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• Top of the morning to you, froggies!  I had one heckuva weekend, I tell you.  Actually it was just one heckuva Saturday.  First there was the opening of the new Bank Street Bookstore location here in NYC.  I was one of the local authors in attendance and, as you can see from this photograph taken that morning, I was in good company.

At one point I found myself at a signing table between Deborah Heiligman and Rebecca Stead with Susan Kuklin, Chris Raschka, and Peter Lerangis on either side.  I picked up the name tag that Jerry Pinkney had left behind so that I could at least claim a Caldecott by association.  Of course that meant I left my own nametag behind and a certain someone did find it later in the day . . .

Then that afternoon, after wolfing down an Upper West Side avocado sandwich that had aspirations for greatness (aspirations that remained unfulfilled) I was at NYPL’s central library for the panel Blurred Lines?: Accuracy and Illustration in Nonfiction.  This title of silliness I acknowledge mine.  In any case, the line-up was Sophie Blackall, Brian Floca, Mara Rockliff, and her Candlewick editor Nicole Raymond.  It was brilliant. There will perhaps be a write-up at some point that I’ll link to.  I just wanted to tip my hat to the folks involved.  We were slated to go from 2-3 and we pretty much went from 2-4.  We could have gone longer.

• I’ve often said that small publishers fill the gaps left by their larger brethren.  Folktales and fairy tales are often best served in this way.  Graphic novels are beginning to go the same route.  One type of book that the smaller publishers should really look into, though, is poetry.  We really don’t see a lot of it published in a given year, and I’d love to see more.  The new Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award may help the cause.  It was recently announced and the award is looking for folks who are SCBWI members and that published their books between 2013-2015.  It makes us just one step closer to an ALA poetry award.  One step.

• How did I miss this when it was published?  It’s a New Yorker piece entitled Eloise: An Update.  It had me at “The absolute first thing I do in the morning is make coffee in the bathroom and check to see what’s on pay-per-view / Then I have to go to the health club to see if they’ve gotten any new kettlebells and then stop at the business center to Google a few foreign swear words.”  Thanks to Sharyn November for the link.

• Y’all know I worship at the alter of Frances Hardinge and believe her to be one of the greatest living British novelists working today, right?  Well, this just in from the interwebs!  Specifically, from agent Barry Goldblatt’s Facebook page:

BSFA and Carnegie Medal longlister Frances Hardinge’s debut adult novel THE KNOWLEDGE, about a London cab driver with a special license to travel between multiple alternative Londons, who, after rescuing a long-missing fellow driver, finds herself caught up in a widening conspiracy to control the pathways between worlds, to Navah Wolfe at Saga Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2017, by Barry Goldblatt at Barry Goldblatt Literary on behalf of Nancy Miles at Miles Stott Literary Agency (NA).

Mind you, this means I’ll have to read an adult novel now.  I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

• Speaking of England, I’m tired of them being cooler than us.  For example, did you know that they have a Federation of Children’s Book Groups?  A federation!  Why don’t we have a federation?  I’ll tell you why.  Because we haven’t earned it yet.  Grrr.

• Ooo!  A new Spanish language children’s bookstore has just opened up in Los Angeles.  And here we can’t get a single bookstore other than Barnes & Noble to open up in the Bronx in English, let alone another language.  This is so cool.  Methinks publishers looking to expand into the Latino market would do well to court the people working at this shop, if only to find new translatable material.

• Fancy fancy dancy dancy Leo Lionni shirts are now being sold by UNIQLO.  Some samples:

Smarties.

• Roxanne Feldman is one of those women that has been in the business of getting books into the hands of young ‘uns for years and years and years.  Online you may recognize her by her username “fairrosa”.  Well, now she has a blog of her very own and it’s worth visiting.  Called the Fairrosa Cyber Library, it’s the place to go.  However – Be Warned.  This is not a site to merely dabble in.  If you go you must be prepared to sit down and read and read.  Her recent posts about diversity make for exciting blogging.

• Phil Nel has compiled the greatest Dr. Seuss blog post of all time.  I said it.  I stand by it.  Doubt me if you dare.

• Me Stuff: Because apparently the whole opening of this blog post didn’t count.  Now Dan Blank is one of those guys you just hope and pray you’ll meet at some point in your life.  He’s the kind of fellow who is infinitely intensely knowledgeable about how one’s career can progress over time and he’s followed my own practically since the birth of my blogging career.  If I appeared in Forbes, it was because of Dan.  Recently he interviewed me at length and the post is up.  It’s called Betsy Bird: From “Invisible” Introvert to Author, Critic, Blogger and Librarian.  I feel like that kid in Boyhood with Dan.  Really I do.

• It was Adam Gidwitz who alerted me to a theatrical production going on in town right now that holds my interest in its hot little hand.  He says the company is fantastic and that the show is entirely worth it.  Though, with a name like BAMBIF*CKER/KAFFEHAUS: A caffeinated ride through sex, death, deer, and Zionism how could it not be?

• Fact: The Cotsen Children’s Library of Princeton has been interviewing great authors and illustrators since at least 2010.

• Fact: Access to these interviews has always been available, but not through iTunes.

• Fact: Now it is.  And it’s amazing.  Atinuke.  Gary Schmidt.  Rebecca Stead.  Philip Pullman.  It’s free, it’s out there, so fill up your iPod like I am right now and go crazy!  Thanks to Dana Sheridan for the info!

The other day I linked to a piece on the term “racebent” and how it applies to characters like Hermione in Harry Potter.  It’s not really a new idea, though, is it?  Folks have always reinterpreted fictional characters in light of their own cultures.  This year the publisher Tara Books is releasing The Patua Pinocchio.  Now I’ve been a bit Pinocchio obsessed ever since my 3-year-old daughter took Kate McMullen’s version to heart (it was the first chapter book she had the patience to sit through).  With that in mind I am VERY interested in this version of the little wooden boy.  Very.

• Ever been a children’s nonfiction conference?  Want to?  The 21st Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference has moved to NYC this year and it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I’ll be speaking alongside my colleague / partner-in-crime Amie Wright, but there are a host of other speakers and it’s a delightful roster.  If ever this has ever been your passion, now’s thWe time to go.

• Diverse books for kids don’t sell?  To this, Elizabeth Bluemle, a bookseller, points out something so glaringly obvious that I’m surprised nobody else has mentioned it before.  I’m sure that someone has, but rarely so succinctly. Good title too:  An Overlooked Fallacy About Sales of Diverse Books.

• And speaking of diverse books, here’s something that was published last year but that I, in the throes of the whole giving birth thing, missed.  The We Need Diverse Books website regularly posted some of the loveliest book recommendations I’ve ever seen.  We’ve all seen lists that say things like “Like This? Then Try This!” but rarely do they ever explain why the person would like that book (I’m guilty of this in my own reviews’ readalikes and shall endeavor to be better in the future).  On their site, the WNDB folks not only offered diverse readalikes to popular titles, but gave excellent reasons as to why a fan of David Wiesner’s Tuesday might like Bill Thomson’s Chalk.  The pairing of Lucy Christopher’s Stolen with Sharon Draper’s Panic is particularly inspired.  The covers even match.

Daily Image:

I am ever alert to any appropriation of my workplace that might be taking place. Recently I learned that in the Rockettes’ upcoming holiday show there will be this set in one of the numbers.  Apparently Patience and Fortitude (the library lions) will be voiced by (the recorded voices of) Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.  I kid you not.

Years ago when I worked in the old Donnell Library I looked out the window of the Central Children’s Room to see three camels standing there chewing their cud or whatever it is that camels chew.  They were with their trainer, taking a walk before their big number in the Rockettes’ show.  The crazy thing was watching the people on the street.  The New Yorkers were walking past like the it was the most natural thing in the world.  This is because New Yorkers are crazy.  When camels strike you as everyday, something has gone wrong with your life.

When actress Lena Dunham started talking in the news about how she wanted to turn Catherine Called Birdy into a film, I was intrigued.  And apparently she’s not a fly-by-night children’s book lover either.  All her tattoos are children’s literature inspired.  Hearing this I figured she’d have the usual suspects.  Eloise, sure.  And she does have some normal ones like Ferdinand the bull and Olivia.  But then she starts talking about her Little Golden Book tat (for Pals).  The kicker, however, is the Fair Weather by Richard Peck tattoo.  I think I’m safe in saying that this may well be the only Fair Weather tattoo in the history of the world.  Now she’s created a documentary on Hilary Knight called It’s Me, Hilary. Some additional info:

Thanks to Michael Patrick Hearn for the link.

And now a lovely little video in tribute of my workplace.  I do love that main branch.  It would be awfully nice if a video like this was made of each of the branches as well.  We have 86+ but boy would it be cool.

The art of the book trailer, and I would call it an art, requires a certain level of absurdity. After all, we’re talking about a video medium celebrating a literary one (by extension, my Video Sunday series is a regular exercise in peculiarity). So when a trailer comes along that is purposefully absurd and sets the correct tone (music, voiceover, visuals, etc.) it is worth highlighting. Behold Night Circus by Etienne Delessert. It works, man. It works.

Night Circus from ZauberGuitarre on Vimeo.

Full credit to Travis Jonker for locating this next one.  In case you missed it, it’s Dr. Seuss and how he created Green Eggs and Ham.

And while it’s not really off-topic, let’s just end with a cheery video of Lori Prince and I reacting to Yuyi Morales’ Pura Belpre win.  This is pretty typical for both of us, I’d say.

Reacting to the ALA Youth Media Awards from School Library Journal on Vimeo.

Eloise

By Kay Thompson; drawings by Hilary Knight

Have you ever taken young ones to The Plaza Hotel in New York? If you have, please take a peek with them of the portrait hanging there of a diminutive “force of nature” of picture book fame named Eloise, from the book of the same name, written in 1955. Maybe you’ve seen it. The portrait  is one of a young sophisticated dynamo, dressed in signature black pleated skirt, ruffled white blouse, her tiny feet shod in black patent leather shoes, with white knee socks. Young Eloise seems the stuffy soul of decorum with her trademark red bow atop pin straight hair. Decorum?  But then I must presuppose you haven’t read the book detailing the days and nights of this pint sized human whirlwind and world traveler to Paris and Moscow that calls the top floor at The Plaza home, along with Nanny. Boring, she ain’t, if you will please pardon this horrible slip in grammar. Eloise is anything but boring, nor can she stand to be bored.

Maybe you’ve seen TV versions of Eloise. They date back to a live black and white TV version in 1956 on Playhouse 90 with Evelyn Rudie as Eloise. Young Ms. Rudie won an Emmy nomination nod for her performance as the precocious Eloise with the famous Mildred Natwick as Nanny. In more recent years, Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime were done for TV with Julie Andrews as Nanny. Most recently, an animated series entitled, It’s Me, Eloise with Lynn Redgrave as Nanny and Tim Curry as Mr. Salomone, The Plaza Manager, debuted in 2006 on the Starz TV Kids and Family Network.

If you learn about the author of Eloise, one Kay Thompson, you will find the heart of who Eloise really is, for as Ms. Thompson put it once, “I’ve discovered the secret of life: a lot of hard work, a lot of sense of humor, a lot of joy and a lot of tra-la-la!” Ms. Thompson, like her creation Eloise, lived at The Plaza Hotel. She was the alter ego of Eloise, creating an imaginary voice for the character before the book was written and using it in phone conversations with friends. I would have loved listening in on the other end of some of those conversations!  

And just who were Kay Thompson’s friends? Oh nobody special – just the one and only Judy Garland was her BEST friend. And as Judy’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, once stated, “The best gift my mother ever gave me was Kay Thompson as my godmother.” Vocal coach to people such as Lena Horne and Frank Sinatra, Kay was an actress who appeared in movies such as Funny Face with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn and all but stole the show. Ms. Thompson was also a writer, choreographer, composer, singer and musician. And if you are a fan of the singer Andy Williams, Kay did a cabaret act with him and was an integral part of shaping his career.

I would be terribly remiss if I did not give equal praise to Hilary Knight, the man who made Eloise spring to picture book life with his distinctive black, white and pink renderings of the girl who is always six and seemingly absent the presence of her parents. Ms. Thompson gave voice to Eloise literally and through her picture book narrative, but it was Mr. Knight that captured and brought her wistful vivacity to life with his drawings! For you see amid the energy and nonstop activity of Eloise’s life, if you read between the lines, there is a distinct unspoken longing.

If you would like your young reader to see just a snatch of the energy that created the narrative side of Eloise, please go to YouTube and watch two songs that feature Ms. Thompson’s talent. They are called “Think Pink” and “Clap Yo’ Hands” from Funny Face. Her enormous energetic confidence and charisma is catching, and you can also find that same magic in her picture book called Eloise.

Eloise helps maids change beds at The Plaza, drops in on weddings receptions uninvited and watches demure debutantes mingling.  Your young reader will love meeting Skipperdee, her raisin-eating turtle that also wears sneakers, plus her dog Weenie that looks like a cat! Ms. Thompson felt her book was created not solely for children, but, as she put it, for “precocious adults” as well!

Former New York mayor, Ed Koch once said of her, “Eloise is one of the more delightfully fiendish literary heroines of our time,” and The New York Times heralded, “Eloise is one of the most recognizable characters in children’s literature”

But don’t take my word for it. Please take a young reader in tow and read for yourselves about this six year-old wonder that orders Room Service each day with careless aplomb and relays most orders with a mimicked three word emphatic repeat learned from Nanny, as in “Nanny likes her coffee HOT HOT HOT.” And, if you just happen to be having luncheon at the Palm Court at the Plaza and see someone of six with a black pleated skirt, white blouse and black Mary Janes, tucking into a serving of the Gugelhopfen, pull up a chair and ask to join her. I promise you it will probably be a VERY entertaining time. But FIRST, read the book! It’s a classic – just like Eloise!!  

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If you want to read more about The History of Eloise at The Plaza, may I suggest the following link?  

http://www.theplazany.com/history/

#76 Eloise by Kay Thompson (1955)
26 points

Oh my!  This I did not expect.  What can we extrapolate from a book that previously held the coveted #37 slot on our last Picture Book Poll, falling incredibly to a lowly #76?  It’s particularly strange when you consider the sheer plethora of Eloise marketing going on these days.  From easy books to television shows and movies she’s never been more ubiquitous.  Yet amongst the gatekeepers?  Maybe her grip is slipping.

I didn’t know Eloise as a child.  And when I say, “I didn’t know” I’m not talking about one of those cases where you are vaguely aware of a character, like Peter from The Snowy Day or Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  No, honestly, I’d never laid eyes on the character.  I was from Michigan!  We don’t have plazas in Kalamazoo.  There may be high tea, but heaven only knows where.  Somehow I managed to continue this ignorance well into adulthood, until one day I ran across a baffling New Yorker cartoon.  It was by Roz Chast and was called “Eloise Revisited”. If I’m not too much mistaken she’s sitting on the bed saying, “I am Eloise.  I am forty-six.  I still live in the Plaza.  I don’t give a damn who owns it.”  This came in 1995 during the height of the Plaza sale that was going on.

Baffling to the uninitiated, I can tell you.  Of course, once I became a children’s librarian I met Eloise right and proper.  The plot, I have since learned, is basically just a six-year-old girl living in the fancy dancy Plaza, wreaking havoc and being sweet.  Parents are absent and she is attended to by her nanny.

I’ve heard many an . . . interesting story about Eloise’s creator.  Say what you will about her, though, she knew how to take a picture.  Here she is posing the portrait of Eloise that hangs in the Plaza.

Thompson actually did write at least one children’s book other than Eloise.  It was called (deep breath) Kay Thompson’s Miss Pooky Peckinpaugh and Her Secret Private Boyfriends Complete with Telephone Numbers.  With a name like that, I’m actually a little disappointed that I’ve never seen it before.

Ursula Nordstrom had hoped to publish Eloise Takes a Bawth with Thompson but it never happened in her lifetime.  Thompson’s either, come to think of it.  That Hilary Knight has some kind of longevity.  In Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom there is a rather fun letter to Louise Fitzhugh from October 15, 1969 worth telling a bit of here.  Ursula writes to Louise, “I am told that another librarian turned to Kay Thompson (we are doing the next Eloise if it ever gets finished) and burbled, ‘Oh I love your Harriet books.’ Silence and the Titanic could crash and sink in seconds.  The librarian went on: ‘Your wonderful books about Harriet and the Plaza’.”  Marvelous.

Naturally Eloise has her own website.  Her own television shows, movies, and creepy 1950s merchandise as well.  She is more iconic now than ever.  I still want to read the book where she goes to Moscow too . . .

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