Tintin on the hot seat

The news that Little Brown will not be publishing Tintin in the Congo is not really news. This story made the rounds of the blogosphere earlier in the year when the book was released in Europe. My gut instinct is to disagree with this decision, because to me it seems like historical revisionism. I can understand not marketing it as a children's book. I can even understand not including it in the box set. But to decide against publishing it altogether seems spineless and naive; spineless because the publisher's preferred to avoid a controversy, and naive because ignoring the book doesn't make what is objectionable less so. English children's novelist Anne Fine commented on the controversy in an article for The Times, citing incidents in her own writing where she has revised older texts for modern readers. If she chooses to do that to her own writing, that's her decision. And I guess choosing not to publish a book is a publisher's prerogative, but I would have had more respect for their decision to cancel publication if Little Brown said they wouldn't make any profit from the book. Everyone knows that money talks. And maybe that is what's motivating this decision, and they're not simply taking the high road.

I always come back to the opinion that if something is objectionable, don't buy it/read it/promote it. English journalist Kathryn Hughes agrees, although she is of the opinion that modern readers can learn from their unenlightened ancestors. Which takes us back to that historical revisionism thing. Tintin in the Congo is what it is: a book written when colonialism and colonialist attitudes were rampant. Eradicating racism from modern society is commendable, but eradicating all reference to it is not the way it's done.

It's Dahl at the top

According to an article in The Guardian, Roald Dahl is the most popular children's author among young adult readers. The list of the top ten is surprising for the abundance of classic authors over more recent favorites. Here is the list:

1. Roald Dahl
2. CS Lewis
3. JM Barrie
4. JK Rowling
5. Anthony Horowitz
6. Jacqueline Wilson
7. Dr Seuss
8. Philip Pullman
9. Francesca Simon
10. Enid Blyton

J.M. Barrie is more popular than J.K. Rowling? On the basis of Peter Pan? Did the poll participants pull these names out of their own experience, or was it multiple choice? Also, I thought the definition of "young adult" was a bit broad: 16-34! If you are going to include thirtysomethings under the YA umbrella, what counts as the new middle age?

Actually, I find the list a bit tame and parochial. Only one Yank in there! And it is not at all representative of current trends in children's literature.

Okay--here's a call for candidates. I will prepare my own list by next week, so unless it is to be based entirely on my own opinion, send in your nominees.

Cold Comfort--The Shivers in the Fridge

I recently had a manuscript returned to me with a--reasonably--kind rejection letter. It was a submission to a magazine, and while the editor liked certain aspects of my story, she felt that it was "a shade gruesome". Well, it was an adaptation of a fairy tale, and fairy tales can be gruesome, cruel, and twisted at times (must be because they're not just for kids!) I did not feel that my story fell within those parameters, but there was the slight matter of the giant chopping off the heroine's feet. Be that as it may there are some well-regarded picture books which would qualify as "a shade gruesome". I think of The Amazing Bone by William Steig. Or The Wretched Stone by Chris VanAllsburg. And Chocolatina by Eric Kraft (a teacher is quite prepared to eat a child simply because she is made of chocolate!) I think you can add to that list The Shivers in the Fridge by Fran Manushkin. The book tells the story of a family living in a refrigerator, and each day they endure a giant earthquake and a monstrous hand which removes a part of the landscape. One day, the hand removes father, too. The hand returns, replacing a jar of jelly, but no father. Day by day, members of the family are picked off, until only the little boy is left, cold and alone, telling himself stories in the dark for comfort.

Now, this is a picture book, so you can rest assured that all turns out fine. But the book lost me about half-way through, when the mother is whisked away after becoming trapped in a bowl of jello (she took a dip in it, and then it solidified around her.) The picture of two gnarled hands removing the bowl, with the mother stiff in place, and looking, frankly, terrified, was a bit much for me.

So what's my point? Well...has that editor, who rejected my manuscript, read this book? Because clearly there is a market for creeping out kids. Or at least their parent readers. And "Shivers" has been well received, too, with a stared review from Booklist and favorable words from School Library Journal. Both reviews comment on the potential to scare, but clearly it is not a detraction, because the scare is balanced by humor. I guess if you can laugh a thing off, you won't cry later when you actually stop and think about it.

Trust me--the giant cutting off the heroine's feet--it's funny!

Lunch with an Author--Steve Jenkins

This afternoon I had the privilege and pleasure of attending a lunch given in honor of author/illustrator Steve Jenkins, who was in the Boston area promoting his latest book Living Color. The book is all about how animals use color for a variety of purposes: as a warning, as a friendly message, or as protection. I managed to swing an invite because I reviewed his previous book, Dogs and Cats for "School Library Journal" (self-promotion! Read it here!) I've been a fan of Jenkins since the release of Actual Size, (Houghton Mifflin, 2004,) and a trip to the library revealed a back catalog of other equally impressive books, all featuring his distinctive cut-paper collage illustrations. He talked about his research methods (his wife helps quite a bit) and how he selects the paper he uses. For Living Color, for instance, it was a case of looking through photos of animals and separating them by colors, making sure that there weren't too many of one type of animal over another. Evidently purple was a tough color to find, but I love what he eventually settled on (check out the long-wattled umbrella bird.)

Today's lunch was also a great opportunity for me to spend quality time with like-minded professionals who work towards getting fantastic books into the hands of children. Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin (if any of its reps are reading this!) for including me in a fine afternoon of good food and good company. And thanks to Steve Jenkins for signing my copy of his new book!

I love my Dirty Wow Wow

One of my new colleagues showed me this charming little volume, which was written by her sister and brother-in-law. Dirty Wow Wow and Other Love Stories (Katz, Cheryl and Jeffrey) is a photographic tribute to those blankets, teddies, and soft friends that are our first loves. Each portrait of a misshapen, heavily mended, drool-stained cuddly toy is accompanied by a brief vignette, although the words are not necessary to express how precious these toys were to the boys and girls of their pasts. There are fifty in the book, and you can see more at the publisher's website. Here is mine, Fluffy Tail, a soft squirrel. Fluffy Tail was originally intended for some other child. But when she was returned in the post, my mother gave her to me. I can't remember being without Fluffy Tail, and for the longest time she still travelled with me, until it became apparent to me that she was too fragile to keep up such a lifestyle! She now sits on a shelf in my office. Not as cozy as the days when we used to share a bed, but close at hand all the same.

Alright!

Still going on about wordless picture books....

Sara Varon will follow-up the fantastic Chicken and Cat with (is this a working title?) Chicken and Cat 2. She will be in the Boston area in October (still tentative according to her website) for a book signing. Count me in!

Lost Treasures #2--Pig Pig and the Magic Photo Album

This entry is completely biased, because I am a HUGE fan of David McPhail. So of course I can't imagine how a book as imaginative as Pig Pig and the Magic Photo Album could possibly go out of print. But it has! It seems strange, since David McPhail is such an active and respected author. Which just goes to show that there are no guarantees in publishing. Pig Pig has his own series of books and was already a well-appreciated--if not beloved--character by the time this entry came along. (It has always proven a winner in story time.) The story is deceptively simple: Pig Pig is waiting to have his photo taken. While the photographer fiddles about with his camera, Pig Pig is idly flipping through a photo album, practicing saying, "Cheese!" He looks at a picture of a church, says "Cheese!" to himself, and Voila! Pig Pig is hanging by his suspender strap from the very church steeple in the picture! Pig Pig proceeds to "Cheese!" himself from picture to picture, in and out of trouble, until he finds himself back in his very own living room, covered in chocolate, but safe. Characters hopping in and out of pictures has been covered in James Mayhew's "Katie" series, and the outstanding The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau (Agee, Jon.) And the "Zoom" series (Banyai, Istvan) turns the process in on itself by revealing each page to be a smaller detail from the following page, to the extent that the reader has the feeling of jumping into the pictures by pulling back from them. (It's very clever.) As in Mole Music and Drawing Lessons from a Bear, McPhail studies the transforming nature of art--in Pig Pig's case, quite literally! Plus, Pig Pig's picture hopping gives McPhail the opportunity to draw a number of humorous scenarios which would otherwise be completely random and unrelated. Now doesn't that sound like just the sort of book that should be reissued?

Book of the Week--Bow Wow Bugs a Bug

I have not intentionally chosen another picture book as Book of the Week. Nor, to be more specific, have I chosen another wordless picture book to be Book of the Week. That was just a fluke. Peter Collington's The Tooth Fairy was selected last week to commemorate the loss of my daughter's first tooth. It just so happens that ever since we snatched Bow Wow Bugs a Bug (Newgarden, Mark and Megan Montague Cash) from our local library's stacks, my daughter has insisted on "reading" it every night. I have tried wordless picture books on her before, with little success. I don't know if she feels ripped off because there are no words or what, but for whatever reason, the illustrations were never enough to spark her imagination. Not so with Bow Wow--and she's not even a dog person! Each night we have taken turns making up the story to go along with the--truly daft--illustrations. The story is simple enough--a terrier is perturbed by a speck of a bug and follows him around town. My favorite bit is when the terrier comes face to face with an identical terrier sniffing down an identical speck of a bug. The two dogs take part in a mirroring montage straight out of Duck Soup. It's a sly bit of cultural knowledge slipped into a children's book: funny for the kids, a wonderful tip-of-the-hat for Marx Brothers buffs. See? Not just for kids!

Bedtime Stories

This evening saw us enjoying:

There is a Bird on Your Head (Willems, Mo)
Ginger and Petunia (Polacco, Patricia)
Blue Ribbon Henry (Calhoun, Mary)

Where is Henry? He's "some cat"! He shows such compassion and ingenuity in the dealings with his human family (particularly the Kid, who loves him, and the Man, who loves him in spite of himself,) and I for one would love to read more about him. Five books just isn't enough! This may merit a Lost Treasures entry.......

From Page to Stage--War Horse

I saw this in the Times On-line: Michael Morpurgo's 1982 War Horse has been transformed into a stage production, due to premier in London's West End in October 2007. This is not to be confused with Dick King-Smith's The Water Horse, due to hit the silver screen at the end of this year. Equine overload? Neigh!