How to use this Page

You know that recurring nightmare where you have to give a TED talk at TedX Beacon Street in Boston?  The one where they fit you with a teeny tiny hand free mic on your head and then you have to stand in front of a series of two-tone cubes?  To combat this fear of mine I watch other people’s.  Particularly if they are about children’s literature, of which, I can only think of three.  As a wise woman once told me, children’s books are woefully underrepresented on ted.com.  To get on the site, a video needs many many views.  Therefore, it stands to reason that I should promote every last single one of them I see.  Ladies and gentlemen, the great, the only, Linda Sue Park!

Switching gears, when I moved to the Chicago area I had a vague idea of the already existing children’s literature community in place.  What I didn’t know was the degree to which it existed.  The people here . . . they dwarf me with their talents.  Take Toby Rajput for example.  She’s an assistant professor at National Louis University’s reading and language program and a children and youth literature librarian at National Louis University.  Here’s she talks on Good Day Chicago about buying diverse books for kids this gift giving season.  Go, Toby, go go go!

In spite of appearances, I actually don’t get a chance to see that many fan-made videos by kids about their favorite books.  So when Amy Ignatow linked to this video on Twitter the other day, I was grateful.  Particularly to whatever mom it was that allowed her clothes to be paraded about like that.

My sole problem with the Politics & Prose Bookstore in D.C. is that it’s in D.C.  So I live in the impossible hope that at some point they’ll be picking that puppy up and moving it to the Chicago area.  Preferably Evanston.  Tomorrow works for me.  But until this happy day arrives, I get to show you some of their events, particularly when they feature my co-writer Julie Danielson.  This was the store’s third annual picture book panel discussions called “Too Good to Miss—Picture Books for Older Readers.”  Jules was kind enough to recap it over at Kirkus, with videos of the previous two years as well.  Enjoy.

Thanks to Jules Danielson for the link.

And finally, an off-topic video that appeals to me because of the life I rejected.  Coming out of college with a Fine Arts major and a concentration in photography I was accepted to the SALT photography program in Maine.  Ultimately I decided not to attend the program, which I think was the right choice.  Nonetheless, up until that moment photography, particularly portraiture, had been my love.  With that in mind, this:

Thanks to Wendy for the link.

• There was a time, oh children of mine, when the ALA Media Awards would be announced and the morning after the announcement the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Awards would be whisked away to New York City to speak on NBC.  Then Snooki came and ruined everything (this is the abbreviated version, but it’s not too far off).  So we’re none too pleased with NBC these days.  Al Roker’s Book Club aside (and it looks like it hasn’t updated since Halloween) there’s not a lot going on at that channel.  But then they go and post the Latinas for Latino Lit: “Remarkable” Children’s Books of 2014 piece (selected by Viviana Hurtado and Monica Olivera) and much is forgiven.  Just one question about the list, though . . . no Viva Frida?

• What is the state of children’s nonfiction in the UK today?  For our answer we turn to my favorite British blog Playing By the Book which reveals revelation after revelation in the piece Do We Care About Children’s Non-Fiction?  Apparently informational books don’t get reviewed all that often in the U.K.  Do the British value nonfiction then?  Definitely fascinating reading.

• “I mean, seriously, can you think of one popular show/movie that actually tries to portray Muslims accurately instead of as a confining stereotype?”  The excellent Summer writes on her blog Miss Fictional’s World of YA the piece I Am Not Oppressed.  In particular she’s not particularly pleased with how Muslim women are depicted on the bulk of our book jackets (to say nothing of the content inside).

• Hm.  So Entertainment Weekly just released a list of 50 Books Every Kid Should Read.  Interesting, yes?  And the choices are fascinating.  They made an effort to do the classics and then work in some contemporary titles.  What they chose is telling.  Little Willow presents the list and leads the discussion as well.

• Um . . .

Okaaaaay. So that’s what Evangeline Lilly wore to her children’s book signing at Barnes & Noble.  Clearly this is the outfit children’s authors should all be wearing now.  Those of you hankering to wear your picnic blanket as a skirt now finally have an excuse to do so.  Thanks to Jules for the link.

• I think roughly 500 people sent me the Richard Scarry’s Busy Town in the 21st Century link, to which I say to each and every last one of you – THANK YOU!!  Good old Tom the Dancing Bug.

• Oh!  How useful!  PW recently published a rather lovely assessment of Children’s and YA Writing M.F.A. Programs around the country.  Apparently they already covered Simmons in a previous post.

• And now, the best news of the week.  My love for the author Frances Hardinge knows no bounds.  Honestly, I do believe that The Lost Conspiracy may be my favorite children’s book published in the last 10 years.  It’s a serious contender in any case.  So you can imagine how distraught I was when it became clear that Harper Collins would no longer be publishing her books in the U.S.  I watched miserably as the U.K. published A Face Like Glass and Cuckoo Song (read the Book Smugglers review of the latter) overseas.  Heck, I actually shelled out money and bought the darn books myself (and you know how I feel about spending money).  Then, yesterday, a miracle.  I was paging through the Spring 2015 Abrams catalog and there she was.  Frances.  And Cuckoo Song, it said, would be published in May with what may well be the creepiest cover . . . um, ever?  Yeah.  Ever.  It’s not even online yet, so just stay tuned because when it is you know I’ll be blogging it.  So excited. (pssst! Abrams! Let me do the cover reveal!)

• If you missed the whole Barbie, Computer Programmer children’s book debacle, now’s your time to catch up.  This was the inciting incident.  This was the follow-up.

• The nice thing about working for NYPL is that they give me an awful lot of leeway when it comes to programming.  I want to do a monthly series of Children’s Literary Salons on a host of different topics?  Go to it!  Any topic I like.  The best ones, however, are often suggested by other people.  For example, when editors Cheryl Klein and Stacy Whitman suggested we have a panel on Native American YA literature where authors Eric Gansworth and Joseph Bruchac could talk about the cross-cultural pleasures and challenges of working with their editors, I was all for it.  Sadly, most of my Lit Salons are not recorded . . . but this one was!  Cheryl, you see, is married to James Monohan and together they run the blog The Narrative Breakdown.  My Salon?  It became one of the episodes and you can listen to it here.  As for those of you interested in attending a Salon (they’re free after all) there’s one this coming Saturday and you can see the full roster of them here.

• This thing.  More libraries should do this thing. Yes.

• A few things.  Jacqueline Woodson wrote a New York Times piece about the incident at the National Book Awards.  There is that.  Now I would also recommend that you read two additional pieces as well.  I Am Racist and I Am Sexist and Probably Some Other -Ists, Too.  The other is just called Racist.

• Speaking of Ms. Woodson, did you see the list of books President Obama purchased at Politics and Prose last Saturday?  If we just pull out the children’s book fare it included:

1. “Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business” by Barbara Park
2. “A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo and More” by Doreen Cronin
3. “I Spy Sticker Book and Picture Riddles” by Jean Marzollo
4. “Nuts to You” by Lynn Rae Perkins
5. “Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus” by Barbara Park
6. “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson
7. “Redwall” by Brian Jacques
8. “Mossflower” by Brian Jacques
9. “Mattimeo” by Brian Jacques
10. “Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms” by Katherine Rundell

• Daily Image:

I consider this my early Christmas present.  Years ago when I did the Top 100 Children’s Novels poll, I did a post on All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor that included every book cover I could find of the title.  All but one.  The book jacket I grew up with appeared to be lost to the sands of time.  And now, all thanks to Sadie Salome, it’s been returned to me.  Behold the only work of historical fiction I read independently and for fun as a kid from cover to cover:

Still the best, so far as I’m concerned.  Thanks, Sadie.

Carla Cohen, the founder of Washington DC’s Politics and Prose Bookstore, has passed away.

Cohen (pictured, via) opened the bookstore in 1984. The bookstore site has this tribute: “Cohen’s entire background was anti-business so it was amusing to her family and all who knew her that Cohen decided to start a bookstore.  It was, however, just like the contrarian character she had inherited that she chose a part of retail then being nationalized.  It was a time at which small, independent bookstores were beginning to perish in large numbers.”

Add your tributes to the bookseller at this link.

Here’s more from the Washington Post‘s obituary: “Mrs. Cohen was a former urban planner who conceived of Politics and Prose as a salon where Washington readers and writers could gather to challenge each other in discussion about the big ideas of the day — a place that would reach beyond customers’ pocketbooks and become part of their lives. That concept proved wildly successful.” (Via Sarah Weinman)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Last night, I had the immense pleasure of listening to leading author and children’s literature historian Leonard Marcus read from his newly published work, Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature (Houghton Mifflin Co.) at one of DC’s most popular bookstores, Politics and Prose.

The near-capacity crowd listened intently as Leonard expertly guided us on a whirlwind trip through the decades that shaped children’s literature as we know it today. Afterwards, a lively chat followed between the author and the audience, covering topics such as the merits of the graphic novel and the rise of publishing’s “Potter Phenomenon.” It was both a fascinating and fun evening, and I would encourage anyone who has an interest in the history of children’s literature in America to pick up a copy of the book – it’s a terrific read! (And if you would like to find out more about the book, please check out First Book’s recently recorded podcast interview with the author!)

A special thank you goes out to the wonderful Gussie Lewis of Politics and Prose for coordinating such a memorable event… and extra special thanks to Leonard for so patiently signing that stack of books I bought!

The White Cliffs of Dover.