Betsy Bird's Blog, page 323

Fusenews: Bets lists towards best book lists

The best books lists are abundant and here!  So very exciting, yes?  I do love this time of year, and so it makes sense to begin with the cream of the crop.  I refer, of course, to NYPL’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2012.  Split into seven different categories (Picture Books, Folk and Fairy Tales, Poetry and Song, Stories for Younger Readers, Stories for Older Readers, Graphic Books, and Nonfiction) the list has been around for precisely 101 years and is decided by the NYPL children’s librarians who go above and beyond the call of duty in reading EVERYTHING they can get their hands on.  Seriously, those folks are the best.  I tip my hat to them.

In other best books areas, over at Tablet we have the best kids books of 2012 containing Jewish themes and characters.  How Marjorie Ingalls finds them all I do not know, but she is meticulous!  I thought I’d seen everything but there were definitely a couple titles in there that flew under my radar (Sons of the 613, anyone?).  Horn Book also came up with their Fanfare Books of 2012, and I was very very pleased to see Jimmy the Greatest on there.  Woot!  PW separated their top children’s books into the categories of Picture Books, Children’s Fiction (YA is sorta just crammed in there), and Nonfiction (only four titles?!?).  Finally there was the Notable Children’s Books of 2012 list by the New York Times which has some truly eclectic ideas.


By the way, if you want to see other best children’s book lists in this vein, there’s a Pinterest page of them up and running.


In other Pinterest news (a sentence I can honestly say I’ve never written before), Nicole Deming of the CBC let me know about some cool children’s literature-related Pinterest lists they’ve created and that you might want to put on your radar.  There’s Favorite Vintage Kids’ Books, Kids’ Book Creators, Kidlit Maps (maps from children’s books, old and new), and Kidlit Illustrators We ♥ .  Thanks for the heads up, Nicole!


I don’t usually do this but once in a while you meet a new or upcoming author who just catches your attention fully.  I met a 6th grade schoolteacher in town the other day by the name of Torrey Maldonado.  Torrey’s the author of the YA novel The Secret Saturdays.  Knowing he worked in a public school I asked what he knew about Common Core.  Quite a lot, it seems, since he created an entire page on his website dedicated to the Core and how to teach his book using it.  To top it off, I’ve gotta say that I haven’t met an author with the sheer levels of enthusiasm and charm of Mr. Maldonado in a long time.  Keep your eye on this fellow.  I predict big things.


Newsflash: Young Latinos don’t see themselves in books.  Duh.  Duh duh duh duh duh.  It’s a really weird fact, and absolutely true.  You go out there and find me an early chapter book series starring a Latino girl and I will give you a cookie.  Go on.  I’m waiting.  I’ve got all day.


Okay. Now I’m officially depressed.  I was sorting through some books earlier today and I discovered the most recent “Amelia Rules” by Jimmy Gownley called Her Permanent Record.  I own all of the Amelia Rules books except this one so I was pleased to down it during my lunch break.  Then I went online just now to see when the next book in the series will be out . . . only to find that that was the LAST ONE.  Hunhuna?  Now that is depressing.  I’ve deeply enjoyed this series for years and years now, and to think that it’s over fills me with a kind of strange dread.  Gownley hasn’t entirely ruled out the possibility of more Amelias in the future . . . . but still, man.  It’s kinda hard to take.


The Dudes of YA, a “Lit-Erotic” Photo Spread.  We would have also have accepted the term “The Hot Men of YA Literature”, but I suppose that would be copyright infringement or something, eh long-time readers who get my reference?


Look me in the eye.  Now tell me this amazing new invention will not now appear in hundreds of middle grade spy/mystery novels.  A pity you can’t get them in time for Christmas.


Friend and YA author Daphne Benedis-Grab writes an excellent article over at She Knows about raising a girl in a day and age where beauty standards have never been more impossible to attain.  It’s called Raising a girl to be more than a pretty face.  Testify!


PW Children’s Bookshelf linked to some pretty thought provoking articles this week.  My favorite: Leonard Marcus at Horn Book talking about book jackets . . . for picture books!


In other news, PW did a very strange bit of reporting.  It mentioned the recent 90-Second Newbery at Symphony Space, which was a packed house and a big success.  However, there is a VERY odd lack of any mention about the organizer, YA author James Kennedy.  Read the piece and you’ll have the distinct impression that it happened spontaneously and without his back-breaking work.  Reporting fail, PW my dear.


Changes are afoot at The New York Times.  Looks like they’re separating out their children’s books from their YA fare, a move that is excellent and long overdue.  Well done, old gray lady.


I got the following message from Jane Curley of the Eric Carle Museum and I am passing it on because it sound bloody blooming amazing: “I’m giving a talk for the Victorian Society on 19th century British picture books. It’s on Tuesday, December 11 at 6PM at the Dominican Academy, 44 East 68th St.It’s free, no reservations required, and I’ll be showing some gorgeous pictures! The link is below. Cheers, Jane http://metrovsa.org/calendar.htm“.


Daily Image:

I ran about the internet trying to find the perfect thing for today’s post but in the end I had to come back to the washable keyboard.  The perfect gift for your favorite hypochondriac this holiday season.

Thanks due to AL Direct for the link.

Review of the Day: The Chicken Problem by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson

The Chicken Problem

By Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson

Random House

$16.99

ISBN: 978-0-375-86989-1

Ages 3-7

On shelves now.

I was once in Prospect Park in Brooklyn when I passed a very small child wearing a porkpie hat running as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. Behind him his father yelled out (to little avail), “Pontius! Pontius, slow down!” I mention this because there is a particular Brooklyn aesthetic to a picture book like The Chicken Problem. Consider, if you will, its heroine Peg. Here she is sporting a mighty trendy little outfit replete with striped tights and buckled red boots. Even her name, Peg, suggests that she was named after Peggy Lee or someone of equal caliber. Notice too that she’s playing a ukulele on the endpapers and that pretty much clinches it. Peg is trendy. Too trendy for your preschooler? Not in the least. Peg may be a specific type of heroine peculiar to a single geographical location but with her urbane Cat and her trouble with high-spirited chicks this is one of those memorable heroines and one-on-one readalouds that add a little bit of math to a little bit of story alongside a whole lot of fine and beautiful art to bring us one fine fine book.

It’s a bright and beautiful day when young Peg and her cat Cat go to the farm to have a perfect picnic with a pig. Peg is one of those girls who like everything to be just so, and when she discovers that she accidentally cut an extra slice of pie she feels it’s a dire problem. Cat solves the imbalance by removing a very small chick from a nearby coop and surely that would be the end of that . . . if he’d managed to remember to close the coop door. Suddenly one hundred chickens are free and roaming the farm. It’s up to Peg, Cat, and maybe that pig they picked up, to figure out a way to cajole these freedom loving fowl into returning from whence they came. When that mission is finally accomplished that leaves one final matter: Time for pie!

I’ve read the occasional professional review that snarked about the svelte story found here, but to be honest I was rather charmed by it. It’s not the most dire straits that Peg and Cat must escape but in the simplest sense it’s a story with a mistake, a solution, and a conclusion that feels satisfying. The language itself repeats in good ways and sounds pleasant on the tongue (“The pie was fresh and juicy and gooey”) while the plot appeals to the pint-sized obsessive compulsives out there that insist that everything be exactly right.

The art is particularly charming, though I found I couldn’t figure out the medium. If I was going to harbor a guess I’d say that it was digital art doing a stand-up and cheer imitation of mixed media. I might have figured it to be done by hand, were it not for the fact that on more than one occasion a chicken will repeat in a large crowd scene. No matter, since it’s the charm of the characters that ultimately pull this puppy through. Peg, noseless though she may be, is a likeable soul. Cat, a feline I initially considered lacking in smiles, turns out to have quite a bit of nuance to his rotund eggplant-like little body. The pig is always referred to as “a pig”, as if he were just some barnyard stray the duo stumbled over on their travels. He seems so content wherever he is, legs neatly crossed beneath him, that you suspect he’d follow Peg and Cat to the ends of the earth if they asked. As for the chickens themselves, they’re beautifully expressionless and yet you spend a lot of your time just trying to keep up with their antics.

Speaking of endpapers, I’ve seen inside jokes in my day. I’ve seen clever details and little pokes of fun. What I have never seen are endpapers that are SO o’erfilled with details and ideas that you could spend the better part of twenty minutes parsing them. It is important to know that the front endpapers are incredibly different from the back endpapers. I mention this in part because I know that libraries have a tendency to glue their bookflaps to their books’ front and back covers and the result is going to cover up quite a bit of content. At the front of the book you can find six scenes drawn from Peg and Cat’s adventures. Sometimes they might be rowing George Washington over the Delaware while other times they’re jamming with a band of bears. Quick flip to the back of the book and you’ve the strangest collection of one hundred chickens you ever did see. An explanation is provided in the special thanks section. It says, “And, for posing so patiently for the pictures, the one hundred chickens,” and then names each and every last one of them. It took a while for me to realize that the names correspond with the pictures on the opposite page. I had already looked at the pictures of the chicks before and noticed odd details about them (like the fact that one of them resembled President Obama on his HOPE poster) but didn’t realize that each one had a name (“Barawk Obama”). Look closely enough and you’ll find references to Lady Gaga, Mahatma Gandhi, Rumpelstiltskin, St. John, George Bernard Shaw, and many others. My personal favorite was the preppy turtleneck donning Cluck C. Cluck III. Even without reading his name I knew he was a 1% chicken, if you know what I mean.

As the bookflaps explain, Peg and Cat are well on their way to becoming a television series on PBS that teaches preschoolers math someday. And while that might account for some of the adventures on the endpapers, the story stands perfectly well on its own. I don’t need to see Peg on my TiVo to know she’s a special kind of kid. Whether or not the show occurs, I do hope that we’ll see more of Peg and her erstwhile purple companion on good old-fashioned paper and board in the future. I suspect folks will end up picking up the book more for the art and story than the math, and that’s okay. Fun pretty much sums it up.

On shelves now.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer, ill. Dan Santat


The Day the Babies Crawled Away by Peggy Rathmann


Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag


The Problem With Chickens by Bruce McMillan, ill. Gunnella

Interview: Nerdy Book Club

Video:

There was a cute little book trailer, of course:

And though its website is gone, you get a pretty clear sense of Peg, Cat and their world here.

I am now entertaining the ridiculous hope that when the show premiers they make Peg-with-ukelele YouTube videos like the millions already out there.  Just Peg, a ukelele, a blank wall, and one of her songs.  I mean, might as well at this point, right?

Press Release Fun: Independent Publishing In an Age of Mass Marketing

Let hurricanes deter us not. Sandy might have delayed my next Children’s Literary Salon at NYPL, but we have regroup, recouped, and reassembled.  Come this Saturday to see a panel that is all the more timely in the wake of the Penguin/Random House merger.  The description reads:

While huge companies like Scholastic, Macmillan, Harper Collins, etc. may have seemingly unlimited funds to promote their materials, smaller independent publishers have found niche areas missed by some of their bigger competitors.  Join Cheryl Willis Hudson (Just Us Books, Inc.), Claudia Zoe Bedrick (Enchanted Lion Press), VP Editor-in-Chief Mary Cash (Holiday House), and Harriet Ziefert (Blue Apple Books) for a conversation about the advantages and disadvantages of being a David in an era of Goliaths.

This program will take in the main branch of New York Public Library (5th Avenue and 42nd Street) in the Berger Forum on the second floor.  See you there!

Librarian Preview: Chronicle Books (Spring/Summer 2013)

With all the mergers going on within the publishing world these days, a couple librarians and I were joking the other day about those mergers we’d actually like to see.  And because we are horribly spoiled east-coasters it didn’t take long for us to wish that Chronicle Books could merge with someone like Enchanted Lion Books so that we could have a little of their sweet sweet San Francisco-infused brilliance over on our side of the country.  Fortunately, the Chronicle folks are always good sports about our petulance on the matter and are more than willing to hike themselves across several time zones to let us know about their upcoming fare.  Here then is a taste of what 2013 is going to bring.

A show of hands.  How many of you out there predicted that Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site was going to be the massive New York Times bestseller that it was?  I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again – I simply cannot predict what picture books become bestseller hits.  Nothing against Sherri Duskey Rinker’s successful creation, mind you.  It’s a lovely little book.  I just wouldn’t have necessarily have slapped the moniker “bestseller” status on it when I first noticed it.  Well now, at long last, there is a follow-up.  Yet again Ms. Rinker has paired up with the incomparable Tom Lichtenheld to bring us the April release Steam Train, Dream Train.  Staying within a transportation theme, the book follows a train worthy of The Little Engine That Could in terms of goodies stocked in its cars.  Ice cream, elephants, race cars, zebra referees (how Z is for Moose of them, eh?), it’s a bedtime book through and through.  We were told too that in preparation for this book Tom went to a library and proceeded to measure the number of truck books vs. the number of train books.  What he found was that there were quite a lot more trucks . . . until he was told that this was only because there were so many more train books checked out.  I’m a children’s librarian, and I approve that fact.

Taro Gomi is probably best known for his international bestseller Everyone Poops.  But really, the man is so much more than that.  A resident of Tokyo, he has two board books coming out with Chronicle that come as a bit of a relief to me.  I mean, have you ever noticed how many French board books we have?  Let another country participate for crying out loud!  So straight from Japan we now have Peekaboo! and Mommy! Mommy! Now Peekaboo! has a lot going for it, since you can read it and wear it as a mask (there are eye holes, making this worthy of testing out in storytimes).  And as the mother of a toddler who harbors a deep and abiding love for The Finger Worms by Herve Tullet, I know she’ll dig this puppy as well.  Mommy! Mommy! isn’t as high concept but you just gotta love how the man draws chicks.  In the story two yellow peepers search for their mother and keep seeing creatures and critters that mildly resemble her but turn out to be someone else.  The discoveries aren’t scary, I should note.  The chicks are goofy enough that you needn’t worry there.

When I heard that the next Amy Krouse Rosenthal picture book was going by the title of I Scream Ice Cream I was baffled.  How have I never seen a picture book with this title before?  A bit of an internet search revealed that while there are adult books ah-plenty with that name (or “I Scream for Ice Cream), there’s been nothing on the kid side of things.  Consider the situation remedied then!  Illustrated by Serge Bloch (smart) we were told that this is “going to do for homonyms what Eats, Shoots & Leaves did for punctuation.”  We’ve seen homonym books before, to be fair.  For example I think this year’s Cat Tale by Michael Hall was particularly choice.  But Rosenthal isn’t afraid to push the envelope in terms of what you can get away with.  Hence the jaw-dropping choice to include such mind-benders as “Sorry, no more funnel cakes” alongside “Sorry, no more fun elk aches.”  At this point we then got to talking about the illustrator’s work on The Enemy: A Book About Peace and how the American version removed two pages and softened the message . . . but that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish, if you get my drift.

Next up, a book that takes full advantage of Chronicle’s willingness to go strong on the die-cuts.  Inside Outside is by Lizi Boyd and if you’re anything like me you are now kicking yourself repeatedly in the shins in an attempt to figure out why her name is so familiar.  I finally caved and checked my library holdings, discovering that she was the one behind those I Love Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa books that are so popular here in NYC.  This book is far more artsy with an examination of a house throughout the seasons.  There are lots of details, lots of die-cuts, and the whole shebang reminds me of the work of Robert Crowther on books like Robert Crowther’s Pop-Up Book of Inventions and the like.  I do worry a bit about the brown.  Brown can be a hard sell with the kiddos.  Let’s see how it plays out in the end.

You know what I like?  Unapologetic Europeans.  Author/illustrators that don’t care if a book isn’t the next Fancy Nancy or Pinkalicious, they just want to tell a good story with good art for the kids that appreciate that kinda thing.  Hence we get books like Line 135 by Germano Zullo, illustrated by Albertine.  First Thought: I love that there is a one-namer artist out there named “Albertine”.  Brilliant.  Second Thought: If the names “Zullo” and “Albertine” sounds familiar there’s no need to bruise your shins again.  Their book Little Bird, published by Enchanted Lion Press, was a New York Times Best Illustrated title this year.  I would not have necessarily thought that Albertine was behind both books, though, since Line 135 is far more sparse a tale.  It’s basically a contemplative older version of Freight Train by Donald Crews.  In the story a boy informs his grandmother on a train that he hopes to see the whole world someday.  Grandma in turn commits a crime familiar to many adults when she tries to reign in the boy’s potential disappointment by clipping his dreams’ wings early.  It doesn’t work.  In the meantime, you see the train as it passes by a myriad of landscapes.  They’re selling it as a graduation picture book, which is a wise move.  It is, as I say, so Swiss!

Flora and the Flamingo in contrast is kid-friendly city.  Written by Molly Idle (for half a second there I misheard her name as “Eric Idle” and hosted impossible thoughts in my head) the book is all about the flapping.  Not just on the main characters’ parts, but in terms of the flaps you open up to reveal more of the story as you go.  In the spirit of books by folks like Suzy Lee (also a Chronicle author), Idle is a lapsed animator from DreamWorks who joins the droves of animators-turned-children’s book illustrators in the last few years.  This book struck me as the world’s greatest companion to Peter Brown’s You WILL Be My Friend.  As you’ll recall, that book ended with Lucy the Bear befriending a flamingo.  In this book a mildly pudgy (WOOHOO!) little girl meets a flamingo.  After a rocky start the two become friends, dancing together.  It’s a readaloud dream, one that I can’t wait to try out on some kiddos.  Add in the lovely color palette and the fact that this book could conceivably be tied into a school’s exercise program if you want to sell it that way, and you’ve hot a real solid potential hit on your hands.  I’m in love anyway.

I think I may have mentioned in the past that Chronicle has a nice little working relationship with the Star Wars folks.  I’ve talked about the various Star Wars related recipe books put out by one Ms. Lara Starr, and they’ve all sounded great.  Well, the most interesting of these is about to come out and even though my kid is just 18 months, I’m inclined to get this for her so that someday we’ll be able to use it perfectly.  Behold the wonder that is the latest cookbook: Ice Sabers.  Oh. Yes.  Basically, the book comes with four lightsaber ice pop molds so that you can create your own ice sabers.  This sounds delightful, and it is, but you have NO idea how much work went into this!  For one thing, they had to get an industrial designer to build the lightsaber molds.  Why?  Because they needed a generic hilt.  I mean, what if you had a Sith hilt but the ice saber was Jedi colors (or vice versa)?  Chaos, that’s what!!!  So they came up with these hilts, which turned out be great.  Maybe too great.  There were some rumblings that they were now going to be considered toys and, as I’m sure you can understand, there is an entirely different Star Wars toy division and they didn’t want to tread on any of THEIR toes.  Fortunately it all worked out in the end.  The capper is that these are officially approved of by George Lucas.  Consider using them for your next May 4th Star Wars party (May the fourth be with you).

Blame or credit the Core Curriculum howsoever you like, but I happen to be very excited about the fact that in 2013 we’re going to be seeing an increase in amazing picture book biographies of people who worked in the realm of math.  After all, Deborah Heiligman is coming out with the LeUyen Pham illustrated title The Boy Who Loved Math.  On the Chronicle side of the equation comes a new Einstein pb bio.  The last time I saw one of those it was Don Brown’s Odd Boy Out (Lynn Barasch’s Ask Albert Einstein wasn’t technically a bio, you see).  Now we have On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne who you may remember from hr striking bio of Jacques Cousteau in Manfish.  In this book we follow Einstein from boy to man with a special focus on how his imagination affected his work and growth.  The idea is to show how Einstein thought big questions at the same age as the kids reading this book.  There will be a small bibliography but most of the endmatter consists of paragraphs of facts.  It also marks a more kid-friendly Vladimir Radunsky (he’s the illustrator) than I’ve seen in a long time.  I don’t think we’ve seen a book out of him since he did Chris Raschka’s Hip Hop Dog.  And aside from Mannken Pis (which you may or may not count) he hasn’t done much nonfiction.  Fascinating choice, no?

Now I owe Maria van Lieshout a debt of gratitude that I’m sure I will never be able to repay.  Her Backseat A-B-See did what so few picture books have.  She wrote a book about signs.  Do you know how often children’s librarians are asked for such books (often) and how many are on our shelves in a given year (few)?  Now I feel my gratitude has had to triple, because guess what she’s following it up with?  Flight 1-2-3.  It basically shows all the signs you see when you go to the airport while at the same time going through what it’s like to travel by plane.  And let me tell you how many picture books I have about THAT simple oft-asked for topic (few)!  It’s the first post-9/11 airport book I’ve seen to go through all the scans and basics you crave.  So very very excited over here!

When I read a board book to my kiddo I always make a point of mentioning the author’s name.  So when Lorena Siminovich’s new board books You Are My Baby: Farm and You Are My Baby: Safari came up in conversation I had to dwell in my own little world for a little while. Once I’d remembered that she was the one behind the beautiful touch-and-feel sensation I Love Vegetables I was able to move on.  The design of these particular books is their most outstanding feature from the get-go.  There is a big book involving a big animal and a little book couched inside involving a baby animal.  You match the animals together and the story proceeds accordingly.  Best of all, in spite of their unique construction, they look like they’ll be able to take a pounding.  Sturdiness is non-negotiable when we’re dealing with board books, after all.

Once again we’re nearing the end of the 2012 publishing year and when I count up all my reviews of books by Latino-Americans or featuring Hispanic characters I am shockingly short.  So boy oh boy was I grateful to see Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by Pura Belpre winner John Parra.  With beautiful bridging text (and the angels doth sing their praises on high) the story goes through shapes that describe everything from stone metates to quesadillas.  The book looks great, though I admit to being a bit stunned when the conversation turned and it was mentioned that Yuyi Morales moved back to Mexico not that long ago.  Doggone it!  I had her pegged for a Caldecott someday for sure!

It’s not a successful preview unless at least one early chapter book makes its appearance.  In this case we’re talking about the all new Fish Finelli series.  Book #1: Seagulls Don’t Eat Pickles.  One could not help but notice that Chronicle has already secured blurbs from four librarians already including the illustrious (and current Newbery committee member) Susannah Richards.  Said Chronicle, it’s “a little more sophisticated than an Alvin Ho, a little more interesting than a Calvin Coconut.”  Set in a Little Rascals-like world the book involves things like lost treasure, library break-ins, stowaways, and far more.  I’ll read it.  You betcha.

For my daughter’s first birthday my husband’s best friend went out and got her a Gund stuffed version of Boo, the world’s cutest dog.  Until that moment I had only the vaguest sense of Boo.  Now the dog remains the kiddo’s favorite stuffed animal, bar none.  That is why I will simply have no choice but to give her Boo ABC: A to Z with the World’s Cutest Dog for some gift giving occasion.  Written by J.H. Lee and photographed by Gretchen LeMaistre it was Mr. Schu who said that the book trailer for Boo’s last creation was (and I quote) “one of the cutest videos I’ve ever posted”.  This book just goes through various things that Boo and his best buddy Buddy love.  We were then told that Boo has “More Facebook friends than Honey Boo Boo.”  Now I live in abject fear that Honey Boo Boo will come out with an ABC book of her own soon.  Hey.  It could totally happen.

Finally, a book that is not exactly children’s book I’d be amiss in not mentioning it.  Heck, I’ll just show you the cover:

If you’re not breaking fingers in your quest to fast track this into your order carts, I stand amazed.

I apologize for not covering any of the YA but there was so much good children’s stuff that I think I can get away with not mentioning a title or two.  In any case, a hearty thank you to the good folks of Chronicle for the sneaky peek.  Now all our To Read Lists are blossoming anew.

Fusenews: Grumble fish

“Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.”

That would be an old line from a TV column in the Marin Independent Journal by one Rick Polito describing the film The Wizard of Oz.  My brother-in-law Steve brought it up this past Thanksgiving and I’ve been savoring it ever since.  What better way to kick off this lovely Friday morning then, eh?  The birds are singing.  The fish are grumbling.  Let’s get to it then!

Let’s get the me stuff out of the way first.  Lemme see, lemme see.  First off, over at the blog For the Future: What Today’s Youth Services Librarians Want the Next Generation to Know I answer some questions about the state of librarianship today, what to know, what to do, etc.  Then SLJ did a very nice write-up of a recent panel I moderated with the Women’s National Book Association.  It was a talk with industry professionals that examined how one goes about making a YA bestseller.  The article is good, but you will have to forgive my mugging in the accompanying photograph.  As god is my witness, I thought the angle the photographer took meant that I wasn’t going to be in the frame.  So I hedged my bets and posed, but in such a way where I look like I’m hosting a reality show and these are my ill-fated contestants.  Forgive me, Hannah.  I meant not to block you like that.


Speaking of advice to folks about the fine state of librarianship, if you have not read Kelly Jensen’s corrective You’re Going to Piss People Off do so.  Something to chew on for you newbies out there.  Heck, something to chew on for us oldbies as well.  Cause we do, man.  We do.


Oh, man.  Three words for you: Ed Emberly fabric.  Go wild, tootsies.  You know you wanna.


The gift giving season approacheth.  The pocketbook expandeth.  And the gift giving ideas dryeth up like a tiny puddleth.  That’s why it’s important to have resources on hand.  Resources like MotherReader’s recent 150 Ways to Give a Book.  Gift giving advice.  It’s the gift that keeps on . . . er . . .


I’m feeling old.  I have lived long enough to see books for kids appear and disappear only to potentially reemerge years later with the force of a petition behind them.  Hand me my cane, I am done, but not before I let you know about this rather fascinating attempt to garner online support.  Any of you remember the Wright & Wong series from a couple years ago?  Well before the current flush of books with kids with Asperger’s it was the rare pre-London Eye Mystery mystery series starring a kid with AS.  Now with so many folks clamoring for books of this sort to appear, an online petition has been created and the authors are putting out the word that they need support for it to come back.  To be honest, I’ve never seen this sort of thing before.  Let’s watch and see what happens.


Should you happen to read the interview with Daniel Handler in The New York Times you will no doubt curse as I did at those horrid little words, “INTERVIEW HAS BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED” found at the end.  Pfui.


I read with great interest the opinion piece What Should Children Read? which discusses the Common Core and reactions to it.  I should like to sit on it and process it for a while, though.  Seems to me one of the more interesting discussions on the topic.  I am torn.  A tip of the hat to PW Children’s Bookshelf for aiding in this confusion.


Several months ago the great and legendary editor Patti Lee Gauch spoke in my library with a talk entitled The Picture Books as an Act of Mischief.  Now that very talk has been typed up and put online over at Horn Book.  Huzzah, sayeth I.  And also hooray.


Daily Image:

You could be forgiven for wondering if artist and cartoonist Saul Steinberg ever made a children’s book.  To the best of my knowledge he did not, but many was the child like myself that grew up seeing his New Yorker covers hither and thither.  The discovery of this Saul Steinberg mask series pleases me to no end.  Some examples:

Thanks to Lisa Brown (see you this Saturday, yes?) for the link.

Pop Song Picture Books: A Couple Predictions

With the odd exception, it’s safe to say that when it comes to celebrity picture books most of us out here in libraryland are less than impressed.  The announcement that the latest reality star or pop singer has a picture book coming out allows us to check out the illustrator’s talent far more often than the author’s.  Yet every season publishers churn out, one after another.  I’m not looking at any statistics at the moment, but my general impression is that they are perhaps less ubiquitous here in late 2012 than they were even four or five years ago.  I’m not sure how to account for that.  Perhaps they are pulling in less money than they used to?

One offspring of the celebrity picture book genre, if genre it is, is the adaptation of a famous song into a picture book format.  These types of books have been gaining in popularity, though they’re certainly not new.  They’ve always been an easy way to make a book without disgusting the gatekeepers too much.  In a way, this method of authorship also yields better books than you might get if the author sat down and tried to write one.  This has something to do with the fact that when a songwriter is creating a work for adults they fail to indulge in that pandering that can ruin a perfectly good picture book.

There are several different types of songs-turned-picture books. First you have the songs that were written with a child audience in mind.  These slip into picture book form with great ease.

“New Baby Train” by Woody Guthrie

“Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter Yarrow

“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” by Peter, Paul and Mary

Then you have the songs from musicals that work in a picture book context without much knowledge of the shows they came from:

“What’s New at the Zoo” from Do Re Mi

“Never Never Land” from Peter Pan

Even more interesting to me, though are the songs that were written for adults and never intended for a child marketplace.

“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan

“Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley

“One Love” by Bob Marley

“At the Zoo” by Simon & Garfunkle

There are a multitude of other examples of these, but you get the picture.

It got me to thinking too.  I mean, what’s to stop contemporary artists from repackaging their own top of the pop hits in a couple decades or so into picture book wonders?  By that point app and ebook technology will have improved significantly, allowing readers to see the books alongside the original songs.  The only question then is what songs today will be the picture books of tomorrow.  Some possibilities:

“We’re Going to Be Friends” by The White Stripes

Yeah.  So this song was pretty much the impetus behind this entire post.  And why not?  It’s the world’s most perfect little ditty and it would adapt perfectly.

“The Christians and the Pagans” by Dar Williams

I was going to suggest her “The Babysitter’s Here” but you’d probably have to cut too much out.  This would be a good old-fashioned hippy picture book, if that ever comes back into style.  For the record, Ms. Williams actually wrote two full middle grade novels for kids in the past, so she doesn’t need to slum it this way if she wants to publish.  She’s already far more legitimate an author than most.

Empire State of Mind (Part II) by Alicia Keys

Remember how they made that Simon & Garfunkle song about the zoo into a picture book?  Well, there was some judicious editing at work there (example: “And the zookeeper is very fond of rum” shows the man patting a raccoon on the head with the nametag of “Rum”).  The same would have to be done with this one but aside from the occasional “selling rock” there isn’t much of anything that’s objectionable for the 4-8 crowd.

Those are just off the top of my head.  Other suggestions are more than welcome.

Review of the Day: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales (One Dead Spy & Big Bad Ironclad) by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad!

By Nathan Hale

Amulet (an imprint of Abrams)

$12.95

ISBN: 978-1-419700396-6

ISBN: 978-1-4197-0395-9

Ages 9-12

On shelves now

If you should find that you share your name with a Revolutionary War Hero you have various ways of making use of that fact. You could join Revolutionary War re-enactors on a regular basis and field unceasing questions about whether or not that is your real name. You could start writing historical fan fiction or fun alternative histories. Or you could follow in the footsteps of one Nathan Hale and write the number one funniest and best-written history-based graphic novel series on bookshelves today. The choice is yours. Honestly, I think you’d be better off going with that third choice, but bear in mind that not everyone is as good at Hale at doing what he does. With the debut of “Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales” we encounter a melding of fact and fiction that will please history averse children and only mildly annoy adults who cannot figure out where to put the darn thing on their shelves.

The first two books in the series have been released simultaneously and I find I cannot talk about one without the other. Though I slightly prefer Big Bad Ironclad to One Dead Spy, I can hardly jump right in and talk about the sequel before I talk about its predecessor, can I? Besides, if I hadn’t even seen Big Bad Ironclad! I’d still be talking up the wonders of book #1 in glowing hyperbolic terms. So to sum the two books up . . .

In One Dead Spy our hero Nathan Hale stands at the gallows alongside a hangman and a British Provost Marshall mere moments before he is to be hanged by the neck until dead. Suddenly he is eaten! Eaten by a big book of American history no less. After being spit out he now knows the entirety of American history and is willing to tell everything he knows. The first story that needs to be told, however, is the tale of Nathan Hale himself. And if along the way he happens to tell the stories of folks like Ethan Allen, Henry Knox, and other big and colorful characters all the better. Like a Colonial Scheherazade, Hale is spared by the childish and endearing hangman and the blowhard Provost Marshall, just so long as he keeps weaving together new tales.

Big Bad Ironclad is actually even stronger than its predecessor. By this point Hale has expanded a bit and isn’t restricting himself to mere Revolutionary War stories. We’ve skipped forward to the Civil War, which makes for kooky stories galore. I’m sure I’d heard the story of the Merrimack and the Monitor but never in such glowing terms. Hale rightly seeks out and brings to light the story of William Barker Cushing, a prankster who used his pranking skills to help win the war for the Union, as well as a cussing Swede and other interesting folks involved in the Civil War’s naval battles. Also, by book #2 Hale is giving himself a little more literary leeway. A character with the last name of Fox is presented as a walking talking fuzzy animal, acknowledged as too crazy to be accurate, but giving the book a bit of that old kid-friendly zing.

These two are, alas, cursed books. Historical graphic novels tend to be. I blame the fact that for years some of the worst, ugliest, most didactic comics out there were those created to “teach” the kids history. Historical comics are often the dregs of the comic book publishing industry. So the fact that there are now comics that are not only beautifully drawn but smart, funny, and often containing better historical facts and information than whole chunks of school textbooks out there is going to throw a couple teachers and librarians for a loop. “Hazardous Tales” follows in a fine tradition of Center for Cartoon Studies series that included Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, Houdini The Handcuff King, and others. And like those books librarians will have a darned time figuring out where to put them on their shelves. Are they nonfiction or fiction? If nonfiction, do you put them with the other Revolutionary War / Civil War titles or do you give them a call # and put them in the graphic novel section? So many questions. So few answers.

I say that this series bears some similarities to other historical graphic novel series, but the fact of the matter is, and let’s face it, they’re 500% more fun than any of their competitors out there. The fictional trope of Nathan Hale telling his story to the child stand-in hangman and grown-up/authority figure stand-in of the Provost Marshal gives him the perfect Greek chorus. Against the hangman’s silliness and the Marshall’s pomposity Hale has the perfect dual comic foil. Add to that his storytelling style. I was reminded instantly of Steve Sheinkin’s hilarious King George: What Was His Problem?: The Whole Hilarious Story of the American Revolution, a book that acts as an ideal companion to One Dead Spy. Like Hale, Sheinkin sought to find those aspects of the Revolutionary War that would speak to child readers. And if they just happen to be exciting and amusing, so be it. Pair the two together for the best unit on the late 1700s any 4th through 6th grader ever saw.

The sheer amount of research that went into this book is impressive. Impressive too is the backmatter which tends to consist of biographies of the major players (with paintings/photographs where available), a Bibliography of pertinent sources (illustrated into its own story, naturally), a discussion of primary sources, debatable historical facts found in the “Correction Baby” section, and in the case of One Dead Spy, a bonus story. Currently public schools in most American states are wrangling with a new form of teaching called Common Core. With its increased emphasis on reading more nonfiction texts one cannot help but notice that this book would make for a rather ideal companion to many a school unit. Just sayin’.

And I mentioned they were funny, right? Not chuckle softly into your tea funny either. I’m talking snort milk out your nose funny. There is a section in Big Bad Ironclad in particular that is so well done, so hilarious, and so ridiculous that I keep going back to it just for fun. It’s a simple explanation of why two soldiers sent to repair the Merrimack and bring her north from Virginia instead ended up participating in burning it and its shipyard to a cinder. Hale draws the sequence like a gigantic board game. When the two meet the Commodore he ignores their orders to take the ship insisting that it’s safest at the shipyard. They mention that Virginia might secede. The next sequence reads, “Virginia will not join the South!” “Sir! A telegram! Virginia has joined the South!” Then everything goes swiftly downhill with the mad-eyed Commodore yelling “BURN! SINK! BURN!” Oh, it’s a hoot.

Both books in the series employ the cost-saving one-color technique many graphic novels utilize today (Babymouse, Fangbone, etc.) which allows the publisher to save costs while luring kid consumers who eschew pure black and white. The quality of the publication, however, is far higher than most graphic novels for kids out there. Thick pages and a strong binding guarantee that no matter how many reads the books receive they’ll stand up to a pounding. Hopefully they’ll be discovered too. If you sell them to the kids who loved Hale’s work on books like Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack as well as history lovers and comic book lovers in general, Hale could find himself with a significant following. Fingers crossed that he includes more historical women in his future books as well.  After all, this series may be a slow burner, but trust me when I say that it’s worth discovering for folks of every age. Love `em, love `em, love `em.

On shelves now.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

King George: What Was His Problem? by Steve Sheinkin


Laika by Nick Abadzis


Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm


Thunder From the Sea: Adventure On Board the HMS Defender by Jeff Weigel

Other Blog Reviews:

100 Scope Notes
books4yourkids.com
Good Comics for Kids
Back to Books
Sharon the Librarian
Comics Worth Reading
2nd Grade Reading
(Library Lass) Adventures in Reading
Graphic Policy

Professional Reviews:

The Kirkus reviews of One Dead Spy and Big Bad Ironclad

Interviews:

Good Comics for Kids did a two parter Q&A with Hale.  Enjoy Part One and Part Two.

Misc:

One Dead Spy is included in New York Public Library 2012 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list.


If you haven’t checked out the Hazardous Tales blog you must do so quickly and without fail.  That way you’ll be able to see this series redone in the styles of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Adventure Time, Wreck-It Ralph, and Harry Potter.

Fusenews: The P.D. Eastman Influence

Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving yesterday!  I had family in town, including my niece and brother-in-law.  Steve, the bro-in-law in question, has a kind of genius for synthesizing down P.D. Eastman books to their most essential lessons.  He’s always objected to Are You My Mother? on the basis that this baby bird is dropped into a post-apocalyptic hellscape void of color or love.  Hard to look at it any other way now.  And recently he was reading Go, Dog, Go! to my niece.  Here are his brilliant thoughts on the matter:

“Did you know that the lovely, whimsical children’s book Go, Dog. Go! has a moral? Well, it does when I read it to my daughter. The moral is that if a boy is always hurting your feelings, until one day at a wild party when he suddenly starts being nice to you, DO NOT LEAVE THE PARTY WITH HIM. (see: ‘Do you like my hat?’)”

Thank you, Steve!

I don’t know if you knew this, but the 92nd Street Y here in town has a Children’s Reading Series that is now in its fifth year.  Upcoming speakers include Walter Dean Myers, Rebecca Stead, and the magnificent Jack Gantos.  See them!  Enjoy them!  Blow them kisses!


That night, the nightmares.


Okay.  I know what book I’ll be reviewing next on this blog.  I don’t know if you’ve read the two amazing historical graphic novels by Nathan Hale called Nathan Hales’s Hazardous Tales but they are, to be plain about it, jaw-droppingly amusing and fantastic.  The sales are also not as high as they might be.  The result is that Nathan’s been doing this fantastic blog series of prank covers created to appeal to the masses.  The man has always been remarkably good at imitating the styles of others (see: The Re-Seussification Project) and now you get to see his series redone as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Adventure Time (ask your kids), Wreck-It Ralph, and Harry Potter.  More to come, I hope!


Meanwhile, phew!  Looks like I reviewed Goblin Secrets by William Alexander just in time!  There it goes, up and winning a National Book Award (yay, children’s books winning!) and here Mr. Alexander discusses it with Publishers Weekly.


Here’s an award I hadn’t heard of before.  It’s called The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award and it’s “a new award for radical fiction for children aged 0-12.”  When I first heard about it I wondered if there was any connection to Phil Nel’s book Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature .  As it happens it’s a British award for British books.  Wish we had a Yankee version here in the States.  I can think of a book or two that would be great little submissions.


Everyone’s all with the talky talk about Philip Pullman’s new retelling of the Grimm Fairy Tales.  Monica has an actual honest-to-god interview with the man over at Educating Alice and Leila Roy is also thinking about the book at bookshelves of doom.  Finally, the man I most wanted to hear from, Jack Zipes, talks about the book here.


Looks like somebody thinks they have a serious crack at a Newbery.  Which is to say, Random House has rethought the cover of Crow by Barbara Wright.  Here’s a before and after for you.

Before:

After:

Thanks to Colby Sharp for the link!

Hm. So the Wall Street Journal came up with a holiday book recommendation list made up entirely of re-illustrated classics.  It’s an interesting list in terms of looking at what classics are getting redone, but at the same time it’s kind of a pity to see big news outlets like the WSJ not informing folks about the new authors and new books out there, relying instead on the same old, same old.  I can see both sides on this one.  Hm hm.


Speaking of new books recommended, I have to say that the recent Best Children’s Books of 2012 list from Kirkus is particularly good.  One of their better years, honestly.  Just cast your eyes upon it and while there are a couple inclusions that cause me to scratch my head, the majority of titles are stellar.


NPR came up with its own list of Graphic Novels That Flew Under the Radar in 2012.  Thanks to J.L. Bell for the link though, as he put it so well, he “Did not realize ‘under the radar’ can mean ‘on NYTBR bestseller list’.”  It is a little odd to consider Drama “under the radar”.  Which radar where, exactly?


I’m still trying to figure out what to wear for the next Newbery/Caldecott Banquet.  One idea: Did you know they make Pigeon fabrics?  Need I say more?  Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.


Good news for L’Engle fans!  “The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine will be dedicated a Literary Landmark on Thursday, November 29th at 4:00 p.m. to recognize the church’s connection with the legendary children’s author, Madeleine L’Engle, who served as the church’s librarian for more than 40 years. November 29th would have been L’Engle’s 94th birthday. During the dedication, Leonard S. Marcus, children’s literature historian and author of Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L’Engle in Many Voices (FSG, 2012), will speak about L’Engle and her connection to the Cathedral.”  It’s open to the public and no RSVP is necessary so have a blast!


Here’s the kind of news I like to hear! “Efforts spearheaded by Kalamazoo Public Schools and other groups to turn Kalamazoo into a “literacy community” seem to be bearing fruit on at least one front: The number of children’s books checked out from the Kalamazoo Public Library has jumped 19 percent in one year.”  Woo-hoo!  Hometown pride!


Ann M. Martin picks her top ten Baby-Sitters’ Club books.  Follow it up with my favorite Hairpin article The Baby-Sitters Club: Where Are They Now? for a true BSC experience.


Daily Image:

I’ve shown artist Thomas Allen’s work on this blog before, but it’s been a while.  Mike Lewis alerted me to the fact that he has a lot of great new stuff up.  Here’s a very small sampling.

Thanksgiving Greetings from Your Friendly Neighborhood Swede

Bork bork bork!

Happy Thanksgiving, you kooky turkey lovers.

Press Release Fun: The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival Returns to New York City!

And I am SO going to be there.  This is a crazy good line-up.

Thalia Kids’ Book Club Presents

The 2012 90-Second Newbery F ilm Festival

Sunday, December 2 at 4 pm at Symphony Space

All Tickets: $15 ($12 for members)

This special event  marks the debut screening of the top videos submitted by kids to the second annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. Between the films, an all-star line-up of children’s authors Jon Scieszka, Kate DiCamillo, Rita Williams-Garcia, Margi Preus, Brian Floca, Dan Yaccarino and James Kennedy will keep the crowd entertained with wacky book related games, silly antics and surprises.

This national contest celebrates the biggest award in children’s literature by asking students across the country to make a video that compresses the story of a Newbery award-winning book into 90 seconds or less. This year’s winners include an eclectic group of submissions from kids around the county who created an array of inventive films, including a stop-motion claymation Mr. Popper’s Penguin, a robot version of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby Age 8, a late-night talk show inspired by Because of Winn-Dixie, starring a 4th grade class, and many more.

Appearances by Kate DiCamillo, author of the Newbery award-winner The Tale of Despereaux, Rita Williams-Garcia, author of the Newbery honor book One Crazy Summer, Margi Preus author of the Newbery honor book Heart of a Samurai, Brian Floca (Lightship) and Dan Yaccarino (Oswald). Hosted by the festival’s co-creator James Kennedy (The Order of Odd-fish) and the hilarious Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man).

The event is co-presented with the Bank Street Bookstore.

For details on the contest and to get a sneak preview of some of this year’s finalists, visit www.90secondnewbery.com .

Symphony Space is located at

2537 Broadway (at 95th), New  York, NY 10025

Box office: 212-864-5400 boxoffice@symphonyspace.org

Artwork and more information are available upon request.

PRESS CONTACT: Beth Blenz-Clucas, Sugar Mountain PR (503) 293-9498beth@sugarmountainpr.com