File These Under “Misc.”
Things have calmed down and shuffled two steps closer to normal. The To Be Read piles in our homes are starting to lower. We’re all beginning to get some interesting 2008 ARCs for consideration (always nice to have some in reserve for when the new year comes in). It’s the final days of July 2007 and I feel fine.
Some news then.
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All I have for you today is pretty much just silly stuff. For example, how awesome is the Howl’s Moving Castle paper craft found via bookshelves of doom? Answer: It’s like you sneezed awesome all over it, it’s so great. Ahhhhh.
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Recently I’ve been asked what I think the next big fantasy series is going to be. By "big" the people who ask don’t mean Harry Potter standards. They just want to know what’ll make money. So I rattle off all the usual books that have recently been turned into films (Spiderwick, Golden Compass, yadda yadda yadda) and then I mention good old Rick Riordan. Once his movie comes through he’ll experience a serious rise in his fortunes. In the meantime I learned that there’s an original Percy Jackson story being placed on Rick Riordan’s blog at the moment. Thanks to Jen Robinson’s Book Page for the heads up.
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When I read Tracking Trash none too long ago, I learned of the proliferation of bathroom toys throughout the sea. Things like floating turtles and, of course, rubber duckies. With such an image in mind observe now a Rubber Ducky of truly epic proportions.
Thanks to BB-Blog for the link.
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And now, some library news. According to various news sources, apparently my library system is mere moments away from being able to "transform itself". Don’t nobody tell me nothing. And can we even use the word "transform" anymore due to the unfortunate connotations with Transformers: The Movie? I guess just so long as NYPL doesn’t transform me out of a job, I’m okay with change. *nervously chews on fingernails*
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Y’all might have seen that Junie B. Jones article in the New York Times recently. The article has probably disappeared from public view at this point. Basically the reporter was shocked shocked that some people don’t care for the series. People who dislike the books tend to pull out the old Cookie Monster argument that if your child sees someone doing or saying something bad it’ll destroy their chances for a happy life. At least I think that’s the anti-Jonesian stance. The best response to all this, as I see it, came via Bookninja. "You know, they might be right. Remember that entire generation that grew up talking like Dr. Seuss? We’re still in recovery from that, burbled the flinkflomp cat."
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Life is too short not to consider purchasing a raunchy Harry Potter t-shirt, if only for a moment. Dunno where you’d wear it, of course. Maybe to a Harry and the Potters concert. Say… in all the HP hullabaloo, did anyone speak to the Potters about where their career is headed now the the series is over? That just occurred to me. Thank god they took time off for college, eh? Tees are found via the Longstockings. The fact that My Dad Is Rich and Your Dad Is Dead is now caught in my head … well, I have no one to blame but myself.
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Finally, in the realm of the Read But Not Reviewed (yet) is the book Laika by Nick Abadzis. Mr. Abadzis is now occupying the coveted slot of being my current favorite graphic novelist. The fact that I only just recently came across his illustration blog is just a nice plus. Review forthcoming.
Filed under: Uncategorized
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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As a parent who has read hundreds of books aloud over the past 10 years, I love finding any book with fun dialect which helps the read aloud experience. Junie B. is so much fun that way. My kids love the stories and the laughs. I’m just happy that they want to read or be read to. You have to be a pretty stuffy adult to not be charmed at all by Junie B. Or, an adult who hasn’t been around “real” kids in a long time. My favorite Junie B. line–something to the effect of “Whatever is what adults say when they are thinking–‘That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard!'” I think of it every time someone says “Whatever.” It’s perfect!
Hey, what does the NYPL mean by “transform” itself? How so? or is the ambiguity of this comment the point?
Re: Junie and Seuss–
One of my most vivid memories from Third Grade:
We all had to take turns reading a poem of our choosing to the class at the start of each day. Well, I was in this nerdy Gifted program, and our teachers had assigned poems to us, as well–“Casey at the Bat,” “Annabel Lee,” etc. So I thought I’d wow my teacher and classmates with Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky.”
You can see where this is going.
I think I got through “…and the mome raths outgrabe,” but just barely, before my teacher began YELLING at me for reading nonsense, and that I needed to read a REAL poem. I was 8 or 9 years old, so I didn’t quite have the wherewithal to explain to her that this was a poem written by the same man who gave us dear Alice and her crazy trip through the looking glass, so I grabbed one of the fat poetry books at the front of the room and hurriedly found some bland, crappy poem about autumn leaves.
… and Betsy, you modest molly, you never mentioned that you were a source in the NYT story: “Of our series books, it’s the most popular one we have that’s about a little girl,” said Elizabeth Bird, a librarian at the Donnell Library Center’s Central Children’s Room in Midtown Manhattan. “But it splits people down the middle. There are parents who will defend her till their death and those that call her loathsome. It’s unusual to find that sort of divide for early chapter books. They’re just not the sort of books that usually get much attention.”
Less modest molly and more uh-oh-did-I-clear-this-with-my-PR-office? I haven’t gotten any angry phone calls, but at the same time I’ve not been discussing it much. I figure what I said was fairly innocuous, but you never know. I love me my NYPL PR people and the last thing I wanna do is piss ’em off. So I’ve been keeping it on the down low. It is nice to be quoted in the Times though, yes. Now to attempt to review for them…
Love the story about The Jabberwocky, by the way. The sad sad story. Just goes to show that some people can go their whole lives without hearing a cultural touchstone here and there.
Re: Sarabela – I’d love to know what “transform” means. Sounds like a buzzword, though. A scary umbrella buzzword that leads to library cuts and copious tears. Fingers crossed that this isn’t the case, of course.
Sorry to interrupt an intelligent conversation, but how about THAT DUCKY? Totally awesome.
The saddest thing for me about Matt’s story is that he was in a so-called “gifted” program. And this teacher of the gifted had never heard of “Jabberwocky”? Sigh.
myGOSH. tht’s a huge rubber ducky! >