The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #147: Saadia Faruqi
“If you can’t really tell the whole story in five thousand words, are you really a writer?”
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Posts Tagged: children’s books
Inappropriate Shock
Over the song, for the first time in three days, we can’t hear the beeping of Q’s monitors. I slip my hands in his back pockets and rest my cheek on his neck. As we spin, medical wires wrap around us like seaweed.
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The Business of Making Art: A Conversation with Beatriz Ramos
Beatriz Ramos discusses DADA, the digital platform she hopes will democratize art and reimagine the Internet’s potential for visual artists.
...moreThe Book Lady Is Back
Dolly Parton, pop culture’s resident “Book Lady,” has written a children’s book based off of one of her hits, “Coat of Many Colors.” The book is to be released on October 18, Robyn Collins for Radio.com reports. Coat of Many Colors will describe the story of a young Dolly who struggles with classism and bullying; […]
...moreKeep Kids Learning, All Summer Long
Chicago libraries have an ambitious plan to give away more than a million children’s books this summer in an effort to combat intellectual regression that occurs in summer months when children aren’t in school. Every branch of the Chicago library is giving away books to children who sign up for the program. Want to keep your […]
...moreLessons from Frog and Toad
At the Atlantic, Bert Clere reflects on Arnold Lobel’s children’s books, Frog and Toad and Owl at Home, the lessons these stories try to teach, and the representation of the self in each of them: Although Frog and Toad’s world is perhaps more pastoral than that of their average reader, most can recognize and relate to the situations […]
...moreRamona Quimby All Grown Up
Beverly Cleary guided generations of girls and boys alike through the rocky, messy, color- and dream-filled days of childhood with her long-running Ramona series, which manages to stay at the forefront of the children’s literary scene even fifty years after the release of its first installment in 1955. Ruth Graham at Slate wants us to remember that […]
...moreGet ‘Em While They’re Young
This year’s children’s literature has some exceptional bonafides. Over the next few months, a number of acclaimed novelists, including Jane Smiley and Elena Ferrante, will be publishing children’s books. Whether a five-year-old can distinguish between literary and genre fiction, only time will tell.
...moreVast Questions About Our Humanity
Alexis Deacon and Vivian Schawrz’s ” groundbreaking philosophy book for toddlers,” I Am Henry Finch, just won the 2016 Little Rebels Children’s Book Award. The award recognizes children’s books that address social justice and equality for youth: Their picture book is about a young finch called Henry who branches out from the sameness of his flock in order […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Sanae Ishida
Sanae Ishida discusses her debut children’s book, Little Kunoichi, The Ninja Girl, embracing her creativity after years in the corporate world, and finding inspiration in her young daughter.
...moreThe Magical World of Children’s Literature
Over at the Atlantic, Colleen Gillard takes a critical look at the differences between British and American children’s stories. While British stories for children tend to be rooted in fantasy and folklore, she writes, American children’s classics tend to be more grounded in realism. “Each style has its virtues, but the British approach undoubtedly yields the […]
...moreGuess the Iconic Children’s Book
Bookroo, the children’s book subscription service, has a series of classic children’s book covers redesigned in a minimalist style. Can you guess the titles?
...moreA Bedtime Story Designed to Induce Sleepiness
Aimed towards parents desperate to get their children to sleep, a book that claims to induce “gentle hypnosis” is topping the charts at Amazon. Written by a Swedish psychologist, The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep encourages children to yawn along with the story. However, there is a disclaimer by the publisher: Even if this […]
...moreDan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
(Dan Weiss is out on tour with his band The Yellow Dress. He’ll be back on August 3rd.) So, #AskELJames got a little out of control, huh? But was it justified push back? Or was it just online harassment? Own a piece of literary history. I wonder if they’d take .004% down? Princesses powered by flatulence. Learning your […]
...moreFight Club, Now G-Rated
How do you share your favorite books with your kids when those books aren’t quite G-rated? Over at Mashable, Chuck Palahniuk performs a reading from his nonexistent book, Fight Club 4 Kids.
...moreToo Many Skirts and Dresses
There are a number of picture books with strong girl protagonists, however the majority of them are drawn in skirts and dresses. At the Guardian, Julia Eccleshare calls for more children’s books with “girls in trousers,” in order to campaign against this “sexual stereotyping.”
...moreIntergenerational Cycle of Crap
Gabriel Roth has some hard truths about The Poky Little Puppy, and he’s not wrong. Millions of people enjoyed The Poky Little Puppy as children, because it was cheap and because, being children, they had no standards. They grew up to be parents, remembered the book fondly from childhood, and purchased it for their own children. It’s […]
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Conversations with Literary Ex-Cons: Jack Gantos
Jack Gantos discusses the sense of “delusional invincibility” he had in 1970s New York that led him to prison—and then on to a career as an award-winning children’s book author.
...moreWhere We’ve Been
It’s hard to enjoy reading Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time when the stack of books on your bedside table keeps reminding you of all the cultural capital you have yet to consume. Flavorwire’s Sarah Seltzer wonders why we stop re-reading our favorite books as we get older: I’ve come to understand that I’ll […]
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The Last Book I Loved: Heather Has Two Mommies
“Did everyone but her have a daddy?” Why—at age three—would you weep for a parent you didn’t have and had never known? I didn’t buy it.
...moreLetters from Notable Children’s Book Authors
The Association for Library Service to Children has announced the 2015 Notable Children’s Book List, and it includes two authors who have written for Letters for Kids! Paul Durham, author of The Luck Uglies, sent his letter last June. Then Dana Alison Levy, author of the The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher, wrote a letter last July about the joy […]
...moreMcBooks
McDonald’s Happy Meals are about to get a little more literary, with the addition of children’s books. The LA Times reports that a deal with HarperCollins will put versions of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses, and other titles into […]
...moreSunday Links
Brooklyn Magazine’s Favorite Writers Share Their Favorite Childhood Books. One novel I loved when I was a kid was Madam Pastry and Meow. The details are fuzzy for me now, but I recall this: A schoolgirl in Paris meets a young artist, the type who lives in a garret and spends his food money on […]
...moreThe Optimistic Bear
Paddington Bear, the iconic British children’s book character, finds himself in a new film adaptation this year. The Guardian spoke with Paddington’s creator, the 88-year-old Michael Bond. With 35 million books in print in more than 40 languages, Paddington has endured for more than 50 years, something Bond attributes to the bear’s optimism: “Paddington is […]
...moreThe Camel Library
We’ve seen libraries on bicycles. We’ve seen libraries on boats. But what about a library on a camel? Its been happening for two decades in Mongolia. Dashdondog Jamba has traveled more than 50,000 miles over the years crossing the Gobi desert. Jamba also writes children’s books.
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The Last Book I Loved: Krabat
1982 was a shitty year. I was 9 years old and in the 4th grade in Appleton, Wisconsin. My parents were going through a nasty divorce, the kind of thing you see on Jerry Springer.
...moreBook With No Pictures
After publishing a collection of short stories earlier this year, B.J. Novak has just released his first book for children, Book With No Pictures. The title is pretty self-explanatory—as an interview with Novak in the Atlantic puts it, instead of traditional pictures, …words form statements like, “My only friend in the whole wide world is a hippo […]
...moreWhat a Fabulous Lie
At the New York Times, writer Terry Pratchett discusses what he’s reading, who inspires him, and what makes a good fantasy novel. He also reveals one of his favorite childhood books and what made it so great: I found a book called “The Wind in the Willows,” by Kenneth Grahame, and I just exploded. There were rats […]
...moreHouse of Library Catalog Cards
The New York Public Library owns an absolutely peculiar collection: a 6000+ cards catalog of hand-typed children books reviews, written by librarians over the years. Lynn Lobash, NYPL reader services overseer, explained to Quartz that, “There’s about a billion card catalogs in the library, but these are special in that they were used as a […]
...moreThe Tale of Beatrix Potter
At the Public Domain Review, Frank Delaney takes a look at the life of Beatrix Potter and the people, places, and rabbits that inspired her work.
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