New Blog Alert

I stumbled across this one in my travels but it wasn't until Jarrett Krosoczka recommended it that I thought to give it a serious glance.

Bottom Shelf Books has existed since February of this year and, until now, has flown under the kidlit blogosphere's radar. The postings are consistently smart and funny. At this writer's hand the children's book regulars take on an entirely new meaning. Like so:

The Saggy Baggy Elephant becomes, "a prophetic warning about the effect of television (the parrot symbolizing the squawk box/tv) on our self-image and predicted the resulting rise of the plastic surgery industry (and in the case of some disturbing reality television shows, the apocalyptic combination of the two)."

Sandra Boynton's Moo, Baa, La La La! is now, "a warped democracy where candidates are not allowed to speak their own mind if it is not in line with their party. This only fuels the polarization of American bipartisan politics because candidates are forced to pander to party faithful or they won't even get a shot at the presidency. Obviously, this affects all politicians, whether they be pig, donkey, elephant, or emu."

And Miss Nelson is Missing completely cracked me up with, "The transformation from good to bad by switching to black hair and black clothing is a common narrative devise. The most recent instance of this is Spiderman 3. Peter Parker, loveable All-American boy, gets infected by an evil alien substance and his dark side begins to emerge. How do we know this? Easy. Peter Parker's every day appearance begins to change... he starts wearing all black, his hair starts to grow long and cascade down his forehead... before we know it, Peter Parker he has gone Emo on us. Bad news. By the way, I never thought that I'd be psyched to see a blockbuster action flick where Toby Maguire and Topher Grace duke it out. Seriously? I think that fight happened in my junior high and no one even stopped to watch."

Oh man. Oh man, that's good stuff.

Sole blog flaw? The writer has fallen under the spell of Big Munsch. I find it hard to believe that someone with this much wit in their heads could say of the greatest work of picture book piffle that, "If, somehow, you don't feel anything, then congratulations! You have a heart of pure stone and should pursue a career that will take advantage of your lack of a soul... like guillotine operator or investment banker." This from someone who thinks Runaway Bunny is co-dependent. Which it is. But give me my pick of the two and I'll trade in Munsch's magnificently creepy vibe for an eerily overprotective mother any day. Wonder how the author feels about The Giving Tree and Rainbow Fish . . . .

Definitely worth a look, all the same. Blogs of this sort don't walk down the street every day.