A Kid’ll Eat Ivy Too, Wouldn’t You?
Oh, mares it oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. Or so they say. I’ve never really seen a lamb eat ivy. Sounds bitter. On to the news!
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There’s a serious objection against self-chosen anonymous bloggers over at Reading, writing, and chocolate. Initially I thought it was about anonymous commenters, but this is about bloggers that refuse to put their names on their sites. And since some of my favorite bloggers are anonymous (Editorial Anonymous being the best known) I’m not sure as I agree. Technically Miss Snark was anonymous too. When your job conflicts with your blogging, why not go the subtle route?
- A great piece up at Oz and Ends considering gay characters in children’s fantasy. Bell takes his cue from the recent Dumbledore outing, and considers really only two other possible gay couples. The fellows in the So You Want to Be a Wizard series by Diane Duane and a Baum character or two. Heck, for that matter take into account his Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn’t piece too. This week a YA author sat down with me and told me that she was reading the Harry Potter books for the very first time, just after hearing the announcement about Dumbledore. Her point? "He’s really flamboyant in the first book, isn’t he?" It’s all about interpreting "the text" within the context of pre-existing knowledge, baby.
- He said, she said? Sometimes reviewing children’s books is an exhausting business. Poor, Wild Girls. Chasing Ray has the round-up on an odd little blip in the MG/YA world. The point I think that she makes best? "You can’t phone in a review on the internet." Damn straight. Thanks to Shaken and Stirred for the heads-up.
- Sheesh. I report on a whole great big Harper Collins preview (in full, no less) and do they even mention to me that they’re collaborating with MySpace to make a book? No they do not. So much for feeding me the good stuff. Thanks to Finding Wonderland for the link.
- There’s a book signing at Books of Wonder this week-end. Why go? Well, I don’t mean to raise your hopes or anything but Jon Stewart apparently was there last week-end with his son. You can read Peter Brown’s recap of the moment. And just look at this line-up of authors:
October 27th – Great Middle Grade Authors!
Saturday GARY SCHMIDT – The Wednesday War
GORDON KORMAN – Schooled
JON BULLER – The Travels of Thelonius
– Faradawn
ERIC BERLIN – The Puzzling World of Winston Breen
12 – 2 pm
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October 27th Fantasy Authors From Down Under!
Saturday GARTH NIX – One Beastly Beast
– Lady Friday
JUSTINE LARBALESTIER – Magic or Madness Trilogy
SCOTT WESTERFELD – Extras
MARGO LANAGAN – Red Spikes
JONATHAN STRAHAN
3 – 5 pm
October 28th Halloween Treats!
Sunday ARTHUR YORINKS – The Witch’s Child
– Mommy!
JOS A SMITH – The Witch’s Child
SCOTT BECK – Happy Birthday, Monster!
DAVID EZRA STEIN – Monster Hug!
ELISE PRIMAVERA – Fred & Anthony Meet the Heinie Goblins
JOSHUA GEE – Encyclopedia Horrifica
MICHAEL TEITELBAUM – The Scary States of America
1 – 3 pm
- Mock Newberys are fun all over, but it’s rare that I hear of one where kids actually get a vote. Credit Zee Says for posting a recent summary of her Newbery Club. As library programs go, that’s not a bad idea. Particularly if you run a bookgroup of one kind or another for kids. In fact it is SUCH a good idea, that maybe next year I’ll try doing one of my own with MY homeschooler booksgroup.
- And for your off-topic posting of the day, you know the whisk. You need the whisk. You know you need a unique new whisk.
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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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I don’t know about the whisks. The screw or whatever it is at the part where the handle becomes the whisk look kind of like eyes. I don’t know if I can use something that has eyes to beat eggs.
The colors, however, are tempting, and those fun little curlicues.
Fuse,
Oh thanks, Martha and her Newbery kids will be thrilled.
Wait, when you say Miss Snark was “technically” anonymous, does that mean everyone knew who she was but me?
Yeah, I’m all about the curlicues. If someone fashioned broccoli into curlicues I’d eat it gratefully. Marketing departments worldwide have yet to take advantage of the curlicue in all its myraid forms. Let’s hope they never discover its awesome power.
I don’t have a problem with pseudonyms. Plenty of my beloved authors have used pen names. While I’d rather know specifically who the real authors/bloggers are, sometimes there are valid reasons for keeping their true names secret. I think it only becomes a sticky issue once possible libel is involved. In the meantime, I’m perfectly happy (albeit curious) that both Thomas Pynchon and Miss Snark are mysteries.
–Farida Dowler a.k.a. Alkelda the Gleeful
Stacy has some valid points. I’m sure some of my advice would be a bit more useful to people if they could put me in context, but alas. Standing behind what I write would mean standing in front of the people at my publishing company–some of whom do not think their editors should be able to publish their thoughts about the publishing industry in any forum in which people might assume those thoughts were representative of the publishing house.
If absolutely everyone could be trusted to lay my writings at my feet rather than at my publishing house’s doorstep, I could gleefully go about wearing an Editorial Anonymous t-shirt.
I hope you do give the Newberry club a try at your library. My oldest did it when she was in 4th and 5th grade and loved it! It helped her reflect on her reading in greater depth and she made pals she still hangs out with 6 years later.
You’d probably find it intriguing too. Kids often focus on parts of the story that adults don’t even notice.