Fusenews: Red-bearded ghosts welcome!

If you know my sister then you know she’s the crafty one.  Yep, all the craft-related genes skipped right onto me and glommed right onto her.  Now she’s created a new post on her blog on How to Make a Book Purse.  Warning: It’s remarkably difficult.  And it requires the death of a book, but boy are they pretty.

Well done, Travis Jonker!  Setting up a conversation between Caldecott greats like Chris Raschka and Jon Klassen takes some wrangling.  And it feel so natural.  Don’t know how you did it, man, but it works.  It really does.

There are always books in a given year that I regret not getting a chance to review.  Salt by Helen Frost is one of my most recent.  Sure I was on the committee that put it on NYPL’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list, but I could have done more.  Fortunately, someone else picked up my slack and then some.  Because the work was “partly a product of a collaborative effort that included Myaamia people living in the Fort Wayne area, the Fort Wayne Historical Society, and the staff of the Myaamia Center” George Ironstack has created the world’s greatest FAQ for the book at Aacimotaatiiyankwi, the Miami Community History & Ecology Blog.  Prepare to watch your jaw drop to the floor as you read this thing.  Then grab the nearest teacher and make them add the book to their Summer Reading list.  Now, if you please.  Now now now.

• “The number of teens who say they do not read for fun increased sharply in 2013. In quarterly 2012 surveys that number was around 20 percent, but in spring 2013 it was 30 percent and in fall 2013 it jumped to 41 percent.”  Lee Wind reports on the latest data regarding child and teen reading habits and ebook use.

• My husband has been blogging up a storm lately.  The latest movie to fall in his wake?  The Hobbit.  Had the experience of watching the second part without watching the first the other day and hoo-boy.  Let’s just say I agree with everything he’s written here.  But then I was always a bigger fan of the Rankin/Bass version anyway.

• Speaking of ebooks, boy have I got a fantastic resource for you librarians today.  Behold, the official release of the ReadersFirst Guide to Library E-Book Vendors.  It has been posted on the ReadersFirst website with an accompanying press release.  Everything you need to know is now in one sweet little package.  In conjunction with the release of the Guide, its creators will also be taking part in the ALA Masters Series at this month’s ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.  ReadersFirst is scheduled to present on Sunday, January 26th at 11:45-12:30 in the Conference Center, room 202B.  FYI if you’re looking for stuff to do!

• Coming to New York anytime soon?  You can still see NYPL’s amazing The ABC of It exhibit for another month or so, but if you’d like to see other children’s literature related happenings in the city, I have good news.  Starting January 24th, The Morgan Library & Museum will be presenting an exhibit on The Little Prince.  And just in time to tie it into the Peter Sis picture book bio (The Pilot and the Little Prince) of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry too!  Can’t wait to see what the show has to say about Consuelo.  QUITE the character, she.

• Dunno, Daily Candy.  A whole post on The Best Kids Bookstores and no mention of Red Balloon, Wild Rumpus, or Bookbug?  I know we can’t fit all our favorites in, but those three are true staples. Hrm.

• Over at Bank Street, here are the 16 semifinalists for the 2014 Irma Simonton and James H. Black Award chosen by a committee of librarians, writers, and educators.  A good list, though I’m surprised not to see Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great on here.  Would have pegged that for a shoo-in.

• He warned us but did we listen?  We did not.  And now it’s too late.

• Daily Image:

And for our daily (and somewhat off-topic) image, I link to a photographer who is doing what I wish I had the talents to do myself.  Mainly, inserting her present self into pictures of herself from when she was a small child.

Thanks to Mom for the link.