Halloween Brunch

Happy Halloween! Today’s Sunday Brunch contains some treats and tricks for readers of children’s books. But first, let’s stop at the Johnsons’ house. They’re handing out full-size Baby Ruths and Butterfingers tonight!



PAPER MEMORIES

Several years ago I took a trip to Toronto and stumbled across a store that sold nothing but paper ephemera -- illustrations, advertisements, and other pictures clipped from books, magazines, and calendars. Each illustration was neatly backed by a piece of cardboard and slipped inside a thin plastic bag. The pictures were stored upright in bins, the way old record albums used to be displayed in music stores. They were separated by subject dividers (fruits, musical instruments, fathers and sons, ladybugs) and you’d flip through them the same way we used to flip through lp records. At first I wasn’t exactly sure why this store existed. Why would someone pay $10 for a picture cut from a 1964 LIFE magazine? But I realized that some customers planned to frame these pictures as artwork; other customers were art students who needed sample illustrations of lions or zucchinis. Really, it was kind of a neat store. And I thought I’d finally found a job well-suited to my limited capabilities as an employee. Imagine just sitting around all day cutting pretty pictures from magazines!

I was thinking of that store in Toronto this morning as I flipped through one of my favorite Halloween books:


HALLOWEEN : VINTAGE HOLIDAY GRAPHICS, edited by Jim Heimann and published by Taschen as part of their “Icons” series, is like having the Halloween section of that Toronto paper store within the binding of a book. There are old ads, like the Baby Ruth piece above, that provide a nostalgic look at how Halloween was celebrated in the past. And paging through the book, you may find artwork from your own childhood. Our family had these very same cut-out decorations:


I particularly love the style of these old-school illustrations:


And look how many Halloween motifs are squeezed into this single illustration: a moon, a broom, a cat, a bat, kids bobbing for apples, and a witch in the Stella Dallas role:


I know these images aren’t from children’s books, but they are related to childhood. And wait -- there is at least one illustration with a kid-book connection. Here's a cover from the October 1934 CHILD LIFE magazine, whose contributors that month included two Newbery winners -- Rachel Field and Lois Lenski -- as well as Caldecott winners Dorothy Lathrop and Berta and Elmer Hader:


There are over 200 volumes in the Icons series, including books devoted to vintage Valentine’s and Christmas memorabilia.


BRING BACK THESE HALLOWEEN TREATS!


Spirits are said to arise from the dead on All Hallow’s Eve.

Well, if I had the power bring back books from the dead, here are two Halloween-themed novels that I’d conjure back to life.

For younger readers, I’d summon back THE LITTLE LEFTOVER WITCH by Florence Laughlin. Published by Macmillan in 1960, this perfectly-crafted narrative concerns a young witch who -- due a broom malfunction -- is trapped on earth from one Halloween until the next.


Taken in by Lucinda Doon and her family, Felina-the-witch transforms -- over the course of one year -- from a rather prickly and unlikable character to a charming and likable girl; her peaked witch’s hat is the last of her old life to go, ending up on the head of a snowman during the Christmas holidays. While the tone of the book occasionally gets a little sweet, the compact story is atmospheric and engaging. It’s hard to imagine most readers not falling under its spell.

For older readers, I’d bring back Charles P. Crawford’s 1972 novel BAD FALL. Like THE LITTLE LEFTOVER WITCH, this is a tightly-written and fast-paced tale. But while WITCH is the kind of book that some would classify as “a warm and cozy story,” BAD FALL is edgy and twitchy and unsettling.


Yet there’s not a witch in sight. The novel contains no ghosts, no vampires, and the only monsters are the human kind. Sean tells the story of his friendship with new-kid-in-town Wade Sabbat – a controlling relationship in which Wade slowly seduces Sean into shoplifting and bullying other kids over the course of one autumn season…a “bad fall”…all leading up to Halloween and an abrupt, uncompromising conclusion. Today I came across this comment about BAD FALL from an Amazon.com customer in Minnesota:

I have never been much of a novel reader, but in the mid 1970s, when I was around 11 or 12 years old, I saw this paperback on a table in the front porch of our house. It was a hot, boring summer and I had nothing better to do so I picked it up...having never heard of the book or being familiar with the author.

Several hours later I finally put it down and my life was changed. Not only did I relate to the characters in the book as I had never done before, but it was the first novel that I read that spoke to me. I understood the isolation of the character of Sean and how he could find the wickedness of his new found pal Wade so appealing. The book stimulated in me a love for novels that, for a time, surpassed my fondness for biography, current events and science. To this day, I credit Crawford's work every time I reach for a novel instead of another type of work.

That’s pretty powerful praise, but then the BAD FALL is a pretty powerful book.

I think both THE LITTLE LEFTOVER WITCH and BAD FALL should join the “undead” by being published in new editions for twenty-first century readers.


TRICKSTERS

Incidentally, the reason I used the paperback cover of BAD FALL above -- a picture I poached off the internet -- is because my hardcover copy of this book -- which featured a jagged jack-o-lantern on the cover -- is missing!

I was so careful packing and moving all my books to this new house, but so far I've discovered three titles missing. Strangley, one of the other missing books is also by Charles P. Crawford, THREE-LEGGED RACE.

Obviously I have to do an inventory of my library very soon. I wonder how many other books are missing that I haven't noticed. I wonder what literary Halloween tricksters took or hid them from me?


HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GHOST?

A blog reader sent in a query about a seasonally-themed volume. Does this book ring a bell with anyone?

I'm searching for a book of ghost stories I saw back in 1972. It was in my elementary school library in Ottawa, Canada. It was a drawn and painted illustration of a young confederate ghost and plantation house on cover. The back cover had a few more soldier ghosts floating along in the dark swampy mist.

This illustration actually does sound familiar to me…but I can’t recall a title and a quick look through our library shelves didn’t shake up any ghosts. But I’m anxious to help this reader because he credits that book cover with influencing his current hobby/occupation of creating ghost art. I always love to hear that a children’s book ending up changing one’s entire life and career…so I’d love to be able to track down this book for him. Do you have any ideas?


SEE, I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE

Last week I wrote about having heebie-jeebies at the prospect of writing a world-famous Newbery-winning author. I’ve often wondered if I’m the only person who gets awestruck at the prospect of having contact with a literary idol. I found out I am in good company.

Brian Wilhorn, a teacher from Wisconsin who writes the “Help Readers Love Reading” blog wrote to tell of his experience sharing the novel HOPE WAS HERE with his classes. When the students discovered what they believed to be an error in the book, they did some research, then asked Mr. Wilhorn to contact the author. He was nervous. Brian shares the story on his blog, beginning here and continuing for the rest of the week. Not only does the blog contain the students’ letter to Joan Bauer, but it also includes her response, a review of HOPE WAS HERE, and a list of all the political topics mentioned in this novel.


WHEN I’M CALLING YOU

Back when I was growing up in the Jurassic era, whenever we went to friends’ houses, we would stand outside the door (usually the back or side door for some reason) and call their names until they answered. I remember standing in the cold, stamping my feet on people’s porches and calling-calling-CALLING, never knowing if the family inside could hear me or if they were home at all. Also, you never knew whether to kick it up a notch to make SURE they were home or call more quietly so their neighbors wouldn’t get mad at you for disturbing the peace. Two-syllable names were great for calling. One-syllable names didn’t work as well. If a friend had a single-syllable name, you usually had to add a syllable to it when calling, so “Liz” became “LEEEE-uz!” and “Tim” became “TEEE-um.”

This was in the sixties, in the Midwest.

Did you “call” your friends too, or was that something we did only in my area and era?

I’ve noticed that the days of “calling” seem to be over. In recent years, I’ve seen even teeny-tiny kids approach their friends’ front doors (we had to use the back door!) and knock or ring the bell like little adults. These days they probably don’t even do that. Now they probably TEXT from the driveway!

Anyway, even though there seems to be a tradition of “calling,” at least when I was growing up, I am hard-pressed to think of a single example of kids “calling their friends” from the porch or back door in any children’s book past or present.

Can you re-“call” any examples from literature?


ON THE EDGE

Last Sunday I wrote about words being printed on the fore-edge of Pittacus Lore’s I AM NUMBER FOUR as part of the book’s design. Since then, a couple people have suggested I check out the writings of dustjacket designer and novelist Chip Kidd. A bookselling friend reported, “He said he did his novel CHEESE MONKEYS that way, with words on the side, because he remembered writing on his books in high school to show it was his book, same in college.” My friend said that, depending on how you look at the edge of the book, it either says GOOD IS DEAD or DO YOU SEE.

I’ve got to track down a copy of that!


THE KNEEBONE’S CONNECTED TO THE....

I probably never would have picked up THE KNEEBONE BOY on my own accord. I hate the cover with its awful staring kids (I thought of them as Wednesday, Pugsley, and Cousin It) and am not at all fond of books where characters have last names like “Hardscrabble.” Well, it’s okay when Dickens does it, but otherwise I find it a rather arch and lemony (if you know what I mean) device that almost always signals a parody and makes me think I shouldn’t take the book too seriously. I find this kind of affected writing usually provides more style than substance. Still, a great many people whose opinions I respect are trumpeting this book -- with at least one saying it deserves Newbery consideration -- so I knew I’d better read it.


Thirteen-year-old Otto Hardscrabble (who suffers from that disease which impacts children’s book characters in epidemic proportions – elective mutism) and his younger siblings Lucia and Max live in the English village of Little Tunks. Their mother is missing. Their artist father frequently leaves town to paint portraits of deposed royalty. When Dad must quickly go away on business, the kids end up -- through a series of confusions and complications (let’s call the “unfortunate events”) -- traveling to a seaside village where they find lodgings in a miniature castle, meet their surprisingly-young great aunt, and learn the local legend of the Kneebone Boy, who was kept captive in his own family’s castle many years earlier.

The book contains some intriguing elements, including an unidentified narrator (“I can’t tell you which Hardscrabble I am – Otto, Lucia, or Max – because I’ve sworn on pain of torture not to”) but the story takes a long time to get going (it’s ages before we hear much about the Kneebone Boy) and the conclusion is darker, sadder and more “real world” than the whimsical antics that have led up to it. The denouement also opens up a whole new set of questions that probably shouldn’t be examined too closely or the whole plot of the book gets shaky.

The arch prose makes Otto, Lucia, and Max seem remote, while other characters, such as Great-aunt Haddie, remain vague and contradictory. And while the kids sound British enough in their dialogue, the narrative of the book -- which is supposed to have been written by one of the siblings -- doesn’t much reflect the “Britishness” of the narrator. One seldom feels an English kid is telling this story.

THE KNEEBONE BOY has entertaining moments, yet some readers may find that reaching the jarring and unsatisfying conclusion after nearly 300 pages of stylized writing matches the dictionary definition of “hardscrabble” -- yielding meagerly in return for much effort.


WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE “DISCOVERED”?

It may only take 250 words.

I just received this press release and thought I’d pass it on to my competitors…I mean, blog readers:

Have a young adult novel—or a YA novel idea—tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel and you can win both exposure to editors, and a reading of your manuscript from one of New York’s TOP literary agents Regina Brooks.

Regina Brooks is the founder of Serendipity Literary Agency and the author of Writing Great Books for Young Adults. Brooks has been instrumental at establishing and building the careers of many YA writers, including three-time National Book Award Honoree and Michael Printz Honoree Marilyn Nelson, as well as Sundee Frazier—a Coretta Scott King Award winner, an Oprah Book Pick and an Al Roker book club selection. As an agent, she is known for her ability to turn raw talent into successful authors.

NOVEMBER IS NaNoWriMo: In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)—an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days—this contest is meant to encourage the aspiring YA author to get started on that novel by offering an incentive for completing the first 250 words.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: The top 20 submissions will all be read by a panel of five judges comprised of top YA editors at MacMillan, Scholastic, Candlewick, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Penguin. The first 100 will receive free autographed copies of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks. Of the 20, they will pick the top five submissions and provide each author with commentary. These five winners will also receive a free ONE YEAR subscription to The Writer magazine. ONE Grand Prize Winner will win a full manuscript reading and editorial consultation from Regina Brooks and free 10-week writing course courtesy of the Gotham Writer’s Workshop.

Please submit all entries via the contest website at WritingClasses.com/YAPitch. One entry per person; anyone age 13+ can apply. Open to the U.S. & Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01am (ET) November 1 until 11:59pm (ET), November 30th

So enter now! http://bit.ly/YAContest

GREAT PRIZES: The Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to submit an entire manuscript to YA literary agent Regina Brooks AND receive a free, 10-week writing course, courtesy of Gotham Writers' Workshop.

The Top Five Entrants (including the Grand Prize winner) will receive a 15-minute, one-on-one pitch session with Regina Brooks, one of New York’s premier literary agents for young adult books. They will also receive commentary on their submissions by editors, Scholastic, Macmillan, Penguin, Harlequin, Candlewick, and Sourcebooks. In addition, they will receive a year’s subscription to The Writer magazine!

JUDGING: YA literary agent Regina Brooks and her team , will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by Nancy Mercado, Executive Editor at Roaring Brook Press(Macmillan); Nicole Raymond, Editor at Candlewick; Cheryl Klein, Senior Editor at Arthur Levine Books (Scholastic); Leila Sales, Editor Viking (Penguin) Evette Porter, Editor at Harlequin and Leah Hultenschmidt, Executive Editor at Sourcebooks. These judges will whittle the top 20 down to five, and each of the five winners will be provided commentary on their submissions.

I can’t vouch for the legitimacy of this contest, except to say that all the individuals and publishers listed above are highly reputable, so I assume this contest must be “the real thing.”


THOUGH I GUESS I SHOULDN’T BOTHER ENTERING….

I’ve mentioned before that I’m going to be one of the judges for the LA TIMES Book Prize in the Young Adult category. The books have been trickling in, though it’s a wonder they ever arrive consider no one ever spells my name correctly on the packages.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. My retirement fund has been sending me letters for TWENTY YEARS with my name spelled S-I-E-R-U-T-O. (I think it’s a plot. They’re going to wait till I try to claim my money and then tell me there is nobody by the name of Peter Sieruta in their fund, only Peter Sieruto -- who is obviously a different person.)

In the meantime, Random House:


is calling me Peter S-L-E-R-U-T-A, and Houghton Mifflin:


thinks I’m Peter S-T-E-R-V-T-A.

It’s no wonder I’ve never had the career I imagined. No one ever sends me book contracts or job offers -- or even advance reading copies! Meanwhile, somewhere in the United States, three guys named Peter Sieruto, Peter Sleruta, and Peter Stervta are sitting pretty, reaping the benfits of my labors!


HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Boy, it’s taken all day to write this blog. It’s now Halloween night. I’ve got my first fire of the season going in the fireplace and I’m going to sit down shortly to a traditional Stervta...I mean SIERUTA...Halloween meal of chili, cornbread, and cider. I’ve also got a pumpkin. In the spirit of “choose your own adventure books,” one side is scary:


and the other is smiling:


So now I can turn the pumpkin around to reflect whatever mood I’m in.

Happy Halloween! May you encounter more smiling pumpkins than scary ones on this dark and spooky night!

October 24 Sunday Brunch

Another helping of random info and opinions on children’s books, presented Sunday brunch style.


NOSTALGIA

Yesterday I learned about a website devoted to the neighborhood in Detroit where I grew up. Then I was up half the night, reading all the discussions and staring at the pictures people had posted from the sixties and seventies. It was a nostalgia overload. In looking at the photos, every house looked strangely familiar. That’s not surprising, I guess, since most of the buildings in that neighborhood were designed in similar styles. The insides of the homes also brought back memories, because they were decorated much like everybody's house in that era. And the kids all looked familiar because we all pretty much had the same haircut and wore similar clothes during any given year. I think you could put a hundred photographs in front of me, all taken at different times and different places across the United States, and I’d be able to pick out the one from our Detroit neighborhood in 1969. Even though I didn’t know most of the individuals posting on the board -- and probably had very little in common with them when we were growing up -- I realized that we were all now bound by our shared memories of a special place and time.

I feel the same way when working on this blog. Sometimes I’ll mention a book I read in my childhood and someone will post a comment stating their own memories of that novel. Other times someone will recall a title from their youth and I’ll immediately think, “Oh yeah, I remember that one!” and a connection is made across miles and time. The books we read in childhood -- like the neighborhoods we grew up in -- unite strangers through shared memories.


WAS IT YOU?

Someone asked me the other day if I’d participated in the CHARLOTTE’S WEB auction. I said I hadn’t been on eBay in a while and why would I bid on that book when I already own a copy?

They explained (patiently, because I’m kind of dumb that way) that they were referring to the big auction of original artwork from CHARLOTTE’S WEB that was being offered by Heritage Auction Galleries last week. Garth Williams’ iconic illustrations for the E.B. White classics were, according to a friend, “estimated to go from $1,500-$3,000 for the lesser pieces, $8,000-$15,000 for the better pieces and $18,000-$25,000 for the cover.”

As it turned out, eighteen pieces sold for between $1000 and $10,000, nineteen pieces sold for between $10,001 and $100,000 and the original cover alone sold for a jaw-dropping, head-smacking, eye-rolling $155,000!


The winning bidder asked to remain anonymous.

Was it you?


IT WASN’T ME

I sure wasn't the anonymous bidder.

Heck, I was stretching my own budget just to spend $25 on this book:


I’ve been blogging a lot about the Newbery nominations from the 1970s lately, and this book from the lists stuck out for me, as it was one title I wasn’t able to track down and read back then. Thirty-plus years later, still intrigued, I decided to hunt down a copy. I found this one online and ordered it last week. It appears to be one of those rare adult books that received Newbery consideration. It’s a story of political exiles in Siberia and involves accusations of witchcraft. According to the dustjacket: “Witch hunting went on in Russia, especially Siberia, much longer than in the Western world. As late as the last quarter of the nineteenth century, there were episodes of witch burnings.” (Good thing Christine O’Donnell wasn’t around back then.)

I’m very intrigued by THE WITCHES OF BARGUZIN and think it will make good reading for the week of Halloween. Incidentally, author Kyra Petrovskaya Wayne was originally from Russia and worked in Leningrad as an actress and singer before immigrating to the U.S. in 1948.

One of the reasons I purchased this book, rather than just borrow it through library interloan, was because it seemed to be a special copy. It contained three publicity photos of the author, each signed on the back. She appears to be quite glamorous:


But this is the photo that REALLY intrigues me:


What in the world does this pose and outfit mean?

And what if she’d actually won the Newbery and appeared on stage to accept her medal in this get-up?


ANOTHER BIRTHDAY PRESENT

Last week I showed off a few of the book-related presents I received for my birthday. Here is another -- an ARC (advance reading copy) of SNOOK ALONE, written by Marilyn Nelson and and illustrated by Timothy Basing Ering:


My very kind friend had the opportunity to meet both author and illustrator, each of whom signed this copy:


SNOOK ALONE concerns a rat terrier who lives happily with his companion, a monk named Abba Jacob, “on an island in a faraway sea.” The poetic, often witty text, describes the daily routine of man and dog, which is interrupted when Abba Jacob assists with a special project on nearby Avocaire Island. When a furious gale arises, Snook does not hear Abba Jacob calling for him and is left behind when the monk is removed from Avocaire to the safety of a larger island. This begins a period of several days in which the lonely dog must fend for himself on the deserted island. And in between scary and poignant adventures with a land crab and a sea turtle,

Snook sat still enough
to find the shared silence
of Abba Jacob’s chapel
under the rhythmic surge of surf.
He could almost hear,
almost make out,
like a whisper in a cyclone,
the voice he was waiting to hear.
“Good boy, Snook. Good dog.”

Readers will be moved by the joyous reunion of man and dog. Ering’s beautiful and animated color illustrations make a good match for Nelson’s sensitive text, though Abba Jacob’s stylized appearance seems more appropriate for a comic strip than for this quietly affecting story.


SAD

I just Googled the title SNOOK ALONE.

There are 1600 references to the book on the net.

Then I Googled the name “Snooki.”

There are over 3 MILLION references to her.

Trash trumps art, yet again.

Oh, and guess what: Snooki is writing a book -- due to be published in January 2011.

Sad to say, it will no doubt receive more publicity and sell more copies than SNOOK ALONE.



LIFE AFTER OPRAH

When I was a teenager, I had a number of friends who went to a local Catholic high school. At the beginning of each semester they had to buy their books, and they’d frequently mark them to identify them. One of the most frequent gimmicks was to write their name across the fore edge of their books. Defacing a book? I was horrified. Besides, I went to public school. We got our books free, had to turn them back in at the end of the semester, and would have been sent to the principal’s office if we wrote anything on our textbooks.

So I was intrigued to see this writing-on-the-fore-edge technique is now being used as part of the book design for I AM THE NUMBER FOUR by Pittacus Lore. The name of the series is printed right across the edge of the pages:


Have you ever seen this gimmick on a book before (not counting textbooks used by Catholic schoolkids?) I know that antiquarian books sometimes feature dappled designs or even illustrations on the fore edge, but no writing as far as I know. Is this a first in modern children’s/young adult publishing?

I AM NUMBER FOUR is the first volume in a six-book series about teenage aliens hiding out on Earth.

You probably know that Pittacus Lore is the pseudonym (what, it isn’t his real name?) for James Frey and a young author named Jobie Hughes.

Yeah, the same James Frey who was taken to the woodshed by Oprah Winfrey.

Now he’s back on top of the bestseller lists with this YA book – and Steven Spielberg is producing a movie version, due out next year (soon after Snooki’s book is released.)

Wonder if Oprah will have him on to promote the movie?


QUESTION ANSWERED…BY NEWBERY WINNER!

Last Sunday I posted the following title request from a blog reader:

I read this book in 1973. It is the story of one of Cinderella's mice that only half ways transforms back the next day, becoming a mousy little man. As I recall, most of the plot concerns the glass slipper as the McGuffin, and the intrigues of getting Cinderella to her happy ending. It is a (short) chapter book, with line illustrations. I do not know the title or author.

Someone wrote in with the correct answer to this question. The book is CINDERS, a 1939 novel by Katherine Gibson.

The person who requested the information was delighted to finally learn the title of this childhood favorite.

But to me the most exciting part of the story is that the question was answered by none other than Laura Amy Schlitz -- who not only wrote the award-winning GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES!, but also wrote another personal favorite of mine, A DROWNED MAIDEN’S HAIR.

How cool is that?

Actually, several months ago, Ms. Schlitz sent me a very flattering e-mail. I was in the crazed midst of moving at the time, so set it aside to answer later…but I kept putting it off because I was too intimidated to write a letter to a Newbery Medalist.

I know, she wouldn’t really send my letter back with the grammar and spelling corrected…but what if she did?

And more than that: what do you say to someone whose work you admire so much?

I know plenty of people who aren’t the least bit shy or intimidated by famous writers, but I’m not one of them. I’m awestruck and starstruck and when I attend a booksigning, I generally just hand my books to the author and then mutter thanks when they're done, rather than stutter and stammer and blather and look like an idiot.

When it comes to famous authors, I tend to follow the advice of Abraham Lincoln, who said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

But, still, I think I’d better write her back and say thank you….

My keyboard is already s-s-s-tuttering and sta---amm—ering!

Does anyone have any entertaining stories about talking to or writing to authors you idolize? If so, I'd love to hear them. Please send them in!

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

Moments in Time

One of my best blogging moments occurred a couple weeks back, when I published the 1973 through 1976 preliminary lists of Newbery nominees. This was, I believe, the first time these lists had appeared on the internet and I was excited to be the one who shared them. As discussed before, these nomination lists had a huge influence on my own work as a writer and a reader. I’ve often wondered how the listed authors felt when they learned their books were nominated for the Newbery. Did it give them a boost of self-confidence? Did it provide more publishing opportunities for them? Former Harper editor Fran Manushkin wrote to say she was “delighted to see C. L. Rinaldo's first and only novel on the list. I was its editor at Harper & Row --it was an unsolicited ms.” We actually have two copies of this book in the library where I work, on the shelf right outside my office, so I see it every night when I close up shop and lock the door. It’s been over thirty years since I read it, but I remember DARK DREAMS as a quiet, unsettling novel -- one that might not have widespread appeal, but would strongly impact special readers. If C. L. Rinaldo had won the Newbery, would we now see an entire row of the author’s books on the shelves, or would this still be the only one?

I was also thrilled to get this note from author Elizabeth Winthrop, who found her books WALKING AWAY and A LITTLE DEMONSTRATION OF AFFECTION on the lists:

Peter, a million thanks to you. I had no idea until you posted these lists that my first two novels were considered for the Newbery. What a lovely piece of my own publishing history you've just given me.

I remember both Ms. Winthrop’s books very well. In fact, A LITTLE DEMONSTRATION OF AFFECTION has never completely left my mind since 1975. What a daring, yet subtle, novel. The story concerns a summer of growing closeness between thirteen-year-old Jenny and her older brother. After their dog is killed, the two reach out to each other (“She pressed her face against his chest, smelling the clean cotton of his shirt and the damp skin beneath. He was kissing the top of her head and whispering to her, “Oh Jenny, God.” They rocked gently together, his hand sliding over and over again down the smooth length of her hair. The trembling finally stopped, but they hung on to each other for a very long time. “) and the narrative sensitively describes their subsequent confusion. Thinking about this book today, I wonder if it could ever be published in 2010. It actually seems too grown-up to be published today. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: how could a story written way back before the Bicentennial be considered too mature for the let-it-all-hang-out YA literary pantheon of the 21st century? But I can’t help but think if such a novel were written today, it would be trumpeted as a book about incest or sexual abuse rather than a wonderfully thoughtful and emotional examination of “a little demonstration of affection.”

I felt the same way when I saw Isabelle Holland’s 1972 novel THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE on the Newbery nomination list. One of the most acclaimed books of the early seventies, it became a minor classic and remains in print today. Charles narrates the story of his fourteenth summer, during which the lonely teenager is tutored by Justin McLeod, a local teacher with a horribly scarred face. Their relationship culminates (again, after the death of a dog) in a subtly-portrayed sexual incident. The reviews were excellent. The New York Times, in describing the relationship between Charles and Mr. McLeod, said, ““Their sublimated love leads to the expected -- a sort of homosexual “Summer of ‘42” sexual experience (carefully not described in in the book.)” The Horn Book noted, “The author handles the homosexual experience with taste and discretion; the act of love between Justin and Charles is a necessary emotional catharsis for the boy within the context of his story, and is developed with perception and restraint.” Of the original 1972 reviews I've tracked down, I've only found one -- from Lillian Gerhardt in Library Journal -- that utters the “P” word: "pederast." Yet one wonders, again, if such a novel could be published in 2010 without being described as a book about child molestation or pedophilia. Look at a few of the harsher Amazon.com reviews from contemporary readers. One says, “Child molesters only need read," then compares it to the Mel Gibson filmization: “In the film we have a noble soul, the teacher, who has had his life ruined by false accusations. In the book we have a pervert who rapes little boys" and concludes with “The book should have ended with the teacher being strung up to die; that was the fate he deserved.” Another reader complains: "The scenes are graphic, and the author's not really condemnatory about it at all. I sent a notification to Amazon about this, citing chapter and verse from the text, but they ignored my communication and, to my amazement, are still selling it.”

It's fascinating to see how perspectives change over time.

The Newbery nomination lists from the 1970s very effectively showcase a "moment in time." Books for kids were "growing up" and dealing with more mature topics. For the most part, people seemed to be fairly accepting of these books. I don't recall hearing the words "incest" or "child molestation" bandied about. I don't remember these two novels being challenged in libraries back then.

But I think they might be, if they were released for the first time today.

Of course, if published these days, they'd likely be much more explicit in both description and language. Despite the Amazon reviewer's comment about the "graphic" scenes, the incident in THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE is so subtly portrayed that it went right over my (naive young) head when I first read the book as a teenager. Books in the seventies tended to be subtler, quieter, more introspective.

Heck, DARK DREAMS is probably too quiet and introspective to be published today as well.

Ultimately, any list of books from any given year provides a photograph of its era. Five years ago we were complaining about pastel candy-colored bookjackets and the proliferation of "chicklit." Today you go in a bookstore and see mostly dark dustjackets and themes. Vampires. Werewolves. Dystopias. Every other book is 500 pages. Every third protagonist has Asperger's.

Rightly, wrongly, love it, hate it -- it's our moment in time.

Thirty years from now, what will they think of us?