SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Fusenews
  • Reviews
  • Librarian Previews
  • Best Books
    • Top 100
    • Best Books of 2022
    • Best Books of 2021
    • Best Books of 2020
    • Best Books of 2019
    • Best Books of 2018
    • Best Books of 2017
    • Best Books of 2016
    • Best Books of 2015
    • Best Books of 2014
    • Best Books of 2013
  • Fuse 8 n’ Kate
  • Videos
  • Press Release Fun

March 21, 2009 by Betsy Bird

Fusenews: That First Day of Spring We Had? I Think I Want My Money Back.

March 21, 2009 by Betsy Bird   4 comments

A couple months ago Monica Edinger was telling me about this Battle of the Books challenge that happen in the adult literary world. I was interested, particularly when she proposed something similar for the children’s literary sphere.  And the result? School Library Journal ‘s Battle of the (Kids) Books is nigh approaching!  Here’s how PW Children’s Bookshelf described it: "Over at our sister magazine, School Library Journal, they’re waging a book war. Lois Lowry, Jon Scieszka, Linda Sue Park and John Green are among the many authors who will be judging SLJ ’s first annual Battle of the (Kids’) Books contest. The competition launches the week of April 13, with the first of four elimination rounds, starting with 16 of last year’s best books for young people."  Monica and Roxanne Feldmann are in charge. Initially I’d wanted to be a judge but SLJ rightly (sigh) wanted to get big name authors for this sort of thing.  So I am switching tactics. I want to be the peanut gallery. These kinds of things always have peanut galleries, right?  And if I don’t get to throw my discarded peanut shells on the site where this event will take place (link to come) then I’ll do it over on my blog with every update they do.  My only question now:  Do we get a zombie round?

  • No matter how old I get, I’m still the kid in school desperately afraid that somehow, somewhere, all her friends are having fun without her.  This feeling hits me at periodic points, and by and large I’m pretty good at trampling it down into a nice pasty mush.  And no event incurs my envy more than the Bologna Book Fair.  Every year me buds in the publishing industry go to Bologna to work.  This "work" is publishing-only.  Librarians would have nothing to do there.  Literary bloggers would have nothing to do there.  But publishing bloggers would DEFINITELY have something to do there, as proven by one Craig Virden who has a new blog on Publishers Weekly called Bologna by Day and Night.  He will report the awesomeness as it occurs.


  • Brenda Bowen, formerly of Harper Collins, is a beloved children’s literary figure.  You can’t not like Brenda.  It isn’t done.  So when I found out from James Preller that she had a new blog, I was thrilled.  For those of you interested in keeping up with all things Brenda, here is where to go.  Thanks so much to James Preller for the link!


  • If you enjoyed the recent New York Times slideshow about various library murals around New York City, you’re bound to get a kick out of this piece showing those murals and more.  It also brings up a point that I am ashamed to say I never thought of before.  "The libraries are usually located in older buildings with high ceilings, but the shelves in the libraries can’t be built higher than kids can reach. This means there is a space between the top shelf and the ceiling, an up-to-six-foot band around the room just begging for something special." Never occurred to me, but it makes perfect sense.  Thanks to Jennifer Morrissey for the link!


  • Editorial Anonymous confronts the difficult problem of Parents Ex Machina (Note to Self: Name something "Parents in the Machine" someday). 


  • April Fool’s Day is just around the corner and I’m on high alert.  So when I read that Gmail now had an undo function, I was skeptical.  They’ve played this game before.  Only this time, it’s real.  Thanks to Bookninja for the link.


  • Apologies to those of you waiting to read the Spring Penguin Library Preview.  I’ve been busier and more tired this week than I expected to be.  Hopefully it’ll be up in the next few dayzzzzzzzzz. . . . .


  • zzzzzz ….. Daily Image ….. zzzzzzz ….. : zzzzzzz… pens that let you be all stabby stabby . . . .




. . . zzzzzzz ….. thanks to Boing Boing for the link…. zzzzzz….

 

Filed under: Fusenews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

January 2019

Fusenews: All the news that's fit to fuse

by Betsy Bird

December 2018

Fuse 8 n' Kate: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

by Betsy Bird

November 2018

Fusenews: She Has a Name

by Betsy Bird

October 2018

Fusenews: We Would Have Also Accepted "Fast Food Fairies"

by Betsy Bird

September 2018

Fusenews: STEM Girl Fashions, the Death of "Hypothesis", and More

by Betsy Bird

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Listen to Gene Luen Yang on TED Radio Hour

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Anatole by Eve Titus, ill. Paul Gadone

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Suee and the Strange White Light | This Week’s Comics

by Lori Henderson

Heavy Medal

More Mock-Newbery Titles Needed: Share June Suggestions Now

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Book Review: Code Red by Joy McCullough

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Trying Something New: SPEED ROUND w/ Marla Frazee, Doug Salati, Dan Santat, and Amina Luqman-Dawson

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

12 Middle Grade Books Filled With Mystery and Adventure | Middle Grade Series Update

7 Multimodal Works for Expanding on 'A Single Shard' by Linda Sue Park | Refreshing the Canon

Here, There, and Everywhere: Around the World in Books | Geography Series Nonfiction

6 Multimedia Resources for Teaching ‘How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents’ | Refreshing the Canon

12 Latest Installments in Transitional, Middle Grade, and YA Graphic Novel Series

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. Monica Edinger says

    March 21, 2009 at 10:22 am

    No zombie round, but something even better, I think: A People’s Choice Award.

  2. janeyolen says

    March 21, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    Craig Virden, who began his publishing career as Marilyn Marlow (agent extraordinaire)’s assistant. When he moved up to being an agent himself, I got him two of his first clients: Patricia MacLachlan and Virginia Ewer Wolff. He eventually went on to become an editor at Random and eventually head of the children’s book department and publisher.

    So he knows the field all right.

  3. Gwenda says

    March 21, 2009 at 3:59 pm

    Definitely! My favorite part of the tourney at the Rooster is John and Kevin’s back and forth after each decision. Continuity, yo.

  4. Jenny Schwartzberg says

    March 21, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    Thank you for posting that link to more library murals. I am in love! I wish my school libraries had had such murals. Now how do we get school libraries nationwide to have such murals??

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • External Links

    • A Fuse #8 Production Reviews
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023