A stupendously slated September

For those keeping count, we've already got a new Sendak and a collection of previously unpublished Silverstein coming out in September. And now this.

Authors, if you have anything debuting in September 2011, you might want to change your names to something starting with S. If you want to stand out, try Shakespeare.

I'd be a fool to carry it on.

As I'm sure many of you guessed, I lied yesterday in celebration of my favorite holiday. Wonderful as it would be to hear Shel Silverstein read live, he unfortunately passed away in 1999, and if any of you did meet him, I'm envious.

The bit about a new collection of his work is true, though. Its September release will come just two weeks after Maurice Sendak's Bumble-Ardy.

So yes, April began with lies, as it tends to do, but September is going to be pretty awesome.

Meet you where the sidewalk ends, of course.

Rumor has it that reclusive children's poet Shel Silverstein plans to come out of hiding for a series of speaking engagements upon the release of his new collection, due out this year. If Shel-in-person is anything like Shel-reading-his-poems, meeting him is sure to be a memorable experience.

Here, have a listen:

I am so there. Who's with me?

Literary Love: Beauty Queens

Beauty Queens is not a subtle book. The cover was my first clue about that. But I have never had so much fun being hit over the head as I did while reading an ARC of Libba Bray's latest YA novel, out in May.

A plane carrying the contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant, a competition run by The Corporation (which owns everything), crashes on a deserted island. Many among the handful of surviving Teen Dreamers take a while to stop thinking about things like lipstick and start thinking about survival, and for a bit, it looks like beauty queens are as dumb as we're supposed to think they look.

They're not. They're also not all backbiters who will do anything to win a pageant (which remains very much on the metaphorical radar even as Miss New Mexico has a literal airplane tray lodged in her forehead). They don't fit the stereotypes for their respective cultures; they just satirize them. They're not all straight, and even the ones who are don't necessarily relate to boys the way one might expect. (Yes, boys show up, and yes, it takes more than that to get the girls off the island.)

The footnotes are hilarious. The everything's hilarious, even when it's making us feel sad about the expectations The Corporation and the world it inhabits has put on these girls. Beauty Queens has a lot to say, beyond the (I hope) obvious point that not all women have the same strengths, weaknesses, interests, or priorities.

Like "beware of exploding hair remover."

More on Diana Wynne Jones

When I say that Diana Wynne Jones had a loyal, loving fan base, the fan I primarily have in mind is my friend Penina. When Penina heard about Diana's serious illness, she put out a call for submissions to a 'zine in tribute to her longtime favorite author. (For those who haven't heard, Diana passed away yesterday morning.)

The 'zine project was delayed, but Penina plans to put out another call for submissions in the next few weeks and eventually create a memorial 'zine that will be available for order. If you're interested in submitting to the 'zine and/or reading it when it's ready, click on the link above for more information.

New Sendak book. Yeah.

If the picture book world has one legendary figure, it's Maurice Sendak. Best-known for imagining the eye-rolling, tooth-gnashing mischief of Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak has written and/or illustrated fifty-years' worth of critically worshiped picture books. He's also been involved with children's television, creating the TV series based on Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear series, which he illustrated.

Sendak also created a short for Sesame Street in 1971 about a young birthday boy named Bumble-Ardy. Since then, he's fleshed out Bumble-Ardy's story in a picture book, which is due out in September. It's the first book in almost thirty years that he's both written and illustrated, and I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking it's going to be awesome. If there's one artist we can trust not to jump the shark, it's Sendak.

Look, here's the Sesame Street short:

Apparently, Bumble-Ardy of the book has missed out on celebrating his first eight birthdays due to his parents' being eaten. He is now a pig because, Sendak told The Wall Street Journal, "boys tend, generally speaking, to be pigs." Also, the swine drink brine, not wine (so no one will whine).

I can't wait.

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In sadder news, author Diana Wynne Jones passed away this morning. Her following was perhaps smaller than Sendak's, but it was a loyal and loving one. I'll be facing out Howl's Moving Castle tomorrow.

Standbys. For when you're flying by the seat of your pants.

When customers ask for book recommendations, I pump them for information. Do they know what the child has read before? Do they know any of his or her interests? Does this child have older siblings, and thus likely already own Goodnight Moon?

But when the answer to some or all of the above is, "I don't really know; it's my boss's nephew/daughter's friend who just moved to town/cousin I haven't seen in two years," suggestions must still be made. And I've realized that for most ages, I have defaults. (Obviously, these aren't the only suggestions I make, but they're my very frequent jumping-off points.)

Baby? Moo Baa Laa Laa Laa. Toddler? Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Preschooler? Pete the Cat. Brand-new reader? Frog and Toad. Ready for chapter books? Clementine. Teen? My Most Excellent Year.

Notice a gap? Yeah, me too. Somehow, I don't have default suggestions from my favorite section: Intermediate Fiction. Oh, there are many books I love to hand-sell out of that section, but there's no automatic "Oh, (s)he's 8/9/10/11/12? I know just the book!"

I have a few thoughts on why this might be. But I'm very glad in this case that blogging doesn't require conclusions.