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• Of all the most deserving, least lauded children’s book awards out there, my favorite might be The Phoenix Awards.  “The award, given to a book originally published in the English language, is intended to recognize books of high literary merit. The Phoenix Award is named after the fabled bird who rose from its ashes with renewed life and beauty. Phoenix books also rise from the ashes of neglect and obscurity and once again touch the imaginations and enrich the lives of those who read them.”  They’ve just announced the 2015 winner and I admit that I never read it (One Bird by Kyoko Mori).  There was a time, when I was young, when I tried to read as many Phoenix books as possible.  Someday, maybe, I’ll try again.

• And speaking of obscure awards, did you see the Seven Impossible Things post on Kirkus recently called The Coolest Picture Book Award You’ve Never Heard Of … A lot of you folks should know about this.  I suspect your books would be eligible (it’s for wildlife and nature).

• Heck, while we’re at it let’s also mention once more the Mathical Award which is given to books that “inspire young people to engage with mathematics in the world around them.”  The submission info is here.  Marc Aronson’s thoughts on the matter are here.

• For those of you in the market for ideas for your next middle grade novel, I suggest checking out this Dunmore, PA housing advertisement.  Have at it. Thanks to Kate for the link.

• New Podcast Alert: You know I’m just goofy for new children’s literary podcasts.  Heck, I once did an entire Literary Salon on the topic.  Well, Ms. Julie Sternberg has just started Play, Memory.  As she describes it: “I interview authors and others about the ways in which themes that recur in children’s literature–themes like the secrets we keep in childhood; the times we disappoint our parents; and the times our parents disappoint us–have played out in their lives.”

• And in other podcast news, there’s an interview with Fuse #8 favorite Frances Hardinge over at Tor.com.  Because anything that has to do with Ms. Hardinge is awesome.  I recently found myself having lunch at the same table as Patrick Ness and, at a loss of anything else to say to him, I realized we both belonged to the Mutual Admiration Society of Frances Hardinge.  So to speak. Thanks to Sarah Hagge for the link.

• There’s a nice big post on endpapers up and running at Nancy Vo’s Illustration blog.

This one’s rather interesting to me.  Folks in my family often send me links that have to do with libraries or librarians in some way.  I find some more useful than others.  Still, I was very intrigued by the recent piece called The Archivist Files: Why the woman who started LA’s branch libraries was fired. Wowzah.  Them’s good reading.

Speaking of librarians, did you know there’s an entire site out there dedicated to them dressing up and posting pictures of themselves?  Yup. Librarian Wardrobe. The more you know.

“But there’s a third set of children’s books: those that fall into an uncanny valley between enjoyable literature and ignorable junk. These are books that exert an irresistible pull on adult consciousness but don’t reward it. They are malign presences on the bookshelf. They hurt. One of them may be the best-selling children’s picture book of all time.”  That’s a hard sentence to beat and, as it happens, I agree with author Gabriel Roth every which way from Sunday.  He discusses what may be one of the worst “canonical” picture books of all time.

• A nice little write up of the panel I moderated at BEA called Telling the Truth at Every Age.

• This doesn’t actually have any connection to children’s literature really (though you might be able to make a case for it) but did you know that there’s a site created by NYPL where you can look at old photos of pretty much every single block in the city?  It’s called OldNYC and I’ve just handed you a website that will eat away at your spare time for the rest of the day.  You’re welcome.

• I was discussing this with buddy Gregory K the other day.  Can you think of a single instance where a Newbery Award winner went out, after winning said award, and became an agent?  Because that’s what Ms. Rebecca Stead has just done and I think it’s safe to say that it’s an unprecedented move.

• Daily Image:

So there’s this artist out there by the name of James Hance.  And this, my friends, is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the content he has available.  Here’s a taste:

Thanks to Stephanie Whelan for the link.

Saying that one is spoiled in New York City is sort of like saying that water is wet or snow is cold.  There are tradeoffs, of course.  The filth.  The crowds.  The teeny tiny apartments.  But for all of that, you instantly forget your previous discomforts when you get to visit gorgeous landmarks as part of your daily job.  One such example is the Flatiron Building where Macmillan holds its previews and far too tasty treats.  The treats are a bit of a problem, particularly the brownies that are small and delicious and very easy to cram in your mouth with both hands.  Prior to entering the building I had killed some time in a park that lies across the street from the building where I watched for, perhaps too long a period, a squirrel eat a gigantic muffin that was twice the size of its own head.  I took this as a sign that I should partake of the edibles.

In the past the Macmillan previews would consist of small groups of librarians leaping from office to office.  There was a great deal of fun to be had in this, since you got to see where folks like Neal Porter or Frances Foster worked.  The downside is that it meant that sometimes one group would still be speaking while another group waited around outside.  Now they’ve streamlined it a tad.  So while you don’t get to sink into Nancy Mercado’s couch, say, you do get to sit down while the editors and such come to you.

So it was that my group was led to a large and comfy conference room with big framed covers of popular books published by Macmillan (Generation X, All Creatures Great and Small, etc.) loomed above us as we discussed what the hashtag for the day should be (this is the advantage of attending a preview with the #1 preview Twitter-ers Jennifer Hubert-Swan and John Rocco).  Each chair held a bag with some galleys inside and the bags… the bags!  They were canvass and small with these thick ropy straps.  They’re fantastic.  I hope they have them at ALA for you guys this June.  As for the handouts, they were full color and contained (and this is marvelous and perhaps unprecedented) a Table of Contents.  Wow!

Before we begin, I will note that I had to split halfway through the preview to cover the reference desk at work.  As such, you’ll be hearing about what I encountered, albeit briefly.

Farrar Straus & Giroux

We’ve always had minimalist children’s books, though the number increases and decreases depending on the trends of the day.  2011 is shaping up to be a particularly shape-driven year, though.  Look on the New York Times bestseller list and you’ll see that Herve Tullet’s Press Here is selling like hotcakes.  Check out Harper Collins and Perfect Square, that loveliest of the lovelies.  And here at FSG there’s Dot by Patricia Intriago.  The book is not only Intriago’s own debut, but it will be one of the first titles launched with the Margaret Ferguson imprint that’s coming out this fall.  We were told that this was a case where the agent sent

Whew!  Boy, am I getting this last one in right under the gun or what?  Which is to say, before the end of January has passed.  The new round of previews begin in February so I didn’t want to have any loose stragglers waiting about when I saw the new crop of 2011 titles.

A month ago Michelle Bayuk did me the very great favor of sitting down and showing me a couple of the offerings Albert Whitman & Company have on their roster.  AW & Co. is a smaller publishing company than most of the folks I cover.  Located in what I assume to be the lovely but currently freezing Park Ridge, Illinois (though who am I to talk?) the company is able to indulge in smaller more personal titles that the biggies out there.  That’s why I like ‘em.  This season?  No exception.

First up, their logical catalog begins with board books.  There’s the usual cluster of previous titles turned into board books, like Alison Formento’s This Tree, 1,2,3 or Rebecca O’Connell’s Done With Diapers!: A Potty ABC.  My eyes, however, were fixed on the new batch of books from one Martine Perrin.  Already a hit in her native France, Perrin’s board books are entirely splendid from a visual standpoint.  AW&Co. is translating and bringing to our shores two of her books for starters.  The first is Look Who’s There, with a snazzy die-cut board book cover.  The other book, What Do You See?, is reminiscent of the work of Laura Vaccaro Seeger with its visual cut-out puzzles.  Very cool.  Put ‘em on your board book wish list then.

Next up, British author/illustrator Sarah Gibb also makes an appearance on our shores.  Her version of Rapunzel should be out in March and it’s perfectly situated to appeal to those . . . fine.  Those girls (I’m sure there are boys that like princesses too sometimes, y’know) who incline towards Disney-esque figures.  This Rapunzel does bear some similarities, at least on the cover, to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty right off the bat.  The title itself tells some of the tale in a series of silhouettes.  They’re gorgeous silhouettes, though, showing things I’ve never seen before.  Things like a perfect layout of at least four of the floors in Rapunzel’s tower (love the spinning wheel in one of the rooms).  We all love our Zelinsky Rapunzel, but this one has some points to recommend it as well.  I found some of the interior spreads online.  Here’s a taste:

10 Comments on Librarian Preview: Albert Whitman & Company (Spring 2011), last added: 1/27/2011