Betsy Bird's Blog, page 36

Review of the Day: Next Stop by Debbie Fong

Next Stop
By Debbie Fong
Random House Graphic (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$21.99
ISBN: 9780593425206
Ages 9-12
On shelves now

Can there be too much of a good thing when it comes to comics for kids? When I was a young upstart children���s librarian I used to run a bookclub for kids between the ages of 9-12. The kids were incredible readers, each one with their own particular tastes and preferences. That���s probably why it was so painful when the graphic novel lovers would come into...

Encapsulating the Breadth of Sentiment: Q&A with Ism��e Williams About Abuelo, the Sea, and Me

A pediatric cardiologist in the Bronx writes three young adult novels. Sounds like the set-up for a romantic comedy, does it not? But in the case of Ism��e Williams, it’s nothing but the truth. The co-founder of the 501(c)(3) Latinx Kidlit Book Festival has written YA books like This Train Is Being Held and shows no signs of stopping. No surprises there. What is surprising is Ms. Williams’ next move. As of yesterday, she has released her very first picture book. Abuelo, the Sea, and Me is the st...

Unexpected Jolts of Children’s Literature

All right, all right! If you know this series then you know the drill. By night, I’m a crime-fighting children’s literature expert, blogging for all she’s worth (true story, with the possible exception of the “crime-fighting” part). But by day I’m mild-mannered Betsy Bird, Collection Development Manager at Evanston Public Library and the buyer of all the adult content for my system. That means, anytime I see an adult book with a connection to kidlit, I gather it close and keep it in mind for thi...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo by William Joyce

As mentioned in the podcast, Kate and I truly will be in San Diego at the upcoming ALA Annual Conference to record an episode of our podcast WITH a special secret guest. Many thanks to the very kind Travis Jonker (alumni of my sister’s college, we discovered) for sharing his recording booth with us. Today’s book was a Reading Rainbow book back in the day. I detect some similarities to The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg, we talk Gertie the Dinosaur, and try to understand why members of ...

This Interview is a Little Bit Super: A Gary Schmidt/Leah Henderson Q&A

If I told you that there was a new Gary Schmidt book out this year, would you be surprised? What if I told you that there was a new Leah Henderson book? And what if I went even further and told you that Gary and Leah had worked on it together. And WHAT if, WHAT IF, I went even further than that and let you know that it was an anthology called A Little Bit Super and that it was out now. Would you be surprised? I was surprised. Not simply on the collaborating duo, but also at the line-up they got ...

Tender and Subtle, with a Wild Fancifulness: A Q&A About Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow’s SISTER FRIEND

Okay, so sit down for a second here. I want to tell you a thing or two about Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow. I promise that this is going somewhere. So Jamilah is a Philadelphia-based educator and has taught children and teens in traditional and alternative learning settings for 15 years. She’s an inaugural AMAL fellow with the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC), and she developed foundational curricular frameworks for youth and adult anti-racist programming. All well and good. Meanwhile, o...

The Pastabilities Are Endless: Q&A with Aimee Lucido About Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta

Lest we be unclear, I’m no picture book pushover. You think you’ve got a bouncy, fun picture book ideal for large storytimes (and with a natural food tie-in to boot)? I dunno, man. Rhymes, after all, are tricky things and writing an expert rhyming book can sometimes be a struggle. Maybe that’s why I was so floored by Aimee Lucido’s awesome Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta. So much so that I even wrote out my own description for it. Here, check it out:

“Incredible, bouncy cooking energy infuses this d...

The Pastabilities Are Endless: Q&A with Aimee Lucideo About Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta

Lest we be unclear, I’m no picture book pushover. You think you’ve got a bouncy, fun picture book ideal for large storytimes (and with a natural food tie-in to boot)? I dunno, man. Rhymes, after all, are tricky things and writing an expert rhyming book can sometimes be a struggle. Maybe that’s why I was so floored by Aimee Lucideo’s awesome Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta. So much so that I even wrote out my own description for it. Here, check it out:

“Incredible, bouncy cooking energy infuses this ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

I think it all began with my recent publisher preview featuring the book Who’s Writing This Story?! by Robin Newman. Best described as yet another meta fourth-wall bursting picture book with The Three Little Pigs as its focus, it got me to thinking. What is it about those darn pigs and picture book meta-analysis? First you get The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and then, not too long after, there was The Three Pigs by David Wiesner. Of course, the moment I thought that I...

Review of the Day: Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu

Not Quite a Ghost
By Anne Ursu
Walden Pond Press (an imprint of Harper Collins)
$19.99
ISBN: 9780062275158
Ages 9-12
On shelves now

As a grown woman who reviews books for kids on the regular, I���ve picked up a trick or two in my time. For one thing, there are only so many stories out there to tell. To keep a sense of wonder in place, then, I like to dive into a book without knowing much about it apart from the author, the title, and what the cover looks like. I���m saying all this as a kind of w...