Fusenews: Tonstant Weading and Fwowing Up

Earworm of the Day: Georgy Girl.  That’s the song where they keep telling poor Georgy to cough up her hard earned cash and buy herself some new clothes.  If I were a YA author I’d make it into a book, title it Georgy Grr and she’d kick those singers all about town.  But I digress . . . .

• Know what this is?  This is the poster for the City of Ember movie that’s coming out on October 10th.  Pretty cool, eh?  Do you think they put that Harry Potteresque lightning bolt in the center of the "e" on purpose, or is that just some amaaaaazing coincidence? Thanks so much to 100 Scope Notes for the link.

• You know, for the amount of original, interesting information regularly written on the site, I should really be reading the blog Collecting Children’s Books a lot more often.  When I don’t I tend to miss out on great pieces, like Peter’s recent jaw-dropping story from his youth called Embarrassing Robert Cormier.  Authors and illustrators, if you’ve ever had a bad bookstore event, Robert Cormier’s interaction with Peter’s brother may have you feeling just a little bit better.  I assume that the guy who wrote The Chocolate War would have pretty thick skin but even so . . . . geez.

• Got kids?  Got poems?  Got kids that write poems?  Well the Powell’s Blog is having a l’il ole contest over at their place in honor of Poetry Month.  Say they, "Post your original short poem on our blog before Wednesday, April 30, 2008, and we will randomly pick five names to win a $25 gift card and a Powell’s Kids’ Nalgene Water Bottle! (20 lines or fewer, please!)"  The announcement doesn’t say anything about age restrictions, though they do make it very clear that kids under the age of thirteen should have their parents submit their entires rather than put their own information online.  Poet it up, peoples!

• And speaking of blogs that I should start reading regularly again, I’ve picked up where I left off on reading Tiny Little Librarian.  There aren’t many blogs out there about children’s librarians that talk about their regular experiences on the job.  I’m not sure that TLL is even working in the children’s specialty anyway, but regardless she’s a lovely read.  See Hollywood, THIS is why there should be a sitcom set in a library.  And no, that aborted Party Girl spin-off does not count, so don’t even try to sell me on that as "it’s been done".

• David Wiesner and Shaun Tan = graphic poems?  Guardian writer Molly Flatt makes a case for it.  Plus the piece has an absolutely lovely picture of Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly.  Just look at these crazy kids.

• A whole site dedicated entirely to bookmaking with kids?  Hoozie.  Yup, it’s called Teacher Features: Thoughts on Bookmaking with Kids and is, in fact, exactly that.  Looks like it’s updated fairly regularly too.  Thanks to Chicken Spaghetti for the link.

• You know, I was totally gonna buy you the last known photograph of J.R.R. Tolkein.  Honest!  Is it my fault that all his stuff just got sold off in a massive sale worth tens of thousands of pounds?  That’s what you get for waiting to buy, I guess.  I’ll make it up to you somehow, though.  I promise.  Thanks to Achockablog for the link.

• Are you planning on seeing that Horton Hears a Who movie that’s come out?  Perhaps you’d like to read a review or two first, yes yes?  Well 100 Scope Notes has a tidy little round-up of some of those reviews, so be sure to stop by there first.

• The library is nice enough these days, but it’s just not quite the same without our sweet Pooh.  Sara O’Leary managed to locate a Paris Review interview with Kenzaburo Oe where he explains why, "Winnie-the-Pooh is the reason I married my wife." On the opposite end of the spectrum is Sam Riddleburger who found the piece Epic Pooh (20 points for the title) which brings together such seemingly disparate titles as The Lord of the Rings and Pooh Bear.  I am reminded, after reading the piece, of that famous 1928 Dorothy Parker review of The House at Pooh Corner which read, ". . . And it is that word ‘hummy,’ my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up."  God, I wish that woman were alive today.  Just think what she could have done with Love You Forever.

• Oh look!  Lovely birthday/Christmas/Easter/Passover/Kwanzaa/Who Needs an Excuse? t-shirts for those people you know that absolutely need to be reminded of certain facts:

Thanks to Editorial Anonymous for the link.