Gather round me, little children, and let me tell you of a magical time when the Newbery and Caldecott winners were interviewed on NBC the day after their win in a regular annual segment.  Then twas the coming of Snookie and suddenly children’s book awards weren’t considered newsworthy any longer.  I’ve searched the airwaves to find anyone who can get on a news program to talk about the 2014 winners and the sole, solitary thing I’ve found?  Barb Langridge of A Book and a Hug.  She appeared on a segment on WBAL that fits the bill.  If y’all know of any other segments, lay ‘em on me.  As far as I know, Barb’s the only one who offered these books some airtime.  Plus I LOVE that she gave Knock Knock some love.

Thanks to Barbara Langridge for the link.

Speaking of the awards, Mo Willems sent in his thanks for the Geisel via France.  The country agrees with him, it seems.  Look at that nice haircut.  Well played, sir.

Thanks to Travis Jonker for the link.

And now Goodnight Moon . . . THE MUSICAL!!!

Okay.  Not really.  Here’s the real explanation . . .

With a little extra added information via Toronto Public Library’s Blog.  Thanks to Deb Pearson for the link!

Woo-hoo!  Marc Nobleman just released THREE fantastic new videos of children’s authors reading bad online reviews.  I’m just going to put one of them here but please go to his site and check out the others.  They’ll seriously cheer you up (particularly if you’re an author).  I particularly love the Katie Davis reading in this one, by the way (though everyone is really very good).

And here’s where things start to get a little goofy.  As you may well know, the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival could well be on its way to a part of YOUR country.  Consisting of 90-second (give or take) versions of Newbery winners, two recent entries won my heart.  The first one melds Star Wars with The Whipping Boy.  Stick with it for the first three minutes or so.  It definitely picks up (and works with the original story quite well):

THE WHIPPING DROID from James Kennedy on Vimeo.

The second entry is of The Olde Tobacco Shoppe.  Also known as The Newbery Honor Winner They’ll Never Republish.  See if you can tell why:

90 Second Newbery- The Olde Tobacco Shoppe from PORTLAND COMMUNITY MEDIA on Vimeo.

Shifting gears (to put it mildly) I won’t embed these, but if you’ve ever wondered about the history and archival information to be had at the marvelous De Grummond Collection, this repository of children’s book archives have created a series of videos for SLIS online children’s literature and archival classes.  Say they: “These videos are designed for online classes, with brief but rich content, but may also be useful for face-to-face classes related to children’s literature, archival studies, or history of the book. You also may be interested in attending the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at Southern Miss, April 9-11.
https://www.usm.edu/childrens-book-festival/2014-general-information.”

You can find the full list of videos here.

And finally, for the off-topic video, this came out years ago and I enjoy some parts more than others, but the parts I do enjoy hold up.  “Alan!”