Dodging Disney, Immortal Translators, and Talking Monkeys
- Ew. Being paid to blog about a certain book?* Icky. I’m sorry but there’s a world of difference between being sent a book by a publisher and actually accepting dirty money so that it positively gets a thumbs up. God, I feel unclean. No wonder some people don’t trust blog reviews. Then again, I suppose this sort of thing happens in the print world as well. Still…. ew. Thanks to Jackie for the link.
- I feel conflicted about posting this. Remember how cool that Bob Dylan meets Dr. Seuss site Dylan Hears a Who was before the corporate goons forced it to shut down? Well, that’s sort of my reaction with this all-new awesome site. Behold the bounty of Kiddie Records. I don’t want too much attention drawn to them for fear that the copyright harpies will descend and attempt to pluck out the site’s liver (I’m mixing my myths, aren’t I?). Particularly as it involves the company that begins with the big letter "D". Then again, it’s just so neat to look at. My advice is to view it while you can. I’d post an image here but that would probably attract the evil eye.
- I’ve seen kidlit statues before, but this was the first I’d heard of Pollyanna of Littleton. Thanks to Making Light for the link (who clued me into the awesome glowing tombstone of the same town as well).
- By the way, this is a little random but is there really an Anthea Bell? I only ask since I was recently looking up English translations of books by Ludwig Bechstein and I found a 1967 edition of "Fairy Tales of Ludwig Bechstein" translated by, you guessed it, Anthea Bell. She’s like an eternal magnificent translator or something. Wow.
- Yet another NYPL children’s librarian has started a blog. Fellow NYPLer Walter Minkle has started The Monkey Speaks, a profession-oriented site of librarian topics. His credentials are in order. I can personally attest that Walter has a way with banjos and puppets that far exceeds normal expectations in those areas, so I’ll be watching his site with quite a lot of interest in the coming months. After all, I really don’t know of many children’s librarian blogs that discuss topics as practical as broadband in the library and building a strong Latino collection.
- There’s a silent auction going on at The Children’s Literature Assembly. Act now and you might be able to get your very own Lynne Rae Perkins, Brian Selznick, E. B. Lewis, or Will Hillenbrand artwork. Thanks to Monica for the link.
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And in my authorial in-box I found the following note: "Now that kids are back in school, thoughts are beginning to turn to fall–bright leaves, corduroys, apple cider, and everyone’s favorite orange fall symbol … pumpkins! In celebration I am running a contest on my website: www.marlanekennedy.com. The winner will receive an autographed copy of my middle grade novel, ME AND THE PUMPKIN QUEEN, along with 10 Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds (the kind used to grow monstrous 1,000 plus pound pumpkins and which my main character is quite fond of). The winner can try to grow his or her own championship pumpkin or keep the seeds as a unique souvenir. Contest rules can be accessed on my homepage under News." Seems to me that youse teachers out there would do well to have your kids participate in this. It’s too late to plant pumpkin seeds now but future classes might appreciate a teacher who tends to gigantor orange creatures.
*Not, you will note, being paid to blog on a professional website like SLJ. That, apparently, is just fine. You like how I stole the asterix idea from bookshelves of doom? Pretty sweet, eh?
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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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Hey Elizabeth, I just read The Monkey Speaks and he was nice enough to mention our library system in his latest post!
There really is an Anthea Bell, and she is lovely and amazing, though goodness only knows how she manages to do HALF the work she does!
As Cheryl says, there is indeed an Anthea Bell; I saw her at a children’s literature conference in Vancouver last spring and she was brilliant and funny. She’s been translating for decades and said she just put off doing a new translation of Kafka in order to translate the third Inkheart book into English. “Well, Kafka’s been translated before,” she shrugged.
OMG. Kiddie Records is just about the coolest site EVER. What an absolutely amazing find! I just sent it off to all my mommy pals. I desperately want to post it on my blog, but I agree with you. It’s better to keep ’em under the radar.