Morning, folks. Bird here. Seems this book I’ve written with fellow bloggers Peter Sieruta of Collecting Children’s Books and Jules Danielson of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast is in the last stages of completion. Fun With Copyedits is the name of the game this week, which means that my blogging may suffer a tad here and there. Mea culpa. I give you a bright and shiny blog posts to make it up to you. Eat it in good health.
- First off, April’s only here and that can only mean one thing. There’s a call for new spine poetry. Do you have what it takes to stack books in a coherent and literary manner? Well, do you? Punk?
I love Cracked online but honestly sometimes their headlines tip a little too far into the realm of the hyperbole. Consider the following: 5 literary classics that put x-rated movies to shame. It’s actually not inaccurate to say that of numbers one through three, but by the time you get to number five (Where’s Waldo) it’s stretching it a tad. Then again, the naked clown on the pogo stick isn’t exactly normal . . .
- In case you missed it, Marjorie Ingall alerted me to the children’s literature reference name dropped by Bob Balaban on a recent episode of Girls. Sorry I missed this one. I’ve been too busy catching up on episodes of Once Upon a Time which is admittedly corny, but weirdly similar to LOST before the show went haywire. Hence the fix.
- And what will YOU be doing on April 2nd of this year? Celebrating International Children’s Book Day, I certainly hope. Seriously, are you going to let this Ashley Bryan poster go to waste? For shame!
- Speaking of worldwide travels, care to attend an Irish children’s literary conference? Would I kid? Observe:
“We are delighted to announce that the CBI 2013 Conference Rebels and Rulebreakers is now open for booking! We’re really looking forward to a weekend with some of the most exciting names in writing, illustration, publishing and criticism in the fabulous surroundings of Lighthouse cinema on May 18th and 19th. Click here for the booking form or call CBI on 01 8727475 to secure your place. Remember the conference is open to everyone with an interest in children’s books so tell your friends! We’ve started counting down to the conference weekend with blog features on Sarah Ardizzone, Sarah Crossan and Colmán Ó Raghallaigh.”
- Though she was by no means the first children’s librarian in the country, NYPL’s own Anne Carroll Moore was a force to be reckoned with, back in the day. Now there’s a picture book bio of her coming out called Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan Pinborough. A Women’s History Month series celebrates the book and Ms. Pinborough discusses why she wrote it in the first place. Thanks to Lisa Taylor for the link.
As my recent review of the Matilda musical will attest, I’m a sucker for stage adaptations of children’s books. So how completely and utterly delightful does this version of Owl Moon look to you? Picture book adaptations are always difficult, whether it’s to the stage or the screen. Dance is honestly the only way to go sometimes. Consider this post your required reading of the day.
Hey! In all the flutter and kerfuffle surrounding the ALA Youth Media Awards it’s mighty easy to forget about the 2013 Notable Children’s Books list that was announced at the end of February. Nice to see my beloved Zombie Makers getting some love.
Daily Image:
Oh good. Something new to desire. I was running low. It seems that a certain Charlotte Olympia has taken it upon herself to create a fairytale line of shoes.
If you happen to purchase that $985 froggy pump for me, I honestly won’t be embarrassed by the largess of your generosity. Scout’s honor. You know where to reach me. Many many thanks to Marjorie Ingall for the link.
So I’m tooling around in my library’s shelves containing ancient children’s books of yore yesterday, which happens to be a lot of fun. Nothing puts the current world of publishing in perspective quite like waltzing through decades and decades worth of out-of-print gems. At one point I was going through the autographed book section when I stumbled on a familiar name. “Lucy Sprague Mitchell”. It rang a distant bell in the old noggin but I was hard pressed to remember why. Later at home I cracked open my copy of
Minders of Make-Believe (the go-to tome for all things simultaneously historical and children’s literature related) and there she was. Mitchell. The woman behind New York’s Bureau of Educational Experiments (which wasn’t half as terrifying as the name implies). Mitchell paved the way for progressive education and that little bureau she founded would go on to become
The Bank Street College of Education.
Why am I telling you this? Because Bank Street is a vital, contributing member of the children’s literary world, dagnabbit. In fact I was just there last week when Candlewick presented their upcoming fall list (but more on that another day). And while I was there I also learned of the release of their newly revisited, revised edition of Best Books to Read Aloud with Children of All Ages. Written by Lisa Von Drasek, Linda Greengrass (awesome name) and Jennifer M. Brown the book looks like one of those necessary tools for folks new to the readaloud game and others who need a quick pick-me-up. Actually Lisa put it better than I in a recent email exchange:
“This past Monday morning, I had the opportunity to observe a story time for toddlers in a tiny rural public library. The woman leading the story time was delightfully engaging, she sang, the children played maracas, rang bells, danced and did simple yoga stretches. (I will be stealing not only her song, but also her yoga ideas for my preschool classes.) Unfortunately she lost most of their attention every time she read aloud. Her choices weren’t great for the age group. As a children’s librarian, I often forget how hard it is to make developmentally age appropriate choices. The Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street has provided a neatly curated collection of titles, some new, some classics arranged by age group and searchable by theme in the Best Books to Read Aloud.”
The result is an eBook. Yep. A $2.99 eBook. So I figured I’d buy one. I’m no Mr. Moneybags but I can shell out three bucks. Apparently it’s also available through a nook app, Amazon and soon Google Books with links to Indie Bound.
Normally I don’t shill others’ wares as directly as I am here but this is the kind of thing I tend to believe in. Of course Lucy Sprague Mitche
I recently had the immense pleasure of chatting with historian and author Leonard Marcus about his newly published title, Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature (Houghton Mifflin Co.) Over fourteen years in the making, Minders of Make-Believe tells the fascinating story of the development of children’s literature in America from its earliest beginnings to the advent of Harry Potter and beyond.
Do you know the full history of how Children’s Book Week came to be? Or who Leonard would put his money on in a battle of wills between New York Public Library’s trailblazing librarian Anne Carroll Moore and Harper’s Editor Beyond Compare, Ursula Nordstrom? (True confession: they both scare me a little.) Listen to the inside story of the events and characters that shaped the classics using the link below!
And, if you plan to be in the Washington DC area on June 19th, don’t miss Leonard’s upcoming talk and book signing at Politics and Prose!
Happy Children’s Book Week!
P.S. Have a favorite author or other publishing figure you’d like to see featured in a First Book podcast? Feel free to email us with your suggestions!
By:
Mayra Calvani,
on 11/13/2007
Blog:
Mayra's Secret Bookcase
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Hi all,
We were all pretty excited for Melisa last week when she received her very first royalty check. I gave her the cash but we decided to frame the check as a souvenier from her first days as an accomplished author. She surpassed our expectations by matching my own royalty check (wooo hooo!) for this quarter. I think a lot of parents have bought her book in order to encourage their children to write and--why not?!--publish as well.
Can I brag a little more?.... Midwest Book Review and Reader Views gave her book 5-star reviews!
Here's a snippet:
"Written and illustrated by nine-year-old Melisa Eyuboglu, Angel in a Bubble is a softcover children's picturebook about a girl whose angel turns into a bubble. Distressed by this turn of events, the girl resolves to visit God and ask Him to change the rule that all angels who fall into the ocean become bubbles. An authentic and heartwarming showcase of a child's vivid imagination."
--Midwest Book Review
"Alison has made a very special friend. She has gotten the chance to meet her own personal angel. Her dog Amigo has also gotten to meet his. Alison's mother doesn't believe that Alison has ever met her angel, until she meets her herself. Her angel has a problem and only Alison can fix it.
She must meet the creator of the angel and request something very special. Her angel is in a bubble and there is only one way to correct that. She, Amigo and two other friends travel up a high mountain to get closer to God. They also have to climb upon a rainbow.
With "Angel In a Bubble," Melisa Eyuboglu has written and illustrated a beautiful book for kids. This book makes children use their imagination and wonder what they would ask God for if they ever got to meet him face to face. The illustrations are pencil-like drawings with watercolors. Without the fancy drawings in some books, these will have children really understand the story. I hope Melisa writes more books about the adventures of her and Amigo."
--Reader Views
I keep encouraging Melisa to write as much as I can. She submitted a poem to Launchpad Magazine a couple of months ago. The editor got back to us today saying that although he won't be able to publish her poem (apparently it has a bit too much violence for their readers--it has swords and dragons), he liked her writing very much and would like to invite her to write another poem to accompany an illustration they will be publishing in their "Fairy Tales and Fantasy" issue. I guess you could say that's her first assignment. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, she will submit her dragon poem to Stories for Children Magazine. We'll see what this editor says...
Birth that book. All Best! Loving the clock shoe.
I LOVE that Timeless Court Shoe! WANT!
All the best on that book, Betsy–sounds right up my alley.
Three cheers for Zombie Makers! Also, did you notice just how well represented nonfiction is on this year’s Notables list? Warms my heart, it does.
the froggy pump’s the one i want too. go to the link, there are tons more choices! leave me the frog.
Love those shoes! I’ll be waiting for the knock-offs from Target!