Fusenews: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

A couple things I’d like to point out here. First off, I don’t think Richard Hunt gets enough credit for his portrayal of Beaker. Notice how that particular Muppet is continually engaged in the scene, in spite of the fact that his face (with the exception of the mouth) is motionless. Second, when I sing Danny Boy I do it just like Animal. The idea that there are words in it aside from "Oh", "Danny" and "Boy" seems unlikely to me. Third, I discovered this video last year a day after St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve been holding onto it all this time in the hopes that I’d remember to post it now. I have. I can die happy.  Moving on . . .

• That’s clever.  I think a lot of us saw the New York Times article The Future of Reading: In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update but I’m particularly pleased to see that SLJ followed up with an interview with the librarian featured, one Ms. Stephanie Rosalia.  In this piece SLJ talks to her about the responses to the article, how it came to be, and other details.  Fine reading.

• With my husband the resident screenwriter, I had heard the rumors that the newest Harry Potter film was pushed back (and Twilight given its release date) partly because initial audience reactions to it were so negative.  According to rumors, Malfoy never fixes the cabinet that allows the Death Eaters into Hogwarts (which explains why they didn’t mention the broken cabinet in the last film), Snape kills Dumbledore all by himself, there is no Fenrir Greyback, tra la la dee dee.  I had assumed they were doing some reshoots.  Apparently not, if the audience reaction in England is anything to go by.  And I had naturally assumed that Ms. Romilda Vane wouldn’t make the movie at all.  Just goes to show.  Thanks to Kids Lit for the link.

• Here in New York the Robin Hood Foundation is a godsend to many a public school library.  As the New York Times put it so succinctly, "Over the last nine years the Robin Hood Foundation and the city’s schools administration have built libraries in 62 schools in low-income neighborhoods."  Better still, they’ve done what I wish more library systems *cough cough* would do.  They’ve sponsored murals by children’s illustrators.  This slideshow gives you a glimpse at some by Maira Kalman, Stefan Sagmeister, Yuko Shimizuand, and my personal favorite Christoph Neimann.  Thanks to Children’s Illustration for the link.

• The list of the 2009 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts has at last been released.  NCTE has released a lovely little collection of titles.  I was hoping for more surprises, but this is nice too.  Thanks to Monica for the info.

• YA author Sara Zarr’s post on how her author photo was Photoshopped against her will is gripping.  At least I found it gripping.  Infuriating as well.  The before and after photos are particularly telling.  Thanks to Shaken & Stirred for the link.

• In enjoyed the recent Oz and Ends piece on Fantasy in Very Small Doses which considers children’s fantasy stories written for magazines.  It seems to me that writing short fantastical stories for kids that are as small as all that is almost a literary challenge of sorts.  Recently I’ve been thinking of doing some kind of Literary Cafe here at the Children’s Center that looks at pieces written for children’s magazines.  It’s not something I’ve really heard discussed widely before.  Hm.  Anywho, thanks to Oz and Ends for the info.

• The master plan of Alison Morris comes to light.  I only wish I had thought of it first.

• Newsflash, people. Hold onto your hats for this one cause I’m only going to say this once.  In fact, are you sitting?  You should sit.  This is going to be a shocker.  Okay, you’re down?  You’re comfy?  All right.  Listen up: Crossing Over for Kids: The words may be easier, but children’s books are harder than they seem.  Actually this Publishing Trends piece, which I missed when it initially came out, talks to some pretty knowledgeable people in the field.  But I’m not sure that it doesn’t already contain much that you don’t already know (note: was that sentence in the triple negative?).  Thanks to ShelfTalker for the link.

• Daily Image:

When traveling too and from work, sometimes I am lucky.  Sometimes I get to stand and stare at a little piece of pristine, wonderful, original art that gives me exceeding pleasure every time I see it.  I refer, of course, to the subway poster created by artist Chris Gall (he of There’s Nothing to do on Mars and Dear Fish).  Observe:

You can purchase such a poster of your own here, you know.  And I was delighted to discover on his website that he has said of the piece, "And though many of you emailing me have claimed to see a metaphor for the Last Supper, any such similarity is strictly coincidental!"  Not guilty.  Love the idea, though.

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