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April 18, 2008 by Betsy Bird

Fusenews: Including St. Patrick’s Fire (St. Elmo Need Not Apply)

April 18, 2008 by Betsy Bird   2 comments

Right about now I’m beginning to panic about next week.  Three Powerpoints and I need to find a doohickey that’ll connect my laptop to a projector.  I’ve 6 manuscripts to finish going through and writing up notes on, an inker on my white couch and a Spanish penciler on my futon, and the speeches… oh, the speeches.  And where is my Drink Night going to be anyway?  Eek!

So I’m taking my dinner break at work yesterday.  I leave my library, turn onto 5th Avenue, and see this:



With the Pope in town (maybe he’ll stop by my library and get depressed when he hears that we’ve moved Winnie-the-Pooh) it wasn’t too crazy to assume that there was some connection.  Fire + St. Patrick’s Cathedral = Pope weirdness.  Turned out it was just your run-of-the-mill flaming cab.  Ah well.

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  • Wow, Ellen .  That was a mighty silly thing to do.  How many librarians watch your show, you ask?  A few less now, I suspect.  Not that we don’t have a sense of humor about our profession, but how hard is it to come up with material a little more original than "If they do watch the show, they probably keep the sound turned down and put their fingers up to their mouths and say, ‘Shhhhhhhh’ every time the audience laughs."  Oh, man.  The "shhh" noise?  I never get that one.  Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.


  • Clearly Ellen should take her cues from Entertainment Weekly instead.  Laura Lutz had the scoop on the recent article 18 Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks .  They’re all good, but I would have included the scene in Be Kind, Rewind where they’re attempting to make the children’s room of the local New Jersey library branch look like the hotel in Ghostbusters .  Extra points for including Desk Set , though.


  • Mr. Mo Willems had a super exclusive sneak peek of the newest Elephant and Piggie book up the other day.  I’d steal it but then he’d probably hunt me down at Comic Con (come see me speak!) and kill me.  By the way, I finally figured out what Elephant and Piggie remind me of.  The tone is completely different, but the deadpan humor and minimal words of the books remind me of nothing so much as James Marshall’s George and Martha stories.  I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before. Recently I had to integrate all the Marshall books in with the rest of the picture books and as I did so I found that there’s nothing like a good George and Martha story to cure what ails you.


  • I love pie .  Pie is good for you. Delicious, funny pie.  Also from bookshelves of doom .

    The 2008 Lacapa Spirit Prize for Southwest Children’s Literature is given to books that "best embody the spirit of the peoples, culture and natural landscape of the Southwest."  This year’s winner is “Jóhonaa’éí: Bringer of Dawn” by Veronica Tsinajinnie , illustrated by Ryan Singer , published by Salina Bookshelf Inc.  This is the kind of thing a New York Public Librarian tends to miss in a given year.  Sounds good, though.  If you’re looking to bulk up your Southwest collection, perhaps this is the place to start.  Thanks to Chicken Spaghetti who, in turn, got the link from American Indians in Children’s Literature .

    Allison Morris has concocted a Secret Garden-inspired bucket o’ books that veers from the mildly thoughtful into "brilliant" territory.  Her inspiration is the new Inga Moore illustrated Secret Garden which, if you have not seen it, is nothing short of amazing.  I’ve always felt that this is perhaps one of the more perfect children’s books out there.  It’s realistic but with enough mystery and intrigue to keep you guessing.  It has a house with a million rooms to explore, and not one but TWO spoiled brats.  And the whole thing’s about redemption too, which is a hard concept to pull off, particularly when you’re redeeming a girl, a boy, an uncle, and a garden all at once.  Moore’s version illustrated almost every single page with her customary downward plunging jaw style.  The spreads be gorgeous.  I hereby declare it my favorite version of the book (sorry, Michael Hague, but you still win my Best Wizard of Oz Award).

  • And finally, some beautiful images all thanks to our good friend the BB-Blog .  This comes from Kyle Bean’s Portfolio .  Pretty pretty.

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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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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.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. LAURA LUTZ says

    April 18, 2008 at 6:52 am

    I snorted out my nose when I saw the “National Treasure” picture. And WHERE is “Party Girl”?! Thanks for bringing my attention to the new “Secret Garden” – I had it sitting on my shelves but had paid it little mind. You’re right – it’s stunning and the perfect cure-all for being at work on a sunny Friday. (*whispers aside* In the competition for Best Children’s Book Ever, I think this beats “Charlotte’s Web”. But shhhh! this is just between you and me)

  2. Brooke says

    April 18, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Inga Moore has done gone made a Secret Garden? YESSSSSS! Oh, how I love that woman. Thanks for making my day!

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