Omnivoracious: End-o'-the-Week Kid-Lit Roundup

End-o'-the-Week Kid-Lit Roundup

by Paul on November 16, 2008

In this week's roundup, we learn the winners of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, think about black-and-white books, and contemplate a Harry Potter all-breakdancing musical:

What do Harry Potter, Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and Wal-Mart have in common? So I'm just going to ask this once: What more do I need to say to convince you to watch a video clip other than "Dumbledore breakdances at 5:05"? Like almost every video on the Internet (the Mexican Cat Dance excluded), it's probably a little too long--but you really need to see this gloriously weird bit of amateur Harry Potter-ified political activist video:

(Thank you to the ever-awesome Fuse #8 for the tip!)

New Notes from the Horn Book. Roger Sutton notes the new Notes from the Horn Book. He too modestly plugs "[a]n interview with Mini Grey, books about heroes, villains, talking dinosaurs, and more. Subscribe now and tell your friends." The interview alone is worth your time, in which Grey (Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog) reveals herself to be an apologist for plastic and talks about a train operated by her two-year-old that delivers raspberries to her kitchen.

The new Notes also mentions another book that's popular at our house, Dinosaur vs. Bedtime. Although, while that little dinosaur is an extremely cute roar-er, Oliver still wins this year's "Best Cute Roar in a Picture Book" award at our house. (One of Silas' first animal noises was the answer to "What does Oliver say?" "ROAR!")

Roald Dahl Funny Prize winners! It seems like only yesterday we mentioned the shortlists for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, an award for "the most hilarious children's authors." But we already have winners!

With thanks to achockablog, these are them:

Ages 6 and under: The Witch's Children Go to School
Ages 7 to 14: Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear

Forever Young review and a deep thought. Kid-lit blog 100 Scope Notes reviewed the Bob Dylan picture book Forever Young this week, and he made what I think is a pretty smart and novel observation:

I see this one getting a lot of looks come high school graduation time, as a new alternative to the Oh the Places You’ll Go buyers. I can’t count myself among those who advocate picture book gifts for young adults (unless they are aspiring children’s librarians), but that’s the audience that will be most in Forever Young's wheelhouse. Very nice to look at, and a great song, but the message and meaning will be largely lost on young readers.

Whatever its target, it's a very enjoyable book--which you can get a good feel for from the trailer he points out:

The best black-and-white books. Author and blogger Gail Gauthier was recently praising the beautiful Cat and Fish (which was followed by Cat and Fish Go to See), and when she started poking around to learn more about it, she discovered this great post from pixie stix kids pix that listed a dozen recommendations (and more, counting ones from readers) for remarkable books with black and white illustration. Now I need to get my hands on a copy of 365 Penguins (based on reviews by both pixie stix and, on NPR, Daniel Pinkwater)!