Zounds!
No reason in particular I wrote that word. I just like to say “Zounds!” from time to time. Onward!
- I initially misread this post as “Summer Reading Takes a Hit From Online Scanning and Skimming Researchers Say” (which shows you where my mind is these days). It’s not “Summer” but Serious Reading Takes a Hit From Online Scanning and Skimming Researchers Say. I am not dead to the irony of linking to such a piece within a post where the entire purpose is to skim and scan. That said, I’m just grateful that summer reading isn’t taking that hit. Now THAT would be a catastrophe. Thanks to Wayne Roylance for the link.
- This is somewhat related. The New York Times put out an article talking about the necessity of literature for the very young. Called Books, and Compassion, From Birth it won’t say much that you don’t already know, but hopefully it’ll get some readers aware of what needs to be done. It also ties in quite beautifully with author Jason Boog’s delightful July release Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age — From Picture Books to eBooks and Everything in Between. In the interest of transparency, I wrote the introduction for that book, but the content is all Boog. Consider it the most necessary bit of parental instruction you’ll find. Hand to folks at baby showers. Please.
- I’m about a week behind in all my news, so you probably saw this long ago. But just in case you didn’t I was amused by this mash-up of Syd Hoff/Richard Scarry and some very adult novels. Here’s the link and here’s one of the images in question:
Awesome.
- It wouldn’t be the first time Mac Barnett and Daniel Handler have appeared on the same panel. Heck, it probably wouldn’t even necessarily be the best time but there’s nothing like an imminent birth to make a person want to attend the 2014 ALSC National Institute. Aside from the great guests, folks get to go to a place called Children’s Fairyland. I went to see whether or not I’d added the attractions there to my Complete Listing of All Public Children’s Literature Statues in the United States and found that I had not yet. I think on maternity leave I go back to updating that post. It’s 75% done. Just need to keep adding on suggestions (and I see that the Albany Public Library turned it into a Pinterest board, which is rather fascinating in and of itself).
- I was fascinated by the recent ShelfTalker post To Host or Not to Host? The gist of it is that local authors will often ask a bookstore to host an event for their book. No big surprise there, except what do you do when they’ve published through Amazon? The back and forth in the comments is worth your time and money.
- Good old Rocco Staino wrote up the recent celebratory 90-Second Newbery hosted at NYPL. The gist of the article is quite clever too. I had noticed vaguely, but without putting it together, that this year’s film festival featured a lot of forgotten Newbery book winners. I mean, does anyone at all remember The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell A Little Boy in Search of Adventure? And I blush to say it, but I had no idea that Anne Carroll Moore won a Newbery Honor back in the day. Wowzah. How is THAT fact not better known?
- Yay, Tea Cozy! Liz Burns does a really good and in-depth look at a recent Entertainment Weekly article that discussed the sheer lack of diversity in our child and teen books these days.
There are certain authors on this good green globe that make the world a more interesting place by simply being here. Years ago when I read Kate Milford’s The Boneshaker, I knew she was one of those few. The fascinating thing about Kate is that she’s always writing. Even when her characters aren’t making it into books published by traditional publishers, they’re living their lives in books funded by Kickstarter. Now Kate’s got a new book on the horizon called Bluecrowne that I’d be dying to read, and at the same time she has a book that’s kinda sorta related coming out in August called The Green Glass House. I really need to read that August title, but I’d love to see her publish the Bluecrowne book as well. So if you’ve some jingle in your jeans and like her work (or even if you’re just simply interested in what she has going on) check out her Kickstarter project here.
- Thanks to a push in Britain to stop promoting gendered toys for kids, the focus has moved a bit to books for kids as well. I know I’m not the only person in the world who shudders every time she sees a book spell out on its cover that it’s just “For Boys” or “For Girls”. Just as I grind my teeth when the toy store tells me the same dang thing. A not so hotso article in a Philadelphia magazine yielded a pretty darn good conversation in its comments. The article itself is one of those rabble rouser pieces that throw words like “Orwellian” around higglety pigglety. The comments from Let Toys Be Toys focus everything and keep the conversation civil. Thanks to PW Children’s Bookshelf for the link.
- And speaking of gender . . . Anyone out there familiar with Sheila Hamanaka’s picture book I Look Like a Girl? I wasn’t and I only knew Ms. Hamanaka’s name because of her All the Colors of the Earth. Well over at Bank Street College of Education’s school the kids got a little passionate about the messages they get from books sometimes. Here’s the part one and part two of the kids and their reactions/interpretations. Wowzah.
- Some folks know that before I decided to become a children’s librarian I played with the notion of heading into conservation instead. Now my worlds collide as I present to you a recent NYPL post on what it takes to take care of Winnie-the-Pooh and friends. Stuffed Animal Husbandry, for the record, is the perfect title.
- Daily Image:
I’m actually doing very well on Daily Images these days. Perhaps too well. I was all set with the image for today but that was before I saw this. It’s a link that will instruct you on the finer details of creating your very own one-of-a-kind Hobbes doll.
I ain’t crafty but that, my friends, is just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
4 Comments on Fusenews: All you need is love (and books before the age of 3), last added: 4/10/2014
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Hm. Regarding the NYTimes piece on “Books, and Compassion, From Birth” : I’m of course all for universal pre-K, and books, too for that matter! But it’s interesting to read the underlying assumptions of this piece in light of the recent conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jonathan Chait about “the culture of poverty.”
Hooray, ALSC Institute 2014! Hooray Oakland! I live just around the corner from Fairyland–I love that in my adult life, that is a thing I get to say.
The comments to the piece remark on something along those lines, so I’d highly recommend reading those as well for that very purpose. Thanks for mentioning this.
Oh shucks, I want those Syd Hoff/McCarthy Early Readers SO BAD. And thanks so much for that wonderful mention, Betsy!