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• When two people sent me this link I assumed that everyone must have already seen it. But when it didn’t show up on PW Children’s Bookshelf I decided that perhaps I might have a scoop. At the very least, it appears that when people think Nick Cave meets Dr. Seuss, I’m the logical person to send that link to. And they’re right. I’ve been hoping for years that some karaoke bar I wander into might have “Red Right Hand” on the roster. So far it hasn’t worked out but I live in hope. Thanks to Stephanie Whelan and Marci for the link.

• Good old Kelly Gallucci at Bookish was kind enough to write a piece called 5 Reasons Why the Children’s Choice Book Awards Are Better Than the Oscars and All Other Awards Shows. She’s right about many things, particularly the food. It’s rather superb.

• There was a nice obituary in SLJ about Marcia Brown, the woman who currently holds the title of Most Caldecotts Ever Won By a Single Person (though David Wiesner looks to be catching up). She’s a former co-worker of mine, if by “co-worker” you give or take 50 years (we both worked in the Central Children’s Room, now called The Children’s Center at 42nd Street). Jeanne Lamb of NYPL gave some great background in this piece. I did speak to someone recently who was surprised that the Shadow controversy hasn’t come up in any obituaries discussing Ms. Brown’s life. I suspect that has more to do with our shortened memories than anything else, but it may be an indication of folks wishing to remember her in the best light.

• You know, just when you think Travis Jonker has come up with all the brilliant posts he’s going to, something like this comes along and blows it all out of the water. You, sir, are a certified genius. You, and your little Aaron Zenz too.

• Work on Funny Girl, my anthology, continues unabated. In that light, Shannon Hale’s magnificent post Stop Shushing the Funny Girls is particularly pertinent. Consider it your required reading of the day.

• “Social fluency will be the new currency of success.” The Shelftalker blog said that Jewell Parker Rhodes’s closing keynote, “Diversity and Character-Driven Stories,” at this year’s ABC Children’s Institute was worth reading and seems they’re absolutely right. Downright inspiring too.  Maybe this should be your required reading.

• Nope. I was wrong.  Those two posts are your required reading, on top of this one from Art Director Chad Beckerman.  His Evolution of a Cover post on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl makes you wish he wrote such things daily.  It also clarifies for many of us the sheer amount of work a single book jacket takes.

• This is coming to America next year. As such, I must respectfully ask the universe to please make next year come tomorrow. I am willing to wait 24 hours. See how patient I am?  I think I deserve a treat.

• Let’s say you work in a library system where, for whatever reason, you need to justify a massive summer reading program. And let us say that what you need, what you really and truly want, are some cold, hard facts to back up the claim that there is such a thing as a “summer slide” (summer slide = the phenomenon of children sliding back a grade or two over the summer if they don’t read during that time) and that summer reading prevents it. Well, thanks to the efforts of RIF, we now have research to back us up. So for those of you fond of cold, hard facts, tip your hat to RIF.

• Celebrity selfies photoshopped to make them look like they’re reading? Oh. You know you want it. Minh Le, bravo.

There’s just something about that Alligator Pie. When twenty-five graphic novelists were asked to name their favorite children’s books, not one but TWO of them mentioned Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee, illustrated by Frank Newfeld. Canadian to its core, it’s one of those classics that most Americans, heck most U.S. children’s librarians, just don’t know. Next time I’m in Stratford, Ontario I’m picking up a copy. After all, any book that influenced both Mariko Tamaki and John Martz has got to be doing something right.

Did you hear about the diversity survey Lee & Low has spearheaded? Did you read the comments on the article? And do you know whether or not any of the big five have agreed to participate yet? Inquiring minds want to know.

• Sure, this news already ran in PW Children’s Bookshelf, but hearing it more than once never hurt anybody. We all have our pet favorites. Mine just happen to be German sometimes:

NorthSouth Books’ Associate Publisher, Andrew Rushton, has acquired a second book by German author/illustrator Sebastian Meschenmoser. Gordon & Tapir, which tells the comical story of odd-couple housemates (a particular penguin and an untidy tapir), received a Special Mention at the Bologna Ragazzi awards (category Fiction) and is short-listed for the German Children’s Book of the Year Award. The author will be on tour in the US this June ending at ALA in San Francisco.

• I miss Peter Sieruta. I miss him a lot. Nobody else had his wit and timing and sheer, crazy historical knowledge in strange obscure areas. So it was with great interest that I recently discovered Second Look Books. Librarian Carol Matic highlights older gems each week, giving a bit of context and history along the way. Good for those still going through Collecting Children’s Books withdrawal.

• Hooray! A new Children’s Books Made Horrific is always cause for celebration. Ever wanted Goodnight Moon to give you nightmares? Well consider your prayers answered . . .

• Daily Image:

Need I say more?

Jules, I thought of you. Thanks to Stephanie Whelan for the image.

Musician Nick Cave has written his first collection of poetry. In the past, Cave published two novels: And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989) and The Death of Bunny Munro (2010).

Cave (pictured, via) composed the poems for The Sick Bag Song during his North American  tour with his band The Bad Seeds. Inspiration for the first piece struck Cave when he was on a flight heading to Nashville; he wrote it on a sick bag he found on his plane. Follow this link to watch the book trailer.

Here’s more from The New York Times: “With The Sick Bag Song, Mr. Cave is experimenting with a new literary form — a mash-up of prose, poetry, song lyrics and autobiography — and testing a fairly new marketing strategy. The Sick Bag Song, which was published last week, isn’t available in bookstores or at Amazon. Mr. Cave is marketing it directly to fans through thesickbagsong.com, an approach that has worked with music for bands like Radiohead and video downloads for the stand-up comedian Louis C.K.”

Author and musician Nick Cave has a way with words.

So it comes as no surprise that the Bad Seeds frontman and author of the novels And the Ass Saw the Angel and The Death of Bunny Munro has a history of creating his own personal dictionary.

Dangerous Minds has the scoop: “As a younger man Cave kept a journal in which he jotted down new words he wanted to remember and arranged them in alphabetical order. It’s definitely a good tip for writers starting out, you’re always learning, there’s always something to learn. Take notes endlessly and don’t waver!”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Australian rocker Nick Cave, frontman for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, returns with a darkly comic second novel after 1989’s “And the Ass Saw the Angel.”

“The Death of Bunny Monroe” opens obviously with a death, but not Bunny Monroe. It’s Bunny’s wife who commits suicide after years of neglect, although Bunny warns us that his end is coming. Monroe is a misogynistic door to door beauty salesman, who is obsessed with sex and tries to bed ever housewife he tries to sell his wares to all over England with his son in tow.

Bunny fantasies about bedding Kylie Minogue and calls Canadian pop rocker Avril Lavigne “a symbol of impossible, unquenchable and terminally dysfunctional male sexual desire.”

If you are a fan of Martin Amis’s novels who chronicle the lives of loathsome and mysgonistic men, you will love this gritty new novel.

I've been guest blogging at my buddy Bob's music blog (Gimme Tinnitus) all week. So, I've got writing and music on the brain. Here's a taste...

Have you ever read John Berryman's poetry? Half of the indie rock songwriters in the world have been reading his stuff, and you should too. Berryman wrote ragged, emotional poetry, breaking rhyme scheme and rhythm rules in the most amazing ways.

Here's Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds wailing about writing and postmodernism and John Berryman's suicide. We Call Upon The Author (track via Snuh's LiveJournal).

Of course, The Hold Steady needed to talk about Berryman too. Here's a live version of "stuck between the stations," punctuated by the amazing line: "There was that night that we thought that John Berryman could fly. / But he didn't so he died" (track via Captain's Dead)

Finally, here's Okkervil River riffing off the Beach Boys and singing about John Berryman's last days. It's called John Allen Smith Sails, and was one of my favorite songs last year. Go to the band's website for much, much more.
(track via Mixtape 4 Melfi).

I'm not the only person who thought about this. Brandon Stosuy wrote an essay about The Hold Steady and Berryman, called, excellently enough, How a Resurrection Really Feels.