Fusenews: Tremain, boss! Tremain!*

Another one of our fold has exchanged her Blogger badge for the title of Author.  Monica Edinger of Educating Alice has made a sale.  Said PW Children’s Bookshelf, " Karen Lotz at Candlewick Press has acquired world rights to Monica Edinger’s Africa Is My Home . The book, 10 years in the making, is a fictional rendering of Amistad captive Sarah Margru Kinson’s journey from Africa to America and back, told in scrapbook format. Edinger, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, is now a teacher at the Dalton School in New York City, and writes the Educating Alice blog. Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media was the agent." You will note that she has my clever and superior agent brokering her deal.

• New Blog Alert: Author/illustrator Deborah Freedman (Scribble) gives voice to her new blog.  Makes perfect sense.  I know that mine would speak with the snarky tones of Hans Conried if it could.  In any case, she has herself a wonderful, eclectic little site going on.  Nice use of white space too.  In the future, all artists will blog artistically.  That’s my theory.

• It’s almost time for me to post my 3/4th of the year Newbery/Caldecott predictions again!  To start us off, at least one list is out there concerning potential contenders.  The Allen County Public Library has their reading list up and running (I’ve read 18 out of 31). Anyone else noticed that All the Broken Pieces is getting some really nice buzz?  Could be worth noting.  And I really need to review Love, Aubrey when I get a chance.  Hmmm.  Thanks to @mitaliperkins for the link.

• I just love a happy ending.  It’s lovely to hear that Getty Publications will be reprinting four of Leo Politi’s picture books.  "Song of the Swallows won the Caldecott Medal in 1950. Pedro: The Angel of Olvera Street (1946) and Juanita (1948) both received Caldecott Honors. The fourth title to be reissued is Emmet , which was published in 1971. John Harris, Getty’s children’s book editor, was approached by Politi’s heirs at last year’s Bologna Book Fair about republishing the books, long out of print."  Absolutely stand up and give ’em a hand news.  Thanks to PW Children’s Bookshelf for the link.

• For those of you concerned about the state of the Philadelphia library system, news has come according to Mitali Perkins (rapidly becoming my primary source of news). Said she, "The Free Library just tweeted this: Good news: the PA Senate has passed the bill that will allow the Free Library to remain open! Thanks to all who spoke up on our behalf!"

• J.L. Bell examines Johnny Tremain and considers to what extent it is a product of its times, its mysterious missing scene, and the history behind the book.

• I almost missed this excellent piece by Rebecca Stead about tweens in a recent TimeOut Kids New York . If you ever questioned the legitimacy of kids having fun working in a store on their off-hours, Rebecca tells us a little about her past that puts it all into perspective.  Plus there’s great advice on letting tweens in city settings go solo.  Thanks to Educating Alice for the link.

• Reason #535 to move to L.A.: Jules recently wrote on 7-Imp that, "if you live in the L.A. area, note that Gallery Nucleus will be having a Terrible Yellow Eyes exhibition (with Cory as guest curator) from September 19 to October 6. Here’s all the info on that."  Now this I gotta see.

• Got a little mention on the Online College Site, of all places, listing me and 99 others as the 100 Best Blogs for Book Reviews.  In terms of children’s literary blogs only a couple folks are mentioned, but it’s nice to be included.  Sure.

• Daily Image:

Local artist Michael Albert wrote the book An Artist’s America, which was a great introduction for kids to a particular style of pop art.  He has since done workshops with the kids of the city at different branches of NYPL.  Now he has taken on his most ambitious project of all: A word-only map of Manhattan.

Michael Albert’s Collage Map of Manhattan

The New York Times even wrote it up as well.  Cool.

*Yes, that was a Fantasy Island reference.  No, there are no depths to which I will not plunge.  Thank you for inquiring.

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