Fusenews: There ain’t no party like a Boston Tea Party, ’cause a Boston Tea Party don’t stop!

I love cupcakes, sure, but I wouldn’t say no to a nice pint of Ben & Jerry’s if you handed it to me.  Of course, all those flavors… they sure seem to be named after other folks a lot.  Where’s my own personal librarian flavor, I ask you?  Looks like there’s a movement to make just that.  Dusty Stacks sounds good (layered ice cream with speckles of cocoa in every layer).  Bookninja came up with his own flavors as well.  Due Dates and Figs might work, except … date and fig ice cream?  ew.  Misshelved Maple is better.  Even The Guardian got in on the act reporting that Arnold Carbone the "flavor guru" made a mighty sweet suggestion himself: "Malt Whitman: ‘a malt ice-cream, with chocolate alphabet letters and two decadent rivulets – one caramel and one fudge – as an ode to writer Walt Whitman’."  Smart, funny, AND I would eat it in a second.  Malt Whitman it is!  Thanks to Bookninja for the links.

• I’ve been greatly enjoying illustrator Paul Schmid’s blog as of late.  When it comes to author or illustrator blogs, I’m drawn particularly to those sites with opinions, that also happen to provide content that I can’t find elsewhere.  Schmid provides.  Recently he has broken down for us some of the choices other illustrators have made when doing classic books.  For example, his examination of Zwerger’s take on the Wizard of Oz poppy scene is particularly insightful. "An eerie greyish green background suggests an endless field without the literal busyness that would overwhelm the viewers eyes, while simultaneously being complimentary to and enhancing the purer red of the poppies. She suggests the field without being controlled by it."  I liked his response to Ferdinand the Bull as well.  "Perfect. Except for the cover, the cover design sucks."  Thanks to Oz and Ends for the first link.

• I own a UK paperback edition of the first Harry Potter book, which I picked up in London around 1999.  And I did notice on a reread that the American edition specifies that Dean Thomas is black while the British one leaves it a little more ambiguous.  The Magic District takes this issue to heart and examines race as it appears in the Harry Potter books a little more closely.  It doesn’t bring up the Thirteenth Child debate either, but perhaps it’s mentioned in a different post.  Thanks to Shaken and Stirred for the link.

• Lest we fail to give Little Golden Books enough credit, Alison Morris over at ShelfTalker has highlighted some of their truly terrible cousins; The Rand McNally books.  Love the tears of anger/shame.

• You know, there is a downside to being a prolific writer.  Roald Dahl’s autobiographer learns the hard way. Thanks to Bookninja for the link.

• British Book I Would Like To Read Someday, Please:

I mean, it’s twins trying to kill each other.  What’s not to love?  Thanks to Achocka Blog for the link.

• Now that The Hunger Mountain magazine’s Children’s & YA section is online, I’m intrigued by the notion of placing small sections of middle grade novels, YA novels, children’s poetry, and children’s non-fiction titles there for perusal.  It’s a good idea.  One that I’ve seen done far more often on the adult side of things.  Are there other online literary journals that do the same with children’s lit?

• Someone asked me the other day what my picks from the multitude of astronaut books published this year would be.  Truth be told?  If I haven’t reviewed it, my thoughts are usually all ah-jumble.  Fortunately Lisa Von Drasek over at Early Word Kids has come up with a fabulous compilation of the new astro books, highlighting those she recommends.

• It’s been a year for faux album covers.  First Dan Santat and Tammi Sauer did their thing.  Now the self-dubbed Brothers Delacorte have created their own hits via HiFi Stereo.  Good things come in threes.  I dare one of you to come up with yet another.

• Bearing in mind the recent Liar controversy surrounding its cover, Jacket Whys did an informal survey of what jackets out there actually feature African-American kids.  The results are there, but they’re pretty few and far between.  For more, I suggest you head on over to The Brown Bookshelf.  They always keep close tabs on books worth reading and sharing.

• Ashley Bryan killed at the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet when he accepted the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.  Now you have a chance to nominate the next winner for the 2011 Award.  The criteria can be found here. More info on the ALSC Blog. Perhaps a lady should win next.  We haven’t had a lady since 1995, after all.  Let’s Beverly Cleary it up, shall we?  Failing that, perhaps a touch of Judy Blume would suffice.

• This is what happens when people who don’t usually work with children’s books start trying to make lists of the worst of them.  The American Scene designated The Giving Tree as bad, which is fine.  But as for The Polar Express his only objection seems to be that it suggests that grown-ups don’t believe in Santa.  The comments make for interesting reading as well.  The American Scene in general calls itself "An ongoing review of politics and culture," so it’s interesting to see folks outside of our librarian/publisher sphere talking about the books they do not like.  They can be mighty rude to one another too.  Thanks to Bookninja for the links.

• Daily Image:

Author and great blogger Jay Asher (of Thirteen Reasons Why fame) went to Boston and got himself a little Robert McCloskey action.

I want to go to there.  And I certainly hope that’s your Facebook profile picture from here on in, Jay.  Thanks to Jen Robinson’s Book Page for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews