How to use this Page

• Some me stuff to start us off.  NYPL turned its handy dandy little 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2014 list into an interactive bit of gorgeousness.  So as to help it along, I wrote a blog post on the library’s website (I have two blogs, if you want to get technical about it, but only one of them has my heart) with the following clickbait title: They Put THAT Into a Book for Kids?!  Forgive me, oh blogging gods.  I couldn’t help it.  It was too much fun to write.  Oh, and while we’re on the NYPL blogs, I really enjoyed Andrea Lipinski’s post about our old (and I mean OLD) Books for the Teen Age lists.  How can you resist this cover, after all?

• Recently I was alerted to two older but really fascinating links regarding ARCs (Advanced Readers Galleys) and their procurement and use in the book world.  Over at Stacked Books one post discussed the current state of handing out galleys at large national conferences like ALA.  The other one took the time to poll people on how they use their ARCs and what they do with them.  Both make for magnificent reading.  Thanks to Charlotte Taylor for the links.

• It’s sort of nice when our reference librarians, both past and present, get a little acknowledgment for the super difficult questions they have to field.  Boing Boing recently related a piece on some of the crazier questions the adult reference librarians have to field.  Children’s librarians get some out there ones as well, but nothing quite compares to these.

• Ah. It’s the end of an era, everyone.  In case you hadn’t heard the ccbc-net listserv has closed its doors (so to speak) for the last time.  Now if you’re looking for children’s literary listservs you’ve PUB-YAC and child_lit.  Not much else to read these days, I’m afraid.  Except bloggers, I suppose.  *irony laden shudder*

• In happier news there are book finalists popping up like wildflowers.  Cybils on the left!  Nerdies on the right!  Something to tide us over until the ALA Media Awards, at any rate.

• In the meantime, if you’re looking for a compilation of all the Best Children’s Books of 2014 lists out there, Susan Thompsen has pretty much been creating them single-handedly for I don’t know how many years now.  Times changes.  Blogs come and go.  But Chicken Spaghetti?  It’s forever, man.

• One thing I learned about writing Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta?  It’s simple.  Heirs = good.  Estates = headaches.  And the recent piece Rosenbach contests Sendak value just backs me up on this one.

• I was over at Monica Edinger’s apartment the other day when she showed me this little beauty:

She’d already blogged a quickie review of it, so when the news came in that it won a UK Costa Award I had the odd sensation of being, if only momentarily, inside the British book loop.  And if you looked at that cover and thought to yourself, “Gee, that sure looks like a WWI sequel to E. Nesbit’s Five Children and It” you’re sort of right on the money.

• So I’m prepping my branches for some hardcore Día programs (El día de los niños/El día de los libros or Children’s Day/Book Day) by buying them lots of Día books.  I go on the Día website to order off of the book lists they have there, and what do I find?  Some of the coolest most up-to-date STEM/STEAM booklists I have EVER had the pleasure to see.  They’re so good, in fact, that I had to alert you to them.  If you’re looking for STEM/STEAM fare, search no further.

• Daily Image:

Pretty much off-topic but while strolling through Bryant Park behind the main library for NYPL, my boss and I came across the fountain back there.  Apparently when the temperatures plunge they figure it’s better to keep it running rather than risk bursting the pipes.  Whatever the reason, it now looks like this:

Add a Comment

A teetering tower of titles

My collection of paperback galleys is reaching critical mass.   Worst thing?  I can't stop myself from clicking on the "Click here to receive a free galley" buttons. 

What's left of my BEA stash!

And then there are the e-galleys.  But we are not really talking about them right now.

I am prepared to part with the following galleys:
The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron
Safekeeping by Karen Hesse
The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty
The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee (The Agency #3)
AND This is the piece de resistance!
 a NON-galley HARD BACK copy of The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison.
These are all Young Adult novels and I have read and enjoyed them, each and every one.  So the books are "lightly used".
BTW, these books are now available for sale in your bookstore.  But the store won't send them to you for nothing!!!

Expect a review of Safekeeping by Karen Hesse tomorrow.  And I apologize for not reviewing The Inquisitor's Apprentice.  I know it made my booklists for a number of review sessions.  It is an awesome book.

SO HOW DO YOU WIN????  Simple.  Post a comment on this blog asking to win.  You get another entry if you share this post on Facebook and come back and comment by saying Shared! or some such thing.  Please use an identifiable user name somewhere in your comment.  If you already belong to Blogger, no worries.  I will put all entrants' usernames into the Chobani Oracle Cup and Announce the Winner (and request an email with mailing address) on Wednesday, Sept. 19th.  The Deadline is Monday, September 17th at 11:59 pm. 

Display Comments Add a Comment

Starting this winter, Penguin Group (USA) will distribute review copies through NetGalley–a digital option for book reviewers.

Penguin can now invite reviewers, media contacts, and other professional readers to access digital galleys (some in full color) and promotional materials. NetGalley works on both computers and eReading devices (including Nook, Kobo, Sony eReader, and iPad).

According to the release, 85 publishers currently use NetGalley and its services. Some of those publishers include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Hachette Book Group, and HarperCollins Publishers.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Add a Comment

It’s BEA week (check this out for an overview of the conference if you’re not familiar with it) which means that some of us are at the Javitz Center checking out publishers’ exhibits, schmoozing with authors who are in from out of town, and loading up free tote bags with galleys of books that are already generating buzz.

For me, the point of BEA has always been collecting those galleys. Invariably, I find myself walking the huge expanse of the Javitz arena ridiculously bogged down by the weight of too many of these advanced readers copies only to realize when I leave the building that getting from 11th Avenue to civilization requires a very long walk to the nearest subway or an endless wait for a cab. No matter. It’s still a thrill to read something in this vulnerable, unfinished format (complete with typos and mostly exaggerated promotional information on the back cover) and then watch the published book race up the bestseller lists, win a huge prize, or both.

I just came across this old piece from New York magazine and was delighted to see how many of those galleys I’d picked up at the 2007 BEA went on to gaudy sales and great acclaim.

Are any of you attending BEA this year? What galleys are you walking away with?

Display Comments Add a Comment

Have you heard about the flooding in Tennessee? At least 30 dead, more than a billion dollars in damage, and a potentially crippling blow to a local economy dependent on tourism. I haven't seen much coverage of it—except blogs lamenting that the lack of media attention hinders disaster relief fundraising efforts—and some people here weren't aware of it at all when I mentioned it.

It's actually due to Facebook that I really know the extent of the damage and need for relief. One of my closest friends grew up in Murfreesboro, a city in Nashville's orbit, and I took a trip down there to stay with her family and help her move back to college just before our sophomore year. Her family, who I know well, still lives there. One of my clearest memories of my visit to Nashville is the lovely Cumberland River—now wreaking havoc—and how much a part of the downtown landscape it is. (The other is that Rachel ordered a veggie burger when we had lunch at the NASCAR Café, which was frankly delightful.)

With so much need, I was happy to stumble across the Do the Write Thing for Nashville auction being run by authors Victoria Schwab, Amanda Morgan, and Myra McEntire. They're auctioning off some amazing items that anyone reading this blog should appreciate—galleys, critiques, etc—so head on over and check out their wares! And if you want to offer them something to auction, take a look here.

Keep an eye out for the DGLM auction item on day 5: a batch of galleys by our clients!

Now I'm off to figure out what I want to bid on!

Display Comments Add a Comment

Baseball season is still months away (71 days till pitchers and catchers, but who's counting?) And before it returns, look out for this gorgeous picture book biography of the enigmatic lefty Sandy Koufax. Now, you can't tell from the image here, but the front cover is one of those animated pictures that, when you move it about, looks like it's live action. Anyone opening the book is going to get

Display Comments Add a Comment

I seem to have been inundated with picture books for review over the past few weeks. Just like buses...you wait, and wait, and wait for one to arrive, and then as soon as you light a cigarette, three arrive at once. I don't actually smoke, but I have seen this theory in action, and it's true! Anyways, I've been fortunate enough to get some good ones in this recent batch and can proudly recommend:

Mr. Pusskins and Little Whiskers: another love story by Sam Lloyd
Gorgonzola: a Very Stinkysaurus by Margie Palatini and Tim Bowers, illus.
Max's Bunny Business by Rosemary Wells

There's always room for more in the Great Fictional Cats cannon (Rotten Ralph, Samson the Church Cat, Jenny Linsky, Henry the Siamese, Slinki Malinki--I could go on and on) so make space for Mr. Pusskins! His books beg the question "just where are the grown-ups?" but in the end, who cares? Mr. Pusskins is the star with Emily as his adoring friend. And now he has a new devotee, the mischievous kitten Little Whiskers.

Gorgonzola is the stinkiest dinosaur this side of the Mesozoic Era, but it's nothing a few well-placed words and a toothbrush can't fix. This "message" book about personal hygiene is funny and clever with fantastic cartoon illustrations and a few choice puns as well. Dinosaurs and B.O.--a great combination!

Max's Bunny Business is really here as an honorable mention, simply because it involves the venerable Max and Ruby who seem to have the same adventure over and over again: Ruby, industrious and focused, is sidetracked by Max, who just wants a set of vampire teeth/chocolate chicken/sparkle ring. Fortunately, they still amuse. And just who's side is Grandma on anyways? After all these years, I still can't tell.

All of these books are available May 2008.

Add a Comment

Do you know that a ramscoop is “an electromagnetic field at the front of a spaceship that captures interstellar hydrogen to be used as fuel for a fusion-powered space drive?” Or that a timecop is “a time-traveler who attempts to prevent the past from being changed, typically as an agent of an organization?”These words, and many more, can be found in the Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction edited by Jeff Prucher. Prucher’s entertaining entries are a window to the entire science fiction genre, through the words invented and passed along throughout the years. Below we excerpt a sidebar entry on Expletives and Profanity. (more…)

Share This

Add a Comment