NEW YPPL

Jacqueline Woodson has been named the new Young People’s Poet Laureate. An excellent choice, I say. Click here to read.

MORE MARGARET

News on the Margaret Wise Brown front!

From the source:

New York, NY (June 2, 2015) – HarperCollins Children’s Books announced today the acquisition of New York Times bestselling and award-winning illustrators Anna Dewdney, Loren Long, Jerry Pinkney, Greg Pizzoli, and Christian Robinson to illustrate several works from Margaret Wise Brown, the beloved storyteller who brought us Goodnight Moon. Starting in 2016, readers are invited to explore the world of Margaret Wise Brown with two reillustrated books and one never-before-published book. These newly illustrated stories will introduce a new generation of readers to Brown’s beloved picture books.

PUPPY AT A TYPEWRITER

This article is worth you time in so many ways. It sums up what it’s like to read a less-than-stellar book to a child. It explores why less-than-stellar books remain so popular. Also, it features one of the best illustrations in recent memory. Why So Pokey? The Scourge of Terrible Canonical Children’s Books. Click here to read.

THE WRITER IS A GHOST

Wow am I dense. I never, until reading the article From the Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew: The Secret Ghostwriters of Children’s Fiction considered that Goosebumps was ghostwritten. The Atlantic talks about the pros and cons of writing for a series that already exists. Click here to read.

The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. Out August 18, 2015

Mega hit The Day the Crayons Quit has a sequel on the way. The story picks up with the crayons in need of rescue – each one sending a postcard detailing their woe.

A Fuse #8 Production has a thought-provoking post up about Gary Soto’s decision to not write for children anymore. She ties it in with recent children’s and YA lit controversies. Click here to read.

Today I had a convo with Jack Gantos about what shirt and tie I should wear to the #Newbery banquet. Kinda cool! pic.twitter.com/B2Rj9whaxs

— Kwame Alexander (@kwamealexander) May 30, 2015

A couple months back CBS Sunday Morning covered an exhibit of “immortal children’s books” at The Grolier Club in New York.