How to use this Page

And I forgot to put out my wooden shoes last night!!!  So, this morning, I got my Hub to pay for breakfast.  Hmmm, I have never seen St. Nick and my Hub together at the same time.  Is it possible?... Nah!

In honor of good old St. Nick, let's feature the Guardians of Childhood series, originated by William Joyce who is assisted by Laura Gehringer.  The series contains picture books AND chapter books.

The chapter book series begins with a book about St. Nicholas, Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce and Laura Gehringer. 

He looks so serious and full of purpose.











Who was the REAL St. Nicholas?  He was a Greek Bishop in what is now modern day Turkey.  He was born in March of 270 C.E. and died on December 6th, 343 C.E.  He is the patron saint of children, sailors, merchants, brewers, pawnbrokers, students and repentant thieves.  Miracles attributed to him include bringing murdered children back to life, saving a ship in a horrible storm and bringing one of the sailors back to life, taking wheat from a shipment destined for the Emperor without depleting the shipment at all.

The most famous story about Nicholas is the one about the poor man who had three daughters.  In the 4th century, C. E., young women who had no dowry were forced to take the most menial of jobs or go into prostitution.  Nicholas wanted to help the young women so he secretly tossed bags of gold in through the man's open window.  One version of the story has the Saint tossing the bags down the chimney so he wouldn't be caught by the father. 

Although Wikipedia is full of information about the good saint and his feast day, the St. Nicholas Center has the same stories in shorter and more accessible forms.  Enjoy the day.

Add a Comment

Moonbot is laying off employees in Louisiana, but might be growing even larger in Florida.

The post Breaking: Oscar-Winning Studio Moonbot Lays Off Employees After Possible Studio Sale appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Add a Comment

I’m finally sifting through all my notes and experiences from my trip to New York. It was a cold weekend to be in the big apple, with temperatures outside hovering in the single digits. Despite the frigid weather we were warm and safe inside the hotel, surrounded by a star-studded faculty of kidlit experts. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Two-time Newberry Honor winner Gary Schmidt made everyone cry about five different times during his moving keynote about the importance of writing for kids. He emphasized that writing should be an expression of empathy and compassion: we must “show up” instead of leaving the reader behind. I can’t do Mr. Schmidt justice, so I’ll just encourage you to read all of his heartrending books and leave you with a quote:

“Writing should be an act of empathy in a broken world. What ails you? That is the question we ask.” – Gary Schmidt, author

If you’ve ever submitted a manuscript exactly one time and, upon receiving a rejection letter, decided to give up: William Joyce, Oscar winner and acclaimed writer and illustrator of dozens of books, received over 250 rejection letters at the beginning of his career. So maybe it wouldn’t hurt to keep revising and try again. He also offered this advice to illustrators on finding your voice:

“Find the artists you love, find out what you love about them, and then… steal.” -William Joyce, author/illustrator and filmmaker

Newberry Honor and Coretta Scott King award-winner Rita Williams-Garcia made everyone laugh during her keynote about the “Dos and Don’ts” of writing. Her witty anecdotes shed light on the hard-earned successes and naive missteps along the road to publication.

“Do live with gratitude. Do live in the plan. Do what you’re doing.” – Rita Williams-Garcia

The delightful Sophie Blackall inspired everyone with the story of how her personal project to illustrate the Missed Connections column on Craigslist helped to jump-started her career. She also shared stories and photos from her travels working with Save the Children and other humanitarian organizations, and gave us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at all the research and love that went into this year’s Caldecott winner, Finding Winnie. She signed my copy of book and even drew a little sketch in it!

“Do that thing that’s just for yourself, because it’s almost always your best work.” -Sophie Blackall, author and illustrator

The conference also featured several panels representing editors, art directors, publishers and agents who offered a broad perspective on the state of the industry. There was a lot of encouraging news about the health of children’s literature and plenty of sage advice for aspiring authors and illustrators. Here are a few quotes that stood out:

“You’re only as good as the people you work with.” – David Saylor, Creative Director at Scholastic

“Don’t take shortcuts. If you put everything you have in [your work], you can’t fail.” – Holly McGhee, Agent at Pippin Properties

“You have something that no one else has, and your job is to figure out what that is.” -Cecilia Yung, VP and Art Director at Penguin Random House

“Know your competition. […] Your competition is everything kids are doing other than reading books.” – Andrea Pappenheimer, Director of Sales at HarperCollins

 

 

Add a Comment

William Joyce, the creator of so many amazing books and now movies, is here! You may remember The Leaf Men, Dinosaur Bob, Santa Calls, Bentley & Egg, A Day with Wilbur Robinson, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore???

Joyce compares a traditional printed book to an icecream sandwich: The hard stuff's on the outside, the good stuff is in the middle.

When asked by technology companies to help them achieve true interactivity with their products, Joyce asks them what the hell they think happens when a kid opens a book.

Joyce appreciates the apprenticeship style of the publishing industry like he felt he received decades ago. Getting the time, maybe 5 or 6 years, to get to know the people working at a publisher, getting to learn how to craft a book with them by working on smaller books, forging creative projects together.

Joyce's advice: Befriend/understand/know the problems/trials/process of the people publishing your book.

"Most of the people in publishing are in it for the same reason you are, they love books."

Joyce talks about getting a phone call from a guy named John Lasseter. He knows we understand how solitary the typical children's book creator's creative daily life is. But with his film work, Joyce was excited by the collaborative nature of such projects and finds balancing both makes a much nicer work life.

After his time in Hollywood, Joyce decided he might try his hand at his own film production company, but closer to home, which is when Moonbot Studios became a reality. The idea of making an animated movie in Louisiana, he says, would have gotten you escorted from the room [to a looniebin]. But Joyce and his partners wanted to prove it could be done in Shreveport, and so they did, and in 2012 it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. (Fun fact! They made FIVE THOUSAND MINIATURE BOOKS for this short!)



Bill describes their (Moonbot's) thought process behind making their Lessmore story app unique from both the paper book and animated short. He shares a mini tirade with us about simulated page gutters that's pretty entertaining.

Bill's advice for bookmakers looking to develop online versions of their work:

"Don't just regurgitate what you've done. Make it separate, make it special."

Check out his delightful Instagram feed! Here's a cool piece, don't you want to know what happens to the snowman??!!

Add a Comment

Debuting today on Amazon Video, Moonbot's "The Numberlys" is one of six animated projects in Amazon's fall pilot lineup.

Add a Comment

Premiering September 18 in West L.A., 'Taking Flight' is a whimsical tribute to the life of Radio Flyer wagon inventor, Antonio Pasin.

Add a Comment

And we thought May was a tough month to select the best new kids books! June has so many awesome books to dive into this summer.

Add a Comment

Their new show intends to inspire budding filmmakers.

Add a Comment

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this afternoon the list of 10 animated shorts which will advance in the voting process for this year's Academy Awards.

Add a Comment

Tonight in New York City, two artists who need little introduction—Bill Plympton and Peter de Sève—will discuss their work and artistic process in a discussion moderated by animation director J. J. Sedelmaier.

Add a Comment

In the pre-alphabet era, numbers are enough, but what happens when five friends start inventing letters? Joyce's Numberly world is an Art Deco masterpiece, mixing rich old-Hollywoodesque black-and-whites with cheery colors to tell an imaginative tale about language, creativity, and unexpected jelly beans. Books mentioned in this post Portland Noir (Akashic Noir) Kevin Sampsell Used [...]

Add a Comment

The Oscar-winning Louisiana animation studio Moonbot recently announced that it is developing multiple feature-length film projects. It has acquired the film rights to two YA book series: the "Olivia Kidney" trilogy by Ellen Potter, which it plans to do as a live-action/animation hybrid; and "The Extincts" by Veronica Cossanteli.

Add a Comment

My library is running a little project in which the staff is asking the public's opinion about culling some picture books from the collection. We get to vote on specific titles, one of them being George Shrinks by William Joyce. I am a Joyce fan, so I expected to vote to keep it just on principle. Come on. Joyce.

It turns out, though, that George Shrinks is better than I remember, mainly because I remembered nothing about it. It's a Kafkaesque tale about a child who wakes up, not a bug, but tiny. And he manages just fine on his own, thank you very much.

Though why is he on his own? Merely an adult question, or is it significant here?

In addition to being a good book, George Shrinks inspired a PBS series that's still running. I'm a big believer in connecting series like that to their print versions. It seems like a golden opportunity to encourage a littlie with reading.

So you can guess how I'm voting.

Add a Comment

Blue Sky’s Epic continued its mild box office run last weekend with a respectable decline of 28.5% and $11.8 million in U.S. box office earnings. The film has now racked up $83.9 million over its three week U.S. run. The film has one more weekend of clear-sailing ahead of it before it will succumb to another kiddie flick, Monsters University.

Overseas, Epic placed sixth, with approx. $12.7M from over sixty international territories, pushing its overseas total to $105.4M. Blue Sky’s features tend to overperform in international markets—the studio’s last three features have averaged $582 million overseas—but Epic will be lucky to break $200 million internationally.

Add a Comment

Today's tour will be all about links. So sit back, click, and follow some fun. In honor of the upcoming Caldecott Award announcement on Monday, I'm putting in my vote for favorite picture of 2012. It is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, by William Joyce.

Take a tour studio office space and the creative team Joyce has put together at:
Moonbot Studios

You'll find more Morris Lessmore here:
morrislessmore.com

Here you'll find an interview about the app.

You can read about the Academy Award winning short film version, and even watch the film's trailer  here.

Follow this link to see a few thumbnails and the creators of this story.

Add a Comment

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: September 3, 2012

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.

Gearing Up for Kindergarten

Best Halloween Books for Kids: Scary, Spooky, and Silly

Review: Scat by Carl Hiaasen

How Picture Books Play a Role in a Child’s Development

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

---

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

Llama Llama Time to Share

by Anna Dewdney

(Ages 3-5)

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas

by Eric Litwin

(Ages 4-8)

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: As Retold by Mo Willems

by Mo Willems

(Ages 3-7)

Shatterproof (The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers, Book 4)

by Roland Smith

(Ages 8-12)

Caught (Missing)

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

(Ages 9-12)

---

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

by William Joyce

(Ages 4-8)

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

by Eric Litwin

(Ages 4-7)

I Want My Hat Back

by Jon Klassen

(Ages 4-8)

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

by Sherri Duskey Rinker (Author), Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)

(Ages 4-8)

Press Here

by Herve Tullet

(Ages 4-8)

_______

CHAPTER BOOKS

The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 10-14)

Insurgent (Divergent)

by Veronica Roth

(Ages 14 and up)

The Fault in our Stars

by John Green

(Ages 14-17)

Wonder

by R.J. Palacio

(Ages 8-12)

Heroes of Olympus, The, Book Two: The Son of Neptune

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9-11)

_______

PAPERBACK BOOKS

Divergent

by Veronica Roth

(Ages 14 and up)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

(Ages 14 and up)

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

(Ages 14 and up)

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

(Ages 12 and up)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

(Ages 12 and up)

_______

SERIES BOOKS

Hunger Games Trilogy

by Suzanne Collins

(Ages 12 and up)

Maximum Ride

by James Patterson

(Ages 13-17)

Dork Diaries

by Rachel Renee Russell

(Ages 9-12)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

by Jeff Kinney

(Ages 9 to 12)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9 to 12)

This information was gathered from the New York Times Best Sellers list, which reflects the sales of books from books sold nationwide, including independent and chain stores. It is correct at the time of publication and presented in random order. Visit: www.nytimes.com.

Original article: September 2012: Best Selling Kids’ Books, New Releases, and More …

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

Add a Comment

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: August 1, 2012

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.

5 Family Favorites with Elizabeth Bard

Giveaway: Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen

Splash into Summer with 3 New Picture Books

How Picture Books Play a Role in a Child’s Development

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

---

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

Olivia and the Fairy Princesses

by Ian Falconer

(Ages 3-7)

Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Novel

by James Patterson

(Ages 13-17)

The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 10-14)

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee: An Origami Yoga Book

by Tom Angleberger

(Ages 8-12)

Big Nate Makes the Grade

by Lincoln Peirce

(Ages 8-12)

---

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

Add a Comment

Here are some literary events to jump-start your week. To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.

Author Charity Shumway will be celebrating her debut novel, Ten Girls to Watch, at the powerHouse Arena. Join her on Tuesday, July 31st from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

Author Karen Thompson Walker and writer Hannah Trini will headline a discussion event. See them on Wednesday, August 1st at the powerHouse Arena from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

Meet one of the creators behind The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce, at a Books of Wonder event. Check it out on Saturday, August 4th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (New York, NY)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Add a Comment

The organizer for the Cybils Book App category, Mary Ann Scheuer, just posted a fabulous interview on her blog with William Joyce, author of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Mary Ann also shares a speech that William Joyce gave about his inspiration for the story, which is currently number one on the New York Times Bestselling Children's Picture Books list. The app version of the book was a shortlist title for the Cybils this year. 

Mary Ann says:

"I was so honored to be able to sit down with him and talk about the way new technologies like the iPad can be used to share stories with children.

Thank you to Bill Joyce, for sharing these stories with us and for taking the time to talk with me. Thank you to Simon and Schuster for arranging the interview. This interview was first shared on Katie Davis's fantastic podcast, Brain Burps About Books."

We hope that you'll take a few minutes to head over to Great Kid Books to listen. 

Add a Comment

Well, now we’ve gone and done it.  Greedy gus that I am, I’ve always found it hugely inconvenient when my favorite authors and illustrators live in other countries.  Shaun Tan in Australia.  Kate Beaton in Canada (we had her briefly, then lost her again, consarn it).  And then there’s that charming Frances Hardinge.  When are we going to convince her to move Stateside?  Never if the publication of her latest book is any indication.  Or, shall I say, the LACK of publication since if you are looking for her latest novel A Face Like Glass here in America you are seriously out of luck.  Not entirely without options, mind you, since you can buy a Kindle edition (the hardcover claims to come out May 1st yet has “not yet been released” and has no American publisher) which is pretty much your only option if you’re a Yank.  Harper Collins has traditionally been the publisher of all the Hardinge books in the States but is eschewing her latest novel.  Unless, of course, they’re just biding their time until the spring.  However, if they do not opt for her latest I’d be more than happy to see some other publisher pick up the slack.  Recall, if you will, the fact that the last Hardinge won the 2010 Battle of the (Kids’) Books.  Just sayin’. Thanks to Dan Levy for the info.

• Speaking of Brits, a fascinating article came out in The Guardian recently posing the question: “Which books offer the best introduction to New York?“  The answer was a fascinating mix of the usual suspects (Mixed-Up Files, Eloise, Little Red Lighthouse, etc.) and stuff that would never occur to me, the New York Public Library Youth Materials Specialist.  Grk and the Hot Dog Trail?  In the Night Kitchen?  The Arrival?!?  I pity the poor child that walks into Manhattan with The Arrival as their guide.  Think of their disappointment (particularly when you consider that Tan took as much inspiration from classic Australian photographs as American ones).  Almost more interesting than all of these is the recommendation to read Rosa Guy’s books.  When we think of New York we almost never take her into consideration.  As I say, fascinating.  Thanks to Playing By the Book for the link.

• Speaking of New York City, heads up, hipsters.  Actually, a better way of putting this would be to say heads up those of you who want to hang out with famous people for a reasonable price and an even better cause.  826NYC is having its Dueling Bingos competition, and this season you’re going to have a chance to match your Bingo chops against folks like Sarah Vowell, the guy who plays “Pete” on 30 Rock, Catherine Keener, and maybe even Jon Scieszka if you’re lucky.  Are you in town August 1st?  Then you have no excuse.  Come by, come by . . .

• Is it just me or are more people dying this
  7 Comments on Fusenews: Rectify this sin, last added: 7/19/2012
  Display Comments
  Monica Edinger said, on 7/19/2012 1:22:00 AM
  

  While Hardinge’s LOST CONSPIRACY made it to the 2010 BoB’s Big Kahuna round it was actually Partridge’s MARCHING FOR FREEDOM that took the gold. I will say that I really, really liked A FACE LIKE GLASS (as I also discovered that we Yanks can get the Kindle edition) and hope it does come out on this side of the pond before too long. It is excellent.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 7/19/2012 6:02:00 AM
  

  Whoops! The “Rectify this sin” post has now been rectified itself. Well, it deserved to win in any case. Just bad timing to come out against the excellent Partridge.

  Jennifer said, on 7/19/2012 6:26:00 AM
  

  Ah, not totally unavailable! You can purchase uk books on Book Depository – and the shipping is free, even if the books are sometimes a little more expensive than a vendor. I note that Face like Glass is only 12.75 at the moment. I used Book Depository to fill in the Skulduggery Pleasant series – I got frustrated with the weird release dates and boys were begging me for the next one, so I just bought it at Book Depository and our super cataloger wrote up a special record for it and voila!

  Julie said, on 7/19/2012 6:59:00 AM
  

  That retreat (and Society) look like a hoot. Thanks for sharing.

  Marc Tyler Nobleman said, on 7/19/2012 7:02:00 AM
  

  Thanks for the nod, BB! And love that Bookmobile pic.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 7/19/2012 9:15:00 AM
  

  Good to know, Jennifer! Alas, for big systems like my own sites like Book Depository aren’t an option. In lieu of that I will just stare mournfully up at the windows of various editors here in town and play them a sad sad tune on my little violin.

  Carter Higgins said, on 7/19/2012 10:38:00 AM
  

  Kinda speechless to be included in such a stellar roundup. Thank you!!

  Add a Comment

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: June 2, 2012

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.

Best Young Adult Books with Forever Young Adult

Books for Boys: 5 Funny Kids Books

How Picture Books Play a Role in a Child’s Development

Author Interview: Gary Paulsen

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

---

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

by William Joyce

(Ages 4-8)

Bink and Gollie, Two for One

by Kate DiCamillo

(Ages 6-8)

Dork Diaries 4: Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess 

by Rachel Renee Russell

(Ages 9-12)

Dragons Love Tacos

by Adam Rubin

(Ages 3-5)

---

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

Add a Comment

BREWMASTERS NOTE: This week Cartoon Brew takes a closer look at each of the five Academy Award nominated animated shorts. Each day at 10am EST/7am PST we will post an exclusive interview with the director(s) of one of the films. Today, we begin with The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore:

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is the first film from William Joyce’s Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, Louisiana. Co-directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg spoke with Cartoon Brew on January 25th.

Jerry: First things first. Your studio is in Shreveport, Louisana. Why there?

Bill Joyce: That’s where I grew up, it’s a great little Southern Shangri-la. Not that far from Dallas, about 2-3 hrs away. Brandon was working at Reel EFX and started contacting me about working together, and then Lampton (Enochs, co-partner in Moonbot) moved out here after Hurricane Katrina. The movie industry is actually pretty big in Louisiana. In this weird way, Shreveport has become this film making mecca. (laughter) That sounds too kind of ludicrous to say, but it’s sort of true.

Jerry: It IS true, you can make movies anywhere, everywhere today. Now, I’m a little fuzzy on the whole origin of this project. I’m under the impression that it started as an app, or designed to be something else other than a film?

Bill: It started out as a book that I wrote a few years ago in response to my mentor at Harper Collins. His name was Bill Morris and he had been there since they were called Harper Brothers, since 1949. He was just a great old publishing titan, and a real gentleman… but he was dying and I was really bummed out about it. One of the ways I deal with the good things and the crummy things in my life is I write a story. I was flying up to see him and on the way this title just kind of tumbled into my head, called “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore.” It was a play on both Bill’s name and his actual physical stature… he was a diminutive guy, though a giant in the industry. And he loved books and everything about publishing. So I got to read him the story which was really sweet. He was a kind of crusty old guy but he would respond to outreaches of emotion in his crusty old way. I was going to make it into a book but then Brandon and I started working together in animation, and we wanted to create a short film around same time I was working on the book. It was then Lamptin suggested we form a company.

Jerry: I love how the film combines CG with hand drawn and miniatures…

Bill: Well, we kind of decided early on we wanted to play with all different kinds of animation, and it seemed that just to think of it in terms of computer animation seemed too limiting. Brandon and I were just so stoked about building miniatures and having CG characters, and doing 2D for some of it, and just doing everything we loved. It just seemed to apply to the story.

Brandon Oldenburg: And we love those old Popeyes, man. You know, we just wanted to just see if it would work. We had gotten a taste of building sets back in 1998 on a test film that we did called The Man In The Moon, where we built miniatures and took them down to New Orleans to an old vaudevillian theater that had been converted into a sound stage. And you know, that short test piece actually evolved into the upcoming Dreamworks project, The Rise of the Guardians.

Jerry: It seems you really put what you wanted into this film and you weren’t aiming for it being a 6 minute short, a 12 minute film, or a 22 minute TV special.

Bill: Going in, we were all “OK. We can’t afford anything over 7 minutes. We have to make this work for 7 minutes.” (laughter) And then we made an animatic completely disregarding time frame. “OK, how long does it time out? Oh! Oh crap! It’s 16 minutes!�

Add a Comment

This animated short turned out even better than I imagined when I first saw the trailer that John posted just over a year ago (and I had high hopes!) It is a lovingly crafted celebration of the power of books to enhance our lives, heal our wounds, and simply delight us over and over. Bravo!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (by Moonbot Studios)

Add a Comment

Please stop what you are doing and watch this!
I had the pleasure of seeing William Joyce talk about his new series Guardians of Childhood at the Texas Book Festival.

Thanks to Alan Silberberg and Annette Dauphin Simon for sharing this link to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from his Moonbot Studios. It has been nominated for an Academy Award.

Using a variety of techniques, including miniatures, computer animation, and 2D animation, award‐winning author and illustrator William Joyce and co‐director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

Add a Comment

As you may have heard, last week author William Sleator passed away.  I met him once during the Midwinter ALA Conference in Philadelphia.  He was part of an Abrams brunch in which librarians munched on food and spoke to various authors.  I was pleased to get Mr. Sleator’s autograph on a book for a friend and remember him as a nice guy.  I also remember another fellow there who spoke to the occasional librarian but was by no means hounded by them.  Since that brunch Jeff Kinney and his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books have gone on to fame and fortune but Mr. Sleator was big in his own way and his last book, The Phantom Limb, will be published this October by Amulet Books.  A page in remembrance of Mr. Sleator is up here.  If you’d like to leave a comment, please do.

• Speaking of ALA Conferences, when I attend one there’s nothing I like better than to slip into an ALA Notables meeting to watch the crew eviscerate the unworthy and laud the laudable.  Now the ALSC blog informs us that “The 2012 Notable Children’s Books Committee invites ALSC members to suggest titles for consideration for our annual list of notable children’s books.”  Awesome!  If there are titles that you think are particularly worthy, please be so good as to visit the blog to find out how to nominate them.  I’ve already a couple of my own favorites in mind . . .

• And if it’s “Best” lists you’re looking for, why not check out a new one compiled by the two most prominent young, male, web-savvy children’s librarians out there.  You can probably already guess who they are, cantcha?  Yes, Mr. Schu and Mr. Jonker have joined forces (when you say their names like that, don’t they sound like Batman villains?) and produced their Top 20 Children’s Books of 2010.  A remarkable list, it pays homage to books I adored (The Night Fairy, Farm, etc.) though there will always inevitably be one or two you love that get missed (Hereville, man, Hereville!).  Well worth checking out.

• Now it is time to brag.  Because while I’m sure your moms are awesome and everything, only one mom won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry for 2011.  Yup.  That would be mine.  Her manuscript, A Mind Like This, will now be published by the University of Nebraska Press.  Because, naturally, she’s one of our greatest living poets.  Just sayin’.

• This one goes out to the librarians in the field.  The Oxford University Press blog has revealed info on 120 years of census data on American librarians.  There’s lots of fun info to be culled.  Personally I like the fact that “Today, the marriage rate among librarians is the highest it has ever been with 62 percent of librarians married in 2009.&
  7 Comments on Fusenews: Horton hears too much. He must be dealt with., last added: 8/9/2011
  Display Comments
  Cheryl said, on 8/8/2011 6:31:00 AM
  

  Tasha Tudor for best Frances Hodgson Burnett illustrator!

  And congrats to your mom!

  Shoshana Flax said, on 8/8/2011 8:26:00 AM
  

  Hereville, man, Hereville! (I agree.)

  Emily said, on 8/8/2011 9:05:00 AM
  

  Not to be Pedantic Twilight Fan, but Bella is only “urged to eat by a man” maybe twice in the whole series, and both of those times she is distracted by other events in her life and just isn’t thinking about food. All her other meals are eaten of her own free will. I don’t expect everyone to love Twilight as much as I do, but I’m tired of people exaggerating or making things up in an attempt to discredit the books.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 8/8/2011 9:10:00 AM
  

  I remember three instances in the first book myself, but I’ll need to double check that to make sure. Her father once, Edward once or twice. I don’t tend to exaggerate unless I need to. But admittedly I never read the other books so it’s entirely possible that she eats consistently and well after the first book.

  Samantha said, on 8/8/2011 11:11:00 AM
  

  Bravo to your mom. I LOL when I read “while I”m sure your moms are awesome and everything, only one mom won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry.” I love that lead-in. I might have to borrow – with attribution, of course – when I’m trumpeting my mom. Nice shout out for your mom. Congratulations.

  Genevieve said, on 8/8/2011 11:23:00 AM
  

  Thanks for the Africa Access link! I’ve got a relative who can definitely use this to give her son books before they move.

  Quotes « World of author Tim Holtorf said, on 8/9/2011 4:11:00 PM
  

  [...] Neil Gaiman quote on libraries (schoollibraryjournal.com) [...]

  Add a Comment