MORE 'OBITS' POSTS
On April 25, 2020 JoAnn Jonas, a truly great librarian and early childhood advocate (amongst many other things) died. Today, JoAnn's 2002 Newbery committee will be paying homage to her life, her work, and her influence.
Saying goodbye to a giant.
While we traipse merrily into a new decade and a new era, it's not the worst idea to look back and pay tribute to the authors and illustrators of children's books we lost in 2019. Here is a recap of the creators that we should stand back and remember at least one more time
Welcome to Fusenews! Or, as I like to call it, all the news that fit to fuse. Yeah. We’re still working on that one. First off, a great illustrator for children has died. This was very much the case of me not knowing that he was still alive, only to be doubly saddened when […]
As you may have heard, yesterday the great Newbery Award winning author Richard Peck died. Many of us were shocked and saddened by the news. When one hears of the death of a great writer, you begin to cast your mind back. What was the first Richard Peck book you ever read? When did you […]
In August of 2015 I took two small children and got on a plane leaving LaGuardia Airport in NYC, now headed for the Midwest. After dropping my kids off with my parents, I took my mom and dad’s car and drove to Evanston, IL for my first day of work. My husband was following with […]
Good morning, everyone. To begin today I’d like to note with sadness the passing of Sheila Barry, a publisher at Groundwood Books, who was always very kind to me. We’d often discuss the titles coming out of Groundwood and hers was a face I’d look for at every library conference. You can read the Quill […]
This blog has spoiled me beyond all hope or recognition. Over the years I’ve used it to find nannies, to get books re-published, and now it has solved a mystery that lay dormant for years. Back in November of 2009 I decided I wanted to track down a book from my childhood. Writing stumpers into […]
You know what’s even better than serving on an award committee? Having someone else write about it. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I was on the judging committee for this year’s Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards alongside Chair Joanna Rudge Long and Roxanne Feldman. It was Roxanne who reported on our discussion, and even took […]
When two people sent me this link I assumed that everyone must have already seen it. But when it didn’t show up on PW Children’s Bookshelf I decided that perhaps I might have a scoop. At the very least, it appears that when people think Nick Cave meets Dr. Seuss, I’m the logical person to […]