Chicken Spaghetti

New Kid at the NYTBR

On Monday, Julie Just starts her new job as the children's book editor at The New York Times Book Review. Read the  Publishers Weekly interview with her here; she has plans for  some changes in the way the NYTBR covers children's books, which is  great news.

So Long to Weekly Deadlines

Bonnie Fowler, the weekly children's-book columnist at the Winston-Salem Journal,  is stepping down after nearly twenty years.  Meanwhile, one of her colleagues has penned a lovely tribute.

"My goal was to acquaint my readers with the best of what was available, which is sometimes not the same as what you see pushed in bookstores. I tried to make them aware of new trends ... and to educate people so they could be better at choosing books themselves," [Bonnie Fowler] said recently.

James Haskins, 1941-2005

James Haskins, the author of more than 100 non-fiction books for children, died last week. His first book, Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher, segued into a career of writing for young people and documenting the lives of prominent African-Americans. The obituary of the former "outside rabble-rous[ing]" student at Alabama State and later University of Florida professor is in today's New York Times. (Registration required.)