Fusenews: All the Print That’s Fit to News

• Books age. People age.  Harriet the Spy?  Young as a newborn chick, that book.  Everybody’s talking about Harriet these days.  From bookshelves of doom I was alerted to the newest Fine Lines selection and it is none other than the Harriet sequel, The Long Secret (or, as Fine Lines calls it, "CSI: Puberty").  Then when I popped on over to Educating Alice I saw a lovely link to the recent NPR piece Unapologetically Harriet, the Misfit Spy.  KT Horning, former ALSC President and current kick-ass blogger on the site Worth the Trip is interviewed.  Clever Monica also thought to link to Ms. Horning’s January/February 2005 Horn Book piece On Spies and Purple Socks and Such.  Such a good idea, it was that I will copycat her and do the same.

• Children’s Illustration recently linked to two mighty fine online slideshows.  The first is from The Telegraph and features illustrations from the Dulwich Picture Gallery when it celebrated the ‘Golden Age of Illustration’ (sorry, contemporary illustrators) back in November 2007.  Said reviewer Richard Dorment in his piece The Age of Enchantment: Dark Delights, "Dulwich Picture Gallery’s The Age of Enchantment looks at the art of Aubrey Beardsley, Edmund Dulac and other artists who worked during one of the golden ages of British book illustration, from the 1890s until the 1920s. It is also the first exhibition I can remember to deal directly with the phenomenon of decadence in art."  Ooey gooey decadence.  The second slideshow is a slightly more tame (only slightly) slideshow from the New York Times as it looks at William Steig and the exhibit of his work at The Jewish Museum.  Thanks to Children’s Illustration for both finds!

• I’ve found a new blog to love.  Have all of you been secretly reading Pink Me for weeks now without giving me a heads up?  Cause seriously, guys, that ain’t cool.  You know I’m a sucker for a reviewer with an opinion and this here public librarian of indeterminate location (two cents says midwest) is now my favorite bon motter.  I’m just the teensy tiniest bit scared of the sheer AMOUNT of stuff she reviews, so I’ll just go write another review right now to put my own mind at ease.  In any case, read this lady.  She be funny.

• I recently resubscribed to the CCBC-net listserv.  For those of you unaware of CCBC, it is the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (located in Wisconsin, no less) and it describes itself as "is a noncirculating examination, study, and research library for Wisconsin school and public librarians, teachers, early childhood care providers, university students, and others interested in children’s and young adult literature." Anywho, they too are going all podcasty it seems.  Tessa Michaelson had this to say:

The CCBC is happy to invite listeners to tune in to the first episode of our online audio program. The CCBC podcasts will offer a weekly glimpse at happenings at the CCBC by featuring book talks, news, and short interviews. We hope you?ll enjoy the latest way of connecting with us and also find out something new about what we do here.

You can listen to the first podcast here:
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/podcasts/podcasts.asp

• Speaking of CCBC, they’ve selected their CCBC Choices 2008.  I think Tasha Saecker said it best when she described this list as the kind where you feel, "delighted to discover the titles that [you] missed."  Interesting choices indeed.  Thank you Kids Lit for the link.

• From Cynopsis Kids:

Simon & Schuster signs a multi-book deal with author/screenwriter/director D.J. MacHale .  Under the deal Aladdin , an imprint of S&S Children’s Publishing, will publish two trilogies, a four book series and two picture books from MacHale over the course of eight years:

The Equinox Curiosity Shop   an action/fantasy series for younger middle-grade readers (fall 2009)

Morpheus Road   a supernatural trilogy, for older middle-grade kids, about a 16-year-old boy who is hunted and haunted by ghosts (summer 2010)

An untitled trilogy  also for older middle-grade readers (summer 2013)

The Monster Princess   a picture book about an ugly monster girl living in a cave beneath a castle who dreams of becoming a beautiful princess.  Publishing dates for this picture book, and its sequel, are to be determined.

I once read a Pendragon book so that I could recommend the series to our Materials Specialist.  It didn’t take, so to speak.  Of course, say what you will about the man’s writing, these titles are pretty catchy.  That’s a skill I’d like to have.

• Hark and hear, o ye sinners of past picture book travails.  The Weird Ass Picture Book selection of 2008 is nigh and MotherReader has the scoop.  It makes me wish that I knew how to operate the scanner at work.  We’ve been looking at some old picture books that truly put the oo in groovy.  Frank Asch, father of the Moonbear books, once created this bit of psychedelic pop called The Blue Balloon that is without compare.  And did you know that Peter Max did children’s literature?  Oh, you have NO idea.

• Finally, I picked up on most of the movie news this week, but somehow missed the fact that Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli has been picked up by Nickelodeon.  Thank you Finding Wonderland for the link.

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