Betsy Bird
@FuseEight
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Got me a blog. Got me a podcast (or two). Got me a job (librarian). Got me a book (or six). Now got me a Twitter feed.
Evanston,IL
Joined July 2009
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Pinned Tweet
You know how sometimes you just want to swim in your new book like Scrooge McDuck in his vault? I figured out the next best thing. Pre-order Long Road to the Circus by me and David Small today!
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I told my daughter I like a picture book that doesn't play it safe. She asked what I meant. This review of Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe and
@SimonKIDS
may answer that:
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In other news, I'm doing a book with David Small.
Now I'm just gonna go over here and do my happy dance for a while.
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In Memoriam. Today we remember the 24 children's book creators who left us in 2022.
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30 first lines from the last 30 Newbery Award winners. I collected them and am charmed by the variety. Take a gander:
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There are few benefits to me when I have to overhear the whole of my son's 1st grade class, but when the teacher read Yasmin the Explorer by
@SaadiaFaruqi
aloud and one little girl cried with untempered joy, "I call MY dad Baba!" I couldn't help but love it.
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Stuttering is in the news a lot lately, thanks in large part to Joe Biden. With that in mind, the time has never been better to consider the honestly beautiful I Talk Like a River. Expertly done in every sense:
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And now let us all exhale that breath we were holding in relief. Aaaaahhhh.
Love these winners. Wouldn't it have been neat to see Jerry Craft and Kadir Nelson on The Today Show?
*sigh*
#alayma20
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So, remind me. It’s wrong to steal picture book ideas from your 8-year-old, right?
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It's done! It's over! It's finished!
#31days31lists
comes to a close with the biggest of all the lists: 2022 Picture Books. Thank you all for stopping by and reading. It was a blast to do. Onward to 2023!!
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Literally no one in the world cares about this as much as I do, but it's the hill I'll die on! It's time for 2020's round-up of picture books and how characters hold knitting needles!! Who did it well? Who did it poorly? Come and see!
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Betsy Doesn't Have Time for Your Nostalgia Today. Saw yet another random comment on a Facebook post lamenting the current state of children's literature and it got me just a SMIDGEN ranty:
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I have seen the future and it is board books. I reveal the board book trailer for
@storybreathing
's next drop dead gorgeous title You Are Light from
@Candlewick
. You've never seen anything like it before:
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Not gonna lie to you. It's a beautiful list.
@evanstonpl
releases its official 101 Great Books for Kids 2023 list and a bunch of your favorites are on there (as well as a few gems you might have missed). Enjoy!
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The penultimate list! Unless you specialize solely in middle grade fiction, there's no way to see everything that comes out in 2018. With that in mind, here's what I did read, and did love, this year:
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Today I remember 26 people who worked in the field of children's literature that died in 2021. Some you know. Some you may have missed. All of them deserving of celebration:
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Could I possibly interest you in the cover reveal of a new Christian Robinson penned and illustrated picture book in 2020? What if I threw in some gorgeous interior spreads like this one? Any takers?
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The Default in Our Stars. Why do reviewers still make white skin the default when they review?
@LindaSuePark
guest posts on the topic today:
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Here in Chicago it's as cold as the North Pole. What better time to reveal the cover (and truly delightful interview) with my NEW ILLUSTRATOR
@dsantat
of our picture book THE GREAT SANTA STAKEOUT? No better time, sez I.
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Celebrities don't draw. When picture books fail to credit their hardworking illustrators:
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Holy smokes! My MG novel Long Road to the Circus is one of the New York Times 25 Best Children’s Books of the Year!!
The 25 Best Children’s Books of the Year (picture books, middle grade and young adult)
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Just appeared on
@ChicagoToday
where I talked up
@dsantat
,
@kwamealexander
,
@darecoulter
, and many others. In other words, my favorite thing to do.
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I happen to like biographies of people who don't get a lot of them. Today's list? The Unique Biographies of 2018:
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Holy moly! My book with
@dsantat
just got featured by The Today Show! Now that is an early Christmas present, if ever I saw one.
Happy to share some of our favorite holiday books, including exciting new ones from
@tavaresbooks
@DrewDaywalt
and
@OliverJeffers
and
@FuseEight
and
@dsantat
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Gotta say, looking at the just released National Book Award announcement on the Young People's Literature nominees, you can tell that a former children's librarian was on the judging panel. This is an incredible collection (and not just YA!):
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No Caldecotts for you! A list today of the 2018 books that would be deserving of a win, but simply don't meet the criteria for consideration in some way:
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How To Tell When You’ve Had Too Many Bomb Threats at Your Library in a Week: When you have a 4 o’clock appointment and think, “Maybe we’ll have another bomb threat and I won’t have to go.”
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Ta da! Today is the very first day of my 31 Days, 31 Lists. Board Books are up first and I have (checks list) 54 titles (whoo boy) of the ones I just thought were great. Enjoy!
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Gird your loins, folks. Tomorrow we embark on an epic series of posts. Hope you like lists because tomorrow we're doing the annual 31 Days, 31 Lists of 2023. Schedule here:
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“50% of the circulation. 0% of the respect.” Best phrase overheard at
#c2e22018
by a librarian Re: Comics
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Okay. Curious. Who out there's a big time fan of THE GREAT BRAIN by John Fitzgerald? Trying to take a head count here.
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If you are lucky enough to have an 8-year-old that invents board games, I hope that you are also lucky enough to have one that makes you play the part of “Brian the Bridge Troll”.
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Ever have that thing where your 9-year-old writes better book titles than you ever will?
Mayday Gelato and the Coded Pen Name
I mean ... how am I supposed to compete with that?!?
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My favorite
#nortonjuster
memory is when I once found myself seated next to him at a dinner party. I have a tendency to crunch ice when nervous. Norton eventually leans over and says, "What finishing school were you thrown out of that you chew your ice so?" That's a
#justerburn
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Do we expect our nonfiction to be serious all the time? I take a look at some of the funny NF books of 2019. Lend me your further suggestions!
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Went a little crazy last night and rounded up all the Easy Books and Early Chapter Books of 2019 that I love. Take a gander! I even organized them according to text complexity.
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Each year I put out quarterly prediction lists for the Newbery/Caldecott. Today, I look at some early contenders for the 2022 awards. Who will win? And what did I miss?
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Sometimes I'll write what I call a "spite review". Not to spite the creators of a book but to spite the professional review journals that won't give it the time of day. Today I consider Bear and Bird by Jarvis and its pure raw charm:
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Okay, Twitter. I asked Facebook and I asked Instagram. Now I’m asking you. What is a food you read about as a kid, thought would be delicious, and left you (at best) miffed. Besides Turkish Delight, of course.
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Here I am. Back in NYC for a day. Worldly. Jaded. I’ve seen it a....
ARE THOSE SEE-SAWS IN THE STREETS?!?!?
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I've a penchant for talking trees. Can you blame me? This isn't the first book on the subject, and it won't be the last, but it's most certainly one of the best:
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This is happening not far from my town. If you're not petrified then you're not paying attention:
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I don't think I'm surprising anyone when I say that funny early chapter books starring Black boys are incredibly rare. I review one that just knocks it out of the park.
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Here's to the oddballs! Today I list some of the 2018 titles that were a bit on the peculiar side. And that's a good thing!
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It took becoming a children's librarian for me to realize that not every picture book reads well in front of a group. Today's
#31days31lists
entry is of some titles that do this exceedingly well. Great Picture Book Readalouds of 2022:
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Meet Julián Is a Mermaid. A book extraordinary in its empathy (and I don't say that lightly).
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I love this photo from
#alaac23
of the live recording of
@fuse_kate
, mostly because it looks like Jason Reynolds simply cannot with us.
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One of these years we just gotta get rid of that Caldecott rule that excludes Canadians. I review 2019's greatest Caldenott contender by
@Sydneydraws
&
@NealPorterBooks
:
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The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs hits 30 and Forbes has the scoop on the matter. Yer a national treasure, Mr.
@Jon_Scieszka
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Today's list isn't just any old biographies. It's Unique Biographies! What does that mean? I'm not sure. But I made a list of 'em anyway. Enjoy!
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You make a picture book that's wordless and that's all well and good but can you make a GOOD wordless book? These folks did. 31 Days, 31 Lists goes wordless:
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This was fun. I rounded up all my interviews, guest posts, and reviews of the current
#alayma
winners. In case you want to know more about a book, this is a good place to start. Plus I have videos for the Newbery and Caldecott Award winners worth seeing:
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Just because a picture book has a message, that doesn't make it preachy or didactic. A 31 Days, 31 Lists encapsulation of some of the best picture books with messages in 2019:
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Okay. I’m not naming names, but people you have GOT to stop filling your Noah’s Ark sequences with male-male lions. This happens all the time.
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In 3rd grade my daughter filled out an assignment in class on what could make her “reading life better.” Her response was to “lay down on the couch and only read books that are dedicated to me.” Now she can. So thank you, Mara Rockliff!
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On this most auspicious day, my little library has released its 101 Great Books of 2020 list. Consider it my pre-holiday gift to you. We had a devil of a time reading everything thanks to the pandemic and yet the list is a truly lovely thing to behold:
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Wait, the ALA Youth Media Awards are on Monday?!? Better produce my final prediction edition of both the Newbery and the Caldecott then. These are not the books that I am saying I want to win (though I do) but the books that I think will win.
#alayma
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When you mix your fiction and your nonfiction together, it sort of makes an entirely new kind of book. Not a bad book. Just a book that needs its own section in the
#31days31lists
series. Here are some of the Informational Fiction standouts!
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How to Craft an Outfit for the Newbery Caldecott Wilder Banquet (or) How to Make Due Date Slip Shoes:
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Woohoo! I love love love comics so today's list of great 2020 comics for kids is . . . extensive. Betcha there's something on there you haven't seen yet!
#31days31lists
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Oh. Say. Did you happen to know that Newbery Honor author
@amytimberlake
has a book with Caldecott winner
@burstofbeaden
? Did you know that the cover of that book is now officially my favorite of the year? Better go see why:
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Some of the best books for kids mix fiction and non-fiction together in a tasty stew. It can make it hard for them to win awards, so I made a list of some of the best! It's Ficitonalized Nonfiction Day:
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What are our kids learning about American history when it comes to the current output of children's literature? Here are the 2018 books that got it oh so right:
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All hail humor. The funny picture book portion of 31 Days, 31 Lists starts today. Let me know what you think I missed:
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Charm. Not an easy quality to soak into a picture book. Yet here we have
@mattforsythe
managing it yet again with the smartly written and, quite frankly, beautiful MINA (out today!). We talk about a mess of stuff:
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So there's this podcast I lend my voice to that works hard to bring kids together with authors so that they can write stories based on the children's ideas. It's called Story Seeds and it's about to end its first season next Thursday with a jaw-dropping guest star ...
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Hooray! It's one of my favorite times of the year. The annual
@nprbooks
Books We Love list has been released for 2023! Check out the offerings for the kids:
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Happy New Year's Eve! It's the last day of 31 Days, 31 Lists, and we're ending with one of my favorites: Great Picture Books of 2019! It was a blast doing these. Thanks again for reading them, everybody:
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It begins. Librarians, warn your selectors. AI is making its way into our libraries by sneaky means.
@Sonderbooks
has the scoop:
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The problem w/my brain, and I like it so no worries there, but the problem w/my brain is that it’ll tell me a bad joke and then repeat it. So this morning it’s been like this on a loop:
Brain: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is fine but it’s such a period piece. GET IT?!?
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@laurenTarshis
Readable Piffle is sure to be the name of my next cat. Or band. Or blog. Or roller derby moniker.
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Updated for 2017: The Complete Listing of All Public Children's Literature Statues in the United States:
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Just got it in the mail and already that description is out of date. THREE-Time Newbery Honor recipient, doggone it!
@soontornvat
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When I say that today's guest post by
@_MTAnderson
is NSFW, I simply mean that you may not wish to be caught openly weeping at your desk. A true tale. A good dog:
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Y'all remember the
@henakhanbooks
title AMINA'S VOICE that was so widely beloved 2 years ago, right? Well, hold onto your hats. She's taken Little Women and updated it in an entirely new, exciting way. I have the info and cover reveal:
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@ChuckWendig
The positioning of knitting needles in children’s picture books. It is almost, inevitably, done wrong with the ends inexplicably pointing upward.
HOW IS THIS SO HARD, PEOPLE?!?!?
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The sheer plethora of great picture book biographies out this year can be overwhelming. Here's a list of my favorites for 2019. Folks are churning out some marvelous stuff:
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Leave it to
@teebrownkidlit
to write the first picture book I've ever seen to talk about the Confederate flag with young children. Today, I interview her about THAT FLAG, and how you make tough information comprehensible for kids:
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Remembering
#RichardPeck
, who just passed away. He always was the quintessential natty dresser (AND a nice guy AND a great writer too, for what it’s worth).
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It's that most wonderful time of the year! A summer prediction edition of Newbery/Caldecott 2021.
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In the beginning children's books were meant to instruct. Many still do, but there's an art to the ones that do it well. Today's list looks at 2018 Kids Books With a Message:
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So
@ALA_Booklist
released a list of the 50 Best Middle-Grade Novels of the 21st Century. It's delightful. And, naturally, I made amendments of my own:
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My favorite day of the year. Here at
@evanstonpl
we’re cutting down the best books of the year to a mere 101 for our Great Kids Books of 2018 list. Let the bloody business begin!!!
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It's not just that I'm revealing the 2018 Children's Book Week bookmarks by five talented artists on my site. It's that one of them is a cootie catcher. Did you hear me? A COOTIE CATCHER!!
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Critics get a bit hooked on using the words "uplifting" and "empowering" in their reviews. Makes it difficult when you actually find a book that deserves those labels. I review Just Like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton:
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There are plenty of inspiring picture books out there for kids. Few understand their purpose as perfectly as this book does. I look at the latest from
@TamiWritesStuff
and Bryan Collier:
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Today it is my distinct honor to present to you the cover of an August 2024 picture book biography of a famous picture book creator. Can you guess who it is? The book also has a surprising connection to my podcast
@fuse_kate
:
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Julian is a Mermaid has just won the Bologna Ragazzi 2019: Debut Authors Award at the Bologna Children's Book Fair! Not an award that typically goes to Americans.
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A friend of mine asked for recommendations of picture books featuring characters with hearing aids. Here's a list I compiled after asking you folks. Feel free to share it, in case you find it useful.
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Surely surely surely I cannot be the only one who read this cover as "The Way to Book Expo America" every time I see it.
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