows both their strengths and their weaknesses. Even George Washington! Aside from being a slaveholder, few children’s books dare to mention that critics at the time criticized him for failing to establish a plan for the abolition of slavery. This, alongside many other facts, is located not in the poem itself but in the very brief Presidential Biography located at the back of the book. Singer’s balanced attitude even extends even to Richard Nixon. The only reverso poem in the book (a technique Singer perfected in books like Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse and Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems), Nixon’s poem actually goes so far as to mention how the man opened up the gateway to China and helped to protect the environment in his day.

We all have our preferred presidents and the ones we just can’t stand. With that in mind, it is inevitable that folks are going to read through this book and disagree with Singer’s take on one prez or another. I, for example, think she was way too nice to official psychopath President Andrew Jackson (his musical isn’t called Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson for nothing, y’know). That said, you can’t please everybody. I’m more than willing to stomach the handling of Jackson (which, to be fair, does touch on some of his problems) so long as Reagan is seen as the divisive figure he remains to this day. Likewise, George W. Bush and Obama. In both cases she manages to work in both the criticisms aimed at them and their significance one way or another.

And then there’s the poetry itself. And some of those poems do, in fact, require a thorough reading of the little biographies at the end of the book. Admittedly, the kid that does go so far as to understand every word written there will be few and far between. But the poems are strong. I like that there are different kinds. From your standard ABABAB style to five line poems where the last word is the same rhyme on each line to the aforementioned reverso, to more. My favorite of all the poems, personally, is the discussion between Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. Here’s a sample:

Taylor: I swore to preserve the Union.

I roared: Do Not secede!

Fillmore: I felt the states should have their rights.

Pierce: I didn’t want this land to bleed.

And so I let the states decide –

Buchanan: Were they slave or were they free?

Taylor: I’d have hanged those rebels

from the nearest tree.

I’ve managed to go this long without bringing up the work of John Hendrix, which is a feat in and of itself, since much of the book’s success lands squarely on his broad and manly shoulders. Hendrix is a design nut’s dreamboy. He simply has to shake up every possible picture with the turn of a page. Helped not a little by Singer’s willingness to combine her presidents and their poems, one minute he’s drawn a conversation between the four presidents that preceded Lincoln (their speech balloons making them look not a little like the political cartooning style of the day) and the next he’s dipped Kennedy and Johnson in the blue light of a television screen with JFK speaking from the set and LBJ basking in its glow.

It’s difficult to say whether or not Hendrix is typecast into illustrating books about historical figures (preferably those of the mid-19th century) or if he just naturally selects those jobs. There’s no denying that when it comes to caricatures, he’s magnificent. Yet he also favors a form of illustration that brings to my mind nothing so much as the speech balloons of P.T. Bridgeport from the old Walt Kelly Pogo cartoons. That poster-like style has served him well over the years, but what I like so much about his work on this book is how he keeps the eye dancing over the pages. Observe how the dance between Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison takes place against a pure white background. Then you turn the page and BLAMMO!! Teddy Roosevelt is riding hell-for-leather over the head of William McKinley in a burst of orange and red. That’s my kind of poetry.

I am as certain as the sun shines in the sky that this is not the last book of presidential poetry we have yet to see. In perhaps five years (maybe more, maybe less) a new book will come out with a new spin. Nothing wrong with that. No book should be the be all or the end all on a particular subject. However, I do hope that folks realize with this particular title that aside from being chock full of great verse and art, the factual content makes this puppy invaluable. Smarter than a lot of the pure nonfiction titles out there, Singer and Hendrix have put together one whopper of a good collection. Here’s hoping more folks find it and take to it in the near future.

On shelves December 17th.

Source:  F&G sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems About the Presidents by Susan Katz, ill. Robert Neubecker


So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George


Our Abe Lincoln: An Old Tune With New Lyrics by Jim Aylesworth

Video:

I’m calling it right now.  Best Music Video Trailer for a Children’s Book – 2013.  Argue with me if you can:

Misc:

It’s Poetry Friday, you lucky duckies.  Head on over to Check It Out for the round-up of today’s best.

Trendwatch 2013: A Mid-Year Assessment

Obviously I can’t read everything in a given year for the kiddos.  Someday SOMEDAY this will change. I shall sit upon a velvet cushion while faithful servants serve me peeled grapes as I devour all the books published in the current year.  And I’ll have a pony!  I mean, while we’re dreaming.

In the meantime I just read bunches of bunches and then make my fellow NYPL children’s librarians read different bunches of bunches.  That way we cover everything pretty well.  The result, though, is that you start noticing weirdo trends.  Trends that no one else would necessarily spot unless they were in the same business.  Here then are some of the odder trends we’ve identified in children’s fiction for the publishing year of 2013:

Victorian England: No surprises there.  I think it was Cassandra Clare who once pointed out that there’s something wonderful about an era that has railroads and plumbing but no telephones.  It’s always been a haven of the middle grade authors and for a time there was a bit of steampunky nonsense that went along with it.  This year that’s abated a tad, but we’ve noticed that there are two distinct Victorian categories that defy logic or explanation.

Victorian Trend #1: Mudlarks

How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks

Freaks by Kieran Larwood

The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, The Blue Death and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson

Specifically, mudlarks that are minding their own business, traipsing into the disgusting Thames, when they are inexplicably grabbed and sucked down into the muck by some kind of monster.  The grabbing part may not be the case for the Hopkinson title (haven’t read it quite yet) but it’s certainly true for the Jinks and Larwood titles.  I don’t know that I’d even heard the term “mudlark” before this year either.  Now I can’t get away from it.  For the record, I highly recommend the Jinks title.  Now that they’ve given it a proper book jacket (the one on the galley was lamentable) I expect it’ll have some fans.

Victorian Trend #2: Freak Shows

Beholding Bee by Kimberly Newton Fusco

Wild Boy by Rob Lloyd Jones

Freaks by Kieran Larwood

Larwood has the distinction of combining freak shows AND mudlarks together.  Get yer money’s worth this way.  I suppose including Fusco is a bit cheap since Bee is only threatened with a future in her carnival’s freak show, and it’s historical but not Victorian, but she does interact with the denizens to some extent, so I’m including it.  Of these three I highly recommend Wild Boy.  Yes, it is the second book this year with this title (the other being a nonfiction title by Mary Losure that was, somewhat oddly, also published by Candlewick in 2013) but it deserves notice.  Call it Furry Sherlock Holmes.  Sure the villain is glaringly obvious, but maybe just to adults.

 

Kids Named Early

Navigating Early by Claire Vanderpool

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett

Fine.  It’s just two books.  But what are the chances of that, eh?  Points to Balliett for not putting Early’s name in the title, by the way.  Whenever I see an author do that I am reminded of the Janet Jackson film Poetic Justice which, yes, was about a poet . . . named Justice.  You see the problem.

Contemporary Jewish Kid Characters Where Their Religion is Not the Point

Strike Three, You’re Dead by Josh Berk

Mira in the Present Tense by Sita Brahmachari

Aces Wild by Erica S. Perl

The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors

The Short Seller by Elissa Brent Weissman

Seriously, this is a rare thing.  A friend of mine used to say that if you walked into a children’s library without any prior knowledge you might easily believe that all Jewish people disappeared after the Holocaust.  So a book where someone’s Jewish and it’s not the focus of the book?  Almost unheard of.  By the way, it’s fun to go through these books and to figure out how the authors casually work this info in.

Fairytales and Folktales

We are seeing a record breaking number of folktales and fairytales coming out in the year 2013, folks.  While poetry and graphic novels are down far lower than I like, small publishers have picked up the ball where the big publishers have fallen down.  Right now I’m looking at at least forty-four decent titles (which I plan on releasing on this blog at the end of the year).  This is almost unprecedented.  Particularly when you compare it to the twenty-eight poetry books I’ve seen.

There are other odd trends, as well of course.  Raccoons are seeing a distinct upsurge this year.  Sasquatches are doing nicely.  But all in all these are my favorites.  And feel free to tell me other books in these categories I may have missed.  I love this kind of stuff.  Keeps me young.

Fusenews: A little moly with your holy, miss?

Well a tip of the hat and an apology to Mr. Schu.  Looks like he in the guise of Babymouse came to visit me at The Children’s Center at 42nd Street located in the main branch of NYPL.  Alas, I am no longer in that location, having been picked up and dropped off in Long Island City where I continue to do the same job, albeit far away.  Weep not for me (it’s significantly less frozen than that ice box behind the lions) but at the same time seek me not in my old room.  Chances are, you will not find me.


Book Awards You Should Know About and Don’t:  Today’s let’s talk about The Phyllis Wheatley Awards.  This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Harlem Book Fair and amongst the events are these awards.  Given out by QBR: The Black Book Review, the nominees in the Young Readers category are:

Tea Cakes for Tosh by Kelly Starling Lyons, Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Squeak! Rumble! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! by Wynton Marsalis, Illustrated by Paul Rogers

What Color is My World? by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Raymond Obstfeld, Illustrated by Ben Boos and A. G. Ford

Twice as Good: The Story of William Powell and Clearview by Richard Michelson, Illustrated by Eric Velazquez

Ellen’s Broom by Kelly Starling Lyons, Illustrated by Daniel Minter

Well done, nominees one and all! Those of you interested in attending the award ceremony may find further information about it here.

And speaking of book awards (probably my favorite subject, second only to talks involving chocolate cake in some way) the shortlist for the PEN/Steven Kroll Award for Picture Book Writing (an award that comes with $5,000) has been announced.

           SHORTLIST:

           Snakes (Scholastic), Nic Bishop

           Oh, No! (Schwartz & Wade Books), Candace Fleming and illustrator Andrea

Castellani

           I Lay My Stitches Down (Eerdmans), Cynthia Grady and illustrator Michele Wood

           Those Rebels, John & Tom (Scholastic), Barbara Kerley and illustrator Edwin

Fotheringham

           The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (Eerdmans), Michelle Markel and illustrator

Amanda Hall

Excellent choices all around!  A round of applause for judges Barbara Shook Hazen, David Wiesner, and Cheryl Willis Hudson.

Holy moly.  When you hear a statement like “The world’s first green library for children has opened” your mind naturally imagines rock gardens and quite a lot of brown.  What you probably do not imagine is something as eye-popping as this:

That would be the Central Public Library in Bras Basah, Singapore.  My favorite part of all this?  They currently carry 45,000 books and ” a full 30% of these books are focused on green living topics such as animals, plants, nature, water resources, weather, environment, recycling and climate change.”  Did I mention holy moly?

This summer I’m reading a lot of children’s nonfiction.  Can the same be said for kids?  A recent Mind/Shift piece interviews author Vicki Cobb and contains a list of selected works of nonfiction for kids.  No 2013 titles, but still a nice looking list.


Aw, man.  I was very sad to hear that Barbara Robinson, the author of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (amongst other books) recently passed away.  Now there’s a funny female children’s author I remember perfectly from being a kid myself.  I would have loved to have met her.  You will be missed, Barbara.


And now, a very short list of things I am not sad about today.

Ahem.

#1: The fact that the Kickstarter to finance a Where the Wild Things Are sequel is kaput.  The quote at the end of the article is particularly choice.

That is all.

Daily Image:

This is how librarians have fun.  We sit around asking one another, “Who was the only Newbery Award winning author to create the cover art for a fellow Newbery Award winning book (not their own)?”  The answer, as I’m sure many of you know, is Ellen Raskin.  Author of The Westing Game she initially wanted to win herself a Caldecott, but for various reasons that never quite panned out.  Now the collection of Crossett Library of Bennington College has generously posted online a variety of the adult book jackets Ms. Raskin created in her lifetime. Here’s a small of-its-era sampling:

You can see the rest here.  Thanks to Mac Barnett for the link.

Review of the Day: The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes

The Year of Billy Miller

By Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow (an imprint of Harper Collins)

$16.99

ISBN: 978-0-06-226812-9

Ages 6-10

On shelves September 17th

I don’t readily compare books to Ramona (now THERE’S a sentence opener, ladies and gentlemen). To compare any children’s book to Beverly Cleary’s classic series just leaves one wide open to ridicule. The Ramona books are classics for a very particular reason; they place a sturdy, hard-as-nails finger directly on an age that is traditionally forgotten. Kids between the ages of six and ten are nebulous creatures. Too old to be cute little itty bitties and too young to enjoy the rights and privileges of their older kin, the 6-10 year old crowd straddles our traditional age ranges. Walk into any library or bookstore and you’ll see titles for kids separated in a very particular fashion: picture books, easy readers (for when they’re first learning to read), early chapter books (self-explanatory), and middle grade fiction. What’s missing is what the Ramona books are. They’re older than early chapter fiction but younger than middle grade. There is no term for this kind of book, and indeed it’s one of the most difficult types of books to locate on a shelf. Now, at long last, The Year of Billy Miller comes to occupy that same space, but its similarities to Ramona don’t stop there. Filled with heart, smarts, humor, and a boy-centric p.o.v. that is almost impossible to pin down, Henkes has finally done for the chapter book set what he’s been doing for the picture book readers for years. He’s created a character for the ages.

Billy Miller wasn’t always worried that he wouldn’t be smart enough for second grade. To be blunt, the idea never even entered his brain. Then he fell. It wasn’t life-threatening or anything but that fall from a guardrail to the ground certainly gave him a bump on the noggin. When he heard his mom confess to his dad that she worried there might be some kind of permanent damage, that’s when his own worries started. Fortunately his Papa sets him right telling his son, “… I know – and I know everything – that this is the Year of Billy Miller.” Turns out, Papa’s right. Between making up with his teacher, helping his Papa with his art, attempting to stay up all night with his little sister Sal, writing a poem about his mom and so much more, second grade is turning out to be a full year. And Billy Miller’s going to be smart enough for all of it.

Boy books. Oh, they’re all the rage these days, didn’t you know? Seems you can’t walk two steps out your door without being barraged by calls to come save the boys. They don’t read enough… no wait, they read but they need their own books. No, think again, they need more nonfiction. Or is it sports stories? Or humor? However you choose to define them, boy readers are highly sought after. Getting their personalities down on paper, however, is remarkably difficult work. The lazy writers will just throw some gross details on a page and then call their work done. Sometimes there will be a reference to sports and the like, but so many miss the point. When you’re writing the p.o.v. of a boy you need to know exactly what it is that makes that boy tick. Now take Billy Miller here. Early in the book his parents are talking about his recent bump on the head and his mom says, “But I worry that down the line something will show up. He’ll start forgetting things.” His father’s dead-on reply is, “He already forgets things… He’s a seven-year-old boy.”

Evidence of Billy’s boyness is everywhere. For example, when he’s supposed to be writing a poem about his mother this is how the text explains his plight: “Billy had trouble getting started. He opened his poetry journal to the first page and wrote: My Mom. He couldn’t think of anything else to write, so he drew a series of volcanoes in progressive stages of exploding.” It would be difficult for me to explain to you how much I love that detail, but if pressed I would try. Then there’s his nemesis Emster. Henkes never highlights this fact, but it’s probably important to note that long before she’s making Billy’s life a misery, Billy cast the first shot across her bow. Which is to say, when she introduced herself in class as “Emster” he was the one who mistakenly (but buffonishly) misheard her as “Hamster”. That’s the kind of move guaranteed to make an instant enemy, and though Billy never remembers this moment again (and, if he did, it’s difficult to say if he’d know why it was so important) it’s clearly the catalyst for things that come.

Now consider the risk Henkes took with this book. His hero is seven. Yet Billy stars in a book that’s 240 pages in length. There are some interstitial pictures, but nothing like what you’d find in the early chapter book section of your library. Even if you look up this title on something like Amazon.com you’ll see that the suggested age for this book is “8 and up”. Now does that make any sense at all to you? How many kids do you know that get a kick out of reading books about children younger than themselves? What we have here is a readaloud book. The kind of book meant for bedtimes and for those teachers who tackle a chapter a day in class. Henkes could have bowed out and upped his hero’s age to nine or ten or even eleven. He didn’t. He made Billy a 2nd grader because that’s what Billy is. His mind is that of a second grader. His actions are those of a second grader. To falsely age him would be to make a huge mistake. Granted, Henkes risks alienating potential readers, but remember Ramona again. Aren’t there older kids who like to read about her adventures? And hasn’t she managed to last all these years in spite of these very concerns? You betcha. It’s all about the writing, baby.

To point out that the writing in this book is superb is akin to pointing out that air helps one to breathe. It’s obvious. This is Kevin Henkes, after all. Still, I’ve never quite connected to his novels in the same way that I’ve connected to his picture books. It’s probably just me (the shiny Newbery Honor sticker on Olive’s Ocean is a clue) but his magnificent ability to hone a point down to its most essential details is very well suited to a 32-page format. I hadn’t felt a similar ability until I read Billy Miller. First off, the lines themselves are just keen. Here are two of my favorites:

“Billy had known Grace since kindergarten. She was so shy she seemed almost invisible. Like vacuums, her wide eyes were sucking in everything.”

“Billy sat alone, considering the choice he had to make. He sucked the web of skin between his thumb and pointer finger, his hand falling across his chin like a beard.”

Beautiful. Then there are the characters themselves, it’s nice when the wise all-knowing parents (in this case, primarily the dad) is flawed. This is nice. He gets testy when his work isn’t going well, which makes for a nice character detail. The mom sort of sinks into the woodwork (though she does have a nice moment with Billy when he has to write about what she likes) and it’s hard to remember much about her, but the dad uses terms like “Isn’t she cute? Just looking at her shreds my heart.” Sal, Billy’s little sister, is an appropriate mix of cute and annoying. Billy is a typical older brother but you have to love it when he freaks himself out by thinking of scary things in bed and runs to her room for companionship and comfort. It shreds my heart, it does.

In the end, The Year of Billy Milleris a stand-alone title that really does leave you wanting more. You’ve gotten so close to Billy and his family that they stick in your brain long after you’ve closed the covers. You can’t help but hope that there are more Billy Millers on the horizon. To create just one would be a cruel tease. At the very least this book is a boon to any librarian who has faced a parent at a reference desk saying, “My kid loves Ramona. What else do you have like that?” Ladies and gentlemen, we have our answer. Absolutely remarkable.

On shelves September 17th.

Source: Galley sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

EllRay Jakes is Not a Chicken by Sally Warner


Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury


Phineas L. MacGuire Erupts! by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Professional Reviews:

A star from Kirkus
Publishers Weekly

Blog Reviews: Waking Brain Cells

Other Reviews: Shelf Awareness

Press Release Fun: The Museum at THE Museum

Family Program

A Very Special Storytime—The Museum

Saturday, July 27, 1:00–2:15 p.m.

Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, Uris Center for Education Show location on map

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

When you see a work of art, does something happen in your heart? Join author Susan Verde and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds for an exciting artistic adventure as they introduce young visitors to their new book, The Museum. Then discover inspiration for your own creations and bring the story to life as you explore the Met’s galleries on a guided family tour!

The Museum will be available for purchase in the Uris Center Met Store. Verde and Reynolds will be signing books after the presentation.

Free with Museum admission, but registration is required.

To register, please use the online registration form.

Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. All are welcome; best for ages 3 and up. Direct any questions to nolen.library@metmuseum.org.

This event is made possible by the Friends of Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Full event details may be found here.

More information on Nolen Library’s weekly storytime program may be found here.

Fusenews: You’re freaking me out, Colin!

I don’t think I’ll shock anyone out there when I reveal that I adore webcomic artist Kate Beaton’s work more than life itself.  This past Christmas my husband and I exchanged identical gifts that both turned out to be Hark, A Vagrant! calendars for the coming year.  The fact that I ever got a chance to meet her agent Seth Fishman is a thrill.  And it’s a particular thrill when he directs me to the art she created for his upcoming YA novel The Well’s End.  Kate created some images to accompany the book which have premiered in an exclusive look over at i09.com.  So if any of you are as big a fans of Beaton as myself, eat up.


Speaking of Beaton, loved her recent take on The Secret Garden.


Says Publishers Weekly, “The National Book Foundation has launched Up All Night, an online exhibition of 228 children’s titles, including picture books, novels, graphic novels, poetry, and nonfiction that have won or been nominated for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature.”  Come again?   Well, it’s pretty much what they say.  Though the NBA did away with youth awards between the years of 1984-1995 (approximately) they’ve listed all the books that won awards and nominations over the other years.  And though only a few have “tributes” attached, it’s precisely the kind of list that in my younger days I would have attempted to read through.  Forget the Newbery!  I want to see a blog by someone who systematically tackles everything from A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver to Bungling Ballerinas.


The resident husband has a phrase he uses from time to time that I have come to believe is actually the truth.  Whenever we come up with a cool idea that relates to the internet he’ll pause and say, “Aw, it’s already been done by now.  The internet moves at the speed of thought.”  That certainly seemed to have been the case the other day.  I was just idly tweeting that it would be a good idea if there were some kind of centralized book group site online that people could go to for resources.  Not ONE DAY LATER I get information about a new venture from Scholastic.  Granted, at this point the Scholastic Reading Club Hub is in its infancy and only seems to cover only three different types of clubs.  With some tweaking, however, they could easily become a go-to site for all children’s book club needs.  Imagine it.  A space where people can share ideas and book recommendations.  A place where you can find booktalks, book club activities that work for a range of ages, the works.  If they don’t do it, someone else will.  FYI, folks.


Ruh-roh. Looks like Eloise should watch her back. Apparently she’s not the only hotel-based literary character these days. From Cynopsis Kids:

The celebration for the most stylish octogenarian continues. Babar the Elephant is headed to NYC thanks to a promotion between Nelvana Enterprises and Hotel Plaza Athenee. The hotel is launching a yearlong promo that includes “creature comforts” Babar gift baskets including a special 80th anniversary Babar plush and other exclusive merchandise.  In addition, the hotel will offer Babar DVDs for in-room entertainment, and will host a festive fete to celebrate the 2013 holiday season, Babar-style.

There’s a new sheriff in town. Sheriff slash children’s book review editor for The New York Times.  Making very certain that they continue their fine tradition of only hiring alliterative women (Julie Just, Pamela Paul, etc.) new editor Sarah Smith has joined the illustrious ranks.  Some of the talk at ALA consisted of folks like myself voicing our hopes and fears.  Fortunately it looks like our fears have been addressed and swiftly destroyed all thanks to an interview Monica Edinger recently conducted with Ms. Smith.  Not only does the woman have an amazing children’s literary pedigree but her first move has been to spotlight a small publisher that is near and dear to my heart.  I am much relieved by this.  Put your own heart to rest and read Monica’s piece.

Do you love your librarian?  Prove it!  Get them some sweet sweet cash.  That’s the idea behind the good old I Love My Librarian Award.  Just nominate your favorite guy or gal, be particularly loquacious, and then sit back and watch as they pocket a cool $5,000.  What could be simpler?

Now that’s what I call a successful Kickstarter.  Library For All, a non-profit start up, launched a Kickstarter project, “to build a digital library providing e-book content to those living in impoverished communities, using technology specifically adapted to the low bandwidth internet connections of these communities and the lack of technology familiarity among the intended users.”  They were looking to raise $100,000.  They’ve raised $106,027.  Wow.

A high-end coloring book imprint?  It’s happening in Britain, not here in the States, but one can’t help but wonder if someone on this side of the pond might follow suit.  Particularly when the artists behind the coloring books include folks like Shaun Tan.  Thanks to Playing by the Book for the link.


A Sandman prequel?  Don’t mind if I do!


I’ve already highlighted most of the good press for NYPL’s awesome children’s literature exhibit going on in the main branch right now.  However I did almost miss The Atlantic‘s take in the piece Why Do Kids’ Books Matter?  Here, Look.  It has one of the best shots you’re gonna find of how the Harold exhibit melds with the Goodnight, Moon.


Sad news for many of us in the children’s literary sphere.  An obit for an old friend.  From ccbc-net:

Elaine Landau, prolific children’s non-fiction author and great friend and mentor to many in the Florida SCBWI organization has passed away.  Elaine was the author of several hundred books with topics ranging from the Gulf Oil Spill to head lice to twenty-eight individual books about various dog and cat breeds, from short stature to Sasquatch (Her website, www.elainelandau.com ). Elaine’s boundless energy was an inspiration to many, and her giving personality made her a friend.  She will be greatly missed by many.

Daily Image:

You’ve seen the Batman Seuss.  But what about the A-Team Seuss?

Thanks to Don for the link.