I'm Probably Gonna Regret This

Maureen Johnson keeps getting people bugging her to blog, even though she has lots of things to do, mainly concerned with writing really good books. But she has listened to the voice of the people, or at least those people that are really loudmouthed, and has promised to blog every day in April.

She made the mistake of capitalizing Blog Every Day in April when Twittering about it, and now people think it's, like, a Thing. That You Do. With Capitals. And lo, it has become a Thing That You Do With Capitals.

This sounds like a good idea, especially since I've been lazyish about blogging lately. Plus, you know, people named Maureen are frickin' brilliant. Before I sober up, I hereby pledge to Blog Every Day in April. On both my blogs. Oh my god, you people, what am I getting myself into?

If you want to Blog Every Day in April, stop by Maureen Johnson's blog and find out the rules. It being Maureen Johnson, there aren't that many that don't involve zombies or coconut cream pies. If you Twitter about it, add the tag #BEDA.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Trailer

Okay, you guys, I know this has totally been the Where the Wild Things Are Movie Blog of late, so this time I'm posting about . . . another book-to-movie adaptation. Oy. I need to start reading books again.

Anyhoo, here's the trailer for the upcoming Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I can't embed because YouTube won't let me, but follow the link.

I remember this book well from childhood. In fact, it was my brother's favorite. (That same brother is now a meteorologist. Coincidence? I think not.) Hamburgers falling from the sky? Grape-juice rain? Awesome.

Having established my love for the original, I gotta say, uh, I kinda hate this trailer. From what I can tell, the movie is going to bear about a 25% resemblance to the book--too far to be satisfying as an adaptation, too close to go "Heck with it, let's just call it something else and pretend we've never seen the book in our lives."

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear I'm right. What do you guys think?

Thanks to EarlyWord for the heads-up.

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

Okay, you guys, I've seen this on every single one of my blogs including Scanner, which I'm not going to link directly because OMG NSFW, but Google it when you're safely at home by all means.



Thoughts? I'll go first.

Love the horned shadow reveal. Love the childlike all caps handwriting, and the way they wrote hope, fear, and adventure. And his wild thing costume is great.

I wonder about the added bits with parents and school. I know you have to do something to turn a 32 page picture book into a 90 minute movie--the wild rumpus is only gonna be good for about ten minutes at the absolute outside.

Max is a bit older than I expected. I always thought of him as being about five or six, but he seems to be closer to 10 or 11. Unless that's supposed to be later on in his life or something.

I don't hate anything yet.

I dread the time when parents will go, "Oh, honey, you don't need to check out the book, we've got the movie at home."

Weigh in!

ETA: Apparently my brain's automatic-playback loveloveloves the music. Gah, brainworm!

More Wild Things News!

Drop by 100 Scope Notes to see the newest "Where the Wild Things Are" poster.

I like the looks of Max, but I'm kinda fifty-fifty on the Wild Thing. On the one hand, I wish we could see all of him. On the other, it's pretty cool that he's so big he wouldn't fit on the poster.

What do you guys think?

Googling Eric Carle

If you stopped by Google today, you might have been greeted with a very familiar graphic. It's to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its publication. Hee! I love it when kidlit classics make their way into the grown-up world.

Edgy Picture Books and the Weirdos Who Love Them

Remember how much I loved Sylviane Donnio's I'd Really Like to Eat a Child? Or maybe you don't. Point is, I did, because I'm a strange and twisted person who likes a little bit of an edge in my sweet little picture books.

Jen Robinson pointed me at this post from Book Aunt, titled Picture Books with Bite, in which she discusses that very topic and indeed that very book. Awesome.

What are some of your favorite edgy books?

Beth Krommes Interview

I ran across this interview a few weeks back with 2009 Caldecottian (and I've just determined that's a very fun word to spell) Beth Krommes. The winning work, The House in the Night, (written by Susan Marie Swanson) was the announcement that elicited the loudest shriek from me on award morning. I luuuuuuurve this book.

Anyhoo, Krommes was apparently gobsmacked to get the award.

''I'm not a big name in the industry and I don't turn out a lot of books,'' she said. ''I work slow. Most illustrators do two books a year. I've done six books in 10 years. . . . It seems too much,'' she said. ''It's intimidating.''

Don't be so modest. But also don't try to speed up. Slow and steady seems to be working really well for you.