Betsy Bird's Blog, page 53

“What can you create that truly speaks to this moment?” Karida L. Brown and Charly Palmer Discuss The New Brownies Book

Time to hand you a jot of history this morning. Listen close:

In 1920, as Black art and writing flourished during the Harlem Renaissance, scholar, author, and activist W. E. B. Du Bois and managing editor, Jessie Redmon Fauset, started a magazine for children. Calling it The Brownies’ Book: A Monthly Magazine for Children of the Sun, it was the first magazine aimed specifically at Black young people. In his role as editor-in-chief, Du Bois reached out to the era’s most celebrated Black cre...

Guest Post: There’s Power in Teaching Media Literacy by Christine Platt

Person reaches out to me. They say, hey. Do you want to host a guest post from the current Ambassador for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture? Folks, I am only human. I’m not made of stone. Who amongst you could say no to such a request?

The Ambassador in question is Christine Platt, a former Senior Policy Advisor for the US Department of Energy. But even then, even then, I had to be convinced. I mean, your job may be cool but is the premise of your book ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Annie Was Warned by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

In spite of the fact that Ed Young recently passed away and, traditionally, when a master of the picture book form passes away, we do one of their books on the show, I decided to keep him on the backburner while we do our first Halloween picture book of the season. And I am VERY excited about this because today’s book came out in 2003, which means we can finally do it on this podcast (we have a 20 year rule on books we consider). It wasn’t Krosoczka’s first picture book but it certainly was ...

Review of the Day: Oh, Olive! by Lian Cho

Oh, Olive!
By Lian Cho
Katherine Tegan Books (an imprint of Harper Collins)
$19.99
ISBN: 9780063237490
Ages 3-6
On shelves now

I like so many things about picture books that it would be hard to pin down what precisely I like about them the most. Of course, there is one aspect of children’s literature that I forget and rediscover on a regular basis, and that always makes me inordinately happy when that re-discovery takes place. The simple fact of the matter is that children’s books, like much of s...

Complete Listing of All Public Children’s Literature Statues in the United States – A Call for New Submissions

The other day I was reading through my Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf newsletter and I came upon this little news item:

“On September 20, literature lovers attended the reveal of a new statue of The Little Prince on Villa Albertine’s garden wall in Manhattan in honor of the 80th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved book.”

Statue? Did they say statue? Thaaaaat’s right!

For long long longtime readers of this blog, you may already know that I cultivate an odd lit...

“The nature of healing is unpredictable.” An Andrew Knapp Interview About Find Momo

At this time of year I just have to tell you that you’re going to see a significant increase in posts about 2024 releases. Today’s post? No exception.

For a number of years now I’ve been a big fan of a little board book series. If you know me then you know that every December I do a round-up of my favorite board books of the year. That was how I discovered the Find Momo series. The books were cute. The were funny. They involved photography (my favorite medium) and often involved locating a w...

Interview Triumvirate: A Three-Way Rescues Interview with Tommy and Charlie Greenwald and Shiho Pate

At my library we have a committee that works to create an annual list of 101 great books for kids. If you serve on that committee with me, though, there is a price to pay. Mainly, you have to listen to me holding a book over my head every few months or so saying, “Now I’m not a huge fan of dog books, but this one . . .” Apparently I feel obligated to mention my I-don’t-love-every-dog-book-bonifides on a regular basis. This is partly because there are some folks who love every canine-related ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin, ill. Marc Simont

Having recently read the new book Ready, Set, Run! The Amazing New York City Marathon by Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Jessie Hartland, I was reminded of the old chestnut The Philharmonic Gets Dressed. Then, suddenly, it occurred to me that we’d never ever done this particular book on our podcast. Now I know that Kate expects me to bring her Halloween-related fare and ONLY Halloween-related fare in October, but with five weeks of Mondays in this month, I simply could not comply. But isn’t...

Interview with Jorge Cham: Now With a Bonus Comic!

You know what’s better than reading an author? Interviewing an author!

You know what’s better than interviewing an author? Having that same author (who happens to also be a comic book artist) draw part of the interview!

But FIRST! Please be so good as to mean Jorge Cham. You may know his name from a variety of different places. Was it from the SLJ Picture Book Palooza last summer when SLJ covered his adult book, We Have No Idea? Was it because he’s the co-host of the iHeart Radio show, Da...

Cover Reveal: My Book and Me by Linda Sue Park, ill. Chris Raschka

It has a July 23. 2024 publication date.

It has a Newbery Award winning author.

It has a two-time Caldecott Award winning illustrator.

Its pedigree? Unmatched. Its contents? Unseen.

Folks, I bring to you, the ultimate in cover reveals . . . .

My Book and Me!

That’s right. Front AND back covers. Only the best for you.

Special thanks to Angus Killick and the folks at Red Comet Press for sharing this beauty. Expect to see it on bookstore and library shelves everywhere as ...