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Elizabeth Bird (fusenumber8@gmail.com) is a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library and blogs at “A Fuse #8 Production” on SLJ ’s website. Her last feature for the magazine, “Betsy Goes to Bologna” ( July 2011), offered a bird’s-eye view of the world’s largest kids’ book fair.
Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People By Susan Goldman Rubin Abrams Books for Young Readers $21.95 ISBN: 978-0-8109-8411-0 Ages 10 and up On shelves now National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15th to October 15th. How many folks could tell you that off the top of their heads? Meanwhile, few awards are specifically [...]
Boy, I love it when I set up a Literary Salon months in advance and then the universe conspires to make it even more timely than I’d initially intended. Expect this next one at the main branch of NYPL to feature one hot and toasty little panel talk. I shall mentally prepare in the interim. [...]
Before we begin I would like to have a few words with the publishers on behalf of catalogers nationwide. Ahem. Hi, guys. How’s it going? Heckuva weird weather we’ve had lately, right? Yeah . . . so . . . here’s the thing. You know how you’ve been rereleasing a couple classic children’s books recently [...]
So apparently in the 1980s the Brooklyn Public Library decided to take a page out of the Reading Rainbow handbook and came up with this series of kids recommending books that they loved. The result, so nicely posted on the Hairpin, will pretty much keep you amused all the livelong day. You just gotta wonder [...]
Let’s set the scene for a moment. It’s the early 1980s. 3-2-1 Contact is giving young children an unceasing stream of Bloodhound Gang episodes. Men have not yet shaved the mustaches they acquired in the 1970s. Bicycles remain almost universally helmet-free. And in Kalamazoo, Michigan a little girl is given a very special present. Okay. [...]
It’s Monday, Mrs. Jolly Bones! By Warren Hanson Illustrated by Tricia Tusa Beach Lane Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4424-1229-3 Ages 4-7 On shelves March 19th Older children are not big fans of reading about middle-aged adults. That’s just obvious. Unless that adult is a furry woodland creature, of course. Then [...]
It is WAY too late in the day for me to be only starting a Fusenews post now. All right, guys. Looks like we’re gonna have to do today double quick time. Sorry, but I’ve a ticking time bomb in the other room (sometimes also known as “my daughter”) and I gotsta gets to bed [...]
The Children’s Literary Salon is pleased to announce our next event on Saturday, February 2nd at 2:00 p.m. Middle Grade: Surviving the YA Onslaught Join authors Jeanne Birdsall ( The Penderwicks), N.D. Wilson ( The Dragon’s Tooth), Adam Gidwitz ( In a Glass Grimmly) and Rebecca Stead ( Liar & Spy) for a discussion of [...]
Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems By Jack Prelutsky Illustrated by Carin Berger Greenwillow Books (an imprint of Harper Collins) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-201464-1 Ages 4-8 On shelves February 26th. To non-children’s librarians the statistics are baffling. Your average poetry book isn’t exactly a circ buster. It sits on the shelf for months [...]
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made By Stephan Pastis Candlewick Press $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-6050-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves February 26th Call it the attack of the syndicated cartoonists. For whatever reason, in the year 2013 we are seeing droves of escapees from the comic strip pages leaping from the burning remains of the newspaper industry into [...]
I miss Peter Sieruta. Many of us get excited when the Newbery and Caldecott Awards are announced alongside the other ALA Youth Media Awards at the beginning of the year. But I say with certainty that there was no blogger out there half as excited as Peter Sieruta. At Collecting Children’s Books he poured his [...]
I wonder how much of my readership is at the Midwinter ALA Convention right now. Probably a big old chunk. That’s okay. Those of us stuck at home can make our OWN fun, even as we obsessively chew our nails in anticipation of tomorrow’s big ALA Media Awards announcements. This video should be enough to [...]
Flora and the Flamingo By Molly Idle Chronicle Books $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4521-1006-6 Ages 3-7 On shelves February 3rd Did you know that flamingos are pink because of their diet of plankton? Did you know that the flamingo is the national bird of the Bahamas? And did you know that when it comes to a pas [...]
When you’re a parent you don’t get a whole lot of time to take off and see new movies. Tell you something you don’t already know, right? Well for Christmas my husband and I got a copy of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and even with the film in our home we STILL didn’t get around [...]
2013 Sydney Taylor Book Awards Announced by the Association of Jewish Libraries The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger [...]
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős By Deborah Heiligman Illustrated by LeUyen Pham Roaring Brook (an imprint of Macmillan) ISBN: 978-1-59643-307-6 Ages 6 and up On shelves June 25th Make a beeline for your local library’s children’s biography section and learn firsthand the shocking truth about picture book bios of [...]
Because what is not to love about talking books for kids in bars? Happy New Year, Everyone! We hope your 2013 is off to a great start and we’re looking forward to another year of outstanding books, conversations, and drinks! As you may know, the SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) New York [...]
Looks like the National Book Awards are taking a page out of the Oscars’ handbook. Which is to say, if people like nominees for awards so much, why not give them MORE nominees? Says PW, “In an effort to broaden the reach and impact of the National Book Awards, the National Book Foundation will select [...]
In a mere twelve days the world will sit down and hear what the official winners of the 2013 Newbery and Caldecott Awards officially are. Like you, I will tune in to the webcast to hear the announcements live. ALA says that the announcement will be made ” 8 a.m. PT on Jan. 28, from [...]
