Betsy Bird's Blog, page 75

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Fabulous Photography

Long ago, when I was young and foolish, I got myself a double major in college in English and Fine Arts with a concentration in photography. And I had a very serious decision to make after that. Either I could attend the Salt Institute in Maine and pursue that photography as an occupation, or I could move to Oregon with a bunch of friends and rent a house there while I figured out my life.

Reader, I am no photographer. But I’ve retained my love for it all these year it it manifests itself...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Laughing Latkes by M.B. Goffstein

I actually went out and purchased a copy of today’s book a year ago and have been holding onto it just for this time of year. Granted, it’s not Hanukkah for a couple weeks now, but our schedule is a little sporadic this month so no time like the present! This week we consider what, in some ways, might be the flipside of another Hanukkah book we did a number of years ago, The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming. Screaming or laughing, the real question here is this: Do you put applesauce or sou...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Books With a Message

All right. I gave myself a little tiny break there for a couple days with those short lists. Now things are starting to ramp up again, and today’s list is an excellent example of that.

First off, some defining terms. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the whole reason children’s books even came to be here in America was to serve as guides for moral instruction. Actually learning to read? Also a plus, but it was that was almost sidelined by this desperate need to guide children on the path of ...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Gross Books for Kids

We’re making a slight deviation away from our regularly scheduled picture books today to bring you some truly and thoroughly disgusting titles.

You know, until this year I’d never thought to track the gross books that I come across. Then I met a little title on today’s list by the name of Packing for Mars for Kids and my life was never the same again. At my workplace (Evanston Public Library) we got into a long debate during the last day of our 101 Great Books for Kids meeting surroundin...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Math Books for Kids

Math!

Math math math!

Whodathunk that I, Betsy Bird, former perfectly-average-math-kid, would be so fond of numbers and equations in my children’s books today? Not me from 30 years ago, that’s for sure. And yet, due to the sheer number of fabulous titles out in a given year, math now abounds and we are all better for it. Who can resist it?

Now this was the last year that I served on the Mathical Book Prize committee, and I leave them with sadness. Of course I can still submit the t...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Picture Book Reprints

It’s not as flashy as a CaldeNott list. Less poetic than the poetry. It’s old. Maybe a little dusty. But doggone it, if you’ve ever worked as a children’s librarian, or a bookstore employee even, then you’ve seen that look that comes into people’s eyes when they recount some of the more obscure picture books of their youth. The fact of the matter is that while most of the books on the 31 Days, 31 Lists round-up are from the current year, what about the backlist?

In answer to that call, I...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 CaldeNott Titles

Okay! For those of you playing at home, you know the rules! Remember, a book that has a chance at winning a Caldecott must be created originally here in the States by an American illustrator. Now they can have been born here and have moved away, or they can have American citizenship later in life. Them’s the rules. Problem is, we just have a slew of marvelous books out there that are disqualified because their creators are inconveniently not from around these here parts. Today, we salute them! N...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Funny Picture Books

Hilarity ensues.

Humor, as often said, is subjective. And to have an adult selecting picture books that she deems funny for this list, well it does seem a bit anti-intuitive. Shouldn’t a panel of five-year-olds be the true judges of today’s youth literature? Maybe so, but bereft of a resident cluster of small people, I’ll have to rely on my own person sense of humor. Happily, that humor is fairly immature and may prove a fairly reliable litmus test of books that satisfy children’s hopes for h...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2022 Rhyming Picture Books

There is no sound finer to the human ear than well-coined rhymes on a page. And there is no sound more painful that strained rhymes in a poor picture book. They abound, I’m afraid, but we aren’t going to let them win. No sir! Today, I introduce to you the finest rhyming picture books of 2022. Each one a joy in scansion. Each one equipped to turn YOUR children into book lovers based on sheer rhyme alone. Don’t believe me? Better check the books out for yourself then.

Oh, and are you intere...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Stupids Step Out by Harry Allard, ill. James Marshall

It’s not every podcast episode where Kate is capable of turning me around, 360 degrees, on a title that I thought I had an opinion on. On paper a book by the guys that brought us Viola Swamp and that uses the term “Stupid” to great effect should be one of my favorite titles. What I didn’t understand was that in spite of appearing on ALA’s Banned List for a long time, it actually has a great number of problems. It’s possible it really hasn’t aged well… and not in the ways you might expect.

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