February 12 Sunday Brunch

I'm sorry this blog has been so erratic of late.

In the words of Roseanne Roseannadanna, "It's always something!"

Actually, I had to skip last weekend's brunch for a happy reason. I spent much of Saturday on a conference call with Cindy Dobrez and Angelina Benedetti, as we deliberated our selections for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. There were about 120 young adult books on our initial list, which we narrowed down to around 20 for serious deliberations. If was very difficult to whittle those 20 down to a shortlist of five. Every cut hurt, and it got even worse as we eliminated the final few titles. But I am THRILLED with our five finalists. I want to shout the titles from the rooftops, but must wait ten days or so before the shortlist is made public. I hope you agree that our top five titles are among 2011's very best.

The following day was also quite busy. It was my father's birthday and he was reaching a milestone year. How old is he? Let's put it this way: I've never personally known anyone as old as he is now. For his birthday, we brought in a nice Chinese meal and a beautiful cake from a favorite bakery.

I gave him the following four presents:

1. some instant lottery tickets
2. a package of socks
3. three new sweatshirts
4. several adult coloring books

Now let's see how well those four gifts worked out!

1. he didn't win a cent on any the lottery tickets
2. on Wednesday morning he was walking in the hall when one of his new socks snagged on the metal transition strip covering the edge of the carpet, and he tripped and fell down -- breaking his arm!
3. the EMS people had to CUT OFF his brand new sweatshirt in order to get to his broken arm; that only-worn-once sweathshirt is currently in the rag bag
4. now he can't color his art books due to the broken arm

So much of the past few days have been spent going to and from the hospital. On Friday he was released from the hospital and sent directly to a rehabilitation facility to spend ten days getting physical therapy. Unfortunately, that night he had a medical issue and was rushed back to the hospital. I drove between the two places in a blinding blizzard, the car skidding and swerving at every stop. Thankfully the medical crisis was shortlived and he is now back at the rehab center.

But guess what? The rehab center is less than a mile from my favorite bookstore.

So there is a silver lining to this story!

Now...on to children's books.



BLURRED VISION

Last year we were all amazed that two of 2011's most-talked about books for kids, OKAY FOR NOW and DEAD END IN NORVELT, had such similar dustjacket illustrations:



I haven't seen anything that similar among this year's dustjackets, but I did note some similarities between the covers of the following much talked-about new novels. Okay, they're not identical, and no one will get them confused...unless maybe you are looking at them across a room...and the lights are kind of dim...and you need a new prescription for eyeglasses:





MAKE-YOUR-OWN-COVERS

Fellow children's book aficionado, fellow blogger, and fellow Michigander Travis Jonker has one of the best book blogs out there. I especially enjoy seeing his original designs for new, updated Newbery book dustjackets.

I didn't realize until today that many people have the same hobby.

Looking on Google for an image of the John Green cover to post above, I discovered nearly two dozen different versions of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS dustjacket! At first I thought they were from foreign editions of the book, but soon realized that were designed by young fans and artists. Most of them are quite good. In fact, I think many are better than the actual cover used by the publisher. I'd re-post them here, but would undoubtedly get cease-and-desist letters from some of these young artists...so instead I'll just direct you to Google. Do an image search, type in the title "The Fault in Our Stars" and scroll down. Amazing creativity.


NOT FOR SALE...YES, IT IS

ARCs, or "advance reader copies," are highly prized in the children's book world. These softcover volumes are essentially uncorrected proofs of forthcoming books, released to reviewers, bookstores, and other members of the industry several months before the hardcover volume hits the streets. In the past, ARCs were often tall narrow volumes with nondescript covers. Even in the eighties and ninties, they were fairly utilitarian, with rough colored-paper covers. These days, however, most ARCs resemble the final book, with the dustjacket illustration printed on the front of the glossy cover and selling points ("Eight city author tour!" "200,000 first printing!") listed on the back. At one point, I suspect only the cognoscenti knew about ARCs, but with the advent of the internet, book blogging, and ardent fanships, everyone has come to know about ARCs and everyone now wants them. I suspect there are some readers today who get most of their new books in this format and rarely buy a hardcover. My bookstore friend sometimes gives me ARCs but, even though I'm poor as the proverbial churchmouse, it's a point of personal pride that I try to also buy the hardcover editions of these books if I possibly can. I feel like I have to support the children's book world. From a collecting perspective, I have always tried to obtain ARCs of the Newbery books, since they sometimes (though not always) reveal changes in book's text between manuscript and hardcover publication.

Every ARC has the same warning on the cover: "NOT FOR SALE."

This has led to a continuing issue in the world of bookselling.

Because of the demand for ARCs -- whether from serious book collectors or simply fans who want to read an author's newest title STAT -- sellers often try to sell these volumes online. Every now and then this creates a tempest in a teapot, as someone complains that booksellers are taking advantage of publisher "freebies" in order to make a profit. From time to time, eBay and other online companies have tried to ban the selling of ARCs due to these complaints.

Just recently (thanks to a tip from fellow book collector Sarah H.), I heard about an ARC of this year's surprise Newbery Honor that was listed for sale online. I ordered the book and was thrilled to receive it this week. It arrived with this sticker on the cover:


I have never seen such a sticker on an ARC before. Have you? My guess is that it did not come this way from the publisher (would a publisher cover up the title like that? would a publisher cooperate in the re-selling of a free volume?) but that the sticker was created by a bookseller to avoid controversy.

Whatever the case, I'm not complaining. I'm just glad to add this ARC to my collection.

...Now if I could only find one for INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN!


INSPIRED TO FLY

Earlier this week, Dr. Janice Voss died of cancer at age 55. An astronaut, Dr. Voss was one of only six women who have traveled in space five times.

The conclusion of her New York Times obituary really struck me:

She was just 16 and a freshman at Purdue University when she first worked for NASA, as an intern at the Johnson Space Center. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in engineering science in 1975, she returned to the center to train crews in navigation and entry guidance. She went on to earn a master’s in electrical engineering, in 1977, and a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics, in 1987, both at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It all started, her mother said, when Janice was 6 and picked up a book at the local library, “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle — a fantasy in which one of the main characters is a scientist who happens to be a woman.

What a testament to the power of children's books!


FIFTY AND WRINKLED

Speaking of A WRINKLE IN TIME, have you seen the just-released fiftieth anniversary edition of this Madeleine L'Engle's novel?


The cover modernizes the original dustjacket art by Ellen Raskin (herself a future Newbery winner):


In the new illustration, the characters look a bit more "hip" and confident.

The 50th anniversary edition also features "an introduction by Katherine Paterson, an afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis that includes photographs and memorabilia, the author’s Newbery Medal acceptance speech, and other bonus materials."


HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

A WRINKLE IN TIME joins a growing number of modern Newbery winners and Honor Books that have been re-released in anniversary or collectable editions.

Others include:


A 60th annniversary edition of 1948 Newbery Honor MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE.


A 60th anniversary edition of 1949 Newbery Honor MY FATHER'S DRAGON.


A 35th anniversary edition of 1968 Newbery winner FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER.


A 25th anniversary edition of 1977 Newbery winner ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY.


A 10th anniverary edition of 1999 Newbery winner HOLES.

Do you know of any others?

Volumes that were created to celebrate anniversaries are always nice for the collector's shelves, but they are not necessarily rare or unusual. Issued many years after the original book has already achieved success, they often published in fairly large print runs. What makes these volumes particuarly interesting is that they often contain "bonus material," such as biographical sketches of the author, copies of their Newbery speech, or correspondence between author and editor. Not every "anniversary" edition contains this kind of ephemera though. Also, some anniversary books are issued in different editions; for example, some may offer a limited run of signed, numbered volumes. So if you see a copy of a book offered as a "special anniversary edition," it's always a good idea to check around and see which of these variables apply. Just because the book says "anniversary edition" on its cover does not mean it's worth a lot of extra money. A case in point is the aforementioned anniversary edition of A WRINKLE IN TIME. The 60th anniversary edition can be found at almost any bookstore these days and sells at $24.95. However, there is also a 25th anniversary edition out there. Limited to 500 signed number copies and presented in a slipcase, this 1987 volume sells for approximately $750 these days.


FEBRUARY RESOLUTIONS

Last month Nancy Pearl wrote an article called "New Year's Resolutions 2012" for Publishers Weekly. In her piece, she suggested some old titles that she wished would be re-printed, wished that libraries and bookstore had larger poetry sections, and even made a plea directed at young-adult fiction: "Although there are some notable teen dystopian novels that I’m very eager to read, the sequels to Veronica Roth’s Insurgent, Marie Lu’s Legend, Ally Condie’s Matched (to name just three), I wish we could give that plot line a rest and move on to other topics for teens."

I was particularly intrigued by one of Ms. Pearl's suggestions:

I wish that everyone who works at a library or bookstore would include in the signature line of their e-mails what they’re currently reading. It takes less than a minute to add it, and it’s a simple and effective way to highlight books both old and new. The staff at both Seattle Public and Cuyahoga County Library System have been encouraged to do exactly that, and it’s a treat to get e-mail from the employees there.

That's a great idea! Maybe we should all try that one.

And even though we're already deep into February -- well past the time for "New Year's Resolutions," I'm still wondering what literary wishes and dreams you might have for 2012.

Here are a few of mine:

* It's wonderful that the children's book world gets world-wide publicity every year when the book awards are announced in January. But why should we settle with one day only? I wish we could come up with an idea that would publicize children's books in a BIG way several times a year.

* Looking at the new books being published over the past year or so, it seems the emphasis is on creating massive bestsellers. Debut authors are receiving six-figure deals, with massive first 200,000 printings, international rights sold all over the world, etc., etc. That's great. But I wonder what ever happened to the good old days of midlist authors who write midlist books. Sometimes those are the books that mean the most to us as kids and are remembered best as adults. I hope that in our rush to lionize the next "big thing," we don't ignore (or stop publishing) those who write books that sell modestly but are still very much loved.

* I already announced plans to keep my ramshackle, sorely-neglected "Printz Picks" blog open all year in anticipation of the 2013 awards. Now I'm deligheted to hear that Karyn Silverman and Sarah Couri plan to make their "Someday My Printz Will Come" blog at School Library Journal an annual affair as well. Now, my wish is that Nina Lindsay and Jonathan Hunt make their SLJ Newbery blog, "Heavy Medal" a year-round enterprise as well. I know it's a lot of work, but keeping us updated on Newbery possibilities all year (hey, maybe once every couple weeks? even once a month?) would keep us all on our toes -- not mention, keep us all reading! -- from now through next January.

* Speaking of School Library Journal, I wish that magazine wasn't so starstruck. Let PEOPLE MAGAZINE or ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY interview Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Regis Philbin's daughter about their children's books. SLJ has a built-in audience composed of real book people...so they should give us interviews of real book authors -- not celebs whose books would probably never have been published if they didn't have famous names.

* I wish that children's books were more visible on TV...and in real-life. Think how much publicity a book would receive if one of the kids from MODERN FAMILY or one of the teens on GLEE was seen reading it on TV. And I bet that if Malia or Sasha Obama was photographed getting off a plane with a children's book in her hand, that title would hit Amazon's bestseller list within hours.

* I wish that people would stop using bookstores as "show rooms." You've heard the same stories I have. These days many customers visit bookstores, get recommendations from the staff, browse through the books, sample a page here or a chapter there, and then bypass the cash register and order the (discounted) books from Amazon.com on their iPad or download the e-book onto their Kindle...sometimes while still standing in the store! Then people wonder why bookstores are closing. I was thinking about this the other day, and remembered something from my youth in the early 1970s. That was the era when "adult" books and magazines were becoming more mainstream and many bookstores didn't know what to do with this material. They couldn't put them on display with all the other magazines; even the covers contained X-rated images. And how to keep curious kids from looking at (not to mention swiping) them? The solution was to have a separate "closed" area for adults only. One local bookstore had a small, walled room in back; another had a separate aisle which could only be entered through a closed gate. However, these stores soon discovered that many customers would spend hours "browsing" but buy nothing. So both instituted a policy: you had to pay $1 or $2 just to go IN the closed area. If you bought a book or magazine from that section, the $1 or $2 was deducted from the price of your purchase. If you didn't buy anything, that was your price for "looking." It recently crossed my mind that, if the trend of bookstores becoming "book show rooms" for Kindle readers continues, the stores may have to institute a "browsing fee" just like they did in those early days of porn: $10 to enter the bookstore, which will be cheerfully deducted from your purchase if you BUY a book. Otherwise, that's the price you pay for using a bookstore as a catalog. I'd hate to see things come to that though....

* I wish every parent would share their favorite childhood book with their child; and then I wish every child would share their favorite book with their parents. Imagine what that would do for children's books. Imagine what that would do for families.

What are your wishes for the children's book world in 2012?

I'd love to hear them!


ENDING WITH LAUGHTER

Finally, I recently asked about your favorite "five hanky" book from childhood and have been fascinated to learn about the books that made you cry as a kid. Some of the titles included MAY I CROSS YOUR GOLDEN RIVER? (I loved that one too), WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS, ECHOES OF A SUMMER (I'd never heard of that one), ELLEN : A SHORT LIFE REMEMBERED, GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST, JEFFERSON'S SONS, BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, OLD YELLER, THE VISITOR (another one new to me), MICHELLE (also new to me), CHARLOTTE'S WEB (maybe every kid's first really, really sad book), DEATH BE NOT PROUD, and THE BOOK THIEF.

Now I have a happy question:

What childhood book made you snicker, laugh, guffaw, or roar with laughter? As an adult, I rarely laugh out loud while reading...which doesn't mean that I don't find many books very funny. But I've noticed I don't have that same extreme physical reaction to humor these days when reading. But I certainly do remember laughing out loud reading about Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, and Henry Reed as a kid. And I remember reading FREAKY FRIDAY the first time while taking a bath and literally screaming with laughter -- so much that someone knocked on the bathroom door to see if I was okay.

What kids' books made you laugh? And do you still find them just as funny today?


THANKS

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

A Brunch with Lots of Links

Last week we were wondering what would win (seven “w words” in a row!) the American Library Association’s children’s book awards. Now we know. This week’s Sunday Brunch looks back over our shoulder at DEAD END IN NORVELT and A BALL FOR DAISY and then starts looking ahead to Newbery/Caldecott Day 2013. Hey, it’s never too early! We also ask what books made you cry as a kid and what books you promise to (finally) read in this coming year.


RANDOM RANTS ABOUT THIS YEAR'S AWARDS

I'm still excited about this week's book awards.

The more I think about DEAD END IN NORVELT winning, the better I like it as a selection.

If you'd like to relive the moment you can watch the Newbery announcement here:



And there's an interview with Norvelt's author, Jack Gantos, here:



Everyone loves to hear the stories of where the medalists were and what they were doing when they received The Phone Call. Thanks to Publishers Weekly, you can read those stories right here.

And here is a round-up of all things Newbery and Caldecott by Fuse #8 herself, Betsy Bird.

For my fellow book collectors, had you already preemptively purchased copies of the winning books, or did you have to rush out on N/C morning, hoping to find prize winners? Did you have good luck? I'm still trying to track down first printing numbers for these books (does anyone know?) My guess is that, due to the popularity of illustrators Chris Raschka and Lane Smith, both Caldecott winner A BALL FOR DAISY and Honor Book GRANDPA GREEN had large first printings. I would also assume that DEAD END IN NORVELT had a respectable first printing due to the success of many of the author's previous books. The other books I'm too sure about.

As of this week, I have seen many first printings of Newbery Honor Book BREAKING STALIN'S NOSE in the bookstore.

However, Newbery Honor INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN is already in at least its seventh printing.

A BALL FOR DAISY is now in at least its second printing, though I imagine you might still find some firsts out there.

I believe Caldecott Honor BLACKOUT was in at least its second printing before the awards were announced.

Does anyone have any more definitive or up-to-date info on these figures?

This year I was lucky enough to already have all the Newbery and Printz titles except one, JASPER JONES -- which I picked up on the day of the awards. I also had several advance reading copies (ARCS) of the Newbery and Printz books. I was very intrigued by this comment about DEAD END IN NORVELT in Fuse #8's award round-up:

By the way, I know for a fact that there were a couple limited editions of this book released in proto-galley form way way back in early 2011. These editions had brown covers and photographs in the back that I always assumed would appear in the final edition (they didn’t). This book also sported an image on the spine of Jack the hero holding binoculars up to his eyes, his shirt covered in bloodstains. This image (which would have sold a lot of books) has never appeared anywhere else. So if you are one of the lucky souls who has one of these editions, good news! That puppy is going to be worth an awful lot of money someday.

Indeed it will! If you work in a library or bookstore and come across such an item, don't toss it out! Try selling it on ABEbooks. Try selling it on eBay. Try selling it to me!

Here are a couple random facts about Jack Gantos. The Newbery is the fourth major award he has received from the American Library Association. He also had a Newbery Honor for JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL in 2001, and his memoir HOLE IN MY LIFE was a 2003 Printz Honor and Sibert Honor. That novel dealt with the years that Gantos, as a young man, spent in federal prison, leading blog reader Wendy to ask if Jack Gantos is the first convict to win the Newbery. Monica Edinger beat me to the joke, pondering, "How would we find out if Ann Nolan Clark was taken in as a teen for cow tipping or something equally inappropriate?" (I was going to suggest that Lois Lenski and Eleanor Estes may have once been rum runners.) As it turns out, there is at least one more former con in the Newbery canon, as Sam E. wrote in to say that "Will James, 1927's winner, served time in Nevada for cattle rustling." At age sixty, Jack Gantos is one of our older Newbery winners too. In fact, only nine winners were older than him when they won the award:

Irene Hunt / UP A ROAD SLOWLY / 60
Marguerite De Angeli / THE DOOR IN THE WALL / 61
Elizabeth Bordon de Trevino / I, JUAN DE PAREJA / 62
Avi / CRISPIN : CROSS OF LEAD / 66
E.L. Konigsburg / THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY / 67
Sid Fleischman / THE WHIPPING BOY / 67
Richard Peck / A YEAR DOWN YONDER / 67
Beverly Cleary / DEAR MR. HENSHAW / 68
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey / MISS HICKORY / 72

Blog reader Esperanza wondered why I had so little to say about the Caldecotts. It's probably because I don't follow picture books that closely and don't really know how to evaluate them. If I were on the Newbery committee, I think I'd be able to compare and contrast LITERARY works of many different genres, but if I were on the Caldecott committee I think it would all just come down to personal taste.

But I can, at least, provide a couple random facts about author/illustrator Chris Raschka. This is the third time he has been honored by the American Library Association. He received a 1994 Caldecott Honor for YO! YES! and won the 2006 Medal for THE HELLO, GOODBYE WINDOW. As a time-two winner, he joins a select club whose only other members are Robert McCloskey, Barbara Cooney, Nonny Hogrogian, Leo and Diane Dillon, and Chris Van Allsburg. At age 52, he's just a bit older than the average age of Caldecott winners.

Okay, now on to rants:

A big "boo" to NBC's TODAY show for not featuring this year's Newbery and Caldecott winners on the show. Even though TODAY's annual N/C segment never lasted more than a couple minutes, it was always good to see children's book creators in the spotlight...and even that brief TV appearance helped sell books. Last year, the winners were pre-empted by a segment on Snooki, and this year they werekn't shown either. Someone did suggest that the American Library Association should have been lobbying for this appearance and perhaps they had not done so...which leads me to my next rant.

Though I love the ALA for presenting these awards...for providing us with the live broadcast...and, well, just everything they do on behalf of libraries, I still have a few bones to pick with this organization. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Why does an organization whose primary goal is dispensing information to the public have the most arcane, most difficult to navigate website in the history of the internet? Why does an organization that fights the good fight for freedom of information block some of its website content -- such as some of the Printz acceptance speeches -- from the public, sharing this information with "members only"? Why haven't this page and this page been updated yet, since they are supposed to include the Caldecott and Newbery titles "to present"? And why in the heck does this page refer to the "lastest ALA Youth Media Awards."

Lastest?

I'm assuming it's just a simple typo, but it has been there for a long time without being corrected.

I'm glad I don't ever make any typos on this bloog.


NEXT YEAR

Now that the 2012 awards have been announced, all eyes (well, some of us) turn toward 2013 and start to wonder what titles will be announced next January.

Do you have any early predictions? Titles you've read, or maybe just heard about, that already sound promising?

Last summer I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer A. Nielsen and provide a rave preview on my blog. It's due out in April and I think it's going to be a critical and popular hit. Newbery-ific? We'll see. I just saw a copy of the ARC, which looks like this:


Apparently the dustjacket on the hardcover edition will be gussied-up with foil and embossing, but I'm still not sure what I think of it. Does it have the look of a "classic" or (as I'm fearing) is it so generic looking that it will blend in with a hundred other current books on the children's and YA shelves? What do you think?


FIVE-HANKY BOOKS

Looking ahead, a lot of people are already predicting that John Green's new novel, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, is the frontrunner for next year's Printz Award.

It is a strong book, but I tend to think that when books are published so early in the year and deemed future award winners from the get-go, they sometimes lose steam over the course of the next twelve months.

"CHIME" in with your theories.

One of the most unusual things about THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is that the first printings were signed by the author. According to a recent interview with Ilene Cooper in BOOKLIST, John Green originally had the idea of signing all the preorders of the book. There had been 1200 preorders of his previous title, PAPER TOWNS. However, his publisher said that due to warehousing issues and other problems, the only way he'd be able to sign the preorders would be to sign the entire first printing. Green's early books all had first printings of about 20,000. ...Then he learned the first printing of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS would be 150,000 copies!

According to a Book Page interview, the author signed books for twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for an entire month. He told Ilene Cooper, "I signed every single one of those books. I did not cheat ever, but I didn't always sign them well. In fact, when I messed up a signature, there's a secret URL that I would write at the bottomn that takes you to a video of me apologizing for your terrible signature."

I wonder if the books with the secret URL will be especially valued by collectors....

According to the author, he watched television while signing the books, including PBS documentaries, "every episode of MYTHBUSTERS" and "the entire five seasons of this show called PAWN STARS that I didn't even like."

Here's my own copy of the book:


I've heard some people don't like the sticker on the front, as it can't be removed without damaging the dustjacket. But I don't mind it. I would never remove it because the book came this way. Here is the signature inside my copy:


I've read a lot of discussion on Facebook and other internet sites about people "sobbing" over this book. What is it about human beings that we are so drawn to "tearjerkers." From my own perspective, I find stories about sick and dying people -- especially young sick and dying people -- very difficult to read, especially as I've gotten older and become more and more aware of my own mortality.

But as a kid I loved them.

In fact, when I was a kid there seemed to be a cottage industry in books about sick and/or dying children. KAREN by Marie Killilea was big back in the sixties and seventies. I was fond of THE STORY OF GABRIELLE by Catherine Gabrielson, a book I discovered in a Reader's Digest treasury. Cowgirl Dale Evans wrote volumes about three of her kids who died untimely deaths. Then there was DEATH BE NOT PROUD by John Gunther and ERIC by Doris Lund.

But the book I most remember seeing other kids read was this one:


Based on a TV movie of the same name and adapted by YA author Norma Klein, SUNSHINE, with its black-bordered cover, was THE "tearjerker" of the seventies.

It was followed up by two other books, which dealt with the widowed husband and daughter of SUNSHINE's ill-fated protagonist:



These titles were much lesser-known (did Norma Klein really write them, or just lend her name to them as author the first book?) than SUNSHINE, which remained in print for many, many years.

The 1980s brought us Lurlene McDaniel, who never wrote about a kid she couldn't kill off.

And a couple years back there was the popular English import BEFORE I DIE by Jenny Downham.

What were your favorite "five-hanky books" from your childhood and teenage years?

Do they still move you today?


PUBLISHERS SAYING GOODBYE

Since we're on the subject of death, I thought I'd highlight an interesting publishing practice. If you work in a library or bookstore and have access to literary "trade journals," you've no doubt noticed ads that pay tribute to deceased authors and illustrators. But for those who don't see magazines such as Publishers Weekly, here are a couple examples. Quite frequently, when a popular or critically-acclaimed "book person" dies, the publisher will take out ad space to say goodbye. Here are two recent tributes to the late Caldecott winner Simms Taback, both which appeared in Publishers Weekly:




A NEW TREND?

I've been reading that a recent trend in adult books involves shortening the time between the appearance of the original hardcover and its subsequent paperback edition. I wonder if this trend is now beginnning to impact books for young people as well.

Moira Young's BLOOD RED ROAD was published in hardcover on June 7, 2011:


I was surprised to see that the paperback edition is already on bookstore shelves, having been released on January 3, 2012:


Is it just a fluke or are books for young readers now also following this new trend? Stay tuned!


THE LOST GENERATION

Yesterday I watched Woody Allen's latest movie, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, which concerns the American expatriates who lived in France during the 1920s.

This got me wondering two questions:

1) Have there ever been any children's books about this era, perhaps from the perspective of a child whose parents American parents were living in France during the twenties? I feel like there must be some, but I can't think of any titles? Can you?

2) Were any children's books written by the famous American writers living in Paris during that era?

To partially answer #2, I can only think of one -- THE WORLD IS ROUND by Gertrude Stein.

However, American author Esther Averill, who moved to Paris as an assistant to a photojournalist in 1925 and stayed there until World War II, founded her own publishing company there called Domino Press. Specializing in picture books with
color lithograph illusrations, Ms. Averill wrote and published DANIEL BOONE, with illustrations by future Caldecott winner Feodor Rojankovsky along with several other children's books.


Some of these books would later be reissued by American publishers after Averill returned to the States, but the original editions from Domino Press remain the ones most valued by collectors.


NEWBERY? WHAT ABOUT OSCAR?

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS was one of nine movies nominated for a "Best Picture" Oscar this past week. The nominations were notable in that two films based on children's books -- HUGO (based on THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selznick) and WAR HORSE (based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo)-- were nominated for Best Picture this year. This is the first time two children's books were represented on that list. In the past, it's been rare for any movie inspired by a children's story to be nominated. In fact, there have been only a handful, and none has won. They are:

2012 HUGO
2012 WAR HORSE
1995 BABE
1991 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (based on a generic fairy tale, rather than a specific book)
1972 SOUNDER
1964 MARY POPPINS
1959 THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (originally published for adults, some later editions were issued specifically as children's books)
1953 SHANE (ditto)
1946 THE YEARLING (ditto)
1943 THE HUMAN COMEDY (ditto)
1939 THE WIZARD OF OZ
1937 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS
1932 LITTLE WOMEN

Have I missed any?


THE LASTEST ITEM IN TODAY'S BLOOG

I am intrigued by today's Heavy Medal blog in which Jonathan Hunt asks, "Is there a Newbery book that you’re ashamed to admit that you haven’t read yet? Perhaps one that is considered a classic? That everyone else seems to have read but you? Don’t we all have these books on our own personal shelf of shame?"

He reports his own experiences trying to read Virginia Hamilton this past year. He got through M.C. HIGGINS but still hasn't read THE PLANET OF JUNIOR BROWN and SWEET WHISPERS, BROTHER RUSH.

Oh Jonathan, those are the two best!

I also groaned when I learned he hadn't yet read THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND and THE BRONZE BOW by Elizabeth George Speare, two novels so magnificent that I can't decide which I like better.

I then continued groaning when I read the reader comments.

Someone hasn't read JOHNNY TREMAIN, acknowledged by many as the best Newbery ever?

Someone else has only skimmed JACOB HAVE I LOVED, one of the greatest winners ever?

Someone hasn't read Scott O'Dell?

ARRGGH!

...Then I remembered that I've never read Susan Cooper's five-volume DARK IS RISING series -- titles which others tell me may be the best children's novels ever written!

Actually, I should amend that. I did turn the pages all the way through DARK IS RISING and THE GREY KING, but the stories meant nothing to me. I didn't understand them, didn't like them.

So now is your chance to groan back at me: ARRGGH!

I guess my goal for 2012 is to read all five of the titles in Susan Cooper's series!

What author or book from your own "shelf of shame" are you going to read in 2012?

Thanks for visiting Collecting Children's Books. Let's see if I can muster up enough energy to write another blog later this week. Please check back!

We Neeeeeeed Bookmarks!

I once thought I was the only person who looked forward to the American Library Association awards as if they were Christmas.

But over the past few years, thanks to children's book blogs, listserves, Facebook, and Twitter, I've realized that I am part of very large community of people who feel the same way.

I also wondered what I'd do if a "Newbery Day" ever rolled around and I was unable to participate. What if I had to attend a funeral that day? What if I was in the hospital or something? (I had visions of myself sneaking out of the funeral home to read the award announcements on a laptop in my car...or ripping out an IV and running to the nearest bookstore to buy the winning books.) Such extreme events did not occur this year -- thank goodness -- but it was a bit of a bad day anyway, due to some other painful, personal events going on in my life right now. A friend who knows me well said, "I cannot think of the word Newbery, at any time during the year and not think of you, and to imagine you not almost physically buzzing with excitement is very sad."

Yeah, it was kind of sad, but I realized today that Newbery Days come in all types: happy, sad, good, bad....

All are memorable in their own way.

Last night found me sitting in front of the computer till 2:00 AM, looking for clues about the awards and trading Newbery gossip with friends.

Then I got up at 7:30 AM and fired up the computer again. I always take Newbery Day off work, so that was not an issue. Then began The Wait until 8:45 AM. After years of getting the award info a week late...a day late...or (in recent years when a dial-up computer connection) a few minutes late, for the second year in a row I was able to watch the live webcast while sitting at my desk in my pajamas.

As always, it was full of surprises.

Which is another way of saying, I was completely wrong in nearly all my predictions!

But then so was nearly everyone else and that's part of the fun of the awards.

Just for the sake of keeping a record here, let's go over the winning books:

The Caldecott Honors were BLACKOUT by John Rocco:


GRANDPA GREEN by Lane Smith:


and ME...JANE by Patrick McDonnell:


The 2012 Caldecott Medal went to A BALL FOR DAISY by Chris Raschka:


Think they'll place the gold medal sticker right over one of those big orange balls on the cover? This is Chris Rashka's second Caldecott, having won in 2006 for THE HELLO, GOODBYE WINDOW.

This year's Printz Honor Books were WHY WE BROKE UP by Daniel Handler:


THE RETURNING by Christine Hinwood:


JASPER JONES by Craig Silvey:


and THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater:


The 2012 Printz Award went to WHERE THINGS COME BACK by John Corey Whaley:


I have mixed feelings about this list. I didn't like WHERE THINGS COME BACK at all (should I read it again to see what I missed?) and thought WHY WE BROKE UP was interesting, but too long by a third. I enjoyed THE SCORPIO RACES, but haven't quite finished either THE RETURNING or JASPER JONES yet.

This year's Newbery Honor Books were INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai:


and BREAKING STALIN'S NOSE by Eugene Yelchin:


The 2012 Newbery Medal went to DEAD END IN NORVELT by Jack Gantos:


I have not read BREAKING STALIN'S NOSE yet, but have to admit that I wasn't a big fan of INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN. People often criticize novels in verse for being less poetry than prose stories chopped up into artistic lines. In the case of INSIDE OUT, I sometimes found myself agreeing with that criticism. On the other hand, I now believe that DEAD END IN NORVELT may be a stronger selection that I first thought. When I first read the book, I had a few criticisms, but also realized that it was the kind of novel I would have loved when I was a kid. I think this offbeat, quirky book is going to please a lot of readers and will probably go down in history as one of the better choices. Of course only time will tell....

This morning, as soon as the webcast ended, I took stock of which titles I had in my collection. I try to have an ARC (advance reading copy) and a first edition of every Newbery and Printz winner.

This year I had an ARC and first edition of:

DEAD END IN NORVELT
WHY WE BROKE UP
THE SCORPIO RACES

I had first editions, but no ARCS of:

INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN
BREAKING STALIN'S NOSE
THE RETURNING
WHERE THINGS COME BACK

And I had an ARC, but no first edition of:

JASPER JONES

Fortunately, my independent bookstore had a hardcover copy in stock, so I rushed over there to pick it up. Now I have all the books in first editions and just need a few ARCS, which I hope will turn up over time.

In years past, Newbery Day has seen me rushing to other bookstores trying to pick up extra copies of these books in hopes of reselling them for a profit at a later time. This year I did not do that. Part of the reason is that I used to make a quick run to all the local Border's stores (four within six miles of where I live) but now they are gone. The other reason is that there was always so much competition for the books. I felt bad when someone grabbed the last remaining copy just as I was reaching for it. And felt even worse when I grabbed the last copy when someone else was reaching for it.

This year I decided to leave them all for other collectors.

Good news for them.

Good karma (I hope) for me.

So that was one thing that made Newbery Day different this year.

Another thing was the weather. Some years Newbery Day is bright and cold. Some years it's gray and chilly. One year we had a blizzard. This year was warm and rainy.

Normally I go to lunch at Ponderosa on Newbery afternoon, but my Ponderosa closed last summer, so this year I just went to a take-out Chinese place.

Something else different: normally I take one of this year's winners to read at lunch. This year I took a brand-new book from 2012 to read. Who knows -- maybe it will be next year's Printz winner. Newbery Day is always a day for looking back and looking forward. Looking back at the books we read and loved the previous year, and already thinking about the books we'll be reading in the forthcoming year.

Today I found myself thinking about the many children's and young adult books that have changed my life...the people in this field that I met, either in person or via the computer...and the libraries and bookstores where I have spent so much time.

Way back in the early 1980s, I used to shop at a mall bookstore called The Children's Bookmark. That was where I got my first Cynthia Voigt book, HOMECOMING. M.E. Kerr's LITTLE LITTLE. Robert Cormier's EIGHT PLUS ONE. Katherine Paterson's Newbery winner JACOB HAVE I LOVED. I have many fond memories of that little store. I also remember one incident I witnessed outside the store. A mother and father were heading for the mall exit, when a little girl, maybe six or seven years old, drawn by the word "children" on the sign, started begging to go in the store. In a hurry to leave, her parents dragged her away from the Children's Bookmark, while she kicked and whined, "But I NEEEEEEED bookmarks!"

That girl is probably now pushing forty, perhaps with little kids of her own. But I still think of her plea for "bookmarks" after all these years. For me, each Newbery Day is slightly different -- a happy day, a sad day; a day when I like the winning books, a day when I don't; a snowy day, a warm day; a day when I eat at Ponderosa or end up with Chinese take-out; a day when I look back at last year's books and look forward to next year's books.

I celebrate every "Newbery Day" and I remember each one of them, going back years and years.

They are bookmarks marking the pages of my life.