Wednesday, January 31, 2007

tick tick tick...

The CYBILS awards will be announced on February 14th... a lovely Valentine's Day gift for some. Meanwhile, they are soliciting commentary on the award and the process at the CYBILS page.

mad about Maisy

Babble has a rather funny article about the horrors of the "Maisy" books. Some of the points can't be argued with--though I think you can make a stronger case for the books being drawn by computer than by abducted children.

I like Maisy though. (Who is clearly a rat, by the way, not a mouse--I mean, just look at that snout and that tail. Don't be fooled by alliteration.) The Maisy books were the first board books with anything resembling an actual plot my son would listen to; Dr. Maisy is the very first book that ever inspired pretend play in him, and for an autistic child that is no small thing.

Also, I never found them hard to read. They're blissfully short, if nothing else. But I confess, I liked them even before I was a parent. I do think they've gone downhill in the last couple of years--you know, since all the damn yuppies took over.


(Link via Blog of a Bookslut.)