Betsy Bird's Blog, page 81

Review of the Day: The Real Dada Mother Goose by Jon Scieszka, ill. Julia Rothman

The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense
By Jon Scieszka
Illustrated by Julia Rothman
Candlewick Press
$19.99
ISBN: 9780763694340
Ages 7-12
On shelves October 11, 2022

The human instinct to muck with stuff is strong. The human instinct to keep other people FROM mucking with stuff can be equally strong. Kids like mucking about. They like trying things, often paying shockingly little attention to the potential consequences of their muckage. It is in their desire to mess things up ...

Heralding the Heralds: A She Sang for India Interview with Suma Subramaniam

So how will you be celebrating the birthday of M.S. Subbulakshmi tomorrow? In the possible event that you do not know who Ms. Subbulakshmi is, I am happy to report that once again picture book biographies have come to the rescue. Long gone are the days when the same five people would get biographies for kids over and over again. Today, we celebrate a book that brings attention to one of India’s foremost singers.

Here’s how the book SHE SANG PROMISE: HOW M.S. SUBBULAKSHMI USED HER VOICE FOR C...

Tyler Merritt: The Summer That Changed My Life

Actor and activist Tyler Merritt has been known over the years for a number of things. He’s in shows like “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “Outer Banks”. He’s created viral videos like “Before You Call the Cops” and “Walking While Black” (viewed by over 60 million people worldwide). Me? I’m a Collection Development Manager in a library, so if I know about him, it’s because of his books. Let’s put it this way. If I face out his memoir I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theat...

Until Someone Listens: An Interview with Child-Author Estela Juarez

If you’re going to interview a kid on your blog, make it a memorable kid.

Not every 11-year-old out there goes viral when they make a speech to the President, but that’s exactly what happened with Estela Juarez. You may remember the story. At the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Estela gave a speech, directed at Donald Trump, about her mom’s deportation:

Today is the release of her picture book about what led to that speech. Until Someone Listens (and its Spanish language edition...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer

Having failed to secure a THIRD strawberry-related picture book this week (not for lack of trying) I turn to a heroine we’ve only seen once before in our previous Olivia episode. The first time I introduced Kate to Olivia I was shocked by how much she liked the little pig. Recall, if you will, that Kate has a tendency to dislike bratty heroines. Olivia, by some unexpected roll of the dice, apparently passes muster. Today’s book includes one of my favorite exchanges between a student and a te...

End of an Era: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Hangs Up Its Hat

There is surprisingly little difference between writing in memoriam for a blog and for a friend. In our current day and age, when I see that someone has left the children’s literature world, either figuratively or literally, one of the first things I do is go through old emails to see what my first correspondence with that person might have been. Today, I looked at my communication with Jules Danielson, the creator of the most successful children’s book illustration blog to date, Seven Impossibl...

Helping Readers Connect With Stories: An Interview with Prolific and Amazing Lawrence Schimel

In May of 2022 you may have seen an article in School Library Journal entitled State of Global Kid Lit: An Industry Impacted by War, COVID, Is Flourishing. The piece took a deep dive into the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (the largest international rights fair of children’s literature in the world) and along the way the author of the piece (whose name rhymes with “Metsy Murd”) interviewed editor, translator, and author Lawrence Schimel for his insights.

To celebrate this year’s #WorldKitLitMon...

Food Waste Gets a Second Look: A Fridge-opolis Q&A with Melissa Coffey

How much respect do appliances in our kitchen get?

Don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question. They get no respect, my friend. They cook our meals, keep our tasty treats from spoiling, and generally improve our lives, yet how often do you see them featured in picture books? I’m not going to say it never happens. I’m just going to say that it happens a lot less than you might think.

There are those, however, for whom such bravery deserves attention. And debut picture book author Melissa...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

I promised you additional strawberries and additional strawberries you shall have! We start off with a bang on the podcast this week with a fun quiz: Who would you cast in the live action version of three different picture books? Then, we go back to this great work of Don and Audrey Wood, last seen on this podcast in episodes about The Napping House and King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub. Today’s post features a strawberry book that isn’t quite as strange as The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatc...

Review of the Day: Undercover Latina by Aya de León

Undercover Latina
By Aya de León
Candlewick Press
$18.99
ISBN: 9781536223743
Ages 9-12
On shelves October 4th

My first introduction into the notion of “passing” came in a Harlem Renaissance literature course in college. We were assigned Nella Larsen’s Passing and to say it was an eye-opener wouldn’t be doing it justice. A white girl from the Midwest, I’d never encountered the concept before. I wouldn’t encounter it again either until years and years had passed and I was well ensconced in the worl...