Candy Houses and Golden Monkies
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Tamagotchi meets Philip Pullman? It could happen. With a glance at my favorite fellow children’s literary blog produced by a New York Public librarian, Walter Minkel at The Monkey Speaks has the scoop on F.A.O. Schwarz and their new line of toys. Daemons from the Golden Compass movie! Ever wanted a sadistic golden monkey of your own? Well now you can! Plus, Walter also found that the company Corgi is selling toy alethiometers with "digi-daemons" to boot. Hm. How does it know if you have or haven’t hit puberty yet?
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Those of you who have sent me The Perry Bible Fellowship version of The Giving Tree will be pleased to hear that its creator Nicholas Gurewitch just got himself a book deal with Dark Horse Comics. And at the same time, Dark Horse has just created a library resources website for anyone new to the field or in need of some good graphic novel information.
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From Cynopsis Kids: "Tim Burton enters into a two-movie deal with Disney to direct two 3D movies, Alice in Wonderland and Frankenweenie, per Variety . First up is Alice in Wonderland, which will be a motion-capture movie, is of course based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Linda Woolverton (The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast) is penning the screenplay for Alice."
Aaaah. You know, when Pixar became Disney’s primary source of movie revenue, I wondered if that might mean a slow demise for The Magic Kingdom. Oh me of little faith. Obviously if Disney takes books or stories in the public domain that they’ve already turned into animated features and then makes them into new movies all over again then they’ll never have to look for new material! Ingenious.
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Here’s a fun fact about New Yorkers: We never ever know what’s going on in our own town. Take this recent posting from Brooke at The Brookeshelf. According to her, "The Metropolitan Opera is currently showing a new production of Hansel und Gretel, and also exhibiting a collection of art inspired by the folktale. The New Yorker is hosting a gallery of images from the collection." Well, I’ll be hornswaggled. Definitely check them out. I’m a fan of Ana Juan myself and these images make me wonder why she’s never gone darker in her picture books. She obviously has the ability to do so. Perhaps her publishers are afraid of scaring the kiddies. Pity:
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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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Hey, I somehow missed the fact that Brookeshelf was back up and running…I loved that blog. Thanks for the tip!
Actually, Betsy, Nicholas Gurewitch doesn’t have a deal, he has a book! (The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories.) It’s out in stores right now.
This isn’t about any of those things, but can I ask you something? You’ve mentioned wanting to see bibliographies in children’s nonfiction, and I wondered about that. Is it because you want to know what the author used for sources? (Generally, the sources are way above the kids’ reading level, since that’s why there’s a need for a kids’ book on the subject.) Or is it a “further reading” list for kids?
Both, actually. To some extent I want to know that an author’s done their homework. Would you accept an adult work of non-fiction that didn’t have a Bibliography? If not, I don’t see why the standards should be any lower for children. Also, a good Bibliography can help kids with reading more, doing reports, and generally giving the ones interested in the subject a leg up. I like to see websites included, though we all know how fleeting such references are. Certainly the books might be above a kid’s reading level, but I’ve never seen anything wrong with a kid seeking out difficult books on their own. Certainly not all books lend themselves to Bibliographies. Steve Jenkins’ recent book “Cats and Dogs” is a good example of a title with a format that doesn’t lend itself to a list of Sources. Still, I generally trust an author more when I see some evidence that they did their homework.
Hey,
This is completely unrelated to the topic of the blog, but I was wondering where the picture of the golden monkeys from?
My friend is desperate for the golden monkey from the golden compass, and the soft toy pictured is exactly what I’m looking for! Do you happen to know if its purchaseable?
As I say in the post it’s from F.A.O. Schwartz. I’m not sure if they still sell it, but if they do then that’s the place to look for it. Good luck.