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By: Nicholas Eskey Welcome back to another exciting episode of “The Beat’s Weekly Toy Review & Preview! We have a humdinger of an episode today kids, as a lot of collectible figures have been announced recently. Since I couldn’t narrow my favorites down to a short list, be prepared for a longer than usual post. […]

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Papercutz, the kids-friendly brainchild of Terry Nantier and Jim Salicrup, has announced 41 new titles for Fall 2016! They have an interesting mix: original graphic novels, imports from overseas, classics from decades past, and the occasional licensed property. So, what are the highlights? BARBIE! Yes, you might have heard and seen that Ms. Roberts has undergone a corporate […]

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• There was a time, oh children of mine, when the ALA Media Awards would be announced and the morning after the announcement the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Awards would be whisked away to New York City to speak on NBC.  Then Snooki came and ruined everything (this is the abbreviated version, but it’s not too far off).  So we’re none too pleased with NBC these days.  Al Roker’s Book Club aside (and it looks like it hasn’t updated since Halloween) there’s not a lot going on at that channel.  But then they go and post the Latinas for Latino Lit: “Remarkable” Children’s Books of 2014 piece (selected by Viviana Hurtado and Monica Olivera) and much is forgiven.  Just one question about the list, though . . . no Viva Frida?

• What is the state of children’s nonfiction in the UK today?  For our answer we turn to my favorite British blog Playing By the Book which reveals revelation after revelation in the piece Do We Care About Children’s Non-Fiction?  Apparently informational books don’t get reviewed all that often in the U.K.  Do the British value nonfiction then?  Definitely fascinating reading.

• “I mean, seriously, can you think of one popular show/movie that actually tries to portray Muslims accurately instead of as a confining stereotype?”  The excellent Summer writes on her blog Miss Fictional’s World of YA the piece I Am Not Oppressed.  In particular she’s not particularly pleased with how Muslim women are depicted on the bulk of our book jackets (to say nothing of the content inside).

• Hm.  So Entertainment Weekly just released a list of 50 Books Every Kid Should Read.  Interesting, yes?  And the choices are fascinating.  They made an effort to do the classics and then work in some contemporary titles.  What they chose is telling.  Little Willow presents the list and leads the discussion as well.

• Um . . .

Okaaaaay. So that’s what Evangeline Lilly wore to her children’s book signing at Barnes & Noble.  Clearly this is the outfit children’s authors should all be wearing now.  Those of you hankering to wear your picnic blanket as a skirt now finally have an excuse to do so.  Thanks to Jules for the link.

• I think roughly 500 people sent me the Richard Scarry’s Busy Town in the 21st Century link, to which I say to each and every last one of you – THANK YOU!!  Good old Tom the Dancing Bug.

• Oh!  How useful!  PW recently published a rather lovely assessment of Children’s and YA Writing M.F.A. Programs around the country.  Apparently they already covered Simmons in a previous post.

• And now, the best news of the week.  My love for the author Frances Hardinge knows no bounds.  Honestly, I do believe that The Lost Conspiracy may be my favorite children’s book published in the last 10 years.  It’s a serious contender in any case.  So you can imagine how distraught I was when it became clear that Harper Collins would no longer be publishing her books in the U.S.  I watched miserably as the U.K. published A Face Like Glass and Cuckoo Song (read the Book Smugglers review of the latter) overseas.  Heck, I actually shelled out money and bought the darn books myself (and you know how I feel about spending money).  Then, yesterday, a miracle.  I was paging through the Spring 2015 Abrams catalog and there she was.  Frances.  And Cuckoo Song, it said, would be published in May with what may well be the creepiest cover . . . um, ever?  Yeah.  Ever.  It’s not even online yet, so just stay tuned because when it is you know I’ll be blogging it.  So excited. (pssst! Abrams! Let me do the cover reveal!)

• If you missed the whole Barbie, Computer Programmer children’s book debacle, now’s your time to catch up.  This was the inciting incident.  This was the follow-up.

• The nice thing about working for NYPL is that they give me an awful lot of leeway when it comes to programming.  I want to do a monthly series of Children’s Literary Salons on a host of different topics?  Go to it!  Any topic I like.  The best ones, however, are often suggested by other people.  For example, when editors Cheryl Klein and Stacy Whitman suggested we have a panel on Native American YA literature where authors Eric Gansworth and Joseph Bruchac could talk about the cross-cultural pleasures and challenges of working with their editors, I was all for it.  Sadly, most of my Lit Salons are not recorded . . . but this one was!  Cheryl, you see, is married to James Monohan and together they run the blog The Narrative Breakdown.  My Salon?  It became one of the episodes and you can listen to it here.  As for those of you interested in attending a Salon (they’re free after all) there’s one this coming Saturday and you can see the full roster of them here.

• This thing.  More libraries should do this thing. Yes.

• A few things.  Jacqueline Woodson wrote a New York Times piece about the incident at the National Book Awards.  There is that.  Now I would also recommend that you read two additional pieces as well.  I Am Racist and I Am Sexist and Probably Some Other -Ists, Too.  The other is just called Racist.

• Speaking of Ms. Woodson, did you see the list of books President Obama purchased at Politics and Prose last Saturday?  If we just pull out the children’s book fare it included:

1. “Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business” by Barbara Park
2. “A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo and More” by Doreen Cronin
3. “I Spy Sticker Book and Picture Riddles” by Jean Marzollo
4. “Nuts to You” by Lynn Rae Perkins
5. “Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus” by Barbara Park
6. “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson
7. “Redwall” by Brian Jacques
8. “Mossflower” by Brian Jacques
9. “Mattimeo” by Brian Jacques
10. “Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms” by Katherine Rundell

• Daily Image:

I consider this my early Christmas present.  Years ago when I did the Top 100 Children’s Novels poll, I did a post on All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor that included every book cover I could find of the title.  All but one.  The book jacket I grew up with appeared to be lost to the sands of time.  And now, all thanks to Sadie Salome, it’s been returned to me.  Behold the only work of historical fiction I read independently and for fun as a kid from cover to cover:

Still the best, so far as I’m concerned.  Thanks, Sadie.

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My we’re all at it now. Not long ago a few embarrassed Dads were lurking in the corners of Mumsnet or NetMums or whatever Mums-focussed site existed at the time. Everything on the sites was Mum-this and Mum-that, with the … Continue reading →

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Strike at the heart of the beast! Show no mercy!

Why do people feel compelled to do battle with all things related to aging? Hair gets colored, as if having gray hair is shameful. Young, nubile women begin getting Botox before the age of 30; begin using anti-wrinkle creams in their 20’s.

Have we come to despise these signs of having lived past our teen years?

My hair gleams with gray sprinkled throughout from years lived and loved.  Hard work went into the making of those signature hairs. Why should shame be associated with them?

Small lines have taken up residence around my mouth. Are they caused by laughing too much? If so, my favorite past-time will continue to occupy me. Laugh lines are far better in my estimation than facial stress fractures.

The reasoning behind this abhorrence of aging escapes me. My entire experience here on Planet Earth was lived at the same moment—the one in which I am aware. Age has rarely meant anything to me.

At age twelve, people treated me as 19-20. When nineteen came along, people assumed I was in my mid-20’s. By the time my 30’s arrived, most of my friends were in their early 20’s. Even now, I have few real friends my own age. I know plenty of people in their 50’s and 60’s, but those whom I call true friends are of all ages, from the very young to those in their late seventies and older.

It’s always been my contention that age is only a marker for statistical purpose. The body may have tell-tale signs of wear and tear. But the me operating this body has no age, except the one I inside my head.

The question which needs to be posed to a person is: If you’re so unhappy to reach your current age that you need to reconstruct your body to hide your experience, is reconstruction likely to erase your unhappiness?

Does one’s happiness depend on the physical representation of the person inside? After all, our bodies are only the vessels, which carry us around on this planet. Is our preoccupation with conforming to culture’s definition of beauty the only path to self-satisfaction and acceptance? Must we all be life-sized, unrealistic Barbie’s and Ken’s in order to be accepted as vital, beautiful, and worthwhile? If so, aren’t we all waving a white flag; surrendering our individuality and uniqueness in favor of a cultural i

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Strike at the heart of the beast! Show no mercy!

Why do people feel compelled to do battle with all things related to aging? Hair gets colored, as if having gray hair is shameful. Young, nubile women begin getting Botox before the age of 30; begin using anti-wrinkle creams in their 20’s.

Have we come to despise these signs of having lived past our teen years?

My hair gleams with gray sprinkled throughout from years lived and loved.  Hard work went into the making of those signature hairs. Why should shame be associated with them?

Small lines have taken up residence around my mouth. Are they caused by laughing too much? If so, my favorite past-time will continue to occupy me. Laugh lines are far better in my estimation than facial stress fractures.

The reasoning behind this abhorrence of aging escapes me. My entire experience here on Planet Earth was lived at the same moment—the one in which I am aware. Age has rarely meant anything to me.

At age twelve, people treated me as 19-20. When nineteen came along, people assumed I was in my mid-20’s. By the time my 30’s arrived, most of my friends were in their early 20’s. Even now, I have few real friends my own age. I know plenty of people in their 50’s and 60’s, but those whom I call true friends are of all ages, from the very young to those in their late seventies and older.

It’s always been my contention that age is only a marker for statistical purpose. The body may have tell-tale signs of wear and tear. But the me operating this body has no age, except the one I inside my head.

The question which needs to be posed to a person is: If you’re so unhappy to reach your current age that you need to reconstruct your body to hide your experience, is reconstruction likely to erase your unhappiness?

Does one’s happiness depend on the physical representation of the person inside? After all, our bodies are only the vessels, which carry us around on this planet. Is our preoccupation with conforming to culture’s definition of beauty the only path to self-satisfaction and acceptance? Must we all be life-sized, unrealistic Barbie’s and Ken’s in order to be accepted as vital, beautiful, and worthwhile? If so, aren’t we all waving a white flag; surrendering our individuality and uniqueness in favor of a cultural i

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Durn.  This is what I get for not doing a Fusenews in a while.  A whole plethora of good stuff!  Let’s see what we can use up in a single day, eh?

For the record, if you haven’t read these Hunger Games comics (in the style of Kate Beaton, no?) then now’s the time.  They’re surprisingly good.

Good old poetry month.  From spine poems to 30 Poets / 30 Days the celebrations are magnificent.  Go ye, seek out and find.

• I won’t normally link to podcasts but this recent Scriptnotes that covers how a screenwriter options a novel he wants to adapt includes a discussion of older children’s books that were considered for screen adaptation.  FYI!

• On the one hand they’re 9 Barbies Based on Books.  On the other hand, if that Edward doesn’t sparkle and glow in the dark then I hope the people who purchased him got their money back.  Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.

• When I worked the reference desk I got a lot of Stumpers.  Folks would ask me to come up with a beloved book from their childhood and I would try to figure it out.  If I couldn’t find it I’d take down all their information and ask PUBYAC on their behalf.  If that didn’t work I’d suggest Loganberry Books, even though they charge money.  Would that I had known about Whatsthatbook.com.  A free site where folks post their stumpers and other folks answer them, it’s pretty cool.  Sometimes I just like hearing the wacky descriptions. Current favorite: “Young girl reading to an older lady, girl almost gets caught in quicksand”.  I hate it when that happens.

• Hello, under-a-rock denizens.  J.K. Rowling’s newest book is going to be released.  Hope you like community politics!!!

• Feel discomfort about Tikki Tikki Tembo?  You’re not alone.

• Do Childish People Write Better Children’s Books? Dude, if you want to walk up to Maurice Sendak and inform him that he is childish, be my guest.  I’m just gonna go hide behind this sturdy concrete pillar over here until the spatter of your remains stops with the spattering.

• Stealing books from publishers is nothing new, but there’s something particularly slimy about doing it during the Bologna Book Fair
  6 Comments on Fusenews: Gleep!, last added: 4/19/2012
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  Susan said, on 4/17/2012 3:28:00 AM
  

  One more site for lost books is abebooks.com…..they have a “booksleuth” section that works pretty much like whatsthatbook…it’s free too!

  Aaron said, on 4/17/2012 10:29:00 PM
  

  A little story about that Santorum book…

  The year: 2002. My good friend (and old college roommate) Sam was doing all the design, layout, and illustrations for Karen Santorum’s book “Everyday Graces.” The book is intended to be similar to The Book of Virtues, but organized around manners. So it’s a collection of stories… a chapter from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe leads into a short commentary about table manners. A chapter from Winnie the Pooh leads into a little discussion about the art of invitation writing. It’s all selections from classic stories like Frog and Toad, Little Women, and The Secret Garden.

  At the time, I am simply a graphic designer, but my friend Sam knows I’d love to write children’s books. So he tells me that since he’s putting the book together, he can slip in one of my stories. I send him a little nonsense story I’d written, and he even works up an illustration for it. So in the end, “Everyday Graces” contains 180 previously published works by folks like Robert Louis Stevenson, LM Montgomery, Lewis Carroll, Beatrix Potter… and a single, solitary original work by Aaron Zenz – snuck in at the last minute by his old college roommate.

  My first published writing.

  Kate Milford said, on 4/18/2012 12:52:00 PM
  

  My mom has a Holly Golightly Barbie. Does it count if the Barbie is obviously based on movie-Holly rather than book-Holly?

  http://i2.listal.com/image/2956694/400full.jpg

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 4/18/2012 2:15:00 PM
  

  Get. Out. Of. Town.

  Kate Milford said, on 4/18/2012 3:11:00 PM
  

  @Aaron–dude, that’s hilarious.

  Janette said, on 4/19/2012 5:34:00 AM
  

  I know I am a little behind in reading your posting but there was the long flight from London to SF and that awful thing called jet lag but I wanted to tell you I have a Curious George Barbie complete with George himself, though he is quite small. My first (and only) Barbie. And I met the real Barbie gal about 38 yrs ago when I worked for Mattel toy co. Didn’t get a Barbie then (or want one) until about 25 years later when I found C. G. Barbie. I might be a little old for dolls, but for George I made an exception.

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No picture available (the one on the left here is from a rather fabulous video) but word on the street has it that there’s to be a Hunger Games Barbie doll.  So there’s the expected outcry, of course, but I’m thinking this one through. First off, Barbies are the number one most tortured dolls in America by my count.  Every day is a Hunger Games day for your average Barbie.  Seems to me that G.I. Joe couldn’t handle the horrors Barbie has seen.  So with that in mind, sure.  Make her Katniss.  She’ll just end up bald in a toilet somewhere anyway.

• It’s Mad Men time again.  Have you been keeping up with what Sally Draper is reading?

• Alan Moore is one of the finest graphic novelists living today.  He also does a helluva duck quack.  Observe The March of the Sinister Ducks.

• Would librarians ever have to pay for the right to read a picture book aloud in storytime?  The Annoyed Librarian poses the question.

• Yay!  The Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist is up and running (and we have most of those titles here in the States).  Yay!  The Carnegie Medal shortlist is up and running (far fewer here in the States . . . what does that mean about the state of U.S. publishing?).

• Daily Image:

You know, if this New York Public Library gig doesn’t work out, at least I now know that there are street libraries willing to take me in.

Pity the pay’s so lousy.  Thanks to Mike Lewis for the link!

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‘American Idol’ winner Scotty McCreery made history this week (becoming the first country music star to ever have an album reach #1 on the Billboard 200 charts with his debut “Clear As Day.” Speaking of moments in music... Read the rest of this post

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For a while, it looked like cell phones were going to put watchmakers out of business (but Gen Y is developing a retro fondness for timepieces…though the analog versions are treated as accessories, and wearers most often check their phones for... Read the rest of this post

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Just finished a visit in Plasticville where Barbie, Ken and the always problematic, G.I. Joe, are back in business. The gang has gone through a lot including embarrassing social faux-pas', romantic situations, gun shots and related injuries, being relegated to boxes in a warehouse, but they have decided to forget the past and start anew.

Given the situation in which G.I. Joe refuses to reliniquish his weapon of choice, which includes taking it to bed while sharing sleeping quarters with Barbie, trouble is on the horizon. Then there's always Ken whose visit to the hearing specialist on Barbie's advice, has not proved helpful since he still hears people calling out: "surf's up!" The Australian visitor, Blain, has still not regained full consciousness and add the Bratz attempts to undermine Barbie's popularity, and you've gone some potential problems.

Never a dull momemnt in Plasticville and we'll all be there to share it.

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Clearly Snookie, the Situation, and the rest of the ‘Jersey Shore’ cast are, um, social creatures (but so are their show’s viewers. The premiere episode of season four broke all kinds of social viewing records, including the number... Read the rest of this post

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Actually shared life in Plasticville along with other pieces years back, but it was a lot of fun to write so I'm bringing it back to share again as a personal encore from myself. Will share more depending on the interest and could just add some new follow-ups.






BARBIE, KEN AND THE REST IN PLASTICVILLE: THE CONTINUING SAGA OF LIFE AMONG THE PLASTIC SET




SCENE:A PARTY AT A MALIBU BEACH HOUSE. THERE IS MUSIC IN THE AIR AND THROUGH THE PICTURE WINDOW, WE CAN SEE BARBIE AND HER FRIENDS DANCING ITUP (on tippy-toes). A CONVERTIBLE DRIVES UP AND KEN, DRESSED IN HIS USUAL SURFING GEAR, GETS OUT AND HIDES BEHIND BUSHES AND PEERS INSIDE. SUDDENLY, GI JOE HOLDING HIS EVER-PRESENT WEAPON LOOKS OUT A HUGE PICTURE WINDOW. THE DOOR OF THE BEACH HOUSE OPENS AND GI JOE STANDS AT THE DOORWAY.




GI JOE
Who's there? Is somebody hiding 'cause if you are and I catch you, I'll blast the living daylights...




(BARBIE JOINS GI JOE)


BARBIE
Oh Joe! Just stop it right now! You are like...soooo paranoid


GI JOE
Thanks! That's what everyone tells me


BARBIE
Please come in and close the door! You're like...embarrassing me in front of my friends


GI JOE
Them Bratz babes? Lemme tell you Barbie doll - they ain't your friends! You should hear what they say about you behind your back


BARBIE
You know I can't see or hear what's going on behind my back! I can't even turn my head without help...or even scratch an itch


GI JOE
Me neither...but I hear all of them whispe

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Actually shared life in Plasticville along with other pieces years back, but it was a lot of fun to write so I'm bringing it back to share again as a personal encore from myself. Will share more depending on the interest and could just add some new follow-ups.

SCENE:A PARTY AT A MALIBU BEACH HOUSE. THERE IS MUSIC IN THE AIR AND THROUGH THE PICTURE WINDOW, WE CAN SEE BARBIE AND HER FRIENDS DANCING IT UP (on tippy-toes). A CONVERTIBLE DRIVES UP AND KEN, DRESSED IN HIS USUAL SURFING GEAR, GETS OUT AND HIDES BEHIND BUSHES AND PEERS INSIDE. SUDDENLY, GI JOE HOLDING HIS EVER-PRESENT WEAPON LOOKS OUT A HUGE PICTURE WINDOW. THE DOOR OF THE BEACH HOUSE OPENS AND GI JOE STANDS AT THE DOORWAY.


GI JOE
Who's there? Is somebody hiding 'cause if you are and I catch you, I'll blast the living daylights...


BARBIE
Oh Joe! Just stop it right now! You are like...soooo paranoid

GI JOE
Thanks! That's what everyone tells me

BARBIE
Please come in and close the door! You're like...embarrassing me in front of my friends

GI JOE
Them Bratz babes? Lemme tell you Barbie doll - they ain't your friends! You should hear what they say about you behind your back

BARBIE
You know I can't see or hear what's going on behind my back! I can't even turn my head without help...or even scratch an itch

GI JOE
Me neither...but I hear all of them whispering

BARBIE
Oh plleeze! You see plots everywhere! I can't find any kitchen help because you insist on frisking the help every five minutes

GI JOE
Hey - me and the pool guy are close friends now

BARBIE
I heard...very close friends

GI JOE
Ssssh....hear that?

BARBIE
What? I don't hear anything

GI JOEWell I do! I'm trained to hear. My ears are a lethal weapon

BARBIE
So is your brain

GI JOE
Thank you! Love 'ya babe! Uh-oh! There's somebody hiding somewhere!

BARBIE
It's probably just Paris Hilton's dog in heat again. The dog is always hot for my chiuahua, Mimi.

GI JOE
No - it's a human...and...it's hiding somewhere....over there!(


GI JOE
Whoever is in there better show your face or I'm gonna shoot first and ask questions later. Wait a minute... I'm gonna ask questions and then shoot later... Something like that


KEN
Don't shoot! It's me, Joe! Ken! Remember? Our fun games at my beach house? I dress up like nurse and you...

GI JOE
Yeah...I remember. My soldier senses tell me that you're... an enemy! Sorry but I gotta blast you, Kenny boy

KEN
No! I swear! I'm a friend!

BARBIE
Ken? Is that you? How many more times do I have to tell you that we're through?

GI JOE
'ya want me to shoot him, babe? 'Cause I can! Just say the word!

KEN
No! You can't shoot me because...because...

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The Grammys (grabbed its youngest TV audience since 2004 as young fans tuned in to watch performances by Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Beliebers thought their teen idol was robbed of an award, losing to Esperanza Spalding in the Best New Artist... Read the rest of this post

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Images of people about to die surface repeatedly in the news and their appearance raises questions: What equips an image to deliver the news; how much does the public need to know to make sense of what they see; and what do these images contribute to historical memory? These images call on us to rethink both journalism and its public response, and in so doing they suggest both an alternative voice in the news – a subjunctive voice of the visual that pushes the ‘as if’ of news over its ‘as is’ dimensions – and an alternative mode of public engagement with journalism – an engagement fueled not by reason and understanding but by imagination and emotion.

In About to Die: How News Images Move the Public, Barbie Zelizer suggests that a different kind of news relay, producing a different kind of public response, has settled into our information environment.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video is posted courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication (c) 2010.

Barbie Zelizer is Raymond Williams Chair of Communication and the Director of the Scholars Program in Culture and Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the editor of several collections and the author of Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory through the Camera’s Eye, Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the Shaping of Collective Memory, and most recently About to Die: How News Images Move the Public.

If you’d like to learn more, you can watch Zelizer’s lecture from this December at McNally Jackson Books.

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'Captain America' (a.k.a. star Chris Evans decked out in his red, white and blue costume graces the cover of Entertainment Weekly, giving fans a first look at the big budget Marvel adaptation coming to theaters this summer) - Vevo 'not trying to be... Read the rest of this post

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The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us by Tanya Lee Stone is now available. Love her or hate her, you can't deny the impact Barbie has had on the world. This book offers quotes and anecdotes from many people, myself included. (Thank you, Tanya!) Here's the official book flap summary:

Barbie just might be the most famous doll in the world. She's represented fifty different nationalities. She's stepped into the always-fashionable shoes of more than one hundred careers. She has been played with, studied, celebrated, and vilified for more than fifty years. And she has unquestionably influenced generations of girls - whether that influence has been positive or negative depends on who you ask.

When award-winning author Tanya Lee Stone started asking girls, boys, men, and women how they feel about Barbie, the first thing she discovered is how passionate people are about her. Here are a few things they said:

"Barbie is really only a reflection of the girl holding her. My generation of 'Barbie girls' is now entering the world and we seem to be doing just fine." -- Sara, age 17

"Barbie, I hate you!" -- Luci, age 15

"How Barbie looked was never the issue. Not to the girls who loved her. It was what she taught us that mattered. And what she taught us was that, like Barbie, we could be anything we wanted to be." -- Meg Cabot

"Barbie has been the #1 most destructive force on the self-image of women all over the globe!" -- Dr. Carole Lieberman

The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie is part biography - both of the doll and of her inventor, Ruth Handler - and part exploration of the cultural phenomenon that is Barbie. Filled with personal anecdotes, memories, and opinions from people of all ages, and featuring original color and black and white photographs, this book is for anyone who understands that we're all living in a Barbie world.

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'Green Lantern' heats up Comic-Con (and the cover of a special preview edition of Entertainment Weekly. Also Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up for a remake of vampire soap opera "Dark Shadows." Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Author Seth... Read the rest of this post

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Being an independent, self-actualized, card-carrying feminist, I banned the Barbie. When my first daughter was born, I placed an embargo on the minx from Mattel, instructing family and friends not to consider eleven plastic inches of skewed body image appropriate for gift-giving occasions. Given the personalities of the people in my life and gene pool, this was really just a challenge. I might as well have waved a red, Barbie-covered flag to incite them to purchase. Before she was two years old, Keilana had an entire Rubbermaid tub filled with Barbie, her sisters, her friends, and their clothes, toys, and various accessories. None of which was purchased by me. So pervasive is her influence that it is fruitless to fight the Barbie battle--she is everywhere. In addition to a universe of dolls and their stuff, there are Barbie toothbrushes, board games, laptops, and legions of miniature bras for little girls who can only aspire to falling short of measuring up. Since you cannot fight the Barbie tide, and Scarlett is my third daughter, I have redirected my efforts into raising my daughters’ awareness of who they can become rather than who (God willing) they will never be. Since Barbie is such a heavily-marketed pink-butterflies-and-purple-unicorns temptress, it is no surprise that, in our book-finding trip to the thrift store, Scarlett would be magnetically drawn to Sue Kassirer’s Barbie Sleeping Beauty in all its cotton candy-colored splendor. After all, Barbie’s kind of like the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/2194851?wmlspartner=GPA&sourceid=44444444440069217841

http://www.jacketflap.com/persondetail.asp?person=147462

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HBO brings 'Funny or Die' to TV (Plus The CW renews "Gossip Girl," "The Vampire Diaries," "90210," "Supernatural" and "America's Next Top Model." And Nick renews its game show "Brain Surge." Also the new MTV series "My Life as Liz" is revealed... Read the rest of this post

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Green jeans (as part of an effort to encourage reuse, Levi's adds a "donate to Goodwill" icon to their clothing’s care tags. Plus American Eagle launches a kids line) (PSFK) (MediaPost, reg. required) - New brands, latest tech, hybrids (is what... Read the rest of this post

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North Face becomes 'butt' of the joke (in a teen's parody apparel line. Now the brand is suing for trademark infringement. Plus American Apparel lay offs affect more than a quarter of its factory work force) (ABC News) (WSJ) - Cyberbullying... Read the rest of this post

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Barbie goes viral (with the premiere of a music video on YouTube to support the upcoming launch of Mattel's new Barbie Fashionistas doll line. Plus KidRobot promotes its designer toys with QR codes ) (Examiner) (MediaPost, reg. required) - Disney... Read the rest of this post

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