
100 Scope Notes
June 3, 2022 by Betsy Bird
The heart of this book isn’t walls or floors or windows but the people that lived alongside them. Speculation yields a carefully, even meticulously rendered story of an average white farm family, living life in a home, until time takes its toll and we all have to wrestle with what that means.
September 10, 2021 by Betsy Bird
Pairing with the utterly lovely Sophie Blackall, Kate DiCamillo presents us with a story that has all the trappings of a fable, and all the reality of a thoroughly thrilling tale.
February 5, 2019 by Betsy Bird
It just seemed to make sense to do a book this week that could kill two birds with one stone. I've always wanted to do a wider range of children's picture books and we haven't done any by Muslim-American (or, in this case, Muslim-Canadian) authors. So I took a look at New York Public Library's 100 Children's Books, 100 Years list (which I still love and admire) and selected Big Red Lollipop. And who did the illustrations? The latest double Caldecott Award winner, Sophie Blackall, that's who.
March 30, 2018 by Betsy Bird
Let us play a game. Think of all the picture books that have won the Caldecott Award over the years. Not the Honors, mind you. The Gold. The Big Kahuna. Are you picturing them? Good. Now, separate out all the Nonfiction winners. This would be easier to do if we were talking about the NonFictionphobic […]
November 7, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Ladies and gentlemen . . . the moment I’ve been waiting for. Wait! Wait! Background information first! So for years I worked as a children’s librarian and I’d get girl after girl after girl coming up to my desk asking for funny books. I credit some of this to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The […]
November 5, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Unless you missed it, recently the New York Times Best Illustrated list was released. And amongst the ten books listed was a very lovely title illustrated by Ms. Sophie Blackall and called A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785. Written by Matthew Olshan it has […]
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October 21, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Naturally you know what tomorrow is. You don’t? Doggone calendars. You’d think they’d have the wherewithal to remember that October 21st is Ivy & Bean Day. And now here’s the interesting part. You heard it here first, folks, but Ivy & Bean are going to have . . . AN ELEVENTH BOOK!! Don’t believe me? […]
April 10, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Today we begin with something depressing (happy Sunday, everybody!). On April 4th, all of five days ago, the lovely blog Geekmom (which appears to be an offshoot of Geekdad) premiered the new Adam Rex / Mac Barnett book trailer for their upcoming picture book How This Book Was Made. When you see this trailer you […]
March 6, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Ack! Too many good videos, too little time! We’ve an embarrassment of riches today. The only question really is where to start. And the only natural answer is with Obama’s nominee for the Librarian of Congress. Not much of a question there, really. Next up, there is beginning to be a bit of a tradition […]
May 9, 2015 by Betsy Bird
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear By Lindsay Mattick Illustrated by Sophie Blackall $18.00 ISBN: 978-0-316-32490-8 Ages 4-7 On shelves October 20th What is it with bears and WWI? Aw, heck. Let’s expand that question a tad. What is it with adorable animals and WWI? Seems these days no matter […]
Politics in Practice
by John Chrastka
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