Awesome stuff I've found at the library: part I

The other day, a mom was looking for the Beverly Cleary book Henry and Beezus.  I went to the shelf, and looky at what I found:

Some little kid had checked the book out and replaced the original jacket with her own hand drawn version!   Even the plastic book jacket cover had been put back on!  Now, obviously vandalizing library books is not ok, but this copy, in my opinion, has been transformed into sort of a one-of-a-kind treasure.

This has been part one of "Awesome Stuff I've Found at the Library" in a possible continuing series, if I keep finding neat bits like this (as opposed to awful things, like books returned with a banana peel being used as a bookmark).

Reading Rainbow returning?

This is a bit of good news. LeVar Burton has announced on Twitter that he is working on resurrecting his classic children's literature show, Reading Rainbow:

In February 2009, Burton wrote, “Want y’all to know that I’m seriously moving forward with an idea for a new version of a Reading Rainbow like show. Webisodes for adults.”

Many have forgotten his tease but this week, Burton wrote about reviving the show again, saying, “You heard it here first… Reading Rainbow 2.0 is in the works! Stay tuned for more info. But, you don’t have to…”

Webisodes for adults?  Sounds interesting.  Thank to Ryan Sawyer (of Tasty Bacon fame) for the heads up on this!

Delicious, but difficult to shelve.

From Cake Wrecks, one of the best blogs on all the of the internets, comes this post about cakes dressed up as classic kids' books.  Included in the entry are The Neverending Story, Where the Wild Things Are, a stack of Harry Potters, and more wildly creative treats. Click the above link for more.

Vhere's Valdo?

One of the world's great directors, Werner Herzog, gives his take on the classic children's book Where's Waldo.

"We search for Waldo, but what is Waldo searching for?  Perhaps he's not searching at all, but running from something.  Does this man even want to be found?  Or, in searching for Waldo, did we really find ourselves?"

Hyuk hyuk hyuk.  Ok, so it's probably not really Herzog, but it is an entertaining and pitch perfect take on (presumably) the narration of Grizzly Man.  Werner (or the same clever prankster) also does Curious George, Madeline, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

I hope next up is a reading of Shel Silverstein, with Herzog portraying his best fiend, Klaus Kinski, as the Giving Tree and himself as the little boy.

Tasty Bacon

Remember "SOME PIG," that famous phrase that Charlotte the spider spun in her web to convince the farmer not to butcher her beloved piggy friend Wilbur? I know that the author of the all-time bestselling children's book Charlotte's Web, E.B. White, thought that brevity was the soul of wit, but don't you think "some pig" could easily have been taken to mean, I don't know... anything else?

That's the concept that my good friend and artist extraordinaire Ryan Sawyer (who goes by the nom de 'net "absinthetic" and who has also given us some incredible steampunk creations, like the "chronotheric fluxing capacitron") was working with when he made this awesome, horrible HORRIBLY AWESOME t-shirt "Tasty Bacon."

You can pick up one of these super cool tees at Ryan's Etsy shop, where he also has a bunch of other amazing shirts.  I've got one, it's one of my favorites, and every time I wear it, I get amused comments from people that love Charlotte's Web and a sharp pop culture reference.

...and dark humor.  Dark, dark humor.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bookmobile

This week is Children's Book Week, and the web comic Shelf Check has put out this clever little riff on Mo Willem's modern classic Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. 


Click the image for a better resolution.