Betsy Bird's Blog, page 88

Publisher Preview: Ellen Myrick’s Publisher Spotlight (Fall 2022) [Part One]

The spotlight returns to Ellen Myrick of (you guessed it) Publisher Spotlight/Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC. Ellen represents around 34 publishers and, on occasion, she’ll give me the chance to take a gander at some of the choicest plums. These previews are done in a remarkably quick manner, so I try to grasp whatever catches my attention in a given moment. Please understand that this is not ALL the books coming out from these publishers this year. Consider post to instead be a representativ...

How Does That Work Exactly? Adapting Comics to Audiobooks: A Talk with Nick Martorelli

Today I am pleased as punch to engage in a discussion of details. When you think about it, both comics and audiobooks have suffered similar slights in terms of their legitimacy in the eyes of the gatekeepers. Though comics are a combination of words (good!) and art (good!) something about the combination strikes folks as bad. Similarly, when someone listens to an audiobook, something about the process of listening and understanding rather than using your eyeballs and understanding strikes some p...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Harlem by Walter Dean Myers, ill. Christopher Myers

Recently I took a trip to NYC and was, for reasons that will soon become clear, reminded of this great work by Walter Dean Myers and his son Chris. Funny thing is, I have a bit of difficulty figuring out if this book is as well remembered as it used to be. Now when I lived in NYC it was all over the place but that was (A) almost 20 years ago and (B) in the same town where this book takes place. Maybe not the best place to get a unimpeded understanding of its longevity. At any rate, it won it...

Blaze, the Masked Chicklet and a Dearest Enemy: Two Pieces by Unconventional Artist Claude Ponti

Travis Jonker at 100 Scope Notes has an annual feature on his blog called The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Books. I enjoy it very much, and it has, in turn, inspired me to create my own Unconventional Children’s Books list every December. “Unconventional” is such a good word for these books (so, full credit to Travis for coming up with it). They could be laden with more judgemental terms like “Weird” or “Odd”, but it’s nice to celebrate the fact that they aren’t afraid to go off the bea...

From Black Oak to Board Books: A Harold Green III Interview

As I’ve mentioned before, during the day I spend a great deal of time ordering adult materials for the Evanston Public Library. I’ve been doing it for about seven years now and in that time I’ve learned gobs about the adult literary world. There are still aspects that elude me, however. While I’m decent at recognizing some of the bigger names in the field, adult poetry often proves to be a field that’s difficult to keep up with. I don’t read much of it myself, so judging it from afar means trust...

Quite the Treat. A Yellow Dog Blues Interview with Alice Faye Duncan and Chris Raschka

You know that moment when you walk into a big box store of some kind, make your way to the picture book section, and everything looks kind of… well… samey? Not always, but often picture books that come out en masse will have a tendency to look and feel the same. After a while you begin to yearn to show kids something different from that CGI smoothness.

If there were an antithesis to such books, it might be found in the new Alice Faye Duncan/Chris Raschka collaboration YELLOW DOG BLUES. I don...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: There’s a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer

Folks, I am shocked and appalled that none of you have ever yelled at me for never having done a Mercer Mayer book on this podcast. We’re onto episode #227 and in all this time, Mr. Mayer has never once graced our eyeballs. Today, we correct this longstanding ill. Take a listen to this if you would like to hear my off-the-cuff recounting of all the Mercer Mayer books that we haven’t done. I also go into tangents on the awfulness of feet in early 80s footie pajamas while Kate engages in The G...

Review of the Day: The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

The Last Mapmaker
By Christina Soontornvat
Candlewick Press
$17.99
ISBN: 9781536204957
Ages 9-12
On shelves now

I am often grateful that people have come up with terms and phrases that so perfectly describe literary tropes and ideas that would otherwise be difficult to define. Take the term “world building”. I don’t have a dictionary in front of me right now, but if I were to hazard a guess as to what it means, I’d probably say it was the way in which an author fully immerses their reader in worl...

Review of the Day: The Last Mapmaker by Christine Soontornvat

The Last Mapmaker
By Christina Soontornvat
Candlewick Press
$17.99
ISBN: 9781536204957
Ages 9-12
On shelves now

I am often grateful that people have come up with terms and phrases that so perfectly describe literary tropes and ideas that would otherwise be difficult to define. Take the term “world building”. I don’t have a dictionary in front of me right now, but if I were to hazard a guess as to what it means, I’d probably say it was the way in which an author fully immerses their reader in worl...

Cover Reveal and Interview with Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann: POLAR BEAR!

I’m perfectly aware that I’m spoiled. Spoiled by the amount of sheer talent currently residing in the Chicago area. And when I say “talent” I am of course referring to the great children’s book writers and illustrators that dwell within a certain radius. Sometimes they even live in the same home. Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann are a pretty darn good example of this. If you’ve seen the work that they done together recently then you know that books like Giant Squid and Honeybee are some of the m...