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June 15, 2007 by Betsy Bird

In Brief (Too Much News!!!)

June 15, 2007 by Betsy Bird   6 comments

  • You know you’re old when the newest American Girl living in the dire and distant past turns out to be discovering the historical marvels of … the 70s.  Shoot, dude.  I kinda remember the 70s.  Which is to say, my two-year-old brain can vaguely conjure up shades of orange and brown.  That’s pretty accurate, right?  Quick question for you too.  Why is it that 20th century American Girls are always white while the American Girls of other races end up relegated to previous centuries?  And if newest girl Julie Albright (penned by Megan McDonald, no less) is living in San Francisco in the 70s, does that mean we’ll have our first gay rights American Girl?  I would buy that book.
  • I’m all kinds of mad at my movie blogs. Usually I pick up on this sort of thing before the Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf does. Not so much this week, I guess.  Here’s what they had to say about the movie adaptation of City of Ember:

    Bill Murray will star in a film adaptation of Jeanne DuPrau’s YA novel City of Ember , to be directed by Gil Kenan ( Monster House ) and written by Caroline Thompson ( Edward Scissorhands , The Secret Garden and Corpse Bride ). Murray will play the Mayor of Ember. Production begins in Belfast this summer, with an October 2008 release date planned. Playtone and Walden Media will co-produce.  Not actually a bad role for Murray, you know.  I’m picturing him in a role similar to the one he played in Rushmore.  There will probably be fewer mentions of hand jobs, though.

  • A great bit at Editorial Anonymous on whether or not the world of slush piles is in need of an overhaul.  And, if it is, how would one go about changing it?  Plenty o’ comments already.  Plenty more to come.
  • Why has no one properly mourned the passing of Mr. Wizard?  Maybe because if you’re anything like me you were under the impression that he’d passed on years ago.  He was great though, wasn’t he?  A kind of proto-Bill Nye.  As a kid I always got him confused with Leonard Nimoy.  Remember his voice?  It wasn’t that odd an association to make.
  • Thanks to Galleycat I now know that Penguin is going to be relaunching some Vintage Classics with interesting covers.  Listen to this saucy recap of the move via premiere de couverture: Two of Britain’s biggest book publishers are locked in a battle for control of the lucrative literary classics market. Penguin is the leading classics publisher, with its familiar black or silver-spined series accounting for about 65% of all classics sold in the UK. But next summer rival Random House will launch an audacious bid for a slice of those sales, aiming to transform Vintage into a recognized classics brand. Oh la la!  Why is this of any interest?  You should see the covers man (scroll down).  They’re something else.  Alice in Wonderland can finally be considered to be crossing into the world of Chick Lit… 

        

    and points to Penguin for making it perfectly clear how adult the Grimm stories really are sometimes.

    Saucy stuff.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. 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 EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. 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 EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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Comments

  1. eisha says

    June 15, 2007 at 4:26 am

    I had just heard about the City of Ember/Bill Murray thing yesterday, and yeah, I think it could work.

    Those covers… the Alice made me a little irritated at first ’cause it’s so trendy, but the others are wicked cool.

  2. American girl of color says

    June 15, 2007 at 5:19 am

    I think that one or two of the recent one-off American girl of the Year books and dolls (and clothes and stuff) were girls of color. Mariel (sp) was Latino and definately dark.

    But you are right about the girls who get the whole six book treatment.

    Wendie O

  3. bookbk says

    June 15, 2007 at 9:02 am

    I’ve been wondering when they’d get to a 1960’s or ’70’s American Girl. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with the story line.

    That Alice cover kind of reminds me of Gingerbread.

  4. Afton says

    June 15, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    Unfortunately, I don’t remember Mr. Wizard because I have a secret crush on Bill Nye and am sure I would have loved the Wiz. Speaking of odd/not odd associations…as a 4 year old, I was completely convinced that Mr. Rogers was, in fact, my dad.

  5. Lori Prince says

    June 15, 2007 at 8:51 pm

    C’mon, no one wants to talk about the nipple on the Vintage Grimm cover? Or any of the other covers? I really dig the photograph covers more than the drawings, myself, especially Tom Jones and Frankenstein. Though I do think that the Alice in Wonderland cover walks a fine line between Chick Lit and Lolita.

  6. Little Willow says

    June 16, 2007 at 9:25 pm

    I see that Alice borrowed my knee-highs and my Mary Janes without asking. Well, I suppose she needn’t ask me, really, as they are truly Tenniel’s…

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