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By:
Betsy Bird,
on 5/22/2016
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I’ve done it again. Delayed my Fusenews too long and now this post is going to overflow with too much good stuff. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.
Me stuff for the start. And in fact, there just so much Me Stuff today that I’m just going to cram it all into this little paragraph here and be done with it. To begin, for the very first time my book Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Chidren’s Literature (co-written with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta) was cited in an article. Notably, a piece in The Atlantic entitled Frog and Toad and the Self. Woot! In other news I’m judging a brand new picture book award. It’s the Hallmark Great Stories Award. Did you or someone you know produce a picture book in 2016 on the topic of “togetherness and community”? Well $10,000 smackers could be yours. In terms of seeing me talk, I’m reading my picture book (and more) at the Printer’s Row Lit Fest on June 11th. If you’re in the Chicago area and ever wanted to see me in blue furry leg warmers, now your chance has come here. Finally, during Book Expo I managed to coerce Hyperion Books into handing me three of their most delicious authors (Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Eoin Colfer) so that I could feed them to WGN Radio. You can hear our talk here, if you like. And check out how cute we all are:
Colfer, for what it is worth, is exceedingly comfortable. I highly recommend that should you see him you just glom onto him for long periods of time. Like a sticky burr. He also apparently has an Artemis Fowl movie in the works (for real this time!) and you’ll never guess who the director might be.
This is interesting. Not too long ago children’s book author C. Alex London wrote a piece for BuzzFeed called Why I Came Out As a Gay Children’s Book Author. It got a lot of attention and praise. Then, earlier this month, Pseudonymous Bosch wrote a kind of companion piece in the New York Times Book Review. Also Known As tackles not just his reasons for a nom de plume (skillfully avoiding any and all mentions of Lemony Snicket, I could not help but notice) but also how this relates to his life as a gay children’s book author.
Hey, full credit to The New Yorker for this great recentish piece on weeding a collection and the glory that is Awful Library Books. My sole regret is that I never let them know when I weeded this guy:
The copyright page said 1994, but I think we know better. Thanks to Don Citarella for the link.
Cool. The publisher Lee & Low has just released the winner of the New Visions Writing Contest, now in its third year. Congrats to Supriya Kelkar for her win!
New Podcast Alert: With podcasting being so popular these days, I do regret that my sole foray into the form has pretty much disappeared from the face of the globe. Fortunately there are talented folks to listen to instead, including the folks at Loud in the Library. Teacher librarians Chris Patrick and Tracy Chrenka from Grand Rapids, MI (homestate pride!) get the big names, from picture books illustrators to YA writers. Listen up!
New Blog Alert: The press release from SLJ sounded simple. “SLJ is pleased to welcome The Classroom Bookshelf to our blog network. In its sixth year, the Bookshelf features a weekly post about a recently published children’s book, including a lesson plan and related resources.” Then I made a mistake. I decided to look at the site. Jaw hit floor at a fast and furious rate leaving a dent in the linoleum. Contributors Randy Heller, Mary Ann Cappiello, Grace Enriquez, Katie Cunningham, and Erika Thulin Dawes (all professors at Lesley University’s outstanding school of ed.), I salute you. If I ever stop writing my own reviews, you’ll know why.
This:
This one’s just for the New Yorkers. I’m sure you already saw this New Yorker paean to the Mid-Manhattan library, but just in case you didn’t it’s here, “unruly pleasures” and all.
For whatever reason, PW Children’s Bookshelf always goes to my “Promotions” folder on Gmail, so I assume they already mentioned this article. Just in case they didn’t, though, I sort of love that The Atlantic (second time mentioned today!) wrote an ode to Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Thanks to Kate for the link.
Now some Bookshare info. The idea of providing free ebooks for kids with print disabilities is a good one. And, as it happens, not a new one. Bookshare, an online accessible library, just added its 400,000th title to its collection and boy are they proud. Free for all U.S. students with qualifying print disabilities and U.S. schools, they’ve a blog you might want to read, and they service kids with blindness, low vision, dyslexia, and physical disabilities.
Daily Image:
You probably heard that Neil Patrick Harris will be playing Count Olaf in the upcoming Netflix series of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Now we have photographic proof.
I wonder if Brett Helquist ever marvels at how much power his art has had over these various cinematic incarnations. The lack of socks is a particularly accurate touch.
Marvel Press has announced plans for five young adult and middle grade projects. These novels will be published throughout the year 2016.
According to the press release, Margaret Stohl, best known as the co-creator of the Beautiful Creatures series, has signed on to write a new story starring Natasha Romanov entitled Black Widow: Red Vengeance. It will serve as a sequel to the previously released Black Widow: Forever Red. Tom Angleberger, best known for the Origami Yoda series, will work on a story starring Rocket Raccoon and Groot entitled Rocket & Groot: Stranded on the Planet Strip Mall.
Eoin Colfer, best known for the Artemis Fowl series, will write a story starring Iron Man (a.k.a. Tony Stark). Shannon Hale, best known for the Princess Academy series, and her husband Dean will collaborate on two books. One will star Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Carol Danvers) and the other will shine the spotlight on Squirrel Girl (a.k.a. Doreen Green).
In June this year Eoin Colfer, our brilliant Children’s Laureate, visited the St Catherine’s (aka Wetlands) halting site homework club in Kilkenny. He had put out a call at the start of his Laureateship asking people to send in requests for places to visit on a proposed storytelling tour. I sent one in asking him to come to Wetlands and, happily, he agreed.
The age range of the children he told stories to was quite wide but he kept them perfectly enthralled. The week after his visit one of the Homework Club workers asked young Rocky whether he could tell him the story that Eoin had told them. He recounted it back to him almost word perfect. It was that kind of story.
Peter Salisbury was down with his camera, Nessa Mahoney organised everything in her inimitable style (!) and Eoin’s friend Chris was there recording the event for a podcast. In addition Irish Traveller TV sent a camerawoman there to record the event. An interesting outfit, a volunteer based production and website group dedicated to improving the image of Travellers and Gipsies in Ireland today. Their website is here.
I sat and watched and wondered at the ability Eoin has to tell an engrossing story about something small and everyday. All the elements were there – plot, tension, characters, mighty dialogue, humour (and more humour) and, of course, the essential nappy and a few embellishments. The images he created in the story are as clear in my mind today as they were the day he told them. And the same goes for the children. That’s a gift.
I volunteer at the homework club once a week and have learnt a lot from being there. Great work being done by the full time staff who run it and by the children themselves. St. Catherine’s Halting Site has been a temporary halting site for thirty years. This year houses are being built there. The Father McGrath centre produced a report on the living conditions at the site from a Children’s Rights Perspective. It can be viewed here
This post is really just by way of thank you to Eoin, to Nessa, to Peter, Chris and CBI who all made the visit possible. To the community at Wetlands who welcomed them with open arms. To Micky, Emmet, Rocky and Claire who run the Homework Club and do such fantastic work there. And especially to the children who listened to the story and told Eoin some stories of their own!
One of the main characters in Eoin Colfer's The Reluctant Assassin (Disney-Hyperion, 2013) is a 16 year old girl named Chevron Savano who is kind-of-sort-of an FBI agent (p. 21-22):
At five foot six she was a little short for an FBI agent, but she was lithe and fast, with a delicate oval face and the glossy black hair typical of Native Americans.
That "glossy black hair" that is "typical" of Native people? Well.... it is typical of the stereotypical image of Native people. As such, it is our first clue that Colfer's character is, well, a bit more of a white man's Indian than a real Native person.
When Chevie first meets Riley, the other main character (he isn't Native), he looks at her and says (p. 46):
'Miss,' said Riley. 'Have I come to rest in a travelling Wild West Show? You appear to be a savage Injun.'
Chevie glared down at the boy, along the sights of her weapon. 'We don't use the term savage Injun any more. Some people take issue with being described as savages. Go figure.'
In the story, Riley has time-traveled from 1898, London, to present-day London. He apparently looks at Chevie's glossy black hair and thinks he's landed in a Wild West Show and that she's a "savage Injun." Those Wild West Shows did, in fact, tour England, starting in 1887. But what to make of Chevie saying 'Go figure' to people taking issue with being described as savages? Don't we generally use "go figure" to dismiss something we think is a waste of time? Who, I wonder, is speaking at that point? The character, Chevie? Maybe, but I kind of think 'go figure' is coming from the author himself.
Riley continues:
'I saw Buffalo Bill's Extravaganza a while back. You have the look of an Apache.'
Chevie half-smiled. 'Shawnee, if you have a burning need to know.
I'm a bit puzzled by Riley thinking Chevie was Apache. In the Buffalo Bill shows, the Indians were Lakota.
A bit further on, Chevie tells Riley a bit more about herself (p. 188):
'My mom and dad grew up on the Shawnee reservation in Oklahoma. They call it trust land these days. As soon as my dad could afford a motorbike, my mom hopped on the back and they took off across the country. Got married in Vegas and settled in California. I came along a while later, and Dad told me that things were just about perfect for a couple of years until Mom was killed by a black bear over in La Verne.' Chevie shook her head as if she still could not accept this face. 'Can you believe that? A Native American on a camping trip killed by a bear. Dad never got over it. Oh, we were happy enough, I guess. But he drank a lot. When love dies, he told me, there are no survivors.'
There's a lot to say about that paragraph.
- What "Shawnee reservation" is Chevie talking about? There are three federally recognized Shawnee tribal nations in Oklahoma: the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the Shawnee Tribe, and, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe.
- That said, "reservation" gives me pause, too. Chevie is 16. Doing some math based on the publication year for The Reluctant Assassin, I think we'd be in the 1960s or 1970s when Chevie's parents were growing up. But, tribes in Oklahoma went through allotment. Their reservations ceased to exist as reservations in the late 1800s. What, I wonder, is Chevie/Colfer talking about when he says "reservation"?
- But, Chevie tells us, they don't call it that anymore. Now, they call it "trust land." Colfer is taking us into federal law that is hard to understand. I like that he's trying, but it muddies things up more than is helpful. Before allotment, the Shawnee Tribe had been incorporated into the Cherokee Nation, but had maintained their identity as Shawnees. In 2000, the U.S. Congress, working with the Cherokee Nation and the Shawnee Tribe, restored the Shawnee Nation to its status as a distinct entity. The document about it includes "trust land" and "trust responsibility" in it, and I suspect that is where Colfer got "trust land" from. It doesn't ring true for me to hear Chevie say that they call it trust land now, but I'll ask friends who are Shawnee and see what they say.
- Why does Chevie expresses disbelief that a Native American would get killed by a bear on a camping trip? Is it because Native people are supposed to be one-with-the-animals? Or, because Native people would know how to defend themselves from animals in the wild? Either one is a stereotypical framework.
- Chevie's dad drinks. Is that a drunken Indian stereotype? Or just a grieving husband like many who turn to alcohol to self-medicate? My hope is that Colfer had the latter one in mind, but to a Native reader, the first one stands out as that drunken Indian stereotype.
I think
The Reluctant Assassin is the kind of story people clamor for. By that, I mean the people who want diversity but don't want that diversity not to be a factor in the story. A story where the characters are racially diverse, but that the story isn't about racial issues. I understand that desire, but it makes me bristle. Imagine a conversation where a white mother is sitting with me, a Native mother, and the white mother is saying, without saying, "I don't want to know about what the Catholics did to the pueblos, and, I don't want to hear about the pueblos fights for their water rights, either. Just be my friend." Am I being reductive? Unfair? Maybe.
It would be cool for a Shawnee kid to read a story like
The Reluctant Assassin, IF the Shawnee parts were accurate. When stereotypes are there instead, though, it kind of ruins the magic for that Shawnee reader, or for any reader who knows a bit about Shawnees or Native peoples. Its kind of like Colfer didn't imagine that a Shawnee kid might read this book. I'm sure Colfer meant well. Writers do. But I think their work would be even better if they had Native readers in mind, too, when they created their stories and characters.
The Relucant Assassin is not that story. Chevie's name... there's a story behind it. This is at the end of the book.
Early in the book, Chevie told Riley that the tattoo she has (of a chevron) is the same one men in her family have had going back to Tecumseh. It marks them as warriors. Turns out not to be true, though. Her dad told her that story, and she believed it. Later, she learned that her dad worked at a Chevron gas station. He got his tattoo just to annoy a guy who owned a Texaco gas station. Here's that conversation. Riley says (p. 331):
"So, no noble warrior?"
"No. And I based my whole life on that story, got the tattoo, told anyone who would listen, became an agent. Last year I meet the Texaco guy, who is broken up that my pop died, and he tells me the truth. I am named after a gas station."
That is a kick in the gut. In pop culture, people have a grand time fooling around with Native names. It is perverse to see it in this story, coming from a character that is supposed to be Native. Definitely not recommending
The Reluctant Assassin.
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 6/29/2014
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No time to dilly-dally, people! We’ve most of our peers and betters living it up in Las Vegas. Let’s soothe our sorrows of not attending ourselves in some lovely videos then, eh whot?
First off, you may have known that there was a recent Boston Children’s Book Trivia Night. But did you know there was video from the event as well? Indeedy. Just LOOK at that turnout! That’s Jack Gantos moderating. The only trouble with this vid is that it doesn’t contain the answer to his trivia question. Um . . . anyone want to tell it to me?
In other news, Eoin Colfer. Not that his existence is news exactly. It’s just worth making your day brighter to watch him talk a little about . . . well, pretty much anything. In this case, on getting a literary agent. Granted, he looks a bit like a great big blue floating head, but I care not.
In movie news, The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex is finally finding itself in film form. Retitled Home, it has made some interesting changes. The title, for one. J-Lo is now just O. And Tip is a teenager (one suspects the film executives thought kids would start picking up their own parents’ car keys if they saw a kid in a movie driving). We shall see.
Awwww. A Harry Potter rap! It’s never too late folks (and note the complete and utter lack of snark in the lyrics).
Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.
And for our off-topic video, this one actually mentions Hagrid at one point (continuing our Harry Potter theme). So we’re awfully close to being on-topic. It’s one woman, seventeen different British accents, and one rocking pair of fantastically 1985 glasses.
This weekend Children´s Books Ireland are holding their 24th annual conference at the Light House Cinema in Dublin with a glittering array of national and international speakers. It will kick off with the inaugural address of the new Irish Children´s Laureate, Laureate na nóg, Eoin Colfer. The conference has always been a stimulating and inspiring and fun highlight of the year for writers, illustrators, booksellers, teachers, librarians and all lovers of children´s literature.
This year the chosen theme, the F word: Failure - is intriguing. The programme says they are inviting writers “to reflect on the times in their careers where things have fallen apart, deadlines went out the window and defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.” What do you do when you are turned down by agent after agent? How do you get past the fear of failure? How do you keep going if your books are no longer finding a publisher (perhaps after years of regular commissions)? And how do you find the true grit and determination to turn the failures into triumphs, to keep going when no one actually has asked you to write in the first place? Will a book award pave the way automatically to a successful and lasting career? No doubt there will be many thoughtful discussions and a lot of laughs too. I am terribly sorry that I am so “scattered” that I will not be there.
At times when my work in progress gets stuck or I am failing to meet a deadline, I sometimes look to the wisdom of other writers and the many lists of tips and advice out there. But the one I find the wisest and the most entertaining is Anne Lamont´s timeless advice in her book “Bird by Bird”:
Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
Bird by bird – that´s the way to do it. Just write the next sentence and carry on until you have finished.
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 5/11/2014
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I’ll confess to you that I think I just discovered the secret to Video Sunday. If I “Favorite” videos I see in Twitter throughout the week I end up having a MUCH stronger series than if I’d just scouted them out on my own. Phew! Happy to know there’s a secret there.
Now in the event that someone should ask you “Who is the children’s book equivalent of John Green?” in terms of on-air personality and verve and downright caring, the answer is clear. YA, you can keep you Green. Jonathan Auxier is our man, as this video CLEARLY shows. I like his style.
Best of all, this reminded me a bit of the David Maybury video along similar lines which . . . oh, what the heck. Enjoy that too!
Reviews!! from David Maybury on Vimeo.
Folks, you may not know it but the newest Irish Children’s Laureate na nÓg is none other Eoin Colfer. This is good. He’s one of those folks you should do anything to see if he’s speaking in your general geographic area. This video gives a hint of that, but it’s a pretty good look at the man himself.
Suddenly I’m thinking . . . what if the National Ambassador of Children’s Book Literature and the Irish Children’s Laureate na nÓg went on tour together? Someone in the universe with more power than me, get on that.
This is pretty lovely. It’s a look at Luke Pearson, the creator of those great Hilda graphic novels. Pearson is sort of what one would imagine a British graphic novelist to be. Introverted in all the right ways.
Luke Pearson from Nobrow Ltd on Vimeo.
I’d never thought of the Moomin influence on the Hilda books, but now that I see it it’s unavoidable. Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link!
Okay, let’s get some librarians into this mix. Maybe it’s because I’m pregnant (11 days to go!) but this seriously made me tear up a bit. Partly because I used to work in St. Paul with a fair number of Hmong and Somalia immigrants (I was with a refrigeration company . . . long story). But this is just the kind of thing libraries should be making all the time, and it’s beautifully created and edited.
Thanks to AL Direct for the link.
More, libraries! MORE! My library. I walked in on them doing a lot of the shots of this video last month. Plus it features Leonard Marcus talking about his exhibit (up until September for free here in NYC!!) and I know that a lot of you folks haven’t had a chance to hear him speak in person. This video is specifically about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Plus you get shots of the exhibit. Win-win!
Off-Topic Video:
Well, this probably isn’t workplace friendly since it does show live octopus sex. But I’d seen other videos in this series before, but I think this one is definitely my favorite. The faux Morgan Freeman voice is good and the info is actually surprisingly factual. Lots of stuff I didn’t know AND there’s a Charlotte’s Web reference about a minute from the end, along with speculation on which sea creature would write the worst type of children’s book.
Full credit to Gregory K for finding this link!
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By:
Linda Strachan,
on 8/16/2012
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Despite the almost continuous rain earlier in the summer last Saturday when the
Edinburgh International Book Festival 2012 opened its doors the sun shone and it was glorious. People were sitting all around the lovely square in Charlotte Gardens chatting reading books,eating ice cream, enjoying the atmosphere and people watching - trying to spot their favourite author.
On the walkways there was a buzz as people rushed to join the queue for an event or strolled by to browse in the bookshops or cafes.
It is my favourite time of the year. A chance to catch up with lots of friends, writers from all parts of the country, to meet new people and to go to listen, laugh and be fascinated by the skill and imagination of the speakers.
In the famous authors' yurt, (green room) the great and the good, famous, not so famous and the first time authors gather before or after events. As the festival lasts for over two weeks and has something like 800 authors from all over the world, there are always new people to meet. This year sees the festival holding the 2012-2013 Edinburgh World Writers Conference, with special events looking at the role of literature around the world today.
On Saturday I caught up with other authors many of them SASsies - Nicola Morgan, Cathy MacPhail, Eleanor Updale, Elizabeth Laird, Julia Donaldson and Moira Munro, Keith Charters and crime writer Alex Gray. it is a place for families and I also met the Bookwitch and her daughter, and Mary and Gerry (the Mole) from Ourbookreviews and their lovely daughter.
I went into listen to the brothers Scarrow, Simon and Alex, both highly successful authors who decided that they might share some characters! So Alex was able to bring two of his brother's well loved Roman characters into his own book set in Rome.
The event was great fun with teams of three chosen from the young audience brought up to compete in a history quiz. Lots of fun and cheering ensued.
Monday the sun was still shining and I met up with Barry Hutchison and I went into the event on his new book the 13th Horseman, which made me realise just how much fun you can have with your characters!
Barry, along with Sally Gardner and Steven Butler were understandably nervous about an event called Story Consequences. Vivian French was the excellent chair person (and had control of the bell!) in an event where the three other writers were invited to start a story (character, place and emotion suggested by the audience) and keep it going for 30 seconds until the bell rang signalling that they had to pass it on to the next person, and so on.
Despite their reservations it was a riotous success and by the end of the event three very different, if slightly strange, stories had come to life. The audience got behind the authors cheering them on, and everyone had a great time.
It occurred to me that this might be an interesting challenge to try in the future, for writers, aspiring writers and in creative writing sessions with young people, too.
 |
| Story Consequences event |
This week also saw the Society of Authors in Scotland (SOAiS) AGM and lunch when we welcomed some new committee members Cathy MacPhail, Gillian Philip and Michael Malone and our new Scottish (SOAiS) chair Lin Anderson. It was also a pleasure get the chance to chat to the new Chair of the Society of Authors who had travelled up from London - Lindsey Davis.
I had a lovely surprise when dropping in to the yurt to find Keren David there, who introduced me to Amy Plum, a YA author who is American living in Paris and will be speaking at the book festival next week.
I will be appearing in the book festival this Sunday when I will be reading as part of the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series on Freedom of Speech when I read Nasrin Sotoudeh.'s poignant letter to her daughter.
On Friday 24th I am looking forward to delivering my workshop 'So you want to write for Children?'.
On the following Tuesday, after the main bookfest closes there is the School Gala Day when Charlotte Square is closed to the general public and bus loads of school children fill the square to attend events with their favourite authors.
 |
| Sally J Collins |
I will be there with Sally J. Collins the illustrator of the Hamish McHaggis books and we will be joined by Hamish himself as we tell the story of the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt
I love the opportunity to go and listen to all sorts of writers talking with passion about the books they have written and living close enough to Edinburgh I enjoy dipping in and out of the festival to see a wide range of events.
A couple I am particularly looking forward to are events with Jasper Fforde and Eoin Colfer.
So if you get the chance to come to Edinburgh in August come along to the book festival - go to some events and soak up the atmosphere. And keep your eyes open, you never know who you might bump into.
...............................
Linda Strachan is an award winning author of over 60 books for children of all ages from picture books to teenage novels and a writing handbook Writing for Children
By:
Bianca Schulze,
on 8/1/2012
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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: August 1, 2012
Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.
THE HOT SPOTS: THE TRENDS
5 Family Favorites with Elizabeth Bard
Giveaway: Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen
Splash into Summer with 3 New Picture Books
How Picture Books Play a Role in a Child’s Development
Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online
THE NEW RELEASES
The most coveted books that release this month:
Olivia and the Fairy Princesses
by Ian Falconer
(Ages 3-7)
Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Novel
by James Patterson
(Ages 13-17)
The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries
by Rick Riordan
(Ages 10-14)
The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee: An Origami Yoga Book
by Tom Angleberger
(Ages 8-12)
Big Nate Makes the Grade
by Lincoln Peirce
(Ages 8-12)
THE BEST SELLERS
The best selling children’s books this month:
PICTURE BOOKS
By:
Bianca Schulze,
on 7/1/2012
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Deborah Harkness,
Teens: Young Adults,
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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 1, 2012
Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.
THE HOT SPOTS: THE TRENDS
Best Young Adult Books with Galley Smith
Summer Reading List: Summer Sports, Baseball, & the Outside World
3 Kids Picture Books that Teach Good Manners
How Picture Books Play a Role in a Child’s Development
Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online
THE NEW RELEASES
The most coveted books that release this month:
Shadow of Night
by Deborah Harkness
(Ages 18 and up)
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian
by Eoin Colfer
(Ages 9-12)
Big Nate Fun Blaster
by Lincoln Peirce
(Ages 8-12)
How to Train Your Dragon: Book 9
by Cressida Cowell
(Ages 8-12)
THE BEST SELLERS
The best selling children’s books this month:
PICTURE BOOKS
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons
by Eric Litwin
(Ages 4-7)
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 10/1/2011
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The Overlook Press hopes to see you this weekend at The Brooklyn Book Festival! This fantastic literary festival takes place on SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 10 AM - 6 PM, at Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza. One of America’s premier book festivals, this hip, smart, diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages.
We'll have our own booth, so please stop by and see both new releases and Overlook favorites - all available at amazingly low Brooklyn Book Festival prices. September releases Deadline Artists, Epic Win for Anonymous, Haiti, Plugged will be on display, as well our beloved Collector's Wodehouse series and the Charles Portis backlist.
We're also thrilled to have
Eoin Colfer, author of
Pluggged, at the festival this year. Eoin will be on a 3pm panel, "
Gumshoe," with Walter Mosley and Joyce Carol Oates, at the St. Ann and Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague Street.
After the festival, Eoin will be honored at the
Irish Arts Center, 55 W. 53rd Street in Manhattan, 6:30pm. This very special evening will feature Eoin reading from his debut crime novel
Plugged, as well a Q & A session, with a reception to follow.
Eoin Colfer is on the road this week, reading from Plugged in New York, Boston, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, and Toronto.
Tuesday, September 13
7:00pm
Reading/Discussion/Booksigning
BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH
279 Harvard Street
Brookline, MA
Wednesday, September 14
6:30pm
Reading/Discussion/Booksigning
MURDER BY THE BOOK
2342 Bissonnet Street
Houston
Thursday, September 15
7pm
Reading/Discussion/Booksigning
BARNES & NOBLE
Lincoln Park
7700 West Northwest Hwy. Ste. 300
Dallas
Friday, September 16
BOUCHERCON 2011
Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel
800 Washington Avenue
St. Louis
11:30am- 12:30pm
Panel Discussion: HOT ICE (Caper novels: Declan Burke (M), Eoin Colfer, Sean Doolittle, Peter Speigelman, Keith Thomson). – Landmark 1, 2, 3
7pm
Paragraph Party (12 Mystery Writers read ONE paragraph from their book)
LEFT BANK BOOKS
399 N. Euclid Avenue
St. Louis
Saturday, September 17
11:30am – 12:30pm
Panel Discussion: CRANKY STREETS (What’s So Funny About Murder?: Peter Rozovsky (M), Declan Burke, Eoin Colfer, Colin Cotterill, Chris Ewan, Thomas Kaufman) – Landmark 1, 2, 3
BOUCHERCON 2011
Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel
2pm
Reading/Discussion/Booksigning
LEFT BANK BOOKS
399 N. Euclid Avenue
St. Louis
Sunday, September 18
3 – 4pm
BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL
St. Ann and The Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague Street
Brooklyn Book Festival Presents: Gumshoes. Award winning authors Eoin Colfer (Plugged), Walter Mosley (When the Thrill Is Gone). Moderated by David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times.
6:30pm
Reception & Book Reading
IRISH ARTS CENTER & IMAGINE IRELAND
55 West 53rd Street
New York, NY
Monday, September 19
4pm
Booksigning
THE MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP
55 Warren Street
New York, NY
Tuesday, September 20
6pm
Reading/Discussion/Booksigning
BARNES & NOBLE
97 Warren Street
New York, NY
Wednesday, September 21
6pm
The Bram and Bluma Appel Salon
Toronto Reference Library, 2nd Floor
789 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 9/4/2011
Blog:
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Happy Labor Day! I’ve no special post of my own but I know someone who has created the ultimate list of Labor Songs. That would be Professor Phil Nel and at this point I’ve only seen the first of three posts but it is truly fantastic. For one thing, he includes Moxy Früvous on his round-up, and they were a band I adored back in the days of my youth. I’d forgotten all about “I Love My Boss” until now. Go! Look! It’s worth your time.
Now I’ve been amiss in not mentioning the speaking engagement I have at the upcoming Kidlitosphere Conference. I won’t be there in person, but through the magic of technology I’ll be Skyping alongside the hugely talented Mary Ann Scheuer of Great Kid Books and the simply marvelous Paula Wiley of Pink Me. Our topic? Mary Ann came up with the notion of covering book app features. What we like, what we don’t, what to look for, etc. And if you cannot attend, we may be able to put something on our blogs afterwards. Stay tuned or read more about the talk here.
New Blog Alert: Speaking of apps, ever wonder why there isn’t a children’s literature blog dedicated to the digital realm? Turns out, there is and it’s called dot.Momming. Children’s author and founder of the Hyde Park/South Side Network for SCBWI-Illinois, Kate Hannigan, provides reviews as well as multiple interviews with folks working in the field. I’m a fan, and not least because an app I helped advise (Hildegard Sings) shows up as number one on her Top Picture Book Apps list.
I like to see good work rewarded. And Kate Messner’s efforts to bring attention to the libraries devastated after Hurricane Irene certainly qualifies as more than simply “good”. The fact that School Library Journal highlighted her work in the piece Author Kate Messner Helps to Rebuild Local NY Library Devastated By Hurricane Irene is just icing on the cake. And much to my astonishment it include a photograph of a Paddington book that I apparently read as a child but had entirely forgotten about until I saw it in the article. Wow! It’s been a long time since that happened.
Need a good website for writing exercises? Have you seen the delightful They Fight Crime? Try it. Then try again and again. My current favorite is, “He’s a globe-trotting drug-addicted hairdresser on the edge. She’s a tortured belly-dancing vampire operating on the wrong side of the law. They fight crime!” Hours of time wasting fun to be had there.
Every other day an adult author gets it into their head that writing for children is a snap (sometimes with horrific results). Children’s authors rarely go the other way around. Now Eoin Colfer has decided to change all that. A comedic crime thriller called Plugged is
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Me stuff for the start. And in fact, there just so much Me Stuff today that I’m just going to cram it all into this little paragraph here and be done with it. To begin, for the very first time my book Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Chidren’s Literature (co-written with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta) was cited in an article. Notably, a piece in The Atlantic entitled Frog and Toad and the Self. Woot! In other news I’m judging a brand new picture book award. It’s the Hallmark Great Stories Award. Did you or someone you know produce a picture book in 2016 on the topic of “togetherness and community”? Well $10,000 smackers could be yours. In terms of seeing me talk, I’m reading my picture book (and more) at the Printer’s Row Lit Fest on June 11th. If you’re in the Chicago area and ever wanted to see me in blue furry leg warmers, now your chance has come here. Finally, during Book Expo I managed to coerce Hyperion Books into handing me three of their most delicious authors (Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Eoin Colfer) so that I could feed them to WGN Radio. You can hear our talk here, if you like. And check out how cute we all are:
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Thanks, Betsy, for the kind words about The Classroom Bookshelf. We are so excited to join the SLJ Blog Network!