Fusenews: Do You Believe in Magyk?

• Remember how Anita Silvey wrote that Has the Newbery Lost Its Way article and then, when The Graveyard Book won, some people erroneously thought the choice was due to the piece?  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that when Jerry Pinkney wins a Caldecott proper for The Lion and the Mouse, people are going to do the same darn thing regarding the recent Nikki Grimes article Speaking Out.  Failing that, while at ALA I happened to see original art for the upcoming Kadir Nelson/Donna Jo Napoli book Mama Miti.  Took one look and said to myself, "Helloooo, Caldecott 2011."  Cause if you’re going to go about making wild wide-eyed predictions you may as well go whole hog.

• Authors, Philip Pullman, Frank Cottrell Boyce, and Anne Fine probably won’t be visiting your children’s class if you happen to live in England.  That’s because recent legislation in Britain now requires every person who works with children to, "register with a national database for a fee of £64".  A scheme sayeth these authors, and they have just cause.  Pullman put it best when he said of class visits, "It’s a very enjoyable thing I can do occasionally – I don’t have to do it very often because fortunately I can earn enough from my writing. But other authors depend on the income it brings in. For them the crowning insult is to have to pay to clear their name from something they haven’t done."  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• From PW Children’s Bookshelf:

"David Frankel ( Marley & Me ) will direct an animated adaptation of Septimus Heap: Magyk , the first volume in the fantasy series by Angie Sage. Variety reports that Rob Lieber will adapt for Warner Brothers, which bought screen rights to the seven-book series back in 2007. The books revolve around two babies switched at birth: a boy who’s the seventh son of a seventh son and a girl destined to be a princess. Book five in the series, Syren, is due out from HarperCollins this September; the books have sold more than one million in the U.S., and have been translated into 28 languages."

• When the little tiny Eerdmans Publishing house won not only a 2009 Caldecott Honor but a Bachelder as well, it was the first time many people had heard of them.  Now Booklist has written a really top-notch piece on the company and its VP Anita Eerdmans.  If you stopped by the Eerdmans booth at the last ALA Conference you would have probably met Anita there.  I got me one of their upcoming middle grade imports, which I’m rather excited about too.  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• Geez.  Had I but known that NPR was doing a Book Cart Drill Team piece I would have linked to it straightaway when I made my video.  Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.

• Well… well that’s just… just the best thing I’ve ever seen.  Helloooo, new road trip destination.

• Maw Books Blog dares to ask the question so few of us are brave enough to even think: Why Do I Own Books When I Rarely Reread?

• And it is now clear that Jaime Temairik was ahead of her time when she created the Vampire/Zombie Sock Puppet Theatre Company.  Now you can’t go two steps into library without encountering them.  I am referring, of course, to Goth puppets.  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• Daily Image:

Yup.  Quentin Blake’s work is just as one-of-a-kind when its been rendered into tiny figurines.

Thanks to Children’s Illustration for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews