Scholastic Criticized for Pushing Toys, Makeup in Book Clubs

If you’ve noticed the toys, jewelry, and other non-book items being sold by Scholastic in its elementary and middle school book club flyers, you’re not alone. A Boston-based advocacy group says the children’s publisher is abusing its position by peddling everything from games to makeup to classroom kids.

A review by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) found that one-third of the items for sale in these brochures are either not books or are books packaged with other items such as jewelry, video games, toys, or lip gloss."The opportunity to sell directly to children in schools is a privilege, not a right,” says CCFC’s director, Susan Linn, who has launched a letter-writing campaign urging Scholastic to stop using its school-based book clubs to sell these items. more » » » 

Neil Gaiman on the Newbery, Coraline the Movie

Despite the fact that Neil Gaiman has tons of fans and dozens of awards under his belt, winning the Newbery on January 26 threw him for a loop.

School Library Journal spoke to the 48-year-old graphic novelist and sci-fi/fantasy writer about nailing the highest honor in children’s literature, Coraline hitting the big screen, and his latest Batman graphic novel.

Did you ever imagine winning the Newbery while writing The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins)?

  • No, I never thought that I was the kind of author that wins Newberys. Generally, I always thought that they were a lot more respectable than me and had been doing it a lot longer. I’m just thrilled and baffled. It’s just wonderful. more » » » 
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    happiness in serving

    "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will really be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
    --Albert Schweitzer

    Comic books & Stone Arch got me in trouble

    If Stone Arch didn't create such interesting titles, that group of boys might have put down the 4 books I had (2 Batman and 2 Superman titles) and gone to their next class. Instead those boys were so ...
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    Children’s Comics Poised for Growth

     

    Despite predictions of a down year in other sectors of the economy, publishers and editors of children's comics and graphic novels at New York Comic-on were optimistic that their category is poised for growth. Properties aimed at readers 13 years old and under were prominent both on the floor and in the panels and the booths for publishers with strong children's lines, such as First Second, Top Shelf, Oni Press, and Archie Comics were bustling.

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    Today’s Must-Read

    good_woman A Good Woman

    by Danielle Steel

    Nineteen-year-old Annabelle Worthington, the only daughter of a wealthy New York banker, weathers a life of unexpected catastrophe with superhuman patience in Steel's solid latest. After her father and brother die in the sinking of the Titanic, Annabelle and her mother go into mourning, and Annabelle marries the kindly older banker Josiah Millbank. After two years of unconsummated marriage, he reveals that he's contracted syphilis and wants a divorce so he can join his male lover. When Annabelle refuses to divorce him, Josiah files for it on the basis of adultery, forcing Annabelle, now the victim of vicious rumors, to flee New York. Alone in Paris, she draws on her experience volunteering at Ellis Island to pursue a career as a doctor as WWI looms. Steel toys with the premise of a modern woman, though the characterization of Annabelle as a good woman who has been dragged through the mud somewhat mitigates her strength and elemental stubbornness. Steel's fans will eat this up—Annabelle is one of the better protagonists Steel's conjured recently.

    Buy this book from Amazon

    Book – Remember As You Pass Me By

    by L. King Perez

    Silvy's twelfth birthday is coming up and she wants to invite Mabelee, who’s African American, to the party. However, Silvy's mother and grandmother object. "Mabelee has her own friends," they tell her, and even though Silvy and Mabelee were best friends when they were little, that time has passed. Mabelee has new friends and no time for Silvy. They're busy painting the old school and raising money for schoolbooks, and Mabelee has started calling her "Miss Silvy" whenever they meet. Silvy's not alone for long, though. Glamorous Allie Rae moves to town with her mother, and she and Silvy like all the same things — "dying stories, riding trees, and talking dirty in disguise." Silvy thinks she's found a friend her mother and grandmother will like, but even Allie Rae has some tacky things to say about Mabelee and her friends, and Silvy's not sure who to side with. Things come to a head when the Supreme Court desegregates the schools, and Silvy’s small Texas town is in an uproar. Where will Silvy stand?

    ... more

    Quantifying Reader Appeal

    So while School Library Journal courts controversy by saying that children didn't like several recent Newbery winners, they don't feel compelled to provide any actual evidence to back up the claim.

    Also, to use an example I've used many times before, adults often say that "their teens" do not like or get Octavian Nothing. The conventional wisdom then becomes that Octavian is a great book; i.e., that no one would ever choose to read it. But why then have more than 100,000 people purchased it--making it a bigger commercial success than most "commercial" fiction published for teens?

    http://www.sparksflyup.com/2009/01/quantifying-reader-appeal.php

    Obituary: Blair Lent

    Blair Lent, who illustrated many books for children over his long career, died on January 27 at the age of 79. He won the Caldecott Medal in 1973, for The Funny Little Woman, and also won three Caldecott Honors. Lent was perhaps best known for his illustrations for Tikki Tikki Tembo, a Chinese folktale retold by Arlene Mosel and published in 1968. See more here

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    attitude and opportunities

    "A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before we changed."

    Earl Nightingale