Betsy Bird's Blog, page 63

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Apt. 3 by Ezra Jack Keats

Hat tip to Nick Bruel (our other other brother from another nother mother) for today’s suggestion. He asked if we’d done any Ezra Jack Keats before and we said, “Sure! We did The Snow Day“. Then he asked if we’d done Apt. 3 and we had NOT! Plus, I recently highlighted on my blog the new Keats bio for adults, Becoming Ezra Jack Keats, so this seemed particularly apropos. In this episode we discuss how this book is like Only Murders in the Building, how, from a color-perspective, this book is quit...

Celebrate Gender Expression with a South Asian Focus: An Interview with Jyoti Rajan Gopal About MY PAATI’S SARIS

At this exact moment in time there are libraries across the country being forced to remove or restrict books where characters, be they penguins or people, have the freedom to express themselves and declare who and what they love. The answer to this, I should think, is obvious. Let us flood the market, my friends. Let us create an unceasing tidal wave of books on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. And, in the ultimate act of defiance, let us make them be really good books. Books where the plot is far more th...

Ellen Myrick Publisher Preview: Fall 2023/Winter 2024 (Part One)

It’s that time again!

For those of you unfamiliar with what’s about to happen, let me give you a rundown. First up, please be so good as to meet Ellen Myrick of Myrick Marketing and Media. Ellen represents a slew of small publishers, many of whom bring international children’s books to the States. And, if you know anything about the publishing industry, much of the work these publishers do comes in the form of letting folks know what you have on offer. That’s why Ellen comes to me. She tells ...

Interview: Stephanie Rodriguez Talks Bronx, 00s Nostalgia, and More in Doodles from the Boogie Down

When I first moved to New York City I didn’t know the first thing about “boroughs”. Were they like neighborhoods? I’d heard of Staten Island and Queens but I didn’t really understand what the difference was between them. Really, it wasn’t until I started working for New York Public Library that I realized how vital each borough is to the heart and soul of the city. I also learned that while most of the press goes to Brooklyn and Manhattan, it’s the Bronx that commands your respect. For one thing...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Remy Charlip AND Christian Robinson

Kate sez: I want to do a spring book.

I sez: Here’s a dead bird!

Since I just love the Tom Lehrer song “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” so much (which begins, if you’ll recall, with the words, “Spring is here”) I just naturally thought of today’s book. Created both in 1958 and in 2016, I was so lucky to find BOTH editions in my library system. We’re continuing our funeral home theme started by such titles as Duck, Death and the Tulip. It’s our third Margaret Wise Brown book (after Goodn...

Review of the Day: Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow

Simon Sort of Says
By Erin Bow
Disney Hyperion (an imprint of Buena Vista Books)
$16.99
ISBN: 9781368089999
On shelves now

To start us off here, put yourself in my shoes. I’m on a plane headed overseas and I’m going to have lots of time on my hands. I review books for kids, yes, but I also write books for kids and I figured that this copious plane time would be ideal for tightening up this middle grade novel I’ve been working on. But, this being a plane, there are large swaths of time where a pe...

Finding Answers: Leonard Marcus Looks at the Creation of Picture Book Worlds and Discusses the Global Children’s Illustration of PICTURED WORLDS

Sometimes a person finds themself in another country and they want to cast off all connections to their home country. For example, this past March I was in Bologna for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and while I was perusing the bookstore they have on the conference floor I saw an amazing title. The store looked like this:

The book, like this:

Ist not that beautiful? It may have been American in origin, but for once I didn’t care a jot. A new Leonard Marcus book is, by definition, a...

Becoming Ezra Jack Keats: Virginia McGee Butler Discusses the Creation of His First Full Biography

How do you write a biography of an iconic creator? Particularly when that biography, remarkably, has never existed before? It seems unbelievable that no one ever thought to sit down and write a full adult biography of the life and times of Ezra Jack Keats, but until this very year of 2023 no one had. No one, that is, until Virginia McGee Butler decided to make one herself. Filled with stories and facts never collected together before, this is the place to go if you ever wanted to hear about, say...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Round Trip by Ann Jonas

What happens when a designer decides to make picture books? What happens when she goes and gets creative with the illustrations? While remembered for many things, I’d say that this 1983 release is without a doubt the best known of creator Ann Jonas. You may remember it yourself. It’s the picture book where you read it one way and then turn it upside down and read it the other. It feels like a dare, and comes off as the number one book I had to produce when I worked as a children’s librarian....

Happy Earth Day! A Talk with Illustrator Debra Frasier About THIS IS THE PLANET WHERE I LIVE

I’ve seen some interesting round-ups recently about children’s books with environmental bents. In this vein, 2023 truly is a boom year. I’ve been impressed by a wide range of children’s books like Restoring: Prairie, Woods, and Pond: How a Small Trail Can Make a Big Difference by Laurie Lawlor, The Last Plastic Straw: A Plastic Problem and Finding Ways to Fix It by Dee Romito, ill. Ziyue Chen, The Forest in the Sea: Seaweed Solutions to Planetary Problems by Anita Sanchez, and more. Now, on the ...