- Howdy do. As per usual I’m going to direct you this morning to that lovely little Wild Things website where Jules Danielson and I have been posting the stories that got cut from our upcoming book Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature. If you haven’t already seen them you might like to read some amusing stories about:
- Some Madeleine facts you may not have known, two straight lines and all.
- The downside of owning your own tropical island, even if you DID do all the art for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
- The story I was MOST sorry to cut. War of the Pooh! It’s what happened when a British MP decided that the dolls of Pooh and friends had to come back to the UK. What followed . . . got a little crazy.
- A quick look at some of the WORST school visits suffered by authors and illustrators of all time.
- Children who would one day become writers bugging cranky older authors. It’s one of the more peculiar posts but it has nothing on . . .
- Udders, cleavage, and a monster penis. Need I say more?
- A nightmare publishing story to rival publishing stories.
- The New York Public Library’s pathetic summer reading list for kids. Come again? That would be The New York Post taking issue with a list that includes books kids would have fun reading as well as dreaded diversity. Apparently if a book contains a non-white kid it can’t possibly be any good and must have appeared on a summer reading list to appease some kind of demographic. Full disclosure, I’m one of the folks that made the list (which wasn’t just for NYPL but for Brooklyn and Queens library systems as well) so all I’ll do is gently point you to Rita Meade’s incredibly restrained response.
- And how did you spend your evening last night. For my part, I saw The Snow Queen. The composer of the show is my buddy Haddon who, years ago, did the intro music for a podcast I posted for a while (the podcast is no longer up so his good work has been lost to the wilds of time). Now the show is here for a limited run in NYC, before the inevitable Frozen musical steals its thunder. Of Snow Queen musicals there can apparently be only one. Here’s a New York Times article about the show, if’n you’re interested.
Where do you even get a Where’s Waldo costume, I wonder. Everyone’s favorite stripey hero is key to this very clever children’s bookstore promotion thingy thing. In Kalamazoo the fabulous bookstore Bookbug is hiding Waldo in 26 of the local businesses on sort of a scavenger hunt. Other small town bookstores take note. It’s good for the store and good for the other businesses. I love a clever campaign. Thanks to Colby Sharp for the link.
If you have ever taken the Leonard Marcus walking tour of children’s literature here in NYC then you’ve probably seen Margaret Wise Brown’s house in Greenwich Village. Good thing you did since the poor little structure is slated to be razed. Has someone alerted Leonard? I think we’d better start sounding the alarm on this one.
- Don’t have enough conferences in your life? Well The Nerdy Book Club was kind enough to feature this post on the upcoming Kidlitcon. The only conference out there for children’s and YA literature bloggers, it’s happening in October in beautiful Sacramento, CA. Would that I could go! If you’re able, I highly recommend a trip.
- This. Just . . . . this. No words.
- Not a shabby idea. Over in Britain they recently had a Great children’s books author bake off for all those novels and picture books featuring baked goods. I am hungry. Therefore someone should do this over on our side of the pond. And then invite me. Nom nom nom nom.
- Two recent 100 Scope Notes pieces caught my eye. The first has the rather memorable title All middle grade novels should be 192 pages. No exceptions. The other is the hugely amusing Wildest Children’s Books of 2014. I’ve missed a couple of these on my maternity leave. Glad to have Travis keeping me up to speed!
- Daily Image:
Finally, could somebody do this for a couple works of children’s and YA literature?
If I had my choice I’d like some Westing Game tights. And imagine how much money you could make off of The Fault In Our Stars tights. The mind boggles. Thanks to Aunt Judy for the link.
I don’t think I want anything on my thighs that says, “Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.”
Those leggings are from Black Milk, which we do not patronize because they are jerkfaces. http://www.sorrywatch.com/2014/05/05/black-milk-is-very-unappetizing/
Also, hello, insanely overpriced. But I bet if you contacted an Etsy seller who makes Harry Potter leggings she might be able to whip you up some Westing Games.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the wonderful Where’s Waldo promotion was started by Carol Chittenden, owner of Eight Cousins children’s bookstore in Falmouth, MA a couple of years ago. They’re doing it again this year, and other stores around the country have taken it up as well.
Brookline Booksmith is in! (If we weren’t, I’d be a little worried about this guy: http://instagram.com/p/qcHigZSlqL/?modal=true.)
Ooooo, the crazies who believe children should ONLY READ BOOKS WRITTEN AT LEAST 20 YEARS AGO! Oh horrors if librarians recommend *recent* books to such children! If it was good enough for them as kids, then that’s what their children should read. Good, “wholesome” values. For goodness’ sake, don’t trust the opinion of people who actually *read* recent children’s books! Urgh.
I think I love you.
Thanks for the KidLitCon plug, Betsy. I so wish you could come (though it does seem impossible). I suspect we’ll be in the northeast next year, so perhaps the small Birds will be able to manage without you.