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With Book Expo going full-blast in town and my library celebrating its Centennial all at the same time, blogging is possible but slightly more difficult than usual.  I am amused to find that when I skip a day some folks worry that I might be in labor.  Fear not.  I’ll find a way to update the blog with that news, come hell or high water.  Tonight, meanwhile, is also my final Kidlit Drink Night (at least for a while) so if you’d like to view my largess (or, rather, largeness) here are the details.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

• So I go into the administrative office the other day to pick up my room’s checks and WHAM!  Two gigantic Lego statues of Patience and Fortitude (the library lions) are just sitting there, chewing their cuds (or whatever it is Lego lions chew).  I showed them to a class of second graders on a tour a day or so later (they’re on display in our main hall, if you’re curious) and one kid said that looking at them was like looking at a computer screen.  He had a point.  They’re mighty pixilated.

• Meanwhile, my workplace also just created the app of the future.  But you don’t have to take my word for it.  Thanks to @DanBlank for the link.

• Wow.  That’s pretty cool.  The organization Keshet (“a national organization working for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews in Jewish life”) is releasing posters of LGBT Jewish Heroes.  One of the posters available?  Leslea Newman of Heather Has Two Mommies and my favorite LGBT board books Mommy, Mama and Me and Daddy, Papa, and Me.  Thanks to Marjorie Ingall for the link.

• Do you have what it takes to take on the Sixth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge?  I don’t want to hear your excuses!  I want to see you reading.  You’ve some time to prep so get those eyeball stalks limbered up.

• Recently I attended SLJ’s Day of Dialog (slooooow emerging blog post to come on the subject).  The keynote speech was delivered by Katherine Paterson who began, much to my delight, with some praise of New Zealand children’s book superstar Margaret Mahy (who would be a superstar here if they just friggin’ republished The Changeover *coughcough*).  Anyway, it seems she recently won in the picture book category of the 2011 New Zealand Children’s Book Awards.  What would you like to bet me that someday they’ll rename those awards “The Mahys”?  I give it ten years, tops.

• Speaking of aw
  10 Comments on Fusenews: What’s wrong with this picture?, last added: 5/26/2011
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  Gregory K. said, on 5/25/2011 9:45:00 PM
  

  I know what’s wrong with that ridiculous picture. I mean, with good feta and Greek olives, no way is that only 230 calories. Absurd! Thanks for sharing…..

  tanita said, on 5/26/2011 1:33:00 AM
  

  Sometime you’ll have to tell us what it was like to write a picture book, ma’am, because although the Pioneer Woman had a lot of fun, that seems too … easy…

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 5/26/2011 4:45:00 AM
  

  Aw, Greg, you caught on right away. There’s no getting past you!

  And yeah, as I say it’s not exactly an instructional how-to-make-a-picture-book post so much as a long and lengthy bit of praise of Diane deGroat. Which, to my mind, the world needs more of.

  Kate Coombs said, on 5/26/2011 5:52:00 AM
  

  I enjoyed reading about Ree’s picture book experience, but it’s the veeeery rare author who gets to “write the art”! Usually, the illustrator is left in peace to proceed with his/her own creative process once the manuscript has been passed along. In fact, the editor tends to protect that process from potentially meddling, non-artist authors!

  Wrap said, on 5/26/2011 6:46:00 AM
  

  Wait – are you pregnant?

  Anne Ursu said, on 5/26/2011 9:14:00 AM
  

  Oh, great, now I’m blind.

  Becky Gorek said, on 5/26/2011 9:20:00 AM
  

  Lenny Kravitz was excellent in Precious. I think you’ll find he makes a perfect Cinna.

  Sondy said, on 5/26/2011 11:45:00 AM
  

  I am so looking forward to Mother Reader’s 48-Hour Book Challenge! In fact, I think you have the right idea, and I will have to practice up during the upcoming 3-day weekend.

  Brandy said, on 5/26/2011 12:38:00 PM
  

  I had to laugh at that quote about it being good toddlers not having a say in book choice. Both of my kids when they were toddlers certainly made their opinions on books known. They would close them, sit on them, hide them if they didn’t like them. They would take them out of my hands and replace them with books they did like. And neither of my kids liked Goodnight Moon.

  laurel snyder said, on 5/26/2011 4:30:00 PM
  

  My older son’s favorite book for a long stretch when he was a toddler?

  Get Your War On.

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The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

Winner for Illustration
"Grandma's Gift" illustrated  and written by Eric Velasquez, published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.

Honor Books for Illustration
"Fiesta Babies" illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla, published by Tricycle Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

"Me, Frida" illustrated by David Diaz, written by Amy Novesky, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams.

"Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin" illustrated  and written by Duncan Tonatiuh, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams.

Author Book Winner
"The Dreamer" written by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sis, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Author Honor books 
"Ole! Flamenco" written by George Ancona, photographs by George Ancona, published by Lee & Low Books Inc.

"The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba" written by Margarita Engle, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

"90 Miles to Havana" written by Enrique Flores-Galbis, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing.



The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Winner
"Moon Over Manifest," written by Clare Vanderpool, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Honor Books
"Turtle in Paradise" written by Jennifer L. Holm, published by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

"Heart of a Samurai" written by Margi Preus, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams.

"Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night" written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

"One Crazy Summer" written by Rita Williams-Garcia, published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

• Great great article in the Bangor Daily News about an exhibit in Maine of Robert McCloskey’s paintings.  Not his paintings for children’s books, mind you.  These were done in his spare time between projects.  His daughters Jane and Sally (the same Sal as Blueberries for Sal) put it together and the piece even has a sidebar on a separate exhibit of McCloskey’s illustrations and sketches for some of his children’s books.  Best of all, there’s a mention at the end that a book about his life written by Jane is due out next February.  Big time thanks to Jenny Schwartzberg for the link.

• Time for a little librarian speak.  Excuse me while I pin my hair into a bun and practice my shushing technique.  I kid.  My shushing technique is without flaw.  But I would like to discuss the matter of Baker & Taylor with you.  If your library system is anything like my own, you probably order at least some of your books from Baker & Taylor.  And maybe you’ve the ability to order paperbacks of series as well.  And maybe, just maybe, you want a surefire way of bringing up a series without having to look at every possible book out there that contains the words “Katie” or “Kazoo” in the title.  Well Abby (the) Librarian has found a searching technique that will aid you in this endeavor.  This is kinda sorta invaluable to folks in our business.  Cheers, Abby!

• In a similar librarian vein, those of you with MLIS degrees in your back pockets might want to check out the 100 Scope Notes piece Things Librarians Fancy.  And those of you who are doing Save the Library related storytime and craft programs (hey man, it happens) might be interested in Elizabeth Dulemba’s Save the Library coloring pages.  That woman has the illustration market cornered on coloring pages.  Smart of her.

• Okay. Enough with the librarians.  Children’s authors, it’s your turn now.  Or potential children’s authors.  Highlights Magazine has released a list of the kinds of submissions they’re looking for.  Give it a gander and then hone your ability to simplify, simplify, simplify.

• What I Have Learned Today: That author Tanita Davis needs to start writing some middle grade novels so that I can start reading her.  Seriously.  I just went over to the Hunger Mountain (the VCFA Journal of the Arts) website and read her piece Reflected Faces.  I like what I’ve seen there.  Her essay discusses, amongst other things, the reluctance of some publishers to place dark-skinned faces on the covers of YA novels.  Mitali Perkins discusses the same thing in the same issue in Teens Do Judge a Book by the Cover.  At one point Mitali suggests getting any faces off of YA literature, period.  I would argue that in the case of children’s novels (as opposed to teen) I’d actually like to see more covers like that of Sassy: Little Sister is Not My Name by Sharon Draper.  Check this out:
  8 Comments on Fusenews: Me no know art. But me know what me like. Food!, last added: 6/12/2010
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  Abby said, on 6/11/2010 4:39:00 AM
  

  Cheers, actually, go to my B&T rep who showed me that nifty trick! I now can’t live without it. Thanks for the link, Betsy!

  Katie Davis said, on 6/11/2010 5:03:00 AM
  

  There is a typo in the ripple blog link – the actual link is http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com – and thanks for telling us all about this! I’m SO in.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 6/11/2010 5:10:00 AM
  

  Oo. Good catch. Corrected it has been. Thanks for that.

  Diandra Mae said, on 6/11/2010 7:52:00 AM
  

  Thanks again, Betsy! Kelly wanted me to tell you that the email for Ripple is now: [email protected]. I am SO HAPPY this is getting recognition! Thanks!

  Genevieve said, on 6/11/2010 7:56:00 AM
  

  So glad to see Marching For Freedom get a Horn Book award! It was sadly overlooked at the Newberys and other awards earlier in the year. And I love that When You Reach Me is joining a small group of doubly-honored books — I had assumed that it was a frequent thing for the Newbery to win the Horn Book award.

  Kelly Light said, on 6/11/2010 9:17:00 AM
  

  Thank you Elizabeth! It’s so wonderful to get support for this project!Xo-Kelly

  Lisa Yee said, on 6/12/2010 12:43:00 AM
  

  Hey Fuse #8 . . . hope you enter the Bodacious Book Contest!!!

  Shelf-employed said, on 6/12/2010 6:51:00 PM
  

  So much to digest! The Maureen Johnson post was brilliant and I just may have a Highlights article in me. Thanks for both. How do you ever find the time?

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