Fusenews: That’s odd. Usually the blood gets off on the third floor.
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Did you miss the rivers of blood flowing through the offices of New York on Wednesday? Yes? Well the wonderfully named The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent blog has done a round-up of the horrid lay-offs, cuts, and other painful maneuverings that happened this past week to the folks in the publishing industry. Even Rubin Pfeffer was touched. Geez. Scary stuff. I don’t think the post even includes the Penguin pay freeze that came out yesterday either. Thanks to Shaken & Stirred for the link.
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Richie Partington has released his Best of 2008 picks list. Boo-yah to The Trouble Begins at 8. Boo-yah I say.
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Wowzer. I missed this too, but clearly it’s what everyone wants to talk about these days. Emily the Strange or Emily the Strangely Familiar (can you believe that I am the first person to name it that)? Nowadays people are noticing left and right. Who knew Nate the Great was so influential? Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.
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Lucky Omnivoracious. If I could get Lemony Snicket to guest blog on my site you can bet your sweet bippy I’d do so. Particularly when the opening sentences of such posts run along the lines of, "By means of a procedure whose byzantine intricacies we ourselves have only the barest hint of–we do know for certain that dog sleds, semaphore flags, and cereal-box prizes were involved–we have, as promised, transmitted the questions we’ve received to the author Lemony Snicket and received his replies, filled with so-called ‘advice,’ in return." Him talk reel purdy.
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Here is a mystery or two for you to ponder. I know that J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard just went on sale. I know this because several copies are sitting in my back room. So . . . is it just me, or has the publicity for this been slim to none? And why is no one discussing the recent Pooh auction of original Winnie sketches by Shepard? Most mysterious. Thanks to Tim Bush for catching the latter.
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I only know a couple teachers here in NYC, but the ones I know are stellar. Particularly Monica Edinger. She runs that thar children’s literary blog Educating Alice and it’s quite a doozy. One minute she’s making Graveyard Book murals with her kids. The next they’re creating boxes for Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. Now we have a chance to show her how cool we think she is. Vote for Educating Alice as the Best Teacher Blog of 2008. She totally deserves it. After all, she’s one of those rare teacher bloggers who pay attention to the children’s literary blogosphere.
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A piece on The Guardian’s blog speculates as to Why girls’ books still build their dreams around the home. Seems like a nice enough article, were it not for the fact that it has that tricky "still build" in the title. Far as I can tell the books she’s discussing are classics alongside the rare Jacqueline Wilson. That’s all well and good but I don’t recall the theme of "home" coming up much in Twilight or Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Kiki Strike. Home just ain’t what it used to be no more. Thanks to Kids Lit for the link.
Lee Bennett Hopkins is the proud recipient of the 2009 NCTE Excellence in Poetry for Children Award . Well done, sir!
A riddle for you. What do you get when you combine children’s literature, online interactive Flash animation, and the woman who played Mimi on The Drew Carey Show. Give up? Well, it’s a little venture out there called MrsP. We’ve seen variations on this kind of thing before, but I feel like it’s never quite come across in this particular manner. It used to be that children’s television consisted of a single adult speaking for long periods of time to the child audience in both the studio and watching their sets at home. Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room, Mr. Rogers, etc. That sort of thing continues today but to a lesser extent, which is why I found the Mrs. P idea interesting. Here we have a very Polka Dot Door idea (watch me breakin’ out the early 80s references). You have a relatively charismatic host, a regularly changing setting (it’s Christmassy at the moment), and a changing series of books that she will "read" to you. It’s all public domain at the moment, but one wonders if this is the way children’s programming will go in the future. And what if a single publisher were to sponsor such a "show"? What if publishers created their own shows in tandem with popular online children’s websites? Don’t mind me, I’m just going to sit down a minute and breathe between my knees until the dizziness passes. The future always makes me feel like I’m spinning in circles.
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Like many public children’s rooms my library sees its own fair share of autistic patrons in a given day. So I was particularly excited when former NYPLer Kiera Parrott located the site Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected. They have guides, Powerpoints, PDFs, and other resources to help librarians understand and aid with autistic kids. Bueno, Scotch Plains Public Library (NJ) and Fanwood Memorial Library. Bueno indeed. Thanks to Library Voice for the link.
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Daily Image:
Need a wireless router but hate how it clashes with your ultra mod library’s decor? No? Me either. But apparently this had to have been a problem for somebody because the answer has now been officially reached. Behold! It’s Saudi Telecom to the rescue!
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According to the design magazine De Zeen (tee hee) what you have here is, "Wireless internet, Voice over IP, land line telephone and wired DSL are all incorporated into this elegant device." Thanks to American Libraries Direct for the link.
Filed under: Fusenews
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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I myself was taken aback by the lack of publicity for Tales… and pleasantly surprised at its ready availability. I expected release parties and such.
first, it’s always good to start off with a bit of an elevator bloodbath. if it bleeds it leads, as they say in the newspaper biz. a “shining” references is always appreciated in these parts as well.
second, are you really going to put water in your wireless router, or does it only take fake flowers?
The Mrs. P thing is a serious trip! Wow.
That pic is from Kubrick’s The Shining, isn’t it? One of the coolest trailers ever. And thanks so much for the edublogger shout-out!
The Shining, yes. But the quote in the title is from The Simpsons. And if you guys haven’t seen the fake Shining trailer where they turn it into a meaningful family comedy, you are missing out. Google “Shining” and “trailer” or “fake trailer”.