Fame, Fortune, and National Syndication
If you were listening to your NPR Weekend Edition this morning, you might have heard a children's librarian from, oh let's say, New York Public Library talking about books for kids. And if you listened very closely indeed you might have noticed that she was from the Donnell Library. Yes, all thanks to a recommendation by the Head of Children's Services (thank you, Margaret!) I was given a chance to talk to NPR about what's hot children's literature-wise.
The interview was done over the phone. Now, I have an innate fear of the phone. The minute I start talking with someone, my jaw clamps up and I suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to flee. This means that I inevitably ALWAYS leave out a key piece of information. In this particular case, I really really wanted to talk about the library's Summer Reading Program. Instead, I managed to only mention Babymouse (which is good, don't get me wrong) and then get immediately sidetracked onto another topic. Whoops. So to make up for it, if any of you want Summer Reading info, go to this site. I feel like such a putz.
I managed to work in shout-outs for Fly By Night, Firegirl, and Here Be Monsters. Online they decided to display the Kiki Strike cover (which I honestly haven't read). The teen books I listed were mostly done on the recommendation of bookshelves of doom. So there you go.
Anywho, that was fun. My goal of becoming the most famous children's librarian in the world is proceeding nicely. By this time next year I may be known to 300 people rather than just 200. MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
posted by fusenumber8 @ 11:29 AM
20 Comments
20 Comments:
Yay! Way to go Fuse!
I bought Fly By Night on your recommend. I haven't started it yet - just finishing up Year of the Dog by Grace Lin.
David Levithan and Rachel Cohn were in town to promote Nick and Nora. I picked it up 'cuz I was curious. Now I am curious what you think about it.
KT
Well, in terms of the teen novels, I was serious when I said on-air that I need to read them. But I trust the people who've been talking Nick & Norah up until now.
By the way, I hear that Year of the Dog is absolutely fabulous. As soon as I find a way to snag a copy I'm going to read it myself.
I would say that just about makes up for it being a beautiful day in NYC (so I hear) on Saturday, not raining buckets as you had so wished.
Seriously, though, very cool to be on NPR. Very, very cool.
Still waiting at my sloooow library system for Fly By Night and Firegirl. I would recommend to you - you, personally - Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love. I know it is YA, but it takes place in NYC and really feels like it is in NYC - not just using the city as a generic backdrop.
Again, congrats on your national auditory debut.
Congratulations! I love it when people who love books get to share them with the rest of the world in a new way.
I know exactly what you mean about clamming up. I've been interviewed by phone several times for the radio and each time, I wanted to hang up and run away !
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is my absolute favorite YA novel of the year already.
graceanne,
Do you have time to write more about why you liked Nick and Nora? I enjoyed the first chapter but I am bogging down. It seems more about style than story.
Can you cite some parts of the book that support your feelings? I would like to stay open ...and try to finish the book.
KT
p.s. Fuse, it appears that David Levithan is going to be at the Donnell on the 28th.
I love the way it describes how it feels to be in the music.
I love the way it uses the city as character and backdrop.
I loved both characters, who were smart and savvy and real.
I absolutely loved the kissing.
I also couldn't put it down, so I hope this helps some.
Argh, I feel like I'm ready to shoot someone at Random House! Why hasn't my copy of Nick and Nora come in yet?! Dear God, why?!
Kissing? There's kissing? There's never enough kissing! I'm so there/1
I heard you today. I thought you sounded very smooth. I did not detect lock jaw at all.
When they contacted you, did they know you were going to talk children's and YA books?
There was lockjaw. It was just of the I'll-tell-a-bunch-of-facts-real-fast-sans-breathing
variety. They were very good about letting me know what we'd talk about. I even sent them a list of books beforehand to explain what I'd be discussing. All in all, very professional.
re: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist: I *just* finished this book and I can't understand the hype. Grace Anne, I thought the characters were the opposite of "smart and savvy and real." When I got to the "endish" of the book, I just flipped through in like 10 minutes just to know what happened at the end, not because I cared.
OTOH, I loved Year of the Dog. Fabulous book. I also just finished Waiting For Bapu, a middle-grade novel by Anjali Banerjee (October 2006). Read it as soon as you can!
Pooja
This didn't seem to warrant its own separate post but it made me happy. Tony Abbott's mother's neighbor heard my interview and let him know about it. I couldn't be more thrilled.
Congrats, Fuse! I didn't hear it over the weekend, but I'll check the site today.
Go, Fuse! You sounded great. Congrats on your NPR debut!
Conrats on your broadcasting debut. Maybe they'll turn it into a regular feature. Hooray for you.
Congrats on the debut and the mother's neighbor's cousin's friend's cousin-twice-removed connection you now have to someone!
Seriously... nice, nice.
Huzzah! Will CBC be next?!
One of my favorite CBC hosts, Bill Richardson, used to be a children's librarian before beginning a career in writing and broadcasting. So there are precedents...
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