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We tend to think of reading as a cerebral endeavor, but every once in a while, it can spur action. The following books — ranging from inspiring biographies to evocative fiction to instructional guides — motivated us to step out of our comfort zones and make significant, lasting changes in our lives. ÷ ÷ ÷ [...]

So I’m reading through my weekly edition of AL Direct and I notice that no matter what worldwide occurrence takes place, librarians are always there. Whether it’s damage to two libraries in Egypt, stories from the librarians in Christchurch, New Zealand, or how the Wisconsin Library Association delayed Library Legislative Day due to the protests, the profession is there.  That last story was of particular interest to me, since I had wondered whether any school librarians were amongst the protesters in Wisconsin lately.  According to the article, they most certainly are.  You go, guys!!  Seriously, I want to hear more about it.  If any of you know any school librarians marching in WI, send them my way.  I’d love to do a full post on them.

• Speaking of folks in the news, I have to give full credit to author/illustrator Katie Davis for consistently locating the hotspots in children’s literature and convincing folks to talk to her about them on her fabulous podcast.  In the past she’s managed to finagle everyone from the editor who wanted to replace the n-word in Huckleberry Finn to James Kennedy on the 90-Second Newbery.  Now she’s managed to get Bruce Coville to talk about what went down when he and fellow children’s author Liz Levy got stuck in Egypt during the protest period.  That Katie.  She’s got a nose for news.

• I’m having a lot of fun reading How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely these days, and I can’t help but see echoes of the plot in this story about the man behind the Hardy Boys novels.  We hear about the various Carolyn Keenes all the time, but why not the Dixons?  After reading this old piece in the Washington Post from 1998 (The Hardy Boys The Final Chapter) I feel vindicated.  I reread some of my old Three Investigators novels not too long ago and they STILL held up!  I always knew they were better than The Hardy Boys.  Now I have proof.  I was going to save the link to this essay until the end of the Fusenews today, but it’s so amusing and so delightfully written that I just have to encourage you, first thing, to give it a look.  Thanks to The Infomancer for the link.

• Fun Fact About Newbery Winning Author Robin McKinley: She’s learning to knit.  Related Sidenote: She also has a blog.  Did you know this?  I did not know this.  And look at the meticulous use of footnotes.  McKinley should write the next Pale Fire.  I would
  10 Comments on Fusenews: “The Hardy boys were tense with a realization of their peril.”, last added: 2/25/2011
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  Jonathan Auxier said, on 2/23/2011 11:21:00 PM
  

  I’ve been meaning to pick up HOW I BECAME A FAMOUS NOVELIST ever since John August mentioned it on his blog. He tells the story of optioning the book in his usual charming fashion here: http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/how-i-became-a-famous-novelist. I’m gratified to hear someone dumping on the Hardy Boys. I hated those books as a kid … along with all the other series in which nothing actually happened to the characters. Why read a book that ends where it starts? (I will make an exception for Beckett.) That bias is probably the same reason I don’t watch procedural dramas today.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 2/24/2011 6:04:00 AM
  

  I’m probably reading the book for the same reason you’ve been meaning to pick it up. Which is to say, I think Matt read the John August piece, got intrigued, read it, and passed it on to me. It feels so up-to-date and contemporary too. I have to wonder how well it will age, or if the books that are blockbusters now will continue to remain the same kind of blockbusters ten or twenty years down the road.

  Three Investigators 4-Evah.

  Julia Karr said, on 2/24/2011 10:58:00 AM
  

  Ah, I was always a Nancy Drew fan and only read Hardy Boys comics (put out by Walt Disney when they were airing The Hardy Boys on The Mickey Mouse Club.) However, my tender young writer’s heart was crushed when I found out that Carolyn Keene was a psuedonym for a stable of writers. *sigh*

  Jean said, on 2/24/2011 11:48:00 AM
  

  “You go, guys!!!” How about a little objectivity? How about a Wisconsin public school where the librarian’s job description, according to the principal, was “to provide release time for the teachers”, which they were entitled to in their union negotiated contract? Yes, I went – to a non-union charter school (at half the pay), not to protest in Madison.

  Dan McCoy said, on 2/24/2011 1:41:00 PM
  

  >bites his lip, Jupiter Jones-style and nods approvingly<

  Sondy said, on 2/24/2011 1:57:00 PM
  

  I am SO with you on the 3 Investigators! Jupiter Jones rocks!

  Hey, I’m planning to do a little piece of Library Advocacy this weekend with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. I’ll post about it on my blog, and then will try to get a little attention… We’re supposed to be happy that they aren’t planning any further cuts this year, after they cut 30% the last two years. I am glad to have a job back, but it’s still rotten for the people of the county….

  Tracey said, on 2/24/2011 4:18:00 PM
  

  I LOVED the 3 Investigators!

  I was in first grade when the childrens librarian introduced me to the Hardy Boys. I didn’t like them that much, but I could read them very quickly, which mattered to me for some reason. And then, I found Nancy Drew and I never picked up another Hardy Boys again. To this day, I wonder why the librarian showed me the Hardy Boys but not Nancy Drew.

  Lisa Yee said, on 2/25/2011 8:30:00 AM
  

  L is for Lisa who loves your blog.

  I’m in Boston this weekend, signing at Peter Reynold’s Blue Bunny bookstore on Saturday. When I saw on your blog that there’s a Gorey exhibit in town I was soooooo excited. Can’t wait to see it!

  Sergio Ruzzier said, on 2/25/2011 8:36:00 AM
  

  Thank you Betsy! I should get images from the show in a week or so.

  Joanne Fritz said, on 2/25/2011 7:12:00 PM
  

  The entire first chapter of HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE on a bathroom wall? Some people have waaaaay too much time on their hands.

  Great post, Betsy!

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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: November 2, 2010

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

Fall Books for Kids: 2010

Interview with Lian Tanner, Author of The Keepers Trilogy

2010 Children’s Choice Book Awards Nominees

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

20 Sites to Improve Your Child’s Literacy

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth

by Jeff Kinney

(Ages 9-12)

Hero

by Mike Lupica

(Ages 9-12)

Pegasus

by Robin McKinley

(Young Adult)

Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider)

by Anthony Horowitz

(Ages 12 and up)

You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together

by Mary Ann Hoberman

(Ages 4-8)

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

Llama Llama Holiday Drama

by Anna Dewdney

(Ages 0-5)

Fairy tale retellings often feel like a dime a dozen.  Whether they’re modernized or grounded in the past, gender flipped or boundaries blurred, the heart of the fairy tale must remain.  Otherwise, the retelling feels cold and disconnected, lacking all the magic of the original story.  But sometimes, a retelling gives the fairy tale a new complexity and shading.

Beauty
Robin McKinley
Published 1978

The youngest daughter of a shipping merchant, Beauty is happiest with books and horses.  Neither of those care how you look, and Beauty knows she’s plain, especially compared to her beautiful older sisters.  But when their father has a catastrophic business failure, the whole family must leave the city and move to a small village.  Everyone works hard to survive, in the little house by the dark enchanted forest.  No one should go into this forest, but during a snowstorm, while taking a shortcut, their father gets lost in the woods.  In the middle of the forest, he finds a magnificent castle.  He is served by invisible servants who provide clothing, food, a warm bed.  But at the end of his visit, he decides to pick a single rose for Beauty.  And that one action will change Beauty’s life.  For in exchange for the rose, the Beast that lives in the castle demands that either her father, or one of his daughters, come to live with him.  And Beauty cannot let her father do this.  Staying with the Beast, Beauty is exposed to a life of luxury, of learning.  And although she comes to have a friendship with the Beast, she wishes that he wouldn’t ask her the same question after dinner every night:  “Will you marry me, Beauty?”  She can only say no to him, and she can tell how much it hurts him.  It’s only after disaster and heartbreak that Beauty is able to give him a different answer.

McKinley’s first novel takes the time to lay the backstory of Beauty and her family.  While it is only forty pages before the traditional beginning of the story–the father’s encounter with the Beast–those forty pages does much to establish not just Beauty, but her whole family.  We see that Beauty’s sisters are not stereotyped as beautiful but shallow and mean; in fact, they’re both kind, generous women, very willing to help shoulder the household tasks that the three girls have to perform.  We learn that Beauty’s father is kind and devoted to his family, although perhaps a bit too fond of business risks.  Even characters that are briefly seen are sketched vividly.

An intriguing aspect of McKinley’s retelling is that Beauty’s nickname is an ironic one.  Beauty describes herself as plain, with light brown hair and brown eyes.  Compared to Grace and Hope, her beautiful sisters, Beauty knows that she will have to make the most of her other talents.  And while her nickname stings at times, at least it’s better than her given name of Honour.  While her sisters reassure her that she’s just a late bloomer, Beauty doesn’t believe them.  Once she lives with the Beast, she dismisses his compliments as well.  It’s not until the end of the novel, when Beauty can see herself in a mirror for the first time in years, that she realizes that they were right: she is beautiful.  Because she never considered herself as pretty, Beauty instead focused on her brains because it allowed her an escape from the superficial world of the city.  Once the family moved to the village, she worked so hard that she was too tired for reading, yet this was also another skill that she developed.  Beauty, by the time she goes to stay with the Beast, is an intelligent, sensitive young woman, unafraid of hard work.  It’s just as much these qualities as her appearance that makes the Beast fall in love with her.  And it proves that Beauty’s nickname reflects more than her physical aspects, but her character.

Touches of the fantastic highlight the world of the Beast.  There are magic roses that are in perfect bloom for a month, and rose seeds that can grow and bloom a week after being planted.  There are invisible servants that serve every wish of the Beast or anyone in the castle.  And there is a very large library, that contains many books: some of them not yet published.  For someone like Beauty, a bookworm denied, the library holds great appeal, and not just for the books for the future.  As she is able to read and study, she has the chance to develop her mind even more.  It’s the library that allows Beauty and the Beast to start building their friendship.

A retelling that will strike familiar chords with teens, thanks to the use of similar ideas in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, McKinley’s additions to the original story are welcome ones.  By removing the unrealistic sweetness of the fairy tale’s heroine, Beauty features a strong, well-rounded young woman, one who is able to see past the exterior of the Beast and fall in love with his soul.

I'm trying something a little different for my last post in AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT week.  I received an email from a blogging buddy who is also a librarian:

I think I checked out seven Pierce books today to patrons, plus put one back in the mail from Interlibrary Loan. Can you give me a rundown on why she's awesome and recommend first books? Not that I need any more to read, but I know you're a fan.

• Action Scenes Blood is blood, muscles hurt, breathing strains, waste smells, and we can feel the blisters of the sword on our fingers.  Pierce's visceral descriptions are particularly important for her female characters, since women in fairy tales (all right, princesses) usually don't sweat.
• Evil Pierce doesn't gloss over the costs of battle; refugees whose homes have been destroyed play prominently into her works.  Lack of crops or drinking water are realities in war-stricken Tortall.  But there's evil, too, that mirrors the worst of  human history. (For example, a wizard whose fighting machines are fueled by the souls of children - so, of course, he has to kill the children to capture their souls.)
• Romance & Sex Sometimes it's love (like my feelings for Numair) and sometimes it's hormones (Alanna explores sex & love), but Pierce never makes romance gushy or sappy, even when someone's in love with a crow.  ("I want to always have the taste of you on my lips," Nawat whispered...Trickster's Queen, page 345.)  Pierce also makes a point to have characters talk about birth control, if necessary.
  

1) What country would I like to live in?
a) the United States