Fusenews: Smirk not, but obey me

Sometimes if I do two Fusenewses (Fuseii?) in the course of three days I feel like I’m slacking. Original content, bah. Let’s read what other people have!  Here we go then.

This year I got a chance to be a participant on the committee that decided the New York Public Library’s 2009 100 Books for Reading and Sharing List. Basically, it’s our collection of the top 100 children’s books of the year. In the past, this list has been hard to find online. No more!  Now you can see our selections for yourself right here. And, if I might be so bold as to say so, it’s a pretty sweet little list. A couple of my darlings got cut, but that happens to everyone. *sigh*

• Marvelous. Travis has completed the ultimate Librarian Lump of Coal Gift Guide. Know a librarian? Wish them ill? Then this is the gift list for you! However, I think there is at least one item he should have included. Voila! The Mildly Attractive Men of SLIS calendar. I call it beefcake with brains. Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• Inarguably the greatest children’s literary character tweeting today is @halfpintingalls. And the clever dickenses at Six Boxes of Books were smart enough to realize that if anybody is deserving of an interview, it is that brilliant soul.  Thanks to @medinger for the link.

• It’s the scandal that will not die . . . because I won’t let it.  The newest blog weighs in on SLJ Drinkygate (copyrighted term 2009) and it’s (I can’t help but be amused by this) Drinking Diaries.  Says Leah: "Most, if not all, readers of School Library Journal are adults, and kids viewing the cover know that many adults (legally) drink, so what’s the problem here?"  That was sort of my take on the matter as well.

• Got this letter from a reader the other day and thought I would pass it on to you.  She wrote to me: "I thought you might be interested in this effort to save what the website asserts is a profitable and much-loved independent children’s bookstore in Los Altos. Apparently it may go out of business because the owners are retiring and haven’t been able to find a buyer.  If my sister-in-law’s father is typical of the employees, they are knowledgeable, caring people who strive to put terrific books in front of kids who will enjoy them."  Now I love me my independent bookstores.  The idea that a profitable one might go out of business simply because the owners are retiring seems unfair on several levels.  So if your lifelong dream was ever to run your own children’s bookstore, now’s the time.  Bonus: You get to live in Los Altos.  Here’s the store’s website and here’s a site run by its supporters.

• More Best Books Lists.  What were the best Jewish Chapter Books for kids in 2009?  A fair question, and not an easy one.  Marjorie Ingall has some answers.  And the magazine Tablet comes up with the best Jewish picture books of 2009 and the best Jewish chapter books of 2009.  Big time thanks to Marjorie for the links.

• And while we’re on the subject of "the best", fellow SLJ blog Good Comics for kids has come up with their own list.  It’s The Best Comics for Kids 2009.

• If you’ve read this far then you deserve this link.  It makes me so happy I could pop.  I almost want to link to it without telling you any more, but I don’t know how self-explanatory it is.  In short: Little Bunny Foo-Foo retold as Beowulf is a fairly good description, though maybe not entirely accurate.  I’m gonna try out "Shame do I find / In your smacking of squeakers" on the three-year-olds next storytime.  I’m sure they’ll get the allusion.  Big time thanks to John Peters for the link.

• Peter is always brilliant, but I think he gets extra points since his Feodor Rojankovsky post used the name Esther "Buzzkill" Averill.  I’ve been giggling over that one all day.  Unfortunately I followed that up by looking at his food-related post ("Farmer Arabel’s Pulled-Pork Sandwich — one bite of this BBQ delight and you too will be saying, ‘SOME PIG!’ ") and now I’m hungry.

• Daily Image:

Yes, it’s kitsch.  But as holiday decorations go, I have to admit it’s unique.  Plus it requires you to leave your extension ladder toppled on your front lawn all winter.  So that’s a risk right there.

Thanks to mom for the pic.

Filed under: Fusenews