Betsy Bird's Blog, page 72

Announcing the 2023 Newbery/Caldecott/YMA Pre-Game Show!

Are you one of those strange nerds that get weirdly excited when you think about what might win one of the top children’s book awards on Monday, January 30th? Then why not join another nerd who’s not only excited but wants to blabber on about potential winners an hour before the official awards broadcast? Join me as I consider a whole host of different contenders. Will outsider Christopher Denise steal the gold? Could Sophie Blackall get it for a third time in a row? Is it possible that Jacq...

Review of the Day: Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

Unraveller
By Frances Hardinge
Amulet Books
$19.99
ISBN: 9781419759314
Ages 12 and up
On shelves January 10th

Who is your favorite author? It’s the kind of question an adult asks a child or a child asks a visiting children’s book creator. It suggests a world of extremes. A world in which when you have a favorite anything it’s a single solitary favorite. This applies as much to favorite ice cream flavors or favorite movies as favorite colors or favorite types of dog. But when you ask a reader who ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock retold by Eric A. Kimmel, ill. Janet Stevens

KPOM!

It was a storytime staple for me back when I was a children’s librarian. But how has this 1988 picture book stood up over the intervening years? Today it’s time to accompany our previous spider-filled picture book The Spider and the Fly with another eight-legged potential classic. We’ve done one other Eric A. Kimmel book on the podcast before (remember Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins?). In spite of the sheer number of times I’ve read this book, Kate finds PLENTY of details in Janet...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rick retold by Eric A. Kimmel, ill. Janet Stevens

KPOM!

It was a storytime staple for me back when I was a children’s librarian. But how has this 1988 picture book stood up over the intervening years? Today it’s time to accompany our previous spider-filled picture book The Spider and the Fly with another eight-legged potential classic. We’ve done one other Eric A. Kimmel book on the podcast before (remember Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins?). In spite of the sheer number of times I’ve read this book, Kate finds PLENTY of details in Janet...

Review of the Day: My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder

My Strange Shrinking Parents
By Zeno Sworder
Thames & Hudson
$17.95
ISBN: 9781760762957
Ages 3-6
On shelves January 10th

I don’t think that anyone would contest the idea that your occupation has an impact on the way in which your brain works on a day-to-day basis. Work trains our minds into certain patterns. My job, for example, for many years was to be a children’s librarian. Part of what that means is that any time a person, be they a small child or an adult, came up to my desk, I had to be pre...

2023 Arrived and a Blog Is Still Here: What Does the Future Hold?

The timeline works as follows:

2005 – Blogging is new and hip and cool. I start a children’s literature blog and promptly name it after a 1989 Century Buick car part (there were reasons).2006 – School Library Journal starts collecting a roster of children’s literature blogs and scoops up A Fuse #8 Production.2011 or so (the internet isn’t sure about this one) blogging is declared dead.

I mean, I was as shocked as you are to learn it. But apparently I’ve been participating in a dead format ...

The Tycoon: Talking with Leonard Marcus About Abraham Lincoln, Our “Masterly Media Manipulator”

In the pantheon of children’s literature scholars of the early 21st century, no star burns brighter than Leonard Marcus. Indeed, no one really could challenge him for the throne. Whether he’s encapsulating the history of children’s book publishing in Minders of Make-Believe, giving context to the creation of Little Golden Books, or writing biographies of luminaries like Margaret Wise Brown, he’s the man you turn to when you want information about children’s book greats of the past.

That s...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, ill. Jane Chapman

While we acknowledge that the year 2023 has arrived, we could resist considering one last 2002 title. As you know, we’ve a cap on considering any book younger than 20 years old, and as of 2022 this Wilson/Chapman collab fit the bill. It’s cold outside and a story of FOMO and snuggly bear caves seemed to fit the bill. We consider the book that launched a thousand other Bear books. Anyone who can rhyme “lair” with “bear” has earned our trust.

BONUS CONTENT: A spreadsheet of every single bo...

In Memoriam: Remembering Those Lost in 2022

As we enter into a new year, we remember those lost to us in 2022. So many of these creators’ books touched the lives of children everywhere. Their works will outlive us all. We celebrate their lives and the creations.

Steve Jenkins

March 31, 1952 – December 26, 2021

“I so admired his extraordinary design sensibility and the way he infused his creatures with a special spark that made them feel almost alive. He had a thoughtful and uncommonly mellow manner—always laced with a ...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Picture Books

We’re done! At an end! After 31 days I’m ending with my biggest and best of all the lists: Picture Books. Every year literally hundreds of them flood my library. With my talented librarians by my side, we sift through them and find the ones that really are the best of the best. These are the ones that I loved particularly. Many you will have heard of. A couple will be new. But regardless, each and every one is a star.

Curious to see what the previous years’ lists of picture books looked l...