Fusenews: “Godspeed, little criminal”

• Sometimes I’ll take the number 6 train home for fun.  It’s more convenient than the 2/3 if I’m on the East side, after all.  Recently a sketch artist/author team from the New York Times interviewed the folks on my train about the books they were reading.  There are some nice children’s literary shout-outs in the piece, including kids reading Jerry Spinelli’s Loser, The Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell, and Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger.

• If you travel over to 100 Scope Notes these days, make sure you bring a heating pad or two along.  The site is on fire!  First Travis counted down his Top 20 children’s books of the year (20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-1).  Then he also made his 2011 Caldecott picks (something I need to do myself, and soon).  I’m intrigued by his choices, but as far as I can tell I only agreed with one of the books he listed.  Which one?  Soon all will be revealed . . .

• Speaking of predictions, the kids at the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library of Zionsville, Indiana have selected their Mock Newbery winner.  The lucky book?  Well, I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself.  Personally I think both the winner and the Honor books were superb choices all around.  Grown-ups take note.  Thanks to Kelli Brooks for the link.

• If you want to compare those Mock Newbery results with those of a different (and adult) system, consider the Oakland Public Library’s Mock Newbery picks.  I can see only one book in common between this and the Hussey-Mayfield: One Crazy Summer.  Aw yeah.  That’s my girl.

• I love it when the authors I adore get some serious attention from folks like Publishers Weekly.  PW recently published their picks for Flying Starts 2010.  It’s a bunch of debut writers with a great deal of potential behind them.  And the two on the children’s side (Adam Gidwitz and Matthew Kirby) are already counted amongst my favorites.  My sole problem with the piece is that all four folks featured appear to be white as the newly driven snow.  Aw, come on, PW.  Surely there was at least one interesting new debut YA/MG writer out there of color you could have selected.  Right?

• Recently SLJ asked me to write an article and some reviews of iPad picture book apps.  Their point was that most of the time these apps are reviewed by folks who work in the computer rather than the library or publishing industry.  As such, their standards are different from our own.  Never has that been clearer than when I read this Apple piece 5 Classic Children’s Tales Reinvented for the iPad.  While I will agree that the Peter Rabbit app is probably one of the finest out there, the idea that the illustrations of that Frog Prince app are “lovely” is downright bizarre.  Thanks to @kishizuka for the link!

Wow.  That was extensive.  Someone sat down and took the time to create A Brief History of Harry Potter Movie Posters.  Kind of a fun way of traveling through the series while watching how the studio attempted to sell each film.  Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.

At this time of the year the most I have to worry about in my library are the tourists and their children (had one doing somersaults to the cheers of his father yesterday, oy).  Other library systems have bigger issues at hand.  Across the river, for example, my favorite Brooklyn blog Screwy Decimal has been watching the faces in her library’s books disappear.  The founding father one I understand but . . .  really?  Really and truly?

• Leila’s thinking of getting an eReader.  So she asked her readers what she should get.  The responses are eye-opening.  A useful resource, if you happen to be pondering the same question of what to get for yourself.

• Daily Image:

Gorgeous bookplates abound these days.  Recently the Los Angeles Times decided to highlight 13 favorite bookplates for sale on Etsy.  The results are real stunners. It’s a little late to turn them into Christmas presents for your friends and family, but bear them in mind for other gift giving occasions, absolutely.

Thanks to Eva’s Book Addiction for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews