The Yarn
December 31, 2013 by Betsy Bird
What does the fox truly say? That it ain’t from around these here parts. I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the art found in children’s picture books and those particular styles favored by artists in one nation or another. All this began when I recently reviewed of Wild by Emily Hughes. In the […]
December 29, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Shout-out to my buddy Haddon Kime. The man wrote the music and lyrics for a new musical version of The Snow Queen now playing at the San Jose Repertory Theatre with dreams of Broadway. Years ago he created the opening music and words for my now long dead podcast. It’s great seeing his star on the […]
December 27, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Well, the Bird family had a lovely Christmas down in old Atlanta, GA. We didn’t lose any offspring either going there or back again, so I consider that a win. And the presents! Whether it was the Matilda soundtrack (yes, I’m a million years old and still request CDs as presents) or the collected Pogo […]
December 26, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Wild By Emily Hughes Flying Eye Books $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-909263-08-6 Ages 3-7 On shelves now. There lives in every child an animal. A wild, untamable creature that will emerge without fail at the worst possible moments, rendering its parents helpless and hopeless all in one swoop. There also exist in this world picture books that […]
December 24, 2013 by Betsy Bird
The Silver Six By A.J. Lieberman Illustrated by Darren Rawlings Graphix (an imprint of Scholastic) $22.99 ISBN: 978-0-545-37097-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves now Ambition. It’s not a term I usually associate with children’s graphic novels. Your average everyday children’s comic is not particularly ambitious. There are so few of them out there that you can’t […]
December 23, 2013 by Betsy Bird
You know why I’m looking forward to 2014? It’s not the fresh start that comes with every turn of the globe. It’s not the incipient birth of my second child (I lie . . . it is that, but for the purposes of this piece we’re going to pretend that it’s not). It’s not the […]
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December 19, 2013 by Betsy Bird
It’s been a good week and it’s only Thursday! I’ve cooed and oohed and aahed over NYPL’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2013 list before. Nothing new to say . . . or is there? I don’t suppose you happened to see NPR’s interactive booklist consisting of their Best Books of 2013 (in a […]
December 18, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Well, every year I like to put out my list of 100 Magnificent Children’s Books from the publishing year. So far I’ve done this in 2010 and 2011 and 2012. And every year the list looks suspiciously similar in some spots to the 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list that NYPL produces. Little wonder, but I always like […]
December 17, 2013 by Betsy Bird
ATTENTION!!! If you are planning on watching the live feed of the Newbery/Caldecott announcements during the ALA Youth Media Awards presentation, come half an hour earlier and check out my pre-game show where I will join cohort Lori Ess in discussing the potential winners. Afterwards we will note which Mock Newberys, Mock Caldecotts, Mock Printzs, […]
December 15, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Today we are doing one and only ONE video because it was sent to me by approximately 500 people and on the strength of that alone I think it deserves to be our one and only video today. Et voila, Mike Jung and Co.: It’s got a beat and you can dance to it. Good […]
Teen Librarian Toolbox
by Amanda MacGregor
Politics in Practice
by John Chrastka
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