Inspired by NPR’s 5 Great Cover Songs from 2011, here are my top 12 covers from 2011 – starting with two of the hardest-rocking, and ending with the quietest ones. 1)   Like a Prayer  Grace Potter & The Nocturnals     6:23 This cover of Madonna’s 1989 hit comes from Grace Potter & The Nocturnals‘ iTunes Session
Gene Marks’ instantly infamous “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” column (Forbes, 12 Dec. 2011) is a classic example of how privilege remains invisible to the privileged. Though he acknowledges that he is “a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background” and so “life was easier for” him, the
For those who may be heading to the MLA in Seattle (5-8 Jan. 2012), here’s a list of all the panels on either children’s literature or comics/graphic novels. I count sixteen panels exclusively devoted to one or more of these subjects, and an additional nine panels in which one ore more paper addresses either children’s
Everyone knows It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), A Christmas Story (1983), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), and the many versions of A Christmas Carol (1938, 1971, 1984). Â But far too few people have seen The Bishop’s Wife (1947). Â Sometimes, when I mention the title, people will say, “Oh, the Denzel Washington movie?” Â That picture –Â The
I’d intended to post more of these in process, but literally had no time. The manuscript was due back to the copy-editor yesterday – I mailed it today, and it will reach her Tuesday. Some of her suggestions were dead-on, some were not, and others were somewhere in between. I accepted the first type, rejected the
With thanks to the Children’s and Adolescent Literature Community (ChALC) for organizing the event and the Manhattan Public Library for hosting it, we held aMock Caldecott at this afternoon. Of course, we weren’t able to get all of the books we wanted to look at – so, there are certainly Caldecott candidates we didn’t get to review. Here are the top
Immersion in the thoroughly copy-edited manuscript has prevented me from getting more cuts up here, but there are plenty to share.  As noted in the post from earlier in the week, the copy-editor was also charged with reducing the length of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How An Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and
I know. You thought that me posting omitted portions of the biography was over months ago. So did I. Thing is, the copyeditor for Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How An Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature (coming September 2012) was also charged with getting the manuscript shorter still. Â And
As has been noted twice before on this blog (see here and here), a color Sunday version of Crockett Johnson‘s Barnaby ran from 1946 to 1948. Courtesy of Colin Myers, here’s a full-page one from the winter of 1948. Though it’s undated, “winter” would have to be January or February because the color Barnaby concluded
Since people have asked to be kept informed, “Radical Children’s Literature Now!” — Julia Mickenberg‘s and my article — is out in the latest issue of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. Â Here are the first two paragraphs and their respective footnotes: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Focusing on literature for younger children published in the last decade–as well as on