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March 4, 2009 by Betsy Bird

Fusenews: I So Cannot Wait Until I’m a Cranky Old Dame With a Big Wooden Pounding Stick

March 4, 2009 by Betsy Bird   10 comments

Yesterday I headlined with the 2009 Golden Kite Award winners.  This was in part because I got the notice early and was so excited that I wanted everyone to see the results.  Still, haven’t you ever wondered what it’s like to be a judge on a book committee like that?  Author Amy Timberlake (she of the lovely That Girl, Lucy Moon with its new The Kind of Friends We Used to Be-esque paperback cover, and The Dirty Cowboy) has presented her view of the process with statistics, pie charts, graphs, and humorous photos of ever-mounting picture book madness. A good idea. Judges should all consider doing this. It builds sympathy, if nothing else. Plus I liked the gender stats.

My 100 Best Picture Books readers poll continues at a fine and steady pace.  What’s that you say?  You haven’t emailed me your top ten picture books yet?  Well, heavens above, let me show you how it’s done.  Kate Coombs, for example, was inspired by the idea and posted her own Top Ten on her blog Book Aunt.  A great selection is available for viewing over there.  And that is how it is done, folks.

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  • You know what I’m sick of?  Me talking about New York all the time.  Blah blah, Manhattan.  Blah blah, big noisy city.  Blah blah rat kings.  Blah blah . . . oh, awesome.  Check out author Lisa Ann Sandell’s personalized map of the city on her website.  Those of you looking to pep up your own sites might enjoy it.  I like the inclusion of the Humanities and Social Science Library in particular.  So much for being sick of NYC, I guess.  Thanks to mom for the link.


  • Oh.  And lest you accuse me of only caring about events that take place in New York (yay, BookExpo!) let us turn our sights now across this vast country to a little place I like to call Fresno.  Fresno, California, home of California State University which, in turn, is home to the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature.  And what will be happening at said center April 17-19, 2009?  Why nothing less than a Beatrix Potter conference, co-sponsored by the Beatrix Potter Society and the Fresno State Theatre Arts Department.  It sounds like fun.  If you go, let me know how it was. Registration information is available at http://www.arnenixoncenter.org or by email to mrianto@csufresno.edu. Thanks to Angelica Carpenter for the info.


  • Looks like Random House just upped and bought Ten Speed Press and, by extension, their children’s imprint Tricycle Press.  I just received a lovely Betsy Franco poetry book from Tricycle Press (review to come), so I’m curious to see how this will affect their list in coming years.  Or if I even see it, for that matter.


  • Roger tackles the fine art of giving up.  Consider picking up a book and then putting it back down before the final page has passed.  He says that he has never been the kind of person who physically must finish every book they start and he mentions books with slow starts that redeem themselves in time.  Book redemption.  The divine forgiveness of the dedicated reader.  It puts one in a holy state of mind, the ability to take a title’s sins and absolve them with your love of the (eventual) text.  Anyway, that’s off-topic.  Roger wants to know if you have rules in place when it comes to putting a title down.  Personally I have found that when I start a children’s book I tend to finish it.  The same cannot be said for adult lit.


  • Leila reveals the possible actors playing Percy and Grover in the upcoming Lightning Thief film, as per  Little Willow.  Opinion pending . . .


  • When I was a kid I wanted to know everything possible about albinism, the lack of pigmentation found in some animals and insects due to genetics.  The book Albino Animals would have been exactly up my alley, but sadly it wouldn’t be published for another decade or so.  So it was with interest and horror that I read this Scientific American piece on albinos in Tanzania and how they’re being killed and mutilated in droves.  I’m horrified obviously because of the violence, but also because my husband’s friend from film school, Osato, has been in Zimbabwe doing a documentary on albinism.  Osato is also an albino himself.  I was under the mistaken impression for half a second there that he’d been in Tanzania.  Glad to hear I was wrong.  Thanks to Shaken & Stirred for the link.


  • Daily Image:


You know the real problem with young whippersnappers today?  Nobody takes the time to teach kids fonts anymore.  Why when I was a young lass bouncing on my Pogo Ball, listening to my hot pink and black Pocket Rocker, we had to know our Serif from our Sans Serif, and so HELP you if you got the two confused.

None of that is actually true (except for the Pogo Ball and Pocket Rocker references) but kids are getting taught precisely that.  Says the site Action Types, "The idea was to create a typographic toy to show children different types of fonts. The 3 dimensional letters consist of three very different fonts – Actiontype Bold, Actiontype Light and Actiontype Serif (slab serif). Action Types do not only provide these 3 fonts. Using them as base models, several random fonts can be constructed by interpolation."


Thanks to Swiss Miss for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews

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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. Chris Barton says

    March 4, 2009 at 4:36 am

    Don’t get me started on how little the young people these days know about kerning.

  2. tanita says

    March 4, 2009 at 6:16 am

    Oh, YAY for Random House!!! I love Ten Speed Press, and though the change must be scary — I hope it’s all to the good.

    I, too, tend to finish any children’s lit books I start — adult books, not so much.

    Wow. Kids and fonts. Because that stuff is vital for the growing-up years. Those toys are very cool, though.

  3. Laura says

    March 4, 2009 at 7:38 am

    I’m thrilled abotu the Ten Speed/Tricycle acquisition – I’ve been pleased with lots of Tricycle’s quality, and I’m hoping this will allow them greater visibility and distribution. And I agree with you…I give up on adult lit waaaay before I give up on the kids’ books.

  4. Mila Rianto says

    March 4, 2009 at 9:37 am

    Thanks for posting about the Beatrix Potter Conference in Fresno, CA!
    This will be a very fun event — We’re having Jemima Puddle Duck, Katherine Paterson, tons of Beatrix Potter ‘experts’ from England, and a garden party at Mr. McGregor’s (from Peter Rabbit)house…

  5. aquafortis says

    March 4, 2009 at 10:23 am

    The Pogo Ball was overrated anyway… much less fun than it looked. 🙂 I always think about going to the Beatrix Potter conference, since it’s less than 2 hours away, but I don’t know if I have the funds this year…if I do, I’ll blog all about it!

  6. Fuse #8 says

    March 4, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Do it, do it, do it, do it . . .

  7. Jaime Temairik says

    March 4, 2009 at 11:31 am

    How lovely! Wish I could go to the Beatrix Potter Conference. I am sad, though, that whenever I read her books or quotes I hear Renee Zellweger in my head. Darn that movie.

  8. Lori J. says

    March 4, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    I have no qualms about tossing a book aside unfinished, and as an elementary school librarian I give kids permission to do that too. (Well actually, I’d prefer they set it aside gently and return it to the library unscathed.) Life is short, and my to-be-read stack is high. Sometimes it’s just the wrong book at the wrong time, but sometimes it’s just the wrong book! Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out which children’s books your readers have given up on!

  9. rockinlibrarian says

    March 4, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    Can I submit a vote for the 100 picture books if I don’t have the full 10 titles? I’m not into picture books enough to feel justified naming that many favorites, but I do want to pitch in with the favorites I DO have!

  10. Fuse #8 says

    March 4, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    Sure. If you only have four titles send them along. I can’t handle more than 10 but less just means less work for me. Bring ’em on!

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