Betsy Bird's Blog, page 55

An Interview with the Newest National Book Award Nominee: Talking About More Than a Dream

You might have noticed yesterday that the longlist of nominees for the National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature was released to the public. I’ll be honest with you. Normally when that list is released it’s just a slew of YA titles with two middle grade fiction books for spice. I can’t remember the last time I was actually impressed with the choices. This year’s list, however, is amazing. I’d read title after title, which is almost never the case, and I disagreed with none of the choice...

Guest Post: The Making of HOUR OF NEED – A Chicago Story by Ralph Shayne

This past Sunday I missed a program at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center that I would have enjoyed greatly. You see, recently a graphic novel was developed in partnership with the museum called Hour of Need. The story shares the true story of how the people of an occupied nation risked their lives to evacuate their Jewish countrymen. Here’s the description:

“When Nazis moved to round up Danish Jews in a surprise raid in 1943, families were forced to make life-and-death deci...

“The best part of Humanity is the fluidity of it all.” An Eagle Drums Interview with Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson

There once was a time when origin myths from a wide variety of cultures populated children’s libraries all around our great nation. Now that sounds lovely, but there was a bit of a catch. Sure, we had lots of books with tales hailing from different parts of the world, but it is notable how infrequently the people telling those myths actually hailed from those cultures. Notable too how often those authors would fail to credit where they got their tales in the first place.

Time passed and ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: How Babies Are Made by Andrew C. Andry and Steven Schepp, ill. Blake Hampton

“Three dudes telling you how babies are made in 1968.”

The Fuse 8 n’ Kate podcast focuses primarily on picture books of the past, but that focus means that we are subject to the past’s limitations. Consequently, most of the books we’ve considered until now have been works of fiction. Well no more! Today we tackle one of our first nonfiction titles, this one dating back to 1968 and, I have no doubt, still circulating in libraries to this day. Yes, it’s a book on human reproduction. So how...

Review of the Day – Alone: The Journeys of Three Young Refugees by Paul Tom, ill. Mélanie Baillairgé, translated by Arielle Aaronson

Alone: The Journeys of Three Young Refugees
By Paul Tom
Illustrated by Mélanie Baillairgé
Translated by Arielle Aaronson
Groundwood Books (House of Anansi Press)
$24.99
ISBN: 9781773069272
Ages 10 and up
On shelves now

I can’t get my children’s librarians to read this book. This is no ding against the book itself. It’s top notch. Stellar. Like no other book out there. And I’ve pondered what it is exactly about this book that I cannot sell to my compatriots. Is it the fact that the predominant color...

Art and Science Combine As One: It’s an Iguanodon’s Horn Cover Reveal + Interview with Sean Rubin!

Is there any disappoint that cuts more cleanly to the heart than when you discover that a beautiful children’s book you’ve seen for the very first time isn’t going to come out until the following year? Just me? Well it’s a pain I should be inured to by now, but even so I never quite get used to the feeling. Case in point, today’s beautiful book.

Months ago author/artist Sean Rubin (whom you may know best from his jaw-dropping graphic novel Bolivar) gave me a look at The Iguanodon’s Horn: How ...

A New Laurie Halse Anderson Cover Reveal? Yes and Please!

You know her.

You love her.

You are vaguely aware that she was recently celebrated as one of the top authors in the WORLD for young people by winning the highly coveted Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award this year (which gives out the largest amount of money given to a creator of literature for youth internationally).

You also happen to love her books, which makes a fair amount of sense. Which one is your favorite? Chains? Speak? And could I possibly interest you in seeing her latest book?

...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Drummer Hoff by Barbara Emberley, ill. Ed Emberley

As many of you already know, I hate to start a podcast off in this way with my sister’s #1 dislike (honest!fer sure! you betcha!) but since listener Ann Burke was so kind as to send us a remarkable piece of clown-related kidlit history (and I am RAPIDLY making an amazing Vintage Horrifying Picture Book Clown collection for myself) you cannot blame me if I feature it on the podcast right off the bat.

Meanwhile, (and not to bury the lede) our actual book featured today was DRUMMER HOFF. An...

Review of the Day: The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo, ill. Julie Morstad

The Puppets of Spelhorst
By Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick Press
$17.99
ISBN: 9781536216752
Ages 6-10
On shelves October 10, 2023

I’m no story theorist. I can quote the rudimentary ideas that the pros like to bandy about, but I’ve never made a serious study of their rules and regulations (The Secrets of Story being the sole exception, naturally). Still, there are a couple ideas I’ve picked up over the years that make sense to me. For example, let’s consider the idea of the “passive protagonist”. This ...

Cover Reveal and Chat with Kekla Magoon About THE SECRET LIBRARY

Yesterday, I was talking about THE LOST LIBRARY.

Today? It’s SECRET LIBRARY time, my friends!

I tell you, libraries are not only the place to be these days, they’re infiltrating our books as well. And who better to put her pen to paper (in the proverbial sense, of course) than the one and only Kekla Magoon?

Coming out in March of 2024, Kekla’s latest is being discussed by her publisher as one of a kind. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s the description proper:

Since Grandpa di...