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.
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, 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.)