Video Sunday: Best fake children’s book title – “There’s a Rainbow in My Basement”

Yesterday we had a fabulous Children’s Literary Salon at the library with Jules Feiffer, Laurie Keller, Nick Bruel, and Dave Roman.  Afterwards we swapped stories and someone started to tell me that once Maurice Sendak paired with the Pilobolus Dance Theater for a theatrical presentation.  And since this is the 21st -century I was able to assess the veracity of this thanks to a handy dandy site going by the name of “Youtube”.  As you can see, tis true.

I heard about this next video at a work holiday party this week.  Hanging out with reference librarians has its advantages.  For example, I might not have paid attention to this video featuring one of our resident Cullman scholars had it not been for the fact that the man is translating something utterly unique.  It seems that back in the day Anton Chekhov wrote a Jules Verne parody.  Yep.  He wrote a story where he claimed to have found a lost Jules Verne tale, and then he had his brother illustrate it.  Mighty fun and silly and not the kind of thing you might expect from the guy behind The Seagull.

Ed Spicer has a regular series where he interviews various authors and illustrators (with the full list here).  And one of those folks is Atinuke, the woman behind the Anna Hibiscus and The No. 1 Car Spotter books.  I seethe with envy that Ed got to meet her.  That voice . . . oh, that voice.  She also covers why she doesn’t call the location in her books “Nigeria” rather than “Africa”.

Zoe, fear not.  I’m looking forward to your interview with the woman as well.

Just think.  There are 21-year-olds out there who can drink and drive and vote and have lived their entire lives without ever knowing a world in which The Simpsons did not exist.  Just take that in for a moment.  I heard that Neil Gaiman was on an episode and though The Simpsons ain’t what it once wuz, I took a gander.  Yeah, I’m one of those people who feel the show jumped the shark 13 seasons ago.  In this particular episode it’s a pity they still can’t tell the difference between children’s and young adult literature, but I’m kind of loving the take on writing books for kids.  The barely obscured Alloy Entertainment reference is pretty amusing and there’s an R.L. Stine joke.  Bonus.

(How’d The Apothecary get a shout-out amongst those fake books in the screen shot here?)

Finally, for our off-topic video, I may not be running out to buy its app anytime soon, but this brand new and second Marcel the Shell with Shoes On video just sorta, kinda, in a way makes my day.  Yep.  It really does.

Filed under: Videos