By: WDL,
on 3/4/2008
Mud stains on cashmere and and my brothers fat wife Germ covered kleenex and problems that cause strife Super hot blind dates who only want flings These are a few of my most hated things Really close talkers and people with bad breath Road kill and popcorn and lesbian bed death Giving up kittens and ripped apron strings These are a few of my mosted hated things Boys in tight t-shirts who have
By: WDL,
on 2/11/2008
Who knows. But I can tell you what this librarian does. Fret. Yes my gentle readers, I fret - and I find myself doing it more and more of late. Not work related, I can tell you this is not a work related blog at all. If my job could love me back, I'd marry it. That is, if the gays could marry, which we can't. This librarian has finally figured out where everything in his apartment goes.
By: Roger Sutton,
on 1/17/2008
Here's the SLJ article asking if Orson Scott Card's beliefs about homosexuality should have been taken into account when YALSA awarded him the Margaret Edwards Award. I dunno if this is a real controversy; has anyone heard it brought up elsewhere?
By: Roger Sutton,
on 1/2/2008
Ah, Provincetown, where the Gays meet the Fisherfolk:
photo by Richard Asch
And where Buster met two of Santa's minions:
photo by Richard Asch
But vacation is O-ver. Now I'm busy getting ready for ALA (any late Caldecott hopes, dreams, and fears you care to share?) and hustling up copy for the premier issue of our new publication, Notes from the Horn Book, an e-newsletter for parents and other adults at the consumer end of children's books debuting in March. If you're interested in being a charter subscriber (relax, it's free) write to Sarah Scriver, sscriver, at hbookdotcom.
By: Roger Sutton,
on 12/13/2007
Who needs old closet case Dumbledore when Claire has put together a first-class list of out-n-proud GLBTQ-and-sometimes-Y fiction?
I've got an editorial in the upcoming Horn Book about the outing of Dumbledore, who in fact joins a long line of characters who coulda-woulda-shoulda be gay if the reader so inclines--like Shakespeare in Susan Cooper's King of Shadows as we discussed here a few weeks ago. Or Harriet the Spy. (Or Sport, Beth Ellen, or Janie.) Betsy and Tacy! Frank and Joe! Nancy and George! Or not, too--the point is that characters become your imaginary friends whose lives, loves, and destinies can become what you need them to be.
I'm reminded of 1965, the momentous year when Barbie became flexible. Durable characters always are.
Do you know if the criteria for the Caldecott was changed recently? I seem to remember it being about the best illustrations, and the text should only be considered insofar as it does/does not interfere with the overall quality.
Now it just says "the most distinguished picture book."
Or maybe I just imagined all that.
Anyway I think it is better now.
R
No, no change--"most distinguished American picture book" is what the Medal is actually for, and the committee is instructed (in the manual, under "Criteria") to "make its decision primarily on the illustration, but other components of a book are to be considered especially when they make a book less effective as a children's picture book. Such other components might include the written text, the overall design of the book, etc."
I know you love HUGO CABRET, but I sure hope it doesn't win the Caldecott. Why? It's not a picture book, for one thing. And what will it mean for the future of picture books--already dicey these days-- if it DOES win? OK, I know that's not one of the criteria. But still---
OTOH, there's FIRST THE EGG.