Self-Plagiarism of the Best Kind

I was flipping through Extra Yarn (written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen, pub. Jan. 2012) when I came upon a most familiar character:

It’s a nice homage, or sly wink for Klassen fans of I Want My Hat Back (Sept 2011).

I prefer to think of him as the same bear, one who’s mellowed out and traded his beloved hat for a rainbow yarn sweater. 

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Fun with Arthritis Cures, and other ALAYMA Reactions

The British cover for Dead End in Norvelt (thanks to Fuse #8 for the tip): so much better than ours.

Um, wow. So Dead End in Norvelt got the Newbery! It was, as Jen predicted, a dark horse triumph. And while I’m still sad at the lack of recognition for Sir Gawain, Okay for Now and Amelia Lost, Gantos’ win makes me positively gleeful. We don’t often get laugh-out-loud funny Newbery winners: The Higher Power of Lucky often made me smile, as did The Tale of Despereaux. But I have to go back to Holes (1999) to find one that made me laugh. Norvelt packs enough humor to transform the most reluctant readers into bookworms (the title of this post references one of the more memorable scenes), and that may be the greatest prize of all.

As for the other award winners (full results from today’s ALA Youth Media Awards here), here are some scattered thoughts:

• This seems to be the year where books won in unexpected categories. After all the Newbery/Caldecott agonizing over Wonderstruck, it was great (and so fitting!) to see it win a Schneider Family Book Award. Same with Drawing from Memory‘s Sibert Honor and I Want My Hat Back! in the Geisel category. It all seems so obvious in retrospect.
• Breaking Stalin’s Nose (Newbery Honor book) reminds me of Moon Over Manifest from last year–something totally unexpected, which I’m now quite looking forward to.
• I’m ecstatic to see the Printz Committee honor The Returning. This is one of those books that reels you in slowly and doesn’t let go, but the slow pacing means it could use an awards-push to generate publicity.
• Okay for Now got recognition for the audio book. I’ve always wondered about Doug’s voice–I imagine it’s either quite deadpan or darkly sarcastic. Now’s a good time to find out.
• Kadir Nelson’s Heart and Soul won a well-deserved Coretta Scott King Award, though I’d hoped for Bird in a Box to get an award as well.
• I haven’t read A Ball for Daisy or Blackout, but Me…Jane and Grandpa Green both deserve as much recognition as they can get.
• Susan Cooper’s Margaret A. Edwards Award! I feel so lucky to have discovered her books this year (or rather re-discovered after a failed attempt to start the series years ago), and even had the chance to meet her during The Exquisite Conversation.

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Review: Tricia’s Michigan

(Note: this is a joint post by Jen and Lisa)

Review: Tricia’s Michigan, a documentary from Polivision Productions (source of review copy: free online streaming provided by the producers)

The famous keeping quilt

Tricia’s Michigan opens with a leisurely drive through Union City, Michigan, a tiny village with two major claims to fame: it was an important stop on the Underground Railroad, and it’s the place that author/illustrator Patricia Polacco calls home.

Anyone who’s read Polacco’s books (Pink and Say; The Keeping Quilt) knows that the stories are often inspired by Polacco’s family history and the history of Union City, where she grew up. Most of us will never get the chance to tour Polacco’s childhood home, so Tricia’s Michigan does the next best thing by bringing us there with an immersive documentary.

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Overlooked in 2011

Now that 2011 is officially over, I can finally start compiling the requisite end-of-year lists. Last year I posted my most memorable reads of 2010. This time I’m going for books that I loved, but which I think were overlooked in some way:

Migrant by Maxine Trottier, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (March 2011)

NYT named this one of the best illustrated books of 2011, so it’s gotten its share of praise, but I haven’t heard much chatter elsewhere. I can honestly say it’s the first picture book I’ve encountered on migrant workers, and it’s written with sensitivity and grace. Anna, the little girl at the heart of the book follows her family from Mexico to Canada in search of seasonal work. She’s old enough to wish for a stable, more “normal” life and young enough to escape the hardships through daydreams. Arsenault’s fantastic illustrations bring Anna’s imagination to life, and the family’s unusual background (they’re Mennonites from Mexico who speak a dialect of German) emphasizes the universal challenges faced by migrant workers all over the world. A wonderful, wonderful book.

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NYPL!

I took a quick trip to NYC on Saturday and made sure to stop by the main branch of the public library. I’ve wanted to see the Children’s Center for years now, and it turns out to be ever cooler than I’d imagined.

Library entrance

Mural inside the Children’s Center

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Happy Cat Herders Day!

I kid you not–Dec. 15 is officially Cat Herders Day. So whether you actually herd cats for a living, train them for tournaments or find yourself facing a seemingly insurmountable task, today’s a day for celebrating such challenges.

Go ahead. Herd me. See if I care.

Over at The Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac, Anita Silvey has a great post on Wanda Gág’s Millions of Cats–a classic statement on the futility of bossing cats around.

Ironically, I’ve just finished a book with the least cat-like cat I’ve ever read: Lula in Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan (Oct 2011). This cat is so chill it’s content being dressed in baby clothes and hauled around like a doll. Unrealistic? Perhaps, but Waiting for the Magic thrives on the impossible, and there’s plenty of magic (both fantastical and wordsmith-wise) as Lula, four dogs and two kids conspire to reunite a broken family. By turns poignant and hilarious, it’s a brilliant book to read any day of the year, but especially fitting for today.

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Those Pesky Medals

Everyone loves awards: who doesn’t like the look of those shiny round stickers on a book jacket?

The answer, of course, is the poor person, place or thing that gets buried on the book cover. One Crazy Summer shows just what happens when real estate becomes scarce:

First edition cover: that's a lot of hardware...and the Scott O'Dell Award isn't even included.

This must be a later printing, one where they squished the title to make room for a chain of medals.

Luckily, paperback editions allow for new cover designs with empt(ier) space:

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The Bodies Behind the Exquisite Corpse

(Note: this is a joint post)

The Exquisite Conversation: An Adventure in Creating Books

We’ll try to avoid unmitigated gushing, but it’s hard not to be starstruck when you’re in the same auditorium as beloved literary heroes Katherine Paterson, M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Susan Cooper, Timothy Basil Ering, Steven Kellogg, Patricia MacLachlan, and James Ransome. We saw their faces. We heard their voices. Patricia MacLachlan even sang!

L-R: Mary Brigid Barret (president of NCBLA), Steven Kellogg, Susan Cooper, Katherine Paterson, James Ransome (standing up), Natalie Babbitt, M.T. Anderson, Patricia MacLachlan, and Timothy Basil Ering.

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Hugo in 3D

Fellow fans of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, fear not: the movie is good. Really good. As someone who loves the book, I was relieved that the movie kept the mystery, themes and emotions of Brian Selznick‘s original. As someone who just likes movies, I was impressed by the acting and artistry. It’s worth seeing Hugo in 3D. The eye-popping visuals felt organic to the film, rather than something used as a cheap gimmick.

Best of all, the movie stayed true to the general feel of the book, alternating between spoken and stunning, wordless scenes. It wasn’t slavishly loyal to the source material either—it took extra time with some side characters and scenes of everyday life in the train station, so that I felt completely immersed in Hugo’s world. And it pays its respects to Méliès, of course. So whether you like movies, movie history or the sheer enjoyment of a great story, Hugo should fit the bill.

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The Universal Appeal of Doomed Bunnies

I recently bought Dawn of the Bunny Suicides as a gift for a friend. For anyone unfamiliar with the genius of Andy Riley, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a collection of cartoons showing plump, would-be adorable bunnies in the act of creative suicide. Death by potato masher, lawn mower and Quidditch broom are just some of the highlights (fellow geeks, rejoice—Star Wars and Doctor Who both get to shine). And before you call PETA on me, take a look at the book, because it’s bound to have even the greatest Watership Down fans chuckling.

What puzzles me is why these books get shelved in the adult section. The deadpan, often cynical humor seems perfect for YA. Same goes for the amazing xkcd collection…¥et they’re rarely found outside of bookstore gift displays or adult comic book sections. Wouldn’t it make sense to also stick a copy with the YA graphic novels? On a related note, I’ve found the opposite problem with books like Persepolis, which, despite being required reading for West Point cadets, usually get cataloged only as YA. (To go even more extreme, there’s always the well-hashed controversy over It’s a Book!) It seems that the liberal use of illustrations in books confounds the normal rules of marketing. What a shame, because pigeonholing them in one category is a surefire way to limit readership.

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