Okay . . . soooooooo this. Look at this, oh ye children’s librarians. Breathe this. LIVE this! Become this.
So naturally I had to find out who she is. Go to YouTube and she has numerous videos under the moniker OoeyGooeyLady. Almost all her videos date back two years. Real name? Lisa Murphy. And as you might expect, she has a whole web presence as well. Certainly those videos, the hand rhymes ones, are invaluable for children’s librarians. There are other good ones there too. Here’s a different one of her videos on respecting kids.
Kinda sorta could watch her all day. Thanks to Alison Morris for the link.
From this blog I complain about so many things you’d think I was some kind of permanent grumpus. For example, you know what really bugs me? When a TV show or movie can’t be bothered to show a kid reading a real children’s book and instead gets their prop team to make some fake one. Recently I watched an episode of Louie that did just that (though props to the show for making it clear that a woman who knows her children’s literature is desirable, particularly if she’s played by Parker Posey). So though I’m loathe to credit commercials, Intel got it right when they decided to hire Bob Staake for a bit rather than just make someone up. Credit too to Travis Jonker for spotting the Staake.
Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.
At first I thought this animated book trailer for Lizi Boyd’s Flashlight was burying the lead. Yes the book looks good, but listen to that music. Then look at the credit at the end. “Original Music by Eric Wright”.
Turns out I was confusing the fellow’s name with Eric Wight. An easy mistake to make.
A nice video from Louisville on the importance of reading early:
It’s a good piece but I was a little perturbed by the accompanying How Many Children’s Books Have You Read? piece. Apparently this list was created by a National Education Association survey of teachers. So . . . Dom DeLuise? Really? And Love You Forever? *sigh*
Two of my favorite guys. Just talking. Dishing the dirt. Signing the books. You know how it is. It’s Tom Angleberger and Jonathan Auxier.
Oh. And this may be useful in the future. Just in case we ever want to set up an official yo-yo author tour (hey, you never know).
And for our off-topic video, for no particular reason, here is author Steve Almond tearing to teeny tiny shreds the song “Africa” by Toto.
Thanks to Mom for the link!
I could listen to Auxier and Angleberger talk all day. By the way, Auxier is in Crankenstein because he agreed to tell me his “stage name” back when he was a professional yo-yo competitor in exchange for me agreeing to put him in a book I illustrated. I have sworn an oath of secrecy, but every fiber of my being hopes that he will one day write a book about his yo-yo-ing adventures so that I may hopefully get the chance to do a cover.
You hear that, Auxier! We need a yo-yo picture book, stat. I only know of one. Santat can illustrate. It’s a perfect plan.
Toto is apparently the zeitgeist now. Earlier this year, Michael Fassbender sang a very passionate version on The Graham Norton Show. I can’t find a clip, so instead I’m posting this:
http://youtu.be/ELwihE8dLTA
I’m a huge fan of The Middle, the ABC tv show. The youngest son, Brick, is a compulsive reader. He once fell off a bike because he was reading and forgot he was on a bike. He even put on a coat and tie when a librarian came to his house for dinner! They show him reading actual books and not props. They even do their homework–once I saw Brick reading a Garth Nix book, which was exactly right for his age and personality.