Top o' the Monday Morning, October 29th

In "Gail Leaves the Office, Part I," author and blogger Gail Gauthier writes about Connecticut's Rabbit Hill festival of children's books. (I had the pleasure of meeting Gail there and chatting with her ever so briefly.)

This week brings an announcement of the Booktrust Teenage Book Prize in the UK. Novels by Theresa Breslin, Kate Cann, Mal Peet, Philip Reeve, Meg Rosoff, and Marcus Sedgwick are on the shortlist. See Tom Gatti's article in the Times for additional details.

"Rush, Little Baby: How the push for infant academics may actually be a waste of time—or worse," by Neil Swidey, at the Boston Globe. (via Arts & Letters Daily)

"All Souls: The Frida Kahlo Cult," by Peter Schjeldahl, at The New Yorker. (The piece does not concern kids' books.) By the way, there are a number of Kahlo biographies for children; one's a picture book illustrated by Tomie dePaola. A toy company even makes a Frida Kahlo action figure; she's part of a set that includes Warhol, Dali, Van Gogh, and Picasso.

Attention 398 fans: the Aesop Awards were given to these books for children: The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea and Lugalbanda: The Boy Who Got Caught Up in a War. "Aesop Accolades" went to Solomon and the Ant and Other Jewish Folktales and Tatanka and the Lakota People: A Creation Story. The Children's Folklore Section of American Folklore Society sponsors the prizes. News via the Child_Lit Listserv. (398 is the Dewey Decimal number for  folklore books in the library.)