Childrenthe journal of the Association for Library Service to Children & LibrariesVolume 3 Number 3 Winter 2005 ISSN 1542-9806

Richard Jackson's Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Mission to Rwanda • Newbery Protagonists • Junie B. Jones

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Contents● ofVolume 3, Number 3 Winter 2005

Notes and Letters 41 Conference 101 Letterman-inspired Lists to Get You through ALA Conventions 2 Editor’s Note Jeri Kladder Sharon Korbeck Verbeten

2 Interim Executive Director’s Note Aimee Strittmatter Departments 3 Letters to the Editor 45 Research and Development Chocolate and Children Features ALSC Research and Development Committee 47 A Hot Time in the City of 4 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Big Shoulders Richard Jackson ALA Annual Conference Photo Gallery

20 Challenges Then and Now 50 Book Reviews A Survey of Protagonists in Newbery Award Books for Librarians and Teachers, Parents and Books, 1950s and 1990s Homeschoolers Jonathan Lathey By Kathryn Miller, Junko Yokota, and Jude Mathews

25 USBBY Honors Icons 53 ALSC News Konigsburg, Bryan Nominated for Hans Christian Andersen Award Leslie M. Molnar 52 Call for Referees 55 Index to Advertisers 28 Creating a Reading Culture 58 Index to Volume 3 One Librarian’s Mission in Rwanda 62 Author Guidelines Sarah Webb 64 The Last Word Adrienne Furness 31 “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” Junie B. Jones, Language, and Linguistics This original artwork was created Jill S. Ratzan by illustrator Peter Catalanotto for the 2005 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture 39 It’s Never Too Late! program book. Used with permission Mother/Daughter Librarians Make First Trip to of the artist. ALA Annual Conference Sharon Korbeck Verbeten

40 A Dahl House Roald Dahl Museum Opens in England

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 1 11/28/2005 4:11:45 PM Editor’s Note Helping Hands Sharon Korbeck Verbeten

“We need the books that affect us like a disas- Editor ter, that grieve us deeply, like the death of Sharon Korbeck Verbeten, De Pere, Wisc. someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, Editorial Advisory Committee Jeri S. Kladder, Chair, Columbus, Ohio like suicide.” Rosanne Cerny, Jamaica, N.Y. From the letters of Franz Kafka Patrick Jones, Richfield, Minn. Jill S. Ratzan, Highland Park, N.J. Ellen Fader, ALSC President, Ex Officio, Portland, Ore. ibrarians have fought detractors for years—those that think Sharon Korbeck Verbeten, Editor, Ex Officio, De Pere, Wisc. governments spend too much money funding buildings, Interim Executive Director L books, and budgets they consider luxuries . . . or far from Aimee Strittmatter necessary. Those detractors, unfortunately, may be eating their Division Coordinator words after the tragedies in the Gulf Coast in August. Laura Schulte-Cooper Web Site With libraries destroyed, so too are the recreation, research, www.ala.org/alsc refuge, and respite of thousands. Perhaps never more than now have so many needed so much. Rebuilding a region surely Circulation Children and Libraries (ISSN 1542-9806) is published three times per year by the American shows the strength of America; we’ve witnessed that over the Library Association (ALA), 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. It is the official publication of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of ALA. Subscription price: past few months. members of ALSC, $20 per year, included in membership dues; nonmembers, $40 per year in the U.S.; $50 in Canada, Mexico, and other countries. Back issues within one year of current issue, $12 each. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Children and Libraries, 50 E. Huron St., Help is still needed. And while efforts start with the barest of Chicago, IL 60611. Members send mailing labels or facsimile to Member Services, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Nonmember subscribers: Subscriptions, orders, changes of address, necessities, the Gulf Coast libraries will rise again through the and inquiries should be sent to Children and Libraries, Customer Service—Subscriptions, help of colleagues they may never have even met. 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; 1-800-545-2433, press 5; fax: (312) 944-2641; e-mail: [email protected].

Send help in any way you can—from a financial gift or even a ship- Statement of Purpose ment of books to a shelter—where those seeking solace can use Children and Libraries is the official journal of ALSC, a division of the American Library Association. The journal primarily serves as a vehicle for continuing education of librarians them the most. For an update on how to help, visit www.ala.org. & working with children, which showcases current scholarly research and practice in library ser- vice to children and spotlights significant activities and programs of the Association. (From the journal’s draft “Policies and Procedures” document to be adopted by the ALSC board.) Interim Executive Director’s Note Production ALA Production Services—Troy D. Linker and Angela Hanshaw; Stephanie Kuenn, Aimee Strittmatter Kristen McKulski, and Christine Velez, Production Editors. Advertising s we approach the new calendar year, Benson, Coffee and Associates, 1411 Peterson Avenue, Park Ridge, IL 60068; (847) 692-4695; fax: many of us set resolutions and goals. In (847) 692-3877; e-mail: [email protected]. The journal accepts advertising for goods or services of interest to the library profession and librarians in service to youth in particular. It encourages doing so, we look back on what we have advertising that informs readers and provides clear communication between vendor and buyer. A The journal adheres to ethical and commonly accepted advertising practices and reserves experienced and achieved, and where we have the right to reject any advertisement not suited to the above purposes or not consistent with traveled along life’s winding road. ALSC is no the aims and policies of ALA. Acceptance of advertising in the journal does not imply official endorsement by ALA of the products or services advertised. exception. This issue is full of rich, interesting articles that share our members’ experiences and activities during the past year. Manuscripts Manuscripts and letters pertaining to editorial content should be sent to Sharon Korbeck Verbeten, editor, 820 Spooner Ct., De Pere, WI 54115; (920) 339-2740; e-mail: toylady@ We are pleased to share with you the flowing words of Richard athenet.net. Manuscripts will be sent out for review according to the journal’s established referee procedures. See the author guidelines in each issue for further information. Jackson, who presented the 2005 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture last April at Drexel University. Jackson shares his take on Indexing, Abstracting, and Microfilm editors, stories, and a long career in publishing. Children and Libraries is indexed in Library and Information Science Abstracts and in Library Literature and Information Science. Children and Libraries is indexed, abstracted, and available in full text through EBSCOhost. For The 2005 Annual Conference in Chicago was certainly hot, hot, more information, contact EBSCO at 1-800-653-2726. hot! For those unable to attend, check out our photo gallery. Children and Libraries is also available from ProQuest Information and Learning in one or more of the following ways: online, via the ProQuest information service; microform; CD-ROM; and And those considering attending Annual for the first time will via database licensing. For more information, call 1-800-521-0600, ext. 2888 or online at www. il.proquest.com. be inspired by the story of mother/daughter librarians who The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National shared fun, family, and friendship on their first ALA adventure. Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. We’ve also included a helpful article on tips for attending Annual Copyright ©2005 American Library Association Conference or Midwinter Meeting. First-time attendees will find All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be photocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other photocopying, reprint- continued on next page ing, or translating, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 2 11/28/2005 4:11:46 PM Letters to the Editor

Letters Guidelines

Children and Libraries welcomes readers to submit letters to the editor on topics of general interest to the profession or as comments on topics covered in our pages.

Letters should be no longer than 350 words and must be signed. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and space. Send letters to Editor Sharon Korbeck Verbeten at [email protected] or via mail to 820 Spooner Ct., De Pere, WI 54115.

Me? Get Involved? Volunteer? them someday when you can attend Annual Conference. INTERIM EXECUTIVE Did you think when you joined ALSC One of the committees currently work- DIRECTOR’S NOTE that someday you’d volunteer and get ing through e-mail is the Quicklists continued from page 2 involved, but that day just hasn’t arrived? Consulting Committee, which responds Or perhaps you got involved and now to requests for booklists on various top- your work or family situation is different, ics. Also, the Great Web Sites Committee this information valuable, and our and it’s hard to find time to go to conven- accomplishes much through e-mail. The returning members will also benefit tions? Or maybe you think that you need Scholarships Committee and others are from this refresher as we prepare for to see how things work before you dare proposing to become virtual groups. the 2006 Midwinter Meeting in San to pitch in yourself? There are ways to get Opportunities to participate virtually are Antonio. involved from your first day as an ALSC expanding, but remember that it’s not member, and they’re not secrets. “pretend” work that happens virtually, The articles in this issue are only a but the real thing. taste of the rich and brilliant con- ALSC exists through the great work of tributions and activities our mem- all the people who are willing to pay Another way to get to know people is bers brought to ALSC this past year. dues and volunteer to make the orga- by signing up for ALSC’s electronic dis- Enjoy the issue; ALSC looks forward nization work. We have a terrific staff in cussion lists. It’s a great way to share to another exciting year! & the Chicago office, but ALSC members experiences with colleagues who share contribute so much. The staff are our interests such as storytelling, managing support, and as essential as they are, our children’s services, or school partner- members are the core of what we do. ships, for example.

How can you become active? It’s easy. Without members, nothing gets done. Visit www.ala.org/alsc and fill out the There would be no Newbery or Caldecott Volunteer Form. It’s slightly hidden, but Medal awarded, no El Día de los Niños/ El COMING NEXT ISSUE if you click on “Board and Committee Día de los Libros celebrations, no scholar- Work” in the left column, there is a sec- ships awarded, no NASA exhibits, no part- ond link on “ALSC Forms” that will take nerships with other organizations—none Grandparents raising grandchildren you to a page where the form is located. of the numerous other things that busy ALSC worker bees accomplish nation- PUBYAC over the years For most committee work, presence wide. Get started, and you’ll be surprised at Annual Conference is required. But how soon ALSC will just become a regular ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio there are exceptions. E-mail has made it part of your everyday world. Photo Gallery possible for members to work together and accomplish certain tasks virtu- Carol Edwards, Head of Youth Services ally. You make friends with colleagues Philip S. Miller Library, around the country, hopefully meeting Castle Rock, Colo.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 3 11/28/2005 4:11:46 PM On my desk—in a bedroom in Maryland, I. Mutuality from which I work—you might find stacks of highlighted manuscript pages, thers’ words have been my articles, and books, all about writing, life—and so are they today. An which have lent me many a rumination Oeditor’s—an actor’s—life. Here for this lecture. Most touch upon the is William Stafford to lend his voice as subject of story, which I have been trying prologue, with a poem he called “Story to puzzle out for years—specifically since Time.” The two words of the title suggest September 1952, when I was sixteen— the first and second acts of our afternoon story’s importance to me, and, recently, together. Around midpoint, I promise, its future in the age of cyberspace. there will be an intermission. But also an epilogue where epilogues belong. Robert Stone, in The Writer’s Chapbook, May Hill says, “We need stories. We can’t identify So, to the first act—Story. ourselves without them. We’re always telling ourselves stories about who we Arbuthnot Tell that one about Catherine who are: That’s what history is, what the idea carried her doll to college and of a nation or an individual is. The pur- Honor Lecture when her baby died pose of fiction is to help us answer the she threw her doll in the river. question we must constantly be asking Tell that one. ourselves: Who do we think we are, and Presented by Richard Jackson at Drexel what do we think we’re doing?” University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania And the one when the old engineer on April 9, 2005 liked his locomotive so much he Who and what indeed. “Always the beau- lived there and they had to tiful answer,” wrote e e cummings, “who build him a house with a whistle. asks the more beautiful question.” I have I like that. always liked his line from the six non- lectures titled “I” and given at Harvard And the successful racehorse with decades ago. Questions sum up editorial a fancy stall fixed up like a Western work and are what editors can most use- clubhouse fully offer writers and illustrators. with an old tennis shoe nailed for luck above the door. Among beautiful questions I might ask That’s a good one. in the course of a day:

But I’m tired of this long story “How’s it going?” where I live, these houses with “May I be of help?” people who whisper their real lives “How much more time will you need?” away while eternity runs wild in “Did you get the check?” the street and you suffocate. In 1891, William Hazlitt observed: “It is Yes, and how about the boy who utterly impossible to persuade an Editor always granted others their way that he is nobody.” In her Arbuthnot to live, Lecture of 1998, Susan Hirschman cites and he gave away his whole life till the negotiation between two somebod- at last nothing was left for him? ies, Ursula Nordstrom and Ruth Krauss, Don’t tell that one. over the repeated phrase “See?” in The Happy Day. Look it up—a delicious Bring me a new one, maybe with example of editing in its essence. Part a dog that trots alongside, and a flirtation, part surety—never insistence desert with a hidden from Nordstrom. river no one else finds, but you go there and pray and a great voice Editors aren’t nobodies. They are of use; Richard Jackson’s career spanned comes. And everything listens. should be goads, good listeners, and forty-three years; most recently, he allies—though invisible in the pub- served as editorial director at Richard “Story Time” first appeared in Stafford’s lished work. Jackson Books, an imprint of Simon & 1991 book, Passwords. On my shelves Schuster’s Atheneum Books for Young are many poetry books lichened at their British writers are unused to editors Readers. He retired in June 2005. edges with Post-it notes. squirreling about in their process. But

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 4 11/28/2005 4:11:47 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture they have, I admit, contributed volumes expected to be bankers until the earning which James Stephens in his Irish Fairy to the literature about writing, and there- began and at comparable rates for every- Tales calls, “the finest in the world.” fore have aided editors immeasurably. one. I liked the business better when Stephen Spender lists the requirements all of us—writers and their publishers— Critic Vivian Gornick writes in The for a literary composition as “a. inspira- were traveling the same road, in the same Situation and the Story, her examination tion, b. memory, c. concentration, d. direction. of fact-based narrative: “What happened faith, and e. song.” to the writer is not what matters; what But enough of this hobby-horse! I’ve matters is the large sense that the writer Editors, I believe, play a role in each. left Spender’s fifth requirement—song— is able to make of what happened. For Often they inspire a novel. I have, just by gasping in my dust. He defines it as “the that the power of the writing imagina- being an expectant friend. By being the expert use of language; not merely in the tion is required. As V. S. Pritchett said, reader for whom the story is intended, as sense of correct usage, but in the sense ‘It’s all in the art. You get no credit for confidence or declaration. Editors nudge that language is the means by which living.’” memory into the light, so that a writer a certain music is created, a sound in can hear the past—the wellspring of the ears as well as logic for the mind. And yet many a children’s book is clearly most literature—speaking aloud. Editors It is meter; it is rhythm; it is emphasis; the working out of some childhood do, sometimes, exact concentration, so it is even gesture,” he says. What help splinter, the sensation of which is still that the writer doesn’t lose it—or lose I can give comes from listening to the sharp. Flannery O’Connor, sterner even heart in what is long, slow work. One than Gornick, says: “The fact is that writer I know never wants to be paid anybody who has survived his child- until, in effect, she’s earned it. Pay her hood has enough information about in advance of delivery and she puts life to last him the rest of his days. If her feet up. Editors, perhaps even you can’t make something out of a more than writers, must have faith little experience, you probably won’t in the future; they’re banking their be able to make it out of a lot.” own futures on it, in that employ- ers expect results from commitments Of course, O’Connor was talking of of money—particularly the serious times prior to the Internet. Nowadays, up-front money that has become the “experienced” voice may emanate common today. I am a dinosaur, old- from the inexperienced source. Brent fashioned enough to believe that Staples in a New York Times edito- publishers shouldn’t be expected to rial piece observed, “Everyone has a take all the monetary risk of book pseudonym [in the online world], tell- publication. Author advances or, just ing a story makes it true, and [bloggers as likely, celebrity advance payments, and chatters] can create older, cooler, which have faint hope of earning more socially powerful selves anytime out, are edging our business onto they wish. The ability to slip easily the playground of the entertainment into a new, false self is tailor-made for world. And we all remember that emotionally fragile adolescents.” Richard Jackson playgrounds were hardly fair grounds. One agent has said that if the advance Yet are novelists not slipping into false earns back, she’s not done her job. I selves every day? What’s the differ- cringe to hear that; so anti-publisher, ence between any writer you want to anti-process! Culturally books mean written text, which I like to read aloud name and Marcus Arnold, age fifteen, both too little and too much for warfare when no one is around to eavesdrop. who posed as a twenty-five-year-old between interested parties. (Another good reason for working from legal expert for an Internet information a bedroom.) Listening, for me, is as help- service? Marcus didn’t feel the least bit Nobody can guarantee fans for a poem or ful as reading; I think of my office as a fraudulent, reports Michael Lewis in his a film, a sculpture or a dance. A first novel therapist’s den, the client the manuscript book Next: The Future Just Happened. by an unknown may strike a rich vein before me talking in its own voice. When real-world lawyers discovered his in public interest; a well-known writer secret and asked whether he had actually may come up with a clunker. Publishing Like a doctor, I’m often tempted to ask read the law, Marcus responded that he advances—the upfront monies paid on writers, “Does this story or scene come found books “boring.” behalf of an assumed, not guaranteed, from your experience?” But it’s a use- audience for the work—historically were less question. Art comes from imagined The difference between Marcus and a intended to tide over the writer or illus- life—no matter the degree to which it’s storyteller is one of intent—he sought to trator from the commencement of a based upon real people and actual fam- cast a shadow, a novelist, light. A writer project until it appeared and started to ily or historical events. It is possible to makes up not a false self, but a surrogate sell. Publishers were, historically again, imagine “the music of what happens,” to get at some truth.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 5 11/28/2005 4:11:47 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Now, we know that telling a story does not going anywhere in not make it true necessarily, literal truth particular being incidental to a convincing tale. when all of a sudden Beguilement, diversion, delight, and he saw his hand companionship—these are what’s crucial purple as a church window about story. And generosity uppermost, because story implies an opening out and his arm was green— and a welcoming in. An acknowledg- green as this porch, he’d say— ment of audience. and his old khaki pants were red and yellow and orange By way of illustration, here is a second as sunset poem. It’s unpublished so far and is yellow and red called “My Friend, the Starfinder,” by and orangey orange as fire. my friend George Ella Lyon. You’ll see its connection to the Stafford. He was at the end of the rainbow Once there was an old man. color pouring I knew him over him when I was no bigger than you are. cool warm He wore old soft clothes striped and sat in an old chair air on an old green porch and told stories. on face and hair Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Scholastic, 1992) won the 1993 Newbery Medal and was edited by shirt and shoes Richard Jackson. The stranger they were and belt buckle. the truer he looked and I believed every one. Now he couldn’t bring home end of the day, not switching back! Now, the rainbow there’s a listening dad! For starters the way he did the star. he told me once But when he told the story Ponder the serious humor of a nine- he saw a star falling holding out his hand year-old girl in Miami for the 1947 winter I could feel the colors. season convinced that Hitler is hiding and since he’d done his chores I could see it was true. out in an apartment nearby. Well . . . her and it was still light story suggests it could have happened!— he followed that star across the And how he would have to tell it especially in the life of a (future) novelist field. just like I’m telling you. like Sally J. Freedman.

Way, way ahead of him Okay . . . so, what’s true here? And who Or what of twelve-year-old Summer, it landed says it’s true? whose grandfather makes whirligigs so he kept walking of such intricacy that they can be pic- and when he got to the spot Picasso observed, “We all know that art is tured only in the mind, not on any book he picked the star up. not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize jacket? (I know, because we tried pictur- truth, at least the truth that is given us ing their magic at first. They showed up It was warm and smooth to understand. The artist must know the as demonic pinwheels and set flying all as an egg straight from the hen. manner whereby to convince others of the wrong sparks.) the truthfulness of his lies.” He kept it, of course. Or the jazzman, on his head with happi- Put it in my hand I find storytellers, joke-tellers, just cap- ness: “Alphabet, alphabet, alphabet, alph glassy, blackish green tivating. It’s the trouble they take to . . . Chickadee, chickadee, chickadee, like puddles around a coal pile. include me in some shared fact or flight chick . . . Charlie Parker played alto saxo- of fancy. phone,” sings the text. “Never leave your I held it tight cat a-lone.” trying to feel its journey. For instance, recall the loopy logic of Bea Jones’ father changing places with her Or the yarn about the cow in Kentucky Another time he told me in kindergarten, permitting the child to who, once airborne, declines to come how once he was walking along assume his life at the office . . . and, at the down to earth.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 6 11/28/2005 4:11:48 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Or the one about a girl in Kentucky hunt- library of children’s books from all pub- who disobeys his father and fires the ing an earth-bound bovine as elusive, as lishers over the past forty years is extraor- BB gun his uncle’s brought him for his enchanted, as any unicorn. dinary, as is her ability to come up with birthday—just once and in the moon- correct titles and the books themselves light, causing “a thin disturbance in the Cows would seem to be favorites of for jacket scanning. air,” which changes everything. For the mine, for there are also the adventures of next morning a cat shows up, a cat with Minnie and Moo. The modest R. J. slice of history includes only one eye. nonfiction projects about Leonardo’s As well as sagas of other brazen girls. inventions, the wrestling boyhood of a A haunter, that cat. As is that novel. For instance, Thorgil, who longs for the well-known illustrator, the life of Eamon danger of being an eighth-century Viking de Valera, and the battle of Trafalgar— Had I named titles or authors and illus- berserker. twice. And the Sioux trickster, Iktomi, trators you might have listened dif- through many an outrageous adven- ferently to such a list. You might have Or Charlotte Doyle in the more civilized ture. And an account of Roy Chapman thought, Oh, I know that book, and then nineteenth century, who takes to the sea Andrews finding dinosaur eggs in the been less committed to leaning forward disguised for safety in boys’ clothing, Gobi Desert. And a thriller about John to listen closer, like Sultan Schahriar on and for her daring, is accused of murder, Brown at Harper’s Ferry. And a pan- his pile of silk pillows. found guilty, and sentenced to death. orama based upon a fourteen-foot mural

Or singing and dancing piratical dogs, tricked out as a Tintin comic. Editors aren’t nobodies. They are of use; should be

Or Mudge. goads, good listeners, and allies—though invisible

Or the lone boy in a wintry woods, track- in the published work. ing a deer to touch it merely, so that his grandfather might have the story to depicting the Japanese-American expe- “Scheherazade avoided her fate because remember him by. As a reader, I sense rience during World War II. she knew how to wield the weapon of that boy’s every slogging step. suspense,” writes E. M. Forster in his clas- In truth, what haven’t I been free to do? sic Aspects of the Novel. “Great novelist I spy on three galumphing huntsmen though she was—exquisite in her descrip- in a different woods, outwitted at every For most of my editorial years I’ve not had tions, tolerant in her judgments, ingenious turn by their animal quarry. A photo to ask permission for much. Precarious in her incidents, advanced in her moral- enlargement from that book provided a limbs have been my perch, and from ity, vivid in her delineations of character, backdrop to the Bradbury Press booth at them I’ve seen Megaboy; a teenage girl expert in her knowledge of three Oriental an ALA conference and there caught the and boy in Haiti who risk their lives to capitals—it was yet on none of these gifts eye of a passing notable. . . . She stopped, climb over glass-embedded walls so that that she relied when trying to save her life scowling a bit. I explained that the back- others might vote; a South American girl from her intolerant husband. These were drop celebrated a new, young illustrator’s warming to a pair of old white ladies who but incidental. She only survived because reimagining of an old rhyme . . . from the arrive at her village by boat; a small, gull- she managed to keep the king wondering animals’ point of view. “As opposed,” she ible, loving, blue dragon; and a woman what would happen next.” asked, “to the children’s librarian’s point who lives under a wave. These are char- of view?” Later, we became friends—but acters I wouldn’t otherwise have met, Perhaps you wonder at all these quotes. I get ahead of myself; industry notables characters who, in turn, I’ve been happy In the first half alone there are twenty- show up after halftime. to introduce to young readers. five voices that are not mine. “Others’ words,” you’ll remember. They fill an I am alluding to books I’ve loved pub- I’ve accompanied Slim McGranahan and editor’s day, voices coming from this lishing over the last forty-three years. her dying father on an unforgettable car way and that and from many a different Drexel graduate student Jennifer Burke trip among poppy-strewn valleys north time zone. Editors are jugglers. The trick prepared the intro show prior to this talk, of Hollywood to an Oz where AIDS is said is to be so in tune with every caller or e- presenting my peculiar take on what I’ve to be cured. mailer that his book or her book seems been stirred by and loved best from my to be the only one on your mind. (I once years as a publisher—one book each I’ve searched with another girl into the discoursed at length about a character from writers or illustrators who’ve meant mystery of her strange neighbor, Sara- before the writer stopped me gently to most to me—and not necessarily the Kate, who may or may not have elves in say: “That’s not someone in my story.” A famous books you might expect. I fear her backyard. humbling lesson.) I’ve forgotten some; for the oversight, I apologize. I pause here to thank Amy I’ve shared every heartbeat of Ned Wallis, At any time I may have forty books in Kellman of Pittsburgh, whose home the minister’s son raised for goodness, my mind—fewer now, but still several

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 7 11/28/2005 4:11:48 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture in any one day, their dates of publica- what literature advances—then we have to helpmate, you might say. Unlike some in tion reaching forward into 2009. If I’m invest in what it takes to promote that.” the spotlight, I do not know for sure that asked at a library conference what I par- I am right. ticularly like for next season, I honestly Well, we are, aren’t we? can’t remember a single title—or even, In stories I would rather be shown a sometimes, the next season itself. At Our time, like times before us, will be mystery than told a certainty. Through Atheneum we have three seasons a year. remembered because of our art and art- stories I’d rather be diverted toward my ists; laws; recipes perhaps; avowals; and own ends than directed to the ends of Recently, I’ve been trying to learn the wars. Principally I would nourish the art others. importance of, say, the back-to-school and artistry natural to all people before selling span or national poetry month. our culture does its belittling. Last autumn, my wife, Nancy, bought a I hardly think about such realities and paperback edition of Judy Blume’s Blubber sales aids, much to the impatience of more focused minds. Like the old fam- ily retainer, I am allowed to rock on—in I find storytellers, joke-tellers, just captivating. the nineteenth century meaning of the It’s the trouble they take to include me in some word. I am indulged. shared fact or flight of fancy. There are many who would say that the business uniting us today is an indul- gence—and that fiction, particularly, doesn’t signify. When I was nine and in fourth grade, for our then-ten-year-old granddaughter, we were offered the opportunity to take Kelsey. At the register the cashier volun- “The Survey of Public Participation in the an art class as part of the school week. teered crisply, “A mean book.” Arts,” conducted by the Census Bureau Admittance was by jury selection; appli- in 2002, cited among its findings “that cants were expected to show some inter- This about the work of a woman hon- fewer than half of Americans more than est or aptitude in art. As there was no ored in November by the National Book eighteen now read novels, short stories, assigned subject, I drew a theater portal Foundation for her distinguished contri- plays, or poetry; that the consumer pool with a great column in the center, upstage, bution to American letters. Perhaps, like for books of all kinds has diminished; and a female dancer balanced precari- some unlucky others, the cashier never and that the pace at which the nation is ously on top. (Freudians, make of this had a childhood she could call her own. losing readers, especially young readers, what you will!) As a final flourish, I signed Paula Fox says that, “children are not is quickening. In addition, it finds that my name in an arc over the dancer as if she a race apart but ourselves when new.” the downward trend holds in virtually all were juggling the letters of it en pointe. The sad fact is that some people seem demographic areas . . . ” never to have been new—that, or have I was told severely that one did not put repressed the sensation. Psychologist “What this study does is give us accurate one’s name in the center of a compo- James Hillman, in an essay in Children’s numbers that support our worst fears sition. But the stage setting was pro- Literature, writes that unless children are about American reading.” That from phetic, as was the signature placement. introduced to story when young—story Dana Gioia, chairman of the National The Richard Jackson logo with its small read or told to them, not watched on a Endowment for the Arts, from an article arched window harkens from the 1986 screen—they may not be able to orga- in The New York Times. founding of Orchard Books, where it nize their own experiences into story, first appeared on half-title pages usu- and thus make sense of their lives. The survey also noted that readers are far ally centered. When I moved to DK Ink more likely than nonreaders to do vol- in 1996, the name was promoted to the Story is a tool for survival; it helps us unteer and charity work; far more likely title page itself but the small window understand (or at least unburden our- to attend art museums, performing-arts dropped because it too often intruded selves of) our journey. The cashier’s events, and ball games. “Whatever good on illustrated title-page spreads. childhood has not survived. Yet she has things the new electronic media bring, not outlived her childhood, either. The they also seem to be creating a decline Back in fourth grade, I was admitted to poor woman. in cultural and civic participation,” Gioia art class but remember only the signature lamented. admonishment. Most of us, I’ll guess, I wasn’t there at the bookstore; never have memories of corrective adults, sure saw her. But I’ve heard and heard and “It’s not just unfortunate, it’s a real cause of the exact way to be, the way to write heard attitudes such as hers about work for concern,” agreed James Shapiro, a pro- or draw, the way to think. “Culture,” one I’ve published. I have no extrasensory fessor of English at Columbia University. wag said, “is what’s done to us.” bead on childhood, but I recognize that “A culture gets what it pays for, and if we kid characters in adult books tend to think democracy depends on people who Still smarting, I have tried to be the oppo- be different than children portrayed in read, write, think, and reflect—which is site of the corrective adult. Ambiguity’s young peoples’ literature. For adult read-

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 8 11/28/2005 4:11:48 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture ers, innocence is charm, and therefore editor does for his projects. Many of for bodies of work—as some recent hon- appealing to writers. Underage readers us want to. I used always to do it, with ors have blessedly become. The origi- know better; innocence is a hard-won words addressed to the child reader, not nal impulses behind the Caldecott and state of mind. Lack of experience is not to the parent or the reviewer. I’ve had Newbery Medals—to encourage writing innocence—or so I feel. And that’s the two stalwart assistants at Atheneum, and and illustrating for children—have long reason R. J. books drive adults nuts with in the last years they’ve both helped me past. We don’t live in undiscovered coun- their darkness, spikiness, or ambiguity. with jacket flaps: Virginia Skrelja and try; children’s literature is mainstream I like “shapely,” not “smoothed out.” I now Hilary Goodman. Of course, they and Main Street now. (I was once told don’t want stories that are better than are two generations closer to the audi- by a boss—not an editor—that my job life, which so often is ambiguous— was to win prizes. Say that to a man yes, I know how frustrating children at a blackjack table; he’d agree but the find that—but I want the balance of dealer might have other ideas.) art, not the boloney of “cute” or “tidy.” Stories can assuage, but they ought My advice: Forget prizes as much as not to solve. That’s what living’s for. you can; don’t publish toward them. Writers and artists should think on Blubber tells a story about meanness. their work, not their place in the But mean in itself? Please. Granted, pantheon—a very hard assignment the story does not say right out that in this culture of inveterate contest. cruel behavior is wrong. Blume does What any writer wants essentially not directly punish the nasty kids. is simpler than a prize: an engaged Often enough, neither does life. audience and a book that stays in Blume leaves the matter of morality print. And a further thought: after to the conscience of the reader, in the the hullabaloo subsides, it’s a rare belief that some of the thinking must prizewinner who’s a happier human; be left up to the kid. oppressed by expectation is the more likely aftertaste. I leave the books up to kids, because they are unprofessional readers. They But with solemnity in mind, I must— haven’t read enough, whereas we, as at last—get to my acceptance of Pat adults, often have read too much. Scales’s invitation, extended almost two Children have no agenda. They will years ago, to undertake this lecture. like a tale or toss it aside. They’ll see in it either more or less than we can Eyes shifting left and right, she drew see. They’ll take it to heart. Or take me out of the Atheneum booth at ALA Avi’s Nothing but the Truth is a Newbery us to task as in the following anecdote: Honor Book edited by Richard Jackson. and walked me away down the aisle, A writer friend was asked to do a local past anyone’s hearing. “Am I in trouble?” library program for adults. A seven-year- I wondered aloud. She thought not; told old boy and his grandmother showed up, ence than I, and neither is wild for adjec- me about today, added: “Oh, come on, and though they were assured it would tives, which suits my flap-writing style say yes . . . In honor of the career.” be okay to duck out after the opening just fine. reading of a picture book, they stayed for My thanks to Sandra Hughes-Hassell the whole presentation. Afterward, the Kelsey denies saying it about some and Denise Agosto of Drexel University, grandmother approached the writer, all schoolroom classic taught for decades, to the university itself, to ALSC, and thanks and enthusiasm. The boy then but I swear I heard her call that classic to Pat’s Arbuthnot Lecture Committee piped up: “I thought I would die. It was “li-torture.” for spurring me into two years of self- worse than church.” appraisal. Talk about therapy! My wife I’ve published some so high-minded says I’ve twitched in my sleep since A classmate of Kelsey’s, and a mem- you need a ladder to scale them. From July 2003. ber of her after-school book group, had time to time, editors do succumb to a her own cold water to throw upon me, writer’s unresisted solemnity. Even their But who, after all, can say no to Pat though I was not on hand to holler. With own solemnity, now and then—particu- Scales? utmost seriousness the girl dismissed larly in pursuit of stick-on metallic disks. my flap copy on the advance galleys of We all recognize—don’t we—that awards Whether, before the commencement of Nancy Farmer’s The Sea of Trolls, as “not reflect a moment in time and chemis- the career in 1962, I knew why story mat- very good.” try around a table as much as they do tered so deeply, I do not recall. Do the acclamation or a single book’s infinite young think of such things? The lucky Excuse me? I thought upon hearing this superiority. I’d rather that prizes not be ones know that the experience of a tale appraisal. But I wrote that, as many an doggedly annual anointings, but rewards can reach out and catch them, hold them

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 9 11/28/2005 4:11:49 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture suspended but secure in a net of imag- Say who you are and where you’re I was an artist from an upper-middle- ining. In third grade the web of Greek going. class suburb where scions of industry mythology caught me, a dreamy, dyslexic were supposed to be . . . industrial. Art boy with seriously dramatic yearnings. It was clear that I wasn’t going to fol- was a pastime only. I wonder: Was it And, ah, those myths—the vigor, enor- low my father, who followed his into fear of poverty or fear of feeling that mity, and wildness of them! And the the automobile business. The afore- threatened them? Or was art “unmanly”? sets! The costumes—or absence thereof! mentioned dreamy boy was drawn to Whatever; here was a conundrum, The preposterous but convincing logic magic—and performed on the birth- because my parents were both drawn of cause and effect on the heights and in day-party circuit (cousins mostly) as to artistic achievers. One of their clos- the depths of the Olympian world! And the “Precocious Prestidigitator.” I was est friends was Alexander Girard, a local the magic of Mrs. Spencer’s storytelling drawn to music—first “Malaguena,” then architect who, in my youth, designed his voice in class! Mozart sung by Bidu Sayao from a stack first house for my father on the lake of of 78s an inch high. I was drawn to the a northern Michigan hunting-and-fish- So: Yes, Pat. In honor of the career. After five Bil Baird Marionette Theater that, dur- ing club. Girard became color consul- minutes four seconds of intermi sion—the ing my sixth-grade year, visited Detroit tant for both GM and Braniff Airlines precise length of the following . . . and founded the now famous folk- art museum that bears his name (Excerpt from Into the Woods, in Santa Fe. For him I did, at age “Children Will Listen,” words and ten, a painting called “The Octopus music by Stephen Sondheim) and the Snowflake,” which he actu- ally bought and framed for his wall. And yet, yet . . . art was somehow II. Time! suspect. Taste, on the other hand, was encouraged, a critical eye—and, That, you may remember, is the title I fear, tongue. “Never be average,” for act two. And these Dockers and my father advised. Oh, how, how I sandals are the costume, which is longed to be just that—wanting even rather more typical than the suit. to like football. It’s so much easier in America if you do! But team sports Return with me to my bedroom office, were crude. Fishing bored me, hunt- the floor littered with bits and pieces ing appalled me, and sailing—which of lives. In the corner with the poetry I remember best for clandestine is a bookcase of R. J. books. Aside from voyages across Lake St. Clair during this shamefully incomplete library, World War II, when rationed ciga- there’s little evidence of my work—a rettes were exchanged for meat with fact that puzzled my then-six-year- a Canadian family from the opposite old grandson, Alexander. He’d been shore—scared me speechless. Not standing at my shoulder for some Paul Goble’s tale won the 1979 Caldecott the crime, I confess, but the danger minutes, watching me on the computer, Award. Richard Jackson edited it. of capsizing. and finally had to ask, “Papa, do you even have a job?” “Dick is an anxious child,” I overheard my mother say to the doctor downstairs, Now, the answer is: No job, but a need. University School, already cited for its who’d just made a house call to swab admonitory art class. my throat with a yard-long Q-tip. But I I wish to have been a different son when was quite fierce inside. And eventually I was my readers’ age—be it four or four- In eighth grade, my civics teacher com- able to whip off fifty-five push-ups to teen. I wish I’d known this poem by Walker menced calling me “Kewpie” on the win a bet with another infantry draftee. Gibson. It’s called “Advice to Travelers.” baseball field. It wasn’t until years later Though I shuddered at the prospect of that I understood his implications, which military service after Yale, I let it hap- A burro once, sent by express, I’d taken as cruelty. Well, it was cruel, of pen without protest or scooting off to His shipping ticket on his bridle, course. I believe he didn’t know what he Canada, and in 1958 at age twenty-two Ate up his name and his address, was meaning—and I didn’t, at the time. became a machine-gunner slated for And in some warehouse, standing two years in a tent near Schweinfurt, idle, I remember learning to whistle and the Germany. Perhaps it was my age—old He waited till he like to died. happiness of that, but, without doubt, among seventeen-year-olds—or my typ- The moral hardly needs the the best day of my youth came in the fall ing ability, but I was asked—in the Army, showing: of eleventh grade at boarding school in mind you, asked—if I’d write an article Don’t keep things locked up deep Massachusetts, when once and forever I for the Fort Benning newspaper. The inside— could shed my football uniform. proffered subject: basic training.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 10 11/28/2005 4:11:50 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture I wrote a piece about tear gas, quoting the trying to convince the New York Herald were I a writer I’d write her, in honor of training sergeant in a flashy first line: “You, Tribune’s drama critic, Walter Kerr, that, her story and importance to me. you, and you would have been dead!” really, he’d enjoy a perilous helicopter flight into the city from Connecticut to Not long into the fall term, Keene sug- Fort Benning, as you may know, is the review the performance. gested I seek out Margaret Lesser, a United States home of the infantry; the friend of hers and editor-in-chief of hub. The general’s office noticed my After six grim weeks—it was a Civil War Doubleday Books for Young Readers, article and asked—again, asked—if I’d drama in blank verse with no love inter- because, as she observed, I was inter- write speeches for him about battle est and a cast of twenty-three men—we ested “in visual things.” groups and aircraft for the foot sol- sank into the slush. Convinced at last dier. An absolute fluke, but I stayed in that after a BA in drama, after a summer Indeed I was—black and white and all Georgia for my stint, speechifying like acting and doing lights in an Adirondack colors except infantry camouflage, of mad and was discharged several weeks stock company, after another summer which I’d seen enough. Shortly after early to seek a master’s degree in English of stage-managing at the American my Fort Benning days, I inherited from at Columbia, where I met Nancy. Years Shakespeare Festival, the theater was at my paternal grandmother my grandfa- ther Roscoe Bradbury Jackson’s library of glorious eighteenth- Others’ words . . . fill an editor’s day, voices coming and nineteenth-century collected works of Sterne, Thackeray, Eliot, from this way and that and from many a different Shakespeare—in three separate editions—Montaigne, Moliere, time zone. Editors are jugglers. The trick is to be so in Thoreau, Carlisle, and Stevenson tune with every caller or e-mailer that his book or her because I’d long admired the bookmaking beauties they had book seems to be the only one on your mind. represented on her library shelves. These were and are art objects from other times. The smell and later, she commuted from the suburbs, best an avocation for me, I turned up feel of them! The weight! I can attest to after our third child was born, to pursue at Harper & Brothers, my file of military this, having moved them twice across her MLS there. Of course, as therapy speeches in hand. A kindly gent in the the country. prompts one to do, I’m skipping about religion department, not the children’s, in time, eliding many a twist and turn of sent me around the corner to New York In 1961, I knew little about children’s personal history. What you want to know University’s Graduate Institute of Book books; I was rarely read to as a boy. But is the book-related part. Publishing—which granted a master’s I called Margaret Lesser from my semi- in education. I was admitted by a man desk in the production department at I was not a good reader—and am still who barely stopped his two-finger typ- Doubleday and asked if she’d see me. painfully slow. ing and never took off his Homburg (Do you remember Seth Agnew? He during my interview. I was not asked to was then head of all Doubleday manu- I garbled what I saw and missed beats draw any dancers on columns, but was facturing and he gave me a long-range between what I heard and what I read. asked to wait six months for the start of assignment during my NYU appren- Give me an e-mail address to transcribe, the new academic year. In the mean- ticeship days. I was still at it when I and without several repetitions of it, I’ll time I interned as a clerk at Donnell called Peggy Lesser. My job for Seth was not know how to reach you again. Truly Library in New York City, rose to be counting recipes in cookbooks in order unbookish I was—yet I loved the feel of master of the pages, and often checked to make a precomputer grid, comparing a book, the implications of it, the way out books at my charge desk for actor the number of, say, casseroles listed to books, as Anthony Powell observed, “do Nathaniel Frey. the cost of printing the book. I know, I furnish a room.” And because of my know—it does sound whimsical.) Peggy speechwriting experience I had, even The NYU course was a treat; alas, noth- said, sure, come see her, but wondered before Columbia, discovered an interest ing like its apprentice program exists in her direct way what she might do in putting thought to paper. today to help the young into the field. with me: “After all,” she noted, “you’re Doubleday, at which I worked five morn- a man.” I lasted not quite a term in the English ings a week, paid my tuition. And, luckier master’s degree program, which turned still, on opening day of the program, “And a veteran,” I wanted to add. In 1961 out to be a pre-PhD endurance test I met my first professional mentor: women more or less ruled the children’s focused on using the library. Later that Frances Keene. A great teacher, she gave book publishing roost. One of the greats, fall, in December 1960, two pals and I us an early lecture on decorum, mostly Elizabeth Riley, whom I met through produced an off-Broadway play written for the benefit of the women in the class, Peggy, later cautioned me: “Never begin by a college friend. It opened on the day urging appropriate work dress but stock- a business letter with ‘I.’” Who knew? But of a blizzard, and my morning was spent ingless herself. Keene was a character; I haven’t forgotten, either.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 11 11/28/2005 4:11:50 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture In the spring of 1962, after I’d gradu- So much so, I’m still unretired. Can’t give be with friends I’d only just discovered ated from NYU with my publishing MA, up the gratitude! that summer. but while I was still counting recipes, Peggy called me to see if I’d consider a “All literature is to me me,” said Gertrude “Your father is dead,” Uncle Jim said secretarial job. Yes, I said. Aside from Stein. But, then, she was a writer. My on the phone the next morning. “Get typing letters and reading manuscripts, words are usually a means for others—like your mother.” my first real editorial assignment was the words of all editors in this hall today. preparing the index for the D’Aulaires’ In some way I do not understand, editors She wasn’t home, and by the time she’d Book of Greek Myths. Mrs. Spencer, can free or inspire writers, even painters, heard, the enormity of the news had wonder-weaver of my third-grade year, to take up Robert Stone’s challenge to crashed wordlessly around us. I say would have been proud. My first work show us who we are and what we’re up to. wordlessly, because no one told me how remains in print to this day! I wrote or where—or certainly why he was dead. two books—that is, matched words At forty, he had shot himself in his car with existing pictures, some by Erik on Lake Shore Drive. This I learned Blegvad—for little kids; I have copies only from the evening paper. of these somewhere, but no particu- lar pride in their authorship. Earlier that day, when I could do so unseen, I slipped alone into my par- So, I was employed in the children’s ents’ room, around to his side of the department of Doubleday for a year bed, and slid open the delicate, ivory- and a half, and married by then, when handled drawer of his night table. Keene, mentor of old, called to say Throughout my youth I had sneaked she was assuming the editorship at looks at its contents, had pressed a Macmillan. Would I like to come along finger to the weapon there, loaded for as her associate? our safety: a Lugar pistol.

You bet, and in their beautiful build- His means. ing on Fifth Avenue and 12th Street, where Margaret Mitchell had been That day, I knew it would be gone. feted in a paneled room that, by my time, housed the company’s tele- That day, September 13, 1952, there phone system, I soon met writer Paula was no story other than the first ver- Fox and colleague Janet Shulman. Not sion of the fifty-year-long riff I’ve told then an editor and fine writer, but Richard Jackson also edited The Paperboy, and told myself. It keeps changing. a marketer, Janet introduced me to a 1997 Caldecott Honor Book, by Dav Pilkey And may change tomorrow. her college friend, Virginia Hamilton. (Scholastic, 1996). When I left Macmillan in 1966, Paula For today, I read another poem, partly followed me to the small David White because it pertains, partly because Company; Virginia stayed and thrived Words, in my family at least, stayed I love it—the title poem from “Stories I under the tutelage of Susan Hirschman, polite, bantering. You skimmed the sur- Ain’t Told Nobody Yet” by Jo Carson. who had succeeded Keene at Macmillan face with them, but did not dive. as editor-in-chief, and taught me every- I am asking you to come back home thing I hadn’t learned about publishing Beneath, there was a deep unspeakable- before you lose the chance of by age twenty-nine. This was a lot. When ness. In 1949, my four-year-old sister seeing me alive. I told her I was leaving for the David drowned in a neighbor’s pool. My par- You already missed your daddy. White job, Susan surprisingly but pleas- ents, I think, never recovered—if anyone You missed your uncle Howard. ingly heaved a chair across the floor in can—after such a blow. My other sister, You missed Luciel. displeasure. Linda, was eight, and I fourteen the I kept them and I buried them. June morning Julie died, and I recall my You showed up for the funerals. During my Macmillan time, I received father telling me softly that the women Funerals are the easy part. my favorite letter from a writer. I’d said would gather together in the living You even missed that dog you left. yes to a manuscript of Felice Holman’s, room for the comfort of talk, while in I dug him a hole and put him in it. and the next day received a reply. No the library we men wouldn’t be saying It was a Sunday morning, but dead note, just an envelope filled with multi- much. At the time, I thought quiet to be animals colored stars. a comfort. Two years later, in the same don’t wait no better than dead library, I saw my father for the last time, people. This memory was prompted by Alexander’s surrounded by office paperwork while question, “Papa, do you even have a job?” I, from the doorway, resisted doing the My mama used to say she could No job, but a need. I enjoy being thanked. dishes and slammed out of the house to feel herself

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 12 11/28/2005 4:11:51 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture runnin’ short of the breath of life. . . . when I heard that there were Cooper, Harold Goodwin, Cynthia So can I. artists, Rylant, Denys Cazet, Janet Taylor Lisle, And I am blessed tired of buryin’ I wished I could sometime be one. Avi, Donna Maurer, Emily McCully, and things I love. If I could only make a rose bloom Gary Paulsen followed. Somebody else can do that job on paper, for me. I thought I should be happy! Or if I Some seasons there might have been You’ll be back here then; you come could at last only four new books, but most seasons for funerals. succeed in drawing the outline of welcomed newcomers or sometimes new winter-stripped boughs discoveries such as Elizabeth Fitzgerald I’d rather you come back now and as I saw them against the sky, it Howard, Ursula Landshoff, Emily Hanlon, got my stories. seemed to me Amy Aiken, Christian Garrison, Luke I’ve got whole lives of stories that that I should be willing to spend Wallin, Robert Casilla, M. C. Heldorfer, belong to you. years in trying. Sucie Stevenson, Judie Angell, Sheila I could fill you up with stories, Garrigue, Judie Wolkoff; or recognized stories I ain’t told nobody yet, The expenditure of years is somehow my names such as Stephen Gammell, Riki stories with your name, your blood text, and I’ve strayed far from it. And I an Levinson, Mary Szilagyi, Peter Silsbee, in them. editor, too! I’ve left the career dangling Mae Durham, Mitsu Yashima, Scott Ain’t nobody gonna hear them if in 1966, the year our second child, Tess, Russell Sanders, Irene Trivas, Milton you don’t was born—on a day, in fact, when I was Meltzer—who wrote his only novel for and you ain’t gonna hear them to take Armstrong Sperry to lunch. I also us, Kin Platt, Barbara Murphy, and Paul unless you get back home. met Robert Verrone in 1966. B. Janeczko through whose series of mar- velous poetry anthologies I met George When I am dead, it will not matter Bob was well-known in children’s pub- Ella Lyon. As long back as 1968, a friend how hard you press your ear to the lishing as director of the library sales of Bob’s, Mary Elizabeth Ledlie of the ground. force at Prentice-Hall. He was enlisted by Milwaukee Public Library, introduced us his mentor, the CEO, to search for a new to John Reiss, who had a book dummy Did I mention the comfort of stories? editor for their children’s department, called Colors that he shyly dislodged from It wasn’t so much the facts I was miss- and in that capacity, interviewed me. We a bottom drawer. We loved it. We bought ing or had to gather second-hand that liked each other right off, but it was clear it. And we subsequently first published September day; what hurt was the non- that the job in question—and the com- John’s wife, Lois Ehlert. inclusion of me. mute to New Jersey—wasn’t for me. Judy Blume, because of our Englewood Years later our eldest, Adam, then five, I ended up with the long drive, anyway. Cliffs address, sent us a manuscript unso- lay with me in a hammock and asked, After months of surreptitiously scroung- licited: Iggie’s House. She later revealed “Daddy, why wasn’t I baptized? Wasn’t I ing for money to start ourselves in chil- that she did so because she disliked driv- good enough?” The answer I gave him, that in our eyes and in God’s he was good enough without need- I don’t want stories that are better than life, which ing water to make it official . . . these words may not have eased so often is ambiguous—yes, I know how frustrating his mind. children find that—but I want the balance of art, not The subject didn’t come up again. the boloney of “cute” or “tidy.” Stories can assuage, But for me, it’s a constant. The children of suicides never feel but they ought not to solve. That’s what living’s for. good enough—and quite possibly their grandchildren too. My sister Linda and I have lived lives as artists (she dren’s book publishing, Bob went to ing into Manhattan. She lived down the as head of the Altar Guild at Washington’s his CEO with word that he had found turnpike, and at our first meeting was so National Cathedral—if you’ve watched another job—true—and would leave nervous she lunched on little more than a state funeral on television, you’ve Prentice-Hall unless said mentor would water. The lemon slice in it appealed to seen her flower work), I as encourager, give us money for a start-up. Hence her, as did our interest in anything beyond enabler, eminence grise of story upon Bradbury Press was born in February Iggie that she might have had in mind. story upon story. I admit it—a remedial 1968. Our first list, which appeared There was a second novel, she said, named effort. Our father should have lived as that fall, featured Paula Fox and Arnold by her typist with the opening two lines: the artist he was; we’re doing it for him. Lobel. Rosemary Wells and Susan Jeffers “Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret.” came along as both were chums from Lucy Larcom wrote in 1889 in A New Macmillan. Next, Amy Schwartz and But before Margaret could be published, England Girlhood: Diane Goode. Paul Goble, Margaret Bob’s CEO—and mine, now that I think

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 13 11/28/2005 4:11:51 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture of it—moved permanently to Florida. His and artists just beginning, or those look- advance monies, snazzier promotion bud- successor had no interest in a small chil- ing for a new—or additional—home. gets, and the like. I do not blame them. We dren’s imprint that directly competed with lost one writer over a requested ten-thou- his own. We were told to close up shop. The Bradbury staff started out as two, sand-dollar advance—piddling by today’s using shirt cardboards from the laundry standards, but simply beyond us at the Bob had two children; I had three. We as layout sheets spread along the useful time—in 1975, if I remember rightly. I had some books to our joint credit, some length of Nancy’s ironing board, for the learned from Bradbury that, as my wife stars from the journals, some slight rec- paste-up, or “mechanicals,” of the text for says, “People do what they want to do.” ognition. We were stunned. Eros Keith’s 1968 picture book, A Small Lot. We drove into Manhattan to meet So, serious thanks to the writers, illustra- But not to be done in. Arnold Lobel when he handed in the tors, and agents who remained loyal to finished art for The Comic Adventures of me at whatever company. After Bradbury, After more futile money searches (a Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog . . . on which we sold to Macmillan in 1982 Texan in a cape was the favorite), we a street corner. Later, Avi’s S. O. R. Losers because Bob’s health was failing and put our future where our money wasn’t, arrived by secretarial error from his which I left in 1986, these other com- and, borrowing from our families, agent. It was supposed to go to Harper, panies were: Orchard Books, until 1996, then DK Ink, and finally Atheneum, from 1999 to today. I take no credit for My advice: Forget prizes as much as you can; don’t the fact that Macmillan, David White, Bradbury Press, and DK Ink have all publish toward them. Writers and artists should think faded into the haze of publishers past. I do take pride that I’ve been attendant on their work, not their place in the pantheon—a very at three corporate births and want you to know it’s to Sandra Jordan, noted hard assignment in this culture of inveterate contest. writer, photographer, editor—and Bob What any writer wants essentially is simpler than a Verrone’s widow—that I owe the R. J. imprint and the Orchard job. She prize: an engaged audience and a book that stays encouraged me about working from home, which saved my sanity. I am in print. And a further thought: after the hullabaloo impatient with meetings; and publish- ers, these days, have many. Consensus subsides, it’s a rare prizewinner who’s a happier human; must prevail, whereas nerve and hunch oppressed by expectation is the more likely aftertaste. were enough at Bradbury—and some- times highly profitable.

We did work hard, it’s true; publish- bought the Bradbury name and back- I believe. But I bought it promptly after ing a novel requires reading it in various list. We moved closer to home and set our youngest, a soccer player himself, forms maybe nine times, the effort of a up shop (again) in a building full of pronounced the manuscript, “Great.” year or more after it’s written. A picture dentists near the Metro North rail lines book wants two years—and at the end out of Manhattan. We stayed there in Talk about comic adventures! Bradbury of a long prep process, needs watching Scarsdale for the next fourteen years, was never more than six people, two on press. In the early Bradbury days, until Bob died stoically and terribly at part-time for years. Dutton distributed full-color books (we could afford only a the age of forty-nine. the books and guaranteed what cash couple a year) were printed two colors flow there was. Agents, interestingly, at a time, black and blue inks first for Over those years, Beverly Horowitz; liked us as likeable fellows, but usually the whole print run of, say, ten thousand Jane Botham; Norma Jean Sawicki, submitted to us last, and those proj- copies, then red and yellow inks on top. who brought Suse McDonald, Guilio ects were mostly from newcomers to If you made a color-intensity mistake Maestro, and Matt Novak to the list; their own lists. Printers never knew with on either the black or blue, you were Lauren Wohl; and Virginia Duncan all confidence if we’d be around the next stuck with it—or faced with junking the worked at Bradbury, which moved into month to pay their bills, so we were whole ten thousand sheets. We did that the Macmillan building on Third Avenue, hounded. Yet never once were we late with the first printing of Three Jovial New York, in 1984. Please remember with a royalty check. We knew whom to Huntsmen, not because of a goof but that the Bradbury experiment, for so it thank and honor. because Susan Jeffers hated what she’d was, could hardly thrive now. We needed done originally and asked to rethink the books, unlike so many publishers today Independence, though, is costly, and art-preparation process. Two copies of who can no longer read over-the-transom because money was always tight, valu- the initial run were bound up; Susan has submissions. Bob and I needed books, so able people drifted away, their eyes—or one, I have the other. Real rarities. Bob we were a boon, particularly to writers their agents’ eyes—on bigger and bigger was particularly good at adjusting in val-

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 14 11/28/2005 4:11:51 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture ues on press, and did it, as well as a lot of Dan Elish; Zack Rogow; Suann Kiser; Orgel, M. J. Engh, Maxie Chambliss, typography, on most of Bradbury’s pic- John Gurney; Steve Sanfield; Emily Virginia Walter, Katrina Roeckelein, ture books. I was better at driving home Lisker; Jerome Brooks; John Ward; Ursula K. Le Guin, Gibbs Davis, Dan in the dim light of dawn after what were Kate Spohn; Jenny Davis; Anne Shelby; Andreasen, Karen Ray, Julie Downing, some eighteen-hour printing ordeals. Tres Seymour; Paul Brett Johnson; Jim Liz Rosenberg, Jack Driscoll, Marsha Wayne Miller; Marie Bradby; Jo Carson; Carrington, Diana Cain Bluthenthal, and Once I remember asking Bob at a print- Jeff Daniel Marion; and Marguerite Nancy Farmer. Of these Orchard names, er’s elbow how one spells “huge,” for on Casparian—the last nine all referred by twenty-five appeared for the first time the sheet of paper we were watching, our mostest starfinder, George Ella Lyon. anywhere on an R. J. list. I believe “talent there was the fateful word spelled “h-u- Sheila Gordon and Evan Levine were sent scout” is part of my nonjob description g-h.” (Ah, dyslexia!) The job was printing by Paula Fox; Brian Floca (my record- as it is with all editors. Certainly, first- in northern Connecticut; to correct that ing engineer) was sent by Avi; Theresa time writers or illustrators are delighted error—our own, after who knows how Nelson by Judie Angell; Rachel Vail by with their good fortune—and this makes many readings!—required two days. them delightful, in the main, to pub- Replacement type had to be set, a lish. I’ve introduced eighty-eight first- new black plate made (in Manhattan), timers, if my count is correct. and then trucked north to the print- ing plant, and, of course, there was Other confreres to credit: cofounders our second bumming, numbing car with Sandra Jordan at Orchard, loyal trip back. friend Norma Jean Sawicki again, and Ann Beneduce. Manufacturing I suppose I’ve watched more picture maven Margaret La Mare at both books and novel jackets print than Bradbury and Orchard; copyedi- most editors. At Bradbury the two of tor Maggie Herold; designers Mina us did nearly everything. At Atheneum Greenstein and at DK Ink, Jennifer I was recently asked to participate in Browne. And, while I’m at it, other some first-proof color correction for editors who might enjoy and surely a fall 2005 title. Fun but nerve-rack- warrant this lectureship: Michael Di ing. I thought of Bob and his excellent Capua and Janet Schulman from old, eye. At least nowadays all four colors old Macmillan days, or the following are printed at once, so adjustments at whom I have never worked along- press time are possible. Also it’s not to side: Walter Lorraine, Frances Foster, Connecticut one travels to but rather Phyllis Fogelman, Patricia Gauch, or the Far East. Editors don’t make such Kate and John Briggs (a Yale class- journeys today. In fact, the roll-up- mate) if it’s a matter of longevity on your-sleeves overall “thinginess” of the planet. Or if it’s not, Regina Hayes, book publishing is out of our hands. Stephen Roxburgh, Dinah Stevenson, Now we have teams, departments, and Brenda Bowen (who gave me my staffs, and crews—all specialized. job at Atheneum).

Nineteen years ago, however, even Sometimes I’m told that no one but This original artwork was created by illustrator Peter large companies permitted—or hardly Catalanotto for the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture pro- I would have published such-and- noticed—renegade bands. The Orchard gram book. Used with permission of the artist. such. How they know, I can’t guess, founding four was one such. but it is interesting to be known for one’s taste, which I hope is as vari- Our launch in 1987 was almost ideal in Judy Blume; Annie Cannon by Gary ous as the projects that turn up in the that Franklin Watts, the imprint’s original Paulsen; Dawna Lisa Buchanan, Angela mail slot. Most books come to me from owner, gave us a year to prepare our- Johnson, and Dav Pilkey by Cynthia acquaintances of writers and artists I selves. Orchard newcomers, though not Rylant; and, in turn, Rhonda Mitchell by work with. all on that first list: Peter Catalanotto, Angie Johnson. Great godparents, all. who painted the program cover for this I’ve hardly ever commissioned a book, afternoon, giving me an airborne send- To augment the list—so many became though I have suggested the occasional off plus a full head of hair and who’s friends, actually—Sheila Hamanaka, idea to one writer or another. Here’s my promised me watercolor lessons, when Synthia Saint James, Brian Swann, favorite, which has gone untouched for I have the time; Chris Raschka; Megan Ponder Goembel, Vera Rosenberry, David years, since I read in The New Yorker McDonald; James E. Ransome; Susan Soman, Chris K. Soentpiet, Frances magazine a review of a musical theater Patron; Barbara Ann Porte; Greg Henry; Temple, Valerie Hobbs, Karen Lynn piece inspired by Sophocles’ “Oedipus at Phillis Gershator; Holly C. Kim; Wendy Williams, Floyd Cooper, Ted and Betsy Colonus.” It’s a single sentence, and sug- Anderson Halperin; Rosanne Litzinger; Lewin, Lucy Cullyford Babbitt, Doris gests story but neither plot nor setting:

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 15 11/28/2005 4:11:52 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture “There is no moral position stronger In half one, I referred to “an editor’s—an focused again on my long-standing audi- than to be suddenly wanted by those actor’s—life.” When Bradbury was threat- ence—American children, whose laugh- who have treated you badly. . . .” ened with premature demise in 1970, ter or sighs, sniffs or silence I can only Bob and I found ourselves with editorial imagine in the playhouse of my mind. Whoever will write a novel inspired by energies and nowhere to expend them. that line will get a reading from me, I took up acting again in several sub- Of course, I do sometimes hear responses guaranteed. Expiration date on the offer, urban community theater groups. Bob from children; writers often hear and was a particularly fine director, send me copies of the best letters. Avi and we collaborated on several sent me this: Stories are the essences of occasions. For the next eighteen years I played roles that many Criteria for a Good Book: lives, reminders of mutuality, a professional actor never gets Corrict spelling reworkings—artful or not— to try: Shakespeare’s Oberon and Edmund; heroes in Congreve and Good paragraphs Goldsmith; clerics in The Crucible of what’s to be made of living; Understandable—makes sense and and The Runner Stumbles; one words aren’t too hard of being human; of being saint—Thomas More—twice; var- ious suited or bathrobed gentle- Beginning, muddle, end responsible; of being silly; of men in Pinter, Shaw, Giraudoux, Action (not dull) being one among many. And and Coward; and the part John Gielgud originated in Home, by Complete sentences the aptly named Englishman, of being alone. Good characture description David Storey. My least favorite role, as the German spy in Stalag Lots of details 17, occupied me for several Funny once in a while though, is June 30, 2005, my real retire- tedious weekends, but inspired an ad-lib ment. So, it’s time to get cracking! Or you that made the long run worth it. I can Friendsminship can take up a recent issue of The New take no credit. After being revealed as Nice size letters Yorker and find this small but terrify- the Nazi spy—think Peter Graves in the ing ad and Web address for “Storybase: movie—I was trussed up, trundled toward Solution to problem—and problem Software for Writers. Spark your creativ- the door of the prison shed, thrown into Lots of mony in it ity,” the copy says, “as you explore 2,363 the cold, and (usually) gunned down by essential narrative situations.” Umm. recorded machine gun-fire just outside. Has to have letters not blank pages Think of mine just now as idea number One night, however, the rat-a-tat didn’t Characters have clothes on 2,364. I couldn’t be retiring at a bet- sound. There was silence. Finally the ter time. One of an editor’s most useful actor playing the William Holden role You know where you are without functions is nonencouragement of the ran to the window to look out, and bel- using a book mark. unreadily discouraged. lowed to wild guffaws: “Ho, man! The dogs ate ’im.” It’s adults who sometimes get lost. One “Mr. Jackson, you’re a downer,” one hope- of my favorite books from the early ful writer complained to me at a literature There was some prophesy in this . . . Bradbury days was Jim Copp’s Martha conference in Key West. I thought I’d help Matilda O’Toole, with pictures by Steven her see that writing needn’t have any- My farewell theatrical involvement I Kellogg. The child is naked throughout. thing to do with publishing; one does not shared with our younger son, Sam the I had little ones at home, then; for me, imply the other—nor should it. The pro- soccer player, as we became fog mak- nakedness was a glory, not an offense— cess of writing—of finding out what you ers for the dream ballet in Oklahoma! but this most innocent book came in for think—should be its own reward. But this Despite our best efforts, the ornery some hard, puritanical knocks. The text is America, I realize. Here, the press con- stuff rolled, like cotton batting, down- was first a song, which our kids loved ference is more powerful than the reason stage and into the orchestra. For dress and thought hilarious; once pictures for calling it. As I say, it’s time to go. rehearsal, the musicians showed up with were added, the affrontable . . . well, gas masks, and the effect was cut. were affronted. The excellent Betty Carter distinguishes between children’s books for the shelf It happens that my theater years were And I guess, all along, I knew they would and those for the toy box. Without the among my most productive as an editor. be. Mischief does appeal to me, in spirit latter, children’s publishing as a busi- When they were over, when the Jacksons still the teenage magician. ness would be in trouble; without the had left the suburbs of New York City and former, I’d perhaps be not an editor, but moved to California, and I saw that I’d Even if you can’t deduce it, there is a a school-crossing guard or aging actor, have to interrupt any rehearsal or perfor- reason for the publication of every book. playing Chekhov’s Firs or Marley’s ghost. mance schedule with business travel, I Mischief it is, occasionally. Most often

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StorytellingArbuthnot Honor101 Lecture ———.theThree-Minute reason is the Stories: ongoing 100 Stories relationship to Readbetween or Tell When author Time or Is illustrator Short. Little and the Rock, publishingArk.: August house; House, author 2004. and the audi- ence; or author and the growth of his ———.work.Twenty Publishers Tellable Tales not . onlyNew York: send books H. W. Wilson,into the 1986. marketplace, where half of them make no money for anyone, but they Nic Leodas,invest Sorche.in lives. Heather and Broom: Tales of the Scottish Highlands. New York: Holt, 1960.There is a near-fatal contradiction in a mass-produced art form, made odder Parent,still Michael. by the Offact Kings that and our Fools:audience is not One-Source Ordering Storiesour from market. The French Tradition in North America. Little Rock, Ark.: August House,In 1996. the late eighties, when Grolier bought for Children’s AV Titles! Watts with Orchard attached and shuffled Sandburg,it in Carl. with Rootabaga another subsidiary, Stories. New Children’s Over 5,000 titles to choose York: Harcourt,Press, the 1974.incongruity of the Orchard list from, and adding more artists with the others’ was inescapable. Our every day! Visit us online at writers and illustrators expected to find Singer, Isaac Bashevis. Stories for www.KiddoMusic.com. Childrentheir. New work York: on shelvesFarrar, 1984.in bookstores—big and small. In 1996, I left Orchard and, Free Shipping for Walker,with Barbara. good A chums Treasury Melanie of Turkish Kroupa and standard delivery orders Tales forNeal Children Porter,. North my music Haven, consultant Conn.: for over $30.00 Compact Discs Linnetthis Books afternoon’s 1988. performance, started DK Ink. Perhaps an unlikely adjunct to their Fast, Friendly Service nonfiction list, but the parent company Windham, Kathryn Tucker. 13 Georgia Our staff is always happy Ghostsdid and offer Jeffrey excellent. Tuscaloosa, retail recognition.Ala.: Univ. to discuss your needs. of Alabama Pr., 1987. My three DK years brought me Mindy Warshaw Skolsky, E. R. Frank, Joan No minimum order! Wolkstein, Diane. The Magic Orange Tree We still carry Cassettes! and OtherAbelove, Haitian Shelley Folktales Jackson,. New York: Lucy Frank, Order 1 title or 100 Knopf,Charlotte 1978. Agell, Marsha Chall, Susan Marie Swanson, Howard Kaplan, Marc One-source ordering for Yashinsky,Talbert, Dan. Douglas Ghostwise: Rees, ADiane Book Palmisciano, of children’s AV titles MidnightJean Stories Jackson,. Toronto: Diane Ragweed Greenseid, Alison Press, James,1997 & Tsukushi, Ann W. Olson, Herve Rush shipping available Blondon, Martin Matje, Shane Evans, Randy Blume, and Cynthia Zarin—two Instant Terms for libraries of whom are represented on the tables of & schools Dick’s Picks at the upcoming reception across the street. A small list of seven- Save 10% with prepaid teen, drawn from the intro you’ve seen. orders. (I’m such a wuss, I could not whittle it VHS Video down to the customary ten—and it could Order your way! We gladly readily have topped twenty-five!) accept electronic, mail, fax or phone orders. Mindy’s novel, Love from Your Friend, Hannah, is one of them. I’d read her manuscript years earlier and never for- Kiddo Music & Video gotten her heroine—though I didn’t know 42 Main St. how to help the book back then. In 1996 P.O. Box 513 I wrote her, asking of its fate. Luckily, Antrim, NH 03440-0513 Hannah had waited for me. When the 800-793-2075 book was published at DK, Mindy was in [email protected] her seventies, so the story’s emergence www.KiddoMusic.com DVDs after long incubation was a particular pleasure. Sometimes I haven’t a clue what to do for a novel I like. However, I

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 17 11/28/2005 4:11:53 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture have a long memory, and more than means that. Lewis Hyde in The Gift states: (Now, I rarely talk intimately about belief, once I’ve asked to see a book again. “The work of art is a copula, a bond, by except in public. Were ours an editorial Sometimes I’m too late, and the project which the many are knit into one.” proceeding, I’d want you to do the talk- has found a home—a reassurance, of ing. I’m happier hidden, and not on the sorts. It’s frustrating for those around me Before Dana Gioia picked up the tattered spot about religious, political, or finan- that I keep most everything in my head. NEA standard, Robert Hughes, the art cial conviction. The thing to be said for Files reside on the floor; phone numbers critic, wrote bracingly: editing . . . it’s all about someone else. I’d on small scraps of paper or on a Rolodex like to trade places in this hall; hear what organized by an alphabet more Hawaiian One of the ways you measure the you think about the world.) than English. It’s a wonder I get anything character—indeed, the greatness— done—but then, there I am, literally just of a country is by its public What I think is this: The greatest fear we around the corner from my office. A commitment to the arts. Not face today is not terrorism—it’s igno- professional secret from recent years: as a luxury; not as a diplomatic rance. Of language, for starters. Illiteracy Naps are altogether good friends. After device; not as a social placebo. is a terror for those cordoned off by it. lunch, I’d give blankets to all of publish- But as a commitment arising from Imagine the pain of not being able to ing, broadcast Saint-Saens’ “The Swan” the belief that the desire to make read a job application, a tax form, or pre- along every corporate hallway, and feel and experience art is an organic scription. Further, there’s the ignorance confident of the restorative effect on part of human nature, without of who we are, of what’s come before creativity and temper—just as this ritual which our natures are coarsened, us, or where our future might be head- was beneficial to me in first grade on the impoverished, and denied, and ing, which seems implicit in a society hard, hard gym floor at Detroit University our sense of community with other whose young are raised not on reading or School. During my teens, I started having citizens is weakened. This may listening, but on SpongeBob. Like many migraine headaches. Thirty years later, I sound like rhetoric, but after twenty- an iconic daytime character, he has no would have to lie flat and motionless on six years of writing in America I story—only repetitious setup—resolved the office rug in Scarsdale to ease them; know it to be true—I know it in my by a prank or a pratfall or an aquatic I didn’t remember until much later the heart—my sometimes mean and pie in the face in narrative situations of magic of “The Swan.” irritable writer’s heart. The arts are only thirty seconds’ duration. There is the field on which we place our pace, action, and humor involved, but no Naps restore optimism. And for publish- own dreams, thoughts, and desires urgency. Nothing much depends upon ers, optimism is important. Nonpub- alongside those of others, so that the outcome, which is never really in lishers would be surprised, perhaps, to solitudes can meet . . . doubt. SpongeBob is intentionally not learn how few copies of most books sell memorable—at least in his TV incarna- in this wide country compared to, say, Substitute the word “story” for the word tion. He may inspire gut response, but not Game Boys. “art” in Hughes’ paragraph, and you ideas—unless, as he has recently, they be have my point. Exclusionism is ungener- serious frets from the right. I like watch- Carol Bly, in her famous essay “Six Uses ous, ungracious—the very opposite of ing him with the grandies, but I and they, of Story,” cites the following as use num- the harmonizing, ordering, and bringing too—happily—have additional matters ber five: “Story gets us away from our forth that underpin the spirit of story on our minds. Books among them, or in peers for a time. . . . sharing. Story matters because it is com- fact, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie, munal and inclusive—even while lead- which I’m afraid to see lest it blast my “Solitude—not togetherness,” she says, ing us to answers all our own. If any of theory, as it were, out of the water. “is the site for genius. . . . ” you have served on a grand jury, you’ll know that many stories can be spinning “Every work of literature,” writes Vivian Meaning, quality solitude. It’s the other out in one’s head simultaneously, and as Gornick, “has both a situation and a kind that troubles me. I’ve supped with case after case is presented by the district story. The situation is the context or more than one kid uneager to be pulled attorney, patterns between stories begin circumstance, sometimes the plot; the away from that blinking, buzzing little to emerge. Grand-jury duty is wonderful story is the emotional experience that plastic playing field—or killing field. editorial experience. preoccupies the writer: the insight, the wisdom, the thing one has come to say.” A contest such as those enacted sum- Stories are the essences of lives, remind- mons no empathy, but only the will to ers of mutuality, reworkings—artful or I’ve come this afternoon to say thanks for win or kill. Story, on the other hand, not—of what’s to be made of living; of that envelope of stars, and the stars that assumes empathy. And, if it’s well done, being human; of being responsible; of have reassuringly followed. To give credit evokes empathy. Heart failure is what being silly; of being one among many. to others for writing what has been, for worries me about the dimming of story And of being alone. me, an autobiography of sorts, since all on our cultural horizon. And isolationist these years I’ve depended upon others to thinking. Other people are both unique For—despite the longing of the interval express myself, to understand and to for- and the same—a truth the world needs lyric—alone we are. Which is not to say give myself—the boy in the library, sad at reminding of. Story does that. Story untended. We are children of God. the death of a little girl, sad, sad among

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 18 11/28/2005 4:11:53 PM Arbuthnot Honor Lecture silent men. Then, two years later, sadder, gives the go-ahead, the come-on, the And particularly to Nancy, who, over still, the morning after a surly set-to with nod of acceptability for public consump- the years—when we discussed children’s my father, longing for others’ words that tion—and funds. books that were her life as a librarian did not come. and mine as an editor—invariably had I regret it when reviewers compare the gal- an insight, often had an opinion, and But let’s not leave me there. There’s music leys before them to the book they’d have didn’t burden me with them except in what didn’t happen, too. Whole life- written had they written it. As an editor I when I asked. What I always wanted to times can be built on yearning; mine on daily decline books I don’t warm to; I wish know was: “Who published it?” And what the muffling of voice. More than anything, reviewers would do the same, wish they’d she’d reply was always: “Heavens, I didn’t I wish to have been a singer. Schubert say, “I’m not right for this one,” instead of notice.” So much for editors and our ilk. and Sondheim—storytellers both. launching forth on how wrong the book My own depends upon the long-range is. Maybe some do and I don’t hear about future of Alexander and Kelsey, and to And now, finally, finally, comes the threat- them; they have my thanks. several abiding fictional characters: ened epilogue: my Atheneum period from Brian Robeson, Jessie and Ras, Summer, 1999 until today—and a bit beyond. New A couple of years ago, a writer whose Margaret, Deenie, Sally J., Lawanda, names: Mariah Fredericks; Lisa Wheeler; career I started off sent me a second Philip Malloy, Peter Cassidy, Tendai, Rita, Frank Ansley; Jennifer Donnelly; Henry manuscript, which I knew would appeal and Kuda Matsika, a boy named America, Garfield; J. David Smith; James Yang; to kids, but for reasons of taste I didn’t Annabelle Swift, the Bunyip of Berkeley’s Marilyn Sachs, whose first book I read admire. When I declined, he sent the Creek, Buffalo Woman; oh, I hope there in manuscript forty-three years ago at novel elsewhere and sold it quickly. A may be more! Doubleday; Jennifer Richard Jacobson; friend of his asked why I hadn’t taken Leonid Gore; Stephanie Anderson; it, and the writer’s reply was: “Well, you Now, instead of following pattern and Roderick Townley; Jacqui Robbins; know Jackson. He’d have wanted the dog closing where I opened, with poetry— Matt Phelan; Cor Hazelaar; Mark and to die.” say the two hundred and ten rhyming Sienna Siegel; Evelyn Coleman; Pierre couplets of Alexander Pope’s “Epistle to Pratt; Alexandra Boiger; Amy Reichert; Several Atheneum doggies have escaped Dr. Arbuthnot”—I will close with a tip, a and Franny Billingsley, whom I inherited my murderous pencil; sheep, pigs, rein- picture, and a confession from America’s from Atheneum’s founder, Jean Karl. deer, and a rat, too. As the body has fourth Hans Christian Andersen medalist. settled, my need has sustained me. I Many new names—but one old goal. I have felt renewed—and seven titles on The tip comes from a modest writer, who could tell Alexander a third time: No. No the Dick’s Picks reception tables have asked for anonymity: If there’s something job, but a need. And that is to publish come from this final sunset time. When in the room older than you are, there’s a what I haven’t seen, haven’t read before. I stop talking—and I will—when I stop story in that room. Seek it out—and, I I know that few kids see even a sampling publishing—and I will—I hope a kid or add, “pass it on.” of what we produce annually. If book two finds beauty there. The R. J. list this publishing—the whole industry—were fall is a good one. But I’ve had such help. If you want to think back to other times to go on a cruise for a couple of years, In California until 2003, my one-day-a- in publishing, picture Astrid Lindgren there would be feasts for savoring still week assistant, Dennise Weidenhofer. In on Fifth Avenue, grabbing my hand after in libraries, those imaginatively unsafe New York, Ginee Seo, Anne Schwartz, and lunch near the old Macmillan building havens, as well as in bookstores. But we, Caitlyn Dlouhy, editorial fellows; Emma in 1965 and saying, “Come on, Dick. as artists all, must not send our hearts Dryden and Rick Richter, enablers; art Let’s skip.” She was, I believe, the second on cruises. directors Ann Bobco, Lee Wade, Russell Andersen medalist, in 1958. Gordon, and Polly Kanevsky who laugh We must be ourselves, hearts and minds at my jokes and produce, alongside Or if you will, steal again into my bedroom and consciences. Abelardo Martinez, Kris Smith, and office, search the floor, recently more Sonia Chaghatzbanian, one deliciously littered than usual with speech-writing Publishing is personal. We must mean designed book after another—you’ll find pages, pick up this letter from 1987, and what we do. We must not look too anx- Polly as a 2006 author on the recep- share with me my good fortune: “Thanks iously over one another’s shoulders. tion tables; Jean Ng, our copy editor, for the PW review,” it begins. “The three (Whoops! There goes the whole busi- who suppressed all principles and reviews seem okay to me, really better ness of book auctions between sweaty allowed me sentence fragments galore than I hoped for, for such was my blind- competitors.) this afternoon, because, as I told her, I ness about Lily and the Lost Boy. Other had to breathe; marketers and publicists people’s expectations are rough—but, And we ought not to publish for reviews, Suzanne Murphy, Michelle Fadlalla, and oh!—one’s own are a torment. Mine are, pleasant as the positive ones are. I think Tracy van Straaten, who subtly tell oth- anyhow. I can’t write One-Eyed Cat twice. of stars next to a book’s title as escapes, ers what to think of the books. Cheers I did my best for that time of writing Lily averted disasters, second chances that to them and their helpers. To the sales someone in the world may be able to folk who daily deal with truths about this love a book as I have. A favorable notice world I’d rather not acknowledge. continued on page 38

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 19

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 19 11/28/2005 4:11:53 PM Challenges Then and Now A Survey of Protagonists in Newbery Award Books, 1950s and 1990s

Jonathan Lathey

Sheila Egoff identified the 1950s as a Second Golden Age of The psychologist Mary Pipher also recalled the 1950s as a time children’s literature, an optimistic time that might be symbolized when children enjoyed “protected spaces.”3 By contrast, at the by the image of a garden. Literature for children promoted safe end of the twentieth century it was evident that young people survivors who were supported by caring but unobtrusive adults. were less protected. For example, adolescent girls experienced In subsequent decades, advocates of New Realism challenged intensified pressures as they confronted issues ranging from this middle-class view of childhood (and parenting) in favor of eating disorders to sexually transmitted diseases. At the same greater candor about the problems that faced young readers. The time parents were often tired and overworked, and the fam- perfect-parent syndrome was broken. ily was “under siege.”4 In this article, I seek to understand the implications of our changed world as reflected in children’s I suggest that survival in this world of new realities demands a literature. more extroverted approach to the world. To that end, I compare the personal attributes, stressors, and resources available to For the first half of the twentieth century, adjustment to social protagonists in Newbery Medal winners from the 1950s and the demands was the ideal, and a passion for personal achievement 1990s. and status characterized the well-adjusted child.5 This view of childhood, the downfall of which was anticipated in A Separate rotagonists in children’s literature from the 1990s were Peace by John Knowles, disappeared almost overnight.6 under greater stress and less well resourced compared Pto protagonists from the 1950s. They showed remarkable By the late 1960s, a more permissive and disputatious society resilience as they coped with an unreliable world, where themes began to welcome greater openness and candor in children’s of abandonment were common. Their survival depended upon literature. The New Realism presented a more vivid imagery of flexibility, sociability, and expressiveness. However, traits that gritty realities and uncertain outcomes that reflected a basic were adaptive in an earlier generation were pushed aside, along (countercultural) shift in our society.7 This literature included with a love of solitude. Compared to their counterparts of the characters from lower-class homes, and it no longer promoted 1950s, the young protagonists of the late twentieth century models of middle-class behavior.8 A new genre—the problem expected a world of activity, feeling, and self-expression—a book—presented the grim details of life. For example, in The world where a garden and its protective wall might feel too Pigman by Paul Zindel, tenth-grader John Conlan shares confining, quiet, and lonely. with the reader his opinion that the reading assigned in his school—Johnny Tremain, Giants of the Earth, and Macbeth— In her 1978 Arbuthnot lecture, Egoff lamented the loss of a was garbage. He does not want to be like any of the adults he middle class, and a rather Victorian view of children, which has ever known, including the school librarian, who he nick- had dominated children’s literature in the early decades of names the Cricket.9 the twentieth century.1 For Egoff the literature of the 1950s reflected an optimistic view of childhood. Great writers in the traditional style of that time included E. B. White, Scott O’Dell, and Eleanor Estes. The garden and the garden wall represented Jonathan Lathey is a retired school a reliable and hopeful world, where families protected and psychologist. For several years, he worked nourished their children. In those good old days, books for for Cooperstown Central School in New children often displayed a warmth of feeling between children York. Since 2000, he has been the adjunct and those adults who respected their play—parents were in the reference librarian at the Standish Library background but “nonetheless were there and always ready to at Siena College in Loudonville, New York. offer support.”2

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 20 11/28/2005 4:11:54 PM Challenges Then and Now Egoff recalled a previous generation Table 1. Major childhood stressors faced by protagonists in select Newbery Medal Winners when protagonists were “safe sur- vivors” who found happy endings Year Title/Author Stressor in an exciting world.10 In stories 2001 A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck Change in residence 2000 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis Death; abandonment inspired by the New Realism, how- 1999 Holes by Louis Sachar Incarceration ever, protagonists became “danger- 1998 Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse Death of a parent ous survivors” in a world where they 1997 The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg No major stressor noted must face disaster as if “walking a 1996 The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman Abandonment tightrope.”11 A recent letter to the 1995 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech Abandonment 1994 The Giver by Lois Lowry Death editor in The Horn Book Magazine 1992 Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Abuse (favorite pet) expressed a sense of “malaise” over 1990 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry War the formula used for books pub- 1961 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell Death of parents, sibling lished for children today.12 Sandra 1960 Onion John by Joseph Krumgold No major stressor noted Dutton described the formula as 1959 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare Change in residence 1958 Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith War follows: “Put your main character in 1956 Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham Death of a parent, sibling a pot of hot water. Turn up the heat. 1955 The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong No major stressor noted Turn it up some more. Put the lid 1954 And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold No major stressor noted on. Let her fight her way out.”13 1952 Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes No major stressor noted 1951 Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates Incarceration (slavery) 1950 The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli Serious illness (self) It appears that images of danger and stress have forever replaced the image of the garden as symbolic of Table 2. Resources available to protagonists in Newbery Medal Winners from the 1990s children’s literature. Has our view of childhood, in fact, changed in Year Protagonist/Age Individual Resources Family Resources Social Environment 2001 Mary Alice, 15 Sense of humor Caring adult Supportive response to a more open and per- 2000 Bud, 10 Flexibility Belief in child Supportive missive society? What personal 1999 Stanley Fortitude Parental warmth Supportive peers attributes appear to be adaptive 1998 Billie Jo, 13 Language skills Talent Academic success in this environment? I examined 1997 Julian Singh Conviction Warmth Material resources twenty Newbery Medal winners 1996 Alyce, 12 Tenacity Talent Teacher influence 1995 Salamanca, 13 Responsiveness Caring Adult Supportive peers of the 1950s with those from the 1994 Jonas, 11 Hopefulness Cohesion Teacher influence 1990s in search of pertinent infor- 1992 Marty, 11 Enduring values Assistance Supportive mation. The comments of book 1990 Annemarie, 10 Attachment to others Cohesion Material resources reviewers that appeared in Book Review Digest were consulted for further insight into these works. protagonists are, of course, not flimsy Protagonists in the 1950s era appear characters, and several personal attri- well-resourced at the family and social I also used a list of major childhood butes could be selected to more fully environment levels (see table 3). Each stressors to help identify sources of stress describe a given protagonist. family portrayed in these stories includes in the lives of the main protagonists in a father with an occupation or title. This these twenty stories (see table 1).14 Major Table 1 presents the major childhood may reflect the relative peace and pros- stressors include death; serious illness; stressors that confronted the protago- perity of the 1950s, when the middle such parental issues as divorce, remar- nists. Major stressors were evident in 60 class was growing and the nuclear family riage, and alcohol abuse; and other percent of the stories from the 1950s, was the norm. Susan Faludi observed extraordinary trauma such as war. compared to 90 percent in stories from that this was a good time to be a young the 1990s. Death, change in residence, (white) boy, because fathers were busy Additionally, I used a comprehensive and war were common to both eras. building Little League baseball fields list of factors associated with adoles- However, the 1990s included stories with all across America.20 Whereas sup- cent resilience to help identify resources a theme of parental abandonment. This portive families and happy outcomes available to the main protagonist in each theme, which emerged in children’s liter- were almost assumed in the 1950s, the of the books (see tables 2 and 3).15 The ature in 1980s, may reflect the increasing Newbery Medal winners of the 1990s list includes resources at the individual rate at which parents abandon traditional reflect changes in the family, most nota- level, family level, and social environ- roles as protectors, so as to explore their bly with respect to the resources avail- ment level. Olsson and his colleagues own needs and interests outside the fam- able to children. assumed that when young people are ily.17 Marilyn Fain Apseloff suggested that well resourced at these levels, they are abandonment is particularly “unnerv- Themes of abandonment play a promi- more resilient, and therefore better able ing” because it implies that “the missing nent role in thirty percent of these sto- to cope with adversity.16 I selected one parent did not care enough about the ries. For example, Salamanca in Sharon salient personal attribute (tables 2 and child to stay.”18 Thus, the “perfect-parent Creech’s Walk Two Moons is depressed 3) to describe each protagonist. Newbery syndrome” has been broken.19 after her mother leaves their home in

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 21 11/28/2005 4:11:54 PM Challenges Then and Now Ohio one April morning. Her father Contrast this with her depiction of Des Moines in 1969, the United States seems to lack strength and is at times eleven-year-old Jonas in the opening Supreme Court upheld the freedom of merely “playing the role of father.”21 chapter of The Giver, a boy who is alone expression of adolescents. The major- One reviewer described her story as an and feels frightened and anxious, his ity on the court supported the young “emotional journey” through the griev- stomach churning. That evening at the plaintiffs who wore black armbands to ing process.22 so-called “telling of feelings,” he shared school to protest the war in Vietnam with his parents his feelings of fear and and agreed that vigorous and open On the other hand, three other stories apprehension. On almost every page debate of ideas in the classroom would from the 1990s presented protagonists there is another synonym for anxiety. best prepare young people to live in our who were dependent upon family-based The closing chapter shows Jonas escap- “relatively permissive, often disputa- resources for direction. Annemarie in ing from this regulated society, hoping tious, society.”28 This decision is con- Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars is a mem- to recover the colors, and the other rich sistent with children’s librarians who ber of a Danish family that helped resist sights and sounds (the garden) Lowry subscribe to a “non-protectionist” view Nazi occupation in 1943. There is lit- enjoyed as a child. of the child; their professional canon tle Annemarie can do but contemplate endorses a belief in young readers as the possibility of human decency in a What happened to the well-behaved and strong and resilient decision-makers.29 world that is “too cold, too big, and too well-adjusted child and the safe and reli- The Tinker decision gave aid and com- cruel.”23 Mary Alice is dependent upon able world of the 1950s? Knowles explored fort to advocates of the New Realism, her grandmother in A Year Down Yonder the conflict between the well-behaved and which was coming into vogue at the for entertainment, and Marty in Shiloh studious Gene Forrester and his friend, time. We encouraged our young citizens needs the assistance of his parents in the more expressive and politically out- to think for themselves, to explore the achieving moral clarity. spoken Phineas.25 Literary critic Robert world, and to express openly their feel- M. Nelson suggested that Gene’s struggle ings and opinions. Needless to say, this Without the garden wall to protect was between the “cautious Protestant” new freedom of expression, endorsed them, it appears that children are vul- side of his adolescent personality and the by the Supreme Court, alerted young people to the possibility of great opportunities. Table 3. Resources available to protagonists in Newbery Medal Winners from the 1950s Sociability, flexibility, and Year Protagonist/Age Individual Resources Family Resources Social Environment expressiveness have emerged 1961 Karana, 12 Tenacity Tenacity Provisions to assist in response to these new 1960 Andy, 12 Responsiveness Encouragement Supportive opportunities. Along the way, 1959 Kit, 16 Balanced perspective Caring Adult Supportive peers these personal attributes 1958 Jeff, 16 Fortitude Encouragement Material resources 1956 Nat Conviction Marital support Supportive may have pushed aside traits 1955 Lina Resolve Assistance Teacher influence valued in earlier generations: 1954 Miguel, 12 Attachment to others Cohesion Supportive introspection, goal orienta- 1952 Rachel, 9 Sense of humor Warmth Supportive tion, and modesty. With each 1951 Amos Enduring values Talent valued Teacher influence of these attributes are associ- 1950 Robin, 10 Responsiveness Assistance Material resources ated opportunities and risk.

It is not surprising that the young protagonist of the nerable to the extremes—too much more impulsive “germ of wildness” side.26 1990s appears more sociable, outgoing, exposure (parental abandonment) on A Separate Peace was published in 1959. and comfortable working in a group. In the one hand, and too much protec- The following year, Richard M. Nixon, the early 1970s, educational reformers tion (anxious over-involvement) on the a cautious Protestant (a Quaker), was began promoting the benefits of coop- other. Apropos, consider Lowry’s 1994 defeated in the presidential election by erative learning in the classroom, an Newbery acceptance speech for The the more outgoing and vigorous Catholic approach that fit with a noncompeti- Giver, which reveals a loss of security John F. Kennedy. The choice was between tive and egalitarian approach to educa- in the world.24 Lowry recalled how as an caution and vigor. Individuals rejected the tion. As the authority of the classroom eleven-year-old girl in 1948, she rode cautious Protestant, who dominated the teacher declined in the 1960s, children her bicycle alone and without her par- 1950s, in favor of the expressive extravert: began to look to each other for direc- ents’ knowledge “countless times” into someone who preferred responsiveness tion and support.30 Flexibility is also a Tokyo neighborhood. Her curiosity and altruism; someone who had a need essential for survival in a world that is about the Japanese culture after World to join and a capacity “to enjoy bustle and unsafe and unreliable. The sociologist War II motivated this adventure, and noise of every kind.”27 James Coleman recalled a time (before she was unafraid to venture out from the the 1960s) when “functional communi- American enclave, where she lived with The culture of the late 1960s welcomed ties,” communities where norms, sanc- her family. a more expressive child. In Tinker v. tions, and rewards were widely shared by

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 22 11/28/2005 4:11:54 PM Challenges Then and Now parents and educators, provided a sense coordinate answers in preparation for Perhaps solitude is the casualty of our of order in the world.31 By the end of the a state academic championship. They contemporary world. Billie Jo of 1998’s twentieth century, rapid social and tech- are comfortable around adults, and it Out of the Dust acknowledges that she nological change demanded that chil- comes as no surprise that young Julian is “terrified of being alone.”37 In an ear- dren (and adults) adopt a more flexible Singh might confront the New York State lier generation, Kit contemplates how approach to life. Commissioner of Education as to the much she enjoys the meadows near her correctness of his answer in that state home: “If only I could be here alone.”38 The Newbery Medal winners of the 1990s championship. For these fortunate Miguel of 1954’s And Now Miguel also presented stories of endurance and emo- young people their version of a Victorian is comfortable with solitude: “The best tional survival, where flexibility, sociabil- tea party provides the benefits of an part of it was going off by myself to bring ity, and expressiveness are adaptive. For inclusive and multicultural garden—one home the sheep.”39 Compared to their example, Bud of Bud, Not Buddy and suited to contemporary realities. counterparts of the 1950s, the young Stanley of Holes are both sociable and protagonists of the late twentieth cen- flexible in their approach to the world. Expression of feeling is evident in the tury operate in a world of action, feeling, They size up their social environment, young protagonists of the late twentieth and expression. In this exciting world of and they think on their feet. Bud is par- century. Pullman suggested that we live in new realities, a garden and its protective ticularly expressive in his formulation of “an age that values feeling very highly.”33 wall might feel too confining, quiet, and rules for survival on the hard road home Protagonists experienced and found ways lonely for comfort. to his (or Stanley’s) family. to cope with the stress and the pressures associated with what Pipher called our What are the implications for librar- In his 2002 Arbuthnot lecture, Philip “dangerous culture.”34 Themes of aban- ians who work with children? At the Pullman suggested that the children’s donment replaced earlier themes of toler- turn of the century, Michael Gorman author has a responsibility to write an ance and self-restraint more common in looked to old realities for direction, as emotionally honest work, whose aim—in the books of the 1950s. Consider the 1951 he pondered our increasingly complex the words of Dr. Samuel Johnson—is “to Newbery winner, Amos Fortune: Free Man, society. He identified seven enduring enable the reader to enjoy life, or better a biography that told the story of Amos values in librarianship, which included to endure it.”32 Fortune, a tanner and a former slave, who the library as place.40 The library is a once quietly accepted the indignity when place that embodies learning and cul- Salamanca of Walk Two Moons and Billie a customer threw coins on the floor of a ture—a safe space “free from the distrac- Jo of Out of the Dust, both 13, ponder tavern in payment for his tanning. He later tions of everyday life,” where readers the loss of their mothers. At the outset donates funds to his New Hampshire vil- can find assistance with their studies.41 of her story, Salamanca doubts she will lage to provide money for local education Gorman suggested that children’s librar- survive her emotional journey. At the in the hope that education (and religion) ies should be “bright, welcoming, com- end of Billie Jo’s story, she expresses could make people more decent. fortable human spaces.”42 her bitterness in her poetry. Francesca Lia Block once observed that in a world To conclude, by the end of the twen- Ophelia and her friends might find here without adult direction the young per- tieth century Newbery Medal winners the kind of “protected space” that Pipher son, like her character Weetzie Bat, can portrayed young protagonists “bypass- feels our culture is missing.43 Service as rely on art and love. Billie Jo is thus sus- ing adults completely” as they strive a value also endures. Gorman would tained by her artistic writing and her love to achieve independence and self- admire the devotion to service (and for fellow musician Mad Dog Craddock. reliance.35 Where have the resources resourcefulness) of the librarian por- Storytelling allows both Salamanca and gone—adults and otherwise? Water, for trayed in Bud, Not Buddy. Miss Hill, a Billie Jo to cope with their grief. example, used to be a plentiful natu- librarian who had worked at the public ral resource, and Kit of The Witch of library in Flint, Michigan, during the Of course, some realities are almost too Blackbird Pond and Karana of Island of Great Depression, establishes a trust- difficult to endure. The reader winces at the Blue Dolphins are strong swimmers. ing relationship with the protagonist, a the image of the discipline wand in The Now imagery from the Texas desert young boy otherwise eager to express his Giver, which is applied both to the very (Holes) and the dust bowl of the 1930s skepticism about adults and the institu- young and the very old for misbehavior. (Out of the Dust) evoke feelings of depri- tions of society. & vation and uncertainty. It is no wonder Thus, stories of endurance, survival, and that young protagonists in the con- escape dominated the Newbery win- temporary environment might look to References ners of the 1990s era. By contrast, sixth- each other for support. Protagonists of graders portrayed in A View from Saturday the 1990s appear resilient, as they cope 1. Sheila A. Egoff, “Beyond the are well-traveled (well-resourced) and with adversity, even when resources Garden Wall: Some Observations enjoy themselves as they celebrate from the family are scarce. It is less on Current Trends in Children’s learning and knowledge. Their tea par- clear that they are self-reliant, which Literature,” Top of the News 35 ties outside of school provide the time according to Ralph Waldo Emerson is (June 1979): 258–71. and space needed to refine ideas and rooted in reflection and the inner life.36 2. Ibid., 260.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 23 11/28/2005 4:11:54 PM Challenges Then and Now 3. Mary Pipher, Reviving Ophelia: 18. Ibid., 61. Practices.” The Horn Book Magazine Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls 19. Rebecca J. Lukens, A Critical 75 (Sept./Oct. 1999): 533. (New York: Ballantine, 1994), 236. Handbook of Children’s Literature, 30. Diane Ravitch, The Troubled 4. Ibid., 80. 7th ed. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Crusade: American Education, 5. Jerome Kagan, The Nature of the 2003), 141. 1945–1980 (New York: Basic Books, Child (New York: Basic Books, 1984). 20. Susan Faludi, Stiffed: The Betrayal 1983). 6. John Knowles, A Separate Peace of the American Man (New York: 31. James S. Coleman and Thomas (New York: Macmillan, 1959). Morrow, 1999). Hoffer, Public and Private High 7. Robert Burch, “The New Realism,” 21. Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons Schools (New York: Basic Books, The Horn Book Magazine 47 (1971): (New York: Scholastic, 1994), 31. 1987), 6. 257–64. 22. Connie Tyrel Burns, “Review,” 32. Philip Pullman, “The 2002 May Hill 8. Alleen Pace Nilsen and Ken School Library Journal 40 (Oct. Arbuthnot Honor Lecture,” Journal Donelson, “The New Realism 1994): 142. of Youth Services in Libraries 15 Comes of Age,” Journal of Youth 23. Lois Lowry, Number the Stars (Summer 2002): 38. Services in Libraries 1 (1988): (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989), 87. 33. Ibid., 39. 275–82. 24. Lois Lowry, “1994 Newbery 34. Pipher, Reviving Ophelia, 12. 9. Paul Zindel, The Pigman (New York: Acceptance Speech,” in The 35. Kathleen T. Horning, “Newbery Harper & Row, 1968). Newbery & Caldecott Medal Books Medal Books 1986–2000,” in 10. Egoff, “Beyond the Garden Wall,” 1986–2000: A Comprehensive Guide The Newbery & Caldecott Medal 266. to the Winners (Chicago: ALA, 2001), Books 1986–2000 (Chicago: ALA, 11. Ibid., 267. 209–16. 2001), 24. 12. Sandra Dutton, “Letters to the 25. Knowles, A Separate Peace. 36. Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Editor,” The Horn Book Magazine 80 26. Robert M. Nelson, “John Knowles,” Collected Works of Ralph Waldo (Sept./Oct. 2004): 499. in American Novelists Since World Emerson (Cambridge, Mass.: 13. Ibid. War II: Second Series, ed. J. E. Kibler, Belknap Pr., 1979). 14. L. Eugene Arnold, Childhood Stress Jr. (Detroit: Gale, 1980), 169. 37. Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust (New (New York: Wiley, 1991). 27. Carl G. Jung, Psychological Types York: Scholastic, 1997), 76. 15. Craig Olsson et al., “Adolescent (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Pr., 38. Elizabeth George Speare, The Resilience: A Concept Analysis,” 1971), 549. Witch of Blackbird Pond (Boston: Journal of Adolescence 26 (2003): 28. Frank R. Kemerer and Kenneth Houghton Mifflin, 1958), 63. 1–11. L. Deutsch, Constitutional Rights 39. Joseph Krumgold, And Now Miguel 16. Ibid. and Student Life: Value Conflict in (New York: Harper, 1953), 87. 17. Marilyn Fain Apseloff, Law and Education (St. Paul: West 40. Michael Gorman, Our Enduring “Abandonment: The New Realism Publishing, 1979), 115. Values: Librarianship in the 21st of the Eighties,” in Only Connect: 29. Betsy Hearne and Christine Century (Chicago: ALA, 2000). Readings on Children’s Literature, Jenkins, “Sacred Texts: What Our 41. Ibid., 46. ed. Sheila A. Egoff et al. (Toronto: Foremothers Left Us in the Way of 42. Ibid., 55. Oxford Univ. Pr., 1996), 359–64. Psalms, Proverbs, Precepts, and 43. Pipher, Reviving Ophelia, 266.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 24 11/28/2005 4:11:55 PM USBBY Honors Icons

Konigsburg, Bryan Nominated for Hans

Ashley Bryan Christian Andersen Award E. L. Konigsburg

Leslie M. Molnar

n the world of children’s literature, there is great fanfare and Beautiful Blackbird garnered the prize in 2004. Several every two years as the International Board on Books for of his books were selected as Coretta Scott King honor books IYoung People (IBBY) presents the Hans Christian Andersen throughout the years, including All Night, All Day: A Child’s Award to an author and illustrator who have made a lasting First Book of African American Spirituals, Ashley Bryan’s ABC of contribution to literature for children and young people. The African American Poetry, Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other 2006 awards will be presented at the 30th IBBY Congress in African Folk Poems, and What a Morning! The Christmas Story Beijing, China, on September 20, 2006. in Black Spirituals.

E. L. Konigsburg and Ashley Bryan have been selected by the Combining his highly trained background in painting and United States Board on Books for Children (USBBY) as the drawing with his love of music and the rhythmic language of author and illustrator nominees, respectively. poetry, each illustration bursts with the exuberance that is Bryan’s signature. As the only author to win the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor in the same year, Konigsburg boasts an illustrious career Here’s a brief look at the honorees, in their own words. that has spanned almost four decades. In 1968 From the Mixed- up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler won the Newbery Medal while What are your thoughts on being nominated? What does it Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth mean in the scope of your work? was selected as a Newbery Honor Book. Almost thirty years later in 1997, Konigsburg once again was the recipient of the Newbery E. L. Konigsburg: Recognition by one’s peers is always welcome. Medal for The View from Saturday. Over the years, Konigsburg has Recognition by one’s peers for the body of one’s work is beyond introduced readers to new friends that are endearing, sometimes welcome to thrilling. Recognition by an international body of one’s eccentric, but certainly always memorable. With many of her peers for the body of one’s work is a long loud Hallelujah! moment books as popular today as when they were written, Konigsburg that started in early June and continues to this day and beyond. has had a devoted following for more than two generations. Ashley Bryan: Having been chosen to represent the wonderful In 1990, Bryan received the Arbuthnot Prize, a lifetime achieve- picture book artists of the United States is a significant award ment award, one of the highest honors in children’s literature. in itself. The nomination affirms my focus, belief, and hope that In addition to illustrating more than thirty books, he has won my work in presenting black people’s culture will touch the lives numerous accolades for his work. Beat the Story Drum, Pum- of all people. Pum won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award in 1981 What is the most important thing you have learned in your years as a children’s book author and illustrator? Leslie M. Molnar is the Youth Services Assistant Manager of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, Cleveland, Ohio. She is also Chair of ELK: What I realize now—and what I instinctively knew but did the USBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award Committee, 2005–2006. not verbalize when I started writing—is what I reach for when I write and what children are looking for when they read, and that

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 25 11/28/2005 4:11:55 PM USBBY Honors Icons is authenticity. When a story, even if it is a fantasy, is authentic, a writer connects.

AB: I have learned that beautiful art and writing for children are beautiful for all ages.

What is the best thing a child could say about your work?

ELK: I know these people. I was there in that world with them.

AB: It is what a child does in response to my work that speaks to me. When children, inspired by my work, write and draw, exploring and discovering the cre- ativity in themselves, that is the best reward for themselves and for me!

Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place What would young readers of your books American Poetry (Atheneum, 1997) (Atheneum, 2004) be surprised to learn about you?

ELK: That I started out as a chemist. AB: I would always be drawing and painting. I would always be practicing reading poetry aloud from our great literature of AB: I was born and raised in New York City. Now I live on a small English and American poetry and from the languages I have island off the coast of Maine. It is a year-round community of studied, French and German. Poetry is a performance art that’s about eighty people—lobster fishermen, carpenters, and gen- rarely performed. I would do all I could to change that. & eral workmen with a one-room schoolhouse of eight students last school year. Members of the 2006 USBBY Hans Christian Andersen Awards Committee are Leslie M. Molnar, Chair (Cleveland, Ohio), April If you were not working in the field of children’s literature, Whatley Bedford (New Orleans, La.), Sharon Deeds (Decatur, what would you be doing? Ga.), Susan Golden (Boone, N.C.), Dan Hade (New York), Jennifer Smith (Highland Heights, Ky.) and Nicole Sparling ELK: The truth: I would be teaching or I would be a science (West Babylon, N.Y.). research librarian. My fantasy? I would be an actress—in the theater, not the movies.

Selected Bibliography E. L. Konigsburg Ashley Bryan From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. New York: Atheneum, 1967. All Night, All Day: A Child’s First Book of African American Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Spirituals. New York: Atheneum, 1991. Elizabeth. New York: Atheneum, 1967. Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African American Poetry. New York: The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place. New York: Atheneum, 1997. Atheneum, 2004. Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum. New York: The Second Mrs. Giaconda. New York: Atheneum, 1975. Atheneum, 1980. Throwing Shadows. New York: Atheneum, 1979. Beautiful Blackbird. New York: Atheneum, 2003. The View from Saturday. New York: Atheneum, 1996. Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Poems. New York: Atheneum, 1986. What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals. New York: Atheneum, 1987.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 26 11/28/2005 4:11:58 PM Arbuthnot Lecture

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 27 11/28/2005 4:11:59 PM A view of the schoolyard in Kigali, Rwanda. Creating a Reading Culture One Librarian’s Mission in Rwanda

Sarah Webb

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 28 11/28/2005 4:11:59 PM ven though libraries in the United native language, Kinyarwanda, since who spoke fluent English) and I worked States may be facing budget cuts, 1995. Editions Bakame has produced with another staff member, Jean-Claude Eit’s easy to forget how lucky many more than twenty titles, mostly for young Mazimpaka, a former teacher and a bril- Americans are when it comes to our tra- children, but with a few titles for teens. liant storyteller. The three of us wrote the dition of providing library service. Their mission is to help create a reading script for a one-day training for primary culture in Rwanda. They are busy with school teachers. The training focused on After studying library services in Rwanda many projects related to this mission three main concepts: for six months, I got a different perspec- and had been thinking of doing a project tive. In October 2003, I traveled to Kigali, similar to the one I proposed. ■ First was the central role of storytell- Rwanda, for six months on a mission ing in teaching and education. This to learn about and possibly enhance Next, I met a Unicef representative who was important to honor the oral tra- library services. suggested there might be funding available dition in Rwanda. We also wanted to if we worked in Unicef-funded schools. underscore that sharing books would Like many, I knew little about Rwanda not undermine that tradition. beyond the horrors of genocide and Then, a generous donation of easy- the mountain gorillas studied by Dian reader books from the King County ■ Second was the importance of read- Fossey. The country is much more than Library System (KCLS) in Washington ing in the native language. Editions that. With a beautiful landscape of State gave me some materials to take Bakame publishes most of their books mountains and hills, it has been nick- along on the trip. My friend Shannon in Kinyarwanda and feel that it is the named the Switzerland of Africa. And Schinagl, a children’s librarian at KCLS, best way to teach children to love read- Rwandans are eager to rebuild. talked endlessly to her coworkers about ing. Also, research shows we express what I was doing. Children’s outreach deepest emotions in our mother Geographically, Rwanda is only the size coordinator Jill Olson and KCLS lit- tongue. In Rwanda, as in many African of Maryland, but it has a population eracy Americorps liaison Sean Walsh countries, the native language is not of eight million. Six hundred thousand offered a portion of several shipments respected or taught in the same way people live in the capital city, Kigali. of Scholastic books. French and English are. This is espe- cially true in the education system. I spent the first month networking, Finally, my friend Laura Tanji, a school which led me to work on five projects. librarian at an elementary school in ■ Third was the importance of reading The first and most important was a part- Portland, Oregon, had been seeking for pleasure, a foreign concept for nership with a local publisher, Editions a project to raise money for books most Rwandans because they have an Bakame. Together, we brought books for through her school for a comparable oral tradition. pleasure reading to six primary schools. I school in Rwanda. also taught a class in librarianship at the To conduct the training, we visited five Kigali Institute of Education as a part of a I was fortunate to unite all these pieces. primary schools. At one of the schools, diploma course in library skills. I helped First, with the hopes of Unicef funding, I in the district farthest from Kigali, we Voluntary Services Overseas (the British proposed working with Editions Bakame trained two schools at once. As an equivalent of the Peace Corps) sort their to bring three hundred books written in American, I noticed immediately that Book Aid International shipment of Kinyarwanda to six schools. We would the schools we visited did not have elec- books, giving some of the books to the train the teachers in the importance of tricity, running water (one school was Distance Training Program of the Kigali reading and reading for pleasure, and working on that) or telephones (although Institute of Education, which trains sec- we would give them some English books the directors had cell phones, they were ondary school teachers who replaced from the KCLS donation. not always turned on). I was also pleased teachers killed in the genocide. I helped that the school district allows the teach- start a librarian’s association and volun- The Unicef funding—we asked for about ers to close school for one day a month teered at a local secondary school. $3,000—never came through, but by the to conduct training sessions. time we discovered that, we were well As a young adult services librarian from on our way, so I scraped together some All the teachers were enthusiastic about Seattle, Washington, I had originally other money to conduct the project. I the training. At the first school, the been interested in secondary schools. paid my own airfare, around $2,500, and However, four factors led me to under- wrote to friends and relatives explaining take a project involving primary schools. the project I was undertaking in Africa. I Sarah Webb is a doctoral student at received about $3,500 in donations, $500 Syracuse University in New York on an First, I met the women who founded of which was raised by my friend Laura IMLS fellowship. She spent six months and run Editions Bakame. Agnes Gyr- at her school. in Rwanda, Africa in 2003 and 2004. Ukanda, Immaculee Uwimama, and Before that, she was a teen services Suzana Murara started the company All three founders of Editions Bakame librarian at the Seattle Public Library. with Swiss support; they have been pub- were wonderful to work with and believed lishing books for children in Rwanda’s in our project. Suzana (the only one

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 29 11/28/2005 4:12:00 PM Creating a Reading Culture

Suzana Murara, right, and Eugenie Mukamurenzi in the Teachers at Rubingo School. Author Sarah Webb is pictured at far right. classroom in Rubingo.

teachers checked out the books when we who volunteered as librarian showed me expanding the program to other parts of finished and were excited to read them. pages of names of children who had the country. checked out books. Forty of the three My part of the training—other than the hundred books were on the shelves, Working with this project and learning script written with Suzana and Claud— which meant the rest were checked out. about the library situation in Rwanda was very small because the session was At the next school, the children were raised a lot of questions for me. I am pur- conducted in Kinyarwanda. I wrote in reading the books in the classroom. suing a PhD at Syracuse University this my journal or watched the proceedings. When I came into the room, they pulled fall to further study this topic. & My favorite moment was during Claud’s them out and posed for a picture. story, when I could feel the teachers get If you are interested in learning more wrapped up in the story as they listened It was a thrill for me to participate in this about Editions Bakame, check out the intently to every word. project. Suzana and I are considering Web site at www.bakame.rw.

I read two books in French and English, Yo Yes by Chris Raschka in French and Head Body Legs by Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret Lippert in English. After I finished with Head Body Legs, teacher Jean Damascene copied the text into his notebook so he could tell the story to his students.

He said later, “We need more books like this one,” so I bought five copies for each school.

The teachers evaluated the training positively; many said we should do the training in every school in Rwanda, which I would love to pursue. Unicef informed us that the books were being read by the students in the weeks fol- lowing our visit, so we considered that a measure of our success.

I returned to Rwanda in June 2005, revis- iting two of the schools. The teacher Teachers at Shyrongi School.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 30 11/28/2005 4:12:02 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” Junie B. Jones, Language, and Linguistics

Jill S. Ratzan

“You are not the boss of my words, Grace,” I said. “This is a freed of 2004.1 Many complaints, like the ones quoted above, focus country. And if I want to say valentime, I can. And I will not even on Junie B.’s use of nonstandard English. go to jail.” But knee-jerk objection is only one way of viewing the —from Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy unusual grammar and vocabulary that characterize this Valentime series. Applying the principles of linguistics—the scientific study of language—to the Junie B. Jones series can shed a ot the way I want my kids talking!” writes one reviewer more interesting, more sophisticated, and ultimately more at Amazon.com. “Children learn by example and will positive light on these books. From a linguistic point of view, Npick up on the good and bad habits that they see and Junie B.’s unique way of speaking illustrates four properties hear, so why would anyone want his/her child exposed to this of language: constant stream of sloppy language?” asks another. Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones beginner chapter book series, which fol- ■ Language follows rules lows “almost six”-year-old Junie B. through a new baby in her family, special occasions at school, and other day-to-day ■ Language is constantly changing events, has been challenged in Colorado, Texas, Wisconsin, and other states. Park appears sixth on the American Library ■ Language is learned at special times and in special ways Association’s list of the ten most frequently challenged authors ■ Language is a reflection of social power

Jill S. Ratzan holds a bachelor’s degree Linguistics can help readers appreciate Junie B., and Junie B. in in linguistics from Swarthmore College in turn can inspire readers to learn more about linguistics. Swarthmore, Pa., and a master’s degree in library and information science from Before beginning this discussion, a few qualifications are in Rutgers University in New Jersey. Prior to order. First, this paper reflects a particular approach to lin- her career in librarianship, she worked as a psycholinguistics guistics called generative grammar, a theory that assumes research assistant at the Rutgers University Center for language is a systematic, innate human trait driven by certain Cognitive Science. Currently, she works as a youth services mathematical principles (specifically, language is a combinato- librarian at East Brunswick Public Library and and as a rial, productive, and recursive system).2 Second, most rules and research assistant at Rutgers Cooperative Research and other properties mentioned here have been simplified from Extension, both in New Jersey. versions a linguist would use. In particular, linguists see impor- tant differences between spoken and written language; because these books read as though Junie B. is telling a story, this

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 31 11/28/2005 4:12:03 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” article treats Junie B.’s written narration as if it were made up of spoken words. Additionally, because Junie B.’s grammar becomes more standard when she enters first grade in later books, this discussion focuses on the seventeen books in which Junie B. is in kindergarten.

Finally, this article does not address Junie B.’s name-calling and expres- sion of negative emotions (“I hate that meanie Jim”), the other frequent com- plaint about these books. 3

Language Follows Rules

The idea that language follows rules should not come as a surprise; in fact, this is a major assumption behind com- plaints that Junie B. is breaking such rules. But thinking like a linguist leads to the surprising conclusion that Junie B. isn’t breaking any rules at all—she’s actu- ally following them completely, unlike most speakers of standard English. being used to mean present or past What Junie B. says: Looking at matters this way, Junie B.’s actions can be unclear.5 Speech like speech can be seen as more clear and Junie B.’s, which uses a different form to ■ “Big girls get to walk all by their- more logical than the standard speech to indicate past tense, actually makes much selves;” which it is compared. more sense. ■ “Sometimes ladies have to go under For example, one of Junie B.’s most often- Here is another common English rule: the table and adjust theirselves” (their cited mistakes deals with the following (possessive) + selves = theirselves) 7 past-tense rule: ■ To form the comparative and superla- tive forms of adjectives, add “-er” and As in the previous case, Junie B.’s lan- ■ To make a verb past tense, add “-ed” “-est” to them. Examples: big + er = guage use follows the preceding two to the end of it. Examples: walk + ed = bigger; fast + est = fastest. rules exactly. This next rule is less of a walked; jump + ed = jumped. rule and more of a pattern: What Junie B. says: What Junie B. says: ■ The first syllable of a word is the ■ “She is way beautifuller than me” stressed syllable. Although this pattern ■ “I runned straight to the sink” (run + (beautiful + er = beautifuller) is not true of all English words, it tends ed = runned) to be true of words that young children ■ “Painting is the funnest thing I love” hear most often, and is true of many ■ “She beated me [at a race]” (beat + ed (fun + est = funnest) words that Junie B. herself uses. = beated) ■ “They are the gorgeousest pictures I What Junie B. says (emphasis added): ■ “I hided under my backpack” (hide + ever saw!” (gorgeous + est = gorgeous- ed = hided)4 est)6 ■ “I HURried to the LAUNdry room to get the CLOTHESpins” Although all of the above are examples Here is another rule on pronouns: of logical rule-following, the second, ■ “JELly DOUGHnuts . . . with RAINbow “beated,”is the most interesting. In addi- ■ To form a reflexive pronoun, add “- SPRINKles” tion to being logical, this form is actually self” or “-selves” to the possessive clearer than its counterpart in standard form of that pronoun. Examples: my ■ “My new BAby BROther NAmed English. As linguist Steven Pinker points (possessive) + self = myself; your (pos- OLlie”8 out, verbs like “beat,” which have the sessive) + self = yourself; our (posses- same form in both present and past sive) + selves = ourselves. Junie B.’s application of this pattern is tense, are ambiguous; whether they’re slightly more complicated than her use

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 32 11/28/2005 4:12:03 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” of the rules above. If the first syllable of a word is stressed, then maybe the stressed syllable is the first syllable of a Making Mondegreens word. What Junie B. says: The term “mondegreen” was coined by writer Sylvia Wright and popularized by

■ Mother “’rolled me in afternoon kin- San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll. Wright derived the term from her dergarten” (enROLLed) mishearing of the Scottish folk ballad “The Bonnie Earl O’Moray.”

■ “Baby-sitter ’structions is all the stuff Oh, ye hielands and ye lowlands, I’m not allowed to do” (inSTRUCtions) Oh, where hae ye been?

■ “That’s ’zactly what kind of day I had” (eXACTly)9 They have slain the Earl of Moray,

This is not as odd as it first seems; when And laid him on the green. adults talk quickly, initial unstressed syl- lables can be hard to hear. For example, (or: “and Lady Mondegreen”?) this author recently fielded a request from a child for books about “noles” (the From Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct (New York: Morrow, 1994), 182–83. child meant “aNOLES,” a type of lizard often kept as class pets).

Finally, this last rule seems obvious, but Phrases like these are called monde- rules. For example, Old English and its has many interesting consequences: greens, mishearings or misinterpreta- predecessors had a rule that made a verb People say things that make sense. tions of statements, after a particularly past tense by changing its vowel; echoes interesting example of one (see side- of this rule still exist in words like “sing,” One common example of this rule— bar). Mondegreens result when listeners which becomes “sang” in the past tense.13 literal speech versus idioms—is explic- attempt to make sense of an unusual However, Junie B.’s strict rule-following itly discussed in the Junie B. books. utterance and turn it into something can also be looked at in another way. Misunderstanding her grandmother’s that makes sense. Since Mother’s prob- Most likely, no one has explicitly taught idiom, “Your new brother is the cut- lem is with her head, surely “mybrain” her any of the above rules. She, like most est little monkey,” Junie B. mistakenly is the right choice of all the possibly young children, has derived them entirely thinks that her new brother really is heard options; when someone (particu- on her own. This process, not her lack of a monkey; if he wasn’t, why would larly Junie B.) is “fusstrated,” they tend to memorized exceptions to rules, can be Grandma say that he was? Later, Junie get fussy. And if a vegetable has a name, seen as what is truly amazing about Junie B.’s class talks about idioms and comes wouldn’t “Sue” be a logical choice? As was B. Jones’ grammar. up with others, like “couch potato” the case above, Junie B. is not the only (which, as her friend Lucille points out, English speaker to draw such conclu- isn’t a real potato).10 sions. Many adults use the mondegreen Language Is Constantly Changing “notor republic” (for “notary public”), Another example of this rule involves and linguist Steven Pinker quotes a child Like the idea that language follows a different kind of misunderstanding. happily singing, “The ants are my friends, rules, the idea that language is ever- When Junie B. encounters an unusual they’re blowing in the wind,” instead of changing makes intuitive sense. Anyone phrase, she interprets it in a way that “The answer, my friend, is blowing in who has struggled through the early makes the most amount of sense. the wind” from Bob Dylan’s well-known modern English of Shakespeare or the (Remember that fast, fluent speech can song “Blowin’ in the Wind.”12 Middle English of Chaucer (or the virtu- make hearing individual sounds diffi- ally incomprehensible Old English of cult.) This desire for sense results in the Based on the above, it seems that Junie Beowulf) can see that these versions of following phrases from Junie B.: B.’s grammatical errors are far from ran- English are very different from the ver- dom—they come from following rules of sion spoken today. One part of language ■ Mother “had a mybrain headache” English grammar and conversation to the that changes over time is the acceptable (migraine) letter of the law. A thoughtful challenger, forms of words. Often, a regular form however, could reply that the key here that follows a rule (like the “add -ed” ■ “I got fusstration inside me” (frustra- is Junie B.’s ignorance of the many rule rule) will replace an irregular one that tion) exceptions present in standard English. does not. For example, “climbed” is cur- Interestingly, much of what appears to rently the standard past-tense form of ■ “The kind of vegetable named Sue modern English speakers as “exceptions” the verb “climb;” Junie B. uses this form Keeny” (zucchini)11 are actually living fossils of long-forgotten correctly many times:

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 33 11/28/2005 4:12:03 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” ● “I climbed onto my bed” ■ Mary plays rough. (“Rough” is an adjective modifying the verb 14 ● “I climbed up on his lap.” “plays.”)

However, in early modern English, the ■ Don’t work so hard. (“Hard” is standard form was the currently defunct an adjective modifying the verb “clomb,” as seen in the following quote “work.”)17 from John Milton’s seventeenth century 15 work Paradise Lost. Comparing these examples with quotes from Junie B. shows a strik- So clomb this first grand Thief into ing similarity: Gods Fould: So since into his Church lewd ■ “I smiled very happy.” (“Happy” Hirelings climbe.16 is an adjective modifying the verb “smiled.”) The verb “climbed” might have sounded as strange to Milton and other speak- ■ “She quick grabbed my box.” ers of early modern English as “runned” (“Quick” is an adjective modify- sounds to us today. ing the verb “grabbed.”)18

Another aspect of language change So can we argue that when Junie involves using existing words in new B. says “I quick runned” instead of ways. With text-enabled cell phones, “I ran quickly,” she’s actually working Language Is Learned at Special Times for example, text is now something you toward regularizing verbs and combining can do, not just something you can adjectives and adverbs?19 Not really, since and in Special Ways read; the noun “text” is now also a one speaker alone doesn’t constitute over- verb. Some linguists, including Donna all change. But, as was the case with the Child language acquisition—how chil- Jo Napoli, suggest that a similar change language rules discussed previously, view- dren learn their first language—may be is happening to adjectives and adverbs. ing Junie B.’s speech from the perspective the area of linguistics most of interest Increasingly, Napoli argues, adjectives of language change leads to a more inter- to children’s librarians.20 The process of are being used both for their original esting—and more satisfying—interpreta- learning a first language is an incredible function (roughly, to modify nouns) tion than simply rejecting it offhand. And one, involving skills such as deciphering and for a new function, to modify verbs. her individual use does provide evidence where words begin and end, determining She gives the following examples to for another claim: language is learned at what roles words play in sentences, and, illustrate this point: special times and in special ways. of course, deciding what words mean. Because this daunting task is usually accomplished within the first few years of a child’s life, and typically with little or no explicit instruction, linguists posit the idea that children are born with an internal language mechanism of some kind, allowing them to fit what they hear into an innate mental framework.

Pinker and many other linguists believe that such frameworks involve both sys- tematic rules, like the “add -ed” rule, and individual words, like “cat,” “dog,” and “ran,” which must be memorized indi- vidually. These two elements combine in particular ways to yield standard gram- matical speech. For example, if a rule and a word conflict, like “ran” and “add -ed,” an adult speaker will retrieve the word from memory in time to stop the rule from applying.

Young children, however, are often still working out kinks in this system.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 34 11/28/2005 4:12:05 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” results in oddly doubled expressions Love Language? such as the following from Junie B.:

■ “My bestest friend” (word “best” plus Check out these other linguistically interesting children’s books. rule “add -est”)

Archaic English ■ “Somebody stoled my mittens” (word “stole” plus rule “add -ed”)23 Tomie dePaola, Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose (Putnam, 1985) and other collec- tions of traditional nursery rhymes. Although these examples could be lamented by critics as the most objec- Idioms tionable examples of “bad grammar” in the series, they can also be viewed as Tedd Arnold, More Parts and Even More Parts: Idioms from Head to Toe (Dial, the best demonstrations that language 2001 and 2004). is made up of words, rules, and ways of putting the two together. A child who Wallace Edwards, Monkey Business (Kids Can Press, 2004). utters statements like those knows the rules for forming past-tense and super- Fred Gwynne, The King Who Rained (Windmill, 1970) and other titles by author. lative forms (“add -ed” and “add -est”) and knows special words (like “best” and Language Change, Language and Power “stole”)—the child has simply not yet mastered the idea that using one should Andrew Clements, Frindle, illus. Brian Selznick (Simon and Schuster, 1996). inhibit using the other.

Mondegreens Linguists’ observations show that chil- dren between the ages of two and five are Debra Frasier, Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster (Harcourt, 2000). actively engaged in refining their language frameworks to match those of others in Reduplication their community. As children reach school age, they usually make no more than four Andrew Clements, Double Trouble in Walla Walla, illus. Salvatore Murdocca mistakes for every hundred correct forms (Millbrook, 1997). they utter.24 Therefore when, in a later book in the series, a newly six-year-old Sounds, Forms, and Meanings Junie B. brags to her school principal, “I don’t say runned anymore,” she is demon- Roald Dahl, The BFG, illus. Quentin Blake (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982). strating a level of language development typical of children her age. 25 Shel Silverstein, Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook (HarperCollins, 2005). This theory of language learning par- William Steig, CDB! and CDC? (Windmill, 1968 and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, tially addresses the complaint given 1984; revised editions Simon and Schuster, 2000 and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, at the beginning of this article, that 2003). impressionable youngsters “learn by example” and will imitate the grammar that they read and hear. According to the theory discussed here, children are Experimental evidence suggests that chil- ular verbs from time to time. Compare not blank slates but filters. They will dren know irregular words like “ran” and the following with the first set of exam- only imitate what fits with their inter- “hid,” even if they do not always use them. ples above: nal language frameworks. For example, When a child’s memory cannot come up a child (or an adult!) can easily learn a with an irregular word quickly, their lan- ■ “I ran out of the room” (not “runned”) new word like “mondegreen” because guage framework defaults to applying the it does not interfere with what their rule, resulting in overgeneralizations like ■ “I put my head on the table” (not language framework says is acceptable “runned” and “hided.” Sometimes mem- “putted”) but will balk at a word like “runned” ory works in time, but other times it because it does. does not; children often alternate freely ■ “I hid my face” (not “hided”)22 between using irregular forms and their If a child’s internal grammar has already overregularized counterparts.21 Even Alternatively, a child’s brain may cough decided that “ran” is the right form Junie B., well-known for her overgener- up the correct, irregular form, but con- to use for the past tense of “run,” as alizations, comes out with correct irreg- tinue to apply the rule anyway. This most second graders have (the median

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 35 11/28/2005 4:12:05 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” intended audience for the Junie B. Jones books, according to School Library Journal), no amount of read- Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park ing otherwise is likely to change their minds.26 Significantly, even those All books are published by Random House, New York City. This list is current children who use nonstandard forms as of September 2005. in their own speech will often rec- Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, 1992 ognize—and reject—these words in the speech of others. As language Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, 1993 researchers Joel Lachter and Thomas Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth, 1993 G. Bever report, one father’s attempt to echo his son’s overregularized utter- Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying, 1994 ance “Mommy goed to the store,” was Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake, 1995 met with the emphatic reply “Daddy, I say it that way, not you.”27 Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim’s Birthday, 1996 Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren, 1996 Language Is a Reflection of Junie B. Jones Has a Monster under Her Bed, 1997 Social Power Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook, 1997 Junie B. Jones Is a Party Animal, 1997 From the victory at the heart of Ed Emberley’s Go Away, Big Green Monster! Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy, 1998 (Little, Brown, 1993) to the thrill of Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy, 1998 watching Harry Potter and friends defeat inept and evil grownups, chil- Junie B. Jones Is (Almost) a Flower Girl, 1999 dren love books that make them feel Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime, 1999 smart, powerful, and in control. Most likely, this effect is responsible for part Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket, 2000 of Junie B. Jones’ appeal. Junie B. Jones Is Captain Field Day, 2001

As noted previously, the target audi- Junie B. Jones Is a Graduation Girl, 2001 ence for these books, early elementary Junie B., First Grader (At Last!), 2001 school readers, has typically outgrown the speech patterns of younger chil- Junie B., First Grader: Boss of Lunch, 2002 dren. Readers in this age group can Junie B., First Grader: Toothless Wonder, 2002 therefore laugh with smug self-assur- ance at Junie B.’s childish way of talking, Junie B., First Grader: Cheater Pants, 2003 boosting their own sense of linguistic Junie B., First Grader: One-Man Band, 2003 superiority. Top Secret, Personal Beeswax: A Journal by Junie B. (and Me!), 2003 In fact, the relationship between lan- Junie B., First Grader: Shipwrecked, 2004 guage and power forms the crux of what Junie B. would call the “disagreed- Junie B., First Grader: Boo . . . and I Mean It!, 2004 28 ment” over her use of English. While Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May), 2005 skeptics may concede that Junie B.’s speech is logical, clear, and in tune with patterns observed in language change and language acquisition, the fact linguistics allows us to think beyond our London became the economic and cul- remains, they could argue, that it is not everyday assumptions about the idea of tural center of Britain in the seventeenth standard English. Although Junie B. truly a “right” way to talk. What makes one century, the particular dialect of English “will not even go to jail” for speaking in style of speech “right,” especially when spoken by Londoners—the precursor of a nonstandard way, American society the “wrong” one is the more logical of today’s standard English—became the regards standard English as the right way the two? “correct” way to speak English. Speaking to talk, and those who speak this way will this way was desirable because it allowed be treated with more respect than those The answer is that the “right” form of one to identify oneself with the upper who do not. English is the one used by people in class living there. positions of power. Historically, socio- By presenting such an argument, these economic and political power acted as Social and cultural issues continue to critics would be correct. Again, however, deciding factors. For example, when affect attitudes toward language. The

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 36 11/28/2005 4:12:05 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” English of the rich Northeast is often cally misunderstands idioms like “dust currentnews/newsarchive/1999/ regarded as “better” than that spoken the furniture;” Maurice Sendak uses december1999/Default823.htm; in less economically privileged areas of an adjective to modify a verb when, American Library Association, “The the United States, and language colum- in Outside Over There, baby goblins Most Challenged Books of 2004.” nists like William Safire use their power “quick churned into a dancing stream;” Accessed June 26, 2005, www.ala. as cultural authorities to dictate what is and Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/ considered “proper” speech. utters a famous mondegreen of The Star- challengedbanned/ Spangled Banner when she asks her sis- challengedbanned.htm. However, another type of relationship ter to turn on the “dawnzer” (“It gives a 2. Steven Pinker, Words and Rules: The is also important to the issue of lan- lee light,” she explains).31 Ingredients of Language (New York: guage and power: the power dynamic Basic Books, 1999), 6–8. between adults and children. Adults If the Amazon.com reviews and book 3. Barbara Park, Junie B. Jones and hold a tremendous amount of linguistic challenges are any indication, children’s That Meanie Jim’s Birthday (New power; adult language is seen as supe- librarians should be prepared to defend York: Random House, 1996), 19. A rior to children’s, by definition. Pinker the inclusion of the Junie B. Jones books general argument defending the use sums up the situation when he writes in their collections. Explaining this of strong words in children’s books that “we adults get to say what counts series’ unique features through the lens can be found on pages 179–91 as ‘correct,’” and if we regularize an of linguistics provides one way of doing of Language Matters: A Guide to irregular often enough [like ‘clomb’ and so. Independent of outside challenges, Everyday Questions about Language ‘climbed’], we simply declare by fiat we librarians improve both our own and (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2003), that it is not an error.”29 our patrons’ appreciation of children’s written by linguist and children’s literature when we seek to understand it fiction author Donna Jo Napoli. from a variety of perspectives. And those 4. Park, Junie B. Jones Is Captain Field Conclusion of us who also teach, or who work with Day (New York: Random, 2001), classroom teachers, can easily imagine 20; Park, Junie B. Jones and Some The four properties of language dis- the extraordinary language lessons that Sneaky Peeky Spying (New York: cussed in this article go far in showing these books can inspire. Perhaps think- Random, 1994), 9; Park, Junie B. that Junie B.’s English is much more ing about language in this way will even Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket (New complex and interesting than a simple inspire some readers to pursue linguistic York: Random, 2000), 38. label of “sloppy language” would sug- inquiries of their own. As Junie B. would 5. Pinker, Words and Rules, 194. gest. But, as observant readers know, say, “Wowie wow wow!” & 6. Park, Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome the examples shown are not the only Warren (New York: Random, 1996), oddities in Junie B.’s speech. Principles 1; Park, Junie B. Jones and Her Big of linguistics can also explain Junie B.’s References and Notes Fat Mouth (New York: Random, habit of referring to her friend as “that 1993), 61; Park, Junie B. Jones Has a Grace” (a spectacular example of a phe- 1. Customer reviews of Junie B. Monster under Her Bed (New York: nomenon known as case-marking), her Jones and the Stupid Smelly Random, 1997), 61. use of a rhyming device called redupli- Bus by Barbara Park. Accessed 7. Park, Junie B. Jones and Some cation (“yucky blucky,” “stewie pewie”), June 26, 2005, www.amazon. Sneaky Peeky Spying, 26; Park, Junie her repetitive phrases (“whole entire,” com; Library Research Service, B. Jones Is (Almost) a Flower Girl “plus also”), her odd application of past Colorado State Library, and the (New York: Random, 1999), 62. participles (“This is a freed country,” Colorado Department of Education, 8. Park, Junie B. Jones and the Yucky as quoted at the beginning of this arti- “Challenges to Materials and Blucky Fruitcake (New York: cle), and numerous other aspects of her Services in Colorado Public Random, 1995), 29; Park, Junie B. speech.30 Even more strikingly, the fact Libraries, 2003.” Accessed June 26, Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth, 13, 31. that nonlinguist Barbara Park can cre- 2005, www.lrs.org/documents/ 9. Park, Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in ate such a linguistically interesting char- plstat_03/challenges_details_ Her Pocket, 1; Park, Junie B. Jones acter raises the provocative possibility 03.pdf; American Civil Liberties and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake, 4; that successful writers may possess an Union of Texas, “Free People Park, Junie B. Jones Is (Almost) a implicit understanding of linguistics. Read Freely: An Annual Report on Flower Girl, 7. Banned and Challenged Books in 10. Park, Junie B. Jones and a Little Finally, children’s literature is filled Texas, 2003–2004.” Accessed June Monkey Business (New York: with other examples of the linguistic 26, 2005, www.aclutx.org/pubed/ Random, 1993), 21, 63. phenomena discussed here. Dr. Seuss bannedbooks/bannedbooksreport. 11. Park, Junie B. Jones and Her Big and Lewis Carroll harness the power of pdf; “Wisconsin School District Fat Mouth, 33; Park, Junie B. Jones English rules when they add familiar Retains Junie B. Jones, Black Lagoon Is a Beauty Shop Guy (New York: grammatical endings to invented words Books,” American Libraries Online, Random, 1998), 45; Park, Junie (“Sneetches,” “galumphing,” “chortled”); Dec. 20, 1999. Accessed June 26, B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Peggy Parish’s Amelia Bedelia comi- 2005, www.ala.org/ala/alonline/ Spying, 36.

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 37 11/28/2005 4:12:05 PM “You Are Not the Boss of My Words” 12. Pinker, The Language Instinct: How 20. See Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Ellen (Dec. 1998), all from School Library the Mind Creates Language (New Riordan, and Regina Wade, “Make Journal, dates as shown. York: Morrow, 1994), 156, 271. Way for Dendrites,” Children and 27. Joel Lachter and Thomas G. 13. Pinker, Words and Rules, 48, 67–68. Libraries 2, no. 1 (Spring 2004); Bever, “The Relation between 14. Park, Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Lynn Akin and Donna MacKinney, Linguistic Structure and Associative Her Pocket, 15; Park, Junie B. Jones “Autism, Literacy, and Libraries,” Theories of Language Learning: and That Meanie Jim’s Birthday, 85. Children and Libraries 2, no. 2 A Constructive Critique of Some 15. Department of Linguistics, Ohio (Summer/Fall 2004); and MaryKay Connectionist Learning Models,” State University, Stephanie Jannedy, Dahlgreen, “Ready to Read in Cognition 28, nos. 1–2 (March 1988): Robert Poletto, and Tracey L. Oregon,” Children and Libraries 2, 195–247. Weldon, eds., Language Files: no. 3 (Winter 2004). 28. Park, Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Materials for an Introduction to 21. Pinker, Words and Rules, 130, 198– Gushy Valentime (New York: Language and Linguistics, 6th ed. 200. Random, 1999), 29. (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Univ. 22. Park, Junie B. Jones Is Captain Field 29. Pinker, Words and Rules, 200. Pr., 1994), 321. Day, 4; Park, Junie B. Jones Smells 30. Park, Junie B. Jones and Some 16. John Milton, Paradise Lost (London: Something Fishy, 7; Park, Junie B. Sneaky Peeky Spying, 19, 36; Park, Peter Parker, Robert Boulter & Jones Is a Graduation Girl, 16. Junie B. Jones Is a Party Animal Matthias Walker, 1667), bk. IV, lines 23. Park, Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook (New York: Random, 1997), 3, 57; 192–93. (New York: Random, 1997), 3, 25. Park, Junie B. Jones and the Mushy 17. Donna Jo Napoli, Language Matters: 24. Pinker, Words and Rules, 199. Gushy Valentime, 9. A Guide to Everyday Questions about 25. Park, Junie B. Jones Is a Graduation 31. Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches and Other Language (New York: Oxford Univ. Girl, 17. Stories (New York: Random, 1961); Pr., 2003), 180; Napoli, Linguistics 26. Median calculated based on Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1996), reviews of Junie B. Jones and the Glass and What Alice Found There 320. Stupid Smelly Bus (Nov. 1992), (London: Macmillan, 1872), ch. 18. Park, Junie B. Jones Smells Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky 1; Peggy Parish, Amelia Bedelia Something Fishy (New York: Peeky Spying (Oct. 1994), Junie B. (New York: Harper and Row, 1963); Random, 1998), 15; Park, Junie B. Jones Has a Monster under Her Bed Maurice Sendak, Outside Over There Jones Is a Graduation Girl (New (Nov. 1997), Junie B. Jones Is Not a (New York: HarperCollins, 1981); York: Random, 2001), 55. Crook (Nov. 1997), Junie B. Jones Beverly Cleary, Ramona the Pest 19. Park, Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Is a Party Animal (Jan. 1998), and (New York: Morrow, 1968), 173. Guy, 40. Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy

ARBUTHNOT HONOR LECTURE, continued from page 19

and can’t have done it otherwise than I doesn’t disappear but washes up again Today, I feel loved especially. did. I hope some young people and old in some new form on some new beach. people like it.” Signed: Fox. So, yes, let’s skip! Thank you, all.

Lest we forget, thinking takes work. I’ve talked little about children and such You wanted the Antiques Show, right? The Writing takes thinking over an arc of a lot about just one child, who wasn’t aisle of two-legged mouth-breathers? time to arrive at some meaning in the much read to and couldn’t much read. I end, and, as I’ve found myself telling used to wonder how people could go to Good. This is the place. & writers for years, “It’s not easy saying work and not have something to bring what you mean; harder still is meaning home with them at the end of the day. Permission to reproduce the fol- something.” The making of things—books, in my lowing poems has been granted by: case—seems to me to be everything. HarperCollins for “Story Time” by Will- Hardest of all . . . meaning something For the made thing needs naming, and iam Stafford from his Passwords (1991). without a nap. I’ve talked right through naming is the beginning of writing, and mine—and so much about the art and so writing is the beginning of books, which George Ella Lyon for “My Friend, the little about the practicalities—the years so surprisingly offered me a career, an Starfinder.” of trying to get it right, of skipping stones audience, and a home. May others be from whatever address across the sea of so lucky. You’ll see that editorial work Saturday Review for “Advice to Travelers” chance in hope; in hope of seeing the and myself are finally one and the same. by Walker Gibson from his New Poems by stone hop-hop, hop, hop. I read recently Mutuality indeed. American Poets (1956). Carol Alberts, left, and her daughter Linnea Christensen attended their first ALA that the longest recorded sequence is Annual Conference together. forty. Imagine that stone as a book, Paul Tillich said it: “The first duty of love Jo Carson for “Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody and know that even as it sinks finally it is to listen.” Yet” (1989).

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 38 11/28/2005 4:12:06 PM he American Library Association was contagious,” she said. “That was the (ALA) Annual Conference in June main impetus,” Alberts said, “seeing her T2005 in Chicago was more than so excited about this kind of service.” just busy and hot—it was a special fam- ily memory for a Minnesota mother and While most librarians do at least some daughter. This year, both the librarians, planning for the conference, Alberts took one beginning her career and one close a no-nonsense approach. “I’m sure glad I to retirement, attended their first ALA trained for the ALA Annual Conference,” Annual Conference. she said. “For several months, I worked out on my home treadmill for a half- It’s Never Carol Alberts, 67, has spent more than hour every morning before getting ready forty years in the library world; she’s a for work. technical services specialist at Great River Too Late! Regional Library (GRRL) in St. Cloud. “I also trained for the mental gymnastics Her daughter, Linnea Christensen, 38, is by spending hours online ahead of time Mother/Daughter a youth services librarian for Hennepin planning a schedule.” County Library in Minneapolis. They Librarians Make First travel together often, but sharing their At Annual, Alberts focused on techni- profession made this trip more notable. cal services sessions, even though she Trip to ALA Annual admitted some were “way over my “I love to travel with my mom,” said head.” She was thrilled to meet others Conference Christensen, who spent fifteen years in in her discipline. “Even these mundane the publishing industry before getting things we do . . . every once in a while it Sharon Korbeck Verbeten her MLIS in 2002. “And even though we helps to have a reminder of what we’re have very different personalities, we’re about,” she said. very compawtible traveling companions. She’s relatively quiet and analytical, and Christensen had many receptions and I’m very talkative and emotional.” events to attend due to her position on the Caldecott committee. “I have to say Christensen and Alberts have at- these were highlights of my conference tended state library association confer- experience,” she said. “For one, it was ences together, but this year, Christensen exciting to hear the authors themselves was required to attend the nation- either talk about or read from their current al conference as a books, but even more exciting was having member of the 2006 real conversations with them. I treasure Caldecott Committee. a down-to-earth conversation with them more than I would an autograph.” Alberts’ first library job was at the Yale The duo did attend a few sessions University Divinity together, including the speech by author School Library in New David Sedaris. “We were just rolling. It Haven, Connecticut was so funny,” Christensen said. Alberts in 1960, where she called his speech “laugh therapy for cataloged items like weary conference-goers.” Cotton Mather’s ser- mons. Having worked But they agreed that the highlight of in technical services Annual was attending the Newbery/ her whole career, Caldecott/Wilder banquet. “It’s so differ- Alberts said she didn’t ent to be there in person,” Christensen think attending ALA said. “You felt so good that you were would be relevant there. I had not expected the speeches for her. “It’s more the to be so moving.” public service people that tend to go to these Growing up with a mom as a librar- things,” she said. ian—and having worked as a library Carol Alberts, left, and her daughter shelver as a child—Christensen seems Linnea Christensen attended their first ALA But Christensen’s excitement won her happy with her second career choice. Annual Conference together. mother over. “Part of my enthusiasm “My mother even discouraged me a

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 39 11/28/2005 4:12:06 PM fair amount when I said I wanted to “It’s been kind of cool, this shared thing,” On a serious note, Alberts added, “it become a librarian,” Christensen said. Christensen said. “I really admire her so was the energy of the huge number of “She thought I might be frustrated by much. It was definitely extra special to people that share the mission we have. the bureaucracy. But it turned out to be go with her.” Our whole reason for being is we’re the best decision I ever made.” raising people.” & How did Alberts feel? “I should have done Despite the heat and frenzied schedule, more weight training. I just barely finished both Alberts and Christensen enjoyed the last-minute fifty-yard dash in time to their trip, especially being able to do catch the airport shuttle. My luggage was it together. twice as heavy as when I arrived.”

A Dahl House Roald Dahl Museum Opens in England

hocolate-scented doors and quirky ephemera are part of the fun at the new Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Cwhich opened last June in Buckinghamshire, England. From the shadowy figure of the Big Friendly Giant already vis- ible on the High Street wall outside, to the crocodile cunningly disguised as a bench, the whole building takes Dahl’s much- loved characters and stories as its theme.

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre is home to Dahl’s archive of manuscripts, letters, and photographs, relaying the story of his life and work. It’s one of the most complete literary archives in the world, with drafts of every major work, proofs, The late, great Roald Dahl. Photo courtesy of Roald Dahl Museum; correspondence with agents and editors, and even the idea books used with permission. where many of his stories began. Dahl was determined that all his papers should stay together, preferably in the United Kingdom. A series of writers and illustrators in residence will work with The Story Centre gallery houses a replica of Dahl’s famous writ- visiting groups to develop creative writing ideas and abilities ing hut, including the author’s table complete with lift-up flaps and will offer master classes to all age groups. Katy Sullivan, the revealing some of his prized possessions. The hut will stand in an museum’s education manager, will work with teachers to tailor orchard of giant representations of Quentin Blake’s illustrations, school sessions and prepare family events. where interactive games and bookcases can be discovered among the trees. The gallery also features displays focusing on such For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit other leading contemporary authors as Benjamin Zephaniah, www.roalddahlmuseum.org. The museum will be open for Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, and Jacqueline Wilson. school and private visits six days a week (Tuesday–Sunday). It will be an invaluable educational resource for schools but also a The first of a series of changing displays in the dedicated tempo- great family day out and, with a shop and refreshments on site, rary exhibition space includes a series of photographs taken by a very pleasant way to wile away some time in the wonderful Dahl but only recently redeveloped by his grandson, Luke Kelly. world of Roald Dahl. &

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 40 11/28/2005 4:12:09 PM am nothing if not organized. I’m a seasoned attendee of both ALA’s Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference, so I know much about the hustle and bustle. In Ia lighthearted, David Letterman kind of way, I present several Top Ten lists for get- ting Midwinter and Annual newcomers through it all.

These hints, gleaned from my many years of conference attendance, have allowed me to become more relaxed, less stressed, and to have more fun as I pile up conference experiences. I hope they entice you to attend at Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting and make your attendance easier and more fun. Please feel free to share your tips by sending them to CAL Editor Sharon Korbeck Verbeten at [email protected]. We’ll publish some responses in upcoming issues. &

Conference Top Ten Take-Alongs

101 Several weeks before you leave, designate a laundry basket for collecting what you need. Then drop in things as you think of them—or notes to yourself if you Letterman-inspired can’t pack it right away. You are less likely to leave behind something crucial.

Lists to Get You 1. Water. Carry it with you. Filtered water (Brita bottles) work especially well because you can’t always find a drinking fountain or a vendor to sell you water through ALA at inflated prices.

Conventions 2. Comfortable shoes. You will do lots of walking.

Jeri Kladder 3. A sturdy, wheeled book bag. The wheels are important because you’ll collect lots of stuff, and paper is heavy!

4. Energy assists. Stock up on protein bars or peanuts. Bonus tip: The best exhibit viewing is when everybody else is at lunch.

5. Business cards and address labels. Who wants to carry catalogs when vendors will mail? Who wants to write name and address on a mailing list over and over and over and over?

6. Highlighter, marking pens, sticky notes to mark your convention booklet. Write a mini schedule to stick to the back of your badge for quick checks of what comes next.

7. A nice-sized poster tube and padded mailers with pre-addressed labels and mailing tape. Then you can mail back literature to your library. The conven- Jeri Kladder, children’s tion center post office is usually open the same hours as the exhibits. librarian at Columbus Metropolitan Library 8. Plastic sleeves and folders to keep important schedules from getting lost. I in Ohio, is chair of the use one for invitations so I know who invited me and who will be the honored CAL Editorial Advisory authors and illustrators. That makes writing thank-you cards easier when you Committee. She has return. been an ALSC member for more than twenty-five years. Her 9. A camera and film. I admire those who can document that they really did lifelong hobby is packing for trips. meet the Newbery or Caldecott winners or some other legend of children’s She’s an experienced amateur, mostly literature, librarianship, or children’s publishing. And you’ll want a picture of because she hasn’t found anybody to yourself in your fabulous Newbery/Caldecott banquet outfit. pay her for her organizational/color- coding/labeling talents. 10. Your preplanned schedule from the ALA Web site, www.ala.org. When choos- ing what to attend, consider geography and travel time. If you’re interested in four conflicting programs, maybe you and your coworkers can negotiate the schedule and rendezvous to compare notes later.

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or information to carry back to their groups. Special interest? Top Ten Attractions Try the All Discussion Group Meeting on Sunday afternoons. Check the ALSC Web site, www.ala.org/alsc, for a complete list 1. The Booklist Forum. This is held Friday evening during of ALSC Committees and Discussion Groups. Annual Conference. Booklist invites a panel of authors to discuss writing for youth. The listing is sometimes hard to 4. The Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder banquet during Annual find because it is an ALA program, not an ALSC program. It’s Conference. If you can’t afford to buy the pricey ticket, well worth seeking out. show up around 9 P.M. and sit on the periphery of the banquet room—you’ll be able to hear the winners’ accep- 2. The Scholarship Bash, held Saturday evening at Annual tance speeches. Conference. Imagine thousands of librarians getting together and having fun while adding to the scholarship 5. The Charlemae Rollins President’s Program. This always coffers that enable the education of our replacements. features an intellectually stimulating presentation of some facet of children’s library service or advocacy. This pro- 3. ALSC holds its All Committee Meeting during Midwinter gram takes place on Monday morning, right after the ALSC Meeting and Annual Conference on Sunday morning. Awards and membership meeting. Members are welcome to attend and cruise the committee tables to get a good overview of the hard work done by the 6. Polish your book discussion skills at the Monday after- committees. If you find one you are particularly drawn to, noon book discussion. For this one, you need to have grab a seat and introduce yourself. You may find yourself done your homework—read and be prepared to discuss a selected to join a committee (provided you also fill out the selection of five children’s books. If you have never partici- ALSC Committee Volunteer form). ALSC Division Leadership pated in professional book discussion, here is where you meets Saturday morning of both Midwinter Meeting and learn. If you are an old hand at book discussion, you can Annual Conference. Here committee chairs and ALSC officers enjoy a rousing oral debate while honing your skills and introduce themselves to each other and are given assignments helping newcomers as well.

Top Ten Money-Saving Tips I spent less than $10 on food and drink over a period of five days. I always count on losing five to ten pounds during 1. A suite for four to six people may be less expensive than conventions anyway because you keep such a hectic pace. several two-person rooms—and you just might get two bathrooms and more closet space. 7. Take the shuttle bus from the airport instead of a taxi. Shuttles are less expensive and have the added advantage 2. Bring a water bottle to save money on the pricier bottles of showing you the location of other conference hotels as available for purchase. they let off passengers. Round-trip tickets save you even more, as does the discount ALA is often able to obtain. 3. Bring protein bars for breakfast and lunch. Since I’m veg- etarian, I bring instant breakfast or powdered fruit drinks 8. Use the shuttle bus system to get from conference hotels to mix with my protein powder for that morning boost. to the convention center. If the program and meeting schedules are posted before you make your hotel selec- 4. Some hotels offer complimentary breakfast, and some tion, you can save travel time and money by choosing a have a surprisingly inexpensive room service breakfast. hotel convenient to your specific agenda. These hearty choices allow you to run through the normal lunch hour at the exhibits. Then your early dinner will be 9. Share taxis with others going in your direction. After less expensive than a dinner-hour meal. a program or meeting in one hotel, getting to the next event on time might be impossible if you have to take the 5. Register early. The super early bird registration saves shuttle bus back to the convention center and then back money. If your library can’t foot the bill, it won’t hurt as out on a different bus route. If there is a cluster of people much to pay your own way. from your finished meeting, ask if anybody is going to your next event. You’ll make friends, save time, and pay only a portion of the taxi fare yourself. 6. Accept lunch, dinner, and reception invitations. Not only will you meet some wonderful book people and have some 10. Take advantage of a convenient all-purpose store to stock great conversations with authors, illustrators, and editors, up on drinks and snacks. It will be less expensive than receptions often include hors d’oeruves. In Toronto in 2003, restaurant food.

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7. The Coretta Scott King Breakfast. Held on the Tuesday morn- 9. Attend at least one event or program that is not about ing of Annual Conference, this breakfast is well worth get- children’s librarianship. It is amazing but true. Everything ting up early and putting on your fancy duds to honor the you encounter in life or at a convention is potentially useful author, illustrator, and new talent award winners. Acceptance as you serve on the information desk of a children’s depart- speeches are heartfelt and include the honor winners as well. ment. Seeing and hearing issues outside your own service area helps you understand the larger library picture and 8. Exhibits. Don’t miss a wonderful opportunity to see the children’s services’ place in it. YALSA and AASL programs new books in galley or hot off the presses, get your name on are especially fun, interesting, and related to what we ALSC catalog mailing lists, seek out vendors to provide next year’s librarians do. summer reading club prizes, and talk to sales representa- tives. Over the years I’ve lobbied (and gotten) better picture 10. Take the shuttle bus from hotel to the convention center; book bindings, more large-print fiction for children, better stand in line (almost anywhere); talk to people around selections of Somali and other foreign language materi- you. When more than 25,000 ALA-connected people hit a als, and much more. Publishers really want to hear how to city, no matter how large, almost everybody you encoun- make their products better or fill a need you have. Make out ter is connected to libraries in some way. Talk, compare address labels with the booth number of those exhibitors notes, share ideas, bemoan your common problems. You you want to be sure to visit. When you have run out of labels, just may come away with a new friend and a new idea to you know you have seen everybody on your list. take back to your library.

Top Ten Ways to Fit In If You’re Alone

1. With 25,000 or so people connected with Annual 6. Plan your route to meetings and receptions before you Conference (and about half that at Midwinter Meeting), go out onto the street. You will feel more in control and even a large city like New York feels our impact. Though less vulnerable to unwanted attention than if you are we are advised not to wear our badges around town, pondering a map on a street corner. you and I both know that librarians aren’t hard to spot. There’s comfort in knowing how very surrounded you are 7. Plan at least one sight-seeing trip to a nearby museum, by helpful folk—in the elevators, on the street corners, in library, or shopping area so you can feel like you have hotel lobbies, even restaurants—a more bookish crowd I actually been somewhere. Hook up with a friend or ask can’t imagine. an acquaintance to go with you.

2. Get a sturdy fold-out map of the city and mark your home 8. Do your research. Timing is important. I once walked hotel, the convention center, and other hotels where meet- almost an hour in Atlanta’s summer heat to find that ings are held. Learn the lay of the land before you go. Atlanta’s art museum (and fabulous Jacob Lawrence exhibit) was closed on Mondays. Since the museum was 3. Keep some small bills in your pocket for taxis and small closed and thus no taxis, the walk back felt especially purchases so you aren’t taking out your wallet all the time. long and hot! Keep money in two different places so if you lose one (I did lose my waistpack a few years ago), you won’t be strapped. 9. Arrange your arrival early enough to pick up your regis- tration materials on Friday afternoon, at the convention 4. A waistpack or neck pouch keeps your money, credit center or remotely at the designated convention hotel, so cards, and identification close to your body. Wearing a you can plan your convention days at leisure. poncho also keeps your valuables undercover—except for summer in Orlando, when you’ll want to be as close 10. Strike up conversations with other attendees at the to naked as possible. convention center, programs, meetings, while standing in line for the shuttle bus, in the elevator. Share tables 5. ALA, in the guise of Local Arrangements Committee peo- at restaurants and exhibit snack areas. Librarians are ple, provides excellent guidance at meeting and program an amazingly diverse and interesting lot. And, the more sites. Look for their smiles and signs. They are librarians you connect, the more comfortable you will feel about and they are there to help. Make them feel useful by asking traveling alone (well, I think I’ve proved that you aren’t for help—and thank them for their hard work. really alone).

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 43

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 43 11/28/2005 4:12:10 PM Conference 101 5. Carry only what you need—clean out your purse or wallet. Top Ten Hints to Keep from Wearing Your Body to a Frazzle If you don’t carry it, you can’t lose it. It took me over a year to replace everything in my lost waistpack. 1. As you collect materials at programs or the exhibits, mail them back home. ALA provides postal service Saturday 6. Plan your outfit and shoes for each day before you leave, through Monday. As you travel the exhibits, stash posters and take only what you need. Having a workable color directly in your poster tube. Carry a self-addressed box or scheme will help you keep items to a minimum. Work padded bag to slide other “stuff” into. If the lines are long, clothes are fine for most events. Add a blazer, a scarf, a bit send your mail the next morning. Use the less expensive of jewelry, and you look fancy enough for receptions and Library Rate to mail items back to your library. more formal dinners. Warm weather conference cities are usually very casual. 2. Ask to be put on mailing lists instead of picking up catalogs. 7. If you have to write a convention report for your library, 3. Stick your mini-schedule to the back of your badge. You will take a few minutes at the end of each program or meet- have a handy-dandy list when somebody asks if you are free ing to collect your thoughts and summarize your notes. for lunch or where you will be tomorrow afternoon. Keep the program descriptions for presenter names and exact titles.

Everything you encounter in life or 8. If you want to attend two conflicting programs, choose the one with the least travel inconvenience to save energy at a convention is potentially useful and time.

as you serve on the information desk 9. When you meet people and exchange business cards, take a moment to jot how you met or what you discussed on of a children’s department. the back.

10. Have fun! Find a way to take the fun back to work—collect 4. To keep track of expenses, make a sticky note for each posters, promotional pencils, and other items at the exhib- day and quickly jot down when you spend money. At the its and make a grab bag for coworkers who stayed home. end of the day, paper clip your receipts to the note and They’ll appreciate it and will feel it was worthwhile to cover put them someplace safe for filling out your reimburse- for you while you gallivant across the country during the ment request. busiest time of year for a children’s department.

Top Ten Follow-Throughs

1. Send thank-you notes to the sponsors of invitation-only 7. Follow up on activities and ideas you have heard about at events. conference. Write or e-mail some of the people you met and with whom you exchanged business cards. 2. Submit your expenses and reimbursement requests as quickly as possible. Be aware that there may be a deadline. 8. Make plans to attend again. Request conference time at work. Preregister for next conference; make hotel 3. Distribute giveaways to coworkers who manned the reservations. fort while you were at Annual Conference or Midwinter Meeting. 9. Share and incorporate new ideas and programs you heard about at Annual Conference or Midwinter Meeting. 4. Write your report and make it exciting to lure others. Consider writing a best-practices article for Children and Libraries about how you adapted somebody else’s 5. Fill out and submit an ALSC Committee Volunteer Form— program. don’t ask for an awards committee right away; everyone wants that assignment. Prove yourself by working hard on 10. Broaden coworkers’ perceptions of the larger library other committees first. world by sharing how other libraries do what they do. Tell your coworkers about practices, events, and pro- 6. Enthuse about your experience to your coworkers; get grams at your libraries that other attendees want them to consider joining you next time. to emulate.

44 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 44 11/28/2005 4:12:10 PM REsearch And Development

Chocolate and Children: What Do We Know? What Can We Do? ALSC Research and Development Committee

This column will appear regularly in ronment, or is it likely to make chil- there is, of course, no completely black- Children and Libraries. We hope it will dren hyper after a completed storytime? and-white conclusion to draw about its contribute to evidence-based library pro- Will young teens’ acne increase after effects, but overall the pluses of choco- fessional practice. The next column will sampling a chocolate treat? What does late seem substantial; in moderation, the focus on the effects of films on children’s research tell us about the effect of choco- risks small. books and reading. late on youth? Cautions What Do We Know? We did not read all the chocolate We know chocolate appeals to many studies that exist. There were more children. In summer 2005 a new film than one thousand in Medlines in of Roald Dahl’s classic book, Charlie the past five years alone. So other and the Chocolate Factory, appeared studies may contradict some of in theaters to rave reviews and top these findings. Another caveat is box office receipts.1 And we know that that most research studies have been chocolate is a comfort food for many conducted with adults rather than children (and adults), fictional and children, so what we actually know real. After Harry Potter first encoun- about chocolate and the younger set ters a dementor, a creature that steals is limited. Furthermore, some of the happiness from people, Professor research is sponsored by the choco- Lupin gives Harry chocolate. Harry late industry, although not indus- takes a bite and feels “warmth spread try controlled. And finally, chocolate suddenly to the tips of his fingers and contains approximately three hun- toes.”2 In a recent poll, girls ages four to Chocolate has a long history, one that dred eighty known chemicals, so most sixteen listed chocolate as their favorite originated three thousand years ago in research focuses on isolated aspects food, and it was second for boys of the the Americas with the Olmec, Maya, and of chocolate rather than just studying same age.3 Aztecs, who used the cacao beans at chocolate.6 With those limitations in various times for nourishment, medi- mind, here are some of the interesting Librarians sometimes give young patrons cine, and money. Carried to Europe by research findings we uncovered. chocolate as prizes in reading programs. Christopher Columbus and others in But we wondered if that was really a the sixteenth century, chocolate, by the good idea. Is chocolate likely to enhance twentieth century, had more than one Findings comfort and enjoyment in a library envi- hundred documented medicinal uses in addition to being sought after as a bever- ■ Dark chocolate has more health ben- age and a confection.4 efits than milk chocolate, but both

The ALSC Research and Development contain substances that contribute to 7 Committee includes chair Eliza Dresang, Delving into the past five years of good health. White chocolate (cocoa Ruth Cox Clark, Gaye Hinchliff, Bowie Medlines and searching the Web for butter) does not contain the same 8 Kotrla, Barbara Silverman, Rita Smith, other recent scientific reports left com- healthy substances. and Daylan Stephens, assisted by mittee members with a healthy respect 5 ■ Danita Eastman. for this tasty treat. Although choco- Dark chocolate prevents unhealthy late itself can be white, milk, or dark, blood clots in young adults.9

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 45

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 45 11/28/2005 4:12:11 PM Chocolate and Children ■ In less-than-excessive amounts, su- chocolate—and its rich and varied uses Accessed Oct. 15, 2005, www. gar, chocolate, and chocolate candy for thousands of years—helping young immunesupport.com/library/ do not have a negative effect on chil- people know what is truth and what is showarticle.cfm/ID/3464. dren's behavior. This holds true for myth about this alluring, complex food 8. Reuters, “Dark Chocolate Smooths children with attention-deficit hyper- might make an interesting display or Blood Flow,” The Lab’s News in activity disorder as well as for chil- program. One place to start is a study Science, August 30, 2004. Accessed dren without ADHD.10 of chocolate by the Exploratorium, Oct. 15, 2005, www.abc.net.au/ an online museum of science, art and science/news/stories/s1187820. ■ The “feel good” or relaxing aspect of human perception.18 & htm. chocolate comes partly from anan- 9. D. A. Krummel et al., “Hyperactivity: damide, a substance that naturally Is Candy Causal?” Critical Review occurs in the brain as well as in References and notes of Food Science and Nutrition 36, chocolate.11 nos. 1–2 (Jan. 1996): 31–47 (Located 1. Roald Dahl, Charlie and the online using PubMed). ■ Other chemicals in chocolate produce Chocolate Factory (New York: Knopf, 10. The Exploratorium, “The Sweet or release chemicals in the body that 1964). Lure of Chocolate,” Exploratorium lessen anxiety, such as serotonin.12 2. J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Magazine Online, 8. Accessed Oct. Prisoner of Azkaban (New York: 15, 2005, www.exploratorium.edu/ ■ Chocolate contains the stimulant Scholastic, 1999), 86. exploring/exploring_chocolate/choc_ caffeine, which can increase alert- 3. Cancer Research UK, “Boys 8.html. ness but also has some detrimental Worse than Girls at Eating Up 11. Kuwana, “Discovering the Sweet effects if overused. The amount of Their Greens,” June 6, 2005. Mysteries of Chocolate”; Krummel, caffeine in a 1.5 ounce chocolate bar Accessed Oct. 15, 2005, http:// et al., “Hyperactivity.” is about one-eighth that of a cola science.cancerresearchuk. 12. Schmidt, “Chocolate’s Potential drink and one-twelfth that of a cup org/news/archivednews/ Health Benefits.” of coffee.13 boysgreens?version=1. 13. M. L. Gavin, “Caffeine and Your 4. Teresa L. Dillinger et al., “Food of Child,” Kids Health for Parents, Jan. ■ Chocolate may relieve dry coughs.14 the Gods: Cure for Humanity? A 2005. Acessed Oct. 15, 2005, http:// Cultural History of the Medicinal kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_ ■ Antioxidants in chocolate are more and Ritual Use of Chocolate,” fit/nutrition/caffeine.html. powerful than those in prunes and Journal of Nutrition 130, no. 8 14. Reuters, “Chocolate May Cure blueberries, and similar to those in (Aug. 2000): 2057–72. (Located via Coughs,” The Lab’s News in Science, many other fruits and vegetables, tea, PubMed.) Nov. 24, 2004. Accessed Oct. 15, and red wine.15 5. Medlines is the National Library of 2005, www.abc.net.au/science/ Medicine’s (NLM) database. NLB news/health/HealthRepublish_ ■ Chocolate has been shown to trigger provides public access to Medlines 1249456.htm. migraine headaches in some adoles- through PubMed, which provides 15. J. Gordon Millichap and Michelle cents.16 more than fifteen million links to M. Yee, “The Diet Factor in scientific articles. Author, topic, or Pediatric and Adolescent Migraine,” ■ Chocolate neither causes nor aggra- journal can be used to search for Pediatric Neurology 23, no. 1 (Jan. vates acne.17 articles. Accessed Oct. 15, 2005, 2003): 9–15. Located online using www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/ PubMed. query.fcgi?DB=pubmed. 16. Reuters, “Chocolate May Cure What Can We Do? 6. Ellen Kuwana, “Discovering the Coughs.” Sweet Mysteries of Chocolate,” 17. The Exploratorium, “The Sweet Based on the research, librarians can Neuroscience for Kids. Accessed Oct. Science of Chocolate,” Feb. 14, relax a bit about chocolate. Obviously 15, 2005, http://faculty.washington. 1999. Accessed Oct. 15, 2005, it is not our job to promote a food edu/chudler/neurok.html. www.Exploratorium.edu/ product, but the occasional chocolate 7. Patti Schmidt, “Chocolate’s chocolate. treat will not harm most young patrons. Potential Health Benefits,” Immune. 18. Ibid. Because of the interesting history of Support.com (Mar. 29, 2002).

46 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 46 11/28/2005 4:12:11 PM A Hot Time in the City of Big Shoulders ALA Annual Conference, Chicago

Allison Angell, left, of Benicia, California, and Carol Durusau, Author/illustrator Ed Young is pleased to wave to passersby. He was Covington, Georgia, manned the ALSC booth at McCormick signing his new book, Beyond the Great Mountains, at the Chronicle Place, with the help of some smiley friends. Books booth.

Ann Grifalconi, right, displays artwork from Patrol by Walter Dean Myers, which she used collage art to illustrate. Editor Phoebe Yeh of HarperCollins looks on. ALSC’s Notable Children’s Books Committee hard at work!

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 47

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 47 11/28/2005 4:12:13 PM Photo Gallery

June 23-29, 2005 Annual Conference

Then-ALSC President Gretchen Wronka waits to have a book signed by author/illustrator Laurie Keller at the ALSC Preconference.

Caldecott Medal winner Kevin Henkes greeted then-ALSC Vice ALSC Board Member Judy O’Malley of Charlesbridge Publishing President Ellen Fader after the banquet. beams with Caldecott honor winner E. B. Lewis.

48 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 48 11/28/2005 4:12:14 PM Photo Gallery

Newbery Medal winner Cynthia Kadohata, center, proudly shows her shiny new medal to fans at the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder banquet.

Ashley Bryan signs his new book, What a Wonderful World, at the Simon and Schuster booth. Bryan is a nominee for the International Board on Books for Young People’s (IBBY) Hans Christian Andersen award.

Patricia Polacco addressed ALSC Left to right, Joyce Karon of the Illinois Board of Education, ALSC member Walter Preconference attendees. Minkel, and ALSC Interim Executive Director Aimee Strittmatter take out time from the Preconference for a photo.

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 49

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 49 11/28/2005 4:12:16 PM Book Reviews

Bradbury, Judy. Children’s Book Corner: A Read-Aloud Resource with Tips, Techniques, and Plans for Teachers, Librarians, and Parents, Grades 1 and 2. MacDonald, Margaret Read. Twenty Tellable Tales: Audience Participation Folktales for the Beginning Storyteller. Reid, Rob. Cool Story Programs for the School-Age Crowd. Stanley, Nile. Creating Readers with Poetry. Totten, Kathryn. Storytime Crafts: Crazy Days. Whitin, David J. and Phyllis. New Visions for Linking Literature and Mathematics.

suggesting ways to make the most of biography, and values/character educa- Books for Librarians and Teachers, the experience. Nearly half of the book tion. Because the emphasis is on reading Parents and Homeschoolers is devoted to “Read-Aloud Plans,” which the text aloud, there is little focus on the consist of double-spread pages featur- visual aspect of picture books. By Kathryn Miller, Junko Yokota, and ing one book. In addition to the biblio- graphic information, the book provides The Beginning Readers chapter gives Jude Mathews readers with the estimated time to read a fairly comprehensive listing of many the book aloud and a listing of key series books with approximate grade In this issue, we examine new books of subject areas. An introduction to the level. “Parent Pull-Out Pages” provide interest to adults who educate children. book reads like an enthusiastic book brief summaries of earlier sections of the Some are more appropriate for librarians talk, providing reasons why the book is book. Another section lists annotated and teachers who work with groups of recommended. titles, grouped by subject headings. children; others may be equally appro- priate for parents and homeschool The next section is divided into three The book has the tone of a seasoned teachers who work with one or a few sections: prereading focus, “while read- educator sharing beneficial ideas, and children at a time. ing,” and follow-up discussion. Each the conversational manner suits it well. section has many questions and a few For the beginning educator, this book Bradbury, Judy. Children’s Book Corner: pointers on specifics to draw to chil- may feel like a mentor passing along A Read-Aloud Resource with Tips, dren’s attention. The ques- some tips acquired from experience. Techniques, and Plans for tions include those that (Junko Yokota) Teachers, Librarians, and elicit short responses to Parents, Grades 1 and 2. teacher-led questions so MacDonald, Margaret Read. Twenty Westport, Conn.: Libraries many children may be Tellable Tales: Audience Participation Unlimited, 2004. (ISBN: 1- able to quickly partici- Folktales for the Beginning Storyteller. 59158-047-1) pate; most do not lead to Illus. by Roxane Murphy. Chicago: lengthy discussions. There ALA, 2005. (ISBN: 0-8389-0893-4) This is the second book in is a space for notes at the the Children’s Book Corner end of each spread. A book This is a treasure trove of tales, tips, series, the focus of which is cover image is included and guidelines on beginning or teach- recommending books appro- for many of the titles. ing storytelling. This ALA reprint of the priate for reading aloud at master storyteller and folklorist’s book the intended grade levels and The second section of this includes geographically diverse book includes tips and tales for a storyteller to adore, Kathryn Miller, Junko Yokota, and techniques for teachers and explore, and make her own. In Jude Mathews are on the faculty of librarians, with chapters addition to actual storytelling National-Louis University in Chicago, on reading picture books content, the book also provides Illinois. Their professional interest is aloud to beginning readers, notes on storytelling, such as in seeking exemplary ways to offer tips on poetry, a listing of how to encourage audience library services to children in a school print and online resources, participation, appropriate hand setting, demonstrating how books and an overview of book motions, and musical notations. are the core materials for integrating awards. The picture book Extension notes introduce read- learning experiences. section is somewhat arbi- ers to the inspiration for and trarily divided into writing, variations on the story.

50 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 50 11/28/2005 4:12:18 PM Book Reviews After presenting MacDonald’s stories, the book concentrates on how readers can find and tell other stories, provid- Other Books to Consider ing resources to find tales, guidance on how to prepare text from a short story, For Beginning Librarians and Storytellers and performance techniques. Of par- ticular use to the new storyteller is the Frey, Yvonne Amar. One-Person Puppetry Streamlined and Simplified—With section on taking the story to the next 30 Folk-tale Scripts. Chicago: ALA, 2004. (ISBN 0-8389-0889-6) level. MacDonald ends her book with another treasure trove to any librarian, For Special Collections teacher, or general storyteller—her bib- liography of works consulted, basic sto- Walker, Barbara J. The Librarian’s Guide to Developing Christian Fiction rytelling books, media folktellings, and Collections for Children. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2005. (ISBN 1-55570- other resources. This is a fine addition 546-4) to the shelves of those new to story- telling, storytellers looking for new Updated Edition ideas, and teachers of storytelling. A highly recommended book for school Association for Library Service to Children. The Newbery and Caldecott library media specialists, public librari- Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books, 2005 Edition. Chicago: ans involved with storytelling, and any- ALA, 2005. (ISBN 0-8389-3552-4). New to this edition is an essay by Janice one looking to simply tell a good tale. M. Del Negro, “Literature for Youth: A Means to the Endless.” (Kathryn Miller)

Reid, Rob. Cool Story Programs for the School-Age Crowd. Chicago: ALA, librarians think outside of the program Stanley, Nile. Creating Readers with 2004. (ISBN 0-8389-0887-X) box. Themes with obvious child appeal Poetry. Gainesville, Fla.: Maupin range from the number three and creepy House, 2004. (ISBN: 0-929895-70-3) When designing storytime sessions, characters to “Alien Space School” and author Rob Reid writes, “What Stinks?” Kindergarten through sixth grade teach- “The key is to add strong ers who struggle with finding ways to fit material to a program, not Each chapter begins with a poetry into strict learning standards mediocre material just brief lesson plan, followed by and goals will appreciate this book. It because it fits a theme” (xi). carefully explained concentrates and expands Such a statement may seem activities and anno- upon the premise clearly obvious, but it’s all too easy tated entries from lit- laid out by the author, to fall into the habit of sac- erature, poems, and “Poetry helps children rificing quality to subject picture books. This learn to read” (xi). In nine matter. In his introduction, is followed by several chapters, Stanley makes the author demonstrates annotated lists of “mix a case for how poetry the flexible thought process and match” items: can effectively be used he uses to create themes easy-to-find readings to pique the interest of a that suit his needs and standards. With and musical selections that can class of beginning readers two apparently unrelated stories, Reid be exchanged for those already and increase their literacy pondered a possible connection until he in the lesson plan. A tweak- skills. Chapters cover how found it, not in the subject matter, but in ing section will be particularly poetry helps teach read- “the alliterative connection between the helpful to those needing guidance to ing, how to include poetry in today’s two titles” (xi). His program theme, there- help shift their programs downward reading classroom, poetry-based active fore, became interesting sounds, and he (for preschoolers) or upward (for fifth learning techniques and lessons, teach- “searched for other stories, poems, and and sixth graders) in age range. Finally, ing work-attack and phonics skills with activities that had examples of allitera- a list of additional titles to consider poetry, and poetry’s value in teaching tion and assonance” (xi). wraps up each chapter. vocabulary and comprehension.

Although Reid provides great sample Whether you are a relative novice to Poetry examples are used throughout programs that can be used in schools and programming or in need of inspira- the book, and recorded readings are public libraries with younger school-age tion and a fresh approach, you will find included on a compact disk. A list of children (there are eighteen such pro- this a helpful and very usable guide. recommended poets recommended grams here, constituting the body of the An author/title index includes all but for grades K–6 is also included. This book), the book’s organization suggests the additional titles from each chapter. book brings new ideas to teachers and following his strong encouragement that (Jude Mathews) encourages them to reconsider how

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 51

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 51 11/28/2005 4:12:19 PM Book Reviews they work with struggling readers, how suggestion includes an introductory a story. The mathematical strategy of oral reading is handled in the class- activity, a list of picture books, and rest problem-posing is explored in one room, and how children naturally activities (such as fingerplays and action chapter, with specific book titles while respond to the rhyme and playfulness rhymes). The crazy day themes are inter- the literary strategy of book pairings within poetry. This is a must-have for esting to the pre-K through first grade is shown in another chapter. The final reading teachers, as well as school and populations, and appropriate variations chapter recommends best books, com- public librarians. This book opens the may interest learners up to grade three. plete with annotations. readers’ eyes to the power of poetry. (Kathryn Miller) (Kathryn Miller) Numerous examples of children’s oral Whitin, David J. and Phyllis. New and written responses are included Totten, Kathryn. Storytime Crafts: Crazy Visions for Linking Literature and throughout the book, offering rich Days. Ft. Atkinson, Wisc.: Upstart, Mathematics. Urbana, Ill.: National examples of students learning. Links 2004. (ISBN: 1-932146-01-6) Council of Teachers of English, 2004. are made to the National Council of (ISBN 0-8141-3348-7) Teachers of Mathematics’ Principles With a calendar format, this series of and Standards for School twenty-four craft and Literature and Mathematics and the Nation- storytime activities high- mathematics are al Council of Teachers of lights fun and unexpected brought together English/International Read- days each month of in many books, ing Association’s Standards the year. This book will and the Whitins for the English Language encourage librarians to highlight the ways Arts. The Whitins’ particular look beyond traditional in which this link attention to cultural diver- holidays for storytime helps K–6 students sity can be noted in their themes. Colorado librarian learn mathemati- selection of book titles, rec- Kathryn Totten presents cal concepts. The ommended resources, and users with themes such as book opens with photographs. National Umbrella Month a section on the criteria for (March) and Organize selecting math-related books, This book offers rich content and valu- Your Home Days (January). Each theme clearly outlining the need for being able insights into teaching mathemat- included in the book exhibits value in selective. They emphasize math as the ics for all educators, from those who are literacy education, cultural awareness, core criterium, not the incidental inclu- just beginning to the very experienced. and vocabulary development. Each sion of mathematic concepts within (Junko Yokota)

Call for Referees

To make Children and Libraries a truly interactive publication, we’re looking for ALSC members to serve as volunteer referees for journal articles. Unsolicited articles and those of a scholarly nature must be submitted to at least two referees to judge the submissions on accuracy, style, impact, importance, and interest. Specialists in particular genres (such as technology, litera- ture, intellectual freedom, programming, and so on) are especially needed.

Referees make recommendations to the editor on whether or not manuscripts should be accepted for publication. Interested librarians should contact Children and Libraries Editor Sharon Korbeck Verbeten at [email protected] for more informa- tion on the referee process.

52 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 52 11/28/2005 4:12:21 PM ALSC News

2006 Slate of Candidates Vice-President/President-Elect

Molly Kinney, Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Info Tech Center, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Jane Marino, Bronxville (N.Y.) Public Library Division Councilor

Linda Perkins, Central Library, Berkeley (Calif.) Public Library Sue Sherif, Alaska State Library, Anchorage Board of Directors

Crystal Faris, Waldo Community Library, Kansas City, Mo. Jeanne McDermott, Farrar Straus ALSC Member Honored for Feature Story Giroux, Books for Young Readers, New York ALSC member Betsy Diamant-Cohen, right, won first prize for her article “Mother Judy Zuckerman, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Goose on the Loose: Applying Brain Research to Early Childhood Programs in the Library Public Library,” in a contest sponsored by Public Libraries. The article appeared in Thomas Barthelmess, Spokane County the January/February 2004 issue. Diamant-Cohen is a children’s programming spe- cialist at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. She was presented with a (Wash.) Library District cash award and plaque at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago in June 2005, by Penny Markey, County of Los Angeles Clara Bohrer, 2004–2005, president of the Public Library Association. Public Library, Downey, Calif. JoAnn Jonas, Chula Vista (Calif.) Public Library Newbery Chair, 2008 Wilder Chair, 2009 Financial Officer Nina Lindsay, Oakland (Calif.) Public Cathryn Mercier, College of Arts and Susan Poulter, Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library Sciences, Simmons College, Boston, Library Betty Carter, Consultant, Coppell, Texas Mass. Sue Zeigler, New York Public Library Maralita Freeny, Prince George’s Library, Sibert Chair, 2008 Hyattsville, Md. Caldecott Chair, 2008 Maria Salvadore, Consultant, Washing- Caldecott Committee, 2008 Eliza Dresang, College of Information, ton, D.C. Florida State University, Tallahassee Caroline Parr, Central Rappahannock Roger Sutton, The Horn Book, Karen Breen, Kirkus Reviews, New York Regional Library, Fredericksburg, Va. Charlestown, Mass.

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 53

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 53 11/28/2005 4:12:21 PM ALSC News Amy Sears, Teaneck (N.J.) Public Helen Wiley, Katherine Burke School, Caroline Kienzle, Irving (Texas) Library San Francisco, Calif. Independent School District Sue Rokos, Mohawk Valley Library Kathryn Whitacre, Northeast Regional Martha Edmundson, Denton (Texas) System, Schenectady, N.Y. Library, The Free Library of Public Library Debra McLeod, Johnson County Library, Philadelphia. Maureen White, University of Houston at Overland Park, Kans. Susannah Richards, Consultant, Storrs, Clear Lake Alison O’Reilly, Hauppauge (N.Y). Public Conn. Marie Bindeman, Nioga Library System, Library Amy Lilien Harper, Ferguson Library, Lockport, N.Y. Ken Setterington, Toronto Public Library, Stamford, Conn. Michael Santangelo, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Ontario, Canada Public Library Marilyn Ackerman, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Newbery Committee, 2008 Karin Snelson, Writer/Editor/Reviewer, Public Library Seattle Sue McCleaf Nespeca, Kid Lit Plus Carol Edwards, Philip S. Miller Library, Jan Sarratt, John E. Ewing Middle School, Consulting, Youngstown, Ohio Castle Rock, Colo. Gaffney, S.C. Elise DeGuiseppi, Pierce County Library Louise Lareau, New York Public Monica Edinger, The Dalton School, New System, Tacoma, Wash. Library York Victoria Smith, McArthur Public Library, Bonnie Kunzel, New Jersey State Library, Micki Nevett, Westmere Elementary Biddeford, Maine Trenton School, Albany, N.Y.

AASL/ALSC/YALSA Joint Legislation 2006 ALSC Midwinter Schedule Committee Sunday, January 22, 1:30–3:30 P.M.

Executive Committee All Discussion Group Meeting Thursday, January 19, 2–4:30 P.M. Sunday, January 22, 4–6 P.M.

AASL/ALSC/YALSA Jt. Exec. Committee Planning and Budget Committee Thursday, January 19, 4:30–6 P.M. Sunday, January 22, 4–6 p.m. Tuesday, January 24, 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Midwinter Workshop The Fun and Facts of Early Literacy: Communicating with Parents and Caregivers through AASL/ALSC/YALSA Joint Intellectual Freedom Storytime (Registration required.*) Committee Friday, January 20, 9 A.M.–5 P.M. Sunday, January 22, 4–6 P.M.

ALSC Past Presidents’ Breakfast AASL/ALSC/YALSA Joint Youth Council Caucus Saturday, January 21, 7:30–9 A.M. Monday, January 23, 8-10 A.M.

Priority Group Consultants Meeting ALA Youth Media Awards Press Conference Saturday, January 21, 8–9 A.M. Monday, January 23, 8-9:15 A.M.

Division Leadership 2006 Preconference Program Saturday, January 21, 9:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Planning Committee Monday, January 23, 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. 2006 National Institute Planning Committee Saturday, January 21, 1:30–3:30 P.M. AASL/ALSC/YALSA Membership Reception Monday, January 23, 6–7:30 P.M. ALSC Board of Directors Saturday, January 21, 2–5:30 P.M. Storytelling Discussion Group Monday, January 23, 2–5:30 P.M. Monday, January 23, 8–10 P.M. Tuesday, January 24, 2–5:30 P.M. * For a complete list of ALSC meetings, All Committee Meeting including children’s notables committees Sunday, January 22, 8–11:30 A.M. and “closed” award committee meetings, and workshop registration information, please Advocacy Campaign Task Force visit the ALSC Web site at www.ala.org/alsc Sunday, January 22, 8–11:30 A.M. and click on “Events & Conferences.” Tuesday, January 24, 8–10 A.M.

54 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 54 11/28/2005 4:12:22 PM ALSC News Nicole Sparling, West Babylon (N.Y.) Public Library Luann Toth, School Library Journal, New York Sibert Committee, 2008

Rosalind Chang, San Francisco Public Library Maeve Visser Knoth, San Mateo County (Calif.) Library Susan Pine, New York Public Library Darwin Henderson, College of Educa- tion, University of Cincinnati Melinda Greenblatt, Library Connec- tions, Archdiocese of New York Judy Freeman, Consultant, Highland Park, N.J. Viki Ash, San Antonio Public Library Lucinda Whitehurst, St. Christopher’s Lower School, Richmond, Va.

Wilder Committee, 2009 ALSC and Reforma thank Scholastic for its generous donation to the Pura Belpré Endowment. Pictured left to right: Greg Worrell, President, Scholastic Library Publishing; Alan Bern, Berkeley (Calif.) Public Linda Lee, Vice President and General Manager, Weston Woods; John Mason, Director of Library and Educational Marketing, Scholastic Trade Books; Malore I. Brown, former Library Executive Director, ALSC; Ana-Elba Pavon, Incoming President, Reforma; Gretchen Wronka, Carla Kozak, San Francisco Public 2004–2005 President, ALSC; and Teresa Mlawer, President, Lectorum Publications. Library Barbara Kiefer, Ohio State University, Columbus winner, Kevin Henkes. Preconference speakers include Dr. Barbara Elleman, South Hadley, Mass. Marilyn Manning, Certified Speaking For more information about the Professional, Certified Management Children’s Book Council, visit www. Consultant, who will provide an over- Auction Scores Big for Scholarships cbcbooks.org. view of leadership and assist partici- pants in using an assessment tool to The ALA Scholarship Fund will receive examine their personal leadership style. more than $60,000 from an auction spon- 2006 Preconference Focuses Manning will continue on day two with sored by the Children’s Book Council and on Leadership tips on how to maximize your leadership ALA Exhibits Round Table at ALA Annual strengths, overcome your weaknesses, Conference in Chicago last June. Mark your calendar and make plans to and blending your management style attend the ALSC Preconference, “Spinning with your colleagues, supervisors, and The major portion of the auction was Straw into Gold: Leadership Potential to employees to achieve success. the Letters of Imagination silent auc- Management Results” on June 22 and 23, tion, which grossed slightly more than 2006, in New Orleans. This preconference The nuts and bolts of leadership in $42,000 for the fund. The sale included is appropriate for the whole spectrum of the library and youth services fields approximately 150 illustrated letters of professionals from new or aspiring youth will be the topic for UCLA’s Virginia the alphabet created by children’s book service supervisors to experienced librar- Walter. Brooklyn Public Library’s execu- illustrators, including nine Caldecott- ians who will appreciate this chance to tive director, Ginnie Cooper, a noted winning artists. More than 630 bidders examine their organizational styles and risktaker and change agent, will be our participated. The top-selling piece was refresh their leadership skills. luncheon speaker. Ellen Riordan of the a letter “O” illustrated by 2005 Caldecott Enoch Pratt Free Library will reprise all

Index to Advertisers

Farrar, Straus, and Giroux ...... Cover 2 ALA E-Learning ...... 56 Kiddo Video ...... 17 Harper ...... Cover 3 ALSC ...... 27, 57, 63 Hyperion ...... Cover 4

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 55

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 55 11/28/2005 4:12:22 PM ALSC News six of the Pardon Me for Being a Manager Pennsylvania, received Internet Protection Act, PowerPoint presentations using clas- the Distinguished Ser- and the USA PATRIOT Act. sic children’s stories to illustrate man- vice Award from the She is widely regarded agement competencies. Editor, author, Pennsylvania Library as a knowledgeable and wife and parent, Andrea Davis Pinkney Association at its articulate spokeswoman will close the day with her discussion of Annual Conference in on responsible Internet “Having it all with Style.” Hershey. The award is use and developing poli- the highest honor the cies for children’s access. There will be time for discussion of association gives and Her work is referenced managerial skills and for questions to is awarded annually in legal publications, on our speakers. As participants leave this to one person in rec- Cynthia K. Richey numerous web sites, and preconference, they will have analyzed ognition of exceptional in ALA’s online publica- 2006 Continuing Education… their leadership styles, inventoried their meritorious service to libraries of the tion, Children and the Internet: Policies management skills, and recharged their Commonwealth. that Work. innovative and risk-taking natures. Just like Rumpelstiltskin, this two-day edu- The association cited Richey as “one of The Pennsylvania Library Association Preconference ––– June 22 22----22323233 ––– New Orleans, La. cational program will help you turn our state’s most creative, articulate, and further cited Richey for her passion Spinning Straw into Gold: Leadership Potential to Management Results your leadership promise into manage- dedicated library leaders (who has) con- for literacy that she shares so broadly rial gold. sistently demonstrated visionary lead- for the benefit of thousands of chil- Examine your leadership style and strengthen your management skills. ership and tireless energy, hallmarks of dren and adults alike, and for her out- Through plenary sessions and small group discussions, preconference participants will assess their For more information, contact the ALSC excellent library service.” As a children’s standing contributions to Pennsylvania Office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 2163, or by services advocate, Richey has written libraries. Richey received her B.A. and personal leadership style and learn management techniques to maximize strengths, overcome e-mail at [email protected]. articles and publications, and served M.L.S. from the University of Pittsburgh weaknesses, and interface with colleagues. Speakers include Dr. Marilyn Manning, CSP & CMC; on numerous state and national com- and has been a librarian for thirty- Dr. Virginia Walter, UCLA; Ginnie Cooper, Executive Director, Brooklyn Public Library; and mittees. In 2004 she served as national three years. Richey honored by Pennsylvania president of the Association for Library editor, author, wife and parent, Andrea Davis Pinkney. Just like Rumpelstiltskin, this education Library Association Service to Children. program will help participants turn leadership promise into managerial gold.

Richey frequently serves as a speaker at Cynthia K. Richey, director of Mount state and national conferences on early Lebanon Public Library in Pittsburgh, learning, filtering and the Children’s

National Institute ––– September 1414----11616166 ––– Pittsburgh, Pa. The biennial Institute is a great opportunity to recharge and network with other library professionals. The three-day event includes a preconference focusing on legal issues and children’s services; stimulating continuing education workshops; exciting keynote speakers; an informative program on ALSC’s Kids! @ your library® campaign; and much more.

Attendees at the 2004 ALSC National Institute had this to say: �� The Institute overall was the best continuing education event I ever attended. All aspects were truly excellent. �� As a young professional, this was my first National Institute and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you! �� A big thank you to the excellent planning team. I am going back to work with lots of new ideas that I can use right away. �� Overall, this was a wonderful experience. The preconference was amazing. And I gained practical information from workshops. �� Great job—best professional conference I’ve attended.

Registration information for these events will be available at: www.ala.org/alsc, click on “Events & Conferences.”

56 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 56 11/28/2005 4:12:26 PM 2006 Continuing Education…

Preconference ––– June 22 22----22323233 ––– New Orleans, La. Spinning Straw into Gold: Leadership Potential to Management Results Examine your leadership style and strengthen your management skills. Through plenary sessions and small group discussions, preconference participants will assess their personal leadership style and learn management techniques to maximize strengths, overcome weaknesses, and interface with colleagues. Speakers include Dr. Marilyn Manning, CSP & CMC; Dr. Virginia Walter, UCLA; Ginnie Cooper, Executive Director, Brooklyn Public Library; and editor, author, wife and parent, Andrea Davis Pinkney. Just like Rumpelstiltskin, this education program will help participants turn leadership promise into managerial gold.

National Institute ––– September 1414----11616166 ––– Pittsburgh, Pa. The biennial Institute is a great opportunity to recharge and network with other library professionals. The three-day event includes a preconference focusing on legal issues and children’s services; stimulating continuing education workshops; exciting keynote speakers; an informative program on ALSC’s Kids! @ your library® campaign; and much more.

Attendees at the 2004 ALSC National Institute had this to say: �� The Institute overall was the best continuing education event I ever attended. All aspects were truly excellent. �� As a young professional, this was my first National Institute and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you! �� A big thank you to the excellent planning team. I am going back to work with lots of new ideas that I can use right away. �� Overall, this was a wonderful experience. The preconference was amazing. And I gained practical information from workshops. �� Great job—best professional conference I’ve attended.

Registration information for these events will be available at: www.ala.org/alsc, click on “Events & Conferences.”

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 57 11/28/2005 4:12:27 PM What Olivia Knows: How a Pig Can BEST PRACTICES Children and Libraries Teach Librarians Advocacy, Su05:45–48 Preparing a Best Practices Piece Index Volume 3 ALSC News, Sp05:52–62, Su05:57–58, for Children and Libraries, Sp05:13, W05:53–56 Su05:56 Prepared by Janet Russell ALSC Research and Development BIBLIOGRAPHIES. see also BOOK Committee REVIEWS Sp05=No. 1 Spring 2005 Chocolate and Children: What Great Middle School Reads, Sp05:41– Su05=No. 2 Summer/Fall 2005 Do We Know? What Can We Do?, 42 W05:45–46 Storytelling 101: Resources for W05=No. 3 Winter 2005 ALSC/SAGEBRUSH EDUCATION Librarians, Storytellers, and Storytelling RESOURCES LITERATURE Librarians, Sp05:37–39 A PROGRAM AWARD BIBLIONEF ADVOCACY Sizemore wins Sagebrush Grant, What is Biblionef?, Sp05:11 What Olivia Knows: How a Pig Can Sp05:59, 62 BOOK REVIEWS, Sp05:50–51, Su05:54–56, Teach Librarians Advocacy, 45– Su05: ANDERSEN AWARD W05:50–52 48 USBBY Honors Icons: Konigsburg, Children’s Book Corner (Bradbury), AFRICA Bryan Nominated for Hans Christian W05:50 Commencing in Cape Town: The Andersen Award, W05:25–26 Collection Management for Youth 29th IBBY Congress in South Africa, ARBUTHNOT HONOR LECTURE (Hughes-Hassell), Su05:55 Sp05:4–6 Freedman to deliver 2006 Arbuthnot Cool Story Programs for the School- Creating a Reading Culture: One Honor Lecture, Sp05:58 Age Crowd (Reid), W05:51 Librarian’s Mission, W05:28–30 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Copyright for Teachers and Librarians Weaving Tales: Making Picture Books (Jackson), W05:4–19, 38 (Butler), Su05:54 in Minority Languages, Sp05:7–11 AUTHOR GUIDELINES Creating Readers with Poetry ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE, CHICAGO Get Your Name in Print: Submit an (Stanley), W05:51–52 2005. see also CONFERENCES Article to Children and Libraries, Creating the Customer-Driven Library It’s Never Too Late! Mother/Daughter Sp05:63, Su05:62, W05:62 (Woodward), Su05:56 Librarians Make First Trip to ALA Preparing a Best Practices Piece Fiore’s Summer Library Reading Annual Conference, W05:39–40 for Children and Libraries, Sp05:13, Program Handbook (Fiore), Su05:55 Photo gallery, W05:47–49 Su05:56 Indonesian Folktales (Bunata), Sp05:51 ALA Endowment Policies, Sp05:31 Snapshots Sought, Sp05:23, Su05:17 International Encyclopedia of ALA MIDWINTER MEETING, BOSTON AWARDS, See also names of specific Information and Library Science 2005 awards, e.g., Newbery Award Photo gallery, Sp05:48–49 (Feather and Sturges), Su05:54–55 2005 awards, Sp05:54–59, 62 Internet Workshops (Crane), Sp05:51 ALA SCHOLARSHIP FUND ALSC Member Honored for Feature Auction Scores Big for Scholarships, The Mysteries of Internet Research Story, W05:53 W05:55 (Cohen), Sp05:50–51 ALSC Seeks Award Applicants, ALBERTS, CAROL New Visions for Linking Literature and Su05:57–58 It’s Never Too Late! Mother/Daughter Mathematics (Whitin), W05:52 Book Award Patron Tells Her Librarians Make First Trip to ALA The Secret of the Silver Key (Perry), Compelling Story, Su05:18 Annual Conference, W05:39–40 Sp05:50 Money Magic: The Long and Short of ALSC Storytime Crafts (Totten), W05:52 ALSC Endowments, Sp05:30–31 Me? Get Involved? Volunteer? (letter), Stretchy Library Lessons: Library Skills National Storytelling Network honors W05:3 (Miller), Sp05:51 Anne Pellowski, Su05:48 ALSC BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND Stretchy Library Lessons: Research New Awards [Theodor Seuss Geisel; OFFICERS Skills (Miller), Sp05:51 Maureen Hayes], 52 Major Actions: Annual Conference Sp05: The Successful Library Trustee 2005, Su05:57 Handbook (Moore), Su05:55–56 Major Actions: Electronic Actions, B Teaching with Computers (Jay and Sp05:52, Su05:57 BALDWIN LIBRARY FOR HISTORICAL Jay), Sp05:50 Major Actions: Midwinter Conference, CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Twenty Tellable Tales (MacDonald), Sp05:52–53 The Evolution of Children’s Literature: W05:50–51 Roster, Su05:60 Getting Sidetracked—Delightfully—at Brown, Malore I. ALSC/BWI SUMMER READING the Baldwin Library, Sp05:43–47 [about] Brown Resigns, Su05:59 PROGRAM GRANT Barban, Leslie Commencing in Cape Town: The Jersey City PL receives Summer The Evolution of Children’s Literature: 29th IBBY Congress in South Africa, Reading Grant, Sp05:62 Getting Sidetracked--Delightfully--at Sp05:4–6 ALSC DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD the Baldwin Library, Sp05:43–47 Executive Director’s Note, Sp05:2, Miller Receives Distinguished Service BATCHELDER AWARD Su05:2 Award, Sp05:58–59 2005 Batchelder Award [Delacorte Money Magic: The Long and Short of ALSC ENDOWMENTS Press], Sp05:55 ALSC Endowments, Sp05:30–31 Money Magic: The Long and Short of BECHTEL FELLOWSHIP Bryan, Ashley ALSC Endowments, Sp05:30–31 The Evolution of Children’s Literature: USBBY Honors Icons: Konigsburg, ALSC Managing Children’s Services Getting Sidetracked--Delightfully--at Bryan Nominated for Hans Christian Committee the Baldwin Library, Sp05:43–47 Andersen Award, W05:25–26

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 58 11/28/2005 4:12:28 PM Index to Volume 3 C E Encouraging Understanding through CALDECOTT AWARD EDITORS Story, Sp05:12–13 Caldecott Medal Acceptance May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture (Henkes), Su05:9–11 (Jackson), W05:4–19, 38 I Kadohata, Henkes win Newbery, Edwards, Carol INFORMATION NEEDS Caldecott Medals, Sp05:54 Me? Get Involved? Volunteer? (letter), Information Needs: Learning More CARIBBEAN YOUTH LITERATURE W05:3 about What Kids Want, Need, and Finding a Place in the Sun: The EGOFF, SHEILA AGNES Expect from Research, Su05:20–28 Immigrant Experience in Caribbean Egoff Remembered, Su05:59 International Board on Books for Youth Literature, Sp05:14–20, 62 Young People (IBBY) CARNEGIE MEDAL F Commencing in Cape Town: The Gagne, Reilly win 2005 Carnegie Fader, Ellen 29th IBBY Congress in South Africa, Medal, Sp05:55 Incoming President’s Message, Su05:4, Sp05:4–6 CASPER, KRISTINE M. 61 INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE Four librarians selected to receive Follos, Alison Only the Rarest Kind of Best: One Penguin Awards, Sp05:59 Jack Gantos on Writing: Digging Up View of Literary Criticism, Su05:14–17 Cerny, Rosanne Creative Juices from Restaurants to Isaac, Megan Lynn Preparing a Best Practices Piece for Graveyards, Su05:42–44 A Travel Package for Book Lovers: Children and Libraries, Sp05:13 Fox, Kathleen Luxury Library Vacations, Su05:49 CHILD DEVELOPMENT A Lesson in Sharing: Don’t Reinvent Challenges Then and Now: A Survey the Wheel; Share Your Great Tips (Last J of Protagonists in Newbery Award Word), Sp05:64 Jackson, Richard Books, 1950s and 1990s, W05:20–24 FREEDMAN, RUSSELL May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, “You Are Not the Boss of My Words”: Freedman to deliver 2006 Arbuthnot W05:4–19, 38 Junie B. Jones, Language, and Honor Lecture, Sp05:58 JERSEY CITY (N.J.) FREE PUBLIC Linguistics, W05:31–38 Freedman wins 2005 Sibert Award, LIBRARY CHOCOLATE Sp05:54–55 Jersey City PL receives Summer Chocolate and Children: What Furness, Adrienne Reading Grant, Sp05:62 Do We Know? What Can We Do?, Minding Your Peas . . . and Loving It JEWISH LITERATURE W05:45–46 (Last Word), W05:64 Wonders and Miracles: An Editor’s, CHRISTENSEN, LINNEA Author’s, and Designer’s Publishing It’s Never Too Late! Mother/Daughter G Odyssey, Su05:36–40 Librarians Make First Trip to ALA GAGNE, PAUL R. Jurkowski, Odin Annual Conference, W05:39–40 Gagne, Reilly win 2005 Carnegie Schools of Thought: What to Include CONFERENCES Medal, Sp05:55 on your School Library Web Site, Conference 101: Letterman- Gallagher, Genevieve Sp05:24–28 inspired Lists to Get You through ALA How Leaders Can Foster New Conventions, W05:41–44 Generations (Letter), Sp05:3 K How Leaders Can Foster New GANTOS, JACK Kadohata, Cynthia Generations (Letter), Sp05:3 Jack Gantos on Writing: Digging Up [about] Kadohata, Henkes win CONTINUING EDUCATION. see Creative Juices from Restaurants to Newbery, Caldecott Medals, Sp05:54 LIBRARY EDUCATION Graveyards, Su05:42–44 Newbery Medal Acceptance, CONTROVERSIAL LITERATURE GEISEL (THEODOR SEUSS) AWARD Su05:5–8, 61 Only the Rarest Kind of Best: One Best of Beginning Readers: ALSC Kimmel, Erik View of Literary Criticism, Su05:14–17 Launches the Theodor Seuss Geisel Writing Wonders and Miracles, Su05:38 Cooper, Susan Award, Su05:41, 61 Kladder, Jeri Only the Rarest Kind of Best: One New Awards, Sp05:52 Conference 101: Letterman- View of Literary Criticism, Su05:14–17 Gilpatrick, Mary Ann. see Smith, Mary inspired Lists to Get You through ALA Morgan Conventions, W05:41–44 D Konigsburg, E. L. DAHL, ROALD H USBBY Honors Icons: Konigsburg, A Dahl House: Roald Dahl Museum HAYES (MAUREEN) AWARD Bryan Nominated for Hans Christian Opens in England, W05:40 New Awards, Sp05:52 Andersen Award, W05:25–26 DELACORTE PRESS Henkes, Kevin Kostiw, Marijka 2005 Batchelder Award, Sp05:55 [about] Kadohata, Henkes win Designing the Book [Wonders and EL DÍA DE LOS NIÑOS/EL DÍA DE LOS Newbery, Caldecott Medals, Sp05:54 Miracles], Su05:40 LIBROS Caldecott Medal Acceptance, New Home for El Día, Su05:58–59 Su05:9–11 L DIAMANT-COHEN, BETSY Hess, Dianne LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS ALSC Member Honored for Feature Wonders and Miracles: An Editor’s, “You Are Not the Boss of My Words”: Story, W05:53 Author’s, and Designer’s Publishing Junie B. Jones, Language, and DISABLED PEOPLE Odyssey, Su05:36–40 Linguistics, W05:31–38 Book Award Patron Tells Her HUMAN RIGHTS Last Word (column) Compelling Story, Su05:18 Human Wrongs Into Human Rights: A Lesson in Sharing: Don’t Reinvent

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 59

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 59 11/28/2005 4:12:28 PM Index to Volume 3 the Wheel; Share Your Great Tips, “Forty Hundred Books”: A Single “You Are Not the Boss of My Words”: Sp05:64 Mother’s Year with the Newbery, Junie B. Jones, Language, and Minding Your Peas . . . and Loving It, Su05:29–35 Linguistics, W05:31–38 W05:64 Kadohata, Henkes win Newbery, Ratzan, Jill S. and Lee Ratzan Silly Story Time Gaffe Leads to Laughs, Caldecott Medals, Sp05:54 [about] All in the Family, Sp05:36 Su05:64 Newbery Medal Acceptance Möbius Strips, Klein Bottles, and Lathey, Jonathan (Kadohata), Su05:5–8, 61 Dedications: The Mathematics of A Challenges Then and Now: A Survey NOTABLE CHILDREN’S BOOKS Series of Unfortunate Events, Sp05:31 of Protagonists in Newbery Award 2005 Notable Children’s Books, Ratzan, Lee. see Ratzan, Jill S. Books, 1950s and 1990s, W05:20–24 Sp05:56–58 REILLY, MELISSA LIBRARIES IN FICTION NOTABLE CHILDREN’S RECORDINGS Gagne, Reilly win 2005 Carnegie A Travel Package for Book Lovers: 2005 Notable Children’s Recordings, Medal, Sp05:55 Luxury Library Vacations, Su05:49 Sp05:57 RESEARCH LIBRARY EDUCATION NOTABLE CHILDREN’S VIDEOS Information Needs: Learning More Book Reviews: Tools for Librarians, 2005 Notable Children’s Videos, about What Kids Want, Need, and Su05:54–56 Sp05:58 Expect from Research, Su05:20–28 LIBRARY INSTRUCTION NOTABLE COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND REsearch And Development (column) Book Reviews: Library lesson books, ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES FOR Chocolate and Children: What Sp05:50–51 CHILDREN Do We Know? What Can We Do?, A Lesson in Sharing: Don’t Reinvent 2005 Selections, Sp05:59 W05:45–46 the Wheel; Share Your Great Tips (Last Reynolds, Angela Word), Sp05:64 O Silly Story Time Gaffe Leads to Laughs LITERARY CRITICISM O’REILLY, ALISON (Last Word), Su05:64 Only the Rarest Kind of Best: One Four librarians selected to receive RICHEY, CYNTHIA K. View of Literary Criticism, Su05:14–17 Penguin Awards, Sp05:59 Richey honored by Pennsylvania Library Association, W05:56 M P Rudiger, Hollis Margaret MATHEMATICS PARDI, SARAH Great Middle School Reads, Sp05:41– Möbius Strips, Klein Bottles, and Four librarians selected to receive 42 Dedications: The Mathematics of A Penguin Awards, Sp05:59 RWANDA Series of Unfortunate Events, Sp05:31 PARK, BARBARA Creating a Reading Culture: One Lib- Mathews, Jude. see Miller, Kathryn “You Are Not the Boss of My Words”: rarian’s Mission in Rwanda, W05:28–30 McNeil, Heather Junie B. Jones, Language, and “Forty Hundred Books”: A Single Linguistics, W05:31–38 S Mother’s Year with the Newbery, PEAS SCHARDEIN, AMY Su05:29–35 Minding Your Peas . . . and Loving It Four librarians selected to receive MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS (Last Word), W05:64 Penguin Awards, Sp05:59 Great Middle School Reads, Sp05:41– Pellowski, Anne SCHNEIDER, KATHERINE 42 [about] National Storytelling Network Book Award Patron Tells Her Miller, Kathryn, Junko Yokota, and honors Anne Pellowski, Su05:48 Compelling Story, Su05:18 Jude Mathews Weaving Tales: Making Picture Books SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARD Book Reviews: Books for Librarians in Minority Languages, Sp05:7–11 2004 and 2005 Winners, Su05:18 and Teachers, Parents and PENGUIN YOUNG READERS GROUP A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS Homeschoolers, W05:50–52 AWARD Möbius Strips, Klein Bottles, and Miller, Kathryn and Junko Yokota Four librarians selected to receive Dedications: The Mathematics of A Book Reviews: Tools for Librarians, Penguin Awards, Sp05:59 Series of Unfortunate Events, Sp05:31 Su05:54–56 PHOTOGRAPHY Shelley-Robinson, Cherrell MILLER, MARILYN Photography in the Arts, Sp05:21–23 Finding a Place in the Sun: The Miller Receives Distinguished Service PICTURE BOOKS Immigrant Experience in Caribbean Award, Sp05:58–59 Minding Your Peas . . . and Loving It Youth Literature, Sp05:14–20, 62 Molnar, Leslie M. (Last Word), W05:64 Shenton, Andrew Kenneth, and Pat USBBY Honors Icons: Konigsburg, Weaving Tales: Making Picture Books Dixon Bryan Nominated for Hans Christian in Minority Languages, Sp05:7–11 Information Needs: Learning More Andersen Award, W05:25–26 President’s Message (column) about What Kids Want, Need, and ALSC Ahead to 2010 (Wronka), Su05:3, Expect from Research, Su05:20–28 N 56 SHULEVITZ, URI Naidoo, Beverley Is It the Best or Worst? (Fader), Su05:4, A Storied Career: At 70, Uri Shulevitz Human Wrongs Into Human Rights: 61 Isn’t Slowing Down, Su05:52–53 Encouraging Understanding through SIBERT AWARD Story, Sp05:12–13 R Freedman wins 2005 Sibert Award, NEWBERY AWARD RARE BOOKS Sp05:54–55 Challenges Then and Now: A Survey On the Block: Children’s Literature SIZEMORE, LISA of Protagonists in Newbery Award Rarities Fare Well at Auction, Sp05:40 Sizemore wins Sagebrush Grant, Books, 1950s and 1990s, W05:20–24 Ratzan, Jill S. Sp05:59, 62

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CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 60 11/28/2005 4:12:28 PM Index to Volume 3 Smith, Mary Morgan and Mary Ann U WEB SITES Gilpatrick UNITED STATES BOARD ON BOOKS FOR Schools of Thought: What to Include Storytelling 101: Resources for YOUNG PEOPLE on your School Library Web Site, Librarians, Storytellers, and Storytelling USBBY Honors Icons: Konigsburg, Sp05:24–28 Librarians, 37–39 Sp05: Bryan Nominated for Hans Christian Webb, Sarah Stolz, Joëlle Creating a Reading Culture: One Andersen Award, W05:25–26 [about] 2005 Batchelder Award, Librarian’s Mission in Rwanda, W05:28– Sp05:55 30 STORY TIMES V WILDER AWARD Book Reviews: Books for Librarians Verbeten, Sharon Korbeck Wilder Medal Acceptance (Yep), and Teachers, Parents and All in the Family [Lee and Jill S. Su05:12–13 Homeschoolers, W05:50–52 Ratzen], Sp05:36 Yep wins Wilder Award, Sp05:55 Silly Story Time Gaffe Leads to Laughs On the Block: Children’s Literature Wronka, Gretchen (Last Word), Su05:64 Rarities Fare Well at Auction, Sp05:40 Outgoing President’s Message, Su05:3, STORYTELLING Book Award Patron Tells Her 56 Storytelling 101: Resources for Compelling Story, Su05:18 Librarians, Storytellers, and Storytelling Editor’s Note, Sp05:2, Su05:2, W05:2 Y It’s Never Too Late! Mother/Daughter Librarians, Sp05:37–39 Yep, Lawrence Strittmatter, Aimee Librarians Make First Trip to ALA [about] Yep wins Wilder Award, Interim Executive Director’s Note, Annual Conference, W05:39–40 Sp05:55 W05:2–3 A Storied Career: At 70, Uri Shulevitz Wilder Medal Acceptance, Su05:12– Isn’t Slowing Down, Su05:52–53 13 T Yokota, Junko. see also Miller, Kathryn Thomas, Elaine E. W Book Reviews: Library Lesson Books, Photography in the Arts, Sp05:21–23 Ward, Caroline Sp05:50–51 TSUNAMI RELIEF Best of Beginning Readers: ALSC Libraries Team Up for Tsunami Relief, Launches the Theodor Seuss Geisel Su05:35 Award, Su05:41, 61

Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries 61

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 61 11/28/2005 4:12:28 PM Get Your Name in Print Submit an Article to Children and Libraries

Children and Libraries (CAL) is the official “The Last Word” is an end-page feature that quotes and references. Insert two hard returns Celebrate! publication of the Association for Library will run in each issue and highlight brief, between paragraphs. Number all pages. Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the light, or humorous essays from children’s Use a minimal amount of formatting in American Library Association (ALA). CAL librarians, such as: a humorous story about files. Specialized formatting may be lost in is the vehicle for continuing education of a library experience; a short trivia quiz or translation from one program to another; librarians working with children, and show- puzzle about children’s literature; a brief, mark specialized formatting with text cases current research and practice relating creatively written insight on library service, instructions, such as . Do not use to library service to children and spotlights children’s literature, or programming; a very the automatic footnote/endnote feature on significant activities and programs of the short question-and-answer interview with your word processing program; create end- association. a popular author; a funny story about what notes manually at the end of the article. kids are overheard saying in libraries. “The If sending a disk, label it with the first Last Word” will be a place for children’s author’s name and all file names. Manuscript Consideration librarians to share these stories and get their name in print. Please send your ideas or Submit manuscripts that are neither under Writing and Bibliographic Style finished stories to the editor. consideration nor accepted elsewhere. Send Attach a cover sheet indicating the title of four copies of the manuscript to the CAL Children and Libraries follows the 15th edi- the article and the full name, title, affiliation, editor at the address below. (One copy if tion of The Chicago Manual of Style. Authors phone number, fax number, e-mail address, sending by e-mail.) Editor will acknowledge are responsible for accuracy in the man- and complete mailing address of the first receipt of all manuscripts and send them to uscript, including all names and citations. author. Include a 200-word abstract. at least two referees for evaluation. Accepted Editor may revise accepted manuscripts for Place tables on separate pages. Notations manuscripts with timely content will have clarity, accuracy, and readability, consistent should appear in text for proper table and scheduling priority. with publication style and journal audience. figure placement (e.g., “insert table 1 here”). Provide a title and caption for each table Manuscript Preparation and figure. Address Supply charts and graphs as spreadsheet El día de los niños/El día de los libros also known as Children’s Day/Book Day For information on formatting your manu- programs or as graphics (TIFFs or high- Send correspondence and manuscripts to brings together children and books across all languages and cultures. Held every script, editorial style, guidelines for text and resolution JPEGs). Camera-ready copy is also Sharon Korbeck Verbeten, CAL editor, via art, and copyright forms, contact the editor acceptable. You need not provide graphs in e-mail to [email protected]. April 30, it is both an annual celebration and a daily commitment to the importance at the address given. final form. If you prefer, you may provide a For citations, use endnotes as described rough version, or even a sketch. If so, please of literacy in the lives of families of all cultures. in the 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of mark all data points clearly. We will create Style, sections 16–17. the graphic. You will have a chance to review Submit manuscripts and text (includ- the graphic when you review your typeset Día is the perfect programming opportunity for youth librarians, school media ing references, tables, notes, and bibliog- pages during the proofing stage. raphies) to the editor by e-mail as a rich Photos can also be included with specialists, and community organizations to honor children, their languages and text or Microsoft Word file attachment, copy manuscript. Color or black cultures; to encourage reading and literacy; and to promote library collections and the text directly into the body of an e-mail and white photos message, or send on a CD. Illustrative are accept- programs that reflect our diversity. material (such as high-resolution digital able. We also images) MUST be sent via CD. CDs must be can accept PC-formatted. digital images For more information about creating a Día celebration for your community, contact of at least 300 Full length features (e.g., scholarly, research dpi resolution. the ALSC office at 1-800-545-2433, x1398. and “best practice” articles): fifteen to (Pictures from twenty pages, double-spaced. the Web are not of Short features (e.g., interviews with sufficient quality authors, librarians, or others involved for printed mate- with library service to children): three to rial because their th ten pages, double-spaced. resolution is too Celebrate Día’s 10 Anniversary on The Last Word: 500–750 words, double- low.) Photos will be spaced. returned to author(s) April 30, 2006 … after publication. Long and short features should be well Submit either and every day of the year! researched with themes relevant and of Microsoft Word or interest to children’s librarians and all those WordPerfect files. involved and interested in library service to Double-space the entire children. manuscript, including www.ala.org/dia

62 Winter 2005 • Children and Libraries

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 62 11/28/2005 4:12:29 PM Celebrate!

El día de los niños/El día de los libros also known as Children’s Day/Book Day brings together children and books across all languages and cultures. Held every April 30, it is both an annual celebration and a daily commitment to the importance of literacy in the lives of families of all cultures.

Día is the perfect programming opportunity for youth librarians, school media specialists, and community organizations to honor children, their languages and cultures; to encourage reading and literacy; and to promote library collections and programs that reflect our diversity.

For more information about creating a Día celebration for your community, contact the ALSC office at 1-800-545-2433, x1398.

Celebrate Día’s 10th Anniversary on April 30, 2006 … and every day of the year!

www.ala.org/dia

CAL_winter05_Fp.indd 63 11/28/2005 4:12:29 PM Arbuthnot Lecture

Minding Your Peas . . . and Loving It By Adrienne Furness

egetables never had it so good. he can get to his dessert of—can you The story satisfies as the four braggarts Every year seems to shore up guess?—spinach. end up as meals for various creatures V a crop of themes in children’s while the dharmic pea grows into a books, and someone decided 2005 was It’s a familiar premise, but, then again, beautiful plant that feeds and nurtures the year of the pea. what child hasn’t been forced to eat a pile an ailing girl. We could do worse than to of food (say, peas) that he or she doesn’t use peas to show our children that some- The tender green vegetables have had want to eat? With economy of line, Corace times it’s best to roll with the punches. minor roles in countless adaptations of shows Little Pea’s dismay at having to “The Princess and the Pea” and such By the time I got to the third book, I braced books as Don’t Let the Peas Touch! by myself. The rhyming title Eat Your Peas, Ivy Deborah Blumenthal (Arthur A. Levine, Louise (Houghton Mifflin, 2005) made me 2004). But in 2005, they demanded star- cringe a bit. I thought Leo Landry’s book ring roles, giving librarians more reason would be just another book about a kid to use the undeniably satisfying “Peas who doesn’t want to eat her peas. Fiction” subject heading. But to my surprise, Ivy Louise smiles at I wanted to hate the pea books. I saw the them there on her high-chair tray. It just peas peering from the covers with their seems that Ivy may not be hungry as she cute little faces and thought, “Oh, God. begins to play with the peas that have It’s going to be cutesy.” I hate cutesy. suddenly, brilliantly sprouted legs. They roll around, rearrange themselves, and But trite as it may sound, you can’t judge do tricks until they end up in a pile on Ivy a book by its cover. You can, however, Louise’s spoon. judge by the first page, and so, with much disdain, I opened the books, turned past Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, By now the reader has become emotion- the title page, and then— every time!—I Chronicle Books, 2005 was sucked in. I soon realized that, yes, ally invested in the peas and can’t help but my library absolutely, positively needed think, “Oh, no! Don’t do it, Ivy! Don’t eat yet another picture book about peas. choke down five whole pieces of candy them!” And that’s when Landry surprises and his elation when he sees that bowl us with the best twist of all. There’s no hat- The first book I encountered was Little full of soggy spinach. Then the family lives ing a book like Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise! Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Chronicle “hap-pea-ly ever after.” Perfect! Books, 2005). Jen Corace’s illustrations Perhaps I’m losing my edge. Maybe next are by far the cutest peas you will find The second book that crossed my path I’ll start wearing big bows in my hair and in a children’s book. They’re imperfect was The Pea Blossom (Holiday House, collecting unicorn figurines. But I think circles with dots for eyes and mouths like 2005), a Hans Christian Andersen fairy there is more to these peas than meets watermelon wedges. There’s something tale retold and illustrated by Amy Lowry the eye, and it makes me wonder what about Little Pea and his freckles that Poole. Five little peas grow in a pod, other vegetables are lurking out there made me want to read more. dreaming of their futures. Four peas see with stories to tell . . . & themselves visiting the sun, the moon, What follows is a standard picky-eater and the emperor, but the fifth pea takes Adrienne Furness is a Children’s and Family story in which Little Pea is forced to a more Zen approach, trusting that fate Services Librarian at Webster Public Library sit through his dinner of candy before will get him wherever he needs to go. in New York.

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