More Wimpy

Check out this interview with Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney at School Library Journal.  He explains why he hasn’t quit his job yet and what he’s working on now (hint: Wimpy Kid #5!)

In the Media

Read or listen to an interview with the author (and producer of The Daily Show,) of the new kids’ book, I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President, here. And an interview with Diary of a Wimpy Kid author, Jeff Kinney, here. And here is an article from The New York Times on the Baby Einstein video refunds. It turns out there is no basis to their claim that watching the videos will make your baby smarter! Surprise!

New Snicket: 2012

Lemony Snicket is reportedly working on a new series that will be released in 2012.

From the Guardian:  Reached by telephone, Snicket would only say: “I can neither confirm nor deny that I have begun research into a new case, and I can neither confirm nor deny that the results are as dreadful and unnerving as A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

New Lemony Snicket Film?

Thanks to Fuse#8, I learned this morning that there is a chance that there could be another Series of Unfortunate Events film…eventually.  Instead of live action, this new film would be stop motion animation.  I’m thinking something inspired by Coraline.  So cool!  Read more here.

Mark Your Calendars: Mock Newbery Update

Mark your calendars for Saturday, January 9th, 2010 for the joint WLA/OLA Mock Newbery.  It will be held at Multnomah County Library’s Central branch in downtown Portland.  I am so excited to be a part of this and I hope some of our FVRL staff will be able to attend.  There will be at least TWO current members of the Newbery committee in attendance, including the current chair of the committee!  I’m hoping that in addition to reading some great books, we’ll get a glimpse at what it’s like to be on such a prestigious committee and what goes on behind those closed doors.  I expect the list of titles to read to come out in late October/early November.  In the meantime, let me know if you’ve read anything especially Newbery-worthy!

Angel Girl Kerfuffle

I’m sure you have heard by now about the Rosenblats and their faux memoir/film about how they met on opposite sides of a Jewish concentration camp and were reunited on a blind date years later.  There is also a children’s book based on their story called Angel Girl written by Laurie Friedman, which we own 3 copies of and have in the J940s.  We will be leaving the copies where they are, as we did with  James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces.  (Side note: the majority of the Frey books are checked out or lost.  If you’d like a new copy, there are several in the SEL collection, just let Meg Z know.)  If you have questions about Angel Girl or feedback from patrons, please let me know.

Children’s Lit on NPR

Two stories on NPR’s Weekend Edition last week covered children’s books.

The first is a story on Jon Scieszka’s new memoir, Knuckleheads along with an interview with the author/national ambassador of children’s literature.  PLEASE keep this book in mind when kids come in looking for a biography or autobiography.  We have it in the J800s and so it might be missed. (I don’t determine what we classify as a biography, but local libraries do have it in the BIO section, so it should be fine for assignments.)

The second story is an interview with Dave Barry about his new book, Science Fair.  We have it in print and audio.  The interview takes place in a science classroom where they re-create some of the experiments from the book…like dropping Mentos candies into coke to create an explosion.

Teen News

2 stories from Yahoo news:

Here’s an interesting article that links teen pregnancy rates to sexy TV shows. Note that it does NOT mention a connection between books and teen pregnancy. Also, they’re not singling out “teen programming” and say that comedies have the highest sexual content. Really? What comedy TV shows have a lot of sex?

Somebody’s excited about the new Twilight (Stephenie Meyers) movie…a lot of somebodies.  Twilight doesn’t open until November 21st, but Fandango reported on 10/31 that sales of Twilight tickets were accounting for 51% of their ticket sales!  Wow!  More here.

RL Stine Interview

RL Stine was on Morning Edition this morning (NPR) talking about the continued popularity of Goosebumps and his HorrorLand series.  Listen (or read it) here.

2009 YRCA Discussion Guides

Multnomah County Library has just posted their Talk it up! book discussion guides for the 2009 YRCA nominees.  This is a great resource if you’re leading a book group reading these titles or know someone who is.