Fusenews: Though would you really want to wear The Saggy Baggy Elephant?

First off, I was a bit amazed that there’s a whole Today Show webpage dedicated solely to the marriage of that English royal guy to that girl with the brown hair (yes, I know their names, but invoking them seems a dangerous game).  Then I was even more amazed to see that a children’s book has played into the whole production.  As the title says, Camilla prepares granddaughter for bridesmaid duties.  I had kind of hoped that this preparation would consist of reading Lilly’s Big Day by Kevin Henkes (maybe my favorite bridesmaid picture book of all time).  Instead, Camilla has opted for Katharine Holabird’s Angelina and the Royal Wedding.  Even I have to concede that this makes a certain amount sense.  Thanks to Sue Rokos for the link.

• Like most of you I’ve watched the situation in Japan with increasing anxiousness.  Fortunately fellow SLJ blogger Diane Chen came up with information on ways to help Japanese libraries.  Excellent info.

• Yanks have a hard enough time keeping straight the big British stars of children’s literature, let alone the rising ones. Yet I found the Books for Keeps piece on Rising Talent 2011 to be strangely mesmerizing.  I’ve heard of at least one of their books.  As for the others, I’d like to give ’em a gander.

• Librarians have to deal with having their spaces designed without their input.  For those who are lucky enough to be consulted, however, you might want to take a look at the recent American Libraries Magazine article on Designing Space for Children and Teens.  Someday when my children are grown and I am retired I’d like to write a book or maybe just a blog where I go around the country visiting particularly cool children’s libraries.  Failing that, if someone else were to do that first I’d love to watch what they find.

• There was lots of excitement on the SLJ Battle of the Books front this week.  And just as I thought, I found the match between Hereville and Keeper to be the most painful, personally.  *sob*  I loved them both.  The most unpredictable decision, however, had to be Barry Lyga deciding between Barbie and The Dreamer.  Woah.  Did not see THAT one coming!

• Got an odd bit of news from Cynopsis Kids this week.  Interesting, though.  I like the idea of feature films in India taking on books that never really got their cinematic due (read: The Phoenix and the Carpet).

India’s DQ Entertainment (DQE), an animation production and distribution company, unveiled its 3D feature film release schedule for 2012-14.  Currently in development, DQE plans to release three 3D movies, one each year, for budgets of about $25-30 million each.  DQE recently produced the 3D animated stereoscopic feature film, The Prodigies, which is not for kids, with Onyx Films and Fidelite Films, France, and which will be distributed by Warner Bros. and Studio37, France.  DQE’s new kid/family 3D feature film production slate:

• The Jungle Book (releasing 2012-13) – the movie is an extension of DQE’s CGI animated The Jungle Book TV series, is also based on the original work by Rudyard Kipling.
• The New Adventures of Peter Pan (2013-14) – the movie storyline features the fight to save Neverland from Captain Hook as well as other ‘unimaginable evils’ that inhabit Neverland.  Wendy, Michael and John will join Peter on the adventure.
• The Phoenix and The Flying Carpet (2013-14) – originally written by Edith Nesbit, the story follows the adventures of five kids and the millennial phoenix, a hugely vain bird, around the world.

• This one’s for the New Yorkers out there.  Remember when the Central Children’s Room used to be in the Donnell Branch?  Good times, right?  Ever wondered what happened to that old building?  Well, we have an update.  Many thanks to The Infomancer for this one.  2014, eh?

• Are you part of a library system that’s circulating eReaders?  Well where the heck do you put the dang things?  Hat tip to the Bloomington Junior High School of Bloomington, Illinois.  They somehow managed to find a way of combining outdated technology and new technology together in a whole new way.  Converted card catalogs.  Genius.  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• My big research library is kitty-corner across the street from a big circulating library called the Mid-Manhattan branch.  It is literally just across a street.  You would think, then, that I might notice when they had something as cool as the current Struwwelpeter: Contemporary Handmade Books exhibit up.  Nope.  I had zero clue until someone mentioned it on the child_lit listserv.  Hurry on over before March 30th if you’re interested in giving it a look.

• Daily Image:

A dress made entirely out of reconstituted Little Golden Books?  That would pair nicely with the dress made out of library cards, I think (found at 3:07).

Thanks again to AL Direct for the link.

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