It’s a Cold Lonely Summer
Well, perhaps not lonely. But cold? You betcha. It’s positively autumnal which, let’s be frank, is the best possible weather. Unfortunately it’s also rainy in the Big Apple these days. Spirits being slightly dampened, let us see what the daily round-up can provide.
- Someday I may move to L.A. (a very great possibility). It’s just one of those things. If and when it happens, I’ll have to make a trip to The Library Bar. Though, the New Yorkers amongst us will note its physical similarities to Union Hall.
- The Book Inscription Project was discovered via bookshelves of doom. It’s a fun site, but could seriously use some work on its Archives. You can’t look at them and know which books are available. I was hoping to pull up some children’s literature, but there’s no way to search for it. The site desperately needs more inscriptions too. If you happen to run across some fine ones, do let them know.
- Kelly on Big A little a had a just magnificent response to a recent fuddy duddy Guardian article. You can complain about a lot of things in this world, but saying that old dinosaur titles are better than new ones seems a bit counter intuitive. I mean, if author Peter Bradshaw really wants blood and guts back in his dino books he should check out Sabuda’s Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs. How many other children’s titles can you name where lifting and closing a flap means showing a dinosaur tearing the muscles out of its victim over and over again?
- I write the occasional negative book review now and again. Keeps the palate fresh, I say. Looks like I’ll have to watch my step a little more closely, though. As MediaBistro recently discovered, there’s nothing quite like getting a big fat libel suit because of a blog review you wrote. I’m not particularly scared by this tactic. The blogger in question, one PZ Myers, is undoubtedly getting sued because his firm has lots of moolah (as Finding Wonderland so cleverly pointed out). My blog does indeed appear on the SLJ website, but as far as I can tell no author has ever sued SLJ for a bad review. Doubt they’d go about starting with me. Still… Note to self: Do not recommend bad books to be used in clown colleges.
- Wow. I’ve grown so used to adult authors traipsing about pretending they can write children’s fiction just as well as their grown up stuff (I love you Isabel Allende, but for the love of all that is good and holy please stop) that I never considered how it would be the other way around. I mean, Mo Willems put out You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons, but that’s not really the same thing is it? Far more shocking, and I have to credit Alison Morris at ShelfTalker for finding this, is when a children’s author goes whole hog and writes for adults. Check this out:
Amazing, no? From Fancy Nancy to a mystery. J.K. Rowling may not be writing a detective novel, but that doesn’t mean that other children’s authors haven’t the option in their back pockets.
- Coraline takes center stage as Subterranean Press is releasing a special edition version of the book. Preorder the book and get a chance to win a creepy puppet. Woo-hoo! I love creepy puppets. And take a load of THAT cover!
Eh? Eh? Thanks to BookMoot for the link. By the way, how can I get my hands on the soundtrack of the Coraline musical as penned by Magnetic Fields kidlit-friendly fellow Stephin Merritt?
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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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Good point. I don’t tend to count Rick since he does chapter books both ways. It’s more of a surprise when a picture book author goes for an adult novel. Besides, didn’t Rick do adult before he did children’s? That’s not as rare as the opposite track.
Somehow it’s not such a shock when you discover that Jane Yolen writes adult books — as well as YA, as well as Middle School, as well as Elementary, as well as picture books. She writes every kind of book – over 200 of them — and especially loves writing poetry. (Did you know that Owl Moon is actually a poem, that happens to have been published as a picture book, that happened to win the Caldecott. Oh, but of course you knew about the Caldecott. And don’t you just love Mouse’s Birthday? When I retire from being a children’s librarian to write full time, I may just take along the last remaining library copy of Mouse’s Birthday. ’cause it’s out of print.)
-wendieO
plus, at the nyc library bar, they will give free drinks to real life librarians. at least one; the last time i was there, lots and lots of them. it does lack the space and chi-chi quality of the l.a. bar, but i’ve always been more of a dive girl myself anyway.