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October 14, 2009 by Betsy Bird

Fusenews: Kerfuffle Bunny

October 14, 2009 by Betsy Bird   5 comments

  • 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

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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 Horn Book, 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 Twitter: @fuseeight.

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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 Horn Book, 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 Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Miriam says

    October 14, 2009 at 9:10 am

    So, did the NPR person completely miss the existence of Fred and George Weasley? Or the hilarity of the school dance in book 4? Or…?

    Also, I sense the Lambda awards going places that are bad, particularly for bi authors.

  2. SamR/TomA says

    October 14, 2009 at 10:00 am

    I’m confused — isn’t Wes Anderson to big to be on the set? What if he accidentally stepped on something?

  3. WendieO says

    October 14, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    You actually have a copy of Dog Days, already?
    I got to touch it at the North Atlantic Independent Booksellers Convention a couple of weeks ago, but did they offer me a copy? Nope.

    (Maybe they would have if my name tag had said bookseller instead of author. or even librarian instead of author. Darn, you need multiple name tags at these things to get goodies.)
    -wendie Old

  4. Lee Wind says

    October 15, 2009 at 12:59 am

    Hey Betsy,
    Thanks for the shout-out. The discussion on the “kurfluffle” with Lambda Literary Foundation’s change in their approach to what qualifies a book for their awards has been really fascinating – there’s a lot of good intentions on both sides of the argument. (Promote minority authors = good. Promote good books about minority characters = good. Make people feel that they have to BE a member of a minority to write or be recognized for writing a minority character = not so good after all. I am pleased that the discussion has managed (at least in my virtual space) to stay civil and on-track in the comments!
    Thanks for all you do,
    Namaste,
    Lee

  5. Jules, 7-Imp says

    October 15, 2009 at 7:47 am

    Oh sigh, how much do I wish I could see that Sendak exhibit? A lot.

    jules

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