Bank Street College of Education best-of-the-year list

I’m honored to report that Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman is among distinguished company in being named to the Bank Street College of Education list of the Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2013 (Nine to Twelve category).

I’m further honored that it also got a star for Outstanding Merit.

Thank you, Bank Street, for honoring Bill in the city in which he made pop culture history.

Betsy Birds of a feather

Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman made a list entitled “100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2012,” compiled for the School Library Journal blog Fuse #8 by Betsy Bird.

It is only appropriate. Two of her kind (Robin and Penguin) are in my book.

The Betsy nod is honor enough, yet enhancing that is the company including Don Tate, Gary Golio, Peter Brown, Raina Telgemeier, Mike Rex, Name Dropper, Michelle Markel, and Lemony Snicket. The list also unknowingly contains a hint about an upcoming book of mine. Think Tink.

Thank you Betsy.

Bill Finger returns to radio

Thanks to Los Angeles Public Library librarian Mara Alpert (and NPR), Bill Finger recently returned to a medium he wrote for (Nick Carter, Master Detective; Mark Trail) in the 1950s...and I, indirectly, to the city in which I lived from mid-1997 to late 1999. (Tangentially, Bill himself never made it to California.)

On KPCC (89.3 FM), which, according to Wikipedia has “among the widest-reaching broadcast areas of all public radio stations in Southern California” (approximately 600,000 listeners weekly), Mara included Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman on her list of favorite children’s books of 2012.

On the station site, the accompanying imagining of Bob Kane’s red-garbed, stiff-winged, ill-fated Batman is not, for some reason, the one from my book. This is the one from my book, by the illustrious (and illustratorious) Ty Templeton:

Mara’s interview runs almost seven minutes; the Bill portion starts at 2:48 and runs just over a minute. She calls Bill the Boy Wonder a book she is “dying to talk about” and describes it as “really well written and very interesting.”

Thank you, Mara and KPCC!

Jingle Bill Rock

And so concludes the longest content lapse I have allowed since launching this blog in early 2008. To those who noticed, I apologize. To trot out that old chestnut on a day when chestnuts are especially apropos, the radio silence was due to circumstances beyond my control.

To resume, I’m honored to share that Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman has been named to multiple “best of 2012” lists and holiday gift guides. (Hey, there are still ten more shopping hours till the end of Christmas!) 

USA Today 12/14/12

holiday gift guide to the best graphic novels of the year 

“Deeply researched…revelatory” 

Special thanks to David Colton, who also put Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman on the front page of the Life section of USA Today.

I’m not only thrilled but also relieved that my book got ink in USA Today. This is because, in August, I was told that the paper would cover the book somehow. Of course, I didn’t take that as a guarantee, but did feel confident it would probably happen…so when I designed Bill the Boy Wonder promotional postcards, in August, I included USA Today on the “as seen in” list.

Even if the book ultimately did not make it in, it would still not be a lie per se—or so I rationalized—because Boys of Steel had been in USA Today. If anyone asked, I would claim that “as seen in” referred not specifically to the Batman book but rather to me as an author. I’m glad this didn’t come to pass because no one would have believed me. 

Washington Post 12/23/12

comics gift guide: 12 favorite reads of 2012 

Number one, baby! (Disclaimer: They are not ranked qualitatively.)

“Deftly, with care, give[s] Finger his due”

Thank you again to Michael Cavna, who also covered the book earlier this year.

MTV Geek

best graphic novels of 2012

Ditto thanks to Valerie Gallaher (and company), who ran perhaps the funniest Bill-related headline of the year.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

2012 Guide Book to Gift Books
 
“Meticulously researched” 

Tablet

best kids’ books of 2012

“Fascinating”
 
Lastly, I’m flattered that the trailer for Bill the Boy Wonder made the list of “best Batman-themed picture book trailers of 2012.” (Disclaimer: this is a list of one, and self-generated.)

Thank you again, kind reviewers. And thank you also to readers, young and young at heart, who have privately given me equally humbling reviews of a book that has been so very special to me.

"Bill the Boy Wonder" makes 2012 ABC Best Books for Children Catalog

Shipping in October.

I'm honored to be among books by friends including Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown (Creepy Carrots!), Doreen Rappaport (Helen's Big World), Katherine Marsh (Jepp, Who Defied the Stars), Scott Magoon (Chopsticks), Tad Hills (Rocket Writes a Story), Raina Telgemeier (Drama), Dan Santat (multiple titles vroom!), Marla Frazee (multiple woo-hoo!), and the late Ellen Levine (Henry's Freedom Box).