Fusenews: Bloated I-should-do-more-than-one-of-these-a-week Edition

I apologize for the infrequency of my recent Fusenews. Fact o’ the matter is, it appears that I’d much rather tabulate the results of my current Chapter Book Poll (enter now!!!) than type up children’s literature news-related items.  Can you blame me?  Ah well.  The news must be newsed.  Onward!

Coming in on the heels of the announcement of Katherine Paterson as the current Ambassador of Young People’s Literature comes the winner of the 2010 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction.  In brief: The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan.  A very interesting choice.  For one thing, it certainly must be the first graphic novel to win that award, so kudos there.  The Scott O’Dell does typically go to books that, for whatever reason, are then subsequently forgotten by the Newbery committee (or, in this case, aren’t eligible anyway).  There are exceptions (Elijah of Buxton, Sarah Plain and Tall, etc.) but generally I’m right about this.  More interesting than the graphic novel aspect, though, is the fact that The Storm in the Barn is a historical fantasy.  Nothing in the criteria forbids fantasy, but it does open up questions.  Would Patricia Wrede’s Thirteenth Child have been eligible?  How much fantasy is allowed in a given book?  How much history should be present?  Interesting questions, but I can’t quibble with the result.  Phelan’s book was one of my favorites this year, and I’m pleased as punch to see it make such a splash.  Thanks to Read Roger for the heads up.

• Speaking of honors, apparently the Queen of England conferred New Year’s honors on Lauren Child and Dick King-Smith.  As Jenny Schwartzberg explained on child_lit, "Every year on New Year’s eve she names various philanthropists, politicians, artists, etc. to the Order of the British Empire and other honors." You can see articles on it here and here.  Cool.  Tip of the hat to you, Ms. Jenny Schwartzberg for the news.

• On the other side of the ocean, the Australian PM Kevin Rudd has written a children’s book about his pets. Pets.  The only subject a politician can ever write about without raising cain.  Thanks to @helenaharper for the link.

• The Cybils final reading lists have come out, and they’re quite nice.  But Black-Eyed Susan’s noticed something and it’s the subject of her Mama Lockdown: Recognition for Black Literature Beyond Historical.  "931 books read and of all the finalists by or about African Americans, the finalists are about slaves or civil rights."  Made me think to myself how many books I read in 2009 that starred contemporary African American kids.  Hm.  There was Sunny Holiday, of course.  And Sassy: Little Sister is Not My Name.  And there was Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel and City Boy.  But that is a miniscule four books to how many in a given year?  Here’s hoping that 2010 sees a shift in a better direction.  Because I know more came out in 2009, but I don’t know what they were.  Feel free to remind me.

• Oh good.  I have found a new blog to read and enjoy.  It’s been a while, but I’ve just discovered (and very much enjoy) Hi, Miss Julie!  It’s by a librarian from the Chicago area and I’m finding it to be quite a hoot.  She doesn’t update as often as I like, but by "as often as I like" I tend to mean "every half hour" so no biggee.  Go with the checking of it out do.

• Here’s something I’d love to see more of.  Someone should really make a children’s literary magazine that allows for short ribald pieces like Laurel Snyder’s droll The Last Days of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.  If you’re familiar with the series, you’ll find this a hoot.  If you aren’t, it’s still pretty darn good reading.  Many thanks for writing it, Laurel.  It’s sublime.

• Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy biiiiiiiiirthday dear Greenwillow . . . . yes, indeed Greenwillow Books (an imprint of Harper Collins) is celebrating its thirty-fifth anniversary this year.  That means only one thing: I am younger than Greenwillow!  Hee hee hee!  Hey, man.  I get my kicks where I can.  In any case, and more to the point, they’ve just started up a celebratory blog to mark their birthday called Under the Green Willow.  Keep a close eye on it in the coming weeks.

• Hey hey hey!  You know what you almost missed, you silly person?  You almost missed the annual Comment Challenge, as started by MotherReader and running January 8th (this Friday) through the 28th.  It’s simple.  You do five comments a day on the blogs of your choice, the bloggers feel loved, and you feel like you’ve accomplished something.  And, in a way, you will have since MotherReader has a prize package awaiting the winners.  I don’t tend to comment very often, because my life is one spent in lurkdom.  Even so, I may have to bust out and at least do a little commenting to share the love.  It’s just a nice thing to do, after all.

• If you know Jacket Whys then you know it’s the go-to spot on the internet for YA and children’s book cover conversations.  Now the post Best Book Covers of 2009 – Part 1 is up and I have to say, the choices display the usual excellent taste.  I agree with each and every single one.  They’re all YA, but you won’t be able to argue with the choices.  Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.

• Speaking of 100 Scope Notes, I’ve been trying to figure out how to prepare for the June ALA.  Each year I do something related to the winners.  Until now I’ve been all about the make-your-own-tattoos, but I want 2010 to be special.  Depending on what wins, Lion Yourself may have given me some new ideas.  Hmmm…

• LISNews recently came out with their 10 Librarian Blogs to Read in 2010.  Alas, not a single children’s or YA librarian seems to have made the list.  I learned about the list when Tea Cozy offered a very intelligent critique and the de-emphasis on the whole books thing in Libraries: Not About Books.  The original site responded, so do be so good as to offer an opinion or two if you have one to spare.

• In the interests of full-disclosure, Liz was on that SLJ cover with me.  You know.  The one that got all the hate mail.  But wait!  What’s this I see?  Some of you loved it as well?  Aww.  Thanks, guys!  That’s one for the gipper!

• And while I’m on the subject of SLJ, fellow SLJ blogger Diane Chen is going where I never will.  Since I will never ever do a Top 100 YA Books Poll (sorry, dudes, but I stop at 12) she has taken the task upon herself.  So if you’d like to vote on the Top 100 Teen Titles now is your chance!

• And on another SLJ blog, Jonathan Hunt was kind enough to compile a composite best books list based on the best books chosen by our six professional reviewing publications (Booklist, Bulletin, Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal).  Pretty darn fascinating to look at.

Oo!  I should mention this.  Seems pretty important to note that if you are not attending ALA Midwinter next week but you still want to watch the winners announced live you should go to the live webcast of the Newbery and other awards on 1/18 at 7:45 a.m. EST at http://bit.ly/7QIFYm.  I’ll be in the audience that day, all things being equal the creek don’t rise.  You will hear me hoot.  Hopefully.  Thanks to @mitaliperkins for the link.

• We’ve enjoyed talking about the literary highlights of the last ten years, but Ann over at Booklights has taken it one step further.  Says she, "this month I resolve to come up with a list of the Ten Best Picture Books from the last decade."  She just needs your help to figure out what they were. 

• Authors, this is a question for you.  Have you ever gotten a bad review?  I’m talking a negative review so loathsome that it made you (to paraphrase my betters) feel like you’d personally betrayed the reviewer?  What did you do?  Did you hide under a rock and vow never to write again?  Did you create elaborate voodoo dolls and then scout out ways of getting a lock of the reviewer’s hair unawares?  Or did you allow them to interview you on your OWN BLOG?  That’s what James Kennedy did, and boy is it a doozy of an interview.  You gotta hand it to the guy.  By the end even his biggest anti-fan is turning around and showing the love.  Them’s skills.

• Daily Image:

Yeah.  Essentially I’m just stealing everything from 100 Scope Notes from here on in.  His discovery of this particular t-shirt design is an excellent example of my newfound cat burglar skills.

And like that *foof*!  I’m gone!

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