|
February
2001
Celebrity-Written
Children’s Books
by Susan Heyboer O’Keefe
Nothing can
provoke a quicker reaction in a roomful of children’s writers than to
say that some actor, politician, singer, or TV talk-show host just got a
gazillion-dollar contract for his or her first children’s book.
“I suddenly got the idea in the shower,” giggles the
brand-new author in an interview, “then I wrote it up during the limo
ride to the studio, and had my agent send it out.”
That rumbling noise you hear is a mass gnashing of teeth.
Children’s writers resent celebrity authors for many reasons.
Celebrities skip the normal grueling process of submitting a
manuscript, then waiting and waiting and waiting to hear.
They receive unbelievable six- and seven-figure advances, when
they’re already receiving substantial amounts from their main line of
work. PLUS, when the
publisher takes a loss and doesn’t make back the money, as so often
happens, there’s far less left for the puny-by-comparison advances
that go to typical writers.
And the biggest gripe of all?
These books, for the most part, stink.
No, correction: they REALLY stink.
Submitted to the slush pile by John Doe, they’d get no more
than a form letter and the editor’s fervent wish that he or she had an
unlisted address.
HOWEVER, in keeping with this column’s fervent wish to stay perky and
optimistic, I’m happy to say that there are exceptions to every rule.
So having whined and complained, I now offer you three celebrity
picture books that are actually good if not downright delightful, books
I’d have no trouble purchasing, even though I began to read them with
a more-than-slight bias:
The Remarkable Farkle McBride by actor John Lithgow, illustrated by C. F. Payne.
Lithgow offers clever and surprisingly varied rhymes as he tells
the story of Farkle McBride, a musical prodigy who’s never happy.
Farkle becomes obsessed with an instrument for a short time then
grows bored with it. Parents
will readily identify as they suffer through their own kids’
obsessions with karate, painting, comics, horses, etc., only to see the
once loved (and usually expensive) object cast aside in favor of
something new. In the end,
Farkle discovers what he was missing all along -- the sound of the
instruments playing together. He
becomes a conductor and is happy at last.
The ending not only gives hope to both parents and kids, it hints
that everything kids experience, even the things they discard,
contributes to later success and contentment.
The Blue Spruce by former New York governor Mario Cuomo,
illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen.
This is a simple story, simply told.
A boy’s father has the long-held dream of leaving the city and
having his own home with a tree in the front yard.
He finally moves his family into a house with a blue spruce out
front. When a sudden storm
uproots the spruce, the boy feels betrayed.
The father wants to replant the tree in the middle of the storm,
but the boy refuses. He
wishes they had never left the city at all.
The father convinces him to help, the tree is saved, and the boy
learns that the path to dreams is never straight.
Beneath the story is insight into how our parents’ dreams
become our own. In
different hands, this book could have been mawkishly sentimental and
didactic. Instead its
clean, straightforward approach makes it memorable.
Cuomo gives credit for help with the manuscript to writer Kathy-jo
Wargin.
Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery by
actress Jamie Lee Curtis, illustrated by Laura Cornell. As rhyming couplets muse on the fate of lost balloons, Curtis
asks both the absurd questions that kids ask, plus the unexpectedly
philosophical queries that kids come up with.
Gentle and fun, the book will prompt many conversations.
Note: this is Curtis’
third children’s book over the space of several years, and her third
with illustrator Cornell. In
an interview, Curtis said she hopes that, with time, she will be better
remembered as a children’s writer than an actress.
Seasonal Picks --
So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small.
Hot on the heels of my last column on prize winners for the year
2000 came the announcement of the Caldecott Award for 2001.
(Okay, so I’m slow.) The
award for illustrating went to this new David Small title.
So You Want to Be President?
is fun for all ages, providing an intimate gossipy look at the many
quirks and little-known facts of White House inhabitants.
Small’s cartoony sketches of presidential figures and families
are droll and funny. In the
end, the many differences between the presidents are used to suggest
that, while no women or people of color have yet been president,
anything is possible -- even if you
want to be president.
The African American Family Album by Dorothy Hoobler with Thomas
Hoobler.
This overview, perfect for Black History Month, uses interviews,
letters, diaries, newspaper articles, etc., to tell the story of the
African experience in the U.S. through the words of those who lived it.
Both the famous and the unknown make their appearance, during the
period from slavery through the migration from the South to the North.
For ages nine and up.
Children's Book-of-the-Month Club author Susan Heyboer O'Keefe has two
new books coming out this spring: Love Me. Love You and a board-book edition of One Hungry Monster. A few of her other titles are Angel Prayers,
Sleepy Angel’s First Bedtime
Story, and Good Night, God
Bless. Visit http://www.susanheyboerokeefe.homestead.com
for fun, book info, and great parrot photos.
© 2000 by Susan Heyboer O'Keefe
|