If Only Little Roger Had Had One of These

I saw one of these kits yesterday, and almost bought it for my sister (your birthday is imminent, happy girl!). She and I created libraries for our books, and her filing system was always precise, a wonder to behold (my filing started off well, but I'd get sidetracked...my bookshelves looked pretty good, though: utilitarian, but somehow groovy...it was 1969, after all).

Thus, it amused me to see Roger Sutton's comment this morning...sounds as though he had date-due paditis, also. 

And how odd that, when I skipped over, seconds after Reading Roger, to another favorite blogger - the delectable Cup of Jo - she'd just posted what we'd all been dreaming of. (Thank you, dear Jo. You are part March, perhaps?) Roger and Lindi and I might have loved finding this personal library kit under the tree (lo, those many years ago!), don't you think? 

Ah, the power of the date-due. I used to watch in awe as the stamp went down on the book, marking it forever, giving me an expiration chill. Had to get home and read, quickly, before my time was up. 

So much better to stamp it yourself (or just create your own art, as little Roger did).

Come See the Stupids Have a Ball!

Oh, to be in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the 18th of this month...

Roger Sutton--yes, marvelous Read Roger--

Susan Meddaugh and David Wiesner, Anita Silvey, 

and Susan Moynihan:

they'll all be celebrating the great

James Marshall...

 click here for more...See the Stupids Have a Ball!

Via Blogs.com:A Nifty Little Best Kidlit Blogs List from LaurelSnyder.com

Neat Stuff From blogs.com

Guest Top Ten List 

by Laurel Snyder
"Laurel Snyder is the author of Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains, and Inside the Slidy Diner, as well as a poet, blogger and mom. She lives online at LaurelSnyder.com."

Top 10 Children's Literature (Kidlit) Blogs

Big A, little a
Recent Posts from this Blog:
Poetry Friday!
Poetry Friday: Halloween Edition
Weekend Reviews on a Monday

Bookshelves of Doom
Recent Posts from this Blog:
The Big Read IV: The Lottery and Other Stories -- Shirley Jackson "My Life with R. H. Macy"
Jack Black as Lemuel Gulliver?
Reginald Hill at Shelf Awareness.

Brooklyn Arden
Recent Posts from this Blog:
"He Attempts to Love His Neighbours," by Alden Nowlan
Full Circle
An Exhortation: 72 Hours

Grow Wings
Recent Posts from this Blog:
Artifacts, fossils, predators, corpses, lovers
The Gypsy Crown -- a book review
Thank you, America

Interactive Reader
Recent Posts from this Blog:
Blog the Vote
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
Sherman Alexie on Colbert

Jen Robinson's Book Page
Recent Posts from this Blog:
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception: Maggie Stiefvater
A Missed Opportunity?
Growing Bookworms Newsletter: Election Day Edition

Jezebel's Fine Lines
Recent Posts from this Blog
The Long Winter: Cold Comfort; Or, In Which I Don't Even Try To Fight The Metaphor
Hangin' Out With Cici: Time Outs
Remember Me: After Birth, After Life

Read Roger
Recent Posts from this Blog
When the Joke's On You
Come See Lolly!
Come See the Stupids Have a Ball!

School Library Journal's Fuse #8
Recent Posts from this Blog
Fusenews: Embarrassing Photo Edition
Bookfest 2008
Video Sunday: Politics and Poker (50 points for anyone who gets the reference)

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Recent Posts from this Blog
Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Paul Rogers
YES WE CAN!!!
Poetry Friday: I’ve got a feeling…

Yes, again. (Or: "What's a Parent to Do? Ferris Bueller, McGoogle, Digg & Twitter 101")

More. Here. Now.

READ ROGER and the NYT and the plight of the parent who didn't grow up with twitter, texting, the internet, comcast, podcasts, you tube, myspacefaceyearbook, digg, twitter, mcgoogle....oh, the list does go on, don't it? Gosh, we didn't even grow up with cellphones. So, here's the thing:

The list will get longer. R U reading? They are. They're just reading differently, mom and dad...and it's still the written word. How do we just add a little (or a lot of) good art and literature? We can do it, we can do it, we can do it if we try...

Where is Matthew Broderick when you need him? Speaking of Matthew...

Ferris Bueller knew a thing or two about getting around and thinking different: he saw the world in his own zany/polka/arty way (am I pushing it here? I don't think so). Mr. Whole New Mind himself, do you suppose? I bet Ferris would be a lawyer now, with graying temples and a good sense of humor and a couple of kids who are driving him utterly crazy and keeping him up at night. All those kids of his would be fast texters, surely. All capable of going to law school and reading lots of long and weighty tomes, just like their dad. All good. 

We can do it if we try. The art and literature are out there; we just need to make sure it's coming through, in print and on screen and otherwise. They'll get it. I know they will. It's already started, and it's just going to get better.

"...where on earth is she going with that?"

If you've been following artbookschildren--or just got here--you might be wondering where on earth I'm going with all of this...I submit, herewith, a mission statement of sorts:

It's about how art and literature will be delivered to children in the future. Not the future tomorrow...for that, just take a glance at some of the varied, erudite, and exceedingly knowledgeable folks on the lower right, at blogs elsewhere. 

Read Roger, 7 Impossible Things, the Longstockings, + others...they'll all give you the best possible vantage point on children's literature today, methinks.

It's the day after tomorrow 

that I care about. 

In 5 years--

and 10 years, and 20--

how will children receive 

good art, great literature, 

thought-provoking ideas:

how can we, the grown-ups, provide it 

in the best possible way?

In 5 years--probably much sooner, actually--the world of

children's literature will be quite different: a bold new universe with exceedingly wonderful literary vehicles with which to reach the young. 

Let's reach them in the best possible way, shall we, with 

the best possible material? 

They are the future.

Let's do the best we can for them.