100 Scope Notes
August 23, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Celebrity picture books. The gift that just keeps on giving. Now in the past I’ve had my say about CPB ah-plenty. Heck, there was an entire chapter devoted to them in Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature. Today, we’ll switch tactics and tackle a topic that no one ever discusses. Weeeeeeeeeeird celebrity picture […]
April 13, 2015 by Betsy Bird
The weather! She has warmed here in NYC! The crocuses and daffodils and purple flowers that I can never identify are blooming in my front yard. The birds are singing and there are buds on the trees. Tis spring spring spring! To celebrate, we begin today with a poetic celebration of baseball (a very spring […]
December 2, 2014 by Betsy Bird
There was a time, oh children of mine, when the ALA Media Awards would be announced and the morning after the announcement the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Awards would be whisked away to New York City to speak on NBC. Then Snooki came and ruined everything (this is the abbreviated version, but it’s […]
November 6, 2014 by Betsy Bird
Oh, thank the high heavens. Good news, folks. The celebrities have arrived to show us how to write books with darker themes. Thank goodness they’re here! Until now the field of children’s literature was just an unending vista of sunshine and daisies. But thanks to the combined efforts of Evangeline Lilly (“I look around me […]
November 26, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Happy Tuesday to you, one and all! Hope your weather isn’t as bitingly cold as ours has been. Time to warm up with some fresh and festive children’s literature tidbits. Personally, I’m trying to figure out why I wrote today’s headline a couple days ago. I’m sure there was a reason for it. Hmmm. The […]
September 11, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Today I shall begin by ripping out your heart and stomping it into tiny shreds upon the floor. You may be aware that for years I have worked with the real Winnie-the-Pooh toys at NYPL. You may also know that the real Christopher Robin had a serious falling out with his father about the books. […]
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April 17, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Durn. This is what I get for not doing a Fusenews in a while. A whole plethora of good stuff! Let’s see what we can use up in a single day, eh? For the record, if you haven’t read these Hunger Games comics (in the style of Kate Beaton, no?) then now’s the time. They’re […]
July 6, 2011 by Betsy Bird
Amusing. I wrote an article for SLJ about the Bologna Book Fair and why librarians should attend in droves. I was unprepared for some of the formatting choices on the piece, though. The title Betsy Goes to Bologna caught me off guard, though it’s certainly true. But it was the art created for the piece […]
May 19, 2011 by Betsy Bird
From sopping wet New York City here is your philosophical question of the day: If April showers bring May flowers, what the heck do May showers bring? Ponder that while I hand you a piping hot plate o’ Fusenews. My library branch is turning 100 next week (you may have noticed the pretty New Yorker […]
March 5, 2011 by Betsy Bird
Call him the Tupac Shakur of children’s books. Or maybe that title should go to Margaret Wise Brown. In any case, it seems that every ten years or so we get a new Shel Silverstein book or collection of poems entirely out of the blue (I’m counting Falling Up, and Runny Babbit when I say […]
Good Comics for Kids
by Lori Henderson
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