I don’t truck with YA. Not my bag, baby. But, of course, it’s so difficult to determine where a book falls on the Middle Grade/Young Adult spectrum. That’s why, when I hear that Lisa Brown, one of my favorite people, is doing a graphic novel, I drop everything and pepper her with questions. I’d hold back but darned if her answers aren’t so good . . .
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket, ill. Lisa Brown
December 11, 2018 by
“It is very frustrating not to be understood in this world. If you say one thing and keep being told that you mean something else, it can make you want to scream.” Kate and Betsy discuss a new Hanukkah classic. On that involves a lot of screaming, and a protagonist that (you guessed it) gets eaten.
The Women’s March: Artists Bring Their Talents
January 22, 2017 by
Normally on a Sunday I like to do a light little Video Sunday piece, just highlighting the vids of the week. Not today. In light of yesterday’s record breaking marches worldwide, I’d like to pay homage to the children’s book illustrators that used their considerable talents to support the march, marchers, and more. In case […]
Cover Reveal: And it’s for my own book!!!
November 7, 2016 by
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 […]
Review of the Day: The Airport Book by Lisa Brown
January 25, 2016 by
The Airport Book By Lisa Brown A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook, an imprint of Macmillan $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-62672-091-6 Ages 4-7 On shelves May 10th. Look, I don’t wanna brag but I’m what you might call a going-to-the-airport picture book connoisseur. I’ve seen them all. From out-of-date fare like Byron Barton’s Airport to the uniquely […]
Fusenews: Confessions of a syllabus addict
January 4, 2013 by
Allrighty then (remember when this phrase was a thing?). Time to whip out a Fusenews in this new format. Let’s crank her up and see what she can do! Let’s start with the me stuff. This happened while I was on vacation: The folks at the New York Times asked me to be a part […]
Fusenews: “swinish Milneish parts”
November 9, 2010 by
All right, all right, all righty, all right then. Where to begin . . . I know. With a tribute that deserves notice first and foremost. I had heard that Laura Amy Schlitz was writing an obituary for her friend, fellow writer Eva Ibbotson. I expected it to be brilliant. It has, in fact, exceeded […]
Happy Halloween! Video Sunday Goes Goth.
October 31, 2010 by
You could be forgiven for thinking you could get through the day without seeing a Dickensian interpretation of Thriller. Some folks are Harry Potter fans. Others love Oz. It is the Dickens fan that is the most interesting to me sometimes, though. My friend Marci informed me that when Michael Jackson died there were a […]
Halloween Picture Books: Wherefore the Style?
October 15, 2010 by
Lazy, Betsy. Truth be told I’d love to laze about allowing my serving boys to feed me peeled grapes as I recline on a divan composed entirely of rejected F&Gs. Instead, I’m going to do a very small Halloween round-up post. This is unusual. I know that real review journals like Kirkus like to round-up […]
Video Sunday: “So I like to think that I killed him.”
July 4, 2010 by
Consider the book trailer not just as an advertisement for a book, but as a short film in and of itself. When we consider the future of online book advertising, we may notice that films for books are becoming longer and better constructed than those of the past. This video starring M.T. Anderson is no […]
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