Age Ranges on Books?

Am I crazy to think this is actually a useful idea? Graeme Neill reports for The Bookseller that British publishers are going to put age ranges on the back of children's books beginning this fall. Age ranges are: 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+/teen. Best of all, Neill writes, "Guidance levels will be the responsibility of individual publishers, and will be an indication of reading level interest rather than ability."

Interest instead of ability. Finally.
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Update: My smart readers have convinced me that I am, indeed, crazy (or, at least, naive)!

Literary Dealbreakers: Children's Book Edition

PaperCuts, the NYT blog about books, has some new bloggers I think. After a dry spell, they've put up several great posts this week. Today they've posted a short piece in reference to an back page essay on literary dealbreakers: Which books would lead you to break off a relationship? I've posted my adult offending titles at the PaperCuts blog, but now I'd like to ask you: which books make you think twice about people who say these books are their favorite children's books?

I'll start off with a few. In my case, I dislike children's books adults love, but are also the ones that make kids say, "huh?" Top two dealbreakers for me in this category? The Little Prince and The Giving Tree.

Also, those of you who know me know that I have an ongoing feud with the Berenstain Bears. (Sorry, Betsy!) I just can't stand how Mama knows everything and everyone else--including poor Papa--has to learn a lesson in every darn book. I just want Mama to be wrong. Just once. Oh, wait. She was wrong once: When she decided to work outside the home. That was really, really wrong and Mama admitted it. Blech.

Okay, so which are your kidlit dealbreakers?

Considering Corduroy

Susan's (Chicken Spaghetti) post about Corduroy had me thinking off and on all day about my favorite childhood bear. Corduroy really was my number one--the book I loved most of all. I remember finding it in my third grade classroom, long after I had given up picture books and feeling like I found an old friend.

Susan links to an article written by Karen MacPherson about Corduroy's 40th birthday. In the article, MacPherson talks about the magic of Corduroy and why children still fall for his world:

• "'Corduroy' taps into a persistent childhood fantasy," says Anita Silvey, children's-book expert and author of '100 Best Books for Children.' "Children know that when they leave the room, their toys have all kinds of adventures; this fantasy underlies 'Toy Story,' 'The Lonely Doll' and 'Corduroy.'"

While I agree with MacPherson and Silvey here that toys coming to life is a persistent childhood fantasy, I am wondering if I'm alone when I contend that this was not the fantasy that drew me to Corduroy. As a child, I didn't wish dolls and toys had a life of their own when we left the room, I believed it with all my heart. My sister and I used to lay traps for our toys--traps that were always tripped, by the way. What drew me to Corduroy was another fantasy altogether: being in a magical world ordinarily forbidden to you. In this case, the department store after hours. I followed Corduroy up the escalator, to the furniture section where he topples a lamp, wondered about where else he could go in this secret world.

So, forty years on--what draws you to Corduroy?
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Asides:

I also loved Lisa as Freeman renders her. She's warm, resourceful, and, I thought, she looked more like me than most picture book heroines of the era.

The Lonely Doll is also a book I was intrigued by as a child. And it's a subject for another post. The Lonely Doll taps into fantasy in entirely different, hopefully latent, way.

Celebrating Children's Books

Amanda Craig and a host of well-known writers celebrate Dr. Seuss for World Book Day in the Times. I love what Meg Rosoff has to say about The Cat in the Hat: "I still know lots of it by heart. Having read The Cat in the Hat to my daughter, I just love how weird and radical it is, with the two blank-eyed children staring out of the window, and the mother who is somewhere else. "

I love that too, even though I know it's somewhat disturbing!

Jacqueline Wilson talks about her autobiography (for children--how wonderful) in the Guardian. She wrote it for what I consider to be excellent reasons:

• "...in 2005, I was made the children's laureate, and possibly because of this I learnt that my editors at Random House were thinking of commissioning someone to write a slim biographical book about my life and work. I was flattered - but I also started to fret about the idea. Just call me a control freak, but I decided that maybe I wanted to write it. That way I'd be able to decide how I was going to do it, what to put in - and, more importantly, what to leave out."

Amanda Craig reviews dragon books for the Times. Amanda Craig and dragons? Can't beat that. Enjoy!

Movies from Children's Books

You know that making movies from children's books is big business when MTV covers the story.

Shawn Adler lists the 10 children's books MTV thinks should be filmed next with explanations as to why. I must admit, their choices are pretty interesting.

Note: Unless you're a huge fan of MTV-style bumper music, turn the sound off before clicking over.

World's Youngest Author

Matthew Beard reports (for The Independent) that a six-year-old boy will be publishing his first novel in the U.K. Here's the scoop:

• "Christopher Beale completed his 1,500-word, five-chapter novel This and Last Season's Excursions when he was six years and 118 days old, beating the previous Guinness World Record by 42 days."

The book is about "a boy and his favourite stuffed animals, his puppy Biscuit, his kitten Daisy and the fierce Big Hinnies, as they rescue owls, fight lions and search for a mysterious moving city, Quarles."

Want to know more? He has his own website. I'll just have you all take a look at its title.

Should I feel bad that my six year old is only now learning to read?

Not-So-Favorite Classics

Fuse#8 asks the question that has occupied me since I was about eleven years old:

• "What are the 'classic' titles you've never much taken to? I was an adult before Where the Wild Things Are elicited any kind of a loving response. Were there books you knew of as a kid that just didn't do anything for you, in spite of your fellow preschool brethern's adoration?

Like Leila, I liked just about everything up to a certain point. Until 11.

I was eleven when I picked up The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I remember thinking "This author has just force fed me a moral and I don't like it one little bit." I've always been stubborn, but I was really upset by this experience. Why? Because it was such a great adventure and I loved the book until the end. I felt used.

Now, again like Leila (sorry Fuse, your question is taking the wrong direction here as well!), there are many titles on my list.

1. The Berenstain Bears. I didn't think much about these books until I became a mom. Now Mama Bear bothers me so much I refuse to read these aloud to my kids and make the grandparents do it instead. Mama Bear is such a know-it-all, I can't stand it. This may tell you more about me than about the Bears, but, still, there you have it.
2. The Little Prince. I've never understood this book. Not as a child, not now.
3. The Wizard of Oz. I've never enjoyed the Oz books and I really dislike the movie. (Sorry, J.L.!) I must admit, the Oz books are top on my list of "give-'em-a-second-chance" books.
4. Nancy Drew. I read plenty of Nancy Drew mysteries as a child, but never loved them. I was highly annoyed by Nancy herself. Rich, spoiled, perfect. I was well aware she'd never deign to talk to someone like me. Also, I really hated, even as a skinny child, that Bess was always called "plump." I like the Sammy Keyes mysteries much better.
5. Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. Slow.
6. ETA: I've already thought of another one, or series. Eloise. Especially Eloise in Moscow.

I'm sure there are more classic titles I've "never much taken to." I may add more later.

An interesting article in the..

...Washington Post.

Valerie Strauss writes about assigned reading and whether or not it's too difficult for its target audience. I'd never really thought about this before, but Strauss has completely won me over with her argument. Here's the gist:

• Toni Morrison's award-winning novel Beloved, about a former slave's decision to kill her child rather than see her enslaved, is on some middle schools' lists for kids to read unassisted. And elementary schools sometimes ask students to read books such as The Bridge to Terabithia, with themes about death and gender roles that librarians say are better suited for older children.

If I've learned anything since beginning this blog and The Edge of the Forest, then it's that there are so many wonderful, brilliant children's books that tackle similar subjects, but in a more approachable way. Why not offer alternatives? For each class, provide, say, five books on similar themes?

Reading and writing should be, in my opinion, about sharing different worlds, about putting things in perspective, about language and life. If that can be accomplished with children's books, then why not allow the children to enjoy titles best suited to them?

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ETA: Monica responds to the article and its simplistic approach over at educating alice. She justifiably takes the article to task!

Weekend Reviews (1-2)

It was a busy, busy day yesterday, so the weekend review roundup comes in only one part this time.

Susan Perren reviews a variety to titles for Toronto's Globe and Mail. Books reviewed include:

• Abby's Birds, by Ellen Schwartz (ill. by Sima Elizabeth Sheftin) (Big quote here: "Ellen Schwartz's cut-paper illustrations-- ingenious and most appealing to the eye --are the perfect medium for this exquisitely subtle picture book, in which origami, the Japanese art of folding paper to make various objects and shapes, is both theme and message.")
• A Crash of Rhinos, A Party of Jays: The Wacky Way We Name Animal Groups, by Diane Swanson (ill. by Mariko Ando Spencer) ("a cheerfully educational vantage point from which to view the natural world and its denizens")
• Creatures Great and Small, by Karen Patkau ("starkly beautiful renderings of representatives from the insect, fish mammal, reptile, amphibian, bird, sea jelly, crustacean, arachnid and mollusk kingdoms")
• Fire! The Renewal of a Forest, by Celia Godkin ("That forest fires are a necessity is the premise of Godkin's picture book, one admirably supported by watercolour illustrations geared to the young reader. ")
• Odd Man Out, by Sarah Ellis (a "richly textured and involving novel")

Henry Alford reviews Lemony Snicket's The End for the New York Times. ( and finds it "more suspenseful than the other books, largely because we want to know if the vile Olaf will finally get his comeuppance, and whether there is any more information about the Baudelaires’ parents")

Jenny Nimmo's The Snow Spider is the Book of the Week in the Washington Post. ("the magical first book in a trilogy by the author of the Charlie Bone series")

The Getaway, by Ed Vere (a picture book), is the Children's Book of the Week in the Times (reviewed by Nicolette Jones).

Horrid Henry’s Christmas Cracker, by Francesca Simon, is discussed, not reviewed, at the Times. I can't wait for this one.

Mary Harris Russell reviews many a new book for the Chicago Tribune. Let's see if I can get them all:

• Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct, by Mo Willems
• Chowder, by Peter Brown
• Pancakes for Supper, by Anne Issacs, ill. by Mark Teague ("Mark Teague's slightly larger-than-life figures give just the right atmosphere.")
• I'm Not a Baby, by Jill McElmurry ("Child readers will delight in feeling smarter than Leo's family")
• I'm Dirty, by Kate and Jim McMullan ("Only such a well-chosen hero could conclude by wishing us 'a dirty day!'")
• Winter Is the Warmest Season, by Lauren Stringer. I find this assertion highly debatable, but Harris Russell says, "Winter's cold is a terrific incentive to assemble all the warmth you can think of: fuzzy boots, earflap hats, hot chocolate. " Off topic: This is why I'm a Californian at heart. I dislike all those things from boots to hot chocolate.
• The End, by Lemony Snicket ("Don't miss it!")
• Crispin: At the Edge of the World, by Avi ("Crispin also struggles to figure out what acting like a man will be, and the novel ends with an episode in France that leaves no doubt that war is hell designed by human greed.")
• Horns and Wrinkles, by Joseph Helgerson ("a journey worth following")
• Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett ("For all the fun, it's about taking responsibility")
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Vol. I: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson ("The reading starts slowly, the vocabulary is demanding, but then, after not so long, you're unable to put it down.")
• This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn, by Aidan Chambers ("This book is not for a young or impatient reader. Through it, however, Cordelia blazes into life, sometimes annoying, honest, vulnerable")

The Cybils

The First Annual Children's Book Awards, Blog Edition, finally have a name. The Cybils. Head on over to Book Buds to find out how we decided on this name.

This means that, by the end of the week, we'll be seeking book nominations!

A Message for Bloggers

The First Annual Children’s Book Awards, Blog Edition

This month we’ve seen a spate of book awards, some of which have left us wondering: couldn’t we, the intelligent, savvy members of the kidlitosphere do better? Or, at least, differently?

So, we’re inaugurating our own book awards, honoring books published in English for children in 2006. Anne Boles Levy, of Book Buds, will launch a site this week and administer the awards process. What we need first is a name for this award, so we can get the award site up asap. One suggested name is The Belugas. Okay, that was my suggestion, but I suspect it’s a little weird. Anyone have a better idea? Head on over to Book Buds and make your contest name suggestion.

How will these awards work?

• We will be accepting nominations for the best books of 2006 through November 20, 2006. Books will be judged in the following categories: Picture Book, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy/Sci Fi, Picture Book Non Fiction, Non Fiction (Middle Grade/Young Adult), Graphic Novel, Poetry.
• Nominating committees of five members from the children’s literature blogs* will narrow the recommendations down to a shortlist of five books per category. The shortlists will be announced January 1, 2007.
• Committees of five members, different from those serving on the nominating committees, will decide which title per category will win the Children’s Book Award, Blog edition. The winners will be announced January 15, 2007.
• This is meant to be as democratic and open a process as possible. Ask any questions you may have.

What does this mean for me?

• If you run a blog about children’s literature* and would like to serve on a nominating committee or on a judging committee, then head on over to an administrating blog (organized by category and listed below) and nominate yourself .
• Consider nominating yourself in two different genres, so that if the committee for one of your favorites fills up, you'll have a back-up option.
• Suggest a name by heading over to Book Buds

As soon as we have a name and committees, we can begin soliciting nominations.

Administrating Blogs

• Picture Books, Big A little a (e-mail)
• Middle Grade Fiction, A Fuse #8 Production (e-mail)
• Young Adult Fiction, Jen Robinson’s Book Page (e-mail)
• Fantasy/Sci Fi, Wands and Worlds (e-mail)
• Non Fiction (Picture Book), Bartography (e-mail)
• Non Fiction (MG/YA), propernoun.net (e-mail)
• Graphic Novel, A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (e-mail)
• Poetry, Chicken Spaghetti (e-mail)

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*Children’s writers who blog, or bloggers who run general literature blogs are also eligible to serve on either committee

Too Good to Be True, indeed

Monica has a great post up today--Madonna and Child, African Version--at educating alice. Go read it, if you haven't yet.

Then, consider this small tidbit of information from TMZ. Yep, not only is Madonna adopting a child, but her newest work of children's "literature" is due out next week.* You just know a picture book about the joys of adoption will be next.

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* The gossip piece says the forthcoming book is Madonna's second. It's actually her sixth children's book, but the second in the English Roses series--The English Roses: Too Good to Be True.

Top 10 characters from Children's Historical Fiction

The Guardian is at it again with another interesting article on children's books.

Today, Julia Golding, author of the Cat Royal series, lists her top 10 characters from historical fiction. She choses titles from a variety of historical eras, beginning with:

• 1. Prehistoric: Torak in Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother. You root for the orphan boy from the beginning because he is an outcast, trying to survive in the harsh world of a prehistoric forest. You get to sniff the scents, taste the food and feel the fear along with him.

Most recent historical era? WWII and Golding selects one of my personal favorites, Goodnight Mister Tom. If you haven't read this book, you must, as Golding explains:

• 10. Second world war: Tom Oakley in Michelle Magorian's Goodnight Mister Tom. A tale of two lost souls, an evacuee and Mr Tom, helping each other through the traumas of war in Blitz Britain. A beautiful book about childhood, grief and love. You can't read it without falling for Mr Tom's gentle curmudgeonly strength yourself.