Betsy Bird's Blog, page 98
January 31, 2022
Voices of Truth: Interviews with Michelle Duster and Laura Freeman About Their New Ida B. Wells Bio
Many of us have stories about our family members, even if we never met them ourselves. And though not true of everyone, some people can tell fun tales of their great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers that have been passed along for generations. People who have passed away and been forgotten to all but their own descendants.
And then there’s Michelle Duster. Her great-grandmother?
Ida B. Wells.
That’s right. Check and mate, sir.
So let’s say you’re in Michelle’s shoes. Your great-...
January 30, 2022
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Ashanti to Zulu by Margaret Musgrove, ill. Leo and Diane Dillon
The 2022 ALA YMA Awards were filled with firsts! The first Caldecott Honor or Award winner that’s posthumous! The first LGBTQIA+ Honor and Stonewall co-winner (to say nothing of its National Book Award Honor)! And all this reminded me of a “first” from the past. Who was the first Black African-American winner of the Caldecott to win the Award two years in a row? That’s right, we’re returning to Leo and Diane Dillon. The first Caldecott Award going to a Black man was for Leo and Diane Dillon’...
January 25, 2022
Review of the Day: Kat Hats by Daniel Pinkwater, ill. Aaron Renier
Kat Hats
By Daniel Pinkwater
Illustrated by Aaron Renier
Abrams Books for Young Readers
$17.99
ISBN: 9781419751943
Ages 4-7
On shelves February 1st
The longer you stay in any business, the more powerful the urge to start kvetching about how-things-used-to-be and the-state-of-the-world-today. Nostalgia’s a helluva drug. It can convince you that everything in the past was sunshine and roses and everything happening today is trash. I, alas, am not immune. No one is, but I think that as long as you ke...
January 24, 2022
Speaking Up and Speaking Out with Tonya Bolden on Shirley Chisholm
Boy, I like this job. I really do. Where else, I ask of you, could a schmuck like me get a chance to talk to people like author Tonya Bolden about books celebrating such legendary figures as Shirley Chisholm? Chisholm’s having a bit of a moment in children’s literature and I couldn’t be happier about it. Today, Bolden breaks down her research process and what it is about Shirley that we keep coming back to time and time again.
Betsy Bird: Tonya! Thank you so much for joining me today. Now...
January 23, 2022
Wutaryoo? An Old Question Gets a New Look, and an Interview with Nilah Magruder
Like a lot of libraries around the country, my own Evanston Public Library has been trying to figure out the best possible way to conduct an equity audit of our collections. Equity audits are where you take an in-depth, book-by-book look at the collection and determine, ultimately, how many BIPOC voices are represented. One of the factors that might not occur to you initially when looking at picture books is animal characters. Does your library contain more animal protagonists on the whole than ...
January 20, 2022
Lizzy and the Cloud: A Fan Brothers Cover Reveal
You know, I thought about sending you off to enjoy your weekend without first getting a glimpse of the latest picture book by the Fan brothers. But see, then I remember how good you’d been this week. You deserve a treat, don’t you? And if that treat happens to include interior spreads? Well, I’d say that was only fair, wouldn’t you?
Today, it is my extreme pleasure to tell you a little bit about Lizzy and the Cloud by Eric and Terry Fan. Here’s how the publisher chooses to describe it:
Fro...January 19, 2022
Publisher Preview: Spring 2022 Levine Querido!
Oh boy! Here’s an exercise I haven’t engaged in for a while. A good old-fashioned publisher preview! Man, back about seven years ago when I still lived in NYC I used to live for these things. Essentially what would happen is that all the local librarians within a certain radius of Manhattan would be invited to town to listen to the upcoming season of one publisher or another. And each publishing company would do it differently. Little, Brown, for example, might take out the Yale Club, ply you wi...
January 17, 2022
Newbery/Caldecott 2022: Final Prediction Edition
Okay. Time to put my money where my mouth is. I’m crummy at predictions, but this year I have had some inklings. Could be completely wrong. After all, I should note that these are not all the books I would necessarily want to win this year. They’re the ones that make the most sense to me convincing their committees. And I’m giving myself some extra limitations, just for fun. Though there is no written limit to the number of Honors you can bestow, I’m going to cap myself off at four Honors per aw...
January 16, 2022
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: 2022 Caldecott Contenders
Every year I present Kate with three Caldecott contenders. And not to brag, but we’ve had a pretty good track record. I only show her three titles, but in 2021 we discussed We Are Water Protectors which inevitably won an Award and in 2020 we discussed Going Down Home With Daddy, which won an Honor. Will our streak continue when the Awards are announced on January 24th? Or will we do as poorly as we did in 2019? Only time will tell. Now let us all chant together: “Beret That Snake!” “Beret T...
January 14, 2022
Celebrating Gary Paulsen’s Last Adventure: An Interview with Editor Wes Adams
We lost a great number of literary legends in 2021, each one worthy of celebration. For Gary Paulsen, I should like to do a little more. Editor Wes Adams worked with Gary for years, and the book out now, Northwind, reflects a man still in peak writing form. Wes was kind enough to answer some of my questions about Gary, writing, Northwind, and so much more.
Betsy Bird: Wes, I appreciate your joining me today. First, I’d like to offer my condolences on the passing of Gary. I think the outpo...
