Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. So MUCH very very good stuff to show you today. Honestly, I don’t even know where to start. Hrm. Howzabout we begin with one of my favorite tropes: things that parody other things that you’ve never seen. It was Dana Sheridan who directed my attention to this video about The Queen of Hearts from an Alice ballet. A lot of time is spent explaining how one of her dances parodies a very specific dance from Sleeping Beauty. All I know is that we need more funny ballets in this world. Preferably based on children’s books in some manner.
Thanks to Dana Sheridan for the link.
In the book trailer world I came across this little trailer for Hilo. I liked Hilo quite a bit and the animated portions of this video simple sweeten the pot.
And well . . . come on. It’s the viral video of the week. You don’t think I’d let this one go, do you? It’s practically the whole reason I’m doing a Video Sunday today. What I like to do is look at the book covers the kid’s being read. Lots of Margaret Wise Brown in there, but a nice shot of Global Babies and other beloved contemporary favs as well. Bravo, parents!
Me stuff and it’s audio, not video, but eh. Life’s short. I was asked to speak with Chicago’s radio station WGN on Friday evening, so I did so about pretty much all things children’s literature. Now I’ll admit right now that I should have made a better point about how picture books have a higher reading level than easy books and that reading them as an older kid is totally legitimate. That’s the problem with live radio. It just goes too fast. But Justin Kaufmann was an awesome host and we had a great time with the yakkety yak. In case you’re curious, the link is here.
So full credit where credit is due to Travis Jonker for locating this remarkable Wall Street Journal interview with Brian Selznick about how his drawings become a book like The Marvels. Brief it may be, but worth your time and attention.
Okay. The off-topic video. I want to pay tribute to my new town. And what better way to do so than to show you this truly dated and WONDERFUL history of Evanston, IL. For fun, just skip to the section on “Evanston Today” at 12:10, sit back, and just soak it in. Soak. It. In.
LOVE the “vintage” Evanston video! The narrator’s voice sounded familiar, I was happy to see in the credits it was Byrne Piven. If you’re immersing yourself in all-things-Evanston you must look up the Piven family and their contributions to stage and screen. Thanks for sharing!
Evanston of “today” is a lot like the beginning of some seventies TV show like… St. Elsewhere??? Even down to the music. Much amused.
The music was the real charm for me. I want to record it and use it for my own malicious purposes.
As a former Evanstonian, I can’t imagine how I managed to miss out on this. Priceless soundtrack. Where did you unearth it?
They played it at my orientation. They played it at my orientation with a lot of caveats but it still left me in a state of unmitigated bliss. When it ended one of my fellow new employees said, “That was AMAZING” and we all had to agree. Completely.
And by the way, you’re a former Evanstonian? Get outta town! You ever come back you let me know, y’hear?
5 years on Hinman Avenue (which, thanks to you, I now know was named after Clark T. Hinman!) And my sister lives there now. Pretty close to the perfect small town. You will love it, girl.
Done and done! We just did the street fair earlier today and are sort of reveling in having a town that actually DOES small street fairs like that. Are needs are few. This place is awesome!