Fusenews: Of Typewriter Keys and Ice Cream Trucks (and whether pigs have wings)

Before we begin, a quick thanks to everyone who turned out for Kidlit Drink Night the other evening.  At one point we had three large, separate groups all going at once.  That’s the kind of thing I like to see.  Hope y’all had a good time.  I sure did.

• Girl came into my library the other day.  Wanted biographies of Anne Frank for reading for fun.  It’s been one of those weeks you want to clone.  First we had a ten-year-old girl go through our fairy tale section, reading each one.  Then we get another who wants to read up on a subject we have oodles of books on.  You gotta love New York sometimes.  Anywho, had I but known that David Mamet was going to remake The Diary of Anne Frank using the original play … well, I probably wouldn’t have necessarily have let her know.  David Mamet plus eleven-year-olds equals one great big blank stare.  An interesting idea, though.  Thanks to Galleycat for the link.

• According to Cynopsis Kids:

The US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and author Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tale, Time Warp Trio, among others), is the first of what will be a number of noted authors to write a serial adventure story for publication by the Library of Congress ‘ new read.gov website.  Co-sponsored by the Library’s Center for the Book and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, The Exquisite Corpse Adventure is a free online serial targeted to kids and families.  The initial installment will launch at the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival , on Saturday, September 26, 2009.  Other authors and illustrators that will contribute to The Exquisite Corpse Adventure include M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Calef Brown, Susan Cooper, Kate Di Camillo, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Steven Kellogg, Gregory Maguire, Megan McDonald, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, James Ransome and Chris Van Dusen.

• A big thank you to Thalia’s Book Club (a part of Symphony Space) for coming on by the library the other day.  Author Katherine Marsh of The Night Tourist, took these kids on a tour of some of the places in the book, including my space.  They blogged accordingly.  Thanks!

• Celebrity penned books for children.  Pfah!  Pfiffle.  Pfuffle.  That’s my standard take on the situation.  So what happens when you hear that Desmond Tutu is writing a children’s bible?  You can’t really lump him in with Madonna.  Hm.  Thanks to Bookninja for the link.

• Look up.  See that moving banner there? That colorful thingy on the side?  Those are my ads.  They don’t pay me directly, but they are there and they pay SLJ who, in turn, pays me.  Amount of flack I get for them: zippo.  At least to my face.  But if a blogger sold their own ad space to a publisher then would that be considered suspect?  KidzBookBuzz posed the question.  Liz B answered it.  And the New York Times had a piece on it.  Thanks to @asuen1 for the link.

These days typewriter keys are the height of fashion.  You can get them as cufflinks or earrings or bracelets or rings.  Heck, even companies like Little Brown and Co. have changed their logo to look like the keys themselves.  But actual typewriters?  Long since forgotten.  Now as recently as 2002 I had a job that required that I type invoices on carbon copies.  This was in Minnesota at a refrigeration company where I was a receptionist.  Someday I’ll tell you about the gorilla sized freezers the zoo wanted. Anywho, when I came to NYPL I thought my typewriting days were finally done.  Little did I know that requests for the film canisters for our film programs had to be (you guessed it) typed out for one and all to see.  So it is with great pleasure that I read Peter’s recent ode to The Typewriter Cemetery. Good times.

• Woot .  Just woot.

• Aw. That’s just cool.  Over at Booklights, Pam has come up with three fun reading games busy parents can play with their kids.  And it’s a nice short piece so you busy parents out there will be able to read it lightning quick.  Speaking of Pam, she has recently announced the agenda for the upcoming Kidlitosphere Conference. I won’t be able to make it this year, I fear so y’all have oodles of caboodles of strudels of noodles of fun in my stead.  Failing that, buy me a mug.

• Author Lesley M.M. Blume offers up her list of favorite children’s classics over at NPR.  Nice to see The Twenty-One Balloons getting the love.  After reading how it was regarded in terms of popularity back in 1963 (“less than average use”) it’s nice to see it mentioned once more.  Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.

• In case you missed it, yesterday a whole host of clever bloggers participated in the One Shot SE Asia Round-Up.  Chasing Ray has the collected links as per usual.  A great series highlighting those books that just get too little attention in the current marketplace.  Well done, one and all.

• The Ayn Rand/Lewis Carroll connection (or lack thereof).  Thanks to Teacherninja for the link.

• I’ve sort of mixed feelings on this one.  On the one hand, I love the television program Reading Rainbow from the bottom of my heart.  A fabulous show that I was quite keen on back in the day.  On the other hand . . . they were still running old episodes?  Hard to get too upset that it’s been cancelled when I didn’t know I could still watch it.  Sort like when you read an obituary for someone and find yourself thinking, "They were still alive?"  Still, sad news.  Thanks to Finding Wonderland for the link.

• The webcomic, as it relates to children’s literature, is most amusing when it appears in a regular blog format.  So it is that I just found out that Nathan Hale (Rapunzel’s Revenge, Yellowbelly and Plum Go to School, etc.) will be interviewing Shannon Hale (no relation) on his blog this week in a webby comicy style.  It will run with new strips every day until Friday.  Not a half bad idea.  Other comicish illustrators take note.

• Editor Molly O’Neill explains why ice creams trucks can be dangerous to members of her profession (hint: It involves the s-word).

• I have to admit that I greatly enjoyed this modern take on what letter J.R.R. Tolkien might receive if he submitted The Hobbit to a literary agency today.  "A final comment – the conclusion of your story is far from satisfactory. Having brought Bilbo across miles of uncharted wilderness and ever-present danger, someone else kills the dragon!"

• Editor Cheryl Klein twittered the other day, "Something I’d like to see: A MG or YA novel set in the Hollywood studio system in the 1930s/40s."  Can I get an amen?  Amen.

• Daily Image:

A garden based on The Wizard of Oz?

It only makes sense that Oz and Ends would have the scoop.  

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