Fusenews: Back and With Oodles of Stuff!

• Kelly at Big A little a discovered that those Frank Cottrell Boyce fans out there (Millions, Framed) may like to know that his newest title Cosmic (quite a lover of those one syllable titles, ain’t he?) isn’t available in America quite yet but is available via Audible.  Well, I’ll be hornswaggled.  That might be a nice way to get titles from Britain that are unavailable in the U.S.  Something to bear in mind, folks.

• Your daily movie news comes via Cynopsis Kids:

"Universal Pictures picks up the option to develop a feature film based on the kid book series Dragonology , in a pre-emptive offer for a "very substantial sum."  Screenwriter Leonard Hartman is attached to the project and has already begun work on a treatment.  From author Dugald A. Steer, the Dragonology books are published in the UK by Templar and in the US by Candlewick Press. So far there is no release date for the movie.  The deal was negotiated via Stephen Moore, The Paul Kohner Agency and Richard Scrivener, Templar’s Commercial and Operations Director."

And also . . .

"Here comes Papa Smurf.  Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation are looking to bring a mixed live-action/CG animated adaptation of The Smurfs to the big screen, per Variety."

Now if you’ll just pardon me, I’m off to hide under a large stone until this idea goes away.

• Huh.  Who knew?  Turns out that designer Chip Kidd of many a fine book jacket is awfully cute.  My husband disagrees vociferously.  You be the judge.

• In Newsweek author Jane Yolen discusses the Five Most Important Books to her.

• Someone compared Collecting Children’s Books to Gawker the other day.  You know.  Dishing out the gossip on all the great children’s authors and illustrators of the past.  A fair comparison?  Well Peter took the idea and ran with it, coming up with questions for us like this: "Which famed author got a night-before-the-Newbery phone call unofficially informing him that he’d won the award…then received a call early the next morning saying, ‘Oops. You didn’t win after all.’?"  Peter, if you have any heart at all, won’t you let us know when we can get the answers out of you?

• Well, I haven’t a clue what My Elves Are Different actually is, but if they like D.M. Cornish then we’re all on the same page.  The comic on the page is very much a you-have-to-have-read-the-book joke. Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.

• Rowling makes a paltry $59 a word for her Harry Potter prequel.  Sounds small and insignificant until you get to the whole $48,858 total.  It’s all for charity anyway.  Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.

• Where the Wild Things Are reshoots are currently in the works according to the appropriately (in this case) named Bloody Disgusting News.  Thanks to Educating Alice for the link.

• The International Children’s Literature Commissioner announces a ban on children’s book to screen adaptations.  Hey, man.  It could totally happen!  Just as soon as we figure out where to find an International Children’s Literature Commissioner (oh, Mr. Scieszka . . . . )

• This is kind of neat.  PEN, an organization here in New York of authors (both of the children’s and YA persuasion) has a series called PenPals.  In it, two different authors correspond and you get to see what they talk about various issues.  The current piece up is PenPals: A Correspondence with Markus Zusak and Susan Campbell Bartoletti.  Between his Book Thief and her Hitler Youth , the two have an awful lot of interesting things to say.

• Teens get all the good P.R., she moaned.  On the other hand, teens have to be teens, and that is certainly a punishment right there.  My teen librarian brethren have had their Anti-Prom featured in Vanity Fair.  Lucky ducks.  Aw.  Look at Jack Martin and his cute little suit.  Thanks to Library Voice for the link.

• I got five words for you. Harper. Lee. Inspired. Wedding. Favors.  Shelftalker has the scoop.

• Daily Image:

All thanks to Children’s Illustration we have an unlikely homage.  It’s Patrick McDonnell tipping his hat to, of all things, Lauren Thompson’s Polar Bear Night.  I stand amazed.

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