Flibbertigibbet Flibbertings
You know what? It is very very difficult to think about blogging this summer. Know why? Too much to do. If it isn’t parents desperate for the books on their children’s summer reading lists then it’s huge groups of preschoolers invading our storytimes. If it isn’t that then it’s daycares, or Harry Potter parties, or an obsessive desire to find the perfect golden snitch origami pattern (mission accomplished). I can’t complain as it is nothing short of fabulous. It’s magnificent! The library is the place to be and there is no time for idle professional development when you’ve ten five-year-olds all tugging at your knees, practically in tears because you haven’t enough copies of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to hand to them.
All that aside, I’ve managed to locate the following tidbits:
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First of all, it isn’t every day that you hear about the birth of a new children’s bookstore. If their deaths drive us to tears shouldn’t their births be of equal, if not greater, importance? The Reading Tree is opening up in Alpharetta, GA (a suburb of Atlanta) and you are morally obligated to attend their Grand Opening this Saturday the 14th if you happen to live in the area. My in-laws and a preacher I know happen to live in Atlanta so you can bet your sweet bippy that I’ll be haranguing them to attend.
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And from Kane/Miller (of all publishers) I learned about ALA’s Parade of Bookmobiles. In a list compiled from the previously mysterious BKMOB-L listserv (yes, bookmobiles have their own listservs), readers are encouraged to seek out their local bookmobiles. Better still, add your own onto their list. I feel a personal fondness for the Alaska Libraries Floating Bookmobile.
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A day is not a day without some Harry Potter updates. Enjoy them while you can. In a month they’ll be nothing but sweet marketing memories. From Educating Alice I found the New York Times piece where various authors write their own Harry Potter endings. The best of these, bar none, is this beautiful visual created by one Andrea Dezso.
I would read that book. Horvath’s? Maybe not so much.
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Other Potter news (only the best for you, my sweets) includes Horn Book editor Roger Sutton getting quoted in this Boston Globe piece on the decline of adolescent reading. And in the realm of silly quizzes, we have the Favorite Movie Wizard Quiz via The Guardian. Gandalf won. Hoo-dee-hoo.
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Surprisingly non-Gothic tidings tell us that there will be a relatively sweet Neil Gaiman picture book out soon. Poetry, apparently. And as all good editors know, poetry is a difficult area (to say the least). We will have to be convinced on the relative merits of this one.
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Speaking of editors, many things from Editorial Anonymous make me laugh. So why did this one make me utter a magnificent snort on the children’s desk yesterday? I’m going to have difficulty with Wodney Wat from here on in, I suspect.
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Toys. Off-topic toys. And look! It’s a toy and it spells my name! Typography for tots. What’ll they think of next? Many thanks to Bookninja for that one.
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Finally, I don’t usually link to book reviews on other blogs (too many to choose from, really) but Becky’s Book Reviews recently directed my attention to a title that really appeals to me. Anyone ever read Haddix’s Turnabout? Sounds like a magnificent premise to me.
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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 Kirkus, 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 BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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Thanks for the heads up on the new children’s bookstore in Alpharetta. I live in another suburb of Atlanta, but I think I’m up for a “field trip” on Saturday. I read your blog every day. I am so excited to find great new books. ‘Just got an email that Jeremy Fink is finally waiting for me at our library! (I just finished Austenland, not a children’s book, but as a fan of Shannon Hale, I had to read it. Have you read it, yet?)
I haven’t read “Austenland” myself, though my co-workers have. They’re fanatic Shannon Hale fans, you see. I’ve had to limit my reading of adult fiction lately, so unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to look at it myself. My fellow librarians, however, think it’s top notch. I love the premise in any case.
And yay on you living around Atlanta! I’d go myself if it were just a touch closer.
I loved Turnabout, and read it relatively recently. I think that you would enjoy it.
I read Turnabout . . . really thought-provoking. Haven’t had the chance to talk it over with any teens yet but I think that would be an interesting conversation.
Maureen (Confessions of a Bibliovore)