Elizabeth Bird

Fusenews: "You think we all live in castles, and we do! We all have a castle each. We're up to here in bloody castles."

Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!  Oh, I want to go, I want to go, I want to go, I want to go!  Oh, puh-leeeze take me!  Even the website is awesome.  I . . . aw, shoot.  Where the heck is the Ouseburn Valley?  Newcastle?  Note to Self: Create children's literary tour of Europe that includes this, as well as that German castle dedicated to children's literature (points to any reader that can recall its name).  Thanks to Children's Illustration for the link.

• Giving' the luv, giving the luv.  So I don't usually link to SLJ online articles since I think to myself, "Y'all are here anyway.  You'll go and see what's being reported."  But maybe that's not true.  For example, I thought the recent article Children's Authors Send Off Class of 2009 was a particularly good idea for a piece.  Plus it offers a nice bit of commentary on which authors are considered big enough to speak to graduating seniors.  Just a manner of time before they try to get Mr. Mo, sez I.

• A Perrot Library update.  Since the tragic death of Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz, there's been some talk about who would fill the void left by the two.  I received the following note just yesterday:

"Perrot Library hired Kathy Jarombek, an old friend and colleague of Kate's, active in the storytelling community, experienced as both a children's public librarian and a school librarian. She jumped right in to take over Kathy Krasniewicz's Young, Young Critics group (grades 4-5) in January, so between the two of us Perrot was able to keep both book clubs going. I've known Kathy J for more than 25 years, so I am relieved and happy that Kate's and Kathy's legacy will be continued by a talented professional who knew them and valued their work."

Thanks to Mary Clark for the info.

• When Criticas, the review journal of Spanish adult and children's titles, was discontinued the general reading public was not pleased.  Not pleased at all.  The result?  As Library Journal has said in their official press release: "In response to reader demand following the suspension of Críticas, Library Journal and School Library Journal will now resume reviewing Spanish-language books for adults and children. This effort is sponsored by Baker & Taylor. Adult books will be reviewed monthly by the same expert reviewers who have been covering these books for Críticas for years, and children's titles every other month by a group of youth services librarians and subject specialists, led by Freda Mosquera, youth services outreach librarian for Broward County Library, FL."  Awesome.  You can see the latest batch of children's title reviewed here.  Thanks to Library Journal for the info.
  
  

• I'd be remiss in denying you your daily cuppa crazy.  From Cynopsis Kids:

"A copyright infringement lawsuit has been filed against Bloomsbury Publishing, the UK publishers of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, by the estate of the late author Adrian Jacobs.  The suit alleges that in the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Rowling "copied substantial parts" of Jacobs' 1987 book, The Adventures of Willy the Wizard-No 1 Livid Land.   Jacobs' estate is also seeking a court order against Rowling in order to determine whether or not to include her as a defendant in its claim.  Jacobs, who sought literary representation by Christopher Little, who later served as Rowling's agent for Harry Potter, died "bankrupt and penniless" in 1997.  Bloomsbury Publishing denied all allegations of plagiarism stating to Reuters yesterday afternoon, "This claim is without merit and will be defended vigorously," and going on to explain, "JK Rowling had never heard of Adrian Jacobs nor seen, read or heard of his book Willy the Wizard until this claim was first made in 2004, almost seven years after the publication of the first book," Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the UK title).  Additionally, Bloomsbury says Rowling wrote the Philosopher's Stone prior to approaching literary agent Christopher Little."

• Considering how fond I am of Caddie Woodlawn (we'll just leave the discussion of how the American Indians are portrayed for another post) it's strange that I never really sought out other Carol Ryrie Brink titles.  Heck, I never really knew that she even wrote other titles.  Collecting Children's Books discusses the matter alongside such other worthy topics as the game of Authors.  Which I have never played.  Bad librarian, bad!

• We've all heard the old book jacket conversation.  "Oh, why are there so many socks / backs of the head / feet / people laying on the grass / midriffs / etc. out there."  Kudos to 100 Scope Notes then for tackling this from another perspective.  They're not cover doppelgangers.  They're bizarro covers.

• A nice selection of tongue twisters in children's literature is up and running over at Booklights. Here are two you won't see there, but that I'm fond of.  For one thing, I bet you could count Toy Boat by Randall de Seve as a tongue twister.  Just say its title super fast.  And as for myself, I'm rather fond that that old stand-by that puts me in my place.  "Unique New York, New York unique."

• Daily Image:

Let us say that you are a librarian.  A patron walks up to you and says, "I've been hearing a lot about this 'Steampunk' phenomenon, but I'm still unclear on what it is.  Can you help me?"  In answer, all you have to do is show them this photograph:

And like that, all is explained. Thanks to Benjamin James Watson for the link.

Posted by Elizabeth Bird on June 18, 2009 | Comments (10)