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Hi, folks. Haven’t done one of these in a while. Let’s see what there is to see.

If I’m feeling nostalgic for NYC this week there’s little wonder.  Whether it’s an article on many library branches’ secret apartments (I visited 8-10 of them in my day and someday a clever photographer should do a series on them) or New York Magazine’s (justifiable) kvetching over the new Donnell, it’s like I’m there again.

Speaking of kvetching, this article about My Little Free Library War is amusing. When I was leaving the aforementioned NYC I found I had too many books.  The solution?  Daily trips to the local Little Free Library.  I’d fill them up one day and then come back the next with more.  I don’t care what anyone did with them.  That box was like Mary Poppins’ carpetbag.

Waldo’s cool with it. He doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight.

As for my current town, how cute is this?  Our downtown is doing a Where’s Waldo / Where’s Warhol scavenger hunt.  It all begins at the wonderful bookstore Bookends and Beginnings and goes from there.

This next piece is fantastic and I’ve never seen anything quite like it before.  A British children’s literature blogger comes to America.  Walks into a Barnes and Noble.  Immediately she is struck by the massive differences between how a major British chain (like Waterstones) sells children’s books vs. how and American chain (B&N) does it.  She writes up the differences in the post Picture book differences between the main bookshop chains in the US and UK – Paeony Lewis.  What struck me as particularly interesting is the emphasis the author makes on how American bookstores don’t promote and sell paperbacks to the same degree that the British stores do.  As a result, our books are more expensive.  What are the greater repercussions of this?  Fantastic read.

I got the following message from ALA last week and figured this was a good place to share.  Ahem:

Now is the Best Time to Help Dr. Carla Hayden Become Librarian of Congress
The American Library Association (ALA) is urging the library community to contact their U.S. senators (before they adjourn next week) to encourage them to confirm Dr. Carla Hayden to become the next Librarian of Congress. This is the first time in more than 60 years that a librarian is poised to take on this role. ALA offers these talking points. Visit the ALA Legislative Action Center to email your senators, contact them on Twitter, or for information on calling your senators.

There’s been a lot of talk about Ms. J.K. Rowling in the news lately.  Specifically, in terms of the international magic schools she’s been introducing.  I feel inadequate to speak about them, and fortunately I don’t have to. Monica Edinger has written a great piece called J.K. Rowling’s Unfortunate Attempts at Globalization.  A lot of people have focused solely and squarely on the references to Native Americans in the American school.  Monica sheds additional light on the African, Japanese, and Brazilian ones, for which I am VERY grateful.

By the way, having problems with J.K. Rowling in this vein is hardly new.  You can read Farah Mendelsohn’s academic paper Crowning the King: Harry Potter and the Construction of Authority from 2001 right now, if you like.

By the way, if you missed Jules Danielson’s interview with Evan Turk over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, turn right around, leave this blog, and go over there.  The art . . . the art . . .

For a while there I enjoyed a little Reading Too Much Into Picture Books series before my Fuse 8 TV interviews.  Very much along the same lines is the recent Salon piece Pat the Bunny Is Kind of Twisted and Other Lessons I Learned from Picture Books.  It’s not the same three tropes garbled over and over again.  There’s a lot of smart stuff being said here.  Enjoy!

Wait, what . . . The Mazza Museum has a summer conference?  Why was I not informed?  *clap clap* My chariot!  The first day is July 18th.  There’s still time!

There are many reasons to listen to the NYPL podcast The Librarian Is In.  Reason #24601: Check out this simply adorable photograph of a young Lois Duncan.

Hey there!  What Nibling just won herself a 2016 South Asia Book Award?  Would that be Mitali Perkins for her absolutely fantastic Tiger Boy?  Dang right it would!  Go, Mitali, go!

Because my day job requires me to keep up with adult literature I read a lot of Publishers Weekly (that sounded like a very earnest television or radio ad for PW, by the way).  The other day I was reading its articles on what Brexit is going to mean for the literary world, and I briefly toyed with the notion of doing a blog post on what it would mean for the children’s literary world.  I decided not to pursue this idea since I know next to nothing about the topic and while that normally wouldn’t stop me, Phil Nel did it best anyway.  Check out his piece Children’s Lit VS Brexit.

Curious about the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award?  Want to know more about it?  Interested in reading an interview with a woman who would visit Anne Carroll Moore in the library as a child?  You can get all that and more with this interview with this year’s BGHB committee chair Joanna Rudge Long.

Um… so this one has nothing to do with children’s books and everything to do with my own childhood.  Basically, if you’ve been waiting for an article to justify Lady Elaine Fairchilde as the feminist icon she truly was, your prayers have been answered. Extra Bonus: Check out the perhaps indeed legit comment from Lady Aberline.  Or read my piece on the new Lady Elaine.  Clearly this is a trope in my life.

Just want to give a shout-out to Christine Inzer, the self-published teen graphic novelist whose book Halfway Home was reviewed here in 2014.  Christine got herself a real publisher and her new book just earned a stellar review from Publishers Weekly.  Yay, Christine!

New Podcast Alert: In case you are unfamiliar with it, The Writing Barn is the brainchild of Owner & Creative Director, Bethany Hegedus, and offers writers “ways of deepening their process and perfecting their craft, whether they travel cross-town or across the country to our retreat and workshop venue”. Now Bethany has created Porchlight, a podcast that interviews the Barn’s guests as well as folks in the world at large.  You know I’ll be listening.

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Best. Library. Clock. Ever.

Seriously, I want to do this with picture books.  If not in my library then in my home. I should solicit the right titles, though.  Hmmm…

Suggestions welcome.

Happy Monday to you!  You want the goods?  I’ve got the goods.  Or, at the very least, a smattering of interesting ephemera.  Let’s do this thing.

First and foremost, you may have noticed the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards were announced.  The BGHB Awards are some of the strangest in the biz since they encompass the nonexistent publishing year that extends from May to June.  How are we to use such an award?  No cash benefit is included.  And traditionally it has been seen as either a litmus test for future book awards or as a way of rectifying past sins / confirming past awards.  This year it’s a bit of a mix of both.  Both 2015 and 2016 titles appear on the list.  You can see the full smattering in full here or watch a video of the announcement here.  And, for what it’s worth, I served on the committee this year, so if you’ve a beef to beef, lay it on me.

Since this news item appeared on Huffington Post I’m not sure if it is in any way true.  If not, it’s still a lovely thought.  According to HP, the cover artist of Sweet Valley High takes commissions.  Just let that one sink in a little.  I’m not interested, though.  Call me when the cover artist of Baby-Sitters Club starts doing the same.

It’s odd that I haven’t linked to this before, but a search of my archives yields nothing.  Very well.  Whether or not you were aware of it, The Toast has The Giving Tree in their Children’s Stories Made Horrific series.  Shooting fish in a barrel, you say?  Not by half.  It’s not a new piece.  Came out three years ago, as far as I can tell.  And yet . . . it’s perfect.  The latest in the series, by the way, was a Frog and Toad tale.  Sublime.

This Week in Broadway: Tuck Everlasting is out. Wimpy Kid is in.

In other news vaguely related to theater, Lin Manuel-Miranda is slated to star in a 2018 Mary Poppins musical sequel.  And no, not on stage.  On the silver screen.  This, naturally, led to the child_lit listserv postulating over how this could be possible since P.L. Travers had a pretty strong posthumous grip on the rest of the Mary Poppins rights.

So I worked for New York Public Library for eleven years.  Eleven years can be a lot of time. During my tenure I observed the very great highs and very low lows of the system.  I like to think I knew it pretty well.  Now here’s a secret about NYPL: They’re bloody awful at telling you about all the cool stuff they have going on.  Always have been.  For example, I’m tooling about the NYPL site the other day when I see this picture.

I stare at it.  I squint at it.  And finally I cannot help but come to a single solitary conclusion . . . that’s my old boss!  There.  On the left.  Isn’t that Frank Collerius, branch manager of the Jefferson Market Branch in Greenwich Village?  Yup.  The Librarian Is In Podcast seeks to simply talk “about books, culture, and what to read next.”  Frank co-hosts with RA librarian Gwen Glazer and they’re top notch. I haven’t made my way through all of them yet.  I’m particularly interested in the BookOps episode since that’s where I used to work.  And look!  I had no idea that Shola at the Schomburg was on Sesame Street.

Howdy, libraries.  How’s that STEM programming coming along?  Care for some inspiration?  Then take a gander at the blog STEM in Libraries where “a team of librarians with a passion for creating fun and engaging STEM programs for library patrons of all ages,” have so far created fifty-seven different STEM program ideas.

A helpful reader passed this on to me, so I pass it on to you: “The latest New Yorker magazine, dated June 6 and 13, may be of interest to you, if you haven’t yet seen it. It’s the Fiction issue, and in it are some essays by 5 authors, each subtitled “Childhood Reading”…with memories of the books, articles, package labels, events from their childhoods that shaped their idea of what reading is and can be. Having read a couple of these so far, I thought of you, and decided to mention them to you, in case you don’t regularly look at the New Yorker, and might not see them.”  Thanks to Fran Landt for the link.

In other NYPL news, I miss desperately being a part of the 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing committee.  Fortunately, the folks on the committee recently confessed to the books they’re finding particularly good.  So many I haven’t see yet.  To the library!

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You know who won the Best Bookmark Left in a Library Book Award the other day?  That’s right.  This guy.  Check it out:

Sure beats finding bacon.  I was forbidden to own these guys as a kid, so I’ve placed this little fellow in a prominent place on my desk.  Who wants to bet money that some executive somewhere is trying to figure out how to bring these back?  Let’s see . . . the last time they were made they were illustrated by Art Spiegelman.  So if Pulitzer Prize winners are the only people who can draw them, my vote for the 21st artist goes to  . . . ah . . . wait a minute.  Maus is the only graphic novel to ever win a Pulitzer?!?

I’ve done it again.  Delayed my Fusenews too long and now this post is going to overflow with too much good stuff.  Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

Me stuff for the start. And in fact, there just so much Me Stuff today that I’m just going to cram it all into this little paragraph here and be done with it. To begin, for the very first time my book Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Chidren’s Literature (co-written with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta) was cited in an article. Notably, a piece in The Atlantic entitled Frog and Toad and the Self.  Woot!  In other news I’m judging a brand new picture book award. It’s the Hallmark Great Stories Award. Did you or someone you know produce a picture book in 2016 on the topic of “togetherness and community”? Well $10,000 smackers could be yours. In terms of seeing me talk, I’m reading my picture book (and more) at the Printer’s Row Lit Fest on June 11th.  If you’re in the Chicago area and ever wanted to see me in blue furry leg warmers, now your chance has come here.  Finally, during Book Expo I managed to coerce Hyperion Books into handing me three of their most delicious authors (Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Eoin Colfer) so that I could feed them to WGN Radio.  You can hear our talk here, if you like.  And check out how cute we all are:

Colfer, for what it is worth, is exceedingly comfortable.  I highly recommend that should you see him you just glom onto him for long periods of time.  Like a sticky burr.  He also apparently has an Artemis Fowl movie in the works (for real this time!) and you’ll never guess who the director might be.

This is interesting. Not too long ago children’s book author C. Alex London wrote a piece for BuzzFeed called Why I Came Out As a Gay Children’s Book Author.  It got a lot of attention and praise.  Then, earlier this month, Pseudonymous Bosch wrote a kind of companion piece in the New York Times Book Review. Also Known As tackles not just his reasons for a nom de plume (skillfully avoiding any and all mentions of Lemony Snicket, I could not help but notice) but also how this relates to his life as a gay children’s book author.

Hey, full credit to The New Yorker  for this great recentish piece on weeding a collection and the glory that is Awful Library Books.  My sole regret is that I never let them know when I weeded this guy:

The copyright page said 1994, but I think we know better.  Thanks to Don Citarella for the link.

Cool. The publisher Lee & Low has just released the winner of the New Visions Writing Contest, now in its third year.  Congrats to Supriya Kelkar for her win!

New Podcast Alert: With podcasting being so popular these days, I do regret that my sole foray into the form has pretty much disappeared from the face of the globe. Fortunately there are talented folks to listen to instead, including the folks at Loud in the Library. Teacher librarians Chris Patrick and Tracy Chrenka from Grand Rapids, MI (homestate pride!) get the big names, from picture books illustrators to YA writers. Listen up!

New Blog Alert: The press release from SLJ sounded simple. “SLJ is pleased to welcome The Classroom Bookshelf to our blog network. In its sixth year, the Bookshelf features a weekly post about a recently published children’s book, including a lesson plan and related resources.” Then I made a mistake. I decided to look at the site. Jaw hit floor at a fast and furious rate leaving a dent in the linoleum. Contributors Randy Heller, Mary Ann Cappiello, Grace Enriquez, Katie Cunningham, and Erika Thulin Dawes (all professors at Lesley University’s outstanding school of ed.), I salute you. If I ever stop writing my own reviews, you’ll know why.

This:

This one’s just for the New Yorkers. I’m sure you already saw this New Yorker paean to the Mid-Manhattan library, but just in case you didn’t it’s here, “unruly pleasures” and all.

For whatever reason, PW Children’s Bookshelf always goes to my “Promotions” folder on Gmail, so I assume they already mentioned this article. Just in case they didn’t, though, I sort of love that The Atlantic (second time mentioned today!) wrote an ode to Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Thanks to Kate for the link.

Now some Bookshare info.  The idea of providing free ebooks for kids with print disabilities is a good one.  And, as it happens, not a new one.  Bookshare, an online accessible library, just added its 400,000th title to its collection and boy are they proud.  Free for all U.S. students with qualifying print disabilities and U.S. schools, they’ve a blog you might want to read, and they service kids with blindness, low vision, dyslexia, and physical disabilities.

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You probably heard that Neil Patrick Harris will be playing Count Olaf in the upcoming Netflix series of A Series of Unfortunate Events.  Now we have photographic proof.

I wonder if Brett Helquist ever marvels at how much power his art has had over these various cinematic incarnations.  The lack of socks is a particularly accurate touch.

• We’re diving right in today.  Check out this killer poster:

Now if you’re one of the lucky ducks living in NYC, or will be there on the date of 4/16, you now have your marching orders.  This is an event held at Bank Street College of Education and in wracking my brains I can’t think of anything more timely.  You can see the full listing of the events here.  Wish I were there.  Go in my stead, won’t you?

• New Podcast Alert: This one sports a catchy moniker that will strike some of you as familiar.  Kidlit Drink Night (which would also make a good name for a band, a blog, or a dog) is the official podcast of one Amy Kurtz Skelding.  There’s a bit of YA cluttering up the works, but enough children’s stuff is present to make it worth your pretty while.  Do be so good as to check it out.

• Hey!  Hey hey!  The Eric Carle Honorees were named, did you see?  And did you notice that amongst them Lee & Low Books was named an Angel?  Such fantastic news.  A strong year of nominees.

• So Phil Nel shared something recently that I’d like you to note. There is apparently a Tumblr out there called Setup Wizard which consists of the, “Daily Accounts of a Muggle I.T. Guy working at Hogwarts.” Phil suggests reading them in order. I concur. Thanks to Phil for the link.

• Ooo!  The Indies Choice / E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Finalists for 2016 were announced recently.  Fascinating choices, I must say.  Not the first books that would have come to my mind, but still good books.

• I have lots of favorite blogs, but Pop Goes the Page clearly belongs in the upper echelon.  Two posts by Dana Sheridan (the Education & Outreach Coordinator of the Cotsen Children’s Library at Princeton University) caught my eye recently.  Dana, as you will recall, is responsible for my little toilet paper tube profile picture on Twitter.  Well now she’s used her knowledge of all things cardboard to create the world’s most adorable subway system complete with Broadway posters.  In a different post Dana, in partnership with The Met Museum’s Nolen Library (the one for the kids), shows a killer display on taking care of your books.  It doesn’t necessarily sound interesting, until you see how they magnified a book eating buggy.

• So the other day I’m talking up Evan Turk and his new book The Storyteller, as per usual, and I mention to a librarian that the guy not too long ago did some killer sketches of Chicago blues musicians.  Naturally she wanted to see what I was talking about.  After all, I practically live in Chicago these days, so if there’s a talented illustrator going about making Chi-town art, it’s well worth promoting.  I took her to Evan’s blog and there, beautiful as all get out, is the art.  Then I thought I might share it with you as well.  This is just a tiny smidgen of what he has up so go to his blog to see more. The sheer talent of it all floors me.

• Do you know who is awesome?  Sharyn November, former Viking editor, is awesome.  So awesome, in fact, that she has her own brand of tea.  You can buy this tea, if you like.  I’ll put its description right here:

“sdn tea was created specifically for the punk goddess of children’s publishing, Sharyn November. This deity, who is all sharp angles, quick wit, and extraordinary fashion, is a fiery force of nature–literally and figuratively. She already has her own time zone, so it’s high time she has her own tea. This blend is strong and highly caffeinated. Almost impossibly fruity on the nose, it tastes of warm spice and goes extremely well with a piece of chocolate and a cigarette.”

• Do school librarians yield higher test scores?  You may have always suspected that was the case but a recent study out of South Carolina now has some facts so that you can put your money where your mouth is.  Are you a school librarian in need of justifying your existence to your employer?  You can’t afford not to read this SLJ piece.

• I dunno.  I get Neil Patrick Harris playing Count Olaf in the new Netflix series of A Series of Unfortunate Events.  That makes sense to me.  It’s Dr. Horrible without the songs.  Sure.  But Patrick Warburton as Snicket?  Last time we had Jude Law, and I’m pretty sure that was the right move to make.  Puddy as Lemony Snicket seems to lack the right panache.

• In America we have our Newbery and Caldecott Medals.  In England it’s all about the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards.  And unlike the States, they create shortlists.  Those shortlists have just been released for 2016 and (also unlike the States) they nominate books outside their nation.  So Canadians like Jon Klassen and Sydney Smith have a fighting chance.  I agree with Travis Jonker, though.  The alternate title for Sidewalk Flowers was a surprise.

• On the old To Do list: Meet Jan Susina, the Illinois State English Professor who also happens to be an expert on children’s literature.  In a recent interview he produced this marvelous mention of Beatrix Potter: “Potter once said, ‘Although nature is not consciously wicked, it is always ruthless.’ Peter Rabbit is a survival story, not a cute bunny story.”  How perfectly that quote could have worked in Wild Things.  Ah well.  The entire interview is well worth your time, particularly his answer to the question, “What is the greatest secret in children’s literature?”  The answer will surprise you.  Thanks to Phil Nel for the link.

• This Saturday I’ve a Children’s Literary Salon at 2:00.  Yet a couple months ago I hosted Jeff Garrett who spoke about his work with the Reforma Children in Crisis Project.  You can imagine how pleased I was to hear that ALSC will be donating $5,000 to the project as well.  Fantastic news.

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I was dumpster diving in the donation bin this week when an old book caught my eye.  Hate to say it, but this thing seriously disturbs me.  They just don’t make ’em like this anymore (phew!).

Run, girl, run!!  Or rather . . . skate, girl, skate!

• Morning, folks. I’ve been looking to expand my knowledge beyond just children’s literature, so I figured a good podcast would be the best way to go.  After reading Bustle’s 11 literary podcasts to get your bookish fix throughout the day I settled on Books on the Nightstand as the closest thing out there to a Pop Culture Happy Hour of books alone.  Yet even at that moment I couldn’t escape the world of kidlit.  The aforementioned Bustle piece also recommended a podcast called Dear Mr. Potter, described as “an extremely close read of J. K. Rowling’s series, starting with book number one. Host Alistair invites comments and thoughts from readers as he dissects each chapter, (there are live YouTube and Twitter chats before the audio is archived for the podcast) and is able to do some bang-up accents of beloved characters like Professor McGonagall and Hagrid.”  Well, shoot.  That sounds good too.

• Speaking of podcasts, you heard about The Yarn, right?  That would be the podcast started by Travis Jonker and Colby Sharp that follows a single book through its creators and helpers.  Having finished Season One, our intrepid heroes had a Kickstarter, met their goal, and are now soliciting ideas for Season Two.  Might want to toss in your two cents or so.  Such an opportunity may not arise again.

• So I say “Proust Questionnaire: Kidlit Edition“, and you say, “Come again?” And I repeat, “Proust Questionnaire: Kidlit Edition”, and you say, “I’m sorry, but you’re just putting a bunch of random words and names together higglety-pigglety.” At which point I direct you to Marc Tyler Nobleman and his interview series. The questions are not too dissimilar from the 7-Impossible Things interview questions, which in turn were cribbed from Inside the Actor’s Studio, (though I forget where they got them before that). For my part, I read the ones up so far and I am now entranced by Jonathan Auxier’s use of the word, “anagnorisis”. Proust would approve.

• The Bloggess likes us, we the librarians.  We could have guessed that but it’s nice to have your suspicions confirmed from time to time.

• Kidlit TV: It’s not just videos!  Case in point, a recent interview with my beloved co-author Jules Danielson in which she says very kind things about myself and my fellow Niblings.  She is a bit too kind when she says that, “Betsy never whines or feels sorry for herself.”  This is the advantage, dear children, of co-writing a book with someone in another state.  They will not see you whine or kvetch in person, thereby leading them to believe that you are better than you are.  Learn from my example.

• As ever, Pop Goes the Page takes the concept of activities in a children’s library (or, in some cases, a museum) to an entirely new level.  Good for getting the creative juices flowing.

• And now it’s time for another edition of Cool Stuff on the Internet You Didn’t Know and Weren’t Likely to Find By Browsing.  Today, the Kerlan Collection!  You may have heard of it.  It’s that enormously cool children’s book collection hosted by the University of Minnesota.  Cool, right?  You may even have known that the doyenne of the collection is Lisa Von Drasek, who cut her teeth at the Bank Street College of Education’s children’s library for years n’ years.  Now she’s given us a pretty dang cool online exhibit series tie-in and if you happen to know a teacher in need of, oh say, primary sources and picture book nonfiction titles, direct them to the Balloons Over Broadway site.  Explore the links on the left-hand side of the page.  You won’t regret the decision.

• Here in Evanston, October will bring The First Annual Storytelling Festival.  A too little lauded art that can be sublime or painful beyond belief, the festival will be quite a bit of the former, and very little of the latter.  If you’re in the area, come by!

• In other news, some me stuff. I was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune.  Which was neat.

• We all know from Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle that it’s the daddy seahorses that shoulders the bulk of the parenting responsibilities in the wild.  Now travel with me over to Portland, Oregon where the husband of a buddy of mine just started Seahorses, “Portland’s first dad and baby store.”  I helped them come up with some of the good daddy/kid picture books they’re selling there.  If you’re an author in the area with a daddy/child title to your name, consider contacting them.  They’re good people.

• Lucky, Baltimorians.  You get to host Kidlitcon this year.  I would go but my October is pure insanity, travel-wise.  You go and write it up for me, so I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.  I don’t mind.  Really.

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And finally, this is precisely what you think it is.

Yep. Goodnight Goodnight, Construction Site PJs.  Awesome?  You betcha.

• Here’s your SAT question for the day: “Making fun of The Giving Tree in a parody is to shooting fish in a barrel as . . .”  You may put your response in the comments below.  I’ve lived long enough to feel that I’ve seen every possible Giving Tree parody man or woman could imagine.  The Taking Tree, the video with Sassy Gay Friend, that other video where it shows the boy growing up.  Been there, done that.  That’s why I really kind of respected The Toast’s take.  At first it sounds like it’s going to be more of the same old, same old: If the Boy From the Giving Tree Was Your Boyfriend.  But like most pieces on The Toast, it’s much smarter and cleverer than its initial concept.  Well played, Meghann Gordon.  Well played indeed.  Thanks to Cheryl Klein for the link.

• Me stuff.  If you find that you haven’t heard enough talkety talk from me, Mr. Tim Podell was recently kind enough to speak to interview me for his remarkable, and longstanding, Good Conversations Radio Podcast.  Seven years ago he walked into my library and we talked about where to take his show.  Now he has a successful podcast and I my same blog.  Seems like only yesterday, eh, Tim?

• This one just sort of sells itself.  The headline read, “British Library releases children’s book illustrations into public domain.”

• Not to be outdone, the Bodleian Library launches its own children’s book imprint.  Not entirely certain how they managed to get Babar, but there you go, I guess.  Thanks to Emma Dryden for the link.

• I don’t know as many literary apps for kids as I might.  Pretty much everything on my phone is of the Endless series.  Endless Reader.  Endless Alphabet.  Now I hear they’ve a Spanish one as well: Endless Spanish/Infinito Español.  This is a great day for kinderappkind.

• Who doesn’t like a good bookface (as the kids are calling it these days)?  Lots of children’s literature was on display in this recent Guardian article about NYPL’s call for pictures ala #bookfacefriday.

I think the Libba Bray one is particularly inspired too.

• With the sheer number of picture books out there, sometimes you want to see a recommendation list that isn’t the same old, same old.  So if you want something fun and entirely up-t0-date, step this way and take in the Pink Me post Super Summer Picture Books 2015.  Good for what ails ya.

• I missed a lot of Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf issues while I was moving to Evanston, so perhaps this piece has already been discussed ad nauseum without me.  Just in case it hasn’t, though, The Guardian post Picture Books That Draw the Line Against Pink Stereotypes of Girls is very interesting to me.  I should do an American version as a post soon.  In any case, many of these I recognize but I don’t think we’ve seen I’m a Girl by Yasmeen Ismail yet.  Eh, Bloomsbury?  Eh?  Eh eh?  *bats eyelashes*  Eh? Thanks to Kate for the link.

• With his customary verve and panache, Travis Jonker accurately (insofar as I am concerned) pinpoints the books that will probably get some New York Times Best Illustrated love this year.  The sole book he neglects to mention, insofar as I am concerned, is my beloved Moletown by Torben Kuhlmann and possibly Mr. Squirrel and the Moon by Sebastian Meschenmoser.  Let’s show our German compatriots a little affection!

• One might argue that launching a literary periodical with a concentration on children’s literature in this day and age is as fraught with peril as launching a children’s bookstore (if not more so).  Yet I find much to celebrate in this recent announcement about The Read Quarterly and what it hopes to accomplish.  You know what?  What the heck.  I’ll subscribe.  Could be good for the little gray cells.

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This . . . this looks like a lot of work.  Whooboy.  A lot of work.  But super cool, you bet.  Super cool.  It’s kids made out of books:

• Of all the most deserving, least lauded children’s book awards out there, my favorite might be The Phoenix Awards.  “The award, given to a book originally published in the English language, is intended to recognize books of high literary merit. The Phoenix Award is named after the fabled bird who rose from its ashes with renewed life and beauty. Phoenix books also rise from the ashes of neglect and obscurity and once again touch the imaginations and enrich the lives of those who read them.”  They’ve just announced the 2015 winner and I admit that I never read it (One Bird by Kyoko Mori).  There was a time, when I was young, when I tried to read as many Phoenix books as possible.  Someday, maybe, I’ll try again.

• And speaking of obscure awards, did you see the Seven Impossible Things post on Kirkus recently called The Coolest Picture Book Award You’ve Never Heard Of … A lot of you folks should know about this.  I suspect your books would be eligible (it’s for wildlife and nature).

• Heck, while we’re at it let’s also mention once more the Mathical Award which is given to books that “inspire young people to engage with mathematics in the world around them.”  The submission info is here.  Marc Aronson’s thoughts on the matter are here.

• For those of you in the market for ideas for your next middle grade novel, I suggest checking out this Dunmore, PA housing advertisement.  Have at it. Thanks to Kate for the link.

• New Podcast Alert: You know I’m just goofy for new children’s literary podcasts.  Heck, I once did an entire Literary Salon on the topic.  Well, Ms. Julie Sternberg has just started Play, Memory.  As she describes it: “I interview authors and others about the ways in which themes that recur in children’s literature–themes like the secrets we keep in childhood; the times we disappoint our parents; and the times our parents disappoint us–have played out in their lives.”

• And in other podcast news, there’s an interview with Fuse #8 favorite Frances Hardinge over at Tor.com.  Because anything that has to do with Ms. Hardinge is awesome.  I recently found myself having lunch at the same table as Patrick Ness and, at a loss of anything else to say to him, I realized we both belonged to the Mutual Admiration Society of Frances Hardinge.  So to speak. Thanks to Sarah Hagge for the link.

• There’s a nice big post on endpapers up and running at Nancy Vo’s Illustration blog.

This one’s rather interesting to me.  Folks in my family often send me links that have to do with libraries or librarians in some way.  I find some more useful than others.  Still, I was very intrigued by the recent piece called The Archivist Files: Why the woman who started LA’s branch libraries was fired. Wowzah.  Them’s good reading.

Speaking of librarians, did you know there’s an entire site out there dedicated to them dressing up and posting pictures of themselves?  Yup. Librarian Wardrobe. The more you know.

“But there’s a third set of children’s books: those that fall into an uncanny valley between enjoyable literature and ignorable junk. These are books that exert an irresistible pull on adult consciousness but don’t reward it. They are malign presences on the bookshelf. They hurt. One of them may be the best-selling children’s picture book of all time.”  That’s a hard sentence to beat and, as it happens, I agree with author Gabriel Roth every which way from Sunday.  He discusses what may be one of the worst “canonical” picture books of all time.

• A nice little write up of the panel I moderated at BEA called Telling the Truth at Every Age.

• This doesn’t actually have any connection to children’s literature really (though you might be able to make a case for it) but did you know that there’s a site created by NYPL where you can look at old photos of pretty much every single block in the city?  It’s called OldNYC and I’ve just handed you a website that will eat away at your spare time for the rest of the day.  You’re welcome.

• I was discussing this with buddy Gregory K the other day.  Can you think of a single instance where a Newbery Award winner went out, after winning said award, and became an agent?  Because that’s what Ms. Rebecca Stead has just done and I think it’s safe to say that it’s an unprecedented move.

• Daily Image:

So there’s this artist out there by the name of James Hance.  And this, my friends, is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the content he has available.  Here’s a taste:

Thanks to Stephanie Whelan for the link.

On April 19th of this past year I hosted a Children’s Literary Salon at NYPL called Podcasting Children’s Books: Ins and Outs, Ups and Downs. Unlike a lot of my Salons, this one was actually recorded and turned into a podcast here.  Why am I telling you all this?  Because that podcaster, one Matthew Winner, has just hit a very important milestone.  As of  November 21st the Let’s Get Busy podcast celebrated its 100th episode.  To celebrate this momentous event, Matthew organized a Blog+Pod tour.  And lo and behold, I’m on the schedule.

Now if you don’t listen to children’s literature podcasts but have been vaguely interested in starting, I can’t recommend Matthew’s enough.  But that’s enough from me.  Let’s hear from the man himself.

Betsy: Great to have you hear Matthew!  Let’s start with an easy question.  Why don’t we delve deep into the nature of podcasting itself?

Matthew: Sounds great! You know, podcasting has gone through much of the same trend the blogging did in the early days of the internet. It’s so easy to do and requires so little prep that it seems like hundreds of new podcasts are popping up every week. And that’s such a good thing, because it means that people are sharing their voices and their unique perspectives on a myriad of topics. 

Betsy: So what’s the advantage of being a podcaster?

Matthew: The biggest draw for me as a podcaster is getting to interact with my content in this authentic and meaningful way that an interview format allows. I love being able to ask whatever question comes to mind in the context of our conversation, but I also love hearing guests work through their responses. There’s always a prized moment where an unexpected insight is shared that just rocks me to the core. Those are the moments I live for and it’s the quality that I think keeps people listening. Also, podcasting is a bit less time-consuming for me. Most of the time spent with Let’s Get Busy is on setting up the interviews, confirming that the guest’s technology works, and prepping the episode for publication. I still write reviews, post lesson ideas, and share insights on advocacy and ed trends through my Busy Librarian blog, but it’s really nice to have an outlet where I can interact with a human being, make a connection over great literature or art, and then share that conversation with others.

Betsy: And what’s changed since you began?

Matthew: I’m now receiving interview requests pretty frequently from publishers and publicists organizing blog tours and looking to promote their big releases. I don’t say yes to every request, but when I do I always love being a part of the book’s send-off. Whether it’s the author’s debut into publishing, their first work for a particular age range, or it’s just a great book that is receiving some extra publicity, it’s a huge honor to be a part of the celebration. But most of my guests come through recommendations from previous guests. This might be the quality I feel like is working best of all for the podcast. We’ve built a family through the podcast guests of friends, colleagues, mentors, and man-would-I-love-to-hear-you-speak-with-NAME-about-TOPIC. It’s a really wonderful thing. Oh! And the other thing that’s changed is that I’ve started to find more kidlit podcasters! When we met at the NYPL Literary Salon the only other podcasters doing something similar to Let’s Get Busy that I was aware of were Katie Davis (Brain Burps About Books), John Sellers (PW KidsCast), and The Kids Comics Revolution (Dave Roman and Jerzy Drozd). Now I’ve made pals with Gregg Schigiel of the Stuff Said comics podcast, Nick Patton of the Picturebooking Podcast, and a handful of really cool people on Twitter who have plans to start podcasting soon. I feel like collectively we’re all helping to give a greater voice to children’s publishing. 

Betsy: Have you gotten any feedback from the public that’s surprised you?

Matthew: I keep a digital folder of all of the nice things people have said about the podcast via email, Facebook, or Twitter. (I know, I know… I’m such a teacher. You do know we all keep “smile” folders with these kids of notes from kids, parents, and administration, right?!) It helps me to know that people are listening and that the podcast is becoming for them something bigger than I ever expected. I even share a couple of them through my “Nice Things Said” tab on the podcast homepage (http://lgbpodcast.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html) as sort of testimonials for new visitors to the podcast.

But the comment that surprised me most and still gives me chills today was from Dan Santat, author of Sidekicks, Beekle, and illustrator of half of your favorite picture books). He visited Julie Danielson’s Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog and had the following to say about Let’s Get Busy:

“I’ve recently become addicted to Matthew Winner’s Let’s Get Busy podcast, where he interviews authors and illustrators in children’s publishing. Everyone should check that podcast out. It feels like I’m hanging out with all my friends. I think in about a year, when everyone catches on, it will be one of the most important media sites in the children’s publishing field.”

My interview with Dan was a really special one and I point people back to it all the time just to hear Dan himself tell the story of Beekle. It makes me a little weepy just thinking about it now. I admire him for his deep sincerity in not just what he writes, but also for who he is. He’s top notch in my book and knowing that there are people like him out there that believe in me and the future of this podcast the way he does is a truth I hold very near and dear.

Betsy: Where do you see the future of podcasting even going?

Matthew: Podcasting is such an easy way to consume media. We’re already seeing a decline in network television and an increase in digital content streaming and on-demand media. In that way I think that much of our content is going to start trending toward formats like podcasting because of the ease of reaching a wide audience and the flexibility in how the content can be presented.

Betsy:  And if you could add one cool feature, what would it be?

Matthew: I may have talked about this on the podcast before, but if I could add one feature to the podcast it would be to have a digital shop for all of the past and upcoming guests to share their books, their art, and their talent. A number of illustrators are on Etsy or similar sites. Some sell through their own host sites. But as a huge fanboy of kidlit I feel like we don’t have a central location to access all of this good stuff. A place for me to pick up a tee of Dan Santat’s Beekle alongside a print of Molly Idle’s Flora partner skating with a penguin and an amazing handmade fairtrade Little Lost Owl based on Chris Haughton’s gorgeous books. I feel like what we need is to see more of our favorite books and characters on the walls of our rooms, schools, and libraries and on the totes, tees, and rub-on-tattoos of every card-carrying kidlit fan out there. That would be amazing.

Betsy:  Abso-friggin’-lutely.

Well big time thanks to Matthew for stopping on by.  I think this post may be the most useful encapsulation of the state of contemporary children’s literature podcasting today, thanks in large part to Matthew’s knowledge about the field.  Now be sure to check out the rest of the Let’s Get Busy Podcast blog tour:

Wed. Nov. 19 – Picturebooking Podcast

Sat. Nov. 22 – The Library Fanatic

Sun. Nov. 23 – Laurie Ann Thompson

Mon. Nov. 24 – 100 Scope Notes

Tue. Nov. 25 – LGBPodcast via McSpedden Elementary Library blog

Wed. Nov. 26 – Writer Side Up

Thu. Nov. 27 – Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Fri. Nov. 28 – Brain Burps About Books

Sat. Nov. 29 – LGBPodcast via Aimee Winner

Mon. Dec. 1 – Here!

Tue. Dec 2. – LGBPodcast via Carter Higgins

Wed. Dec. 3 – GreenRow Books

Let’s Get Busy podcast - http://lgbpodcast.blogspot.com/
The Busy Librarian blog - http://www.busylibrarian.com
LIKE the Busy Librarian on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BusyLibrarian
Follow Matthew on Twitter - @MatthewWinner

• Me stuff.  You have been warned.  So the first thing to know today is that this coming Saturday I’ll be speaking at the Eric Carle Museum about Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature.  It will prove to be an amusing talk and if you live in the area I’d desperately love it if you could attend.  I’d like to see your smiling faces, rather than the sea of empty chairs that greets me whenever I close my eyes and imagine worst case scenarios.  It will be at 1 p.m.  In other news, the panel I conducted on Native Fiction was summarized at Tu Books as well as a rather in-depth write-up in Publishers Weekly.  So well done there.  Finally Jules and I were interviewed in conjunction with our book by Cynthia Leitich Smith over at Cynsations.  Woohoo!

• Ooo.  Harry Potter travel posters.  Here’s one:

• And for those of you who know who Suzuki Beane is, enjoy this little GIF of her dancing up a storm.  If I were ever to get a tattoo it would be one of those images.  Or this one.  Thanks to Sara O’Leary for the GIF.

• Monica Edinger was kind enough to field some questions from Jules and me about obscure Alice in Wonderland facts.  I thought I’d heard them all, but that was before I learned about Harry, Alice Liddell’s older, forgotten brother.  A boy who existed before Alice?  There’s a book in that . . .

• Okay.  So we all know that we need diverse books.  Understood.  Done.  But where precisely do you find lists of such titles?  Check out the all new Where to Find Diverse Books site.  Everything from books on disability to Islam to LGBTQIA is included.  Think something’s missing?  Let ‘em know!

• Things I Didn’t Know: So when we talk about podcasts of children’s literature we rarely consider the academic side of things.  Imagine then my delight when I discovered the Raab Children’s Literature Podcasts created for the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection and the Teachers for a New Era Project.  Quite the listing!

• And speaking of Things I Didn’t Know (a topic worthy of its own post, I suspect) Jules recently discovered that there is such a thing as a Coretta Scott King Book Awards Fair out there.  Did you know that?  I, for one, did not.  The event “celebrates the Coretta Scott King Awards, those authors and illustrators who have received the award, and books that (as the Award states) demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture.”  Jules interviews the organizer and founder of the event, Collette Hopkins.  Interested in bringing it to your city?  Read on.

• So I was moderating a panel at a Penguin Random House teacher event this past Monday (I’m just dropping the “Me Stuff” left and right today) and one of the giveaways was Ian Doescher’s William Shakespeare’s Star Wars.  I’m sure you’re familiar with it.  It seemed like a cute gimmick and I thought maybe to snag a copy and give it to my brother for Christmas or something.  Little did I realize that it’s actually a rather brilliant piece of work.  From R2-D2′s soliloquy placing him squarely as a trickster character in the vein of a Puck, to Han Solo’s line after shooting Greedo (“[To innkeeper] Pray, goodly Sir, forgive me for the mess. / [Aside] And whether I shot first, I’ll ne’er confess!”) I was hooked the minute I read it.  My husband’s been on a bit of a Star Wars kick himself as of late.  First there was his three part series on “Why We Like Luke Skywalker”.  Matt posed the question to James Kennedy and got an epic response that is worth reading in Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.  Then there was Matt’s post on what Jonathan Auxier’s The Night Gardener and Star Wars have in common.  There are other Star Wars posts as well that are worth discovering but I think these make for pretty in-depth reading anyway.

• Daily Image: With Halloween on the horizon it’s time to start thinking about costumes.  For inspiration, why not check out BuzzFeed’s 31 Amazing Teacher Halloween Costumes?  Lots of children’s literature references in there.  Three of my favorites included:

Thanks to Kate for the link.

Giving birth!  All the kids are doing it these days.  And you know what giving birth means, right?  It means having a little extra time to blog and get my non-work related projects done.  Though, naturally, I wrote 50% of this post a day ago and then must have failed to save the darn thing.  *sigh*  C’est la vie, kids.

• I was called upon recently to speak with a writer from the National Endowment for the Arts.  The topic?  Why Children’s Books Matter.  Done in conjunction with Leonard Marcus’s exhibit at the main branch of NYPL I answer all sorts of questions.  Mind you, it was a oral interview so I wasn’t able to parse my own speech.  Read it and you’ll get a real sense of what it sounds like to talk to me (weirdo grammar and all).

• Next up, diversity!  Last week I wrote the post We Need Diverse Books . . . But Are We Willing to Discuss Them With Our Kids? in which I discussed the role of children’s literature when talking to young children about race.  It received some great responses, including this one from Monica Edinger Talking Diversity with Young Children.  Then in other diversity news I interviewed Jason Low about the current state of multicultural books for kiddos today.

• Let’s talk exhibits again.  This time, those in Chicago.  Particularly those in Chicago involving Edward Gorey.  You lucky midwesterners.  Thanks to Mr. Schu for the link.

• And going back to the topic of NYPL, I recently interviewed middle grade author Claire LeGrand.  Claire is the organizing genius behind the upcoming Kids Authors Carnival happening this month on the 31st.  Talking with me, she answered some of my questions about the carnival, the authors who will be there, and where the idea came from in the first place.

• Lucy Liu: YA book jacket heroine?  Sure.  What the heck.  Thanks to Marchek for the link.

• Summer Reading is coming up.  Want a reading list for your kids?  ALSC came up with this one and it’s rather nice.

• Hat tip to Travis Jonker for the hat tip to my book (co-written with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta).  It’s coming out in August fer sure, fer sure, and Travis included it in his 10 to Note Summer Preview 2014.  Thank you, man!!

• Oh, I rather love this.  25 Movie Cameos by the Authors of the Original Books.  Because there are children’s book adaptations included that I never knew about.  Michael Morpurgo?  Louis Sachar?  They forgot Wendy Orr in Nim’s Island, Brian Selznick in Hugo, and David Levithan and Rachel Cohn in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist but no one’s perfect.  Love the snarky comment about Stephenie Meyer, by the way.  Thanks to Cynthia Leitich Smith for the link.

• Woo-hoo!  The next Kidlitosphere Conference (the greatest, biggest, best conference of children’s & YA literature bloggers) is nigh.  Nigh, I sez, nigh!  The focus is on diversity, the location is Sacramento and the guests include everyone from Shannon Hale to Mitali Perkins.  Don’t miss it.

• New Podcast Alert: Little, Brown & Company’s School & Library division has their own podcast channel?  Well, who the heck knew?  Not I, said the fly.  And then there’s the podcast Dear Book Nerd which appears to have some connection to the great and grand Brooklyn children’s librarian Rita Meade.  I am so out of it.

• Kids aren’t reading!  No way, no how, not happening.  Unless of course they are.  Common Sense Media recently decided that kids weren’t reading anymore and they went and made a huge deal about it.  Two alternate takes on the study are worth noting.  The first is from Forbes.  The second, from Liz Burns.  And quite frankly, I probably don’t have to tell you that it’s Liz’s take that I prefer.

Nothing I love more than a new children’s book prize.  Particularly when I get to help to narrow down the contenders.  The New York Historical Society was looking for great books of American history, either fiction or nonfiction for kids.  The winner?  The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine.  She gets a $10,000 prize and is the inaugural winner.  Check out the other finalists here and an interview with Kristin about the book here.

The big news last week, aside from the birth of my baby Bird, was the Rush Limbaugh win at the Children’s Book Choice Awards.  It wasn’t a surprise but it did make for some good think pieces.  And Travis Jonker, bless his soul, rounded them up for you.  Amusingly, I had to miss the banquet because of back pain.  Had I attended I not only would have gotten to see that particular person give a speech but there was a fire scare that made everyone go outside.  Methinks this was not the worst year to miss.

Wait just a minute there . . . there’s a children’s literature conference in Hawaii and I’m only NOW hearing about it?  Man!  Now there’s a place I’d love to speak.  Pity I’d have to win a Newbery Honor to do it.

• Daily Image:

It was St. Martin’s Press that advertised this one originally.  I don’t know where they got it, but it’s such a brilliant display that I just had to share it with you.  Libraries and other bookstores take note (and copy at will!).