The Fancy Has Been Struck

We had a lovely librarian in from Japan just in. Well, former librarian. Apparently her particular city felt that all civil servants are interchangeable and one day she was told, "Surprise! You’re working in the tax bureau now!" I’ve had that nightmare before. For her, it is real. *shudder*

• There’s a wonderfully British article in the Guardian Unlimited asking where all the anti-heroines of children’s fiction have gone. The author takes quite a bit of time praising the adventures of one Flossie Teacake. It got me to thinking about who the "bad girls" of 2007 would be. Definitely Queen from The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street. Maybe Theodosia. Definitely a Kiki Strike gal or two. There aren’t that many, I’ll admit. Feel free to name your own.  Article found via Shaken and Stirred.

• I like idea behind the Unread Authors Challenge currently hosted by Sycorax Pine (nice nice blog name, by the way). Between the months of September to February you read six authors you’ve never read before. Sounds good to me. Seems as if this would be particularly easy forkidlit bloggers . After all, children’s book publishers are hardly afraid of publishing a new name or two in a given season. I think I’ll go with JulietMarillier, Sari Bodi, Joan M. Wolf, Tim Wynne-Jones (can you believe I’ve never read him before?), Tom Sniegoski, and Michael Scott for starters. Thanks to Becky’s Book Reviews for the link.

• There’s a Bath Festival of Children’s Literature? Sounds cute but do they have anyone good coming. Uh…. yes. I certainly hope Frances Hardinge was asked as well. Anyone care to buy me a plane ticket? Bath is gorgeous to begin with and combined with kidlit info, it sounds like pure heaven. Thanks to Bookmoot who gets extra points for her adapted Dark Is Rising movie poster.  Actually, while I’m thinking of festivals, any of you who happen to be in Scotland for the Edinburgh Film Festival may get a chance to see author/illustrator Mark Newgarden’s, "eclectic collection of lost footage, found footage, silent animation and toy films" on August 23rd.  Mr. Newgarden was the fellow that brought us this year’s magnificent Bow-wow Bugs a Bug, in case you’ve forgotten.

• Fun Fact of the Day: Mark Hamil, former Skywalker, reads for the audiobook of The Spiderwick Chronicles. Thanks to Your Neighborhood Librarian for the info. Guess it makes sense. He did do The Joker on Batman, the Animated Series. She also directed me to Whichbook.com, a neat little site that helps you figure out what books to read next.

• Judy Blume: Teen Author? Not to me, man. But the piece Blume’s Day (I would have called it "Blumesbury") discusses the woman in question. Thanks to Bookninja for the link.

• How cool is this?  It’s the Google map pedometer. Found thanks to Brooklyn Arden. Now New Yorkers can justify visiting a different borough, if only to figure out how many calories you’ll burn.  Oh, and I don’t know if this is still available, but Scholastic is looking for some fall interns.

• Finally: AAAAAA!!! Wimpy Kid sequel!!!!! Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme! Please.