Fusenews: Betsy Hearts Etsy

• Y’all know that I am prone to exaggeration.  But when I say unto you that the site Austenbook (it tells the story of Pride and Prejudice in terms of Facebook updates) is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I mean it.  Sliced bread ain’t got nothing on this site.  It had me at "Mrs. Bennet became a fan of Charles Bingley."  Here’s a taste:

	Elizabeth Bennet and Caroline Bingley are attending the event Take a Turn about the Room.
	Fitzwilliam Darcy feels the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention.
	Elizabeth Bennet is back at home. Thank goodness!
	William Collins tagged 7 of your friends in his note I Propose Myself the Satisfaction of Waiting on You and Your Family.

Thank thank you thank you GraceAnne DeCandido, Monica Edinger, and Sharyn November for the link!

• Ever see a book coming out and you think to yourself, "Now why didn’t I assume that was going to happen?"  For example, The Boxcar Children turned into a graphic novel.  Sounds obvious when you say it, but I doubt it would have occurred to me.  And then you get to the part where they tell you that it’s a measely 32 pages a book.  Dumb dumb dumb, guys.  A full book and you could have had all the library systems taking these off your hands.  But make it flimsy and it won’t sell for beans.  I thought you guys wanted to sell your books?  Thanks to Peter for the heads up.

• Some authors have good cover karma.  I believe they are blessed with it at birth.  And Cynthia Leitich Smith is one of the blessed.  Kudos to her.

• Don’t know how I missed this one for as long as I did, but did you know that Scope Notes just upped the reviewing ante?  He’s doing it with comic strips.  Dang.  That’s smart.  What’s more, he reviewed that book Who Made This Cake? which ended up on the Horn Book’s 2008 Best Books List too.

• If you’ve ever enjoyed Max Eaton III’s work (the words "Max and Pinky" should be ringing a couple bells about now) then you’re not going to want to miss his Post-It Note post on The Well-Read Child.  Max systematically comes up with different tips on turning a reluctant reader into a voracious one.  I’m a sucker for a good Post-It Note picture, so this one was right up my alley.

• I don’t know where he found them but everyone’s favorite Mr. Door Tree has come up with a bunch of interesting Pop-Up Books from the 1930s (or should I say pop-up comics?) for viewing on his site.

• At a party the other day someone mentioned to me a site called Twilight Guy, which sounded intriguing.  It was described to me as a website where a fellow gets tips on how to pick up women by reading the Twilight books.  The site describes itself slightly differently: "Attention: This is not really a Twilight Fansite.  I cannot honestly be called a ‘Twilighter’ yet.  This site is about me reading the books for the first time.  I am not a ‘Twi-hard’ or any other name for the fans of Stephenie Meyer.  However, I am a reader.  And I am a guy.  I may be one of the first guys to read Twilight and actually admit it.  But I’m only doing it as research and not because I’m curious.  At least, that is my alibi."  Suuuuuuure, buddy.

• Now there are two new author/illustrator blogs out there for you guys to take a gander at.  On the authorial side of things is one James Preller.  This is a fellow who managed to get two of his books on the New York Public Library’s 100 Books for Reading and Sharing list (and that’s no small feat).  One was Along Came Spider and the other Six Innings.  I recently read the latter and it was really a slambang great baseball tale.  I probably won’t have time to review it before the end of the year, but take it from me that if you’re looking for a magnificent idea for a book (six innings = the entire tale) this is it.  Anywho, James has a new blog and it clearly isn’t one of those sites where the author knocks off a post or two when they have a time.  Preller has put serious time and energy into his posts.  And one of the most recent ones has the potential to make you a regular reader.

• On the artistic side of things, Melanie Hope Greenberg has started her own blog and has only a few posts up.  Still it looks like it’s going places.  Ms. Greenberg, as you may recall, recently wrote the picture book Mermaids on Parade, in honor of Coney Island’s yearly Mermaid Parade.

• Daily Image – Holiday Gift Edition:

Tell me that there isn’t an author you know who wouldn’t want to wear this around their neck.

I recommend it particularly for those working in the picture book arena.  And it is only a mere $20 too.  Thanks to BB-Blog for the link.

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