Elizabeth Bird

Fusenews: You Fuse You Snooze
April 24, 2008

• Pooh is no longer my co-worker, but that doesn't keep me from opening today with this picture of Piglet  as he does himself some good (yours for a cool $500).  In my mind that's not a psychiatrist next to him but E.H. Shepard. Thanks to Children's Illustration for the link.
  
  

• Them thar Canadians know a good thing when they see it. The Ottawa Citizen has done a piece on everyone's favorite children's literary podcast Just One More Book called Books Go Global from Glebe Cafe.  Thanks to Jenny's Wonderland of Books for the link.

• Arthur A. Levine, the man who brought Harry Potter to America, needs your help.  Like myself he'll be presenting at the upcoming SCBWI Regional Conference and he had a query (posted on Cheryl Klein's blog ) concerning this presentation: “What the heck is an eff’n Gee ?”: An editor answers your questions about the mysterious language of publishing.”  His question concerns the subject matter:  "Come prepared with questions you’ve had about the publishing process: from confusing technical language you’ve heard and read, to difficult concepts you’ve struggled with in group and individual feedback. Arthur Levine will do his best to demystify and enlighten." "What I’m looking for are some other good examples of confusing or opaque lingo that I should come prepared to discuss at this session…."

Give Arthur your questions or suggestions  here .

• J.L. Bell isn't the only one around here with a Batman and Robin connection. Just this past week-end I hosted penciller David Baldeon on my living room futon.  If you've an interest in uber-geekery, check out some of his mighty cool works here and here .

• Until today I was unaware that author/illustrator Marla Frazee had the world's greatest studio.  Don't believe me?  Look with your own eyes. Just go to her website and click on the "Studio" link.  Thanks to Sarah Miller for the link. 

Maureen Dowd invokes the wordplay of Seuss regarding a current political situation.  Says she, "Before they devour themselves once more, perhaps the Democrats will take a cue from Dr. Seuss’s 'Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!' (The writer once mischievously redid it for his friend Art Buchwald as 'Richard M. Nixon Will You Please Go Now!')" Clever girl.  Thanks to Children's Illustration for the link.

• Peter over at Collecting Children's Books celebrates the 100th anniversary of the novelty title The Hole Book. I wasn't familiar with this title, though I've always been a fan of author Peter Newell's The Slant Book (shown here)

Regarding the aforementioned Hole Book, you would think a 100th anniversary would constitute a reprinting, would you not?  According to Peter this happened in 2001, which is nothing short of amazing.  I mean, consider that content.  A kid picks up a gun, shoots it, and we follow the aftermath of the bullet which happens to include a now seriously dead cat.  I've been talking to some people lately about adding Tintin to our children's collection, but my husband pointed out how frequently Tintin carried a gun.  And certainly guns get books banned once in a while (Pinkerton, Behave and The Amazing Bone have both been victims of this).

Posted by Elizabeth Bird on April 24, 2008 | Comments (1)