Friday Glee: 90-Second Newbery

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that James Kennedy, who wrote the weirdfest book The Order of Odd-Fish, is behind this dastardly plan to host a contest asking fans to create a video compressing the plot of a Newbery Award winning book into 90 seconds.


"A Wrinkle In Time" In 90 Seconds from James Kennedy on Vimeo.

Of course, so is Betsy Bird. Doubly not-surprised.

I bet you want more details, don't you? Greedy. Oh very well - go to James Kennedy's website for those.

P.S. Anybody think that the video of Criss Cross is just gonna be a girl sighing and saying, "I wish something would happen" about sixteen times?

Fantastic Mr Fox Featurette

I got this one from 100 Scope Notes--a featurette on the upcoming "Fantastic Mr. Fox" movie. It's done in that incredible stop-motion animation, and while it does appear to be set in the US, if you go by the accents, everything else about it looks made of awesome.

The Vampire's Assistant Trailer

EarlyWord showed me this one: a trailer for October's "The Vampire's Assistant," based on the first three Cirque Du Freak novels. Wonder why they did that? Didn't work out so well for the Lemony "Another Excuse for Jim Carrey to Monopolize an Entire Movie" Snicket adaptation. Ahem.



I'll admit, though, that I'm hardly the person to judge--I couldn't finish the first Cirque du Freak novel because it freaked me right out. Good job, Darren Shan. So far, the movie bids fair to fulfill that requirement, and I might even see it as long as all the lights are on.

Okay, anyone who's read the whole series and can recite large-ish chunks of dialogue. What do you think of the trailer?

Varigated Glee

It's Friday again, which means that we need more glee!

• Jen Robinson Tweeted this one: You Know You're a Book Blogger When . . . Um. Guilty.
• Doubtless you've heard of the uproar over Francesca Lia Block's Baby Be-Bop and one Wisconsin group's determination to see it burn. A teen reacts, most marvelously. Thanks to Liz Burns for the informative Tweet.
• And it just wouldn't be a Friday Glee post without some manner of Twilight bashing. But this . . . is just fantabulous.

Gleeful Video

From a legion of authors, the news that books make great gifts.

I totally geeked out upon seeing the likes of Judy Blume in this video. Happiness.

Thanks to Cheryl Rainfield for the link.

Oh, Look, They Made a Movie About Me!

Thanks to Cheryl Rainfield for this week's glee.

A Tiny Little Smidge of Friday Glee

It's been a stressful day. I need this video. You probably do too.



Oh, I feel better now.

Wintergirls Behind the Scenes Video

Like everyone else in the YA fan community, I can't wait to read Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson's newest release. Cuz, dude, Laurie Halse Anderson! But also because it's about one of those subjects that's near, if not exactly dear, to my heart: depression that young women (and even some young men) attempt to control by destroying themselves through food, or the lack thereof.

Now, eating-disorder books are a dime a dozen in the teen area of your local public library, and it takes some real shiny writing to stand out from that herd. But, to repeat, Laurie Halse Anderson. I have faith, y'all.

In the video below, Anderson talks a little bit about how and why she wrote the book.


Thanks to Cheryl Rainfield.

Gives the Term Electronic Book a Whole New Meaning

100 Scope Notes posted a review of a book called Skeleton Creek a few days back. Now the book itself sounds pretty neat, but what really caught my attention was how the author used a mixture of old-fashioned text on paper and new-fangled Internet video to tell his story.

Interesting. I remember a book maybe last year or 2007 that worked together with a website, and the 39 Clues series is famously utilizing all sorts of things, online and offline, to hook kids in. What do you guys think? Will we be seeing this a lot more often, or will it remain a gadget and a hook?

And my question is, what happens if/when the website or the videos go down? How will that affect the reading of the book?

File This Under A for Awesome

túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

Yoinked from Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Illustrating with Water with First Second

Fuse #8 put this up on her Sunday videos last Sunday. I watched my head cocked to one side at an ever-increasing angle, like one of those "Baroo?" dogs on Cute Overload. Then I got to 0:49 and shrieked, "Wow!!" Click play to see why.

The Knucklehead Makes a Book Trailer

I enjoyed the heck out of Knucklehead, the mostly true, mostly autobiographical collection of growing-up tales from Jon Scieszka. I also enjoyed the heck out of this trailer for it:

Knucklehead featuring Jon Scieszka from Jon Scieszka on Vimeo.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for finding it.

Richard Dawkins and Fairy Tales

I've been meaning to write about this one for some time now. The media's been shrieking about Richard Dawkins' supposed vendetta against fairy tales, but after watching this interview, I think that the media's doing what it always does and picking the juiciest headline out of context.



To my own surprise, I'm behind the idea of the children's book he intends to write, although I know it's going to be seen as promoting atheism. (And to be honest, the whole "Judeo-Christian mythology" didn't exactly rub me the right way.) We do need to start teaching 'em critical thinking, instead of answers to the test.

But I wonder if Dawkins fully appreciates the role that fiction plays in teaching critical thinking. Every time a child opens a book, they must answer within themselves some fairly fundamental questions. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who do I support and why? What do their choices mean to me? What would I do in that situation?

Granted, he's really behind scientific critical thinking, but I think literary critical thinking and scientific bleed into each other in a way that he may be too quick to dismiss.

What do you guys think?

Talk Like a Pirate Day is Here!

. . . for about four more hours, according to my clock. In honor of what's probably my favorite holiday, here's a hilarious little vid for y'all.



Thanks to Zooglobble for the heads-up. Arrrrr!

Twilight Glee

This filled me with maniacal glee.



Thanks to Gail over at Original Content for the joy.

If This Does Not Make You Smile . . .

. . . then you are a troll.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

From NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Filled With Glee

I was just reminded about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and now I'm passing that on to you. What does this have to do with children's and YA lit?

Uh, well, it's helmed by Joss Whedon, whose iconic Buffy the Vampire Slayer was all about the experience of being a teenager and growing up . . . and, um, it's on the internet, and these kids today, they like this internet thing . . . and uh, it's a subversive pastiche of comic book paradigms and . . . and . . .

Oh, the heck with it. I don't even know what "pastiche" means (or "paradigms" for that matter). You guys, it's a supervillain musical written by Joss Whedon.

Let's go over that again.

Supervillain.

Musical.

Joss Whedon.

You can go now. But quick, because it's only up until July 20th. Me, I'm gonna go sing "Brand New Day" for sixteenth time.

Because God Knows There's Nothing to Watch on TV

Seriously, you guys, this made me want to become an astronaut.



There are various discussions on book trailers on various lists. Do they work, don't they, what are the components of a good book trailer, are they even worth the time. I like this one, although not having read Kitty, Kitty yet (sob!) I can't say yet whether it has much to do with the book in question.

ETA: because I'm a dork and didn't notice that the HTML for the videos was strangely truncated.

The Tragicall Historie of Rusty, Prince of Baseball

It's Monday. You need a funny. Here ya go.



ETA: Take a drink for every play you can name from this video.

Sunday Funny!

Ever wondered why you had to find Waldo?



Also? Wicked cool PSA from the UK. I want them to make one with all kids' books, although this one does include Peter Pan and some unidentified picture book.



Courtesy of Bookshelves of Doom