Author Daniel Handler (who sometimes goes by Lemony Snicket) and illustrator Maira Kalman visited Amazon to chat about their new book Why We Broke Up, chosen by editors as one of January's Best Books of the Month. If we gave awards for most delightfully entertaining interviewees, these two would be shoo-ins.
By: Jennie,
on 2/23/2012
Dear Ed,
In a sec you'll hear a thunk. At your front door, the one nobody uses...I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened. And the truth is that I goddamn loved you so much...
The thunk is the box, Ed. This is what I am leaving you. Every last souvenir of the love we had, the prizes and the debris of this relationship, like the glitter in the gutter when the parade has passed, all the everything and whatnot kicked to the curb. I'm dumping the whole box back into your life, Ed, every item of you and me.
And the box does have everything from their relationship-- bottle caps and flower petals, ticket stubs and a coat, a protractor and some sugar... and the world's longest letter, detailing every detail of Ed and Min's relationship and where, and how it went wrong.
Ed is the jock, co-captain of the basketball team, with a string of popular girl girlfriends. Min is... not arty. Don't say she's arty. But she's smart and I guess we can call her alterna-girl. Not the kind Ed usually goes for. But he goes for Min.
We know it won't work for a number of reasons-- the premise of the book and the first page tell us it already ended. As an adult reader, you just know they're doomed from the set-up of personalities, but as Min details their relationship, pointing out all the red flags, you still end up cheering for them and their love and you hope they won't break up.
I love the structure-- the telling through the objects that Maira Kalman so beautifully paints. I love this book as an object-- the paper is heavy and glossy, like a coffee table book.
I had a hard time getting into it at first, but I think that was more about my head space than the book itself. But, because of it, I read it over the course of a month and in that drawn-out time frame, I became really invested in this doomed love. The way Min writes about it, it sounds like a relationship that slowly unravels and then you get to the moment of the actual break up and... Min, sweetie. You don't need 354 pages to tell Ed why you broke up. It's one sentence. He isn't worth the ink.
And that was a very disappointing end.
But, I did like portions of it. I like that Min was an "arty" girl who wasn't arty. I like that she thought she was so much deeper than she was. It was a bit annoying, but very, very, very true. I was friends with Min in high school. I like that we never found out the exact deal with Ed's mom. I liked Ed's sister and I liked that we saw more to Ed than the stereotypical jock, but he was still a total popular boy jock.
My favorite was Min's friend Lauren, who would sing hymns at Min to torture her into spilling information. When Lauren was seven, she saw symbols in a speech balloon, and her super-Christian parents were too God-fearing to explain that the symbols meant fuck so freshman year she had this joke of saying "numbersign questionmark you" and "astrisk exclamtionpoint the world." If I were still in high school, hanging out with Min, this would be a speech p
The fictional author Lemony Snicket will return in a four book series from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers called All the Wrong Questions. Graphic novelist Seth will illustrate the “authorized autobiographical account” of Snicket’s childhood.
The series will debut with Who Could That Be at This Hour? in October. The publisher will print one million copies of the first book by the fictional author since A Series of Unfortunate Events sold over 60 million copies. Snicket is the pen name of author Daniel Handler.
Here’s more from the release: “Drawing on events that took place during a period of his youth spent in a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, Snicket chronicles his experiences as an apprentice in an organization nobody knows about. While there, he began to ask a series of questions—wrong questions that should not have been on his mind. Who Could That Be at This Hour? is Snicket’s account of the first wrong question.”
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By: Jason Boog,
on 2/8/2012
The fictional author Lemony Snicket will return in a four book series from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers called All the Wrong Questions. Graphic novelist Seth will illustrate the “authorized autobiographical account” of Snicket’s childhood.
The series will debut with Who Could That Be at This Hour? in October. The publisher will print one million copies of the first book by the fictional author since A Series of Unfortunate Events sold over 60 million copies. Snicket is the pen name of author Daniel Handler.
Here’s more from the release: “Drawing on events that took place during a period of his youth spent in a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, Snicket chronicles his experiences as an apprentice in an organization nobody knows about. While there, he began to ask a series of questions—wrong questions that should not have been on his mind. Who Could That Be at This Hour? is Snicket’s account of the first wrong question.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 25, 2012
Winner
Honor Book
Honor Book
Honor Book
Honor Book
“The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.” ~YALSA
©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.
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By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 1/23/2012
The number of Americans who have a tablet or e-reader (jumped significantly between December 2011 and January 2012, thanks to robust holiday sales, according to Pew Research. In fact, among Millennial adults, tablet ownership — at 24%... Read the rest of this post
By: Betsy Bird,
on 11/5/2011
So I’m at a lovely Little Brown librarian preview earlier this week and the first special guest star of the day turns out to be none other than Daniel Handler a.k.a. Lemony Snicket. A resident of San Francisco, I wasn’t sure why he was in town. Turns out, he was on Rachel Maddow’s show talking about his recent Occupy Wall Street piece that had been making the internet rounds. Maddow says that he’s a “cultural hero of mine” and then later that she is “dorking out” being in his presence. The interview is great in and of itself, plus you get this fun bit at the start about what you do when the police have confiscated your generators.
Of course if I’d known he was in town I would have tried to hook him into saying hello at the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival festivities. Hosted in my library I’ll be blogging about it rather soon. It was rather epic, I have to say. Everything from a children’s musical about the birth of the Newbery Award to kids singing the plot of The Westing Game to Katie Perry’s “Firework” (a song that seems to haunt Mr. Kennedy wherever he may go). Of course we ran out of time so we never got to show this final video. I present it to you now because it’s rather brilliant. As Ira Glass imitations go, this has gotta be up there:
This next link is here only because Travis at 100 Scope Notes spotted it first. According to Reuters, the Japanese have brought The Magic Tree House books to life on the screen. Apparently Mary Pope Osborne has always resisted film adaptations but the filmmakers so wowed her that she gave them the rights. The result pairs nicely with that recent Borrowers adaptation, also out of Japan:
In other news, Newbery Honor winner Kathi Appelt recently interviewed Caldecott Award winner Eric Rohmann about his latest hugely lauded Halloween tale Bone Dog. Perhaps I should have posted this before Hal
By: Laura,
on 6/15/2011
FRIDAY, JUNE 24
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Veronica Roth (DIVERGENT)
SATURDAY, JUNE 25
9:00 am-9:30am
Thanhha Lai (INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN)
Carolyn Mackler (TANGLED)
9:30 am – 10:30 am
Alex Flinn (CLOAKED)
Jack Gantos (GUYS READ: FUNNY BUSINESS)
10:30 am – 11:00 am
Kelly Milner Halls (SAVING THE BAGHDAD ZOO)
Bobbie Pyron (A DOG’S WAY HOME)
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Kadir Nelson (HEART AND SOUL posters)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Katherine Hannigan (TRUE…(SORT OF))
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Patrick Carman (DARK EDEN galleys)
12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Katherine Hannigan (BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA)
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Dan Gutman (THE GENIUS FILES: MISSION UNSTOPPABLE)
SUNDAY, JUNE 26
9:00 am – 9:30 am
Bob Shea (I’M A SHARK)
9:30 am – 10:30 am
Christopher Myers (WE ARE AMERICA)
10:30 am – 11:30 am
Rita Williams-Garcia (Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Winner for ONE CRAZY SUMMER)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Kevin Henkes (JUNONIA; LITTLE WHITE RABBIT)
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Claudia Gray (FATEFUL)
Maureen Johnson (THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE)
1:30 pm &
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 5/29/2011
So let’s get a grasp on what exactly it is I’m talking about here. Day of Dialog. A day when School Library Journal and roughly 1.5 billion children’s book publishers (read: 16, give or take) get together and attendees (who are mostly children’s librarians and children’s booksellers) get to witness a variety of interesting panels and previews of upcoming children’s books for the Fall season. It tends to be held on the Monday before BookExpo so that it doesn’t conflict with anything going on at that time. And since my library was closed that day for it’s big time Centennial celebration, I thought to myself, “Why not go? I could report on what went on and have some fun along the way.”
Of course I had forgotten that I would be typing all that occurred on Dead-Eye the Wonder Laptop: Capable of carrying at least two hours of charge in its battery . . . and then dying altogether. So it was that I spent much of the day seeking out outlets and either parking myself next to them or watching my charging laptop warily across a crowded room. Hi-ho the glamorous life.
I was hardly the only person reporting on the day. Swift like the bunnies are the SLJ posts on the matter including the article BEA 2011: Paterson, Handler, Gidwitz a Huge Hit at SLJ’s Day of Dialog.
Day of Dialog is useful in other ways as well. It means getting galleys you might otherwise not have access to. It means sitting in a nice auditorium with a belly full of muffin. Interestingly the only problem with sitting in the audience when you are pretty much nine months pregnant (aside from the whole theoretical “lap” part of “laptop computer”) is that you start eyeing the panelists’ water bottles with great envy. I brought my own, quickly went through it, and then found myself wondering at strategic points of the day and with great seriousness “If I snuck onto the stage between speakers, do you think anyone would notice if I downed the remains of Meghan McCarthy’s bottled water?” I wish I could say I was joking about this.
Brian Kenney, me boss o’ me blog and editor of SLJ, started us off with a greeting. He noted that he had placed himself in charge of keeping everything on track and on schedule. This seemed like a hazardous job because much of the day was dedicated to previews of upcoming books, and there is no good way to gently usher a sponsor off of a stage. Nonetheless, Brian came equipped with a small bell. Throughout the day that little bell managed to have a near Pavlovian influence on the panelists. Only, rather than make them drool, it caused them to get this look of abject fear that only comes when you face the terror of the unknown. For some of them, anyway. Others didn’t give a flying hoot.
“It wasn’t wallpapering.”
Keynote Speaker Katherine Paterson
Luann Toth came after Brian to introduce our keynote speaker though, as she pointed out, “Does anyone really need to introduce Katherine Paterson?” Point taken. Now upon entering the auditorium this day, each attendee had been handed a signed copy of a new novel by Ms. Paterson and her h
By: Betsy Bird,
on 4/22/2011
Previews, previews! Lovely little previews!
And we find ourselves back at the Yale Club, across the street from Grand Central Station, and a whopping 10 minutes away, on foot, from my library. There are advantages to living on a tiny island, I tell ya.
As per usual, Little Brown pulled out all the stops for the average children’s and YA librarian, in order to showcase their upcoming season. There were white tablecloths and sandwiches consisting of brie and ham and apples. The strange result of these previews is that I now seem to be under the mistaken understanding that Little Brown’s offices are located at the Yale Club. They aren’t. That would make no sense. But that’s how my mind looks at things. When I am 95 and senile I will insist that this was the case. Be warned.
A single day after my return from overseas I was able to feast my eyes on the feet of Victoria Stapleton (the Director of School and Library Marketing), bedecked in red sparkly shoes. I would have taken a picture but my camera got busted in Bologna. I was also slightly jet lagged, but was so grateful for the free water on the table (Europe, I love you, but you have to learn the wonders of ample FREE water) that it didn’t even matter. Megan Tingley, fearless leader/publisher, began the festivities with a memory that involved a child’s story called “The Day I Wanted to Punch Daddy In the Face”. Sounds like a companion piece to The Day Leo Said “I Hate You”, does it not?
But enough of that. You didn’t come here for the name dropping. You can for the books that are so ludicrously far away in terms of publication (some of these are January/February/March 2012 releases) that you just can’t resist giving them a peek. To that end, the following:
Liza Baker
At these previews, each editor moves from table to table of librarians, hawking their wares. In the case of the fabulous Ms. Baker (I tried to come up with a “Baker Street Irregulars” pun but it just wasn’t coming to me) the list could start with no one else but Nancy Tafuri. Tafuri’s often a preschool storytime staple for me, all thanks to her Spots, Feathers and Curly Tails. There’s a consistency to her work that a librarian can appreciate. She’s also apparently the newest Little Brown “get”. With a Caldecott Honor to her name (Have You Seen My Duckling?) the newest addition is All Kinds of Kisses. It’s pretty cute. Each animals gets kisses from parent to child with the animal sound accompanying. You know what that means? We’re in readaloud territory here, people. There’s also a little bug or critter on each page that is identified on the copyright page for parents who have inquisitive children.
Next up, a treat for all you Grace Lin fans out there. If you loved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat then you’ll probably be pleased as punch to hear that there’s a third
By: Betsy Bird,
on 10/11/2010
With Noonoo and Nada and Nell…
No. Wait. Scratch that. But I have been to a couple of marvelous parties as of late. Under normal circumstances I don’t mention them all that often, but this week I’ll make an exception. [Note: If you don’t like party posts, avoid this one at all costs. Even if it does involve Lemony Snicket on a merry-go-round built for two . . .).
The two parties were very different, but of great interest to all parties involved. The first I will mention was the party held last week to which all Kidlit Drink Night attendees were invited. Mr. Robert Forbes (yes, THAT Mr. Forbes) was kind enough to invite us to attend a little soiree at The Forbes Gallery here in New York City. Why would he want grimy children’s literature people mucking up his space? Well, Mr. Forbes recently published a book of children’s poetry called Let’s Have a Bite, illustrated by the illustrious Ronald Searle.
Now, I had never been to the Forbes Galleries. Truth be told, I had no idea that they were (A) open to the public and (B) awesome. In point of fact, they are both. And if you happen to be interested in visiting (which I highly recommend) I would suggest that you do so before November 22nd. You see, until that moment in time the galleries have a magnificent selection of toy soldiers, toy boats, and old Monopoly games on display. And what a display! There is an art to their presentation. A skill to the little hidden rooms in which you will locate them. To top it all off, there was a retrospective of Searle’s from the last 40-50 odd years. Should you be nowhere near New York right now, much of that same work is visible in this recent interview he conducted:
And what of the book itself? Well, a special side room exists in the Galleries of the work Searle did for Mr. Forbes’s newest. The two collaborated back in 2007 on a similar book called Beastly Feasts. Both books contain poems with accompanying illustrations. In what I imagine must be very much the spirit in which Mr. Searle works, Mr. Forbes served us lots of tiny food made out of the very animals featured in the poems. Grilled octopus, turtle of some sort, as well as a little cheese fondue that was liable to tempt you into thinking that you’d never had anything quite so good ever before (a little mouse appears in each of the paintings in Mr. Forbes’s book).
As for Mr. Forbes himself I was rather expecting him to look like his portrait here:
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By: Sara O'Leary,
on 7/17/2010
There is a trailer for Library of the Early Mind, a documentary exploring children's literature here. (Thanks to Quillblog for the link)
The title, apparently, comes from Adam Gopnik and an essay containing the following passage:
The Babar books are among those half-dozen picture books that seem to fix not just a character but a whole way of being, even a civilization. An elephant, lost in the city, does not trumpet with rage but rides a department-store elevator up and down, until gently discouraged by the elevator boy. A Haussmann-style city rises in the middle of the barbarian jungle. Once seen, Babar the Frenchified elephant is not forgotten. With Bemelmans’s “Madeline” and Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” the Babar books have become part of the common language of childhood, the library of the early mind.
You can read more here.
And since we are talking about Adam Gopnik, can I just say that his LOL piece is the funniest thing I have ever read. Funny in that cringe-y way.
By: Katie B.,
on 2/12/2010
‘Mockingjay’ to Conclude the Hunger Games Trilogy
Scholastic released the title and cover art for the third and final book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. Mockingjay will be released on August 24, 2010 and will have 750,000 first printing.
Seeing How Far $100 Can Go
A Brooklyn writer is celebrating four years of giving her friends cash and asking them to find ways to donate.
Lemony Snicket: Interview
Philip Womack on Daniel Handler, the enigma behind Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
And it wouldn’t be a long weekend without a few reading lists:
Roundup: African-American history for young readers
USA Today features a nice list of four new illustrated books for kids celebrating African-American history.
Love stories: Top 10 Valentine’s books for your kids
Love is in the air! Laura DeLaney, the owner of Rediscovered Bookshop in Boise, shares her top 10 Valentine’s Day books for kids.
Presidential Library: A President’s Day Reading List
Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don’t Know Much About History, provides a reading list of Presidential biographies.
By: Bonnie J.,
on 10/21/2009
Every month the Library of Congress hosts numerous events through The Center for the Book. Yesterday, a colleague and I were able to listen to Leonard Marcus, one of America’s most respected authorities on children’s literature, along with special guest author Jon Scieszka, who is currently the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
Leonard Marcus began the discussion by talking about his new book Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy. In this book Marcus interviews thirteen favorite children’s book authors and asks them “what makes funny, funny?”
The book details stories from authors such as Judy Blume, Daniel Handler and Jon Scieszka who explain their first experiences with humor, their sources of inspiration, and how comedy has played a role in their lives. Jon and Leonard discuss the many different types of humor and how capturing the essence of humor on paper is a difficult, and often undervalued, skill. If you are interested in finding out what makes funny, funny – check out Leonard’s book today!
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By: Katie B.,
on 8/28/2009
Remembering Ted Kennedy, America’s Eulogist
Vanity Fair’s Todd Purdum remembers Senator Ted Kennedy as America’s “unofficial eulogist laureate.”
Frustrated Novelist Julia Child Finally Tops Bestseller List
Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking debuts at number one on the New York Times bestseller list this week.
Lemony Snicket Threatens a ‘Dreadful’ New Series
The Guardian features a humorous article announcing that “elusive author Lemony Snicket (aka author Daniel Handler) is working on a four-book series as a follow-up to the bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events.”
Apple joins with Publisher to put First Picture Book on iPhone
The UK’s Winged Chariot Press is the first publisher to offer a children’s picture book for the iPhone, publishing The Surprise by Sylvia van Ommen.
By: Jill,
on 9/17/2008
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
In what seems like my never-ending quest to read some children's books that I've always wanted to read, I checked out the first three books in Lemony Snicket's (Daniel Handler) A Series of Unfortunate Events series.
In the first book, The Bad Beginning , Snicket lets us know from the very beginning that this not a book with a happy ending and that truly unfortunate things happen to the Baudelaire siblings: Violet, Klaus, and Baby Sunny. And indeed he keeps his promise when the siblings are orphaned early on in the book. The banker, Mr. Poe takes is the executioner of the Baudelaire estate and is in charge of placing the orphans with a family member. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of family members, and the orphans are placed with the murderous Count Olaf who is intent on receiving the Baudelaire fortune. It's up to the orphans to stop him, but as you can imagine, just when things are looking good for the children, they're hit with yet another misfortune.
In the second book, The Reptile Room, the children are placed with the
very kind and very generous Uncle Monty who has a very impressive collection of reptiles. Things are going very well, for the children who believe their luck is improving until Count Olaf makes an appearance and commits a terrible crime. The children are once again left without a guardian at the book's end, and things look bleaker than ever.
In the third book, The Wide Window, the children are sent to live with a distant cousin whom they call, Aunt Josephine. She lives in a rickety house that is precariously dangling over a lake filled with killer leeches. Aunt Josephine is terrified of everything, from telephones to stoves, but she does love grammar. The children are forced to eat horrendously cold meals and their grammar is constantly corrected, even poor Sunny, who is just a baby. At least they all agree that it's better than living with Count Olaf. But lo and behold, Count Olaf finds them, and due to more unfortunate events, the children are left homeless and without a guardian.
Alright...so my apologies in advance to all of you Lemony Snicket fans. It's not that I DIDN'T like the books, but seriously, can't you give the poor kids a break? I don't even want to read the rest of the books because I'm not sure I can handle all of the misfortune. I know, I know...the kids are SUPPOSED to suffer misfortune. Snicket told me this in the beginning and continued to tell me throughout the book, but I didn't listen to his advice and kept reading even when he told me I shouldn't if I wanted things to turn out well.
That aside, as a cynic, I did enjoy the humor in the book. I love Snicket's tounge-in-cheek style and tidbits of advice, like this one from Book 3: "If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats."
I also love the way he defines vocabulary words that may be a little difficult for readers. Take this instance from Book 1:
"But one type of book that practically no one likes to read is a book about the law. Books about the law are notorious for being very long, very dull, and very difficult to read. This is one reason many lawyers make heaps of money. The money is an incentive - the word 'incentive' here means 'an offered reward to persuade you to do something you don't want to do - to read long, dull, and difficult books.'"
The books themselves are repetitive, and the characters are flat and predictable, but I know that many kids and parents enjoy them. The three I did read were short and fast-paced, but I don't know if I'd read them to very young children. If I couldn't handle the sadness, I'm not sure young children would be able to. But I never said I was brave...
Other books in the series:
Book 4: The Miserable Mill
Book 5: The Austere Academy
Book 6: The Ersatz Elevator
Book 7: The Vile Village
Book 8: The Hostile Hospital
Book 9: The Carnivorous Carnival
Book 10: The Slippery Slope
Book 11: The Grim Grotto
Book 12: The Penultimate Peril
Book 13: The End
By: Aline Pereira,
on 8/21/2008
San Franciscan Daniel Handler, also known as Lemony Snicket, reviewed several children’s books in a New York Times piece not too long ago, including Zen Ties, writer-illustrator Jon J. Muth’s sequel to his Caldecott winner, Zen Shorts. Handler is allergic to preachy moralisms of the sort often smuggled into children’s so-called spiritual books (and dissed in this blog on a few occasions), and while overall he finds Muth’s new book undercompelling, his thoughts on how it goes wrong are compelling. (Muth comes to writing from his background in graphics, however, and Handler heartily approves his visuals.)
Both Muth books have been widely and appreciatively reviewed by bloggers. A quick perusal of the blogosphere indicates one obvious reason why: spiritual books for children provide busy parent readers with spiritual sustenance as well.
Thanks so much for co-curating the film festival with me, Betsy, and thanks especially for putting up that “This American Life”-style RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT — I was so disappointed that we ran out of time and couldn’t show it! Next year I’ll have a better sense of timing…
Do you know about the Phantom Tollbooth documentary funded through Kickstarter?
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phantomtollbooth/the-phantom-tollbooth-turns-50-a-documentary It seems to have reached the goal but there are still 7 days left to pledge and there are some sweet incentives.
Also- that AFP performance was meant for me too
I am a long-time fan of Neil, I stood in line for hours to get him to sign Death and Sandman graphic novels for me back in the day! Because of him, I discovered Amanda when they worked together on Who Killed Amanda Palmer? Now I love them both.
Thank you so much for sharing my Ira Glass-inspired contribution to the 90-Second Newbery festival! It gave me a wonderful thrill to see it on your blog and I appreciate the lovely compliment. I wish I could have been in New York for the festival, and I can’t wait to see your coverage of the event.
I LOVE Bone Dog. I read it to my schoolchildren last week, and they loved it, too. It spans the different ages beautifully, and many children remarked on the beauty of the illustrations. It’s a big, generous book–funny, sad, spooky, imaginative, with a denouement that’s both logical and surprising. It’s my favorite for the Caldecott–quite simply a perfect book.
Betsy, thank you so much for posting my video with Eric Rohmann. I love BONE DOG, and hope for many good things to happen for it, and for Eric too.