What’s Sally Reading?

Madeline, in parody. Picture book fans, and especially fans of the Madeline books, need to take a look at Nathan Hale’s blog . He is the illustrator of Rapunzel’s Revenge, that wonderful graphic novel by Shannon Hale. He is posting the pages of his parody, Frankenstein, on his blog; two or three pages a day to have it all posted by Halloween. You will need to extend the size of your window on the side to see both pages, let it hang off the edge while you chuckle. There are no plans to actually publish it, as far as I know now. Great fun! His rhythm and rhymes truly echo the original. (I learned about this via the School Library Journal blog: “A Fuse #8 Production.” ) And let’s celebrate picture books. A recent article in the New York Times stated that parents are by-passing picture books to get their children into chapter books sooner. Sigh. Picture books provide children with great stories, varied and beautiful art, and often a chance to snuggle up with Mom or Dad. Let’s hope this story is an exaggeration of reality. So, what else am I reading? I can’t believe I forgot to include the hilarious Guys Read: Funny Business edited by Jon Scieszka in my “Best Youth Books of 2010” for last week’s NLA/NEMA conference. So far I have read three of the ten stories included (plus the introduction) and they are unique and incredibly funny. The next time someone asks you for a funny book, hand them this! (And a couple of others because, as we all know, not everyone loves the same thing.) (The Nebraska Library Commission receives free copies of children’s and young adult books for review from a number of publishers. After review, the books are distributed free to Nebraska school and public libraries.)