Betsy Bird's Blog, page 58

And Now, This Is What Happens When You Read Too Many Picture Books in a Single Year

Alternate Title: This Is What Happens When You Give a Librarian Access to Tiktok;

Okay. So yesterday I got a little silly. I took all the 2023 children’s book titles that sounded similar to me and I made a video out of them. And THIS . . . this was the product at the end of the day. Enjoy or condemn (it’s all the same to me):

Review of the Day: Mexikid by Pedro Martín

Mexikid
By Pedro Martín
Dial (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$24.99
ISBN: 9780593462287
Ages 9-12
On shelves August 1st

“I don’t think he’s ever done a book for kids before.” I’m standing on the floor of the American Library Association in June of 2023. The conference is packed. Librarians that haven’t been to an annual conference since before the COVID pandemic are congregating in droves and the noise levels are significantly high. In spite of this, I can hear my companion clearly, but I’m ...

First Lines of the Last 30 Newbery Award Winners.

What does the first line of a book convey to its reader? And can you, by examining such lines in books granted the very highest of literary awards to children’s books, glean some kind of insight or wisdom by reading through them, one by one?

The easy answer to all of this is no. Of course not. Writers of books for children understand instinctively the importance of that opening salvo to their piece, but it’s just that. A single line out of hundreds. There’s no magic to it. If you write th...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

Believe it or not, Syd Hoff’s been in the news quite a lot lately. Not bad for a pronounced children’s literature 1930s Communist, eh? You could be forgiven for not knowing a lot about Syd Hoff. Honestly, I’d managed to skate through a significant portion of my life remaining unaware of him apart from the fact that there was some racist stuff at the beginning of the original editions of Danny and the Dinosaur. Now that book series is being turned into a movie series and a book of his early C...

Review of the Day: Jawbreaker by Christina Wyman

Jawbreaker
By Christina Wyman
Farrar, Straus & Giroux (an imprint of Macmillan)
$17.99
ISBN: 9780374389697
Ages 9-12
On shelves October 24, 2023

I do not like bully books. I didn’t like them when I was a kid. I didn’t like them when I was a teen. And I CERTAINLY do not like them as an adult. They’re cheap. An easy way to earn a reader’s sympathy. All you have to do is take your hero, regardless of any personality you’ve bestowed upon them, and make them the victim. Bingo! Instant empathy! For thi...

Where’s THEIR Book? Ten Historical Figures I’d Like To See in Picture Book Biographies

It wasn’t that long ago that biographical subjects in picture books were limited to the already famous. If you wanted to do, say, a picture book on Peg Leg Bates, you were likely to run into a publisher saying, “Sorry. There’s already one out there. Pick someone else.” Frankly, you’d have a much better chance of getting your book published if it was on Keller/Lincoln/Tubman/Earhardt/Einstein/Edison.

But that’s all changed now, hasn’t it? This year alone I’ve seen extraordinary picture books ...

Unexpected Jolts of Children’s Literature

It’s that time again! Time to investigate those books written for adults that have some kind of direct tie to children’s literature. I save up each one of these titles as I encounter them until I have enough for a decent post. Today, the roster includes worms, socialists, memoirs, and lust. All to the good:

The Ruling Clawss: The Socialist Cartoons of Syd Hoff

If you woke up this morning and thought to yourself, “I hope in my travels I get to see a great big capitalist butt or two ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: When Everybody Wore a Hat by William Steig

Recently I created a post of picture books that belie the idea that all picture book “classics” are by white people. Amongst these were books with Jewish content. They were:

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Episode 24)The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming (Episode 68)Tell Me a Mitzi (Episode 89)Hanukkah Bear / The Chanukkah Guest (Episode 117)It Could Always Be Worse (Episode 154)Latkes and Applesauce (Episode 164)Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Episode 208)Lau...

Ellen Myrick Publisher Preview: Fall 2023/Winter 2024 (Part Eight – Kube, Lantana, Little Island, and Marble Press)

And just like that . . . it was over. We’ve come to the end of our previews for the Fall/Winter season, and what a long crazy trip it has been. If you missed them, you can see the previous round-ups in seven parts (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, and Part Seven).

Without further ado, let’s look a couple more titles on the horizon:

Hamza Attends a Janaza by Shabana Hussain and Atefeh Mohammadzadeh

Pub Date: Octber 3, 2023

ISBN: 9780860379010

...

Review of the Day: Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends by Kaz Windness

Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends
By Kaz Windness
Simon Spotlitght (an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division)
$17.99
ISBN: 9781665920018
Ages 3-6
On shelves now

There is such a thing as being too well-informed about the history of children’s literature. I’ll give you an example. In 1972 a “picture book” was released called Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus. It was an allegorical book, meaning it was not really intended for kids. But if you were the child of hippies in the 7...