Fusenews: The Readers and the Dead

Over my vacation I ate poorly and often, slept a lot, and didn’t exercise a jot.  In short, a good time was had.  However, my blogging muscles are now just as flabby as my bodily ones and I must get back in the rhythm pronto.  Here then is a little Fusenews, all rather old but still very interesting.

• From Cynopsis Kids comes a surprise of a movie adaptation.  It’s not often that an older realistic children’s novel gets a push towards the theater.  But if it stars Saoirse Ronan I will watch it, no matter what it does:

"Danny DeVito is set to direct the family-adventure movie The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle starring Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Morgan Freeman and Pierce Brosnan, according to THR .  DeVito also penned the screenplay for the movie, which is based on the young-adult novel of the same name by Avi ."

And also from Cynopsis Kids, does anyone else find it odd that the symbol of the British railway system is being co-opted into representing the airlines?:

"Chorion , the intellectual property company, is launching Chorion Brand Partners , a new division that will set up third-party marketing and promotional partnerships to further support the company’s brands…And with that, the first pact completed by the new endeavor is a two-year deal to make Paddington Bear the face of British Airways kid’s travel program.  Beginning this October, the airline will hand out Paddington Bear branded travel activity packs to passengers K3-5 on flights in and out of the UK."

• When you serve on a Newbery committee you’re particularly attuned to news stories that pertain to your winner.  I served during the time of The Higher Power of Lucky so when I was sent the article Gorham Woman Finds Snake in Washing Machine I knew the solution would just be ah-bangin’ on the lid of the machine.  Let’s hope we don’t see any articles for "Local Man’s Dog Bit on Unmentionables". Thanks to Timothy Capehart for the link.

• I enjoyed the Japanese translated children’s novel Moribito greatly.  And when I was researching the book I found that there had been a mighty faithful adaptation of it in Japan into an animated series.  Well Adult Swim in Cartoon Network will be bringing that series over here to America beginning August 24th, it seems.  Hopefully this will bring new fans to the book itself.  After all, the CCBC-net listserv has been discussing translated children’s books and how well they sell.  It all ties together.  Thanks to PW’s Children’s Bookshelf for the link.

• LibraryThing and I have had a tempetuous relationship.  They want me to join.  I don’t wanna.  So when I hear that the "social bookworming site" has started a project called I See Dead People’s Books . . . well I’m only human, after all.  How can I resist that?  Essentially you can read the books read by your favorite deceased authors.  There’s everyone from Tupac Shakur (note his inclusion of Machiavelli) to e. e. cummings. Check out this Guardian article for more information.

• I found the Anne Carroll Moore article in the recent New Yorker interesting, and was glad to see ACM getting some props (at least initially) regarding her accomplishments.  That was more than she received in Minders of Make-Believe, I think.  But I like Roger Sutton’s take on the article as well, and I think you should check out the comments on his post if you get a chance.

• Daily Image:

Steven Heller of The New York Times said this of the upcoming presidential race recently: "Since Mr. Obama promotes himself as the candidate of change, maybe he should start wearing a different kind of lapel pin that signals his patriotism as well as other values he wants to communicate. To provide him with options, I asked some illustrators and designers to suggest alternatives." The following came from none other than author/illustrator Peter Sis as the ultimate in lapel pin patriotism in, as he himself says is, "a silly idea". 

Thanks to Crooked House for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews