Reporting: Greenwillow Preview 2008 (Part Two)
(CONTINUED FROM PART ONE)
At any rate, the good people at Greenwillow decided to place a single piece of incorrect information up on the board for me to see and like a sap I TOTALLY fell for it. Oh, I’m a ditz. In my defense, I had a very good reason why I believed it. While perusing the middle grade fiction section (clue #1) I happened to see the phrase "Parenting Book / B. Spears". Okay okay okay. Obviously that was a joke. Obviously. Any fool could see that. Only, you see, this particular fool standing before you didn’t see it. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. This is partly because I recently heard that Britney Spears’s mother was actually writing a parenting book of her own (back me up on this one, Leila) and I don’t actually know what her mom’s name is. It could be Brenda or Barbara or Barbarella for all I know. Whatever the case, and in spite of the fact that Greenwillow would never, could never, shall never, won’t never do parenting books anyway . . . . yeah, I saw that little slip and believed it. Then, I tried to be all tactful about it. It was only when I was informed that it was a joke that I practically collapsed to the floor in relief. Clever little editors.
When asked what the number one book they wanted to promote was, the answer was Declare Yourself. The book is part of a larger effort to get every 18-year-old in the country registered to vote by the time the next presidential election comes around. The book will have fifty pieces written by a variety of celebrities, artists, musicians, novelists, poets, etc.
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At the end of the day, goodie bags her dispersed. Inside was a beautiful signed broadside from the picture book Help!: A Story of Friendship by Holly Keller. There were also various kits. A Jack Prelutsky poetry kit, a Lilly’s Big Day Event kit, that sort of thing. Then I was off to my next venue. But that’s a story for another day . . .
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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 am very sorry I know this, but Britney’s mother’s name is Lynne.
In my defense, the family is from Louisiana (some have said she’s Cajun and others have said she grew up in the New Orleans area-she’s not and she did not-she grew up in Kentwood, which is not near NOLA), and when Brit hit it big, much was made of the fact that she was a native.