"Elizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter @FuseEight or email her at fusenumber8.
Romance schmomance. Use the day of chocolate and flowers for a high cause. I’m very fond of Tip #3:
International Book Giving Day is a day dedicated to getting new, used, and borrowed books in the hands of as many children as possible. We have Tomi Ungerer, Judy Blume, Katrina Germein and many other great authors on board. However, to reach as many kids as possible, we need your help too!
Three simple ways you can celebrate International Book Giving Day:
Two authors of children’s books passed away recently, one on the American side of the equation and one across the sea in Britain. For the Yanks, Bill Wallace has been on our shelves for any number of years. You can read a lovely SLJ obituary for him here. As for the other person, that would be Mr. Samuel Youd. That name, I suspect, raises few flags but if I were to tell you his pen name, John Christopher, that might be a different story. Practically Paradise
My temptation whenever I review a children’s book that involves a dog in some way is to begin with a caveat that I am not a dog person. I’ve drawn from that well one too many times, though. At this point I think my I-am-not-a-dog-person credentials are well and truly established. However, it wasn’t until I read the utterly charming Lucy Rescued that I realized something. I… Read More
My buddy and fellow blogger Travis Jonker sent me the following images recently:
What are you looking at? Just a couple shots from the book Oddfellow’s Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin. The book is yet another entry into this year’s Oddest Children’s Literary Trend. One of two, as it happens. I like keeping track of weirdo trends in books for kids. Last year it was ravens. This year there are two trends that by… Read More
So. Iraq. Books. Recently NYPL was contacted by a high school student here in town who had recently met some fellow students in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The teens she met there had created a youth leadership group called Vision. Their current projects include everything from translating an English book on education into Kurdish for the resident teachers to working on a newspaper about Kurdish issues and current events for and by young people (which is apparently in circulation already in the city of Sulaymaniyah… Read More
Yep. Odds are that this may be the best book trailer ever produced for a classic work of children’s literature. I mean, looking at it don’t you feel inclined to reread the book? I sure as heck do. And remember, if you want to see Lois Lowry, Madeleine L’Engle, Rebecca Stead, and R.L. Stine talk about this book (with a reading by Jane Curtin and a presentation by Leonard Marcus to boot) there are still tickets for the Symphony Space event available. I’m going dress… Read More
The Children’s Literary Salon is pleased to announce our program today at 2:00:
Connect The Dots: Who’s Who? Talking Books Across Literary Borders
How do booksellers, librarians (school and public), and bloggers discover, promote, and discuss great books for kids? How does communication between these different occupations help an author get their name out and show the value of their books to a wider public audience of readers and buyers? Hear what panelists Marilyn Ackerman (Brooklyn Public Library), Barbara Auerbach (school librarian), Erica Kylander-Clark (parental blogger), Rebecca Fitting (Greenlight Bookstore), and Melanie Hope Greenberg (author/illustrator) have to say… Read More
When we try to name the biggest and best picture book biography authors out there, two names spring immediately to mind. The first is David Adler. Mr. Adler specializes in picture books that go by the straightforward titles of “A Picture Book of [Enter Name Here]“. It makes him easy to spot on a shelf. All his books look pretty… Read More
And then it’s February. How the heckedy heck did that happen? Looks like 2012 is already establishing itself as the Blink and You’ll Miss It year. Well, let’s get to it then.
First and foremost was the announcement of Battle of the Books 2012. Or, as I like to think of it, the place where Amelia Lost gets its bloody due (if there’s any justice in this world). We’re now in the earliest of the early days of the battle, but stuff’s on the… Read More
