Janet Malcolm & the Gossip Girls; Harriet the Spy; Steig; and More

Get out. Listen to this. In the current issue of The New Yorker, Janet Malcolm looks at "the wicked joy" of the Gossip Girl novels. Read the piece online here.

NPR's "Morning Edition" considers Harriet the Spy, a novel that most likely inspired more than one of us to take notes on our classmates. Not that I ever did that.

Meanwhile, the New York Times revels in the work of William Steig, on exhibit at the Jewish Museum, in NYC. (The "terrific" show, "From The New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig," closes soon—March 16th.) A slide show accompanies the article.

Public School Insights, a new blog devoted to "What Is Working in Our Public Schools," is set to feature an interview with Joseph Bruchac later today (3/3) and one with Jon Sciezka on Thursday (3/6). The new blog belongs to the Learning First Alliance, a consortium of a long list of educational groups.

A panel discussion on children's books took place this afternoon on WNYC-FM's "Leonard Lopate Show." I was hoping the high-powered group would give recommendations at the end, but the program focused more on merchandising and business aspects. (One panelist mentioned that Diary of a Wimpy Kid has now sold something like 8- or 900,000 copies.) A big cheese at Borders acknowledged that a review from the New York Times could cause a bump in sales for a kid's book; he also mentioned Entertainment Weekly's doing the same. In general, I heard a lot of diplomatic answers. I'm sure that WNYC will put up a link to a podcast of the show soon.

Comments

[Claus von Zastrow]

Thanks so much for mentioning the Bruchac and Scieszka interviews on publicschoolinsights.org. We in the education policy community often overlook the wisdom of writers who kindle children's enthusiasm for reading.

Chicken Spaghetti offers a valuable corrective. I look forward to referring our readers to your wonderfully engaging pages.

Claus

[Susan T.]

You're welcome, and thanks for the nice words about the blog!