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Ruth Paul is an award-winning author and illustrator of ten picture books, including Hedgehog’s Magic Tricks. She works from a small straw-bale studio in the middle of a pasture just outside Wellington, New Zealand.

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Earwig is used to getting her own way. An orphan left on the doorstep of St. Morwald's Home for Children, Earwig knows how to make others do her bidding. At her request the cook prepares her favorite lunch of shepherd's pie, the matron hurries to keep her supplied in  red sweaters, and her fellow orphans indulge her in dimly-lit games of hide-and-seek, even the kids who are scared of the dark. Earwig is not among them. "Earwig was never frightened. She had a very strong personality."

This strong personality seems to meet her match when a strange couple visit the orphanage looking to foster a child. Till now Earwig has managed to fend off potential parents. For Earwig has no interest in leaving the orphanage. Why would she? She's got everyone in the joint under her thumb.

The couple choose Earwig, despite her best efforts to look unlovable, and take her home to their bungalow at Thirteen Lime Avenue. From the start, Earwig suspects the couple of being not what they seem. She's right. The "raggety, ribbly" woman in the big red hat is a bona fide witch and the man who has fiery eyes and what appear to be horns growing from his head is you-guessed-it. Earwig is put to work as the witch's assistant and spends her days pounding rat bones into powder and picking nettles from the garden. Her days of getting her own way are apparently over.

Or not. Earwig is a plucky child and she doesn't give in to despair. Refreshingly, she finds the odd situation she's in a challenge and one to be overcome not endured. Determined to learn magic, she pairs up with the witch's familiar, a talking black cat named Thomas, and together the two manage to turn the tables on the couple. By book's end Earwig is once again firmly in the driver's seat. How she gets there makes for a fast, entertaining read.

Knowing this is Diana Wynne Jones' last book made reading the story bittersweet. Although I can't know for sure, many signs pointed to this book being the first in a series. The question of Earwig's lineage (she was left at St. Morwald's with a tantalizing note pinned to her shawl) is left dangling, as is her friendship with Custard, a timid boy at the orphanage.

Earwig and the Witch
by Diana Wynne Jones
illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky
Greenwillow, 128 pages
Published: January 2012

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We didn’t manage to be there for the full two hours but the SCBWI stand at the Bologna Book Fair was even more the place to be from 12.00-2.00 today, when authors from across the regions read their own unpublished manuscript and two (later, I think, three) illustrators battled it out to draw the illustrations.

We caught most of Paul O. Zelinsky (on the left) and Bob Barner (right) working up a frenzy with a fun counting book from Kathleen Ahrens (and John Shelley on guitar!). Whern it came to 10, they pulled the flip charts together and joined forces…

Then Lesley Vamos (left) and Serena Geddes (right) illustrate a story written and read by Chris Cheng:

Sadly, we had to leave before the end but you can see pictures of the whole session on Chris Cheng’s blog.

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Toys Come Home: Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic
By Emily Jenkins
Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Schwartz & Wade
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-375-86200-7
Ages 5-10
On shelves now

I’m feeling tetchy. Let’s set out some rules when it comes to prequels of children’s books then. Number One: You are allowed to write a prequel if you wrote the original book in the first place. Um . . . . okay, that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. But it’s a good rule in general, don’t you think? Follow that rule and you won’t have to deal with seeing Anne before she came to Green Gables or speculate as to how Captain Hook got to be so mean. Not that every author should consider writing a prequel, mind. I’m sure Harry Potter fans would love to see what capers his parents got up to in school, but then we’d probably have to deal with a How Edward Cullen Became a Vampire novel, and that’s a road I’d rather not tread. All this is to say that if you have to write a prequel to a popular children’s book, it needs to make a certain amount of sense. Fortunately for all of us Toys Come Home makes oodles of caboodles of strudels of noodles of sense. Over the years children have asked Ms. Jenkins how Sheep lost her ear. Now that and a host of other questions (including some remarkably huge ones) are answered at long last.

How do special toys become beloved? Not in the ways you might imagine. StingRay, the stuffed sting ray, arrived too late to be a birthday present at The Girl’s party. Faced with not being The Girl’s favorite present she put up with the insufferable Bobby Dot (a walrus who wasn’t very nice) until after helping rescue the Sheep and facing her fear of towels, she managed to become worthy of snuggling and cuddling on the high bed. Lumphy, the toughy little buffalo, was plucked from a bin full of teddies, proving his valor soon thereafter with a particularly energetic kitten. And Plastic’s sheer energy and curiosity about the world leads the others to ask the ultimate question. Literally. In this way, we get to see how the characters of Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party came to be who they are.

I have never, in all my live long days, seen an author recall the trauma that comes when a child throws up on their favorite toy better than Ms. Jenkins. It’s sort of a two-part trauma. The first part is the sudden disgusting nature of your once beloved companion and the second is what happens when they go through the wash. Jenkins doesn’t dwell too heavily on the death of toys (just the nature of existence itself, but more on that later) but it’s there and it’s r

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Some books defy classification, and Toys Come Home is one of them. It's been nominated for the Cybils' Early Chapter Books category, but like many classic children books it appeals to a much wider audience. The story is a prequel to two previous books, Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party. These books slipped under my radar, so I haven't read them. Rest assured, I will make up for that pronto.

All three books feature a trio of toy friends (two plush, one rubber): StingRay, a bit of a bossy boots; Lumphy, a brave buffalo; and Plastic, a hyper bouncy red ball. Toys Come Home relates how the three toys become friends in six easy-to-read chapters. In this made-up world, toys can communicate with one another and can move, but only when people aren't around. In spite of this restriction, the trio of friends have plenty of adventures. After a few difficult nights in her new home, StingRay runs away, ending up in the basement. She also rescues Sheep (my favorite character--a very old pull toy whose life ambition is to chew grass), from a thorny rosebush. Lumphy bravely defends some plush mice from the antics of an all-too-real kitten, and Plastic posits existential questions--such as "Why are we here?'--that keep her friends up nights searching for answers.

This amazing book by the talented Emily Jenkins (whose Invisible Inkling is also up for a Cybil in the same category) is perfect for beginning readers and would make a wonderful read-aloud for younger children. I wager older elementary-school kids would appreciate it as well, that is, if they aren't too embarrassed to be caught reading a book about toys. Paul O. Zelinsky's full-page black-and-white illustrations are sprinkled throughout. The detailed, realistic renderings add immensely to the story's charm.

Toys Come Home
by Emily Jenkins
illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky
Schwartz & Wade Books, 144 pages
Published: 2011  

This book was nominated for the 2011 Cybils Awards in the Easy Reader/Early Chapter Book category. I am a first-round panelist in this category, and this review reflects my opinion only.

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Howdy, folks.  I’m starting off today with a little podcast-related item.  Back in the day I tried podcasting for sport.  It was fun (I had my own intro music and everything) but after a while it became clear that podcasting is a labor of love best left to the professionals with their prodigious editing skills, like the old Just One More Book site.  More recently I’ve contributed reviews to the remarkable Katie Davis Brain Burps About Books (more about that in a sec).  Today, however, I am pleased as punch to reveal that I was recently the guest host on the Read It and Weep podcast.  They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: Name a bad children’s book and they would read it and discuss it with me.  Well, I gave them the worst I could think of (you can guess what it was) and it was SO bad that they told me they couldn’t do it.  Instead, we decided to turn our attention to the good old Triumvirate of Mediocrity (copyright Jane Yolen for the term): The Giving Tree, Rainbow Fish, and Love You Forever.  Even if you like one of these, it is physically impossible to love all three.  Take a listen to our discussion about the gleesome threesome.  Odds are, you’ll never think of them quite the same way again.

• In other podcast news, the aforementioned Katie Davis has managed to compile a Library Love segment of her own podcast that is so o’erfilled with fantastic authors that you know and love that you’ll find yourself throwing fistfuls of money at your nearest library branch within minutes.  The full list of participants and the podcast itself can be found here.

• There are many ways in which to take the news that you’ve been nominated for a big award.  Barry Deutsch’s?  The best.  Bar none.

• In other award news somebody just won the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award.  Now there’s a decision I can get behind!

• True credit to Phil Nel.  Hard to top a blog post that has the title Vandalizing James Marshall.  Rather than discuss cases where folks have drawn bras on Martha (oh, you know it must happen) Phil is referring to the panned and scanned version of Marshall’s The Three Little Pigs in which the images have been truncated or removed altogether.  It’s pretty horrific, Phil’s right.  Particularly when you consider that this is James Marshall we’re talking about.  Shame.

• Sometimes I don’t pay proper attention.  That&rsqu
  10 Comments on Fusenews: Polar bear, polar bear, what do you see?, last added: 4/15/2011
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  Cheryl said, on 4/14/2011 5:16:00 AM
  

  One of those polar-bear bookcases is right here in New York! I saw it in the basement of the Crosby Street Hotel on Monday, beneath a polar-bear-shaped mirror as well.

  Sandy Soderberg said, on 4/14/2011 6:38:00 AM
  

  There will also be a special film screening of Library of the Early Mind at The Eric Carle Museum on Friday, April 29th at 6:00 pm. It will be followed by a panel discussion with Jane Yolen and Grace Lin and a reception in the Great Hall. 2 professional development points – and only $5.

  Chris in NY said, on 4/14/2011 8:51:00 AM
  

  The boy in the striped pyjamas?

  rams said, on 4/14/2011 9:41:00 AM
  

  That fabric site is amazing — they custom-print your fabric of choice? Did you see the Alice in Wonderland fabric? Just need to figure out the best search terms … You could have a wardrobe.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 4/14/2011 10:18:00 AM
  

  Ooo. Wardrobe. Ooo. Baby wardrobe. The mind boggles.

  Chris, you know me way too well.

  Darsa said, on 4/14/2011 10:26:00 AM
  

  I don’t usually listen to podcasts but the topic was too much to resist!!!!!

  Hilarious and brilliant. Favorite quote (although there were so very many faves) was about LOVE YOU FOREVER: “It’s like a Nicholas Sparks kids book” or something to that effect.

  I find that I’m inclined to agree with Mr. Betsy Bird’s GIVING TREE theory. Nobody who has read MR. SHELBY’S ABZ’S could accuse Shel Silverstein of being sentimental about children.

  I linked to your post from my post about sharing LOVE YOU FOREVER with my 10yo son. Hope you don’t mind. : )

  Sarah said, on 4/14/2011 11:55:00 AM
  

  The Harris Burdick collection is quite good overall, which is hard in a short story collection because so many times the quality is uneven. I blogged about it already–early, but I couldn’t wait! http://booksdogsandfrogs.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/the-chronicles-of-harris-burdick/

  Brooke Shirts said, on 4/14/2011 12:43:00 PM
  

  Rats! I was going to guess The Boy in the Striped Pajamas too, but someone beat me to it! But I’m glad you reminded me of it — a friend is presenting at a writer’s workshop, and needed ideas for books with intrusive messages/morals as examples of bad writing. Heh heh heh.

  Sondy said, on 4/14/2011 1:07:00 PM
  

  Oh, I am sooooo going to have to get a copy of THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIS BURDICK! A friend gave the original to our family after our first son was born, years ago….

  Alyson Whatcott said, on 4/14/2011 8:02:00 PM
  

  I’m both happy and sad to hear about Harris Burdick. In our sixth grade class we write our own HB stories which is my favorite writing of the year. I’m afraid it will lose some magic and originality if there are “real” stories out there–kind of like when the movie version of your favorite book comes out and it’s not like you imagined!

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Add this book to your collection: Dust Devil and Swamp Angel (Caldecott Honor Book) by Anne Isaacs and Paul O. Zelinsky