Elizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
Hold Fast By Blue Balliett Scholastic $17.99 ISBN: 978-0545299886 Ages 9-12 I honestly don’t think you can be a reviewer without being honest about your own personal prejudices first. When I pick up a book for children I have to cut through a thick swath of issues infecting my brain that may have little to [...]
First off, I have to suspect that after this week my blogging stats will be fairly healthy. First I wondered whither the 2013 middle grade black boys and then Sophie Blackall let me become the repository for some truly fantastic stories. Doubling back to that question about diversity in 2013 middle grades, author Varian Johnson [...]
Swoon. IBBY Announces the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury and Nominees The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children’s books. Given every other year by IBBY, the Hans Christian Andersen Awards recognize lifelong achievement and are given to an author and an illustrator whose complete [...]
Hidy-ho, faithful readers. A blogger might field any number of requests to host contests for new books on their blogs. And generally speaking, you could be forgiven for almost always politely declining. “No”, you might say, “I just don’t run that sort of blog”. It is the rare book that snaps me out of such [...]
Take Me Out to the Yakyu By Aaron Meshon Atheneum Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1442441774 Ages 3-7 On shelves now. Corner a children’s librarian. Say the words “Japan” and “baseball”. Ask for picture books that involve both topics. What will you get? If I were a betting [...]
Happy Mother’s Day! It was Monica Edinger who alerted me to the fact that fresh on the heels of the Matilda musical is an upcoming British production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She has the details and directed me to this truly unfair let’s-not-give-anything-away teaser trailer. This introduction is a bit better. You know [...]
So I’m in the office talking with my colleagues about A Girl Called Problem by Katie Quirk and how awesome it is. Then the topic shifts to books with African-American protagonists published in 2013 for kids between the ages of 9-12. You know. Middle grade fiction. And in the midst of my lamenting how few [...]
A treat for you today. Yesterday I had the very great pleasure of sitting down with author Dr. Chitra Divakaruni, illustrator Susy Pilgrim Waters, and their editor Neal Porter. You may be aware of the remarkable collaboration these clever folks have concocted. The book is called Grandma’s Great Gourd and it’s a Bengali folktale of [...]
What does this have to do with children’s literature? Oh ye of little faith. Read on everything shall be revealed to you. It’s right there in the fourth paragraph, bright and shiny and new. I’m so pleased and proud. Many many thanks to Melanie for inviting me in the first place. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLAID [...]
Cowboy Up!: Ride the Navajo Rodeo By Nancy Bo Flood Photography by Jan Sonnenmair Wordsong (an imprint of Highlights) $17.95 ISBN: 978-1-59078-893-6 Ages 8-12 On shelves now Sometimes I think half my job simply consists of making lists. Not that I’m complaining. I love lists. I love making them, and checking them, and adding to [...]
The 19th Annual Children’s Book Art Auction has been a highlight of children’s programming at BookExpo America and raises funds in support of the free speech rights of young readers. This event offers a unique opportunity to buy beautiful, original art in children’s literature from leading, award-winning artists and illustrators of children’s books and a chance to socialize with friends from around the [...]
My little sister Kate (who has taken it upon herself to become the best friend a picture book author ever had) created this little video of my recent appearance at the Bookbug bookstore in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I’ll be doing a proper write-up of that day (two words: smoke machine) but for now here’s a taste [...]
A Girl Called Problem By Katie Quirk Eerdmans Books for Young Readers $8.00 ISBN: 97800-8028-5404-9 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. Who says that mystery novels for kids all have to include the same tropes and settings? I tell you, half the time when a kid comes up to a reference desk asking for a mystery [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 30, 2013 Sara Rutenberg sararutenberg@scbwi.org 323-782-1010 THESOCIETY OF CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF THE ANNUAL CRYSTAL KITE MEMBER CHOICE AWARDS The SCBWI is excited to announce the winners of the 2013 Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards for our fifteen regional divisions: Africa ● Neil Malherbe – [...]
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