Where the Wild Things Are

So are you going to the movie, or keeping your book experience unsullied by film?

Alyson gave us her take back in June, when we also posted some links to interviews and blogs, including Terrible Yellow Eyes, with awesome Wild Thing tribute art!

And here's a blog that has gathered some cute Wild Things craft/art ideas.

Here's a fresh interview from Newsweek last week with both Jonze and Sendak.

One snippet from it to get you started!

What do you say to parents who think the Wild Things film may be too scary?
Sendak: I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate.

Tomie Tribute

Tomie dePaola turned 75! Check out this great blog, a tribute from other children's illustrators: Three Kisses for Tomie. It will make your day!

100 Great Picture Books

Looking for some terrific picture books to recommend, use at storytime, or enjoy yourself? Check out this list prepared by Melissa Depper, Virginia Brace and Lori Romero. 100 Great Picture Books features "Fresh, fun books just right for sharing with children ages birth to 5 years!"

Use the search box on Tales' Treehouse to find "great picture books" or find the list on the Great Books page. Remember you can use the print icon on the top right corner to produce a printable list. (Print example)

Looking at Picture Books

The remarkable Karla Kuskin, poet, author, and illustrator, recently passed away. Roger Sutton remembers a piece she wrote for the Horn Book about reviewing picture books. I just looked at it and am printing it out to read more slowly. Even if you never review picture books yourself, I strongly encourage you to read this article. It will help clarify your thinking about evaluating the picture books you come across, whether that's on the new book shelf or for storytimes or for displays or whatever.

Karla says, "A PICTURE BOOK IS A COMPLICATED FORM OF COLLABORATIVE ART. When it is very well done, it is an artistic achievement worthy of respectful examination and honor. Even failures, and especially near misses, deserve the kind of attention and understanding given to serious creative endeavors."

More books on ACPL Mock Caldecott

The Allen County Public Library released their next "short list" of Caldecott hopefuls. Remember we are adding books to the Caldecott Hopefuls shelf on our ALD Goodreads account. You can also vote on the 2010 Caldecott Hopefuls listopia we started.

My personal favorite, One Beetle Too Many by Kathryn Lasky because I wanted to take off to wild places to explore nature (which was definitly the book's influence not my usual hobby). Moving up the Listopia list is Lion and the Mouse, which is not even published yet!

Catching Up with the Fuse 100

Sorry, I never got back to you with more links to the Top 100 Picture Books list over at Fuse #8.

Here is her final list, Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results #1-101 I'm still working slowly through all the posts, reading her comments.

This is a great list. Of course it's not definitive (what is?) but it's an interesting window into what books are valued by people active in the children's literature world.

Is there anything you would have put on this list that didn't make it?

Take a look at this follow-up list of ALL the titles that got nominated, whether they were on the final 100 list or not.

More Fuse #8 Top 100

Here's the next set of links for Fuse #8's Top 100 Picture Book poll. Any surprises? I'm really enjoying reading her commentaries.

Top 100 Picture Books #65-61
Top 100 Picture Books #60-56
Top 100 Picture books #55-51
Top 100 Picture Books #50-46
Top 100 Picture Books #45-41
Top 100 Picture Books #40-36

Is the Great Craft Idea Well Running Dry?

Then check out No Time For Flash Cards! This blog is written by a veteran preschool educator who is currently at home with her 2 year old son. She's got lots of crafts, mostly for preschoolers, but also what she calls Naptime Creations, which are crafts for older kids. There are Alphabet Activities, vodcasts of her singing songs (plus posts with the words), book reviews, AND she often links her crafts to books. And a parent corner.

Honestly, guys, don't miss this one!

Many thanks for the link to Readermaid, who posted about the site on Twitter!

The Fuse #8 Top 100 Picture Book Poll

Welcome to April! I'm a little surprised to be here, myself, since I apparently missed March completely. Many, many thanks to Alyson who posted throughout the month while I was consumed with helping get the After School @ your library program up and running at the May branch.

Now that we (kind of) know what we're doing over at May, I will be able to start posting again. The first thing I want to let you know about is the picture book poll that Betsy Bird has been taking for a month or two over at Fuse #8:

As many of you know I conducted a picture book poll. I asked my readers to send me their Top 10 Picture Books of All Time, to be rated and combined. Participants rated their preferences from 1 to 10, with their first choice getting 10 points, their second 9 points, etc. Then, throughout the month of March as the submissions rolled in, I calculated the results. I took into account where people ranked their favorites, what they wrote about them, etc. And at long last, we had our Top 100.

Betsy will be releasing the titles over the next few weeks, not just listing the titles, but talking about the books, citing reviews, quoting poll participants, and so forth. I think this series of posts will be an excellent way to round out our readers' advisory knowledge of these particular picture books & I encourage you all to check them out! I've listed the first few posts here, and will continue to link to them as they go up on her site.

Have fun! Post us with YOUR top ten!

Top 100 Picture Books, #100-91
Top 100 Picture Books, #90-86
Top 100 Picture Books, #85-81
Top 100 Picture Books, #80-76
Top 100 Picture Books, #75-71
Top 100 Picture Books, #70-66

I Spy More "I Spy" Books

Last week I had a patron and her son ask where the I Spy books were, so I showed them these books:



...which were the ones they were thinking of, so that's good. However, I also showed them a few other series they didn't know about, and they decided to take the new ones instead. So here's a quick list of some other search-and-find types of books in case your patrons need some fresh ideas, too.

Usborne "1001 Things to Spot" books
Shelved by author; a keyword search for "Usborne and spot" will find them all.
Each two-page spread has, around the perimeter, images of a number of particular things to look for, like "6 sharks" or "10 magic wands."



Spot 7
Under E Kidslabel.
In these books, you have to compare two pictures and spot 7 differences.



Look-Alikes
Under E Steiner.
The author uses everyday objects like paperclips, dollar bills, and crackers to create her pictures.



Where's Waldo?
Under E Handford.
The Grandaddy of Them All! Check your shelves; you may have gotten fresh copies in.



Can You See What I See?
Under E Wick.
An "I Spy" for the younger crowd.



Let's Find Pokemon!
Under E Aihara or E Pokemon; a title search for "Let's Find Pokemon" will get them all.



Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo have some I Spy books in the Easy Reader section, too. They are under ER Marzollo or ER Wick, a keyword search for "I spy and easy reader" will find them.

For younger kids who want to search, but find these other books a little hard, here are some titles that have worked out as I Spy books:

Faraway Farm, E Whybrow



Alphabet House, E Wallace



My Very First Word Book, E 428.1 WILKES



Last but not least, if you need to find this type of stuff, try a word/keyword search for "picture puzzles and juvenile."