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First of all, Adam Rex<\/strong><\/a> made that image. I love it so much that I want to take it to the Peppermint Prom<\/strong><\/a>. But more on that at the post’s close. <\/p>\n Well, okay, so Sam-I-Am’s superstar friend isn’t really<\/em> penning a tell-all book, but I am happy to share this morning that Elizabeth Bird of A Fuse #8 Production<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, Peter D. Sieruta of Collecting Children’s Books<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, and I up and landed ourselves a book deal last week — with lots of help from our agent<\/strong><\/a>, the valiant Mr. Stephen Barbara, and after lots of hard work and wordsmithing this Fall in creating the proposal. We got this good news last week but wanted to coordinate today’s posts about it at our respective blogs: You’ll see at Betsy’s blog<\/strong><\/a> (via a very enlightening infomercial) and Peter’s blog<\/strong><\/a> today that they’re announcing it as well. <\/p>\n We’re happy to say that Candlewick<\/strong><\/a> will be publishing the book, and we’ll be working with Associate Publisher & Editorial Director Liz Bicknell. We couldn’t be more pleased and feel like Liz is the perfect fit for our book. (And I’m really looking forward to writing more with Betsy and Peter. I’d write an auto repair manual with the two of them. To say I’m happy Betsy contacted us last summer and said, “hey, let’s write a book!” is the year’s biggest understatement.)<\/p>\n Now, to tell you a bit about the book (straight from our proposal itself): Tentatively titled Wild Things! : The True, Untold Stories Behind the Most Beloved Children\u2019s Books and Their Creators<\/em>, it will look at the world of children’s lit, past and present, and examine some of its untold tales — with humor, celebration, respect, occasional irreverence, and always great affection for the field. The three of us have long wondered what brings out what we call the “fluffy bunny” mentality in children’s literature, that which causes sophisticated (and even jaded) adults to get sentimental and dewey-eyed at the mere mention of children\u2019s books. Now, if they didn’t, we wouldn’t have a book to write, so we’re not exactly complaining. But it’s still a curious phenomenon to us, that, for many, the topic conjures up a world of gumdrops, rainbows, and fluffy little bunnies that love you forever and like you for always. Our book aims to debunk the notion that all children’s book authors and illustrators live in such a world. Having collectively studied and worked in the field for many years, we are aware that children\u2019s literature has a rich, complex, and sometimes dark history not explored in most texts, histories, and trade books \u2013 and that children\u2019s books themselves are far more complex and edgy than is generally supposed. <\/p>\n We want to look at how Harry Potter, Twittering, testicles (also known, as many of you know, as \u201cScrotumgate 2007\u201d), and other recent events and stories have helped children\u2019s books hit the national media; celebrity books and why they make so many people so shouty; banned books; what happens when words and images from past books are no longer acceptable in today\u2019s politically-correct world; Literary Connections We Never Knew — or, What Happens When You Give a Kid Up for Adoption and Then That Kid Gives Birth to Courtney Love; real-life stories behind children\u2019s books and their authors that even Encyclopedia Brown would have a hard time solving; how real-life incidents inspired children\u2019s books; some death, sex, and children’s literature; the subversive in children’s lit and why it inspires us so; and much, much<\/em> more. Throw in some fun facts, such as the first recorded use of the word \u201cnerd\u201d in history, lots of lively debate, and some hidden delights, and you’ve got Wild Things!<\/em><\/p>\n So, look for our book in September 2012<\/font>! (Yeah, it’ll be a while from now. I’ll be turning forty that year, which actually makes me feel like a grown-up.) Oh, and if you see our friend up there, shying from the camera’s eye, let me know that, too. (As mentioned right off the bat, that image is from Adam Rex<\/strong><\/a>. Huge<\/font> heaps of thanks to Adam for that. All rights reserved and \u00a9 2009 Adam Rex and all that, dear readers.)<\/p>\n {Note: Speaking of Betsy and Peter in the same spot in cyberspace, if you didn’t already see it, don’t miss Peter’s own send-up<\/strong><\/a> of the November cover of <\/em>School Library Journal. Here’s<\/strong><\/a> his post about it.}<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GREEN EGGS ON THE LAM:FOOD ENTREPRENEUR FLEESAFTER PENNING TELL-ALL BOOK First of all, Adam Rex made that image. I love it so much that I want to take it to the Peppermint Prom. But more on that at the post’s close. Well, okay, so Sam-I-Am’s superstar friend isn’t really penning a tell-all book, but I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-etcetera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}