End-o'-the-Week Kid-Lit Roundup
"A schnook in a book is not a great hook." Booktryst has the details--with scrawled illustrations--on a lost, unpublished, sports-related Dr. Seuss manuscript, which was rejected because Geisel felt like the protagonist would look like "a schnook." (Geisel, in 1983, to the former employee who brought the forgotten manuscript to his attention: "And I think the reader's reaction will be, 'What's the matter with this dope?' I may be wrong of course...so why not send it to Harper and Row who do very good brat books and several times have made best sellers out of properties that I've rejected.")
Kid-lit National Book Award nominees. Lynette listed all the National Book Award nominees last week, and School Library Journal has more info on the Young People's Literature finalists, including Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker. ("Ship Breaker was a chance for me to write a high-octane adventure story while still touching on themes like peak oil and global warming that fascinate me.")
New "Notes from the Horn Book." The October issue of the Horn Book's monthly newsletter is out. Highlights include new nonfiction coverage, recommendations for picture books and chapter books, and a Q&A with Rosemary Wells ("the list of now iconic characters created by Rosemary Wells is long--Morris, Yoko, Benjamin and Tulip, Shy Charles--and baby brother Max and big sister Ruby are at the top of any children’s-book A-list").
Art & Max review. Travis at 100 Scope Notes has a thoughtful review up of Art & Max. He's ambivalent on the execution in spots, but he also calls it "one of the more uniquely beautiful books of the year" ("this book has [artistic merit] in Caldecott level spades").
"Too Much Information." Jill Lepore has a funny, informative survey of some current books for children that talk about sex, including It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health. ("Think of the genre as something between Kinsey for kids and a juvenile 'What to Expect When You’re Expecting.'")
More kid-lit at Comic-Con. Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal have more coverage out of Comic-Con, including the observation (in SLJ) that "school and public librarians aren't cutting down on graphic novel purchases and in some cases, they're buying more than ever."
Lost Hero is out! Educating Alice covers the "new session at Rick Riordan’s Camp Half-Blood," with observations on the first book in the new "Heroes of Olympus" series, Lost Hero. I have never seen an "unboxing" video for a book (you often see them for gadgets), but this Lost Hero unboxing is awfully cute:
--Paul
Scope Notes on October 18, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Thanks for the roundup of interesting news and the shout out!
Paul on October 18, 2010 at 12:30 PM
And thank you, Travis, for (as ever) being awesome! Loved the nuanced review.
Jack is Back! on October 20, 2010 at 06:31 AM
The great thing about Rick Riordan and his Percy Jackson series is that it has introduced my son to greek mythology and ancient greece. Not only is he fully immersed in ancient greek civilization and mythology, he has started to learn the greek alphabet and loves to write his friends names in greek. He is also starting on The Illiad and The Odyssey - but kids versions - not the full Homer as of yet. Oh, yeah, he is only 7 years of age.
TB on October 20, 2010 at 07:43 AM
I like the way you can tell a Dr. Seuss drawing even from a very rough sketch.