A group of Wilmington police officers has been blanketing the city in an effort to book kids – and the kids love it.
The books, in this case, are in the trunks of police cruisers. Master Cpl. Gary Tabor found children's literature had been missing in the homes he entered while he was a member of the department's major crime unit. He discussed it with his wife, Melissa, a school teacher, who told him about the importance of children having reading materials readily available.
Tabor grabbed 50 of his children's old books and began passing them out to children in the Riverside housing community, essentially starting the "Book 'Em Cops and Kids Literacy Initiative."
(Image from the article. There are loads more, including lots of pictures featuring kids actually, you know, LOOKING AT BOOKS, but this one just killed me.)
National Ambassador for Children's Literature and 2014 Newbery Medal winner Kate DiCamillo's fourth title in the Tales from Deckawoo Drive series, an older spin off of the Mercy Watson series, featuring the much reviled neighbor as she comes to terms with a surprise gift, that at once maddens and challenges her, and to her chagrin, the gift is nonreturnable, to Karen Lotz and Andrea Tompa at Candlewick.
And a YA:
Rebecca Podos's debut THE MYSTERY OF HOLLOW PLACES, pitched as PICTURE ME GONE meets PAPER TOWNS, about the daughter of a bestselling mystery writer, who sets out to find her missing father using the skills she has learned from his books, and -- along the way -- uncovers truths hidden in the loneliness that has marked the family since her mother abandoned them years before, to Jordan Brown at Balzer & Bray, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2016.
This is from five years ago, but as I'd never come across it, I'm figuring that it might be new to some of you as well!
Okay. In July 2009, The American Scene posted a conversation starter called WORST. CHILDREN'S BOOKS. EVER. in which the author named his two least favorite classic children's books (The Giving Tree and The Polar Express), and then asked his readers to weigh in.
And weigh in they did, with much passion (from some) and much vitriol (from others). Especially about The Giving Tree.
But! Much joy can be found in LeVar Burton's comments—it was verified (via Twitter, I think?) that it was really him—about The Rainbow Fish, which are even more awesome if you imagine him reading them aloud:
The rainbow f#@%ing fish! yes, you win! – that’s the worst of all time.
Very good call that everyone else probably wiped from their memory banks. It’s coming back to me now….
“Child, if you try to stand out others will rightfully swim away. You want friends, child, don’t you? No, not the kind who will respect you or admire your natural assets. You can’t count on ever finding friends who are like you if you are different. It’s much easier to just go along to get along with everyone. The only way is assimilation. No one likes show-offs, or elitist freaks. The solution is to distribute your assets to everyone else equally, so you blend in and everyone else is exactly the same. Then they will be your friends. Swim with the collective, my child – sacrifice to us so we can all be the equal, then we can accept you as friends. It is your duty to buy our camaraderie…or be spurned forever in the dark currents of loneliness, you mutant degenerate. You think you’re better than me? Go die you stuck-up glitter-geek cuz you are banished, pretty boy. I don’t need your stupid contributions anyway, kid. I hope the sharks and squids find those shiny scales easier to catch.”
Timeless message for every generation.
Basically, he equates the message of The Rainbow Fish to that of the Borg. Rock on, LeVar Burton.
Anyway, there's more at the link: if you don't want to lose an hour combing through the minefield that is the comments section, I suggest just doing a search for 'LeVar' on the page.
The little blue fish whizzed through the ocean with his scale flashing, so it didn’t take long before the Rainbow Fish was surrounded by the other fish. Everyone wanted a glittering scale.
He realized then there was no end to their greed, that they would not be satisfied until he had given away all his scales, that they would stop at nothing to make him like themselves, dull and stripped bare and part of the faceless, nameless “We.”
And he rejected the cowardice of the mob.
Um. Is it wrong that I TOTALLY PREFER this version to the original?
When Maira Kalman and Daniel Handler started digging through the Museum of Modern Art’s collection of vintage photographs—many are amateur shots donated by the artists and were never intended as works of art—they quickly found the theme they were looking for. “Girls standing on lawns!” Kalman says.
Kalman's paintings (and Handler's captions) are going into the first in an upcoming series of MoMA picture books.
