Elizabeth Bird

Fusenews: Harry Potter Split in Two, Trixie Belden, and My New Favorite Teen Title
March 13, 2008

Have you noticed more tidbits lately?  I'm upping the tidbit quotient on this blog to do a bunch every day.  Looking at old postings on my old site makes me feel like a sloth.  To unslothment!

• Well, it's been a while since we've had some Harry Potter news.  And yet it seems that the L.A. Times has broke the story that the final Harry Potter book will be split into two movies.  Quote: "The films will be titled, simply, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I' and 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,' according to producer David Heyman. Director David Yates, who returned for his second tour of Potter duty with 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' and is quite popular with the cast, will direct both 'Deathly Hallows' films, which will be filmed concurrently."  I'm actually in favor of this.  Part I is gonna be dee-pressing, though.  "Let's watch Harry and friends mope around the woods for two hours!"
  

• I'm usually not too keen on adult writers crossing over into the teen or child lit world.  But when you see a title like I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President, how do you not bite?  Apparently it's from the pen of Daily Show executive producer Josh Lieb.  New York Magazine's Vulture Blog has the scoop, though it was really Monica Edinger at Educating Alice who sniffed this one out.  Thanks, Monica!

• Ever wanted to write a book for yoothie youth?  Then obey your monkey.  More specifically, obey Evil Monkey's Guide to Creative Writing: Tips for Beginners.  I'm fond of the advice to read books you don't like.  It's a tip that doesn't get mentioned half as often as it should.  Thanks to Shaken & Stirred for the link.

• And finally, I somehow missed Candice Ransom's tribute to Trixie Belden on The Edge of the Forest this month.  For those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Belden, she was basically Nancy Drew with balls (not literally).  A short haired kid who called her mother "Moms" and cracked cases with her best friend Honey.  My best friend and I grew up with these books.  We actually organized this complicated borrowing ring amongst the other kids on our block, finding the rare out-of-print Beldens and passing them along.  My best friend later became a lesbian and I couldn't help but see parallels in the Trixie books, but I'll let Worth the Trip tackle that little question regarding Trixie and Honey's "friendship".  In any case, check out Candice's piece.  I, in the meantime, will be saving up money with which to bribe Leila Roy into reviewing these books the way she did the Nancy Drew series.  Hm, maybe if I win her a Dalek . . . .

Posted by Elizabeth Bird on March 13, 2008 | Comments (8)