Video Sunday: Eclectic Arrangement
Yes, folks. You too can walk into New York Public Library and rap long and loud if it suits you. A couple months ago I learned that Erica S. Perl (Chicken Butt!) and Ayun Halliday (Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo) were going on a No Butts About It, We Love to Read tour. Which got me to thinking… what if I brought together the other two butt-related picture books (Chicken Cheeks and The Tushy Book) for the greatest picture book butt program of all time? Alas, Michael Ian Black of Chicken Cheeks was unavailable (he was very nice and explained that he has a TV show to film or some such nonsense) but we did get illustrator Tracy Dockray of Tushy Book to come on in. While here, Erica and Ayun somehow managed to film much of a video within my library. If you’ve ever wondered what my workplace looks like, the results are here with a star studded cast. Amazing.
I’m a fan of disparate pairings, so let’s follow up this silliness with something 180 degrees in the opposite direction. With the rise of the ebook, book designers are now questioning the future of their profession. And what professional in this area would be better to speak to than Chip Kidd himself? On QTV, Kidd weighs in on the question of the future of book covers and jackets themselves.
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Thanks to Bookninja for the link.
At last Dancing With Dan Santat has a natural companion. Author Tammi Sauer instructs you in the ways of a little dance called (it’s a theme today) The Librarian.
That’s the stuff. Thanks to AL Direct for the link.
I’m not entirely certain how to categorize this one. Let me put it this way. Teens, lots of teens, boys and girls alike, tend to create their own "movies" when they are young. I sort of did it. My husband certainly did it. My sister did it. And the results are inevitably awful, sometimes amusingly and sometimes not. If you get a DVD of Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan includes as an extra a clip of one of his "movies" from when he was a teen. YA author Daniel Kraus of The Monster Variations now takes it one step further. Not only did he unearth his old videos, but he edited them together into a pretty slick trailer. Check it.
Thanks to his partner in crime James Kennedy for the link.
Honest-to-goodness I don’t post every book trailer I come across. But this trailer for Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli (reviewed here) has the distinctive quality of giving me nightmares. And really, isn’t that the goal of every good picture book trailer?
Thanks to Tina Nichols Coury for the link. And for a fun compare and contrast, watch John Rocco’s video for his newest picture book, Fu Finds the Way.
When the literacy nonprofits start joining one another, the results can be impressive. First Book and Reading is Fundamental (or RIF) have brought their forces together. Rasco from RIF explains more, as does this video from RIF of Southern California Executive Director, Carol Henault.
Pretty cool.
And for the first in a long time the final video of the day is not really off-topic. It is, however, very British.
To my mind, the American Harper Collins staff should pick up that thrown gauntlet and do their own Domino Rally, thereby BEATING their British counterparts. Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.
Filed under: Videos
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 Kirkus, 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 BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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Thanks for the collaboration shout out! First Book is a great partner, and together we are doing some pretty super things for children and their families…First Book’s leader and I always say, as long as there are as many children needing books as we regretfully see in our business, it takes many of us working together to try to cover the need!
Wow, thanks for highlighting both our resident rapper (Erica Perl) and our work with terrific partner, RIF. We can’t say enough about how serious we are about reaching all kids who need books. If we all work together we can get them the books that make reading FUN! Like Erica says, Fun, Guaranteed!
Rock on, Betsy.
Betsy, are you crazy? YOU are the real star of the No Butts About It vid! And a beautiful sport. (I’d also like to use this public forum to say, “Not my kitchen”. Readers of the zine saw that kitchen and thought I’d been lying to them all these years)