Swelling with New England pride at this section of The Booklovers Map of America Showing Certain Landmarks of Literary Geography by pictorial cartographer Paul M. Paine:
Heck yeah birthplace of American literature! (via Maria Popova at Brain Pickings)
I’m a little obsessed with A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead and Erin Stead. Both the art and the story are charming and cozy and whimsical. So of course I squeaked when I saw the Horn Book interviewed illustrator Erin Stead about art, color, and her book And Then It’s Spring. A couple of favorite responses:
“3. My favorite spring song is “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.” What’s yours?
EES: I haven’t been able to think of anything that tops Mel Brooks’s “Springtime for Hitler.””
Erin, you are correct. On a more serious note, about knowing our history:
“I don’t necessarily mean the books that have become part of the canon (although that is an excellent place to start). A lot of good books can get lost in today’s online-blogging-twitter-algorithm shopping, but it’s nothing a good library, new or used bookstore, or a little Leonard S. Marcus can’t fix. Sometimes I worry that we’ve given up a little of the weird or the dark in picture books, while not realizing that some of the books we still love are entirely weird. I love Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, but as an elevator pitch, that book is strange.”
Make sure to check out the whole interview.
What a cool catalog cover for Pan Macillan:
I think this would be an awesome print for a library–heck, even your home library. (image: Owen Gatley)
A few more links to round out the day:
The First Novels Club is giving away a copy of Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin. From the FNC review:
“My favorite, favorite part of FRESHMAN YEAR was Kelsey’s group of friends. First off, the ups and downs of their relationship far overshadowed any boy drama in the book (for this alone, I want to hug Meredith Zeitlin). They’re unique without being stereotypically quirky, and I loved the realistic, ever-changing dynamic of the girls as they grew up and apart and together again. Plus, how they argued and got mad at each other was hilariously spot-on with how girls fight in high school.”
Really like the sound of this. I think it’s easy to create one best friend for your main character, or perhaps a small group with very distinct personalities (the SATC effect), but real life friendships are way more fluid, especially at the beginning of high school.
Also, I dig contemporary YA with a sense of humor. Not everyone has to brood! Click through to enter the giveaway.
Two more reasons to contact your US Representative. From the National Children’s Book and Literary Alliance:
“Appropriations season is now underway in Washington, D. C. It’s crucial that you call your U.S. Representative today and ask him or her to sign two separate “Dear Colleague” letters that support funding for libraries.
One letter, found here, supports funding for the Innovative Approaches to Literacy Grant in FY13. This grant is crucial because at least half of it would go to low-income school libraries to help update their books and materials.
The other letter, found here, supports funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) in FY13. LSTA is the primary source of funding for libraries in the federal budget.”
Click through for more info from the NCBLA.
Depressing:
“Every year the Cooperative Center for Children’s Books at the University of Wisconsin reports the number of books they receive from US trade and small publishers and how many are written by authors of various backgrounds. Again, in 2010, more than 90 percent of books for children and young adults in the United States were written by white authors about white protagonists.“
Hopefully this can spark more publishers to accept books about different characters and background, and spark more writers to share different stories.
If you’re an SCBWI member, you can read more about this in the current SCBWI bulletin (March/April 2012).
I love the UK. When I was in college I had the opportunity to study abroad in Oxford and London. The classes were fantastic, and I felt immediately at home in both cities. So this list of children’s literature landmarks in the UK has me ready to pack my bags.
There are fantastic suggestions for fans of Harry Potter (I’ve had my picture taken at Platform 9 3/4, of course), Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, and more. I’d also add checking out castles in Scotland for a dose of Susan Cooper’s The Boggart, or dash around Oxford like Lyra in The Golden Compass–but watch out for Gobblers.
Where would you want to go on a children’s literature tour? (image: Oxford City, UK by mridula)
Finding hundreds of new fairy tales is an awesome way to start the week:
“A whole new world of magic animals, brave young princes and evil witches has come to light with the discovery of 500 new fairytales, which were locked away in an archive in Regensburg, Germany for over 150 years. The tales are part of a collection of myths, legends and fairytales, gathered by the local historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1810–1886) in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz at about the same time as the Grimm brothers were collecting the fairytales that have since charmed adults and children around the world.”
I am so into this kind of thing. When I was in high school I wrote a paper on the Grimm brothers and their connection to German nationalism. (And kind of had fun writing it.) Now we have more folk tales and verbal history/culture to talk about*? So cool!
*ie, to inspire more YA novels. (via bookshelves of doom) (image: Gustave Dore, via SurLaLune)
If you’re on the internet, you’ve probably heard of Pinterest by now. If not, it’s a social network/media site in which users can create virtual inspiration boards by pinning and sharing images. People are kind of obsessed. Frankly. I prefer Tumblr because I think it offers more variety as a site and, since I already post pretty much everything there that I would post on Pinterest, creating a general account there would be a little repetitive.
But Pinterest can be more than just a fun social network. It can actually be a great writer resource. On her blog, agent Rachelle Gardner talks about things writers should know before they start pinning. One point I found interesting:
“3. People spend significant TIME on Pinterest.
Users spend more time on Pinterest (average of 15 minutes per visit) than they do on Facebook (average of 12 minutes per visit) or Twitter (3 minutes). And by “people” I mean your potential readers.”
Part of me wonders if this is the novelty factor. It’s a very new experience for most users, so I wonder if there’s a lot of initial build as people create their boards, and if those people will gradually fade away, like most bloggers. Still, it’s a fun diversion with minimal downsides for the average user. (Unlike Facebook, you don’t have to put up with potentially obnoxious status updates. Stupid people on vacation while you’re stuck at work!)
As a writer on Pinterest, you can have boards for your favorite books or books you wish you’d written. For example, Raul Gutierrez has a board devoted to Gotta Get Kids Books–a fantastic collection.
Although I don’t have a generally public Pinterest account, I do use it. For me, it’s a great way to post images that inspire me for or remind me of whatever project I’m working on. I think it’s similar to creating a playlist for your novel–it helps create a mood so if you’re stuck, you can scan through the collection of images and perhaps get inspired. So I don’t share my boards or even invest that much time in them, but for me there’s a great writerly tool.
Do you use Pinterest? Or do you think it’s a passing online fad?
(image: Pinterest)