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Aww, yeah – 100 Scope Notes Covers Week begins in less than 24 hours. First up on Monday, we have a brand new “Create Your Debut Cover” meme that should bring out the (forced, step-by-step) creativity in all who take part. Click here for a full schedule of events.
It’s gonna be a good week.
Normally, I like to keep the focus on what’s inside the book. However, every now and again I use these pages to write about what’s on the outside. Namely, covers – similar ones, unfortunate ones, trends and the like. It recently struck me as a good idea to devote an entire week of 100 Scope Notes programming to this topic. From this coming Monday, November 9 to Friday, November 13 you’ll be getting all covers, all the time. Here’s the schedule of events:
Monday (Nov. 9): A brand new “Create Your Debut Cover” meme. It may (or may not) be the best one yet. The fantasy and YA versions were well received, so I’m rewriting the rules for an entirely different type of book. I’ll also post a gallery and add reader submissions to it as the week goes on. It’s time to get creative in a really limited, rule-following way.
Tuesday (Nov. 10): An interview with Abrams Books for Young Readers art director and cover designer extraordinaire Chad W. Beckerman. The man behind the cover design of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (and the blog Mishaps and Adventures) certainly knows his stuff. Tune in if for no other reason than to hear his expert opinion on this cover:
Wednesday (Nov. 11): A brand-new inductee into the Unfortunate Cover pasture of misfortune. If you’re counting, this will be the 12th in the series. You’ll also be able to vote for the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) Unfortunate Cover thus far.
Thursday (Nov. 12): Cover Controversy time. Let’s just say it’s a bad day for tiny boats. Also, another trend continues its slow approach to world domination.
Friday (Nov. 13): The Children’s Literature Commissioner makes an important cover-related announcement. The increasingly unstable (and fictional) Children’s Lit Commish will deliver a (fictional) message regarding the future of book covers.
All Week: The 100 Scope Notes banner will be taken over by book cover-related comic strips created by your humble children’s lit blogger.
See you back here next week!
On a related note:
The official album of Covers Week is The Covers Record by Cat Power.
The official gangsta rap-soundtracked crime film of Covers Week is Deep Cover.
The official cover-up of Covers Week is a giant straw hat.
The unofficial cover-up of Covers Week is the Liar cover controversy.
The official response to a disaster during Covers Week is to take cover.
The official bet of Covers Week is for your team to cover the spread.
The official brand-new word I invented to celebrate Covers Week is “decovered”. When a book has had its cover removed, it has been decovered.
The official Covers Week response to shame is to cover one’s face.
Online School just posted a list of what they feel to be the 100 Best Book Blogs for Kids, Tweens, and Teens. 100 Scope Notes made the list, making me instantly skeptical of the whole operation.
But I was pleasantly surprised. A few notable omissions to be sure (Bookends and Collecting Children’s Books to name a couple), but overall a pretty nice roundup of children’s lit blogs. Do you agree? Click here to read.
Images:
‘one is the loneliest number‘ www.flickr.com/photos/97831130@N00/2179047732
‘paint 0‘ www.flickr.com/photos/81335564@N00/2193391884
‘zero‘ www.flickr.com/photos/71477195@N00/56424649
The totals have been tallied and the returns have been filed. The findings found and the tables tabulated. Each week, the venerable New York Times lets the world know which books have been selling rather briskly lately. Working in a school library, this information can be helpful. Before this becomes yesterday’s news, lets take a look at the books that rose to the top of the pile. Click here to see the entire lists (courtesy of Reading Radar).
Quite a few new faces ’round these parts since I last checked. The nearly brand-new SkippyJon Jones adventure takes the top spot, with a new Rufus Butler Seder scanimation book residing in position number two. I wasn’t aware of Waddle!, and as the unofficial Michigan ambassador of Scanimation I am embarrassed for this oversight. Listen to the Wind moves to number three after months on top. Dewey brings the cuteness kids are calling for while the Scieszka and Shannon team-up, Robot Zot! nicely rounds out the top five.
Catching Fire and its predecessor, The Hunger Games, hold on to spots one and two. The latest DiCamillo offering (The Magician’s Elephant) solidly plants itself in third. Pleasantly surprised to see Odd and the Frost Giants come in at number five.
Until next time..
(Top Image: ‘Broad Vocabulary Bookstore‘
www.flickr.com/photos/54108113@N00/343178349)
Nomination season has begun for the 2009 Cybils, which is also known in some circles as the Children’s and Young Adult Blogger’s Literary Awards. You read? You read something you liked in 2009? Head over to the Cybils site and nominate it.
I’m proud to be taking part in the awards this year in the Fiction Picture Books category. Here’s how the committee shakes down:
Panel Organizer: Pam Coughlan, MotherReader
Panelists (Round I Judges):
Shelly Burns, Write for a Reader
Pam Coughlan (see panel organizer)
Katie Harvey, Katie’s Literature Lounge
Natasha Maw, Maw Books Blog
Me, 100 Scope Notes
Round II Judges:
Amy, Big Brother is Reading
Andi (cloudscome), A Wrung Sponge
Lori Calabrese, Lori Calabrese Writes
Bethany Gatto, Your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian
Dawn Mooney, My Thoughts Exactly
Let’s ponder for a moment the past winners in this category:
2006
Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt.
2007
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington and Shelly Jackson.
2008
How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham.
Appears we’ve got a Where the Wild Things Are spoof on our hands:
Where the Mild Things Are: a very meek parody by Maurice Send-Up.
I first read about this on the outstandingly-named THWOK! (The Sound of a Hardcover Book Swung Into Someones Head). The other day, I saw it in person (inexplicably shelved in the children’s section) at the bookstore. What’s it about? Really I can’t say it better than THWOK! (who wonders if it is too early to call this the worst “children’s” book of the year), so click here to read more.
I recently learned about the planned Universal Studios Harry Potter theme park from Educating Alice (who has a nice roundup of related links). I think we can all agree that this is a good idea. Pop culture site BuzzFeed recently posted a video tour of the planned project. Let us have a look:
Dang – looks pretty thorough to me.
On a (loosely at best) related note, did you know that there’s a Harry Potter store in Shanghai?
Occasionally, I like to leave my cave and take a look at what the humans are doing. Or reading, rather. Below are the latest bestselling children’s books according to the New York Times. Click the links below to see the entire lists at Reading Radar.
Listen to the Wind and Gallop! have been making themselves comfortable at the top for some time. The latest Marley release runs wild at #3, while the newest addition to the “ilicious” series takes #4. Oceanology follows in the popular footsteps of Dragonology (and a host of other -ology titles) at #5.
On to the more generously paged.
One of the most anticipated books of the fall, Catching Fire, hits #1 with it’s predecessor following closely behind at #2. Folks have also been waiting on book 2 in The Missing series, Sent, from Margaret Peterson Haddix, which places nicely at #4.
Back to the cave.
(Top Image: ‘day 4 8:21 pm kramerbooks‘
www.flickr.com/photos/7377473@N02/2766473933)
Shortlist nominees for the 2009 Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) Awards have been announced, and I am honored to be in the running for “Best General Review Blog”.
If you are a fan of children’s lit blogs, be sure to click here and vote for your favorites.
