Be Subversive! Be Be Subversive!
- Salon had a nice piece about how No Child Left Behind takes the idea of reading for pleasure and pumps all the life out of it. Called Teachers: Be Subversive (easier said than done?), I was particularly interested in a part of the interview that talks about how there is, "a transfer provision in No Child Left Behind that says that if a student is in a perennially failing school, that child must be permitted to transfer to a high-performing school."
- I’m afraid only the nerdiest amongst us will get a kick out of this. The premise is simple: What if Edward Gorey created a book version of the classic Star Trek episode The Trouble With Tribbles? The answer is quite sublime.
- As for Bottom Shelf Books, I have just six words for you: Hop on Pop then Marry Mommy.
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Raise your hands if you knew that author Deborah Wiles had a blog. Anyone? Anyone? Thanks to klonghall for the link then.
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Al Roker redeems himself yet again with his fifth pick for book club reading. You’ll remember that I cursed Al for all that he was worth when he (he = Today Show staff) chose "Swordbird" to be one of his picks. Naughty, bad Al. But then he climbing his way back into my good graces first with the selection of "Bud, Not Buddy", and now with "The Golden Compass". Anything that gets kids reading that book is a-okay by me.
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As Your Neighborhood Librarian says, I’m not going to prevent boys from great books featuring girls, but it’s always good to have a great list of recommendations for male type persons on hand. Here’s the one she compiled not too long ago. Definitely worth looking at.
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And now, for you daily dose of peculiarity. Remember when you were a kid and there was always that one relative/former co-worker of your parents who sent you a book that had somehow been personalized with your name? I had one that involved Sesame Street characters and some off-to-the-sidelines gal named Betsy. Betsy sure did a lot of stuff in that book. I can look back on it now and say it was lame, but at the time it seemed pretty neat to me. Look, maw! I’m in a book! Well, my childhood enthusiasm is coming back to bite me in the bum all thanks to (actual title) Flatten Me. The web being what it is, I’m a teensy bit shocked that this idea didn’t hit the market sooner. It’s all very simple. You simple send in a digital headshot of your child and the kid is … uh … flattened in. Skin tones are always made to match the male and female bodies your child’s head is stuck onto. I advise you to page through the virtual book without reading the text (which is just as you would expect it to be). It’s kind of creepy after a while. I mean, the kid’s body does all sorts of things, but the head always stays the same. Eerie. Thanks to Sandbox for the link.
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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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Betsy—what’s the Hop on Pop thing? You just have a link to A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy … which gives no further clues.
Whoops! Good call. My bad. I’ll just do some minor re-shuffling…
Living in Baltimore City, we know all about the special perks you get if your school is ‘perennially failing’ (like the option to leave your friends and teachers and parachute into a different, marginally better school with different gangs and all-new initiations). Even better is if your school can get labeled “persistently dangerous”. We’ve got 6 of those.
It’s so appalling. Maryland just became the wealthiest state in the nation. NCLB has been disastrous for this town.