Teen Librarian Toolbox
August 30, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Consider, if you will, the life of Gene Wilder. Since his death, many people have been doing precisely that. It makes me happy, but since I’ve harbored a not-so-secret crush on the man for decades (a quick search of this blog will back that up) I felt it necessary to point out that for all […]
August 29, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Morning, poppins! Yesterday, for the first time in a long while, I submitted a Video Sunday for your approval. Trouble is, I may have failed to mention one of the most fascinating videos out there with a tie-in to books for kids, so I’d like to rectify the situation today. The title of the article […]
August 28, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Good morning! We’ve not done a Video Sunday here on Fuse8 in a while, so let’s start with the ritualized boiling of the blood. Which is to say, can picture books be written in an hour? No. But Slate decided to go on and and prove as much. The results: More interesting, in a way, […]
August 26, 2016 by Betsy Bird
I recently received a very interesting, if puzzling, question. A friend of mine needed to know, for professional reasons, what I would consider the top themes in picture books these days. By “themes” I don’t mean trends but rather emotional or social lessons for young readers. You might even go so far as to call […]
August 25, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Who Broke the Teapot?! By Bill Slavin Tundra Books $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-77049-833-4 Ages 3-5 On shelves now In the average life of a child, whodunits are the stuff of life itself. Who took the last cookie? Who used up all the milk and then didn’t put it on the shopping list? Who removed ALL the […]
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 […]
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August 22, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Blog tours. Generally speaking I don’t really do them. Nothing against them personally, they just don’t always speak to the tenor and distinctive tone of individual blogs. It takes a particularly keen one to get me out of my hidey-hole so that I’ll participate. It takes, in short, Aaron Zenz. But first . . . […]
August 19, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Kid Beowulf: The Blood-Bound Oath By Alexis E. Fajardo Color by Jose Mari Flores Prologue Color by Brian Kolm Amp Comics for Kids (an imprint of Andrews McMeel Publishing) $10.99 ISBN: 978-1-4494-7589-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. This is a true story. I started college in 1996. Earlham College. Richmond, Indiana. Nice place. Little Quaker […]
August 18, 2016 by Betsy Bird
It’s a booklist kind of week. Like many children of the 80s I’ve been just delighted by the Netflix 8-part horror fest Stranger Things. I may not get most of the Stephen King and John Carpenter references but the E.T., Aliens, and Akira stuff hits home hard. For work I decided to put up a […]
August 16, 2016 by Betsy Bird
This summer I was walking about the Printer’s Row Book Festival in lovely Chicago, IL, passing a group of about twelve 16-year-old girls. All of whom were singing “Satisfied” from the musical Hamilton. It reminded me of similar past experiences walking by large groups of 8-year-olds singing Frozen two years ago. Now Hamilton is slated […]
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