Sign in

Harold Underdown

@hunderdown.bsky.social
3K followers 283 following 2.6K posts

I'm a children's book editor, teacher and workshop presenter, owner of The Purple Crayon website -- www.underdown.org --and part of Kid's Book Revisions Plus: @kbrplus.bsky.social. I post about #kidlit and other things.

PostsRepliesMedia
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 44m
Intriguing. Read before you react! www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
‘Curious and circumspect creatures’: the artist making sculptures for the rats of New York City
For his latest project, Asad Raza made ‘public art’ for rats with pieces designed to appeal to the city’s maligned rodents
010
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 6h
you don’t hold "AI" accountable; you hold AI developers, vendors, and corporations that profit off it accountable holding "AI accountable" is like holding a toaster accountable. it's an inanimate object. it doesn't have wishes, feelings, or desires
261201397
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 16h
This is a big one, friends in NYC! Please sign this petition to tell @mayor.nyc.gov to CANCEL the pilot programs that could force up to 50,000 public high school kids to be guinea pigs for "A.i." companies! Give us a TRUE moratorium on "A.i." in the public schools!
02918
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Jane Rosenzweig @janerosenzweig.bsky.social · 15h
Interesting that this donation is funding teachers to be "AI ambassadors," which means the question of whether AI belongs in the classroom has been answered and now the question is how to get it there. One could fund training for teachers on how LLMs work, how to navigate/design assignments instead
2146
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 17h
the tech industry is about to invent books
Andrew Yeung 
@andruyeung
X.com
We created gyms because modern day work no
longer required physical activity. Without exercise,
our muscles atrophy.
I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al
starts doing our knowledge work.
10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views
535196873873
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Jane Coaston @janecoaston.bsky.social · 18h
they're all just lying, it is tremendous lying, but it is just lying
182445275
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 19h
New Yorkers: one month from today, there will be five questions on the back of your ballot. Register to vote by October 24 and learn more at nyc.gov/fast
111052249
Reposted by Harold Underdown
School Library Journal @slj.com · 17h
From Selkies to Demons: 7 YA Picks for Paranormal Fans www.slj.com/story/From-S...
slj.com
From Selkies to Demons: 7 YA Picks for Paranormal Fans
Supernatural creatures take center stage in these thrilling YA stories, including the latest from K. Ancrum, Trang Thanh Tran, and S. Hati.
043
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Children's Bookshelf @pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social · 20h
Crafting statewide freedom-to-read legislation requires political passion, a streamlined legal strategy, and a deep bench of organized volunteers. We take a look at how it’s done buff.ly/wTUd3Ki
071
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 20h
Probably on the strength of his fielding...
000
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 21h
For the first time, we’re partnering with labor unions to speed up and modernize hiring for city jobs. It should be easy, fast, and fair to find a good-paying job serving the city we call home — and after 100 years, we’re due for an update.
nysfocus.com
Mamdani Enlists Unions in Push to Overhaul NYC Hiring
A new mayoral task force will study the dysfunctional 143-year-old civil service system and propose changes in Albany.
7554801311
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Children's Bookshelf @pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The National Book Foundation has revealed the five finalists for the 2026 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature buff.ly/MTKeTAr
1106
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Eric Pazdziora @ericpazdziora.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Opera doesn't make money. Opera’s what you spend money *on*.” “But . . what do you get out of it?” “You get opera. You put money in, you see, and opera comes out,” said Salzella wearily. --Terry Pratchett, 'Maskerade'
71254352
Reposted by Harold Underdown
ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/10/2026
13/ Collectively, these cases show that as the administration has relentlessly pursued immigrants, federal agents have run roughshod over the constitutional rights of citizens too. Read our investigation:
projects.propublica.org
More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown — ProPublica
The government doesn’t track how often immigration officers detain U.S. citizens. So ProPublica did. We’ve found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will during this Trump administrati...
4682222
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
He also sees money. And power.
030
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026
At this "A.i." hearing at the NYC City Hall and so far it's all goofy talk about Skynet/Terminator "A.i." superintelligence scenarios and nothing about actual massive current harms of regular schmegular trash "A.i."
testimony table and packed audience at NYC city hallcity council members at their seats in city hall. full member hearing
1448384
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 05/10/2026
One thing all New Yorkers can agree on? It’s time to get your flu shot! Go to nyc.gov/healthmap to find all the free locations.
985852962
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 05/10/2026
Less than a year in, New Mexico's universal childcare program is already changing who's working. @brycecovert.bsky.social reports on a new study from @chrismherbst.bsky.social finding employment among low-income mothers is up 18%, and full-time work is up 23%.
the74million.org
Nearly a Year In, Universal Childcare Is Reshaping Work for Moms in New Mexico
A new study highlights some early impacts of universal childcare on labor supply for mothers in New Mexico.
7384143
Reposted by Harold Underdown
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 05/10/2026
This is your occasional reminder that generative "AI" in particular could have been developed on public domain materials and/or licensed and compensated works but the major players intentionally, methodically and systemically chose to steal labor from working creative folks instead
10892602900
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Michael Mechanic @michaelmechanic.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Trump's 2018 "zero tolerance" policy was denounced on both sides of the political aisle as inhumane, and a federal court ruled it illegal. Now the Trump administration is separating families again, only this time more quietly, and away from the border.
motherjones.com
“You kidnapped my son”
ICE is now separating children from their parents and deeming them “unaccompanied.”
7175118
Reposted by Harold Underdown
PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
NEW: PEN America today reported nearly 12,000 book bans in public schools nationwide during the 2025-2026 school year—the largest number in a single year. New state censorship laws accounted for much of the increase, coupled with the use of AI to remove books en masse: pen.org/press-releas...
pen.org
Nearly 12,000 School Book Bans Nationwide in 2025-2026—Biggest Number in a Single Year
PEN America today reported nearly 12,000 book bans in public schools nationwide during the 2025-2026 school year—the largest number in a single year. New state censorship laws accounted for much of th...
107551
Reposted by Harold Underdown
nickforbrains 🏳️‍🌈 @nickforbrains.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Trump is what happens when you don’t punish people appropriately.
421043
Reposted by Harold Underdown
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 04/10/2026
remarkable piece of journalism. really worth reading.
753555900
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Robin OG ANTIFASCIST! @rokkinrobin55.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
"Here's the truth. Jared Kushner is an arms dealing, insider trading, future defendant of Nuremberg." Jared Kushner's Denial Explained: What He Said, What He Left Out, and Why He's Terrified deanblundell.substack.com/p/jared-kush...
deanblundell.substack.com
Jared Kushner's Denial Explained: What He Said, What He Left Out, and Why He's Terrified
His fund owns the biggest stake in an Israeli giant tied to the arms industry. He calls it Vanguard. Here's the truth. Jared Kushner is an arms dealing, insider trading, future defendant of Nuremberg.
1106
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
We are living in a story in a pulp SF magazine from the 1950's... Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/w...
nytimes.com
Superpowers Race to Put Nuclear Reactors on the Moon (Gift Article)
The United States wants a reactor on the moon by 2030. A Russian-Chinese alliance is working on one for 2036. Some leading scientists say the danger is great.
100
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
OMG. That is appalling. She has also said goodbye to that level of support for her future books...
142
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
But what is standard reader app? Is that what I am using on Bluesky or is it freestanding? I'm sorry, I'm trying to keep up with your experiments, and failing.
000
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 02/10/2026
Donald Trump might believe he’s going to overcome his historic unpopularity by sabotaging the midterms. On October 17, millions of Americans are taking to the streets again to make it clear that’s not happening. Please join us for the next No Kings Day.
nokings.org
No Kings
For more than a year, millions of people have come together to send a clear message: in America, we have no kings. Power doesn't belong to billionaires, strongmen, or politicians who think they're abo...
18813331
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
268196496047
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Donovan Schaefer @feelingtheory.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Dartmouth provost who admitted to using AI in his published work no longer giving a keynote address at an "Ethics and Culture" conference at Notre Dame. This needs to be become the new, widely-publicized standard for anyone found to have tried to pass off AI-generated writing as their own.
ndsmcobserver.com
Schnell withdraws from conference at Notre Dame
Santiago Schnell, who previously was set to deliver a keynote speech at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture’s annual fall conference on Friday “has indicated he is regrettably unable to join u...
19728
Reposted by Harold Underdown
CNN @cnn.com · 03/10/2026
A CNN investigation has found that while Jared Kushner acted as a key Middle East peace negotiator, his private equity firm held the largest stake in an Israeli company backing businesses tied to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, including its largest arms manufacturer. cnn.it/4AIwBQs
80504338
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The kids using “Brexit” and “AI” as insults makes me think the kids are pretty great, actually
236353
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Lisa Diedrich @lisadiedrich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
"This is not models going rogue. This is gross incompetence & negligence by a particular company, which actually they could be held criminally liable for." @timnitgebru.blacksky.app cuts to the AI chase.
3493161
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 03/10/2026
JUST POSTED: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have pushed a multibillion oil deal with Russia as part of peace talks that will bring profits to their family business partners. A new front for Trump-era conflicts of interest. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/u...
nytimes.com
U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies (Gift Article)
President Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of inter...
24730531793
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 01/10/2026
Want to learn about the history of our city?  Well you’re in luck. This month, we’re hosting a massive scavenger hunt across the city — all about the history of organizing in NYC. Sign up at organize.nyc.gov and come see the city through the eyes of the people who built it.
13159141333
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 02/10/2026
Anthropic copyright settlement news: Good news for authors of Wiley's For Dummies series. After outcry over the high % claimed by Wiley, Wiley is changing split to Default (50/50). Announcement below. (They're still saying that payment will be via literary agencies, rather than direct to authors)
From: Wiley Anthropic Settlement Communications <WileyAnthropicSettlementComm@wiley.com>
Date: Friday, 2 October 2026 at 21:48
To: 
Subject: An update to your For Dummies claim in the Anthropic settlement

Dear Author,

We recently wrote to explain the claim percentage we submitted for For Dummies titles in the Anthropic settlement. While we continue to believe the classification of these works as Education Works is accurate for the reasons set out in that message, we are sensitive to the concerns raised
 

We value our relationships with our For Dummies authors and the work we've built together across this series. With that in mind, we're changing our claim for For Dummies titles to the settlement's Default Option for non-Education Works. Under the Default Option, the payment for each title is divided 50% to the author and 50% to Wiley
 

Here's what this means for you:


     i.         We'll enter the 50% allocation for your For Dummies titles in the settlement portal.

   ii.         To confirm your allocation, visit https://secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/allocation, enter your assigned claim and PIN number, and enter 50% as the author share (subject to (iv) and (v) below). If you've already entered 50%, your entry matches ours and no further action is needed. Additional instructions for updating your allocation are located here: Allocation Portal Instructions.


iii.         Once all entries match, the Settlement Administrator treats the claim as undisputed. Payments go out in tranches, with undisputed claims paid first, so confirming promptly helps you receive your payment sooner.


  iv.         If your work has more than one royalty-bearing author, given your work agreement already specifies a royalty split between the authors, we suggest that same split apply to the claim allocation. For example, if the two authors of a work split royalties 70%/30% under their agreement, Author #1 would claim 35% and Author #2 would claim 15%.


   v.         If su…
42613
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Takeaways from this piece (gift link): 1. The ads are clearly related to midterm politics 2. They are meant to assuage Trump's ego 3. Money comes from OBBBA DHS slush fund www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Directed Use of Taxpayer Money for Ads Praising His Presidency (Gift Article)
The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.
631182
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Rep. Robert Garcia @robertgarcia.house.gov · 02/10/2026
This corruption must be investigated.
898159996240
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Good to know about this, especially in light of the current debacle at the BM! In some ways seeing this would be more interesting than seeing the original.
010
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Children's Bookshelf @pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is expanding to serve more kids | Literary Hub buff.ly/24eEPBs
buff.ly
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is expanding to serve more kids.
In a bit of good news, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now expanding to serve more states and countries. Since 1995, the free book service has catered to young readers all over the Unit…
0289
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The ability to pour hundreds of millions of pounds into a loss-making TV channel, bent on wrenching British politics sharply to the right, is yet another of the ways in which extreme wealth is trying to remake UK democracy. It needs to be part of any serious conversation about political funding.
541898772
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Jennifer Smith Richards @jsmithrichards.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I've been a reporter for a long time and this might be the strangest thing I've ever done. We've been reporting on privatization of schools this year and found that just about anyone can open a private school in most states. So we asked, Could reporters do it?
propublica.org
Almost Anyone Can Start a Private School. We Put This to the Test.
Our reporting has shown how easily people — some with questionable backgrounds — have founded their own private schools in barns, strip malls and other places. That led us to an experiment: If the hur...
13437158
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Kidlit411 @kidlit411.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Our weekly big list of kid lit links is up (Oct 2): kidlit411.com/2026/10/the-... Inside: Social Media Posts for Shy Author; Novel Outline Template; Best Book Blogs, more. Thanks Kade Doszla for the illustration, Penguin Young Readers & @sylvialiu.bsky.social for the PG & MG giveaways.
kidlit411.com
The Weekly 411 10/2/26
A one-stop place for all your kid lit information needs.
072
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
No problem! And no, I don't know Charlie. Though ours is a small world.
120
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Ha! My bad for being careless with my pronoun antecedent...
110
Reposted by Harold Underdown
AI Moratorium for NYC Schools @aimoratoriumnyc.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
“We learned nothing from social media,” said Nataliya Kosmyna, a visiting researcher at Google with a doctorate in human-computer interactions….Kosmyna believes based on her brain research that AI, like alcohol, should be restricted to ages 21 and over”
1124
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I have never had a pet turtle, and I wasn't working for him when he was packaging the Bank Street readers... So that was not me.
110
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Not to mention the US authors who get nothing because their publisher failed to register with the Copyright Office...
120
Harold Underdown @hunderdown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Did you work for him or with him? I worked for him , briefly, until his children's ebook play flamed out.
220
Reposted by Harold Underdown
Children's Bookshelf @pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
We invited author-illustrator Laurie Keller and Christy Ottaviano Books publisher Christy Ottaviano to discuss the joy behind their longtime collaboration, and Keller’s latest picture book, ‘Clem Clam the Class Clown,’ which marks their 20th book together buff.ly/KuYLnIW
173