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

July 22, 2009 by Betsy Bird

Fusenews: Pointy Birds. Pointy Pointy. Anoint My Head. Anointy Nointy.

July 22, 2009 by Betsy Bird   8 comments


Lots to cover today and not much time.  Let’s just dive on in then.

I had heard rumors speculate that in the paperback edition of Adam Rex’s The True Meaning of Smekday there would be an extra added comic section.  This excited me, as I would very much like to see a graphic novel series starring J. Lo (the alien) and this may be the closest I get.  As it happens, Mr. Rex has been kind enough to place the comic panels on his blog here.  Anything involving superstars with cars coming out of their noses is fine upstanding literature to my mind.

  • We don’t talk about it much, but ALA’s magical powers of frumpification upon actors and authors that pose for READ posters are well documented.  I hadn’t looked at some of the recent ones, but then an anonymous commenter on a Read Roger post mentioned that Neil Gaiman has suffered much in the same way.  Maybe, though I think that may just be the anti-beard crowd talking.  The anonymous poster also referred to Your Neighborhood Librarian’s many fine posts on the subject, which make for fine n’ fancy reading in case you missed them the first time around.


  • Nancy Drew gets a pronounced shout out in The New York Times, citing fans of the series who grew up to become big names.  Is it just me or do the Hardy Boys not garner the same love?  And will that change when that Ben Stiller/Tom Hanks Hardy Men film comes out?  Come to think of it, what if they did a new Nancy Drew television series, only they set it in the 30s?  Has there ever been a regular historical live action TV show for kids?  Little House on the Prairie and Avonlea, I guess.  Well Nancy Drew would be the logical next step.  Thanks to Michael Joseph for the link.


  • Wanna buy The Onion?  It’s for sale.  Not sure what I feel about that.  If they muck with the writing in any way, shape, or form there will be blood.  Thanks to Neil Gaiman’s Twitter for the link.


  • As someone who feels that facial twitch in her cheek act up every time she has to reshelve Eragon or Swordbird, I took an inordinate amount of pleasure in The Guardian article Teen authors should be encouraged, but not always published.  Tell it like it is . . uh . . (looks up name) Imogen Russell Williams.  Thanks to Tasha Saecker for the link. 


  • My own host site and I didn’t even see the piece.   For shame, me.  Apparently a lower school librarian in Spain wrote an "open letter to kids’ book publishers recently called Tough Love.  In it she asks for the usual requests.  Better bindings.  Attractive covers (read: not brown).  Indexes.  That sort of thing.  I pretty much agree all the way, particularly when she mentions that she’s had it up to HERE with WWII titles.  I agree.  Why the allure?  Is it because it shows up on a lot of tests in school?  Is it the sheer scale of the drama?  No idea.


  • Book Blogger Appreciation Week is coming up.  Have you voted for your favorites?  I did just today.  Dunno if anyone shares my tastes, but my fingers are crossed for some of my pet favs.  Thanks to bookshelves of doom (who is up and running again, by the way) for the link.


  • Surely I’m not the only person who shudders deep down to the very bowls of her soul when she hears the term "safe library".  Unless they’re the kind of library that plays the song Safety Dance 24/7.  That kind of library I can get behind.  Thanks to Jennifer Hubert Swan for the link.


  • As failed covers go, none have gone so terribly awry as this one, I think.  Wouldn’t have caught it myself since it’s YA.  That’s why it’s nice to have other bloggers out there that you trust.  Puts me in the mind of the Wizard of Earthsea jackets out there.  Mind you, the author herself doesn’t seem to mind.  Hmm.  Confusing, to say the least.  Anyone care to clarify the situation for me?


  • Oh, heavens above.  People who had tables at the 2009 Newbery/Caldecott Banquet, look at your CDs.  The ones of the speeches.  See anything wrong?  I have my own but it wasn’t until I read Peter’s blog that I saw that they spelled Ashley Bryan’s name wrong.  Now, COME ON!  Not cool, dudes.  You can bet that if they’d written that the Caldecott was to Beth Cromes or Neil Gayman someone would have picked up on that before now.


  • Am I ranting too much these days?  I feel like I’m stuck in a perpetual rant.  Tain’t healthy.  I’m off to go eat some sunshine, roses, and puppies to buoy my spirits.


  • Daily Image:


Oz and Ends found it, and what he says on the topic cannot be improved upon in any way. 


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

2023 Caldecott Jump

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Creating a Collective Black Ancestry: Researcher Kimberly Annece Henderson Discusses Dear Yesteryear

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Recent Graphic Novel Deals, Early Mar 2023 | News

by Johanna

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Book Review: Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave with illustrations by Tom de Freston

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Newbery Medalist Amina Luqman-Dawson visits The Yarn

by Colby Sharp

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

2 Middle Grade Novels That Explore Climate Change in Different Ways

An Exclusive Excerpt & Interview: 'Odder' by Katherine Applegate

Comic: Laura Gao's 'Messy Roots' Goes From Viral Tweet to Indie Bestseller

Who Knows 'Lunch Lady' Best, Jarrett Krosoczka or a Middle Schooler? | Author-Fan Face-off

Share Black Stories

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. tanita says

    July 22, 2009 at 5:21 am

    I read that piece on “Tough Love,” and was a little… um… sad about the WWII novel hate, but I have to admit that I read a bunch in junior high that were basically all alike. Here’s to no more brown covers…

  2. EM says

    July 22, 2009 at 5:37 am

    You boiled her nines! (LURVE that movie. Now I will be reciting “In Dilman’s Grove” all day.)

  3. R.J. Anderson says

    July 22, 2009 at 5:50 am

    Ooh, you mean the comic wasn’t in the original SMEKDAY edition? And here I was feeling sorry I hadn’t come across it until it was in paperback… I shall repine no more!

    Also, best subject line ever. Or at least for this week. Heh.

  4. Jenny Schwartzberg says

    July 22, 2009 at 9:40 am

    I noticed the Ashley Bryant mispelling on the Caldecott/Newbery/Wilder CD right away at the dinner table. Ouch indeed. I thought dryly to myself that if they reprint the CD for the general market and correct that spelling that it would end up a collectible in the end. Right now though, it’s really offensive that no one at ALA or Scholastic caught that error! And Bryan gave such a fabulous speech! I have yet to check if the CD includes the wonderful call and response sections but I doubt it does…. You really had to have been there to hear and participate!

  5. Paige Y. says

    July 23, 2009 at 6:06 am

    I hadn’t thought of Safety Dance in years — just had to buy it from iTunes — it will be a great song to torture my children with. . .

  6. Liz B says

    July 23, 2009 at 10:35 am

    Justine Larbalestier just posted about her feelings about the cover and hopes to have the paperback cover be different.

  7. Hedgehog Librarian says

    July 23, 2009 at 11:29 am

    AMEN!! I made it (barely) through Eragon and I wish someone had taken a red editing pen to it. I never made it through the other too. Not everyone is Gordon Korman

  8. your neighborhood librarian says

    July 27, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    Did you read Chelsea Cain’s novel about Nancy Drew’s grownup years? I LOVED it. (She marries Ned – and then divorces him because he’s boring! Woo-hoo!)

    But everybody knows the Hardy Boys are lame. Not even Derek Zoolander will be able to make them cool.

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