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Title: Secret Coders Author: Gene Luen Yang Illustrator: Mike Holmes Publisher: First Second Publication Date: September 29, 2015 ISBN-13: 978-1626720756 96 pp. ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley Secret Coders is exactly the kind of book I love to booktalk, especially when promoting Summer Reading Club. It has a mystery, it has a diverse cast, it has basketball, it has a friendship

Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang will be writing a middle grade grade comic series entitled Secret Coders. Cartoonist Mike Holmes has signed on to create the illustrations.

The story follows two prep school students named Hopper and Eni who develop a friendship and a passion for computer coding. In an interview with Wired, Yang explained the inspiration behind this project: “I started collecting comics in the fifth grade, and I started coding in the fifth grade. I’ve always wanted to bring them together.”

Yang, a high school computer science teacher, revealed on Twitter that “Secret Coders is a love letter to my favorite programming language of all time: Logo.” First Second Books will release the first installment on September 29, 2015.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Huh!  Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.  In spite of the sheer swaths of time I’ve had since I completed my last Fusenews, I am surprisingly bereft of information for you this week.  Whodathunkit?  Ah well.  NYC was recently hit with a bit of the old snowstorm, so while we stare mournfully at the unshovelled sidewalks in front of our homes, let me recount in the briefest of briefs the situation of the world as it stands.

• First off, The 2013 Cybils Finalists have been announced!  I’ve panned through the books listed and they’re lovely.  Not a single title I’d seriously object to being on a list (well… maybe one, but that’s still a pretty darn good track record).  Well done to all the hard working judges that had to cull the endless submissions down down down.

• One of my favorite podcasts Pop Culture Happy Hour has a segment called “What’s Making Us Happy This Week”.  If I might purloin their phrase, this, right here, is what has been making me happy for more than a week.  Artist Mike Holmes came up with the concept of illustrating himself and his cat (Ella) in the style of a different cartoonist every day.  I’ve seen folks do this sort of thing before.  The difference with Holmes?  He is AMAZING.  Example A: This version of The Far Side.  He even got the tone right.

Now please, someone go tap him for a picture book.  I’ll just sit over here patiently and wait.

• A good In Memoriam piece here at SLJ.  None of the losses make me happy but particularly painful was Ned Vizzini.  It was one of those deaths you hear about on Twitter before you hear anywhere else.  Doesn’t make it any less terrible.

• On a lighter note, SLJ also released its top posts of 2012 and one of my blog posts ranked at #5.  Which one?  The Complete Listing of All Public Children’s Literature Statues in the United States. Admittedly I haven’t finished posting all the suggestions I’ve received but I solemnly swear to get back to it one of these days (or anytime someone wants to offer me a book deal – ho ho!).  In other news, the #1 post was also mine in a roundabout way.  It was a link to NYPL’s 100 Great Children’s Books which I culled together with a co-worker.  Small world, eh?

• The holiday gift giving season may be over, but if you ever want to see the most insane present in the world (and you have just oodles of time on your hands) then you must see how my sister put together a Personalized Monopoly Game.  Dear God, woman.

• The New York Times has a book review podcast?  And a recent entry discussed children’s books?  Learn something new every day!  Many thanks to Monica Edinger for the link.

• Daily Image:

Why, yes.  I will take a library with my bathtub, thank you.

I’ll leave the specifications and, uh, payment to you.  Thanks to Aunt Judy for the link.

The doors are open and Janet K. Lee is already drawing things! And the first announcement goes to… KaBoom!

And so it turns out that KaBoom Studios, the best comics imprint there is (am I allowed to say that or should I stay impartial?) have announced a new comic called Bravest Warriors. Based on the new Pendleton Ward (creator of Adventure Time) TV show of the same name, the series will be written by Joey Comeau and drawn by Mike Holmes. A space adventure following four young “heroes for hire” (sweet christmas!) this is a six-issue miniseries starting in October. Each issue will be 32 pages long, and be priced at $3.99. I cannot confirm at this point that there will be any sweet fist-bumps.