Today's Brunch Includes Birthday Cake Crumbs

I used to know this girl who had an October birthday, just like me.

Starting around October first, she’d begin attending a series of parties, dinners, and other special events -- all celebrating her upcoming birthday. Every morning she’d arrive at the office with tales of the previous evening’s festivities -- a bowling party with former co-workers, drinks with an old college chum, a spaghetti dinner with her parents and sister -- and show off the gifts she’d received. Her birthday fell in the middle of the month, just like mine, but she didn’t stop celebrating then. The fun continued with midnight hayrides, an evening at a dance club, and a surprise birthday party given by neighbors. Around Halloween I finally said to her, “You had another party last night? I thought your birthday was WEEKS ago?”

“It was,” she responded. “But I like to keep the celebration going for the whole month.”

Back then, I probably rolled my eyes. But now I can empathize. Since I was kind of cheated out of my “Big Birthday” (you know, the kind where you change BOTH digits) last week due to car problems, I’ve been trying to continue the celebration all week long. In fact, because I spent last Monday -- my real birthday -- getting up at dawn, having my car towed, and negotiating the purchase of a new vehicle, I’ve decided to take tomorrow off work and pretend that I’m getting an extra birthday this year.

Not that October 13 didn’t have its fun moments. It was nice to get a brand new car (a Ford Focus -- gold because it was my golden annivesary of being alive), but I’m not sure one can call it a “present” since I’m going to being making payments on it for the next how-many birthdays. But the rest of the day was nice and included cards and e-mails from friends, lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant with family, and some great presents. (I’ll share the book-related gifts later in this blog.) And of course I still had that wonderful birthday cake (FIVE layers!) featured in last Sunday’s blog entry. Unfortunately, only the crumbs remain.

I only wish AARP didn’t keep bugging me.

Ever since my birthday they have contacted me not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES, just to remind me how old I’m getting.

I’m just going to ignore them and keep on blogging. Today’s blog contains the usual mix of random facts and opinions on children’s books old and new.

THIS FALL’S HOTTEST BOOK

This fall’s hottest title for young people has to be THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins, a compulsively-readable futuristic novel about a ritualistic sporting event that has higher than normal stakes. (Only the winner comes out alive.) According to my friends at the bookstore, every kid who reads this book immediately begins clamoring for the next volume in the trilogy -- and volume two isn’t due out for at least a year. Suzanne Collins was recently here in Michigan. When I heard that she had agreed to “sign stock” for my favorite bookstore, Bookbeat, I dropped off my copies of THE HUNGER GAMES in hopes they’d be signed. Long-time readers of this blog may remember that some months ago I bartered for a spiral-bound “second draft” of this manuscript. I was thrilled that Ms. Collins signed that copy, plus my hardcover first edition, last week. What a treasure!



IF KIDS COULD VOTE

The presidential election is only a couple weeks away. I was wondering how our candidates were faring in the world of children’s books, so visited Amazon.com where I learned there are 54 current or forthcoming kids’ titles that cite the name Barack Obama and 91 that reference John McCain.

The top Obama title is BARACK OBAMA : SON OF PROMISE, CHILD OF HOPE, written by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Bryan Collier, while the most popular McCain book is MY DAD, JOHN MCCAIN, written by the senator’s daughter Meghan McCain and illustrated by Dan Andreasen.

The current sales ranking for the Obama title is #714, with McCain ranked #984.

I wonder how these “poll numbers” will compare to the general election numbers.

SPEAKING OF AMAZON

A couple weeks ago I heard Heather Henson and David Small talk about their fine new picture book, THAT BOOK WOMAN. Ms. Henson mentioned a customer review on Amazon.com in which someone said, “Caldecott winner David Small's illustrations are...well, Caldecott worthy as usual. (But I'm wondering where them tow-headed twins come from with Mama, Pap, Cal and Lark all with hair black as night.)”

Henson then showed a picture of her own family -- all with hair black as night...except for her own tow-headed twins.

WHAT CHILDREN’S BOOKS DO AUTHORS READ?

I’m always curious to hear authors talk about their own favorite books. I was once at an author event where a kid asked Lois Lowry if she reads children’s books and she said, “I’m an adult and I read adult books.” As an adult who reads all kinds of books, I was sorry to hear that. (But if reading mainly adult books causes her to write such brilliant chidren’s books as THE GIVER and the “Anastasia Krupnik” series, who am I to say she is wrong?)

I was tickled to learn that my favorite writer, M.E. Kerr, is a big fan of AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS by Gennifer Choldenko.

Then there's the late Newbery-winner Maia Wojciechowska,who didn’t like much of anything. In an introduction to the 1970 paperback edition of THE SPIRIT OF JEM by P.H. Newby, Wojciechowska begins, “Recently someone asked me to speak on the subject of children’s books and I said, ‘Fine, but I’ll have to blast them because I think most of them dreadful. I’ve enjoyed only three recently published books, A WRINKLE IN TIME, HARRIET THE SPY and JAZZ COUNTRY.’ So they said, ‘Thank you anyway’ and of course I didn’t give my speech.” (She then goes on to say that she’d just read THE SPIRIT OF JEM and would add it to her list of good books.)

THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL

Frankly, I’m surprised Maia didn’t include a few of her OWN titles on her list of good books. She was never shy about promoting them. In her novel THE ROTTEN YEARS (talk about dreadful books! Though I’ll be the first to admit this book is both dreadful and dreadfully fascinating), she has a teacher (who serves mainly as a mouthpiece for Wojciechowska’s own idiosyncratic beliefs) give a reading list of “great books” to her students...and it includes the Maia Wojciechowska novel DON’T PLAY DEAD BEFORE YOU HAVE TO front and center!

But Maia’s got nothing on Bette Greene in the “I Love Me” Sweepstakes. In her novel THE DROWNING OF STEPHAN JONES, Ms. Greene has her protagonist writing an essay for school about the book SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER...writtten by none other than Bette Greene!

And Clement Hurd includes a graphic reference to THE RUNAWAY BUNNY in GOODNIGHT MOON.

Can you think of any more self-referential (some might even say “self-reverential”) moments in children’s books?

CHAINS WILL BE ADDING ANOTHER LINK

CHAINS by Laurie Halse Anderson was nominated for a National Book Award this week. I’ve heard nothing but great things about this title and can’t wait to read it. But one thing I haven’t heard mentioned too often is that CHAINS is the first of a series. Maybe early reviewers were not aware of this because that information wasn’t included in the advance reading copies that went out to critics. But in the hardcover edition, the last page tells us that the next volume will be called FORGE:


I wonder if Anderson originally wrote her manuscript as one gi-normous book which the editors decided to divide into two volumes, or if she first wrote CHAINS and then later began writing a sequel. It will be interesting to learn more about this.

BIRTHDAY BOOKS

Earlier I spoke of receiving lots of books for my birthday, so I thought I’d share them with you in today’s blog. Here’s a must for any children’s book enthusiast -- MORROW JUNIOR BOOKS : THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS by Leonard S. Marcus, which covers the history of the publisher who brought us Beverly Cleary, Carolyn Haywood, and so many others. If you can track down a copy of this softbound volume, make sure it includes the pull-out poster by Stephen Kellogg:


I also received a program for this year’s Newbery-Caldecott Awards dinner. I was thrilled to add it to my shelves, right beside the winning books from 2008:


I love the old Scholastic paperbacks from the 1950s and 1960s. A book-buddy sent me this edition of TROUBLE AFTER SCHOOL by Jerrold Beim. I’m not familiar with this title at all, but am anxious to read this good-kid-gone-bad story from 1957:


The back pages of the book have an order form listing many more Scholastic titles, such as MiSS PICKERELL GOES TO MARS by Ellen MacGregor, YOURS TILL NIAGARA FALLS by Lillian Morrison, and REVOLT ON ALPHA C by Robert Silverberg -- all for 25¢ a piece, plus 5¢ shipping and handling. Oh how tempted I am to send in this order form from so many years ago...just to see what kind of response I’d get!

Incidentally, the same book-buddy who got me into “trouble after school” sent me a huge box of ARCs (advance reading copies) of children’s and young adult books...some of which won’t be published till next summer. How cool is that? These are only SOME of them:


And my parents gave me this big volume which isn’t, specifically, a children’s book, but will evoke childhood memories, as it contains news items, ephemera, hilarious advertisements, and assorted facts about sports and entertainment from the year 1958.


The publisher, Flickback Media, has issued volumes like this for most years and they make great birthday gifts. I know I thought it was a great birthday gift. Though I’m confused. Why did my parents give me this volume for 1958 when I was actually born in 1978?

Yeah.

Right.

If you buy that, you might also be interested in buying this:


(And no, I’m not talking about buying the BOOK called BROOKLYN BRIDGE by Karen Hesse -- also a b’day present from a book-collecting bud -- I’m talking about buying the actual Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Because if you believe I was actually born in 1978, you’ll buy ANYTHING!)

Thanks, as always, for visiting my blog!

The NBA : Where Amazing Happens?

I was really looking forward to hearing yesterday's nominations for the National Book Awards...especially when I learned that the NBA had a new slogan this year: "Where Amazing Happens!"

So when the list of nominated titles finally showed up online around noontime, I quickly scanned past the categories of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, eager to see what amazing books for young people were nominated. (I was reminded of Bill Murray presenting his Academy Award picks back in the early days of Saturday Night Live. "Supporting Actor and Actress?" he'd say, wiping the names of the nominees off his magnet-board prop with the brush of a hand: "Who cares?") Adult fiction, nonfiction, and poetry? Who cares? (...Well, I actually do care, but I just care a lot more about the children's book category.)

Finally I found the list of this year's nominees:

Laurie Halse Anderson, CHAINS
Kathi Appelt, THE UNDERNEATH
Judy Blundell, WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED
E. Lockhart, THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS
Tim Tharp, THE SPECTACULAR NOW

I already owned two of these books, but rushed out to find the others. "This must be good," I told the clerk at the bookstore while she rang up WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED. "After all, the NBA's slogan is 'Where Amazing Happens.'"

"Uh...that's the slogan for the National Basketball Association, not the National Book Award."

Suitably chagrined, I reverted from Bill Murray to another SNL favorite, Emily Litella, and said, "Oh. ...Never mind."

(Well, to a children's book person, the NBA is the National Book Award.)

Since I haven't yet read all this year's nominees, I have no idea if they are amazing or not. Some past winners are true classics (Louis Sachar's HOLES is one example) while others have long since been remaindered and pulped (that paper coffee cup you're drinking from? In a past life it was the NBA winner from 1979, BERT BREEN'S BARN.)

The National Book Awards began in 1950 as an "award given to writers by writers." A category for children's literature did not exist until 1969 when Meindert DeJong's A JOURNEY FROM PEPPERMINT STREET beat out fellow nominees THE HIGH KING (Lloyd Alexander), CONSTANCE (Patricia Clapp), THE ENDLESS STEPPE (Esther Hautzig) and LANGSTON HUGHES (a biography by Milton Meltzer.) DeJong wrote some classic books in his time, but I'm not sure that PEPPERMINT STREET ranks among his very finest. It seems more like a "career capper" in honor of the author's entire body of work. Actually, many of the early winners feel that way to me. Consider the following year when Isaac Bashevis Singer won for A DAY OF PLEASURE : STORIES OF A BOY GROWING UP IN WARSAW over Vera and Bill Cleaver's WHERE THE LILIES BLOOM, Edna Mitchell Preston's POPCORN AND MA GOODNESS, William Steig's Caldecott-winner SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE and Edwin Tunis's THE YOUNG UNITED STATES, 1783-1830. And they did it again in 1971 when Lloyd Alexander won for the okay-but-certainly-not-his-best MARVELOUS MISADVENTURES OF SEBASTIAN over GROVER by Vera and Bill Cleaver, BLOWFISH LIVE IN THE SEA by Paula Fox, FROG AND TOAD ARE FRIENDS by Arnold Lobel and E.B. White's THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN. You can almost hear the committee thinking, "Well, Lloyd didn't get it for THE HIGH KING, so let's make it up to him this year."

The following year things got CRAZY.

The children's category included one fairly dismissable book (THE ART AND INDUSTRY OF SANDCASTLES by Jan Adkins); one controversial story which included even more deaths than THE HUNGER GAMES (WILD IN THE WORLD by John Donovon); and a passel of great and greatish books including THE PLANET OF JUNIOR BROWN (Virginia Hamilton), HIS OWN WHERE (June Jordan), THE TOMBS OF ATUAN (Ursula K. LeGuin), MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH (Robert C. O'Brien), HILDIDID'S NIGHT (Cheli Duran Ryan), THE BEARS HOUSE (Marilyn Sachs), AMOS & BORIS (William Steig), and FATHER FOX'S PENNYRHYMES (Clyde and Wendy Watson.) So what won? THE SLIGHTLY IRREGULAR FIRE ENGINE OR THE HITHERING THITHERING DJINN, a surreal and psychodelic volume by adult literary writer Donald Barthelme which would probably best be appreciated by other adults living in that surreal and psychodelic era. As I recall, even one of that year's judges was furious about the book's selection.

1973 gave us an expected and unexciting winner, THE FARTHEST SHORE by Ursula K. LeGuin over a mostly-unexciting field: THE HOUSE OF WINGS (Betsy Byars), TROLLS (Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire), Newbery winner JULIE OF THE WOLVES (Jean Craighead George), CHILDREN OF VIETNAM by Betty Jean Lifton and Thomas C. Fox, THE IMPOSSIBLE PEOPLE by Georgess McHargue (who wrote some great books in the 1970s and then pretty much disappeared from publishing), THE WITCHES OF WORMS by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, and DOMINIC by William Steig.

In '74, Eleanor Cameron won for the rather muted time-travel fantasy THE COURT OF THE STONE CHILDREN over the much more raw and emotional candidates A HERO AIN'T NOTHING BUT A SANDWICH by Alice Childress and SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER by Bette Greene; Caldecott winner DUFFY AND THE DEVIL by Harve and Margot Zemach; Norma Fox Mazer's breakthrough-novel A FIGURE OF SPEECH; strong entries from Vera and Bill Cleaver (THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES OF LITTABELLE LEE) and E.L. Konigsburg (A PROUD TASTE FOR SCARLET AND MINIVER), as well as THE TREASURE IS THE ROSE by Julia Cunninham, GUESTS IN THE PROMISED LAND by Kristin Hunter, and POOR RICHARD IN FRANCE by F.N. Monjo.

Virginia Hamilton made history in 1975, winning both the Newbery and NBA for M.C. HIGGINS THE GREAT. Milton Meltzer made another kind of history, scoring two finalists on the same list: REMEMBER THE DAYS and WORLD OF OUR FATHERS. Natalie Babbit was nommed for THE DEVIL'S STORYBOOK, along with Bruce Buchenholz for DOCTOR IN THE ZOO, James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier for MY BROTHER SAM IS DEAD, and Jason and Ettagale Laure for JOI BANGLA! : THE CHILDREN OF BANGLADESH. I'd like to make special mention of the final three nominees: I TELL A LIE EVERY SO OFTEN by Bruce Clements, WINGS by Adrienne Richard, and THE EDGE OF NEXT YEAR by Mary Stolz -- all great books that no one seems to think about or talk about these days, and all deserving of re-discovery.

The aforementioned coffee cup, BERT BREEN'S BARN, won in 1976 and it's actually a pretty strong, solid historical novel. Competition included Eleanor Cameron for TO THE GREEN MOUNTAINS, Norma Faber for AS I WAS CROSSING BOSTON COMMON, Isabelle Holland's OF LOVE AND DEATH AND OTHER JOURNEYS, Nicolasa Mohr for EL BRONX REMEMBERED, Belinda Wilkinson for LUDELL, and David McCord for his classic poetry volume THE STAR IN THE PAIL.

In 1977 the NBA went to Katherine Paterson for THE MASTER PUPPETEER -- the first major award for this author who went on to win TWO NBAs and TWO Newberys...for four different books! Other nominees were Milton Meltzer for NEVER TO FORGET : THE JEWS OF THE HOLOCAUST, John Ney for OX UNDER PRESSURE (was this a weak year or what?), Mildred D. Taylor for ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY and Barbara Wersba for NOTES FOR A SMALL HARMONICA.

...And if you thought 1977 was a weak year, what about 1978 when the NBA went to a nonfiction book, THE VIEW FROM THE OAK by Judith and Herbert Kohl, which almost no one remembers, and the other nominees were Betty Sue Cummings for HEW AGAINST THE GRAIN (another mostly-forgotten book, though I remember liking it), Ilse Koehn for MISCHLING, SECOND DEGREE (raise your hand if you've ever heard of this book. ...Anyone?), David McCord for ONE AT A TIME and the redoubtable William Steig for CALEB & KATE.

Katherine Paterson was back on top in 1979 with THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS, beating out Lloyd Alexander for THE FIRST TWO LIVES OF LUKAS-KASHA, Vera and Bill Cleaver for QUEEN OF HEARTS (I love this book!), Sid Fleiscman for HUMBUG MOUNTAIN and Paula Fox for THE LITTLE SWINEHERD AND OTHER TALES.

This marked the end of the National Book Awards as we knew them. In 1980 the NBA gave way to the American Book Awards which honored titles in a ridiculous number of categories including prizes for paperbacks which, peculiarly, had 1979's winner THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS competing for top paperback just a year after it won the NBA (and losing to Madeleine L'Engle's A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET.) In 1982 Paterson would be nominated for the paperback version of her NBA-winning THE MASTER PUPPETEER and she'd lose again. The mind boggles.

By 1987, the National Book Awards were restored, but it wasn't until 1996 that a category now called "Young People's Literature" was included. Since then the focus has been on books for older kids and young adults -- and there have been some great winners (HOLES is the only book since M.C. HIGGINS THE GREAT to win both the NBA and the Newbery) as well as some that have left me scratching my head (HOMELESS BIRD by Gloria Whelan is a nice-enough book, but....) It's also served to introduce some exciting new voices (THE PENDERWICKS by Jeanne Birdsall; THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie.) I almost feel like the awards from the current decade are so recent that I haven't had time to develop a perspective on them. I prefer looking back on the earlier years to see which books have held up over time. And see which books have not. To look at which authors were honored (Milton got five nominations, William Steig got four, and so did those clever Cleavers, Vera and Bill) and which were ignored. And I love comparing the NBA winners and and Newberys from year to year.

For whatever reason, the National Book Awards have never acquired the same cachet as the Newbery, though some feel the NBA selections are often more kid-friendly than the titles that end up winning the Big N. I try to make a point of reading all the titles nominated for the National Book Award each year -- mourning the fact that the number of nominees is now strictly five, whereas there used to be as many as ten back in the day. Yes, I've found a fair share of clunkers among the NBA nominees, but I've also discovered many new books that I love. Because you never know where amazing is going to happen.

Today's Brunch Includes Cake!

Here are more random facts and opinions on children’s books from the past and present, along with a slice of birthday cake for dessert.

A LESSON FROM A CHILDREN’S BOOK

Oh for the good only days.

Was it only last Sunday that I used this blog to complain I’d accidentally put my wallet through the washing machine, from pre-soak to spin cycle?

I shouldn’t have complained. I should have learned a lesson from this picture book by Margot Zemach:


Because today I realize that not only COULD things be worse, they ARE worse. Much worse.

On Friday night my not-so-ancient, yet nonetheless falling-apart car -- with its cracked windshield, busted tail light, duct-taped window, broken radio, out-of-alignment tires, terminally-ill catalytic converter, and a myriad of other, even worse, problems -- up and died in a mini-mall parking lot.


I have never, ever had good luck with cars. I have friends who hang onto their cars for ten, fifteen, even twenty years...and I often see them whiz past me on the expressway while my car is pulled over on the side of the road with the hood up, waiting for a towtruck to drag it to the dealer where the mechanic will inevitably shake his head and say, “I’ve never seen THIS problem before.”

I used to have a friend who had only good luck with cars. She once had to drive to the mechanic with her entire engine literally dragging on the ground and jetting streams of liquid fire like Mount Vesuvius ready to blow. Then she arrived at the auto shop:

Friend: My engine fell out.
Mechanic: Oh, all you need is this $1.98 pin to put it back in place.
Friend: Whew!
Mechanic: In fact, do I spy a bobby pin on your head?
Friend: Why, yes. I didn’t have time to fix my hair because my engine was about to explode.
Mechanic: Hand me that bobby pin. It’ll hold your engine in place just as well as this $1.98 gadget I was going to use. ...There you go! It’s fixed. No charge. And here’s a coupon for a free car wash on your way out.

Then there was me, taking my car to the same garage:

Peter: Hi, I’d like to get the $19.95 oil change special.
Mechanic: When you pulled up I heard a clicking sound coming from under your hood.
Peter: I’m sure it’s nothing. Now about that oil ch--
Mechanic (opening hood): Yep, just as I thought. You got a big problem here, bud.
Peter: B-b-big?
Mechanic: Well, I can probably fix it for eighteen hundred dollars--
Peter: Eighteen HUNDRED do--
Mechanic: ‘Course it’ll take three-four days...two weeks tops.
Peter: I’ve got to sit down.
Mechanic: Waiting room’s right around the corner. And remember, if you want a cup of coffee, put a buck in the jar.

Story of my life.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be shopping for a new car I can ill afford.

Oh, and did I mention that tomorrow is my birthday -- one of the Big Ones where you go from one decade to the next? I had taken Monday through Wednesday off work with plans to do nothing but catch up on my reading, relax, and slowly ease into my dotage. I was really looking forward to it (the reading and relaxing part...not the dotage part.) Now I’m going to spend the next three days at the car dealership, bank, insurance company, and Secretary of State with no time to read, much less relax.

Though I'm completely traumatized, I keep trying to remind myself that as horrible as this is, in the words of Margot Zemach:

It could always be (even) worse.

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

A book-selling friend from Ohio recently asked for help in identifying a first edition of Roald Dahl’s 1961 book JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert.


I checked with an expert and discovered the following first-edition points for this classic novel:

The first edition is bound in dark red cloth with an uncolored stamp that features a cameo of James; it's the same illustration that faces the title page inside.

The title is stamped in gold on the spine.

The top of the pages are tinted yellow.

Under very bright light horizontal high-end milling lines are visible on the pages.

Finally -- and this is the easiest method of identifying a first -- on the last page there is “about the author” info, followed by five lines concerning the book’s production:

TEXT SET in Walbaum. COMPOSED BY Clarke & Way, Inc., New York
PRINTED BY Reehl Litho Company, New York
BOUND BY H. Woolf, New York
PAPER SUPPLIED BY P. H. Glatfelter, Spring Grover, Pennsylvania
TYPOGRAPHY BY Tere LoPrete

The fourth line indicating paper supplier was removed in subsequent editions.

...So if you’ve got a dark red book with the top edge of the pages tinted yellow, horizontal milling lines AND a reference to P.H. Glatfelter on the last page, you’ve got a first edition of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and it’s worth between $5000 and $8000!

PETER AND THE GIANT PEACH

The Harry Potter frenzy seems to be dying down now and collecting prices have somewhat stabilized. But for a while there, first editions of the early volumes were selling for four figures on eBay. I was very excited because I had a first edition of HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS -- and planned to sell it as soon as I finished reading it. One day I brought the book to work in my briefcase (that sounds so stuffy; it’s more like a soft faux-leather, briefcase-shaped bag with lots of zippers and pockets.) As it turned out, that day I decided not to eat the peach I’d brought for lunch and stuck it in the briefcase. Then I forgot about it for a few days...a few especially hot summer days. One afternoon I was sitting at my desk and noticed swarms of fruit flies hovering like clouds over my briefcase. I opened one of the many zippers and found that the peach had somehow EXPLODED inside the bag and completely stained Harry Potter’s dustjacket:


and the top spine edge of the book. (Hey Roald Dahl, the top edge of MY book is tinted yellow too, but in this case it came from rotting peach juice:)


You’ll note that the top edge is now stamped by the library and scruffy from patron use. That’s because I ended up donating my damaged copy to the library, rather than earning four figures selling it on eBay.

If it hadn’t have been for that peach, I might have been able to afford this new car.

ADULT OR YOUNG ADULT?


When I was nine or ten years old, I used to see these two versions of the paperback LAST SUMMER by Evan Hunter at every bookstore and magazine stand. The cover of this “explosive novel” had the tagline “FOUR NICE KIDS PLAYING AT SEX AND VIOLENCE.” It seemed so...adult. The book was made into a movie starring Richard Thomas, Bruce Davison, and Barbara Hershey who, for a while, changed her name to Barbara Seagull after she killed a seagull during the making of this film. (I can’t explain that except to say it was the sixties.) The movie was rated R and, rumor had it, originally received an X before being re-edited. Yes, it seemed VERY adult. The other day I happened upon one of these paperback copies and actually read LAST SUMMER for the first time. I was shocked -- not by the content, but by the fact that this novel about four kids ranging in age from 15 to 17 -- is pretty much a young adult novel. What was considered graphic and X-rated in 1968 is pretty much standard YA fare in 2008. In fact, it’s almost tame compared to many teenage books today!In addition to Richard Thomas, Bruce Davison and Barbara Seagull, LAST SUMMER starred a young actress named Catherine Burns who was actually nominated for an Oscar for her performance in this film. Although I was obviously too young to see the movie, I do remember her appearing on television shows during that era. She was also considered a major young stage actress. Then she suddenly disappeared. A quick check of the internet this week showed that many people remember her fondly and wonder what happened to her. One small item mentions that she quit acting to focus on writing and has a “survival job” as a receptionist in New York city. Another item mentions that she once wrote a children’s book called THE WINTER BIRD. I looked up the title and discovered that such a book was published by Windmill in 1971, but have no idea if the author Catherine Burns is actually the same as the actress Catherine Burns. If so, she would only have been 25 when THE WINTER BIRD was published...and that was back in an era before celebrity books for kids were as prevalent. Does anyone know anything about this book and its author?

BIRTHDAY PRESENTS

Although I’m facing a bummer of a birthday tomorrow, I am glad for the presents I’ve received.

A few weeks back, I even bought myself a birthday present -- a signed first edition of the book that won the Newbery the year I was born, RIFLES FOR WATIE by Harold Keith. It celebrates its golden anniversary this year. Just like me.


Then on Friday I received a gift from a book-collecting friend on the east coast -- a personally inscribed copy of BROOKLYN BRIDGE by Karen Hesse! I have no idea how my friend arranged to get this inscription, but I’m thrilled to add it to my shelves! Karen Hesse is one of my favorites authors and BROOKLYN BRIDGE is being talked-up for the 2009 Newbery Medal.


Also, if I swivel my chair I can see a box behind me that I received from another book-collecting buddy. I’m saving it to open tomorrow, but have been told contains many, many colored-coded birthday presents -- including a signed copy of another book being talked-up for the 2009 Newbery, MY ONE HUNDRED ADVENTURES by Polly Horvath.

I’m so grateful for these gifts.

And even more grateful to have book-collecting friends who are now simply friend-friends.

A PIECE OF CAKE

Speaking of thankfulness, did you know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving? Well, not where I Iive...but it’s Thanksgiving right across the river from where I work -- in Canada. And tomorrow is also Columbus Day here in the States. And Marie Osmond’s birthday. And my birthday. There will be no mail delivery tomorrow either, but I think that has more to do with Christopher C. than with me and Marie.

Anyway, since I was going to be celebrating a Big Birthday, I decided to splurge on a store-bought cake from a fancy bakery. I ordered it before the stock market crashed and before my car died. Oh well. Here’s what it looks like:


Thanks for dropping by my blog. Now have a slice of birthday cake.