A Banquet, Not a Brunch

I just read the most fascinating thing.

Yesterday, in his online journal, Neil Gaiman wrote:

And to answer a sharp-eyed questioner, yes, there are a couple of changes in the latest printing of The Graveyard Book; I fixed an error in astronomy I'd made, and a misspelled foreign word, and fixed some paragraphs in the acknowledgments that were truncated in the original US edition.

I was amazed to see that even a brilliant and respected writer makes mistakes...and sometimes they aren’t even caught and corrected until the bajillionth printing of his book.

What makes his message especially fun is that he wrote it from Chicago, where he was attending the American Library Association Convention to pick up his 2009 Newbery Medal for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK -- errors, misspellings, and all!

I’m kidding, of course. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is one of the most acclaimed Newbery winners in years -- hailed by critics and hugely popular with young readers.

Tonight’s the night Mr. Gaiman delivers his acceptance speech at a gala banquet in Chicago. Joining him at the podium will be Beth Krommes, who received the Caldecott for illustrating Susan Marie Swanson’s THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT, and Ashley Bryan, who has won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his entire body of work.

Today’s blog celebrates these creators and talks a bit about ALA banquets past and present.


SOME TRIVIA ABOUT THIS YEAR’S N/C WINNERS

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED: Both the Newbery and Caldecott books were inspired by classic works of literature. Over two decades ago, Neil Gaiman watched his young son playing in a graveyard and got the idea of writing a story similar to Rudyard Kipling’s THE JUNGLE BOOK, but set within a cemetery. The title of Gaiman’s volume is a nod to Kipling’s title as well. Author Susan Marie Swanson stated that a classic nursery rhyme inspired the pattern of her HOUSE IN THE NIGHT text. Here is the original rhyme:

This is the key of the kingdom
In that kingdom is a city;
In that city is a town;
In that town there is a street;
In that street there winds a lane;
In that lane there is a yard;
In that yard there is a house;
In that house there waits a room;
In that room an empty bed;
And on that bed a basket--
A basket of sweet flowers
Of flowers, of flowers;
A basket of sweet flowers.

Flowers in a basket;
Basket on the bed;
Bed in the chamber;
Chamber in the house;
House in the weedy yard;
Yard in the winding lane;
Lane in the broad street;
Street in the high town;
Town in the city;
City in the kingdom--
This is the key to the kingdom.
Of the kingdom this is the key.


THE REALLY BIG GRAVEYARD BOOK: I was surprised to discover that this year’s Newbery winner is the fifth longest Newbery winner ever. The champ remains the very first winner, THE STORY OF MANKIND by Hendrik Van Loon, which clocks in at 548 pages. The following year’s honoree, THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE by Hugh Lofting is 364. Lynn Rae Perkins’ CRISS CROSS is 337 pages and Harold Keith’s RIFLES FOR WATIE is 332. And THE GRAVEYARD BOOK comes in fifth, at 327 pages.

AND A REALLY BIG BESTSELLER: By the time THE GRAVEYARD BOOK won the Newbery in January, it had already sold 71,000 copies retail. Since then it has sold tens of thousands more. Compare that to last year’s winner, GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! by Amy Laura Schlitz, which has only sold a little over 30,000 retail copies in two years.

BLACK AND WHITE: Because Ms. Krommes’ technique of creating black-and-white scratchboard pictures and later adding color is so time-consuming, her editor promised to someday assign her a manuscript that only required black-and-white illustrations. THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT was that story, though it did require some additional color -- yellow -- to illuminate the dark night. Although full-color artwork has been standard in picture books for many decades, it’s interesting to note that three of the five most recent Caldecott winners (HOUSE IN THE NIGHT; THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selznick, and KITTEN’S FIRST FULL MOON by Kevin Henkes) have essentially been black-and-white volumes.

ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION ODDITY: Although illustrations in middle-grade books seem to have fallen out of favor in recent years, four out of the five most recent Newbery titles (THE GRAVEYARD BOOK; GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES!; THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY; CRISS CROSS, and THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX) contain illustrations...but you must then go back fifteen years, to 1989 (JOYFUL NOISE by Paul Fleischman) to find an illustrated book on the Newbery roster.

A GOOD TITLE: It seems that THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT has an especially winning title. No less than seven previous Caldecott books have “house” in the title and five have the word “night”:

DINOSAURS OF WATERHOUSE HAWKINS (Brian Selznick, 2002 Honor)
THE VILLAGE OF ROUND AND SQUARE HOUSES (Ann Grifalconi, 1987 Honor)
HOUSES FROM THE SEA (Adrienne Adams, 1960 Honor)
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (Antonio Fransconi, 1959 Honor)
A VERY SPECIAL HOUSE (Maurice Sendak, 1954 Honor)
THE LITTLE HOUSE (Virginia Lee Burton, 1943 Winner)
IN MY MOTHER’S HOUSE (Velino Herrera, 1942 Honor)

SMOKY NIGHT (David Diaz, 1995 Winner)
HILIDID’S NIGHT (Arnold Lobel, 1992 Honor)
IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN (Maurice Sendak, 1971 Honor)
FOX WENT OUT ON A CHILLY NIGHT (Peter Spier, 1962 Honor)
CHILD’S GOOD NIGHT BOOK (Jean Charlot, 1944 Honor)

FROM ACROSS THE POND: Neil Gaiman, like previous winners Hugh Lofting and Susan Cooper, was born in England but was eligible for the award because he lives primarily in the United States. (He is also a naturalized citizen of this country.)


NOT FORGETTING THE WILDER WINNER

Tonight’s banquet will also honor Ashley Bryan for his complete body of work as an illustrator, writer, and folklorist.


Born in Harlem, he began painting as a child, served in the military during World War II (storing drawing paper in his helmet), and entered the field of children’s books in 1967, illustrating MOON, FOR WHAT DO YOU WANT? by Rabindranath Tagore.

Since then he has published THE DANCING GRANNY (1977), ALL NIGHT, ALL DAY : A CHILD’S FIRST BOOK OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUALS (1988), SING TO THE SUN : POEMS AND PICTURES (1992), ASHLEY BRYAN’S ABC OF AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY (1997) and BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD (2003.)

A creator of great talent and integrity, Mr. Bryan will be receiving the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award on the night before his 86th birthday.


WHAT’S THE BANQUET LIKE?

I can't say for sure, as I’ve never been. Those who have attended past banquets have described them, by turns, as “thrilling,” “inspiring,” “thought-provoking,” “fun,” and “loooong.”

This year’s event costs $94 and includes dinner, though the “cash bar” is priced separately.

I was hoping to track down a sample menu to share, but couldn’t find that info. The closest I could come was a report from Fuse #8, who attended last year’s banquet, and said it featured “salmon, wine, bread, salad, and a chocolately mousse in truffle-like shell.”

Everyone attending gets a copy of the program and a tape of the speech. I have a number of these in my “Newbery Collection.” Some have been given to me by friends; others I’ve purchased. Here is a program from the 1977 awards that I bought. I especially like it because of the colorful illustration (by that year’s Caldecott winners Leo and Diane Dillon), because it was signed by Margaret Musgrove, who wrote ASHANTI TO ZULU, and because that year’s convention was held in my hometown of Detroit:


It is difficult to track down older programs like this and they usually cost about $75-125. More recent programs can be found for $25-50.

The tapes are nice too:


On his blog, Neil Gaiman said that the tape is played if the winner cannot speak for some reason, but I don’t know if that would actually happen. I’m aware of at least one case when an author was not available to speak -- Robert C. O’Brien in 1972 -- and his editor ended up reading the speech in his place.

I’ve heard there have been a couple occasions when a tape might have been preferable to the live performance, cases where creators -- either overly thrilled by their big moment in the spotlight or handicapped by one too many visits to that cash bar -- have begun ad-libbing their speeches before the crowd....


PETER’S DAYDREAM

I must say that I’ve dreamed away a number of hours imagining my own Newbery speech. Of course I’d probably be too shy and flustered to actually give the speech in front of a huge crowd and would likely run off stage in full-panic mode about midway through it. (At which point someone could finally yell “Queue the tape!”) But still, it’s nice to imagine being rewarded for one’s work, and standing before a crowd of appreciative conventioneers hanging onto every precious word of wisdom. I can just imagine their eager and interested faces! (Click on the image to enlarge it and read the “thought bubbles.”)



INCIDENTALLY....

Earlier in this blog, I made a typo. (See, Neil, you’re not the only one.) I was writing “2009 Newbery winner” and accidentally typed “2099 Newbery winner” instead. It gave me pause, realizing there will someday be Newbery winners I won’t know about...Newbery winners I’ll never get to read. But then I thought about how neat it is to have this kind of continuity: awards given year after year...decades before I was born, and then decades after I’m gone. Yes, there are times we don’t like a particular winning book, times we think they got it all wrong -- but even that kind of situation gets us talking about books, and makes us appreciate the good ones even more. I love to see great books recognized and rewarded and hope that this annual tradition really will continue through 2099 and beyond.

Thanks for stopping by.

And They All Went Home?

Some rhymes have reasons. Many old English nursery rhymes are said to contain coded references to historical figures and events. Take this powerful verse about the making of a rifle:

John Patch made the match,
And John Clint made the flint,
And John Puzzle made the muzzle,
And John Crowder made the powder,
And John Block made the stock,
And John Wyming made the priming,
And John Brammer made the rammer,
And John Scott made the shot,
But John Ball shot them all.

Some think that “John Ball” refers to a fourteenth-century priest who participated in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. Whether or not this rhyme actually had historical significance, I’m fascinated by the fact that Ed and Barbara Emberley later gave it contemporary significance for readers in the sixties.


In 1967’s DRUMMER HOFF, Barbara Emberley adapted this traditional rhyme, but changed the focus from a rifle to a cannon:

General Border gave the order,
Major Scott brought the shot,
Captain Bammer brought the rammer,
Sargeant Chowder brought the powder,
Corporal Farrell brought the barrel,
Private Parriage brought the carriage,
But Drummer Hoff fired it off.

Utilizing wood cuts and only three colors of ink (red, yellow, and blue -- which through the use of “overprinting” -- would yield thirteen different colors on the printed page), Ed Emberley created radiant, complex images that, in the parlance of the era, might have been called “mod” or even “psychodelic.” Mr. Emberley would later state, “The book’s main theme is a simple one -- a group of happy warriors build a cannon that goes ‘KAHBAHBLOOM.’”

But he also acknowledged that “there is more to find if you ‘read’ the pictures.” He noted that the illustrations “show that men can fall in love with war and <...> go to meet it dressed as if to meet their sweethearts” -- as is evident in this dandified character:


And even more evident in this one:


Although the artist doesn’t mention it, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the phallic imagery in these men-at-war illustrations. As is evident in this picture:


And even more evident in this one:


Emberley himself acknowledges that the artwork shows “that men can return from war sometimes with medals and sometimes with wooden legs”:


Of course many children will not question this soldier’s leg as they delight in the cumulative rhymes that lead up to the double-page spread in which Drummer Hoff fires off the cannon and everything goes red. But they probably will wonder what happened to the “happy warriors"...who do not appear on the final page of the book.

A few years ago, a group of children wrote Mr. Emberley and said, “We enjoyed reading your books and we want to know what happened after Drummer Hoff fired it off?”

He responded, “How smart you are to think about what happened to Drummer Hoff and all the other soldiers after he ‘fired it off.’ We left it to the reader's imagination to figure out what happened next. Some people thought they all blew up!!!!!! Maybe that's true but I know what I imagine, Here are the words I was going to put on the last page: “and they all went home” — maybe to supper...maybe to bed...maybe they all went to the beach!!!”

Maybe all the soldiers did go home. But when I look at the final page of the book, in which the abandoned cannon has been appropriated by flowers and nature, I find myself humming the Pete Seeger song that asks:

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago.


I suspect that different audiences will take different things from DRUMMER HOFF. For many kids, it probably does read as a story of “happy warriors” leading up to that big, shout-it-out-loud “KAHBAHBLOOM.” But many adults may view it as an antiwar tale, leading to a quiet moment of reflection.

DRUMMER HOFF won the 1968 Caldecott Medal -- a very daring selection for its era. The Caldecott rules clearly state that "the award is not for didactic intent” but there is also a lot of wiggle-room in these criteria: “excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept; of appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme or concept; of delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting mood or information through the pictures.”

Clearly the book deserved the award for its vivid and innovative illustrations alone...but, whether intended by the committee or not, there is a special significance in the fact that DRUMMER HOFF won the Caldecott in 1968 -- a year in which 16,592 American soldiers did not come home from Vietnam.

Sunday Brunch for a Holiday Weekend

Today’s Sunday Brunch contains more random observations and opinions on children’s books old and new.

BOOKS THAT GO BOOM!

The Fourth of July is usually our noisiest holiday. Starting in mid-June, early evenings are interrupted by the rat-tat-tat-tat-tat sound of firecrackers being set off by kids who just can’t wait until Independence Day. And the nights leading up to the Fourth get noisier and noisier until the big day arrives and you hear nothing but BANG! BANG! BOOM! from early morning till late at night.

Growing up, I remember standing outside after dark on July Fourth and being bombarded by noise -- not just the tapdance of firecracker strings going off in the street, but also the spooky “whoosh” of bottle rocks shooting into the night sky, as well as distant muffled BOOMS from miles away. I used to imagine that was what the Revolutionary War sounded like.

But this Independence Day felt different. I didn’t hear the clatter of firecrackers at all during the day. There were a few in the evening, but not nearly as much as the past. I’m starting to write this blog a little after midnight and only hear an occasional “boom” or “bang” from very far away. To misquote T.S. Eliot, “This is the way the holiday ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.”

I’m disappointed. I figured the sound of firecrackers would keep me awake and blogging half the night. Heck, I’ve got BOOKS noisier than tonight’s festivities.

Here are a few children’s books with “noisy” titles:

SHHHHH...BANG : A WHISPERING BOOK by Margaret Wise Brown (1943)

BOOM TOWN BOY by Lois Lenski (1948)

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG by Ian Fleming (1964)

BING-BANG PIG by Sara Murphey (1964)

SAM, BANGS, AND MOONSHINE by Evaline Ness (1966)

BANG BANG, YOU’RE DEAD by Louise Fitzhugh and Sandra Scoppettone (1969)

THINGS THAT GO BANG by Lisl Weil (1969)

BAM ZAM BOOM! : A BUILDING BOOK by Eve Merriam (1972)

THE BANG BANG FAMILY by Gahan Wilson (1974)

SANTA’S CRASH BANG CHRISTMAS by Stephen Kroll (1977)

CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM by Bill Martin, Jr. (1989)

CRASH! BANG! BOOM! : A BOOK OF SOUNDS by Peter Spier (1990)

RUMBLE THUMBLE BOOM by Anna Grossnickle Hines (1992)

BING BANG BOING by Douglas Florian (1994)

CAPTAIN WHIZ-BANG by Diane Stanley (1997)

THE RATTLEBANG PICNIC by Margaret Mahy (1999)

ACHOO! BANG! CRASH! : THE NOISY ALPHABET by Ross MacDonald (2003)



A BICENTENNIAL BOOM!

Perhaps the “noisiest” book in my collection is Ellen Raskin’s 1979 Newbery winner THE WESTING GAME. Not only is the dustjacket filled with multicolored fireworks, but she even inscribed this copy with the word “BOOM!”


I do not know Myrtice M. Wickham, who first owned this copy, but it’s clear that she attended the 1979 American Library Association convention where Ellen Raskin accepted her Newbery. Not only is the book signed in the right place (Dallas) and at the right time (6-25-79) but it also included a favor from that year’s Newbery-Caldecott Awards Dinner -- a bookmark that reproduces the thousand dollar bills on the original dustjacket:


Ellen Raskin started her career as an artist but later proved to be an artist with words, as evidenced by this evocative fireworks scene from THE WESTING GAME:

BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!

“Happy Fourth of July,” Turtle shouted as the first rockets lit up the the Westing house, lit up the sky.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.

BOOM!!!

The heirs gathered around Turtle at the window.
BOOM! Stars of all colors bursting into the night , silver pinwheels spinning, golden lances up-up-BOOM! crimson flashes flashing blasting, scarlet showers BOOM! emerald rain BOOM! BOOM! orange flames, red flames, leaping from the windows, sparking the turrets, firing the trees....

After reading this scene, it’s probably not surprising to learn that THE WESTING GAME was inspired by this nation’s Bicentennial.

“The Bicentennial”...now there’s a phrase you don’t hear much these days. And unless you were alive back in the early 1970s, you have no idea what a big deal it was, or the excitement of the years leading up to July 4, 1976. There were special Bicentennial coins and a Bicentennial flag. For two years there was a series of “Bicentennial Minutes” on television -- historical information briefs that ran between TV programs every single night. Food products came wrapped in red-white-and-blue packaging. Cities sponsored huge Bicentennial celebrations.

Ellen Raskin acknowledged the Bicentennial in her Newbery acceptance speech, saying that she began work on the novel in 1976 and used the words to “America the Beautiful” in creating clues for her story. She added, “Meanwhile on television, between re-created Revolutionary battles blasting and fireworks booming, come reports of the death of an infamous millionaire. Anyone who can spell ‘Howard Hughes’ is forging a will. Good, I’ll try it too.”

When it came to creating characters, Raskin said that “in honor of the Bicentennial they will be melting-pot characters: Polish, Jewish, German, Greek, Chinese, Black.”

The Bicentennial is now a distant memory. Our nation celebrated its 233rd birthday yesterday. Ellen Raskin died -- far too young -- in 1984. But very few children’s book creators have had such an amazing career. Ms. Raskin started off designing and illustrating dustjackets; perhaps her best-known is the original cover for Madeleine L’Engle’s A WRINKLE IN TIME. She then began illustrating books -- first those written by others, and then many picture books she wrote herself (SPECTACLES, 1968; FRANKLIN STEIN, 1972.) Finally, she began writing novels for young people: THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF LEON (I MEAN NOEL) (1971), FIGGS AND PHANTOMS (1974), THE TATTOOED POTATO AND OTHER CLUES (1975) and THE WESTING GAME (1978.) Eccentric, profound (particularly FIGGS AND PHANTOMS), and unlike-any-other-books-by-any-other-author, Raskin’s work is unforgettable.


A GIFT FROM ELLEN RASKIN

Ellen Raskin attended the University of Wisconsin -- Madison and later gave manuscript materials from THE WESTING GAME to that University’s world-famous Cooperative Children’s Book Center. Anyone interested in children’s books -- and THE WESTING GAME in particular -- will be fascinated to look at the CCBC’s online archive which contains Ms. Raskin’s early drafts of the manuscript, her working notes, and an audiotape.

It’s an amazing site to see.


THE FIFTH OF JULY

Yeah, everyone talks about the Fourth of July, but who cares about the Fifth of July?

Actually, Lanford Wilson wrote a Broadway play by that name -- and a famous children’s book starts off with an important Fifth of July scene:

Jimmy took the firecracker and looked around the circle. “Let’s light it,” he suggested.

The boys stepped back as if it were a hand grenade.

“Not me,” said Chuck. “I’m too young for the draft.”

“It’s too late,” Art said. “This is the fifth of July and anyhow it’s against the law to shoot off firecrackers.”

“Aw, it’s just one firecracker,” Jimmy argued. “What’s the matter, you all chicken?”

You know this isn't going to have a good outcome, right?

So it’s not surprising the book is called:


This perennial Scholastic book club favorite (is there anyone who didn’t order this book in grade school?) was originally published in 1957 and is still going strong after fifty years.

Considering how famous the book is, I’m surprised by how little is known about author James B. Garfield and how his novel came to be written. All I’ve been able to glean, from sources such as CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS, is that he worked as an actor on stage and radio before going blind, then did a public service radio show called “A Blind Man Looks at You” from 1947 to 1967. He also wrote for children’s magazines, though I believe FOLLOW MY LEADER was his only published book. I’d be curious to read his magazine stories, as well as just know more about his life. He died in 1984 at the age of 103. According to CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS, he often visited schools to talk about his life and work. Did anyone ever meet him?


THE VERY BEST YEARS

The other night I watched a documentary on the Turner Classic Movies channel called 1939 : HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST YEAR. The premise was that 1939 was the single year that produced the most classic movies. That year’s films included DARK VICTORY; GOODBYE, MR CHIPS; LOVE AFFAIR; WUTHERING HEIGHTS; GUNGA DIN; CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY; BABES IN ARMS; MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON; NINOTCHKA; OF MICE AND MEN; STAGECOACH; DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK; THE WIZARD OF OZ...and a little movie called GONE WITH THE WIND.

Wow!

That got me thinking about whether there has ever been a similar year for children’s books -- one annum in which an amazing number of classic or acclaimed titles were produced.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of one.

In fact, comparing award lists, I can’t even find too many years when GREAT Newbery and Caldecott titles concurrently won.

In most cases, great Caldecott years are accompanied by perfectly-fine-but-not-amazing Newbery years...and vice versa.

For example, 1942’s Caldecott winner was the classic MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS by Robert McCloskey...but the Newbery went to nobody’s favorite, THE MATCHLOCK GUN by Walter Edmonds.

Two years later, the Newbery went to a classic title, JOHNNY TREMAIN by Esther Forbes...but the Caldecott went to MANY MOONS, whose Louis Slobodkin illustrations are so ill-regarded now today they were replaced in a modern edition of this book.

Which Newbery/Caldecott combos can claim to be double-classics?

I’m thinking:

1963 when the Newbery went to A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L’Engle and the Caldecott went to A SNOWY DAY by Ezra Jack Keats.

1970 when the Newbery went to SOUNDER by William Armstrong and the Caldecott went to SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE by William Steig.

1986 when Patricia Maclachlan’s SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL won the Newbery and Chris Van Allsburg’s POLAR EXPRESS got the Caldecott.

Any others?

Although I haven’t been able to pick out one single year -- akin to Hollywood’s 1939 -- that produced a huge number of classic titles, I do think that one can call the early 1960s the “era” which brought us the most groundbreaking children's books. In addition to those from 1963, we could add THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norman Juster (1961), WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE By Maurice Sendak (1963), HARRIET THE SPY (1964), and probably a few other well-remembered titles.

What do you think?


THE GOATS

In last Sunday’s blog, I questioned whether Brock Cole’s THE GOATS has lost any of its luster in recent years. At one point it was considered the go-to example of a particularly fine children’s book, yet I seldom see it cited these days.

Carter commented: "The Goats" hasn't lost its luster here at Simmons College. That, along with Zibby O'Neal's "In Summer Light," are the first two books we read for our introductory course in critical theory and criticism.

Fuse #8 commented: "The Goats" was once on NYPL's Best 100 Children's Books list, which hasn't been updated since [checks files] roughly 1990 or so. To put that in context, "Anna to the Infinite Power" is ALSO on that list. Needless to say, it is no longer on any of the Summer Reading Lists kids hand to us. And our one circulating paperback was tossed during our recent move.

Of course the above two comments are not in conflict. Even if a book is no longer being read in schools or assigned to kids, it can still be worthy of study as an example of great literature. I checked Amazon today and was sorry to see that THE GOATS appears to be out of print in hardcover and IN SUMMER LIGHT (surely one of the best-written young adult novels of all time) is not available in either hardcover OR paperback. Have they become dated in some way, or lost their appeal to kids? What books are turning up on summer reading lists these days? Is it just a matter of older books falling off the list as newer titles are published (how dreary if a list from 2009 had only pre-1990 titles on it) or are books such as THE GOATS no longer on summer reading lists because teachers and librarians have found better options? I'm curious.


NOTE FOR CRUTCHER COLLECTORS

Any new book by Chris Crutcher is an occasion, so I was excited to see his latest, ANGRY MANAGEMENT, had arrived in my bookstore on Friday. As I stood in line at the cash register, I flipped through the pages and noticed the book -- which had just arrived in stores that day -- was already in its second printing. So I put it back on the shelf. My bookstore friend is going to try another distributor for a first edition and she’s usually pretty successful with that, so I’m not “worried” that I won’t get a first edition...but I did want to put the word out to other Crutcher fans: if you’re seeking a first edition, make sure the copy you find has the number “1” in the print run on the copyright page -- otherwise you are getting a later printing.


THE LONG AND WINDING ROADS

Did you ever go on a treasure hunt as a kid? You know the kind I mean: The first clue would say, “Go to something that has a bark” so you’d go to the closest tree and find nothing. Then you’d run off to find the dog, who had a note pinned to her collar that said, “Find a place to put a butt” and you’d look under the ashtray (nothing there!) then run to the seat of the lawn chair, where you’d find your next note, on and on.

I was thinking today that reading books is a little like going on one of those treasure hunts -- because every book you read sends you running off to find another one.

Case in point: the other day I blogged about reading SEVENTEEN by Booth Tarkington. I enjoyed that book so much that I immediately borrowed Tarkington’s MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS from the library. I liked that one so much that I ran off to find the author’s next book, ALICE ADAMS. Remembering that both of these books won the Pulitzer Prize reminded me that I really should read all the Pulitzer fiction winners. (I get on that kick every couple years, read a few more winners, then quit.) So I checked out a half-dozen Pulitzer books next. One was Jean Stafford’s COLLECTED STORIES. That book reminded me that Stafford also wrote a children’s book back in the sixties, ELEPHI, THE CAT WITH THE HIGH IQ, so I jotted that title down to check out next. Plus I did a little reading about Stafford herself and learned there have been some book-length biographies of her, so I wrote those down too. In the meantime, I started reading another Pulitzer winner, THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham, and realized that in order to fully appreciate it, I probably should read MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf, so added that one to my list....

See what I mean? Every book leads to another book. Earlier I likened this to a treasure hunt, but maybe that’s not a good analogy since the path is not nearly that direct. It’s more like every book is a road that forks off into three more roads...and then each of those roads forks off again....

It can be exasperating, but it’s still a fun journey.

Thanks for visiting Collecting Children’s Books. Hope you are having a good holiday weekend -- and that you’ll stop by again.