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Don’t you hate it when you’ve saved oodles of links for a Fusenews only to find your computer apparently ate them without informing you?  Fun times.  So if I promised some of you that I’d post something and then I didn’t, remind me of the fact.  Clearly me brain is running on fumes.

• Stop.  Before you go any farther I will show you something that will make you laugh.  It is this post by my sister on making a particularly unique gingerbread creation.  If nothing else the photos at the end will make you snort in a distinctly unladylike manner.

• Bookish wanted great children’s book recommendations from NYPL so Booklish now HAS great children’s book recommendations from NYPL.  Ha HA!

• Please remind me the next time I wish to garner outrage to simply tap Philip Pullman.  The man has sway.  Big time sway.

• This is fun:

The SCBWI is proud to announce the winner and honor recipients of the 2013 Jane Yolen Mid-List Author Award.  Congratulations to winner Eve Feldman, author of such works asBilly and Milly Short and Silly (Putnam) and Dog Crazy (Tambourine).  Eve has been a children’s book author and SCBWI member for over twenty years.  To learn more about Eve visit www.evebfeldman.com.

Two Honor Grants were also awarded to authors Verla Kay and Deborah Lynn Jacobs.  Verla Kay is the author of Civil War Drummer Boy (Putnam) and Hornbooks and Inkwells(Putnam) among others.  Learn more at www.verlakay.com.  Deborah Lynn Jacobs is the author of the young adult novels Choices (Roaring Brook Press) and Powers (Square Fish).  Learn more at www.deborahlynnjacobs.com.

• Gift giving to a young ‘un when you yourself are without young ‘uns?  Well, this post A Message to Those Without Children is dead on.  She doesn’t mention alternatives but I can: What about books instead?  Board books!  Give it a whirl, prospective gift givers.

• The most amusing part of this Harry Potter Swimsuit Line to my mind isn’t the content so much as it is the models they got to wear the outfits.  Most of them don’t seem to have any clue what they’re wearing.  However, #2 in the Snape dress model appears to have been cast solely for the part and #3 has the decency to look slightly embarrassed to be there at all.  Thanks to Liz Burns for the link.

• Speaking of HP, we all knew that the covers of the Harry Potter books were being re-illustrated here in the States.  But how many of us knew that the Brits were planning on releasing full-color illustrated books with art by Jim Kay?  Does the name Jim Kay ring a bell for you, by the way?  You might be thinking of the art he did for A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.  That was a far cry from that cutesy Harry picture included in the article.  Suddenly I can’t wait to see what the man can do with Dementors.  Thanks to Ben Collinsworth for the link.

• The site Latinas for Latino Lit has released their list of Remarkable Latino Children’s Literature of 2013.  It really is an excellent list.  And at least two of the titles mentioned appeared on NYPL’s recent 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list too.

• Daily Image:

Hey all!  Before I dive into the oddities of the world in which we live, I just wanted to give a bit of a shout out to two distinct groups that allowed me to sprawl my librarian self all over their respective gatherings.  First up, credit and love to Nancy Castaldo and all the folks who made this weekend’s Eastern NY SCBWI Regional Conference the success that it was.  I’m mighty appreciative that I was able to offer the dessert keynote on Saturday.  Moreover, thanks to everyone who came out to see my censorship panel on Saturday at the Brooklyn Book Festival with David Levithan, Francesca Lia Block, and Lauren Myracle.  It’s always nice to moderate something that hardly needs any moderation at all.  Extra thanks to anyone who stayed around for my picture book reading later.  David Maybury I be looking at you.

And now, because the weekend was so darned exciting, I’m going to do some super quickie round-ups of the recent news.

• What’s that you say?  Beautiful posters inspired by the work of Roald Dahl?

Don’t mind if I do!

• I have dealt with difficult reference desk requests in the past, but Benji’s story on dealing with a student looking for Effie?  That takes the cake.  Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.

• All right.  Love this look at what the voices behind Disney’s Winnie-the-Pooh looked like when it first came out and what they look like today.  Had no idea Clint Howard was Roo.  That’s gonna take some reconfiguration in my noggin.  And I thought Thurl Ravenscroft was the first Tigger!  No?  Thanks to PW Children’s Bookshelf for the link.An

• Though it falls squarely into the Couldn’t Be Published in America category of European picture books, Sergio Ruzzier’s remarkable The Birds is WELL worth reading through today.  And not just because I like the name.

• Ever been curious about the history of children’s theater in New York City?  Well, you lucky ducks, I just found a post that’s gonna make your day.

• Confused as to where exactly I work and what exactly I work for?  My job has gotten a bit more complicated since I became part of BookOps.  This interview with my colleagues by Booklist should clear up any and all confusion, though.  At least I hope it does.

• Take one look at this image and tell me what you think it is:

If you said it was an Anne-of-Green-Gables-inspired-wedding-shoot you would be correct.  Sadly it wasn’t a real wedding, but you can tell it’ll serve as inspiration to a lot of folks.

• The title probably says it all for this one: Reading for pleasure puts children ahead in the classroom, study finds. Yup.  Thanks to Amie Wright for the link.

• Hooray!  The good Elizabeth Bluemle has collected The Stars Thus Far for 2013 and they’re a doozy.  A bunch of five stars are up, but not a single six star book has appeared so far this year.  Whodathunkit?

• Looks like we have a bookless library on our hands.  Now the only question is whether or not we’ll be seeing the community clamoring for print or not.  Not so sure I agree with the statement that “it will take more than 100 years before all libraries are paperless” (so that’s inevitable, eh whot?) but we can all watch this site with some interest.

• Daily Image:

Yup.  That’s gonna be the walls of my house someday.  Though the books will undoubtedly be thinner.

Thanks to Aunt Judy for the link!