Betsy Bird's Blog, page 9

We’re back at it! Ellen Myrick and the Publishers Spotlight team are once more telling us all about the cool new books you haven’t seen and wanna (even if you don’t know it yet). So come with me as I render a slew of books in all their bright and shiny colors. And we begin today with…

The Grumpy Ghost Upstairs by Mamiko Shiotani, translated by Polly Lawson

ISBN: 9781782509264

Publication Date: August 5, 2025

Check out that little guy in the upper window there. Don’t you love t...

Periodically on the podcast we’ll consider picture books that could be called “cult classics” in some manner. You know the type. Who Needs Donuts? The Lonely Doll. That sort of thing. They’re books that may not be a part of the cultural zeitgeist but for a significant contingent of readers, they mean the world. Bill Canterbury was recently interviewed on this site in conjunction with the release of his new picture books, and he later sent me some suggestions for the podcast. As such, I thoug...

There’s just something about Maine and children’s literature. I know that here in America we’ve a number of children’s literature locations. There’s the eerie conglomeration of children’s book creators drawn to Amherst/Northampton. There’s Abilene, Texas where all those children’s literature statues reside. There’s New York (nuff said). But Maine… it just has a different feel entirely. It’s where Robert McCloskey plied his trade. It’s where Miss Rumphius planted all those lupines. And it’s where...

I did it 2013. I did it in 2017. Now eight years have passed and it’s time to do it again.

On a periodic basis I enjoy collecting all the statues of children’s literature characters in America. I do this, because a statue is a LOT of work. How do I find these statues? By my readers! People will send in suggestions of inclusions and I’ll add them to the list. And what kinds of statues count?

Here are the rules:

It would be difficult for me to put into words how fond I am of the novel Pax by Sara Pennypacker. As an author, she surprises me on a regular basis, whether through her Clementine series, my favorite unexpected-dead-body novel The Summer of the Gypsy Moths, or with her story of war and foxes that cracked my heart into small bite-sized pieces.

To my infinite horror, I have only now just discovered that I never reviewed Pax myself. Perhaps I did professionally (I won’t review something on my ...

It’s baseball season! And baby season! Kate just had a baby (her first!!) almost a month early, and now that she has her brain back in order, we’re finally tackling a baseball picture book for the spring. Now to my mind, this book is significant because as a work of historical fiction, it was one of the first picture book titles for kids to address a moment in American history that we, as a nation, are not proud of. I apologize for not grabbing the 25th anniversary edition of this book for K...

Fireworks
By Matthew Burgess
Illustrated by C��tia Chien
Clarion (an imprint of Harper Collins)
$19.99
ISBN: 9780063216723
Ages 3-6
On shelves May 13th

Think for a moment of the great picture books about summer. The ones that capture it perfectly. It���s such a subjective thing to ask. For me, the ideal summer picture books are the ones I read as a kid. Books like Ultra-Violet Catastrophe by Margaret Mahy or even A Time to Keep by Tasha Tudor. You probably have your own favorites to draw upon. Of...

Aw, Transit Editions. We’d never forget about you. Though your list each season is small (there are just three books in this preview today!) your books are mighty. Transit specializes in small books that you wouldn’t notice at all, were it not for their concentrated efforts.

Here then are the titles for the Winter 25/Spring 26 season:

Look Up by Azul L��pez

Publication Date: September 9, 2025

ISBN: 9798893380286

Lest you fall under the misunderstanding that America is...

It’s back!

So the way this works is simple: In my day job I purchase materials for adults for my library system. As a result, I see a lot of titles ostensibly for adults that have distinct ties to the world of children’s literature. I collect them over time and then, in a post like this one, present them to you, the readers.

Join me now as we explore a whole new plethora of Unexpected Jolts of Children’s Literature gracing our grown-ups’ shelves:

Vanishing Treasures: A Beastiary of...

Sometimes when I look back at the eleven years I lived in New York City I think about how the town was so good at randomly throwing me in the general vicinity of the authors and illustrators I admired, in kooky ways. Take Elisha Cooper. By the time I became a children’s librarian he’d already established himself with a number of picture books. From the start, his style was distinctive. Nobody’s books looked like his books. Then, I was invited to a celebration of his picture book Farm, held i...