When you work with the real Winnie-the-Pooh you have a tendency to get complacent. “Oh sure,” you think. ” I know everything about that bear. Absolutely everything.” So it’s nice when the universe gives you a swift kick in the pants to remind you that you are not always up on your Pooh knowledge. Or at least not as up on it as you might think. For example, I completely missed the fact that they just reissued The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook by Virginia H. Ellison (amusingly my library’s gift shop has known for quite some time has stocked several copies accordingly). I found this out when a reporter from the Associated Press wanted to interview me (or anyone else who worked with the silly old bear) about Pooh and food. The final piece, Counting pots of honey? Pooh’s recipes for them consists of me desperately trying to think of ways to describe Pooh and food. You will probably enjoy it more for the cute honey gingerbread cookie recipe at the end.
- The article in Tablet Magazine (“A New Read on Jewish Life”) is entitled The Others: Several new books for children and young adults ask us to see the world through Palestinian kids’ eyes. Its author is Marjorie Ingall, one of my favorite children’s book reviewers, most recently seen heaping praise upon A Tale Dark & Grimm in the last New York Times children’s book supplement, as is right. The article in Tablet gives great insight into books like Where the Streets Had a Name (which I reviewed myself) as well as Sarah Glidden’s How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, which I have on order with my library. For this article, Marjorie is lambasted in her comment section. Some of the comments are thoughtful, but a great many show why this issue is so rarely discussed in children’s literature today.
- I suppose it’s old news, but more Best Book lists of 2010 are up and running! First you have the Kirkus list, which contain more than a couple non-fiction titles that I would like to get my hands on. It also features my beloved Departure Time, a fact that makes me inordinately happy. Another list that came out last week was the School Library Journal picks. Split into different parts, you can read the somewhat truncated non-fiction list here, the picture book list here ( 10 Comments on Fusenews: A small smackerel of news, last added: 11/23/2010
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate — water and OJ. Get as much sleep as you can. And find a great book to re-read. (I am a firm believer in self-medicating with doses of carefully chosen literature. Something funny/happy/uplifting. As the old saying goes, “It’ll do you good and help you, too.”
Feel better, Betsy! Thanks for the link.
And I give up — WHICH That 70s Show star is in Molly’s Pilgrim???
Oh, boo! Shoo that cold away. Hope you feel better.
Answer: Mila Kunis, of course! She looks exactly the same at 10 as she does today. The true irony is that the actress was born in Kiev and yet plays a part where she mocks a girl for being Russian. Sweet irony.
The Hundred Dresses has also been performed at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, MD, a few years back.
I loved Departure Time too! Thanks for the recommendation. What a great read!
How strange–I loved all the Casson books but never really got into the Penderwicks. It just felt too much like Elizabeth Enright’s work for me to really love it.
Maybe it’s an either/or proposition. Either you like one or another. Interesting.
I enjoyed reading the news today. Hope you feel better. And don’t forget that you and I became friendly due to a critical yet astute observation of my picture book (even if I still disagree). Good things grow from honesty.
Thank you so much for the news that The Winnie-the-Pooh cookbook is back in print! Now if only I can get my hand on those adorable cookie cutters . . .