Sunday Brunch for March 11

I'm sorry I have not posted in a couple weeks. First I was involved in another round of revising the manuscript I'm writing with Elizabeth Bird and Julie Walker Danielson for Candlewick Press (we cut it from 570 pages to 424...falling short of our goal of cutting it to 350) and then last week my father got out of the hospital/rehab center after breaking his arm and we had to deal with visits from home health visitors over the weekend. While I've been "away," lots of book award shortlists and winners have been announced. For example:


SHORTLIST MANIA!

The Mystery Writers of America have announced their nominees for the 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.

The nominees for "Best Juvenile" are:

HORTON HALFPOTT by Tom Angleberger
IT HAPPENED ON A TRAIN by Mac Barnett
VANISHED by Sheela Chari
ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby
THE WIZARD OF DARK STREET by Shawn Thomas Odyssey

The finalists in the "young adult" category are:

SHELTER by Harlan Coben
THE NAME OF THE STAR by Maureen Johnson
THE SILENCE OF MURDER by Dandi Daley Mackall
THE GIRL IS MURDER by Kathryn Miller Haines
KILL YOU LAST by Todd Strasser

The winners will be announced April 26 in New York City.

And here is the shortlist for the 2012 Andre Norton Award, for the year's best science fiction or fantasy novel:

AKATA WITCH by Nnedi Okorafor
CHIME by Franny Billingsley
DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor
EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by A.S. King
THE BOY AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Greg van Eekhout
THE FREEDOM MAZE by Delia Sherman
THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson
ULTRAVIOLET by R.J. Anderson

The winner will be announced in mid-May.

The finalists for the Irma Simonton Black & James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature ("given to a book in which the text and illustrations work closely together to create a vibrant whole") are:

YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND by Peter Brown
I WANT MY HAT BACK by Jon Klassen
WHAT ANIMALS REALLY LIKE by Fiona Robinson
ALL THE WAY TO AMERICA by Dan Yaccarino

The winner will be announced April 9.

The shortlist for the LOS ANGELES TIMES Book Prize has also been announced and this list is my very favorite! (Of course I may be prejudiced, since I was one of the judges, along with Cindy Dobrez and Angelina Benedetti.)

The finalists are:

BEAUTY QUEENS by Libba Bray
THE BIG CRUNCH by Pete Hautman
A MONSTER CALLS : INSPRED BY AN IDEA FROM SIOBHAN DOWS by Patrick Ness
LIFE : AN EXPLODED DIAGRAM by Mal Peet
THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater

The winner will be announced April 20.


WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, WILLIAM MCKINLEY?

I've always thought that E.L. Konigsburg's first book, JENNIFER, HECATE, MACBETH, WILLIAM MCKINLEY, AND ME, ELIZABETH, was one of the most perfect middle-grade novels ever written. It was named a Newbery Honor Book the same year that Ms. Konigsburg's FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER won top prize (though I, like John Rowe Townsend, think the order probably should have been reversed.) It was also the first-ever title issued by Aladdin Books:


Though perfect in my eyes, the book has been slightly altered at least once. A reference to Jennifer's mother being "Negro" was later changed to "black." I've often wondered if someone will ever request they cut the line in which Jennifer fantasizes that she's smoking a cigarette. But one thing I never thought they'd change is that memorably lengthy title. And they haven't -- at least here in the USA (or, as Elizabeth would call it, "the US of A.") But I recently came across the British edition of the book and was surprised by the title:


I guess they figure English kids won't know who William McKinley was. ...Though, come to think of it, how many American kids know who he was.

It's not uncommon for American titles to be changed when the book is pubished in England -- and vice versa. But E.L. Konigsburg seems to get her titles changed more than the average bear.

Remember her early novel (GEORGE)?


They used the same cover in Great Britain, but changed the title to BENJAMIN DICKINSON CARR AND HIS (GEORGE):


The American JOURNEY TO AN 800 NUMBER


became JOURNEY BY FIRST CLASS CAMEL in England:


Actually, you don't even have to cross the pond to see some Konigsburg titles changed. What used to be:


has now been re-released right here in the United States as MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER:


This edition's neither British nor American, but I had to include it anyway. Even though the title is written in Russian, I'm sure you'll recognize what book it is:


But what I love best is the translation of that title, as provided by Amazon: FROM THE ARCHIVE OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKVAYLER, MOST COMPLICATED IN THE WORLD.


THE CURSIVE CURSE

For many years now I've been hearing that kids HATE cursive fonts in books. Many schools no longer teach "handwriting" at all, and thus some kids can't read it at all. Some kids won't pick up a book if the title is written in cursive on the front cover. Although I don't particularly have a problem with cursive writing, I must admit that overly fancy fonts often cause me to puzzle over a title. Here's the one that tripped me up last week:


Do you know what it says?

PRISM?

LUIVV?

L'RIM?

GUIVV?

GRIW?

I finally realized the title was GRIM:


Maybe I was just having a bad day. ...But if it took me a couple seconds to puzzle out the name, I wonder how many young readers -- many of whom never learned cursive to begin with -- will hang around look enough to figure out the title...or just reach for another book?


A WRINKLED BAG

How neat is this?


One of the perks of owning a bookstore is that publishers often send you promotional pieces publicizing books. My bookstore buddy just received this bag celebrating the 50th anniversary of Madeleine L'Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME, featuring the well-remembered original dustjacket illustration by Ellen Raskin. And she gave the bag to me! I was quite thrilled...except I feel it's too special to use on a regular basis.

I think I'll just put it on display in my library instead.


REVIEW : STEP GENTLY OUT BY HELEN FROST AND RICK LIEDER

This picture-book length poem begins:

"Step gently out,
be still,
and watch
a single blade
of grass,"

then continues, through Frost's lilting, limpid words and Lieder's close-up photographic images, to celebrate the insects that share our world.


The entwined art and text open the reader's eyes and bring renewed appreciation to ants, moths, fireflies and other creatures that "shine with stardust" or are "splashed with morning dew." A final spread identifies and provides information about each insect highlighted in the text. STEP GENTLY OUT has the feel of a classic and, one hopes, will lead to further collaborations between this poet and photographer.


BOOKSTORES : A MEETING PLACE

Rick Lieder's photographic art from STEP GENTLY OUT will be on display in the gallery of Bookbeat, an independent bookstore in Oak Park, Michigan, from March 17 through April 30. The opening of the exhibition, on March 17 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM will be attended by both Mr. Lieder and Ms. Frost. The following day both creators will join other authors at a speaking/booksigning public event in nearby Berkley, Michigan called Read in the Park.

As more and more bookstores close, we are losing "meeting places" where authors and readers can gather to exchange ideas. Several years ago, Bookbeat hosted an author signing for Helen Frost, Kathe Koja (BUDDHA BOY) and Sarah Miller (MISS SPITFIRE.) I believe this was where these authors first met and became friends. And I suspect that this meeting somehow led to the creation of STEP GENTLY OUT. You see, Rick Lieder is married to Kathe Koja and had provided the photographs for the dustjackets of many of her young adult novels. If it hadn't been for Bookbeat bringing these authors together, perhaps this great new book might never have been "born."


THE HUNGER WHAT?

Did you hear about this new movie due out soon? I can't remember the title exactly...something about Hungary...or Hungry...oh yeah, it's called THE HUNGER GAMES!

Just kidding.

I'm not sure there's anyone alive today who hasn't heard of the movie and books by now. From what I've heard, advance ticket to the film are selling like crazy. It's shaping up to be a big hit before anyone's even seen it.

And the books are selling like crazy!

In addition to the trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins, there are now "companion" books to the movie, parodies (THE YOUNGER GAMES; THE HUNGER PAINS) and even an unoffical, unendorsed cookbook! And PEOPLE magazine just put out a special issue devoted entirely to the movie.

Although the blatant commercialism is annoying, I have to admit I'm pleased to see that a book written for young people is getting this kind of public interest.


WE'RE TOO BUSY READING TO PUT ANYBODY DOWN

If the special edition of PEOPLE devoted to THE HUNGER GAMES is a testament to the popularity of the book and movie, then the cover of the weekly issue must say something about what's currently of interest to the magazine's regular readership. After virtually ignoring the deaths of much bigger stars over the past few years, this week PEOPLE has a cover story on the death of Davy Jones from the Monkees. That really surprised me since he had been out of the limelight for decades. But apparently those who grew up in the sixties and seventies have never quite forgotten this singer and performer.

I wondered if The Monkees had any impact on books for kids and came across these paperbacks:



as well as this hardcover novel from Whitman:


That last book was written by William Johnston, an author who wrote a few adult novels of his own, but was probably best known for adapting TV shows and movies into drugstore paperbacks for young readers. Among his dozens of books are adaptations of Dr. Kildare, The Munsters, Get Smart, The Flying Nun, The Brady Bunch, Room 222, The Mod Squad, Happy Days, and many more.

Obviously Mr. Johnston never won any literary awards. I've read a few of his books over the years and they are exactly what you'd expect: facile, slight, and superficial. Yet you have to give this author credit for churning out book after book and, I strongly suspect, providing reading material to a lot of kids who probably never borrowed a book from the library in their lives. For many, a cheap adaptation of Gilligan's Island or Welcome Back, Kotter might be one of the few books they read in their lives.

Needless to say, there is very little info out there on the author. From what I tracked down in Contemporary Authors, he was born in 1924 in Lincoln, Illinois and wrote his books while living in Massapequa, New York with his wife and five children. He may still be alive today. The only personal quote he offered Contemporary Authors was, "I am interested only in writing entertaining stories and remaining as anonymous as possible."

Of course this makes me more interested in him than ever. I'd love to know how he fell into writing TV adaptations...if it paid well...it the job was fulfilling...and how he felt about his career on the whole. Not every writer is Hemingway or Faulkner. And there's something to be said for writing books directed at those who will appreciate them most -- that is, ardent fans and reluctant readers. In the greater scheme of things, these books may be quite ephemeral...yet they say a lot about popular culture at the time they were written.


THANKS

Thanks for visiting Collecting Children's Books. Hope you'll be back soon!

Sex, Sponsie, and Other Sunday Brunch Topics

Today's Sunday Brunch features dead monkeys and dead celebrities, all accompanied by the song "Chopsticks" being played on the piano.


SEX ED, CIRCA 1874

I recently stumbled across a set of five volumes titled SAMMY TUBBS, THE BOY DOCTOR, AND SPONSIE, THE TROUBLESOME MONKEY. Written by "E.B. Foote, M.D.," the books were part of a series called "Science in Story."


It is one of the strangest series I've ever seen -- surprisingly progressive for its era, even while being old-fashioned and downright racist.

The stories concern an African-American boy, Sammy Tubbs, who comes north after being freed from slavery. Finding work as a "door-boy" at the home of a physician, he soon begins following the career path of his employer, learning about the various parts of the human body and how to prevent and fight illness. Each volume in the series is concerned with a different system of the body -- "brain and nerves," "digestive, nutritive, respiratory, and vegetative nervous," "arteries, lymphatics, veins, lacteal, capillaries, radicles, villi," and "bones, cartilidges, and muscles." This information is presented throughout the stories, which also feature a pair of amusing monkeys, whose hijinks lighten up the narratives. Or at least they do until the monkeys -- named Sponsie No. 1 and Sponsie No. 2 -- get ahold of a pair of guns and Sponsie No. 2 shoots and kills Sponsie No. 1 as well as Sammy's beloved dog. The book includes a drawing of the dead animals laid out on a table, as the tearful Sammy decides to "lay open the skull of Sponsie" and remove the cerebro-spinal system of the dog for an upcoming scientific lecture. That evening the young scientist, so emotionally overwhelmed that he must at times "bury his face in his handkerchief," presents a medical lecture using the brain and spine of his pets as props!

I told you these books were weird.

The covers of all the Sammy Tubbs books are identical, except for one:


Let's come in closer to read that subtitle:


This, the last volume in the series, is the one that really shocked me. I always thought of the nineteenth century as being quite Puritanical and never expected that a popular series would feature a volume "for private reading" about the "elimination and reproductive system"!

The book is rather coy in some regards. It tries to scare off some readers by stating that this volume "is dryer than any preceding volume," which of course is not true at all. However, the preface acknowledges that "this volume will, in many instances, be detached from the regular series of five consecutive volumes to which it belongs by those who mistakenly, as the publishers believe, adjudge it unsuited to children."

The information about the reproductive organs and their functions are frankly described in this volume. The book also includes these rather graphic illustrations:



But if you look closely at the top of these pages, you will note their odd pagination and a special warning to parents:



Yep, the publisher conspires with parents ("This leaf can be cut out if thought advisable") by labeling the pages 180 1/2 and 18 3/4. If a parent were to carefully remove this page from the volume, the kid would be none the wiser, since the pages before and after these are 180 and 181!

From today's perspective, these illustrations are the least shocking part of the book. Much more controversial is the incorrect info the book provides on several fronts. For example, the concept that a child may grow up to be a murderer if his mother visits a slaughterhouse while pregnant. And speaking of slaughter, Sponsie No. 2 bites the big one in this volume, getting his tail entangled in knife-grinder and becoming "completely disemboweled." Naturally, Sammy dissects the body.

Even if the series had not included this "book for private reading," it's still unusual for a novel from this era to feature an accomplished, intellectually curious African American protagonist. However, while Sammy Tubbs gives lectures on scientific topics and hopes to attend medical school, some of the other black characters speak in dialect and behave like knaves. For example, when Sponsie has his fatal accident, Sammy's friend Diggles cries, "Dat dere monkey am all torn to strings! He am dun gone forever! Oh mi! Oh mi!" We're later told that while he "still knows how to chew twine and crack his knuckles," Diggles never shared Sammy's interest in science. Why? "Among colored people, as well as among those of lighter complexion, under the present system of hap-hazard reprodution, some are born with and some without brains."

Still, Sammy himself remains a trailblazer in many areas. For example, one of his girlfriends is caucasian. Surely, this must be one of the first books for young people -- if not the first to feature an illustration depicting an interracial kiss:


By turns progressive, dated, frank, and often ridiculously wrong in its facts, the Sammy Tubbs stories are among the strangest children's books of their era...or any era.

SEX EDUCATION, CIRCA 1988

The subject of the Sammy Tubbs "Book for Private Reading" reminded me of an old favorite of mine published over twenty years ago:


Does anyone else remember this novel?

I'm sure that many readers were drawn to the book by its attention-grabbing title. Some may have been disappointed when the narrative wasn't nearly as explicit as expected. On the other hand, the book was so well-written and intriguing that most probably didn't mind.

The story concerns classmates Livvie and David who, as part of a high school "sex ed" class are told to find someone and "care" about them. They choose a pregnant teenage girl married to a violent young man -- a choice that ends up having tragic consequences.

Jenny Davis burst onto the young-adult field with her 1987 novel GOODBYE AND KEEP COLD. The next year she published SEX EDUCATION, with CHECKING ON THE MOON following in 1990. At the time, all three books were highly praised and their author, a teacher, was seen as an important new voice in young adult fiction.

Unfortunately, CHECKING ON THE MOON was the last book she published. Her novels continued to be read for some years, but now they are all out of print. I keep hoping that, one of these days, she'll turn up with a great new book and that her three early novels -- still quite readable -- will return to print.

Does anyone remember Jenny Davis or know why she disappeared so suddenly and completley from the field of young adult fiction?


HOW NOT TO SHELVE BOOKS!

Blog friend Susan B. provided a link to the following video -- "How to Beautify Your Bookshelves" -- on her Facebook page and I was so horrified that I had to share it here:


As Susan commented, "Remove the dust jackets? Arrange by color? Put a container of water near hardcover books? NOOOOOO....."

Also the woman in the video shelves at least one of the books upside down!

It reminded me of the time I was watching TRADING SPACES and a designer looked at a room full of books and decided to take off all the dustjackets. If someone had done that to my book collection, I would probably end up in jail for causing them grievous bodily harm!

(P.S. If you'd like to be Facebook friends with me, feel free to "friend" me at Peter D. Sieruta.)


CHOPSTICKS

If you're interested in old and collectable books the way I am, you always try to keep an eye out for current books that are offbeat and intriguing; they are the books we'll be collecting tomorrow.

Is CHOPSTICKS one of those books?

I'm not sure. But it's definitely a "different" type of young-adult novel and may pave the way for an entirely new genre.


Created by writer Jessica Anthony and illustrator Rodrigo Corral, and available as both a book and app, this is a graphic novel for the computer age. A minimal text and abundant photographs, collages, video stills, and other well-designed art pieces tell the story of Glory Fleming, a piano prodigy trained by her ambitious father. Glory has performed at concert halls around the world and is known for interpolating classical music with pop songs. When Argentinian teenager Frank Mendoza moves in next door, their ensuing romantic relationship is depicted in posed photos, Instant Message texts, poetry, and samples of Frank's artwork. A European concert tour separates the teens and Glory suffers a breakdown, interrupting her performances to play the beginners' song "Chopsticks." Ultimately, she is admitted to the "Golden Hands Rest Facility, an instition for musical progedies." A rest home for musical progedies? Right there is your first clue that something about this entire narrative is off-base. (It may also be the only YA novel in which Lawrence Welk's ragtime piano gal, Jo Ann Castle, appears as a recurring motif.) CHOPSTICKS has been receiving a lot of attention due to the way it bridges the gap between a standard bound book and a computer app. Those who read this story in the latter format will probably have a very different experience -- clicking on links to view Youtube videos and hear music excerpts -- than those of us who simply turned the pages of the novel. Is one format better than the other? I don't know. But whatever format is chosen, readers will be disturbed and mystified by this tantalizingly inconclusive tale that demands to be be read (or played on the computer) again and again. Each subsequent reading will likely lead to different theories on what is real and what is unreal in the lives of Frank and Glory.


HOT OR NOT?

If you work in a public or school library, I'm curious if there has been much demand for books such as these this past week:



One wonders how soon she'll be immortalized in one of those quickie volumes for morbid kids like these:




One thing I've noticed about children's books is how the smaller presses fill a need for pop culture biographies. While these books don't generally hold up as "literature," and only stay in print for a couple years, they do achieve their purpose: serving as biographies that kids can use in writing book reports and papers for school. Although there is only one Tim Tebow book available for kids at the moment -- a "young reader's edition" of the athlete's autobiography THROUGH MY EYES -- I can pretty much guarantee that there will be three or four quickie children's biographies of Tebow on the shelves by the time the next football season rolls aroung. And I bet that, even as you read this, some publisher is contacting an author about writing a Jeremy Lin book STAT!


SCEGG WELL!

Last weekend I wrote about the new "50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition" of A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L'Engle. This week I laid my hands on a copy and I'd recommend that all fans of the novel do the same. It's full of all kinds of treats, including photographs from Ms. L'Engle's life and a chapter from the original manuscript as edited by the author.

Here are some of my favorite things in this new edition:

* Last week I mentioned the newly-designed dust jacket illustration. What I didn't know at the time was that, beneath the dustjacket, the original, well-remembered cover art by Ellen Raskin is printed directly on the front panel of the book.

* Katherine Paterson's introduction includes this fascinating tidbit:

Last March I went to see the documentary CHEKHOV FOR CHILDREN. And there on the screen was a sixth-grader named Rebecca Stead. For me it was sort of a wrinkle in time, for I was seeing the author at just about the time that Madeleine L'Engle made a magical visit to Rebecca's New York City public school. I'm guessing it was about then that young Rebecca fell in love with A WRINKLE IN TIME. Her own Newbery Award book, WHEN YOU REACH ME, is a stunning homage to the book she cherished as a child.

* In an Afterword written by Madeleine's granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis, we learn that there was some concern that the word "tesseract" was not in the public domain, in which case the author considered substituting "sceortweg" for "tesseract" and "scegging" for "tessering." It's hard to imagine that, isn't it? Ms. L'Engle was known for signing books, "Tesser well!" "Scegg well!" just wouldn't be the same, would it?

* The Afterword also provides a tantalizing hint about the "unfinished first draft" of a novel called THE EYE BEGINS TO SEE in which the adult Meg "adjusts to her children's growing up and moving out." Think this book will ever be published? If WRINKLE IN TIME had remained a stand-alone volume, I think the author's literary executors might have said no -- why mess with a classic? BUT, since L'Engle herself continued to write about the Meg and the Murray/O'Keefe family in several more volumes of varying quality, I expect THE EYE BEGINS TO SEE will be considered fair game and that it will be published eventually. That's just my guess. Someday we'll SEE if I'm right.


THANKS

Thanks for visiting Collecting Children's Books. Hope you'll return!

Brunch delayed

Another one of those Sundays when Brunch will be served a little late. Please check back later tonight or early tomorrow. Sorry for the delay!