Spending the Night in the Library

The library where I work is open fairly late at night. When I leave at 6:00 PM, the building is still buzzing with patrons studying in groups, tapping away at the public computer terminals, and checking out books at the circulation desk. The only exception is Friday night, when the library closes early. Starting at 5:30 PM, there is a succession of announcements on the loudspeaker (accompanied by ringing chimes!) warning patrons to “return all course reserve materials and check out all circulating items” before the lights are turned off. By the time I get downstairs on Friday evenings, the building is dark and the last few library customers are being shooed out the door. One Friday I made the mistake of getting downstairs at 6:01 PM -- sixty seconds after the official closing time! -- and was sternly warned “If you don’t get down here on time, we CAN and WILL lock you in the library.” “In which case I CAN and WILL throw a chair through the window to get out,” I replied. Okay, maybe I didn’t actually say that out loud, but I thought it. I also thought that there are fates worse than being locked in a library overnight. Over the years I’ve worked at nearly every conceivable hour -- late at night, before dawn, Saturdays, Sundays, holidays -- and in nearly every conceivable situation -- completely alone for an entire work day, in total darkness due to a power outage -- but the one thing I’ve never done is spend an entire night in the library. I think it would be fun. Apparently I’m not the only one with this fantasy. Eth Clifford’s HELP! I’M A PRISONER IN THE LIBRARY!, the story of two friends trapped in a public library during a snowstorm, remains in print thirty years after publication. Then there’s Elizabeth Enright’s 1939 Newbery winner THIMBLE SUMMER, which includes an episode of farmgirls Garnet and Citronella hitching a ride into town, settling into a library windowseat with their books, and getting so caught up in their reading (Garnet with THE JUNGLE BOOK; Citronella, DUCHESS OLGA : OR THE SAPPHIRE SIGNET) that they fail to notice when the building closes. Enright does a great job setting the atmosphere and maintaining suspense. As twilight fades to night, the initial sense of fun (“This is an adventure. Things like this happen to people in books; we’ll be able to tell our children and grandchildren about it. I hope we stay here all night!”) turns to worry (“Do you know what day it is? Saturday! That means we’ll be here till day after tomorrow.”) and then outright fear as the library fills with deep shadows and they hear “airy scamperings of mouse feet”:

“I don’t like it,” whispered Citronella. “I don’t like it all: my own voice scares me. I don’t dare talk out loud.”

“Neither do I,” murmured Garnet. “I feel as if all those books were alive and listening.”

I particularly like their midnight rescue, followed by a meal at the town lunch wagon: “It was wonderful to go there so late at night and eat fried egg sandwiches and apple pie and tell everybody what had happened to them.”

Unlike Garnet and Citronella, coming up in the 1930s, today’s young people sometimes have the opportunity to legitimately spend all night in a public library. Every now and then I'll see an ad for an all-night kids party in a local lockdowned library. Unfortunately, I’m way, way past the age limit to attend such functions. But I have to admit, there are some Friday evenings when my library is closing for the night and I wonder...what would happen if I just didn’t leave? Let’s see...I’d need a blanket...change for the vending machines so I could have a midnight snack...and of course a flashlight so I could stay up reading all those books, all by myself, all night long.

A Short Sunday Brunch, Accompanied by Coughing and Sneezing

Sometimes a holiday season ends with a bang. Other times it ends with a whimper. This year it’s going out with a cough and sneeze. Since I have a bad cold, can barely see the computer screen through my blurry eyes and can barely type due to my aching bones, today’s Sunday brunch will be a bit short, providing follow-up to previous blog entries on limited editions, dead authors, and Christmas Eve reading -- and including some new merchandising pieces related to children’s books.

LIMITED EDITIONS

Earlier this week I wrote about receiving a signed, sixtieth anniversary edition of MY FATHER’S DRAGON by Ruth Stiles Gannett. Only 125 slipcased copies were printed. A friend pointed out that Amazon.com still has a handful in stock...though after they’re gone, no more will be printed. This got me wondering how many other limited edition children’s books were published in 2008. Searching on Amazon, I only found PETER PAN : A CLASSIC COLLECTIBLE POP-UP by Robert Sabuda...though the description offers no clue as to what separates this $250 limited edition from the regular $29.99 edition.

Incidentally, most Amazon records have a box on the screen that tells whether a book is available on Kindle. If not, you can click on the box to inform the publisher “I’d like to read this book on Kindle.”

How many people do you think clicked on the box, saying they’d like to read this pop-up book on Kindle?

AULD LANG SYNE

Earlier this week, I posted a blog entry called “Auld Acquaintance,” listing children’s book authors and illustrators who died during 2008. Judith from Sydney, Australia wrote to add that Eleanor Spence also died this year. I’ve amended the original blog entry to include this info, but am also posting it here:

Eleanor Spence died September 30 at age 79

A former teacher and librarian, Australian author Eleanor Spence was known for tackling challenging issues in a number of well-regarded novels for young readers. She received the “Book of the Year Award” from the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 1964 for THE GREEN LAUREL and again in 1977 for a novel concerning autism, THE OCTOBER CHILD.

EVEN WEAK BOOKS ARE WORTH SAVING

A couple weeks back I mentioned that I planned to read the new young-adult book LET IT SNOW : THREE HOLIDAY ROMANCES on Christmas Eve.This collection of interrelated short stories -- set on Christmas Eve, Christmas, and the day after Christmas -- is written by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle, all of whom have proven their chops with earlier novels. However, I’ve got to say that none of them are at their best in this paperback volume. The characters are generally likable and the prose is often amusing, but each of these overlong stories suffers from a hard-to-believe premise and an “everything but the kitchen sink” style of writing. A friend of mine also read this book on Christmas Eve and reported that she accidentally set the book down on a dirty dinner plate -- and didn’t notice until the next day. It didn't distress her much, since she wasn't a fan of the book either. Although LET IT SNOW is pretty weak, I am making a point of adding this book to the library collection where I work. A paperback original,it probably won’t remain in print for too many years. As the careers of Green, Johnson, and Myracle continue to grow, readers will want to track down everything they’ve written (even a weak book like this) and so it’s important to preserve this book on the library shelves. Besides, people are always looking for new Christmas stories. And most importantly -- just because I didn't like the book doesn't mean someone else won't love it. I felt the same way when I read CINDERELLA 2000 by Mavis Jukes a few years ago. A romance set on the eve of the new millennium, the book was fun and frothy at best, slight and forgettable at worst...yet I thought it was important to add the book to the library’s collection because I’m sure there will come a time when someone wants to know how Y2K was observed in children’s books at the end of the twentieth century...and we’ll have CINDERELLA 2000 as an example to share with them.

I’M TRYING TO FIND THIS BOOK I ONCE READ....

Earlier this week, a blog reader sent a note saying they were trying to identify a book they once read as a child. This person provided no details about the title. If you are searching for a vaguely-remembered title, feel free to post your question in the comments below -- or you can write directly to me at Newbery13@aol.com. Please include as much detail about the plot and characters as you can remember and make sure to give an approximate time period when you read the book. (So many requests say, “I read it as a child” but don’t say WHEN they were a child. That makes a big difference in trying to figure out the publication date.) If I can’t answer it, I will post the question here and maybe someone reading the blog can figure it out.

Another great place to track down fondly-remembered books is:

http://www.loganberrybooks.com/stump.html

Loganberry Books has a “Stump the Bookseller” page on their website where, for $2.00 you can submit a query. They seem to have a good record of solving these questions.

Based on statistics here at Collecting Children’s Books, many visitors are looking for that book about “A babysitter who makes soda pop come out of the faucets” (MR. PUDGINS by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen) and the book about “two kids who run away to a museum” (FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E> FRANKWEILER by E.L. Konigsburg.)

ELVIS HAS NOT LEFT THE BUILDING

I just started a new young adult novel, ON BEALE STREET by Ronald Kidd. Set in 1954 Memphis, one of the characters includes the young Elvis Presley, wearing two-toned shoes and fresh off recording his first demo for Sun Records. Ronald Kidd joins Shelley Pearsall (ALL SHOOK UP) and Audrey Couloumbis (LOVE ME TENDER) in writing 2008 young adult books about Elvis Presley -- though the latter titles concern impersonators, while ON BEALE STREET is about the real king, I mean the real thing.

THREE WEEKS FROM TOMORROW

January 26, 2009 brings the announcement of the children’s book awards at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. Many websites have posted Mock Newbery and Mock Caldecott lists. Kyra at Black Threads in Kids Lit reports that she’s started a Mock Coretta Scott King Awards list at her site. For more details, please visit:

www.BlackThreadsinKidsLit.blogspot.com

TATTOOS AND FLIP FLOPS

Finally, I thought I’d share a few of the recent children’s book marketing pieces I’ve been given, which range from Lemony Snickett tattoos to a Dr. Seuss button and -- my favorite -- a Junie B. Jones keychain shaped like a flip-flop.


Thanks for visiting Collecting Children’s Books.

Paper Anniversary

It’s been one year since I began writing this blog.

It probably would have made more sense to start Collecting Children’s Books on January 1, 2008 -- new year, new blog. Yet there I was, spending a gray afternoon on the last day of the year, signing up for a Blogspot account and trying to figure out how to properly format a post and scan pictures onto the internet. Then I sat back and waited for visitors. Wow, was I excited to see that someone from Reston, Virginia was checking out my blog every few minutes. I had a fan! Then I realized that all AOL connections are filtered through Reston, VA and that this “fan” was just ME, logging on over and over to see if anyone else had visited. ...But, over time, I did start getting visitors from all over the world. And it was extraordinary to think that something I’d typed while sitting in my bedroom wearing pajamas was being read by someone in Dubai or Vietnam or New Zealand. True, according to the Statcounter, most of those visitors came here looking for information on “Ferdinand the Bull tattoos” and “Ashley and Mary-Kate’s new book” but, still...at least they did drop by.

As much as I enjoy writing this blog, there have been many times I’ve complained the work was too time-consuming and draining and vowed I’d give up the entire project at the end of the year. But now the end of the year is here and I no longer feel that way. Part of human nature is simple curiosity about what lies ahead. I’m anxious to know what’s going to win the book awards next month and I want to write about that. I’m curious to see how the recent changes in the publishing industry (editors losing jobs, long-time imprints shutting down) affect the future of children’s books. Are review journals on their way out (tick-tock, tick-tock) now that so many bloggers with professional backgrounds are reviewing books for free on the web? Are dependable midlist authors going to find it harder to sell their manuscripts as publishers increasingly devote their time and money to the “next big thing”? And what role is the Kindle going to play in the years ahead?

Still, the focus of this blog has always been -- and always will be -- books from the past. And there’s still so much to explore, so many mysteries to solve. In fact, I’d like to close out this year by sharing a mystery that just occured. A few days before Christmas, I received a white envelope in the mail. The return address listed a post office box in “N.K. RI.” I had not ordered any books from Rhode Island, so opened the envelope with some curiosity. Inside I found these two volumes:


Well, I couldn’t figure this out at all! I had NOT ordered anything from Rhode Island (I later looked up a list of cities in that state and found one called “North Kingston,” so perhaps that’s what “N.I.” stands for) and I certainly hadn’t ordered an 1878 copy of SELF-HELP : WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER, CONDUCT, AND PERSERVERANCE by Samuel Smiles or a Betty Crocker cookbook from 1943! There was no letter or bill of sale in the package at all. Inside the cookbook was a torn scrap of paper that said “$5.99" -- which seemed to be written on the back of an old math or science exam. A torn scrap in SELF-HELP stated “$19.95” on the back of a bridge scorepad containing the words “1st rubber, 2nd rubber” (at least I hope it was a bridge scorepad.)

It was the craziest thing.

Books just don’t randomly arrive in the mail from total strangers. Yet there I sat with two unexpected volumes in my lap.

However, since I never met an old book that I didn’t like, I have begun looking at these titles trying to find some clue to how they ended up here with me. So far I remain stumped in that regard, though I am finding some fascinating information within their pages. The Betty Crocker book (and she must be Betty Crocker Senior since she looks nothing like the lady on the frosting cans today) was published during wartime and I’m learning so much about rationing that I never knew. Take a look at this section which tells the reader to watch their “P’s and Q’s" (points and quantities) when buying meat:


Other headings state “MEAT IS SCARCE...EXTEND IT!” (accompanied by a drawing of a woman with a skillet in one hand grabbing a cow by the tail with her other hand) and “TO HELP YOUR COUNTRY, SAVE EVERY BIT OF FAT THAT COMES INTO YOUR KITCHEN!”

The book is obviously dated, with spot art featuring aproned-housewives with rolling pins and laden trays making food for menfolk who sit waiting to be served. Even the section about cooking for swingshift workers doesn’t show Rosie the Riveter, but a housewife waving her husband off to work before going into the kitchen to prepare his “refreshing, energy-giving, between-meal snack” of “tomato juice, fried slices of meat loaf, vegetable relishes, rye bread, prune whip, cookies, tea or milk.”

I also like the chapter on parties (“in war-time, more than any other time, we need friendly get-togethers to keep up our morale, give us refreshment and relaxation. But cooperation and simplicity in entertaining are necessary now”) which provides tips for a “Victory Garden Supper” and “Short Notice Weddings” (food includes heart-shaped chicken sandwiches, angel food cake, and salted nuts. No buns-in-the-oven at these quickie nuptials.)


And here’s something I’ve never heard of before -- and seems surprising coming so soon after the Great Depression -- a “Hobo Party” in which the guests dress in rags, supper is served as a “hand-out” from the back porch, and the centerpiece is a “miniature artificial fire with stewing kettle over it”:


As for the SELF-HELP book (exactly who sent me this and was there a not-so-hidden message in the title?), I haven’t gotten a chance to read through it yet, but I love this inscription in the front:


In case that spidery, perfect handwriting is too light to read, I’ll translate:

Was given to William Platt, Jan. 1879 for constant attendance during the year 1878, by the Third Congregational Sunday School.

“Life hath no trials that a cheerful face, a sunny heart, and a hand in God’s hand will not lighten.”

As 2008 draws to a close, I want to wish everyone a cheerful and sunny new year. Hope you’ll visit Collecting Children’s Books in 2009, where I’ll try to monitor present and future trends, while always looking back at books from the past and asking such eternal questions as:

Where can I learn more about wartime rationing?

What’s prune whip?

Would it be considered politically-incorrect to host a “Hobo Party” today?

Who is William Platt and how did I end up with his book?

And yes, how did these two books end up here on my shelves?