Fusenews: In which I manage to work in the phrase “shirtless Jason Isaacs” seemingly with no effort at all

• When you’re a parent you don’t get a whole lot of time to take off and see new movies.  Tell you something you don’t already know, right?  Well for Christmas my husband and I got a copy of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and even with the film in our home we STILL didn’t get around to seeing it until now.  So I wasn’t fully aware of all the fake 1960s children’s books featured in the movie.  Sure, Flavorwire calls them YA (come to my Literary Salon on February 2nd to find out why THAT drives me buggy) but they are children’s through and through.

• Ah, award season.  Just so satisfying when there are so many books you like.  For example, I was quite fond of Louise Erdrich’s Chickadee this year.  It got on the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2012 as well as my own 100 Magnificent Children’s Books.  But the true joy was seeing it get the 2013 Scott O’Dell Award for historical fiction.  That’s the stuff.  Those folks know their historical fiction.  Fun to see that it’s Erdrich’s second win too.

• I don’t normally do much with children’s blogs, but you have to admit that one calling itself The Graphic Novelologist is a pretty darn good moniker.  More to the point he has excellent taste in books.  I agree with everything he says, and few bloggers have that power over me.  Thanks to Ayun Halliday for the link

• Okay.  This next link is a bit on the inane side.  First off it’s called 38 Things You Will Never Read Again In Your Life, the “things” being books rather than, say, billboards.  Then it sort of backtracks on its title by following it up with the weasely “…unless you have children. Or you’re just still a child at heart!” Mmm hmm.  So I went through it and at first I was having a fine old time.  That is, until I discovered that the Triumvirate of Mediocrity makes an appearance on this list.  Seriously?  Buzzfeed is trying to tote Love You Forever as something that makes you cry?  Maybe if they’d called it “This precursor-to-a-horror-film classic” I’d be a little more on board.  Thanks to Kate for the link.

• Get the taste of that last post out of your mouth with this rather delightful list of 10 Literary Board Games for Book Nerds.  Lots to enjoy here.  The fact that it’s 1984 in the Animal Farm game.  Or that when you play Beowulf you can’t BE Beowulf.  Or the fact that in Moby Dick nobody ever kills the whale.  I mention this all because it includes The Little Prince and is therefore on-topic, but the real reason it amuses me is that it includes a board game version of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose.  LOVE!

• Happy news for The Eric Carle Museum, yet again.  To wit:

We have great news! The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) has announced that The Carle is the recipient of the 2013 Commonwealth Award for Creative Learning. This honor, one of nine being awarded, recognizes “an individual, school, or cultural organization that has demonstrated the importance of creativity and innovation to student achievement and success.” The Museum, currently celebrating its 10^th anniversary, will receive the award on February 19 during a Massachusetts State House ceremony, open to the public. To learn more about The Carle’s education programs, please go to http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/conference/comawards.asp

• International Book Giving Day (which also happens to be Valentine’s Day) appears to be on the horizon.  If you haven’t heard of it before it’s basically run by a volunteer based group that invites folks to give books to friends, family members, leave them in waiting rooms for kiddos, or hospitals and shelters.  On a related note the folks behind the event are hoping to find someone to organize a Beers for Books event here in bee-autiful NYC.  Like beer?  Like books?  Like organizing stuff (the last one’s the doozy)?  Then go over here for more details.

• Whoa.  Wait a minute.  Did I never let you know that over at I.N.K. (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids) Susan Kuklin took one for the team and typed up large swaths of discussion from my recent Literary Salon on “Ethics in Nonfiction for Kids”?  *checks the tapes*  Nope!  Somehow this fact never came up.  Well she did!  It’s there!  And for those of you who wanted to go and couldn’t, consider this the next best thing.

• Admittedly if you say that you’ve an article on the Best kid movies adapted from children’s books you are just asking for trouble.  But sure.  Why not?  We’ll bite.  And for the most part the 20 films listed are pretty good.  Extra points to Time Out Kids New York for not including any YA adaptations (which must have been tempting).  There are, however, some NOTABLE oddities.  So rather than kvetch I’ll simply replace The Phantom Tollbooth, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (seriously, guys?), and The Lorax with Babe, Peter Pan (the 2003 shirtless Jason Isaacs one), and Howl’s Moving Castle.    Problem solved!

• Daily Image:

Hmm.  Looking at the old photo bin and it seems a bit dry.  So what do I do when I don’t have an image on hand?  Well, first I go to bb-blog.  When I strike out there I head over to swiss miss.  And when all else fails I just end up stealing stuff from Crooked House.  Seriously, Stephany has the best images on the web.  Case in point, this lovely little bit of miniature manicure landscape art by Alice Bartlett (be sure to check them all out).

Thanks, Stephany!

Filed under: Fusenews