The Yarn
Betsy Bird, April 8, 2009 | Uncategorized
Alternate title: How Far Can I Push My Readers? Heh heh. So you remember when Hugo Cabret won a Caldecott and suddenly all anyone could talk about was whether or not it constituted a "picture book"? And really, what is the definition of a picture book anyway? And so the debate raged, and I’m sure […]
Betsy Bird, April 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
Someone asked if I was using this poll as a kind of psychological test. It would make more sense than blots of ink on paper, don’t you think? What a person chooses says a lot about them. I’ve already mentioned the idea that choosing between an artist’s work says something about a person, but as […]
The problem is this: In a given year hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of children’s books are published. Of these, a percentage are really extraordinary. Of that percentage, a smidgen get reviewed on this site. Though I began my blogging career doing a review a day (because I WAS CRAAAAAAZY!!!), I’m lucky if I can […]
Betsy Bird, January 21, 2014 | Uncategorized
If you’ve sat in the audience during one of my talks of 2013, any of them really, then at some point during my presentation I probably mentioned that my deep and abiding love for small publishers is due, in no small part, to the rise in the fairytales and folktales in the marketplace. It’s not […]
Betsy Bird, March 5, 2013 | Fusenews
Tra la! It’s May! The lusty month of May! The time that . . . . what? It’s March? Seriously? Forget it then. I’m going back in my hidey-hole. Call me when it’s May. But before I go, here’s a swath of delicious Fusenews. Good for what ails ye. First off, a gem. I got […]
Betsy Bird, January 23, 2013 | Fusenews
When you’re a parent you don’t get a whole lot of time to take off and see new movies. Tell you something you don’t already know, right? Well for Christmas my husband and I got a copy of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and even with the film in our home we STILL didn’t get around […]
Betsy Bird, January 2, 2013 | Best Books, Best Books of 2012
Observe! Before your very eyes I will now beat my breast and rend my clothing (simultaneously… I’m talented like that) while wailing at a fever pitch about the books that I wish I had reviewed in 2012. You see, I give myself some pretty strict rules when it comes to reviewing. Once the second hand […]
Betsy Bird, December 24, 2011 | Fusenews
Here we are on Christmas Eve but all I can do is point at the future like a sniffer dog and wonder what’s coming next. I tell ya, no sooner have I churned out my 100 Magnificent Books list than I want to take a gander at 2012. But before I let myself do so […]
Betsy Bird, February 7, 2024 | Best Books of 2023, Interviews
One does not normally associate vampires with the Sydney Taylor Award, but then one does not usually have the magnificent Deke Moulton on hand. When contacted by the Sydney Taylor Award Book Blog Tour organizers about hosting someone on my site, I had only one request: I want Deke Moulton. Don’t Want to Be Your […]
Betsy Bird, December 31, 2023 | 31 Days 31 Lists, Best Books, Best Books of 2023
Don't worry if you missed some of these picture books this year. Clocking at around 32 pages, you should be able to catch up quickly!
Politics in Practice
by John Chrastka
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