Betsy Bird's Blog, page 78

Review of the Day: May Mama Says There Aren’t Any Zombies, Ghost, Vampires, Creatures, Demons, Monsters, Fiends, Goblins, or Things by Judith Viorst, ill. Kay Chorao

Happy Halloween!

It’s the last day of October and that means a final spooky scary picture book is up for discussion. Hat tip to Stephanie Lucianovic for suggesting today’s title. Kate and I learn that apparently Judith Viorst is a big time fan of extra long titles (something that was hinted at when she created Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day). In today’s book we see some seriously fashion forward footwear and hats, the true horror of cream cheese sandwiches, an...

Review of the Day: Hot Dog by Doug Salati

Hot Dog
By Doug Salati
Alfred A. Knopf (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$17.99
ISBN: 9780593308431
On shelves now

I feel like I owe you the truth, right at the start of this review. So let’s get down to brass tacks. Me? Not a dog person myself. Like ‘em fine. My sister owns one and I’m more than happy to visit when I come over, but own one? No interest. Likewise, when I encounter a picture book that contains a dog I am not an immediate fan. I don’t dislike such books, but if a book is leanin...

Guest Post: Sara Greenwood’s Brother Is Away

Each December I post a list of great children’s books produced during the previous year every day as part of my 31 Days, 31 Lists series. This lists run the gamut from poetry to unconventional picture books to biographical nonfiction. One list in particular covers those books that don’t slot neatly into any other categories. I call them my Books With a Message titles. After all, children’s literature in America was founded on the presumption that books for the young would provide some kind o...

Shapes and Lines and Light: A Katie Yamasaki Interview

As I might have mentioned the other day, the Evanston Public Library recently selected the 101 books for kids published in 2022 that now grace the 101 Great Books for Kids list. It is mighty difficult to cut down hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of legitimately fun books for children down to a measly 101 titles. And you know what book managed to make it onto the list? None other than Katie Yamasaki’s remarkable picture book biography of her own grandfather, Shapes, Lines and Light. Not long ag...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley

“It’s like Candyman if instead of saying his name three times you just called into existence each of his bodyparts.”

Man. Insult upon injury, today’s book. Does the reader really have to call Big Green Monster’s hair “scraggly”? That’s just wrong, dude. Today I introduce Kate to her very first Ed Emberley book. Sure, it’s not terribly Halloween-ish, but it’s not NOT Halloweenish, amiright? We consider the ways in which Emberley both invokes a scary monster without making it too scary alon...

Announcing the 101 Great Books for Kids List from Evanston Public Library (2022 Edition)!

Sing out! Rejoice! Happy times are here at last!

Every year my library organizes a committee. Any member of staff may join, as long as they clear it with their supervisor. It’s the 101 Great Books for Kids committee and the rules are simple. From January to October, people read every single book for children, ages 0-12, that they can get their hands on. Committee members must write up their thoughts on a communal Google Doc. They are encouraged to join the monthly virtual meetings. And th...

Quartet of Screams: A Katherine Arden Interview to Remember

Scary season is upon us.

Now let’s say you had the option of interviewing any author of frightening tales for kids out there, living or dead. Whom would you choose? Would you opt for R.L. Stine? Track down Alvin Schwartz of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark fame? Christian McKay Heidicker?!?

Me? Gimme Katherine Arden every time. I can still remember reading her first book Small Spaces. Let me put it this way: I wasn’t scared of scarecrows until I read that book.

That title started an ...

Dogs and Breaking Into Comics: An Interview with Nathan Fairbairn and Michele Assarasakorn About P.A.W.S.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

You have to promise not to tell anyone. Scout’s honor. Seriously, I shouldn’t even be telling you, but we’re old pals and I trust your discretion.

This past Thursday the Evanston Public Library determined, once and for all, the books that would appear on the 101 Books for Reading and Sharing List for 2022. Out of all the titles published during the year (thousands and thousands of the things) a mere 101 made it to the final list.

I am now go...

Dogs, Comics, and Breaking Into Comics: An Interview with Nathan Fairbairn and Michele Assarasakorn About P.A.W.S.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

You have to promise not to tell anyone. Scout’s honor. Seriously, I shouldn’t even be telling you, but we’re old pals and I trust your discretion.

This past Thursday the Evanston Public Library determined, once and for all, the books that would appear on the 101 Books for Reading and Sharing List for 2022. Out of all the titles published during the year (thousands and thousands of the things) a mere 101 made it to the final list.

I am now go...

Self-Publishing: A Conversation with Becky Gehrisch and Bookling Media

Self-publishing!

Time was when those words were looked upon with disdain by the literary “establishment”. Today? Well, it reminds me of something my husband once said about breaking into the film industry. “They call it ‘breaking in’ because once you’ve done it they block it up so that no one else can come in that way.” That’s sort of how I look at self-publishing. Who cares how you find success as long as you find it?

Today I am in conversation with author Becky Gehrisch. She’s a “portrai...