Fast fast, like lightning, fast! It’s a Fusenews round-up of epic quickie proportions!
First up, my buddy Warren Truitt used to work with me in the Central Children’s Room of New York Public Library. Then he moved to Alabama. He’s kept busy, since that time with a long-term personal project. This one man machine is intent on setting up every single child in every single preschool in Lee Col, AL with three books that they can take home as their own. To do that, he has set up a very specific registry. If you want to help him out go to this Amazon wishlist and buy him one or more of the books on this list. This is a straight up good cause with direct results. Make yourself feel good about yourself today.
In other news, I have been mistakenly complimented. Cece Bell, the marvelous creator behind such books as El Deafo and the Rabbit and Robot easy book series wrote a post recently in which she wrote the following:
“After El Deafo came out, … Betsy Bird pointed out that the first book in the series (Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover) seemed autobiographical to her. (She was right in some ways—I had initially modeled Rabbit on someone else, but while working on the book realized that the high-strung, anxious Rabbit is pretty darn close to me.) Betsy used her crazy-good comp-lit skills and suggested that my personal connection to the book went even further. She pointed out that while Rabbit might represent me (I’m a rabbit in El Deafo, after all), perhaps the problem-solving Robot might represent the Phonic Ear, my clunky hearing aid from elementary school. I think Betsy was right! Robot drives Rabbit crazy but ultimately helps him out; my Phonic Ear drove me crazy, but ultimately helped me out. A lot.)”
She goes on to explain how the newest book in the series follows in this vein, though she didn’t intend it to do so. Now, you know me. I’m vanity incarnate. I like taking credit for things, but this? I can’t take credit for this. In point of fact it was my genius husband who actually came up with the Rabbit & Robot = El Deafo connection. So I thank you, Cece, but in truth it is Matt Bird who deserves this honor. I am but his humble vessel, parlaying his theories into the universe.
Seems like every day we’re getting more and more information about the upcoming Wrinkle in Time movie. It’s being directed by Ava DuVernay. This is good. Oprah will star in some capacity. Let the Oprah as winged centaur fan art begin! Still good news. Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon may be involved somehow. Better and better. And lastly, Storm Reid (seen here) will be Meg. Perfect! Right age and everything. BUT, and this is a big but, there is still one way they can mess everything up. MEG. MUST. WEAR. GLASSES. If Meg is not wearing glasses in this movie then I am checking out. Harriet the Spy didn’t wear glasses in that Rosie O’Donnell film and Meg didn’t wear glasses the last time they filmed this. Team Glasses, that’s me. Let’s see what happens. Thanks to Laurie Gwen Shapiro for the link.
Anyone else notice that there’s been a distinct increase in the number of articles praising translated books for kids and asking for more out there? Bookriot just came out with 100 Great Translated Kids Books From Around the World. I am not familiar with this M. Lynx Qualey but this is top notch writing. Hooray, #WorldKidLit Month!
New Blog Alert: In my travels I just found a new blog via a recent New York Times Book Review. New to me anyway. Apparently this woman’s been doing this since 2012. Meet Catherine Hong. She works on magazines. She blogs at www.mrslittle.com. And she writes on interesting topics with interesting titles. Here’s a smattering of what I mean:
Read that last one if nothing else. This is my kind of woman (to quote Animal from The Muppet Show)!
The National Book Award longlists were announced this week, people! And guess what? There’s a nice equal smattering of YA and children’s literature on the list. Hooray! Some years it’s all YA with just one children’s book squeezing in there. This year there are SIX children’s books, just slightly tipping in favor of younger readers. I’ve read five of them. See if you can guess which one I haven’t read. It’s not as obvious as you might think.
And now, your daily reminder that David Foster Wallace once taught Mac Barnett. I will repeat. The author of Infinite Jest taught the author of Extra Yarn. I’m just going to sit and process that for a while. Carry on.
Hey! Look over there! At the Horn Book Podcast (I listen to all the episodes – I’m such a junkie) Jules Danielson was on and she said many smart things. Many! Go listen to her and feel smart while doing so.
Confession: I was just going to coast today, since I’d technically already submitted my four blog posts for the week (Sundays totally counts). Then Travis Jonker goes and does THREE brilliant posts in. a. row. This will not stand. I can’t compete with that. First he predicted the upcoming New York Times Best Illustrated books for 2016. Then he did a piece called Who Has Published the Most New York Times Best Illustrated Books in the Last Decade (the answer may surprise you . . . but won’t) and then he followed that up with The Failed Political Campaigns of Children’s Book Characters. I was particularly keen on the last of these because just two days ago I interviewed Aaron Reynolds about President Squid for this new show I’m doing. I recommend that if you don’t want to listen to my big face, skip to about 18:30 where you can experience the most enjoyable sensation of watching a really good author/performer read his book aloud. The voice of President Squid here is fantastic.
Another New Blog Alert: Did you know that the Horn Book has created a new blog? Designed specifically to aid families that like to read together, the Family Reading Blog just started. Check it out!
Did I ever tell you about the time I dug through the library equivalent of the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark to try to find Pura Belpré’s puppets for a Leonard Marcus exhibit? That was fun. In any case, please check out this article How NYC’s First Puerto Rican Librarian Brought Spanish to the Shelves. I don’t think they mention it in the piece but there’s actually a great picture book about her called The Storyteller’s Candle/La Velita de los Cuentos. Check it out if you’ve a chance!
You could do a lot of things with your day today. For my part, I suggest that you read The Paris Review article What We Talk About When We Talk About Ill-Fitting Doll Suits. If nothing else, read the captions on the photographs. They’ll get you through your day. Thanks to Sara O’Leary for the link.
By the way, remember Jules Danielson? Are you aware of the role she played recently in getting 100 authors and illustrators to contribute beautifully painted piggy banks to help bookseller Stephanie Appell pay for her cancer treatments? Well the piggies got made and they are gorgeous. Really beautifully done. Wouldn’t you like to own one?
Of course you would! So here are the details then:
How You Can Participate (And Bid on the Piggies!)
- If you’re in Nashville, join us for the BANK ON BOOKSELLERS party on Sunday, September 25, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. to view all the piggies and get the bidding started! The party is open to the public. A $10 donation is requested at the door.
- No matter where you are, you can see all the piggies and bid online via BiddingOwl beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 25, 2016, through 8 p.m. on Friday, September 30.
- Spread the word: share this post and tag it #BankOnBooksellers!
Meanwhile, in New York City, Gallery Nucleus is hosting a Labyrinth 30th Anniversary Tribute Exhibition tomorrow (September 17th) from 7-10 p.m. called “Through Dangers Untold”. I would go.
Two great tastes that taste great together: First Book and Lee & Low. Now these two powerhouses have combined. LEE & LOW Partners with First Book and NEA Foundation to Expand New Visions Award. Just in case you were feeling depressed about the state of the world today.
Daily Image:
If anyone has any additional information about this book that somehow never got published, I’d love to hear it.
Check out the plot description: “Years before Sarah entered the Labyrinth, a young boy named Jareth faced his own incredible journey in a desperate attempt to rescue his true love from the clutches of the wicked and beautiful Goblin Queen. Archaia and the Jim Henson Company and proud to present an original prequel to Jim Henson’s classic fantasy film.” Only they didn’t because the book never happened. Mysterious. Reminds me of that old fan theory about the movie too.
It’s happened to us all. You hear that one of your favorite books for kids or teens is being adapted to the silver screen and you are struck with a simultaneous feeling of hope and fear. You go to see it and it’s even worse than you imagined. Then you leave the theater and realize that this was based on the first book in a series. Are they honestly going to keep going, even if this is a flop?
Thankfully, the answer is usually no. But what happens is that you’re left with a lot of series just ah-blowing in the wind. Here then is a tribute to those book series that are just not going to see any more sequels. Unless, of course, they get a reboot. Which, in at least one case, may happen.
The Seeker a.k.a. The Dark Is Rising
Remember this? Or has your brain done you a favor and allowed you to forget? One of the more egregious adaptations out there. In the midst of the Harry Potter films, studios were looking to recreate that same magic for themselves. And lo and behold, here is a fantasy series starring a special boy who learns he has the power to defeat a dark and ancient evil! Perfect! So what did the studios do? First, they made it American (one can only imagine the conversations that took place to make this happen – “I bet Harry Potter would have been MUCH more successful if he’d been from Jersey!”). Then they mucked with the plot so much as to render the film unrecognizable from the book. No Under Sea, Under Stone for you, kids! Which, technically, should have been first anyway . . .
The Black Cauldron
Not that when Disney animated it they were really prepared to make any sequels. Many consider this film the moment Disney animation hit rock bottom. They also combined two of Lloyd Alexander’s books together to make it in the first place. I heard a rumor the other day that a new version of The Book of Three is in the works somewhere, but was unable to find any proof of it online.
The Seventh Son
Apparently this was years and years in the works, much good it did it in the end. A real pity since the book was so great. What could have been a really good creepy film was instead yet another big budget war against an evil blahfest. Ah well.
A Wrinkle in Time
Oh yeah. It was straight to television, so hopes couldn’t have been all that high anyway. In a 2004 interview with Newsweek Madeleine L’Engle was asked if the film met her expectations. She said it had. She was pretty cheery about it. “I expected it to be bad, and it was.” Rumor has it that another is currently in the works. I dunno, folks. Mixing religion and science and fantasy into a single book is hard enough. Short of animating it, I don’t know how a film could even come close to doing it right.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
This one is unlike the others mentioned here for a number of reasons. First off, these movies aren’t all that bad. They seem fairly aware of the books that they’re based upon, for one thing. And admittedly they managed to get through three books in the Narnia series, and even then only by the skin of their teeth. Amazing that they got that far! It’s too late to keep ’em coming at this point, so the series is pretty officially dead (sorry, Silver Chair, fans).
The Last Airbender
I’m cheating by including this since it’s not based on a book originally but a television series (Avatar: The Last Airbender). That said, the graphic novel sequels (penned in part by our current National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature, Gene Luen Yang) are fantastic and deserve mention. The movie adaptation of the first season was problematic not the least because all the villains were people of color and all the people of color who were heroes were played by white actors. [My husband points out that if you look at the voice actors for the original TV show it’s not much different, but that’s only if you think Iroh and Zuko are villains, and anyway the true baddies were Mark Hammil and Jason Isaacs who are the whitest white guys to ever white a white].
By the way, notice how all these series star white kids, usually of a male persuasion, and are fantasies or science fiction. So while I’d love to see the One Crazy Summer books adapted, my hopes are not currently very high.
“If kids like a picture book, they’re going to read it at least 50 times, and their parents are going to have to read it with them. Read anything that often, and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed.” – Mark Haddon
I’ve just returned from speaking at a magnificent writing retreat weekend at Bethany Hegedus’s Writing Barn in Austin, Texas. That quote was one that Bethany read before Alexandra Penfold’s presentation and I like it quite a lot. Someone should start a picture book blog called “Gravel In the Bed”. If you need a good treat, I do recommend The Writing Barn wholeheartedly. The deer alone are worth the price of admission. And if you’ve other children’s book writing retreats you like, let me know what they are. I’m trying to pull together a list.
- I just want to give a shout out to my girl Kate Milford. I don’t always agree with the ultimate winners of The Edgar Award (given for the best mysteries) in the young person’s category but this year they knocked it out of the park. Greenglass House for the win!
- As you know, I’m working on the funny girl anthology FUNNY GIRL and one of my contributors is the illustrious Shannon Hale. She’s my personal hero most of the time and the recent post Boos for girls just nails down why that is. Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.
Not too long ago I was part of a rather large gathering based on one of my blog posts. The artist Etienne Delessert saw a piece I’d written on international picture books and how they’re perceived here in the States. So what did he do? He grabbed local consulates, flew in scholars, invited friends (like David Macaulay) and created an amazing free day that was hugely edifying and wonderful. You can read the SLJ report We need more international picture books, kid lit experts say or the PW piece Where the Wild Books Are: A Day of Celebrating Foreign Picture Books or the Monica Edinger recap International Children’s Books Considered. Very interesting look at these three different perspectives. And, naturally, I must thank Etienne for taking my little post so very far. This is, in a very real way, every literary blogger’s dream come true. Merci, Etienne!
- There’s a lot of joy that can come when when a British expert discusses their nation’s “forgotten children’s classics“. The delightful Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature is out and its editor Daniel Hahn has recapped the books that he feels don’t get sufficient attention in Britain. Very funny to see one of our American classics on this list (I won’t ruin which one for you).
- How do we instill a sense of empathy in our kids? Have ‘em read Harry Potter. Apparently there’s now research to back that statement up. NPR has the story.
- Ooo. Wish I lived in L.A. for this upcoming talk. At UCLA there’s going to be a discussion of Oscar Wilde and the Culture of Childhood that looks at his fairytales. It ain’t a lot of money. See what they have to say.
- Because of I have ample time on my hands (hee hee hee hee . . . whooo) I also wrote an article for Horn Book Magazine recently. If you’ve ever wondered why we’re seeing so many refugees from the animation industry creating picture books, this may provide some of the answers.
- Over at the blog Views From the Tesseract, Stephanie Whelan has located a picture book so magnificent that it should be reprinted now now now. Imagine, if you will, a science fiction picture book starring an African-American girl . . . illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Do you remember Blast Off?
Of course you don’t. No one does. Stephanie has the interiors on her site. And since the number of books that show African-American girls as astronauts are . . . um . . . okay, I’ve never seen one. Plus it’s gorgeous and fun. REPRINT REPRINT REPRINT!
- Speaking of girls in space, I’ve never so regretted that a section was cut from a classic book. But this missing section from A Wrinkle in Time practically makes me weep for its lack. I WISH it had been included. It’s so very horribly horribly timely.
- As you’ll recall, the new math award for children’s books was established. So how do you submit your own? Well, new submissions for 2015 (and looking back an additional five years) will begin to be received starting June 1st. So FYI, kiddos.
Know a librarian getting married? Or an editor? Or an author? Gently suggest to them these for their registry.
Thanks to Stephanie Whelan for the link.
The all time bestseller \"A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle originally had three more pages of text than previously known.
The Wall Street Journal broke the story and published these pages which were discovered by Charlotte Jones Voiklis, L’Engle’s granddaughter. You can read the pages at this link. Here is an excerpt.
Afraid to ask the question that was really on her mind, Meg said, “But father, hod did the black Thing — how did it capture Camazotz.”
WSJ has more insight into these pages:
Scholars invited by the Journal to review the new passage say it offers a window into L’Engle’s thinking. The excerpt is the most direct discussion of politics in her writing, the scholars said, offering a richer explanation of the author’s political views.
They agreed with Ms. Voiklis that cutting it was the right decision, one which strengthened the narrative. The section was too didactic, and would have dated the book, some said.
February 13, 2012 marks the 50th Anniversary of the first publication of A Wrinkle in Time. On February 11, 2012 the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group is hosting a special anniversary celebration at Symphony Space in New York City with readings, performances, and celebrity guests, including Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me, Lois Lowry, author of The Giver, R. L. Stein, author of the Goosebumps series, and Jane Curtin, who appeared in the television show 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Tickets can be purchased at http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/7056-thalia-kids-book-club-a-wrinkle-in-time-50th-anniversary-. For those unable to attend the live event, we will be simulcasting a livestream of the celebration here: http://live.todocast.tv/template.ma-top.php?EventNumber=TDC-E1570
if you’d like to host a party of your own in your school or library. We will also be archiving the show so that it can be viewed at any time. We expect that the show will be available in March.
If you would like to host a Wrinkle in Time celebration in your classroom or library, please contact us at [email protected] to order free 50th Anniversary posters and bookmarks while supplies last. Be sure to send us any photos of your celebration and we will post them on our Wrinkle in Time Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wrinkleintime.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of a children's book classic, A Wrinkle in Time. 
To celebrate this milestone Farrar, Straus and Giroux (who published the book 50 years ago) have released gorgeous commemorative editions with the original hardcover and paperback jackets and new extras that include an introduction by Katherine Paterson and an afterword by author Madeleine L'Engle's granddaughter.
A Wrinkle in Time is as relevant and captivating in 2012 as it was in 1962, and it's incredible to me that such an iconic story began with a random thought during a cross-country vacation, "...the names Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which popped into my grandmother’s head, and she told her three children—twelve, ten, and seven—that she would have to write a book about them..."--from the afterword [PDF].
Many prominent authors have been influenced by Madeleine L'Engle, including Judy Blume. Blume was interviewed for a book about L'Engle (titled Listening for Madeleine) coming out in the fall, and we have an exclusive excerpt, a sample of which is below. You can find the rest of the excerpt here (under More to Explore).
"Madeleine and I really bonded over the issue of book banning. Her books were being
challenged all over the country. They were being challenged—and I love this and have used it in
every speech about book banning that I’ve ever given—for teaching “New Ageism” to children. I
always say that I can guarantee you that when Madeleine wrote her books she had never heard of
New Ageism. The attacks on her books made her absolutely furious. She was beside herself, not
just because her books were being attacked, but because any books were being targeted in that
way. We would go out and do TV shows together in defense of banned books. An evening news
show might have a segment on the censorship of children’s books. This was during the 1980s.
She was so elegant and so down-to-earth, and some of her answers were so funny, as much as to
say: Why are you guys so stupid? Why would you be asking questions like this? She never
actually said those things, but it was absolutely clear what she meant. I just loved her."--Judy Blume in an excerpt from Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L’Engle in Many Voices.
A Wrinkle in Time has been read, loved, and shared, by countless readers over the last 50 years, and I'm certain that trend will continue. This anniversary inspired me to re-read the book for the first time in decades and I fell in love with the words and characters all over again. Those of you who adore this book as I do will understand when I say that I got a little bit giddy when I saw the photo posted below, and if A Wrinkle in Time is one of the unread classics on your list--treat yourself to an amazing read. --Seira
A photograph of page one from the original
I can't believe that one of my alltime favorite books,
A Wrinkle In Time, is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary! To celebrate, Macmillan Books has 50 blogs writing about the book and I'm honored to be participating! Macmillan Books is excited too-so much so they released an amazing new edition of the book:
And it's not just a pretty cover. There are lots of features included that make it a great choice for longtime fans:
The 50th Anniversary Commemorative edition features:• Frontispiece photo*†
• Photo scrapbook with approximately 10 photos*†
• Manuscript pages*†
• Letter from 1963 Caldecott winner, Ezra Jack Keats*†
• New introduction by Katherine Paterson, US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature †
• New afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis including six never-before-seen photos †
• Murry-O’Keefe family tree with new artwork †
• Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery acceptance speech
* Unique to this edition † never previously published
I'm telling you-if you love
A Wrinkle In Time, you need to get a copy of this edition!!
I've mentioned it several times before, but
A Wrinkle In Time is one of my favorite books from my childhood. For me,
A Wrinkle In Time is a book that stays with you and never lets you go. It's a book I still think about as an adult. From the first words, "It was a dark and stormy night" you can't help but be pulled in and want to escape into the pages. Growing up, I was much like Meg Murray. I felt like I didn't fit in, I had a terrible temper problem, and I felt a bit lost. Reading about Meg made me feel better. Meg could go on amazing adventures, save her father, and even win the affections of Calvin O'Keefe. If Meg could do it, so could I. And yes, I had a crush on Calvin-really, who didn't?
I was a shy reader and every time I went to the library, all I really wanted was for a librarian to tell me about a great book to read or talk to me about books. But I was too shy to talk to them first. I knew where and how the books were shelved, I knew how to search the catalog, and I knew how to browse for exactly what I wanted, so I never approached the children's desk. And the librarians never really approached me.
Now I work as a youth services librarian and it's my goal every day to
By: James Preller,
on 9/26/2011
Blog:
James Preller's Blog
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Family,
The Hardy Boys,
P.D. Eastman,
Ray Bradbury,
Madeleine L'Engle,
Readings,
A Wrinkle In Time,
Little Golden Books,
Kurt Vonnegut,
Ayn Rand,
Dick Young sportswriter,
Favorite lines from a wrinkle in time,
Go Up for Glory Bill Russell,
James Preller book review,
L'engle quotes,
Preller reading as a kid,
Review a wrinkle in time,
review wrinkle in time,
watching Star Trek as a kid,
Add a tag
“. . . one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.”
– Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle In Time.
When I was a kid, growing up in the 60’s, I didn’t read many children’s books. P.D. Eastman, of course, whom I liked better than Suess, some of the Little Golden Books, and later, the Hardy Boys. Frank and Joe, I think their names were. I have no memory of either of my parents reading to me, ever. It may have happened, must have happened, but I can’t recall it. I was the youngest of seven, born in 1961, and bed time wasn’t the hour-long ritual it’s become for so many kids today, with reading and talking and snuggling and sharing, etc. When I was a kid, it was more like, “Good night. And don’t forget to brush your teeth.”
The words that formed my reading habit came from the sports pages of The New York Daily News and The Long Island Press. I still maintain that my writing style, such as it is, was probably more influenced by Dick Young than anybody else: I faithfully read his column for many (formative) years. I also remember, as I reached my middle grade period, talking to my older brothers and sisters about books. They were readers, all of them, and loved Bradbury and Vonnegut and Brautigan and Robbins, so I picked up those books. I have a vivid recollection of writing a book report in 7th grade on any book I wanted. I chose Anthem by Ayn Rand, probably because it was a slendest paperback on the family bookshelf.
I also read sports biographies, being an ex-boy, and still hold a special fondness for Go Up for Glory Bill Russell. It hit me like a thunderbolt, and for a time I was determined to grow into a very tall black man who’d willingly pass up a shot in order to set a fierce pick and roll into the paint, looking for the put-back.
Anyway, I basically missed the entire canon of children’s literature. I didn’t read Where the Wild Things Are until I worked at Scholastic as a junior copywriter in 1985, hauling in $12,500 a year, thank you very much. These days I still try to fill in the holes, though I’ll admit it: I love adult literature. After all, I’m an adult. Those are the books that lit my fuse. I am not giving up my grown-up books.
Now, about A Wrinkle In Time. I liked it. Some parts — the first few chapters, especially — I really, really admired. Other parts — after the tessering, and into the full-blown fantasy — I didn’t care for as much. It reminded me of the original Star Trek series (my brothers loved Star Trek and we watched it religiously). In sum: Dated, kind of corny, a little obvious, but entertaining and fast-paced and intelligent and provocative, too. There’s a quality to the book, a be
Reading
Mary Ann's last post reminded me of a wonderful handbook for young writers that I recently bought for a talented neighbor. In it, Anne Mazer bravely confesses that she's never much cared for
Charlotte's Web. While I adored
Charlotte's Web and probably read it a dozen times, I must admit that I have no memory whatsoever of the passage Mary Ann cited with such love and affection. I am a foodie, and instead it was the buttermilk in the creases of Wilbur's ears and the scraps of Templeton's newspapers that made a lifelong impression on me.
Reading, as I always tell my students, is a highly subjective experience.
A Wrinkle in Time conjures for me images of cocoa; lettuce and tomato sandwiches; turkey and dressing. Of course I also remember pulsating IT, the rhythm of the bouncing balls and jump ropes, the quirky language of the three Mrs. Ws.
In short, I am not a visual thinker. At all. I don't care whether the heroine of my book has honey-colored hair or which brand of shoes she is wearing. What grounds me in an alternate reality is the scent of freshly cut grass or the taste of a dark chocolate Reese's cup. Yet how to describe these sensations? Because many of us are visual thinkers, English, I would venture to say, has evolved to possess a dearth of descriptive words for scents, sounds, and, to a slightly lesser extent, tastes.
From
Ramona Quimby, Age 8, by Beverly Cleary:
"Ramona bit into her hamburger. Bliss. Warm, soft, juicy, tart with relish. Juice dribbled down her chin. She noticed her mother start to say something and chnage her mind. Ramona caught the dribble with her paper napkin before it reached her collar. The French fries -- crip on the outside, mealy on the inside -- tasted better than anything Ramona had ever eaten." I never liked hamburgers as a kid until I read this passage. I don't believe that Beverly Cleary is best known for her descriptive language, but I still think of this scene every time I eat a french fry.
Of course the brilliance of Beverly Cleary is typically recognized to be in her humor, and these are the other passages that have always stayed with me. From the first page of
Ramona the Pest:
"'I'm not acting like a pest. I'm singing and skipping,' said Ramona, who had only recently learned to skip with both feet."I have a five-year-old daughter, and Ramona IS my daughter. Oh, when Ramona thought she had to sit still for "the present," when she described her eye color as "brown and white," when she understood the lyrics of the national anthem to involve a "dawnzer" that emitted a "lee light" -- what child could not empathize with these situations and laugh? I am typing this paragraph and thinking, "I can't WAIT to read these books to my kids
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 7/25/2010
Blog:
A Fuse #8 Production
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Uncategorized,
Tove Jansson,
Moomin,
ebooks,
Winnie-the-Pooh,
A Wrinkle in Time,
starred reviews,
book jacket nattering,
E. Nesbit,
felines with too many digits,
pity me my foaming mouth,
Add a tag
On Saturday, August 7th at 2:00 p.m. I will be moderating a talk with Stephen Roxburgh of namelos and Jennifer Perry, the Assistant Vice President & Editorial Director of the Book Publishing Group at Sesame Workshop, about ebooks, digital literature, and the current children’s literary industry. As preparation, this article from Publishers Weekly called The Digital Revolution in Children’s Publishing could not be better timed. I was particularly taken with this quote from Kristen McLean (executive director of the Association of Booksellers for Children) regarding interactive content: “Early reports indicate that this content is not replacing traditional books. It’s replacing games . . . Parents would rather see their kids engaged in book content than in game content.” For my part, I hope that in the future more authors will be directly involved in the interactive aspects of some of these books. Or that we get more designers that study exactly what works and doesn’t work with our kids from a storytelling standpoint. Whatever the case, I’m inclined to suggest to attendees of my panel discussion that they read this article before attending. It’s sure to answer a lot of questions, and raise even more.
- Whoopsiedoodle (yes, I just wrote that word and yes, I regret nothing). Looks like I missed talking about ShelfTalker’s latest Stars Thus Far posting. You’ll remember that Elizabeth Bluemle takes it upon herself to accomplish the Herculean task of collecting all the starred children’s book reviews for a given year on a regular basis. In this latest one I see that I missed that Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce achieved the very rare SIX STAR level! Even When You Reach Me never accomplished that. Well done, Mr. Boyce! Pity you’re ineligible for a Newbery, eh? Now if I can only convince Harcourt to send me a copy of Ubiquitous . . .
- I was enjoying the Jacket Knack post The Unexpected Ordinary anyway. Then I saw the picture of the new paperback jacket for How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier. Oh man. I am suddenly in love with some unknown Art Director. Of course, it immediately brings to mind Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairies, but that is not a bad thing. That book particular book is due for a YA revival anyway. Or maybe we’ll just wait for the current crop of Rainbow Fairy enthusiasts to hit their teen years. Give it 5 years or so.
When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead
middle grade
I thought twice about reviewing this book. It's always hard when a piece wins an award to write a review about it. The prejudice that goes along with an award as weighty as the Newbery is that the book is phenomenal.
Only, I had some serious issues with it.
Of course, making such a statement requires serious justification, and let me say that I think the premise--time travel--and the writing are phenomenal. They are what kept me reading.
However, I had some serious problems with the fact that Stead rested her story so significantly on L'Engle's, A Wrinkle in Time. A professor of mine in grad school told us--as a way of more or less taking the burden off our shoulders of coming up with new ideas for term papers and later, our own research--that we should build upon the ideas already out there (upon the shoulders of giants), not think we have to come up with brand new ones. So, I'm all for building upon the idea of time travel that L'Engle entertained in A Wrinkle in Time, which also happens to be one of my all time favorite books.
What I had trouble with in Stead's piece was that she built the whole book around L'Engle's when she didn't really have to. She set the book in the 1970s, made the main character obsessed with L'Engle's book, kept referring to it and debating the time travel issue as L'Engle explained it in her piece. I'm not sure why. Stead took L'Engle's idea and reshaped, built onto it, like many many writers do, and made it something clever and new. So why the need to incorporate A Wrinkle in Time into the very thread of When You Reach Me? The end result was distracting and placed Stead's groundbreaking thoughts and concepts in the very long, very gigantic shadow of L'Engle's own work.
In the end, if you are looking for amazingly good stylistic writing with strong characters, this piece has them. A new idea on time travel? The book has that too. If only it didn't have such a long shadow interwoven within its very fabric.
For more amazing reads, see Barrie Summy's blog this week!
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 4/27/2010
Blog:
Ypulse
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
admongo.gov,
boy genius blogger,
juicy fruit,
pew report,
style rookie,
Itunes,
A Wrinkle In Time,
Ypulse Essentials,
Green Day,
Tavi,
spotify,
Add a tag
Admongo.gov (a new government program to teach tweens how to read ads with a more critical eye launches. Over on Gawker, a few points of contention. Look for a future Ypulse site profile with our take) (New York Times, reg. required)
- Green Day... Read the rest of this post
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 2/18/2010
Blog:
Ypulse
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Disney,
MTV,
mattel,
Barbie,
Teen Vogue,
dystopian fiction,
A Wrinkle In Time,
Ypulse Essentials,
hbo,
funny or die,
facechipz,
Add a tag
HBO brings 'Funny or Die' to TV (Plus The CW renews "Gossip Girl," "The Vampire Diaries," "90210," "Supernatural" and "America's Next Top Model." And Nick renews its game show "Brain Surge." Also the new MTV series "My Life as Liz" is revealed... Read the rest of this post
Told from the point of view of a rapidly developing 6th grader, When You Reach Me is a bit like an updated A Wrinkle in Time, with a few decidedly contemporary twists. Set in New York in the 1970's, this very sweet (but not saccharine) coming of age story features a single mother, an only child, and freshly illustrated racial tension. It also features time travel. When Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes that seem to predict the future, the story really starts to pick up. Immaculately crafted, such that many clues are set from first chapter well into the last, When You Reach Me is a great choice for attentive readers who enjoy a bit of puzzle-solving in their reading, not quite to the extent of The Westing Game, but perhaps akin to The Mysterious Benedict Society. And, for those in the 8-12 age range who are just dying to grow up as fast as possible, there's even a bit of romance, albeit, very age-appropriate romance (think kiss and then run for your life). Newbery Winners are not announced for 2010 until January 16th, but this book already has its fair share of buzz.
Last night my husband and I made our way to the midnight opening of the sixth Harry Potter installment: "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince." While I've read all of the books (the last one, twice) and seen all of the movies multiple times, my... Read the rest of this post
By:
Aline Pereira,
on 2/9/2009
Blog:
PaperTigers
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Children's Books,
Harriet the Spy,
Book Groups,
book group,
Minnesota,
The Tiger's Bookshelf,
Book Chat,
A Wrinkle in Time,
W Title,
H Title,
Chapter and Verse Book Club,
Red Balloon Bookshop,
Saint Paul,
Add a tag
Some children’s bookstores are legendary–and one of them is Saint Paul, Minnesota’s Red Balloon Book Shop which recently began an instore book group (called Chapter and Verse) that would be worth moving to Minnesota for!
Perhaps the only thing more fun than reading a good book is reading a good book that transcends all age categories–and then talking about it. It has always seemed peculiar that more book groups have not been formed for adults who love children’s literature–we at PaperTigers hosted an online bookgroup, The Tiger’s Choice, during 2008 for just that purpose, but the intimacy of a book group does not translate quite so effectively to cyberspace.
On the other hand, bookstores are the perfect venue for book groups. You know, when you go to a book group at your favorite bookstore, that you will have something in common with the other participants–you all love to read and you all love the same bookstore!
When I was pregnant with my first son in Fairbanks, Alaska, I began to rediscover the delights of a well-written children’s book, and was sure that I was the only adult who still frequented the young readers’ bookshelves of my local library. One evening a friend and I were chatting about what we’d read when Georgianna lowered her voice and confessed, “I read children’s books.” Suddenly we were a two-person book group, happily discussing A Wrinkle in Time and Harriet the Spy.
It’s so wonderful to know that children’s literature readers no longer feel clandestine and have places as congenial as the Red Balloon Bookshop to host their discussions! If you’ve been lucky enough to be a member of this group, please tell us about it–if you have another favorite bookshop that provides this opportunity, do let us know. And to Chapter and Verse at the Red Balloon–we’re on our way!
Where will the great investigative journalism of our century happen?
According to Wired magazine, it will all happen on small, online publications like Sharesleuth.com, not the powerful media organizations.
I'm not bashing The Big Bad Mainstream Media when I say that, I'm just thinking about logistics. Newspaper budgets around the country are tanking, and in the end, mostly nimble, community-centered companies will survive the shake-up.
While the Wired article addresses some ethical problems with the market-investigating site, Sharesleuth.com, it does make this point that all fledgling writers must consider as they plan for the future. Dig it:
"Circulation at US newspapers fell 13 percent between 1990 and 2005. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of full-time newspaper reporting and editing jobs shrunk by some 3,000. Newsroom budgets have been slashed. The result, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, is "shrinking ambitions" in the country's newsrooms."
First up, my buddy Warren Truitt used to work with me in the Central Children’s Room of New York Public Library. Then he moved to Alabama. He’s kept busy, since that time with a long-term personal project. This one man machine is intent on setting up every single child in every single preschool in Lee Col, AL with three books that they can take home as their own. To do that, he has set up a very specific registry. If you want to help him out go to this Amazon wishlist and buy him one or more of the books on this list. This is a straight up good cause with direct results. Make yourself feel good about yourself today.
Seems like every day we’re getting more and more information about the upcoming Wrinkle in Time movie. It’s being directed by Ava DuVernay. This is good. Oprah will star in some capacity. Let the Oprah as winged centaur fan art begin! Still good news. Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon may be involved somehow. Better and better. And lastly, Storm Reid (seen here) will be Meg. Perfect! Right age and everything. BUT, and this is a big but, there is still one way they can mess everything up. MEG. MUST. WEAR. GLASSES. If Meg is not wearing glasses in this movie then I am checking out. Harriet the Spy didn’t wear glasses in that Rosie O’Donnell film and Meg didn’t wear glasses the last time they filmed this. Team Glasses, that’s me. Let’s see what happens. Thanks to Laurie Gwen Shapiro for the link.
.jpeg?picon=2455)
Go Team Glasses!
Had no idea about the new Wrinkle In Time movie–so exciting to hear, and the cast seems fantastic. Have to agree with the glasses, though. It’s hard for me to picture Meg without them. I missed the kid lit translations article on BookRiot, so, as always, glad for your round-up features!