Because of a truckload of spam, I had to turn on comment moderation here at the blog. It's a bummer because I'd rather have the spontaneity of "live" comments, but if that's what it takes to keep the spammers at bay, I'll have to roll with it for now.
So, if you comment (and please do!), know that I will approve and publish your message as soon as possible.
1. Miss Fuse has news: A Fuse #8 Production is moving to School Library Journal for a paid blogging gig. Congratulations to Betsy Bird, the voice behind the curtain at Fuse 8.
2. Confessions of a Pioneer Woman posted the most complete recipe for chicken spaghetti casserole I've ever seen. With photos. Awesome.
3. After last week's Carnival of Children's Literature, here's some more on multicultural lit. Saturday's piece at La Bloga was an interview with Theresa Howell, a children's book editor, about authenticity. René Colato Laínez asks Howell, "What does a manuscript need to have in order to be multicultural?" Howell answers,
Too many stories for children depict characters from the dominant culture. A multicultural manuscript tells the stories of characters outside of the mainstream. These manuscripts tell stories of people from wonderfully diverse cultures. They help readers look at the world from different perspectives.
4. See also "Questioning Cultural Stereotypes," an essay by Radhika Menon, the managing editor of a small publishing house in India. Menon writes,
The reality, then, is that the focus on multicultural publishing has not translated into authentic and inclusive literature from all cultures. The reality is also that the parameters of what is acceptable in multicultural publishing are set by big, successful, western publishing houses – the rest of the world must follow unquestioningly.
Link via Educating Alice and Writing With a Broken Tusk.
5. First it was a best-selling series of children's books. Now it's a singing and dancing extravaganza? "Magic Tree House: The Musical" premieres at the Warner Theatre, in Torrington, Connecticut, in September.
The SLJ Blog is featuring tidbits on blogs with unusual names, including this one. "SLJ" refers to the well-known & well-respected School Library Journal. Thanks for the shout-out, SLJ, and back at you!
Like The Horn Book, School Library Journal is also sportin' a blog these days. If you're not a librarian, you may not know about SLJ, but public libraries and, yep, school libraries use the magazine's reviews (and others, like Publishers Weekly's) to select books to for their collections. The SLJ blog focuses on technology, and for the uninitiated, the content is a little initial heavy: AASL, NECC, FETC, ETC—oh, make that "etc." I was expecting a little more book talk, but libraries do have to stay abreast of technology.