Fusenews: Making a Mountain Out of an Antill

I was aware that Publishers Weekly reporter was moseying about my last Children’s Literary Cafe.  What I didn’t realize was that they were about to write a kickin’ article about the event.  A Talk of the ‘Times’: A ‘New York Times’ Reviewers Panel is a lovely encapsulation of what went on at my last literary soiree.  I thank Sara Antill for taking the time to come by and report.  Hopefully this will encourage others to attend our future panels as well.  After all, in April we’re getting two playwrights who adapt children’s fiction to the stage, and one of those playwrights is Katherine Paterson’s son (a Hollywood screenwriter in his own right) who adapted her book The Great Gilly Hopkins not too long ago.  More on that later, and thanks to Melanie for this link!

• Two very interesting pieces of children’s book-related news from Cynopsis Kids  :

Fox picks up the feature film rights to Mr. Popper’s Penguins , an adaptation of Richard and Florence Atwater’s 1938 book, which originally featured illustrations by Robert Lawson.  Davis is producing the feature through his Davis Entertainment.  Sean Anders and John Morris are penning the screenplay.

DreamWorks options to author/illustrator Chris Gall’s illustrated kids book Dinotrux .  Set in a fictional prehistoric era, the story is being developed as a CG-animated feature.

I did think it funny that with penguins as popular as they are it was strange that Mr. Popper’s Penguins was never optioned.  As for Dinotrux, I better review that puppy soon (it’s worth the buzz).  And from the same source, some unhappy news as well:

A sad result of the current volatile economic times has now hit Sesame Street as the 41-year old non-profit Sesame Workshop announced it will shed one-fifth of its 355 employees. The cuts equal 67 staffers across all divisions, according to a company spokesperson. The organization, behind the Sesame Street television program, toys and community projects, said it had counted on donations from many Wall Street companies, large corporations and private foundations which have cut back on their philanthropic investments. Two big supporters included Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch. The Sesame Workshop issued this statement: "Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, is not immune to the unprecedented challenges of today’s economic environment. After careful review, we have concluded that we will have to operate with fewer resources in order to achieve our strategic priorities. Therefore, we have reluctantly decided that we must reduce our workforce by approximately 20%. As difficult as this is, we remain optimistic about our future and are more committed than ever to our mission of helping children reach their highest potential here and around the globe."

• Recently I posted a review of the cross gender picture book 10,000 Dresses.  In it, I mentioned that my library plays host to a fair amount of grad students doing projects on books that break with gender stereotypes.  I’ve always meant to make a list of such titles for easy printing, but I’ve never quite gotten around to doing it.  Now it looks as if I don’t have to.  Check out this handy list produced by the librarians of New Jersey.  It’s even in a lovely downloadable Excel spreadsheet, for easy use.  Along those same lines, here’s a question for you fellow librarians out there.  I had someone in my library the other day looking for STEREOTYPES in picture books.  The newer the better.  I remember someone once making a strong case for there being stereotypes in two of the Geisel winners of 2006 (you can guess which ones?), but beyond that it’s hard to think of anything.  Lois Lenski, maybe?  I’d appreciate any suggestions you might have.

• Picture books come.  Picture books go.  And maybe some picture books out there sport real people.  But when you’re talking about a picture book like Melanie Hope Greenberg’s Mermaids on Parade, you’re bound to get some pretty eclectic real-life folks within the pages.  On her blog, Ms. Greenberg has featured one such person.  It’s Tanya Rynd, proprietor of the all-too delicious eatery Superfine in Dumbo.  I particularly enjoyed the compare and contrast between the photograph of her in her mermaid costume, and the one that appeared in the picture book.

• I like noting when people in other genres recognize and appreciate our (read: my) authors and illustrators.  Take Richard Michelson, for example.  Sure, he just got himself a lovely Sydney Taylor Book Award for his As Good As Anybody.  But now Image Magazine has gone and made the man their Artist of the Month.  Not too shabby by half.  Well done to you, Mr. M.

• So I’m vaguely Googling myself the other day.  Readers of this blog have called this process "onan-googling", "vanity searching", "autogoogling", "Googlessisticing" and the most popular term "ego surfing".  To continue, I am ego surfing the other day and I see that my blog is mentioned on an authorial blog of one Melinda Lo.  She appears to have been an entertainment reporter (fun) and I see that she has an upcoming YA novel coming out called Ash.  It is described as "a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, [that] will be published by Little, Brown in September 2009."  Wow.  High concept, and a beautiful one-sentence summary.  I don’t know much, but I want to know more.  [As I look pointedly at Little, Brown and clear my throat loudly]  In any case, my point was that Ms. Lo (who has one of the more clever blog headers on her site) has gone in for the 100 Scope Notes Create Your Own Debut Fantasy Novel Cover challenge.  Only she takes it one step further.  She created a faux fantasy trilogy.  Yow.

• People have really stepped up to the plate in terms of helping me out with my 100 Best Picture Books Poll.  In fact, I’ve just tallied up the last round.  Me want your top ten!  In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying various posts that have been listing their own Top Ten Picks.  On the left we have Wagging Tales with its healthy love of Lore Segal and Alexis Deacon (how have I never heard of Slow Loris before?).  And on the right we have the self-described knackered author  Sara O’Leary giving it up for Oliver Jeffers and Beckett for Babies.  Keep ’em coming, folks.

• In the current economy it’s notable when something breaks even and even more notable when something does particularly well.  Such was the case with the last New York Comic Con.  M.J. Rose not only takes note of this fact but also presents an excellent piece on The Next Market.  There’s also a strong case made for a current baby boom taking place.  If true, that means only one thing to me.  The rise of the picture book sales is again nigh, just as it was some 10-15 years ago.  Stay tuned.

• And very much along the same lines, an interview was recently conducted by Graphic Novel Reporter with Chris Duffy, the senior editor of Nick Magazine.  Hey, Kids! Comics Awards! concerns itself with the Nick Magazine Comics Awards, as voted upon by kids.  Topics include the division between children’s gns and comics for adults, comparisons between people like Jeff Kinney and John Stanley, and a plug for Death by Laughter that I’d be interested in looking at.  Worthwhile reading, to say the least.  Thanks to Janna Morishima for the link.

• Daily Image:

From an actual Archie comic, I swear.

What’s next?  Veronica sporting a tiny backpack that says, "We are DONE professionally"?  Real-life quotes in Archie comics from within the last 5 years.  Too much for my brain to handle. *gurgle*  Thanks to Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog for the image.

Filed under: Fusenews