Here we are on Christmas Eve but all I can do is point at the future like a sniffer dog and wonder what’s coming next. I tell ya, no sooner have I churned out my 100 Magnificent Books list than I want to take a gander at 2012. But before I let myself do so I will direct you to some of the delights of the day. For example, Jules of 7-Imp posted a very fun Looking Ahead to 2012 piece that I recommend. What would folks like to see in the new year? Dan Santat won the one-liner award in my book: “I’d like to see Kim Kardashian write a wordless picture book.”
- Interesting Cracked piece came out recently called The 6 Most Secretly Racist Classic Children’s Books. I think you’d have to be pretty insane to call Tintin in the Congo “secretly” anything. That thing’s notorious. The Sherlock Holmes argument is interesting, though I would like to point out that in one of the books he goes up against the KKK and defeats them. So there’s that. As for The Secret Garden, I dunno. That’s pushing it. A: Mary is a brat. B: The reason she’s a brat isn’t because the servants who took care of her were Indian but because she was a child of colonists who paid zero attention to her. About the time you start talking about the symbolism of her changing from black clothes to white (what precisely was she supposed to wear post-funeral?) you’re pushing it. We could have some Burnett debates on this one, I’d bet. Thanks to Chris Okula for the link!
- Big time congrats to Joyce Valenza for her Edublog Lifetime Achievement Award. Well played, oh fellow SLJ blogger! And, I might add, well deserved as well.
Now for some me junk. I’ve been a busy bug. Over at Mommy Poppins (here in New York it’s our go-to parenting website) I recommended some good wintertime non-religious holiday picture books. Meantime I took a course in our library about how to use our new Bibliocommons catalog (it’s like the Goodreads of library catalogs) and they wanted us to make a list of some source. So I whipped up the Top Ten Picture Book Read-Alouds of 2011. Good times.
- Speaking of lists, here’s an adorable recommended list for children ages 0-13 months.
- For those of you in Kalamazoo, Michigan (watch as my readership dwindles down to maybe two people at this point) good news. The local children’s bookstore Bookbug just revamped their website. And since we believe in supporting independent bookstores at any and all times, this is a good thing. Go. Look. Enjoy.
- The Scottish Book Trust has come up with a fun look at various folks discussing The Character I Would Invite to Christmas Dinner. A very enjoyable list. I particularly like the person who first inclined towards Jane Eyre and then dropped her in favor of Calvin & Hobbes. Thanks to Achockablog for the link.
- Marjorie Ingall wrote up a list of Great Jewish Books for Kids for Tablet Magazine but doggone it if they didn’t have a length requirement, so that she had to leave some titles off. Never fear. She simply put the remaining books on her own site under The Bigger, Longer, Uncut Jewish (sic) Booklist.
- They’re thinking of doing a Because of Winn-Dixie musical. Sounds fine with me, but I believe you’d end up with an Annie conundrum. Do you go with a real dog, a puppet dog, or a person in a dog suit? Thanks to Jennifer Schultz for the link.
- Daily Image:
Here’s something pretty to send you off on your way.
Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks to Aunt Judy for the link.
No related posts.
Actually, the REAL that’s good for anyone, Kalamazoo or (as many, alas, must be) not, is that the Bookbug’s website (www.bookbugkalamazoo.com) now sells ebooks. Instead of buying from Amazon, now I can buy from an independent — even if I’m visiting New York. Whoot!
I was deciding whether or not to bother reading this column and then, fortunately, I saw a mention of Kalamazoo!
They’ve already cast the dog! Before they’ve cast anyone else. Leading me to wonder if they had a marvelous dog actor and they then thought, “What show would work for this dog?” But a Winn-Dixie musical could be a very good thing, if done well.