Fusenews: Blogging Vs. Sandwich. Blogging Wins!

Not having internet in the home cramps my style.  So if this is all out-of-date, forgive me.  My lunchtime has now turned into my blogging time.

• Recently there was a New York Times article about the fate of Tintin in the Congo and what the Brooklyn Public Library system did with it.  NYPL will never have to deal with this issue due to the simple fact that we don’t even carry the book in the first place (except for a single solitary original 1959 French edition that has mysteriously been "checked out" in spite of the fact that it’s a reference copy).  Lee Wind discusses the issue of librarians limiting access to controversial materials.

• Since setting up a Twitter account I’ve found that though I don’t tweet as much as the next fellow, I do find it a useful source of bloggable information.  Writers like it too, it seems.  In fact, there’s a more than rather useful site that actual makes a point of compiling the best links via Twitter each and every week.  Called Best Tweets for Writers, the site updates itself every weekend. Thanks to @mitaliperkins for the link.  

• New Blog Alert: I’ve a new and fellow NYC blogger on my radar now.  Rebecca Searle is the founder of Nurturing Narratives, a company that runs storytelling/narrative-building sessions for children ages 3-6.  The blog describes itself as, "a place to write and dialogue about stories, storytellers, literacy and all things related (which in my opinion includes a great many things!)."  Recent posts have included a fine and fancy roundup of Rebecca’s top five summer children’s lit reads and the advantages of various journals.

• I read with interest the recent New Yorker article on the Kindle and its many flaws and problems.  The standard line in our industry is that while eBooks for children’s novels may come to prominence at some point, the picture book is without parallel.  That doesn’t stop various publishers from trying to get theirs out there first, though.  When I returned from vacation I found that my inbox contained two press releases from small publishers announcing their new ventures into ebook land.  Winged Chariot has created an iPhone app that allows you to download picture books for a mere 59p (it’s a European publisher normally, so you can translate the cost accordingly).  Sylvan Dell, on their end, has introduced new eBooks with Operating Instructions and instructions on How To Use Sylvan Dell eBooks in the Classroom on their site.  I maintain the belief that this will get use insofar as graduate students need to do projects on picture books, but from a practical standpoint paper has nothing to fear quite yet.

• Under normal circumstances when I go on vacation I remember to inform the world beforehand "Nobody interesting die."  I forgot this time and it shows.  This is a true pity.  I was very fond of Karla Kuskin’s books, and we simply cannot keep The Philharmonic Gets Dressed on the shelf, even though it’s a good 27 years old.  Thanks to Read Roger for the link.

• Oh, heavens!  At first I thought that our homegrown Egmont had lured away Mr. Snicket when they announced that they’d be publishing his new series.  However, readers who actually go past the titles of articles pointed out to me that, in fact, it was Snicket’s British publisher had announced the new series.  There was, as far as we could tell, no luring involved.  And Monica found two other news sources reporting on the surprise.  Phew!  Thanks to Educating Alice for the links.

• Daily Image:

As Silverstein tats go, this one was a bit obscure for me.

The explanation, however, is here.  Thanks to Contrariwise, as per usual.

Filed under: Fusenews