Fusenews: Kerfuffle Bunny

• Always interesting when The New York Times notices that something is doing well. Now they’ve decided to look Behind the Wimpy Kid Phenomenon. Author Tara Parker-Pope’s conclusion? ". . . some parents have been less enthusiastic." Coulda fooled me, but then a lot of the parents I deal with personally are like myself. They find the ethical lapses in the book hee-larious. Actually the article does a good job of describing some of the adolescent psychology behind the stories. NPR also had a piece out about it, and in that piece the reporter wrote, "Like the Potter series, Kinney’s books are aimed at a middle-school audience, but they translate well to older readers. Unlike the Potter series, Kinney’s books are funny." Hunhuna?

• Really? They’re making a documentary film called The Library of the Early Mind about children’s literature and the first I heard of it was on Read Roger?  How cool!How come no one else is talking about this?  What’s the film’s central conceit?  It’s an interesting series of interviews too.  I understand Roger, Jane Yolen, Brian Pinkney, and Jeff Kinney, of course.  But Adam Gopnik?  How interesting.  I’ve heard tell that they’ll have a couple librarians in the mix as well, so that’s cool.  Watching with interest . . .

• Speaking of films, there was a bit of a kerfuffle regarding Mr. Wes Anderson and his actual on set participation with his upcoming film The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  On October 11th, the L.A. Times released a story called Fur flies on Mr. Fox that noted that Anderson wasn’t ever really on set for the film.  Wes then responded with a video interview over at Hollywood Elsewhere.  You can see both sides.  On the one hand, it was pretty crummy of the reporter to get all this info in the summer and release it now when everything had been patched up between Wes and his crew.  On the other, as my husband pointed out, it’s unfair to say that Wes should get a director credit because Tim Burton wasn’t on set for his stop animation features.  True, Tim Burton was also not on set for The Nightmare Before Christmas but he also excused himself from having a directorial credit.  A credit Wes maintains on Mr. Fox.  Ah well.  Kerfufflely.

• The number of comics out there keeps increasing.  Now PW is recognizing the number currently being written for kids.  Say they, "Publishers Weekly is launching a Children’s Comics review section, to run monthly at the end of the regular Children’s review section."  Thanks to PW Daily for the link.

Sigh.  Doggone gigantic city with tons o’ stuff in it.  I’ve just recently starting following @timeoutkids  on Twitter, which is really the only place where I heard about the world’s largest Maurice Sendak exhibit on view in Soho.  It’s called Sendak in Soho and indeed it looks pretty cool.  Sendak’s selling some of this stuff for the first time at the Animazing Gallery, which specializes in, "Works by great American illustrators, original animation art and fine art that exhibit the distinctive qualities of high art . . . Our artists & studios include Daniel Merriam, Dr. Seuss, Charles M. Schulz, Maurice Sendak, Disney, Warner Bros., Tim Burton, Tom Everhart, Ralph Bakshi, Bill Watterson, D.C. Comics, Gris Grimly, Hanna-Barbera, Mary Grandpre, & many more…"  Mary Grandpre?  Interesting.  Thanks to @timeoutkids for the link.

• Someone else has gone about interviewing illustrator Brandon Dorman.  Awesome.  The more attention that dude gets the better.

• Well . . . huh.  Apparently there’s a book award out there that’s interested in who you’re sleeping with.  If you’re an author, that is.  According to Lee Wind, "The Lamdba Literary Awards (the Lammies) used to be for BOOKS that were GLBTQ in content.  Now, they’re saying that the AUTHORS have to self-identify as part of the Gay Community for their GLBTQ books to qualify."  That just seems a little limited.  For one thing, is there enough being produced to qualify?  For another matter, how exactly do they go about proving or disproving a person’s sexual legitimacy?  I’m Here, I’m Queer, What the Hell Do I Read? has more.

Daily Image:

It cheers me up every time.  See more photos like this over at photographer Chris McVeigh’s site.  Thanks to BB-Blog for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews