Roger Sutton
poses the following query:
What could the Horn Book Magazine do better, or more of, or more interestingly? I always have this question running around in my mind (this is not necessarily a sign of dedication; it stems as much from my default anxiety as anything else) and I've come up with plenty of ideas that usually involve money we don't have. Like becoming a monthly, or printing in color, for example. Some ideas don't cost anything, but they do collide with Tradition: changing the logo, say, or making the magazine a standard size (which would actually save money).
Ix-nay on the ize-say ange-chay, I say.
Got me thinking though. What's a literary mag to do in this era of digital updates? In many ways
Horn Book was ahead of the pack by having their own resident blogger.
Publisher's Weekly and
School Library Journal are following suit, but
HB was the first of its kind in this respect. One wonders if
Kirkus has thought much on the subject. What a blog THAT could be!
But in terms of the actual physical magazine you hold in your hand, I like how Roger has phrased this question. What can they do, "more of, or more interestingly?" You'd have to look to the adult equivalent of
Horn Book to find an answer to this, perhaps. Worth thinking about, just the same. Brian Kenney of
SLJ recently gave a talk at Dominican University (yay, my graduate degree's pseudo-alma mater!) entitled
Does Print Still Matter?. Spoiler Alert: It does. His talk didn't concern itself specifically with
SLJ's status in print, but in terms of the immediate future it may tie in nicely with Roger's query. And back and forth it goes.
The bar has been raised. You LoC groupies better get on board, and fast! Says Director of Communications Matt Raymond about the blog's purpose:
It’s probably a bit early to come up with some sort of grand “mission statement” for this blog, but it will be in keeping with the spirit of the Library’s mission as a whole: “to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations.”
In addition to all this it also happens to contain the Library of Congress equivalent of gossip. Which is to say, juicy selection begin with sentences like, "This morning I attended the spring business meeting of the
James Madison Council, the Library’s private-sector advisory body, created in 1990 by Librarian of Congress James Billington." Needless to say, sexy shoes are not discussed.
Thanks to
A Different Stripe for the link.
Remember that whole Thinking Blogger meme that went ah-skittering about the Internet last week? I know. So totally last week ago, right? Well, no one ever nominated Fuse #8, which was fine n' dandy as I don't actually consider myself too hot on the whole "thinking" phenomenon. I think about my reviews, but haven't much brainpower to spare for my quick little daily tidbits. Example: See today's postings on The Giving Tree (me no like), on illustrated novels (me like), and on kidlit tattoos, (me like mucho).
But damned if the blog A Patchwork of Books didn't nominate me just last Friday. Awful sweet of them. As I understand it, I am to nominate five of my own favorite thinking blogs for the honor in turn. Problem is, everyone nominated everyone else last week. Almost everyone, that is. I think it's time to turn my attention to some blogs that make me think in unconventional ways. To the best of my knowledge, none of these have been properly celebrated thus far, so here it goes!
Five blogs that make me think
(occasionally against my will).
1.
Children's Music That Rocks - Yep. Nepotism gets my top slot. Co-worker Warren runs a kidnote blog of magnificence that is constantly causing me to rethink my approach to that obscure little world. Only he could get away with
a post that reads, "What do you get when you cross Bob Dylan's vocals from
Nashville Skyline with
Ballad of Easy Rider-era Byrds music, and illustrate the whole thing with funky fresh
Doug Allen drawings?" Plus he did this recent post on an obscure
1954 Don Freeman illustrated picture book that rocked my world last week. Working with this guy ups my hipness quotient a good 20%.
2.
Children's Picturebook Price Guide - Honestly, I think they need to work on their name. While an honest assessment of the info they carry, CPPG isn't just a rote recounting of what picture books are going for on the open market. No way, man. They research their puppies. Were you aware of the
unresolved authorship controversy surrounding
The Little Engine That Could? Howzabout the too little talked about worth of
first-edition paperbacks? Think, hell. Linda and Stan are capable of making me learn.
3.
Tiny Little Librarian - I'm not sure why TLL isn't better known. "Thinking" is such a loose term anyway. What TLL does for me is tell stories of horrid patrons. Stories that make me feel better about my own. From the adventures of Methadone Man, to the sly lady stuffing paperbacks in her socks, to the adorable kids showing up for storytimes, TLL has a million tales and they're all worth reading. A cathartic blog, if nothing else.
4.
Bookninja - Not a kidlit blog. Not even an American blog, but my love for it is vast. It contains multitudes. Half of my best posts come from Bookninja some days. Despite its inexplicable contempt for Harry Potter (a contempt shared by
Bookslut as well, I believe) my love for this blog is pure and true. Besides, how else am I gonna find out about
Canterbury Tales, gangsta stylin'?
5.
ShelfTalker - New. Attached to a large publisher. Smart as hell. 'Nuff said.
I'm sure you suspected all along. The signs were there right from the start. What pop-up book did I think was exemplary in 2006? Mommy. Who did I say I'd like to dine with in my interview on 7-Imp? Sendak. Yeah, I've been masquerading as a 28-year-old female librarian for quite some time, but now the jig is up.
You see, my brilliant plan was to set up a fake blog and then review all my own books on it, starting some kinda buzz. How was I to know that “falsely representing oneself as a consumer” will soon be sufficient reason for criminal prosecution in the UK, starting December 31st? Fun fact though: Fake blogs are now known as "flogs".
Ah well. I guess it was better to out myself now. After all, it is also highly unlikely that blogs will ever change the world. Why even bother with them now?
Thanks to Bookninja for the links.
Thank God for teachers. I've never had the acumen or desire to follow that particular profession, so I have only boatloads of respect for the men and women out there that tackle the heady task of educating our nation's youth. One such teacher is Ms. Monica Edinger of Educating Alice fame. She works at NYC's Dalton School (motto: We have a sweet flat screen tv in our lobby) and she's never afraid to adapt her students to newfangled technologies. Want to know how to teach your kids via blogging? Then please be so good as to view her recent post Teaching With Blogs: Kids Go Public! Those of you with an interest in edu-ma-cation might want to take a gander at her results.
alma-pater.
That's the stuff.
...and in the comments of which Fuse is attacked again by a rabid gutless anonymouse! What is up with that? Why are people afraid of a wide range of voices and choices when it comes to literary commentary? Me no gets it.
Hee hee. Aw, you're very sweet to defend me, Mitali. However, in this particular case that was my mother pseudo-correcting my choice of terms. I assure you, she feels the exact same way that you do regarding anonymous peeps.
Mitali meant the gutless anon comment on Roger's blog, to which I respond: I think the Horn Book should have a regular column called "What Fuse Ate" in which you can blather on about dinners, lunches, breakfasts, brunches, cocktail parties, etc.
*sigh*
Well let's go see what all the fuss is about then.
Jeez. Well, whatever. That's the problem with writing an article that has your name on it. People know exactly who to attack. Ironically, the primary way a person may remain anonymous these days is via blogs. Nice of Roger to defend me there. After all, I don't know how much anyone would want to read something along the lines of, "A Comprehensive Interpretation of Didactical Insights and Snubs As Related to the Work of Children's Literary Blogs." *yawn*
Exactly. Poor jealous mice. Go find a private corner and gnaw on yourself. I would never hinder maternal correction, Mrs. Fuse Senior, as that is one of my major daily tasks.
Sorry, Mitali. This is one of those cases where I've forgotten that I linked to an article after reading my comments.
And for the record, I think we should go with the Anonymous person's suggestion and have a What John Green Ate feature in Horn Book instead. I love your style, Megan. My food tends to run very dull, though. Brownies make up 95% of the delectables I digest.