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Ooo.  Lots of adult books with smatterings of children’s literature littered about the pages today.  Don’t even know where to start with this one.  Let’s see, eeny meeny miney . . . MO!

Libertarians on the Prairie: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rose Wilder Lane, and the Making of the Little House Books by Christine Woodside

This is the most interesting of the batch in many ways.  This year saw the publication of the book The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, published by editor William Anderson.  I know these letters well since Jules Danielson and I used them for our book Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature.  Yet little did I know that the story of Rose Wilder was far more interesting than the degree to which she wrote the Little House books herself or whether or not she could swear like a sailor (she could).  Listen to this part of the description:

“Rose hated farming and fled the family homestead as an adolescent, eventually becoming a nationally prominent magazine writer, biographer of Herbert Hoover, and successful novelist, who shared the political values of Ayn Rand and became mentor to Roger Lea MacBride, the second Libertarian presidential candidate. Drawing on original manuscripts and letters, Woodside shows how Rose reshaped her mother’s story into a series of heroic tales that rebutted the policies of the New Deal.“

Nope.  Didn’t know that one!

Lois Lenski: Storycatcher by Bobbie Malone

Sometimes a book gets published and I sit in my library and think, “Is anyone else in the entire world going to really read and enjoy this besides me?” Then, after a moment, I’ll get a crazed look in my eye, stand up at my desk, and scream, “THEN I SHALL MAKE THEM ENJOY IT!!!!”  Little wonder my desk is sequestered at the end of my floor, far from my cowering co-workers.  This Lenski bio may have a limited built-in audience but for Newbery die-hards (Strawberry Girl fans, are you with me?) this is a must.  Plus I really like the central conceit involving inherent class structures.  Says the description: “Lenski turned her extensive study of hardworking families into books that accurately and movingly depicted the lives of the children of sharecroppers, coal miners, and migrant field workers.”  Now somebody out there write me a comparative study looking at how Kate DiCamillo has done similar work with working class people in Florida, with a good compare and contrast of the two award winning authors’ work.  And . . . go.

Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley M.M. Blume

Okay.  You’ll bite.  What’s the children’s literature connection here?  Is it the fact that the book’s about Hemingway and we know that his grandson Eddie Hemingway makes picture books?  Is there going to be a revelation in the book that Hemingway based The Sun Also Rises on The Velveteen Rabbit (think about it . . . no, wait, don’t)?  No, it’s a lot simpler than that.  Its author, Lesley M.M. Blume, has made a veritable plethora of children’s books over the years.  My personal favorite was her Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins, and Other Nasties: A Practical Guide by Miss Edythe McFate.  Now she’s getting stellar reviews on the adult side of things.  Bully for her, says I!  Well done!

Love From Boy: Roald Dahl’s Letters to His Mother by Donald Sturrock

What We Know: 2016 marks 100 years since the birth of Roald Dahl.

What That Means: Lots o’ books about Dahl.  Some covering areas we’ve seen before.  Others traipsing into new territory.  I certainly haven’t seen this one before and as the mom of a 2-year-old boy it gets frighteningly close to teary-eyed territory.  I also love this part of the book’s description: “Sofie Magdalene kept every letter her son wrote to her (sadly, her own side of the correspondence did not survive).”  Tsk.  Ain’t that like a boy.

The Best “Worst President” by Mark Hannah, ill. Bob Staake

Bob Staake cover and interior art.  Nuff said.

Walking with Ramona: Exploring Beverly Cleary’s Portland by Laura O. Foster

One of my catalogers came up to me the other day, book in hand.  Baker & Taylor has cataloged this book as 813.54 (literary stuff) but the book is clearly (Cleary-ly?) a travelogue.  Indeed, open it up and you get a whole mess of delightful Portland, Oregon haunts.  Where the HECK was this book when I was moving there, all those years ago?  I would have lapped it up.  As it stands, it’s really very delightful.  Those of you planning to move there, or have friends or kids moving there, grab this thing.  Like I say – Ramona invented the original Portlandia.

In the Great Green Room: The Brilliant, Bold Life of Margaret Wise Brown by Amy Gary

 Hold the phone. Now hand the phone to me.  Someone else besides Leonard Marcus has written a biography of Margaret Wise Brown?  Who is this Amy Gary type personage?  Sez the description: “In 1990, author Amy Gary discovered unpublished manuscripts, songs, personal letters, and diaries from Margaret tucked away in a trunk in the attic of Margaret’s sister’s barn. Since then, Gary has pored over these works and with this unique insight in to Margaret’s world she chronicles her rise in the literary world . . . Amy Gary has cataloged, edited, and researched all of Margaret’s writings for the last twenty-five years.”

Oh.  There you go then.

Okay.  One more.

Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I by Paula Becker-Brown

For whatever reason I feel like this is slightly more accessible than the Lois Lenski book.  Probably because MacDonald had a career outside of children’s literature occasionally.  “Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was drawn to MacDonald’s vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald’s Ma and Pa Kettle characters.” Piggle-Wiggle is what she’ll go down in history for, but it’s nice to see another side of her as well.  Could have put a little more work into that book jacket, though.  Seriously, University of Washington Press.  You weren’t even trying.

Christmas in the Barn

By Margaret Wise Brown; Illustrated by Diane Goode

We have a barn, so this book is really relatable and imaginative territory for me as I wonder what it was really like on that Christmas Eve thousands of years ago.

Some have said this blessed event occurred in a stable, some say a cave or, even here, written by the author of the famous “Good night Moon,” and illustrated by Caldecott Award winning illustrator Diane Goode, it occurs in a barn.

Somehow, I think Mary and Joseph did not have the cozy comfort of this idyllic setting for the birth of their baby. Ms. Goode’s images are of a snowy wind whipped day, with a couple, on the cusp of a birth, trying to find shelter for the night.

But no matter, the setting here is an “ancient barn”, set apart from the main house where the owners, apparently kindly though unseen, take in two out-of-towners on a bitterly cold, snow drifted night, as they await the birth of their child.

The couple are drawn by Ms. Goode as ordinary folk, caught unawares in a defining moment in their lives.  And Ms. Wise Brown makes the nativity story fresh, accessible and real to readers. This could be any couple, awaiting the birth of their baby.

Was it that way more than 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem? Maybe. But I think the freshly new straw laden ancient barn with its coziness is what we may all hope it could have been in an ideal world and in our imaginations.

But, all the truly essential elements are there in this re-imagining of this seminal moment in Christian history.

The “ancient barn,” for that is the one thing that defines the measure of age, and its ability to sustain against the onslaught of time, is set in a huge, snow covered field. Its lintels house the couple-in-waiting who “had lost their way,” plus a host of out-of-door curious creatures, including rabbits, a black and white herd dog, horses, and even field mice, escaping the frigid temperatures.

And, also, all the traditionals are here: the sheep, cow, cattle, oxen and donkey are present front and center. Did I miss the “doves in the rafters high?”

And there they were all safe and warm

All together in that ancient barn.

Young readers will love how the positioning of the shepherds, a stones throw away in a nearby pasture, come running with one  small cry:

 When hail – the first wail of a newborn babe reached the night

 Where one great star was burning bright

Where are the wise men, kids may ask? Not to worry. They arrive at the dawn of Christmas Day.

And interestingly enough, their look is not defined in any way, as if it were not important, as they are just there in shadow, a trio to bear witness and manifest that moment in time to a wider world.

All together

In that ancient barn

Margaret Wise Brown’s re-imagining of the story is wonderful in setting, in tone, and in the texture of its simplicity in the farm-like images of Diane Goode’s pastoral art.

Maybe what young readers may glean from this ancient story, positioned in an “ancient barn”, is that a miracle occurring some 2,000 years ago is still possible to reverberate today, in the kindness we make visible in the world, as this centuries old event continues to echo its tidings of joy to young readers of today, and down the ages.

I met Leonard Marcus three years ago, shortly after arriving in New York. An author/illustrator friend who gives wonderful kid lit parties in her small New York apartment was gracious enough to invite me to one. Thoroughly new to writing … Continue reading →

Enter to win a copy of Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons, by Margaret Wise Brown! Giveaway begins August 4, 2015, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends September 3, 2015, at 11:59 P.M. PST.

Once again, Neil Gaiman agreed to perform a reading of a beloved children’s story for a Worldbuilders fundraising venture. The choices included Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll, Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss, and Goodnight Moon written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd.

‘Jabberwocky’ received the most votes and the organization has raised more than $639,000.00. The video embedded above features Gaiman in the woods delivering a dramatic recitation of Carroll’s famous nonsense poem from memory—what do you think?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

HarperCollins has released the first-ever bilingual version of Goodnight Moon.

Goodnight Moon/Buenas Noches, Luna, an English-Spanish board book, has been made available on the First Book digital marketplace at a discounted price for educators and programs serving children in need. The executives at the publishing house were inspired by First Book’s Stories for All Project to create this special edition of Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s beloved picture book. The mission behind this project is to address the lack of diversity in children’s books.

Rhian Evans Allvin, the executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, had this statement in the press release: ”Having a treasured book like Goodnight Moon available as a bilingual edition means so much more than just making a classic bedtime story more accessible. This creates opportunities for very young English language learners to enjoy a cozy story time in their native and learned languages and to create a culture of reading in classrooms and homes. It is also a sign of respect: that we value ALL of our children and families.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

• Howdy do.  As per usual I’m going to direct you this morning to that lovely little Wild Things website where Jules Danielson and I have been posting the stories that got cut from our upcoming book Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature.  If you haven’t already seen them you might like to read some amusing stories about:

- Some Madeleine facts you may not have known, two straight lines and all.
- The downside of owning your own tropical island, even if you DID do all the art for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
- The story I was MOST sorry to cut. War of the Pooh! It’s what happened when a British MP decided that the dolls of Pooh and friends had to come back to the UK. What followed . . . got a little crazy.
- A quick look at some of the WORST school visits suffered by authors and illustrators of all time.
- Children who would one day become writers bugging cranky older authors. It’s one of the more peculiar posts but it has nothing on . . .
- Udders, cleavage, and a monster penis. Need I say more?
- A nightmare publishing story to rival publishing stories.

• The New York Public Library’s pathetic summer reading list for kids. Come again?  That would be The New York Post taking issue with a list that includes books kids would have fun reading as well as dreaded diversity.  Apparently if a book contains a non-white kid it can’t possibly be any good and must have appeared on a summer reading list to appease some kind of demographic.  Full disclosure, I’m one of the folks that made the list (which wasn’t just for NYPL but for Brooklyn and Queens library systems as well) so all I’ll do is gently point you to Rita Meade’s incredibly restrained response.

• And how did you spend your evening last night.  For my part, I saw The Snow Queen.  The composer of the show is my buddy Haddon who, years ago, did the intro music for a podcast I posted for a while (the podcast is no longer up so his good work has been lost to the wilds of time).  Now the show is here for a limited run in NYC, before the inevitable Frozen musical steals its thunder.  Of Snow Queen musicals there can apparently be only one.  Here’s a New York Times article about the show, if’n you’re interested.

Where do you even get a Where’s Waldo costume, I wonder.  Everyone’s favorite stripey hero is key to this very clever children’s bookstore promotion thingy thing.  In Kalamazoo the fabulous bookstore Bookbug is hiding Waldo in 26 of the local businesses on sort of a scavenger hunt.  Other small town bookstores take note.  It’s good for the store and good for the other businesses.  I love a clever campaign.  Thanks to Colby Sharp for the link.

If you have ever taken the Leonard Marcus walking tour of children’s literature here in NYC then you’ve probably seen Margaret Wise Brown’s house in Greenwich Village.  Good thing you did since the poor little structure is slated to be razed.  Has someone alerted Leonard?  I think we’d better start sounding the alarm on this one.

• Don’t have enough conferences in your life?  Well The Nerdy Book Club was kind enough to feature this post on the upcoming Kidlitcon.  The only conference out there for children’s and YA literature bloggers, it’s happening in October in beautiful Sacramento, CA.  Would that I could go!  If you’re able, I highly recommend a trip.

• This.  Just . . . . this.  No words.

• Not a shabby idea.  Over in Britain they recently had a Great children’s books author bake off for all those novels and picture books featuring baked goods.  I am hungry.  Therefore someone should do this over on our side of the pond.  And then invite me.  Nom nom nom nom.

• Two recent 100 Scope Notes pieces caught my eye.  The first has the rather memorable title All middle grade novels should be 192 pages. No exceptions.  The other is the hugely amusing Wildest Children’s Books of 2014.  I’ve missed a couple of these on my maternity leave.  Glad to have Travis keeping me up to speed!

• Daily Image:

Finally, could somebody do this for a couple works of children’s and YA literature?

If I had my choice I’d like some Westing Game tights.  And imagine how much money you could make off of The Fault In Our Stars tights.  The mind boggles.  Thanks to Aunt Judy for the link.

Here’s a little moment in time. Right after I read The Little Fur Family to Huck (for the first time!) the other day, he wanted to read it himself. This is one of my favorite picture books to read with very young kids, and I can’t imagine how it slipped past Huck until now—I found this copy of the book at the bottom of a box of toys earlier in the week. Of course the very best edition is the tiny one with the faux-fur cover. It’s around here somewhere, but I don’t recall seeing it in ages. It’s probably under a bed.

Anyway, when I grabbed my boy for the read-aloud, he was reluctant to listen, as he very often is right at the beginning. And then, as nearly always happens, before I finish the first page, he’s hooked. It went double this time around. He fell hard for the little fur child in the wild, wild wood, like so many before him.

I caught a good chunk of his reading on video. There’s background noise from his big sisters and brother, but you can hear him pretty well. I love watching the leaps kids make at this age—the substitutions where they think they see where the word is going and plug in one they know, like his “fun children” for “fur child” and “mom” for “mother.”

I don’t know if I caught this stage on video with any of the other kids. I have a pretty young Rilla reading an Ariel speech from The Tempest—you can’t hear much in the recording but it melts me to see the confidence with which she attacks some quite challenging text—but nothing, as far as I can recall, of the others at Huck’s stage. I’m glad I captured this much. Those sneezes!

(Vimeo link)

The Golden Egg Book

By Margaret Wise Brown; illustrated by Leonard Weisgard

Calling all grandparents and yes, parents too, that have sweet memories of a very special Golden Book titled The Golden Egg Book, originally published in 1947 and reissued many times since. It’s as traditional as can be and as fresh as a new coat of paint! You can see it in book stores right about now, as its cover is easily recognizable with its cover, a gorgeous beribboned Easter egg, painted with spring flowers and butterflies. Storyteller Margaret Wise Brown, of “Goodnight Moon” fame is here as welcome as the robins in spring, for this is a true classic picture book of nature renewing itself, reappearing year after year to the delight of young readers of a certain age.

Meet the soft brown bunny that, upon discovering a mystifying blue egg, immediately commences “what if” thinking as to what lies inside the mysterious, moving egg. His guesses as to what causes the movement in its INTERIOR runs the gamut from a little boy to a fellow bunny or perhaps an elephant or even a mouse! Experiments begin, as the small bunny alternately pushes the egg with his foot, jumps on top of it, throws nuts at it, rolls it down a hill and even throws a rock at it – but VERY gently, Ms. Wise Brown is quick to emphasize! Listening to the sounds emanating from the egg is HARD work and the hare happens to eventually fall asleep.

Who should pick this opportune moment for an appearance than the downy yellow DUCK that emerges from the blue egg? He too, seeing the bunny fast asleep, wonders, “What is THIS?”

And the same questioning occurs from the duck as from the now sleeping bunny with the exact same methodology and sequence of events!

A final roll down the hill does the trick as the bunny awakens and startled, asks, “Where is my egg?” and “Where did YOU come from.” See how much action you can miss with the briefest of naps!

A softly sweet friendship begins that wipes away the loneliness of both bunny and duck “And no one was ever lonely again.” is a perfect picture book fadeout.

Mr. Weisgard’s illustrations are housed in egg-shaped ovals on each page and springtime reminders surround his oval outlines, of irises, daisies, daffodils, pansies and ferns. They are pastel perfect and very recognizable on this classic cover.

If you are looking for a springtime read to usher in the balmy breezes that accompany new life peeking out everywhere on the landscape, meet a bunny and duck who have lead the way for generations of young readers in Margaret Wise Brown’s Big Golden Book classic called The Golden Egg Book. It’s a perfectly lovely spring opener and just what you need as a great classic read for young picture book readers! “EGG TRA” special!

Margaret Wise Brown, the author of the iconic children’s book Goodnight Moon, has a new collection of lullabies available from Sterling Children’s Books called Goodnight Songs.

Brown reportedly wrote these songs in 1952, just before she passed away and the works were recently discovered in a trunk in her sister’s farmhouse in Vermont.

The book features 12 songs, each illustrated by a different artist. Carin Berger the illustrator of The Little Yellow Leaf; Eric Puybaret, the artist that drew Puff, the Magic Dragon; Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner Sean Qualls; and Caldecott Honor medalist Melissa Sweet, each drew a song. The book comes with a CD with a recording of the songs set to music by Emily Gary and Tom Proutt. (Via NPR Books).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

On SoundCloud, Graywolf Press has released a recording of Benjamin Percy reading Goodnight Moon in his incredibly distinctive voice.

We’ve embedded the audio clip below, Percy manages to make the reading of Margaret Wise Brown‘s book both chilling and hilarious at the same time. Check it out:

Bedtime stories are supposed to settle the mind and calm the nerves. Benjamin Percy’s rendition of Goodnight Moon, however, will keep you up at night. If you’ve ever heard Percy, the author of Red Moon and The Wilding, read, you know that he has a voice like no other. His storybook reading is enough to give you nightmares. Happy Halloween from Graywolf Press! Don’t forget to check under the bed.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In the mess we call home, there was an iphone and a starbucks cup and a beanbag with a tired bloodhound pup and there was one teen girl, with wavy curls and two preteens making scenes and a daddy on the computer, a champion “tooter’ and a fight with food – what manners.. how rude! […]

#4 Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Moore (1947)
167 points

Well, it’s a classic for a reason. – Joanne Rousseau

This one I can still recite even though I last read at least 10 or more years ago. Again a classic that will endure and delight for a long time to come. – Christine Kelly

My daughter had this book read to her every night from the womb until she was almost 3. When I think of perfect bedtime stories, this is at the top of the list. – DeAnn Okamura

Time and again my readers would tell me that they loved this book because of what it did to their children. In March 1953, this book was spotlighted in Child Behavior, a syndicated parental-advice column with what I consider the sentence that defines this book. “It captures the two-year-old so completely that it seems almost unlawful that you can hypnotize a child off to sleep as easily as you can by reading this small classic.”  And millions of parents walk around feeling guilt free.

A description of the plot (such as it is) courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor: “A little rabbit bids goodnight to each familiar thing in his moonlit room. Rhythmic, gently lulling words combined with warm and equally lulling pictures make this beloved classic an ideal bedtime book.”

The reference book I should really have on hand for this (and don’t) is Awakened by the Moon by Leonard Marcus, the definitive Margaret Wise Brown biography.  I do not own it as I was never a Goodnight Moon fan (oh yeah, I said it!).  In lieu of that, we shall have to look at other books instead for our info.  100 Best Books for Children makes note of the fact that when Clement Hurd first illustrated this book he made the boy and the grandmother human.  This was changed into bunnies at a later date.  And at editor Ursula Nordstrom’s suggestion the udders on the cow also became less anatomically correct (which is strange considering that Nordstrom would later defend the very human anatomical parts found in In the Night Kitchen).

Nothing popular is without controversy.  Even something as sweet and innocent as Goodnight Moon.  In the case of this book we have two controversial topics to refer to.  #1 involves illegitimate children and an unworthy heir.  #2 is the case of a missing cigarette.

Let’s look at #1 first.  I’d consider the pedigree of this story sketchy, were it not so bloody well written.  Apparently the article Runaway Money: A Children’s Classic, A 9-Year-Old-Boy And a Fateful Bequest appeared in The Wall Street Journal, though the sole copy I can find online appears on the reporter’s website.  The long and the short of it is that Margaret Wise Brown willed a neighbor’s child as the benefactor of some of her books.  Amongst them, Goodnight Moon.  And for this particular kid, there couldn’t possibly have been a worse gift to give.  It’s fascinating.  Particularly when you get to his dubious claims regarding Ms. Brown’s relationship to himself.

Controversy #2 – Clement Hurd and his penchant for the smokes.  Cast your minds back to 2005.  An innocent time.  A time when Harper Collins decided that maybe it would be a good idea to remove the cigarette from illustrator Clement Hurd’s photograph.  CNET Ne

• “Jarrett Krosoczka is one of 25 hottest children’s authors in the nation.” So said Henderson City Mayor Andy Hafen when presenting Mr. Krosoczka with the key to the city.  I’ll just say that again.  The mayor of a city mentioned Jarrett being part of my old The Hot Men of Children’s Literature series when presenting him with that city’s key.  Geez o’ petes.  Looks like I’m going to have to restart that series one of these days (though I KNOW I did more than just twenty-five!).  Credit to The Las Vegas Review Journal for the image.

• In my children’s room we have two copies of Florence Parry Heide’s The Shrinking of Treehorn.  It is regularly requested throughout the system, though sometimes difficult to find thanks to its small size (it will occasionally meander over to our Little Books Shelf when it’s in a wandering mood).  Thus it was with sadness that I learned that Ms. Heide passed away recently at the age of 92.  We should all reread Treehorn (or any of her other works, for that matter) in her honor.

• Wow.  I am in awe.  Here we have a really amazing and worthwhile piece over at Teach Mentor Texts charting a teacher’s changing attitude towards Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back.  From initial disgust to grudging appreciation to possible enjoyment.  It’s a testament to keeping an open mind after a first reading, and the amount of self-awareness at work here is amazing.  Folks sometimes tell me that my reviews of picture books are far too long, but I think this post makes it infinitely clear how there is to be said about the power of that format.

• Remember that picture book manifesto that aired recently?  Well at Fomagrams there’s a piece from David Elzey called of picture books and amnesiacs that gives that document a thorough once over.  Everything from the statement on “robust criticism” to the relative honesty or dishonesty of “tidy endings” is examined thoroughly.  Today I appear to be linking to posts from folks unafraid to use their brains.  A nice trend.

• Is 90% of everything crap?  Jonathan Hunt says so, sparking a variety of different comments from his regular readers.  Heavy Medal is always good for thoughts of this sort.  In fact, I recently decided that the site has given me a chance to examine my own personal Newbery book prejudices.  Prejudices, I would add, that most committee members share, but prejudices just the same.  More on that when I tally up the final predictions at the end of the year, of course.

• Speaking of the Newbery, is it a good or bad idea to find out as much as you can about a book before rendering a final decision about its worth?  I ask this because Jules recently had 6 Comments on Fusenews: “A sort of child’s Jane Eyre.”, last added: 11/2/2011