Category: Books

Based on Actual Events

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Steve Sheinkin won the 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction for his book The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery. From his acceptance speech:

“But I realized there was more to Arnold’s appeal than the story, and it goes back to Arnold making people nervous. Why does he make people nervous? It’s not that Arnold is a bad guy—it’s that he’s a good guy and a bad guy. A hero and a traitor.

“As a country, I don’t think we handle contradiction very well. When it comes to talking about the American Revolution and our Founders—essentially, our creation story—we seem most comfortable sticking to two-dimensional portraits. It’s hard for us to think of the United States as a nation built on grand and beautiful ideals but with deep moral flaws woven in from the start. I think we’re afraid that if we try to explain this complex mixture to young readers, they’ll be confused, and maybe less patriotic. I’m convinced it’s one of the main reasons kids think history is boring.”

I love Sheinkin’s point about history being complicated, and how we avoid those issues when teaching history to kids. History is never about good guys versus bad guys. It’s about real people dealing with immediate problems and trying to solve them the best they can, or trying to succeed in their own right, or trying to avoid major collapse. It’s what we still do. The more books we have that deal with complex historical figures, the better. And, as Sheinkin says, this might help kids get more invested in history.

Make sure to click through for the rest of Sheinkin’s speech.

The “Something”

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From an interview with publishing powerhouse Jean Feiwel:

As you and your fellow editors look to acquire books, is there one element that grabs you each time, that one essential element?

I say this in my rejections letter, if I don’t emotionally connect with something I’m not going to respond to it. There’s something about the story that has to pull on my emotions in some way. It has to make me laugh. It has to be very dramatic. It has to surprise me. Something has to happen for me to respond to a story. Even it’s something I’ve heard a lot , even if it’s yet another vampire story, if there’s something in it that feels fresh or emerges in some surprising way I’ll will respond and go after it. There has to be something emotionally alive in it for me.

I think this is the hardest part of querying. You can have a fantastic pitch and a wonderful book, but if it doesn’t connect with that particular agent/editor it’s not going to work. And that’s good, in a way. You want your agent or editor to be passionate about your book. If they’re not, they won’t really want to put in the time and effort required to make it a wonderful, successful work of art that readers will love. And it’s so hard to tell what exactly will strike an agent/editor. As Feiwel says, it can be an old story (back again, vampires?) but something about it has to stand out. While you can revise a novel to tighten the plot or enhance the character development, it’s really hard to pinpoint what that “something” that will catch an editor’s attention.

Jean Feiwel will be part of the “Children’s Books, Today and Tomorrow: Four Expert Impressions” panel at the 2012 SCBWI conference in January. So excited to hear more of her thoughts on the industry, and for the conference in general! (For more conference news and previews, check out the SCBWI conference blog)

Good Books, Bad Reviews

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It’s easy to think that classic novels have always been considered classics. But even the most famous novels got some bad reviews. Book Riot has compiled some quotes from bad reviews for great books. My favorite:

“On J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye:

This Salinger, he’s a short story guy. And he knows how to write about kids. This book though, it’s too long. Gets kind of monotonous. And he should’ve cut out a lot about these jerks and all that crumby school. They depress me.”

Granted, I’m pretty sure you could round up a hundred tenth-graders and get the same opinion. But a review like this is a good reminder that not everyone has to love your book. Not everyone will love your book. Sometimes even important reviewers will hate your book. But that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad book or mean that it won’t connect with someone. Being a writer means having to deal with a lot of criticism and rejection, even when you’re talented and beloved. It’s not an easy life, but seeing quotes like this helps.

Click through for even more bad review inspiration!

Got It Covered

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Is there a less apt proverb than “don’t judge a book by its cover?” I love judging covers! And LibriCritic has rounded up some of this year’s best covers in both mainstream adult and young adult. Lots of great choices in both categories. A couple of others I would add (based solely on cover design):

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

Winter Town by Stephen Emond

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

It’s fun to play “judge the cover,” but design is also really important to a book. I didn’t dig The Hunger Games cover design at first and it languished on my shelf for a couple months before I picked it up (and was instantly hooked). More credit to cover designers, I say. It’s a hard job!

What are your favorite 2011 covers?

#ButIt’saClassic

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Confession: I hated Hamlet in high school.

It wasn’t that I hated Shakespeare or English class. In fact, I tended to like most of what we read. But I found it hard to care about the original emo king (“Just kill him already!” I cried at least one) and I’m not surprised current high school students aren’t in love with Hamlet either. The #worstbookever hashtag on Twitter offers a hilarious look into high school reading requirements. Publishers Weekly features a few highlights–Hamlet included, of course.

When I reread Hamlet in grad school, I found myself with a much greater appreciation of the play. (“Alas, poor Yorick!” is a hugely famous quote, so it’s easy to forget the sadness of the scene. Hamlet is holding the skull of the one person who ever treated him with affection. Tears!) So it’s not like these kids on Twitter are totally lost. And honestly, who really loves homework? For me, this brings up the question of what kids should be reading in high school. Is it worthwhile to give them “classics” they hate? You’re not going to win every reader even with the best book, but I wonder if syllabi need to be updated.

I’d be curious to hear English teachers’ takes on this. Any books/plays your students particularly hate or love? What would you cut from your syllabus or make sure to keep?

The E-Clause

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The big news in publishing now is how to deal with e-readers. Along with that comes questions regarding publishing contracts, some of which are decades old. I’m guessing that’s the reason HarperCollins is suing Open Road Integrated Media over the latter’s e-book edition of Jean Craighead George’s children’s book classic Julie of the Wolves. HarperCollins originally published the book in 1972 ,and Open Road (founded by former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman) came out with its e-book edition in October.

Although Open Road says they were granted rights by author George, HarperCollins counters:

“Our contract with Jean Craighead George, the author of Julie of the Wolves, grants us the exclusive digital rights to the book, and Open Road’s e-book edition violates our rights. We intend to take all appropriate steps to protect our exclusive rights under copyright against infringement, in this case and in any instances that might occur in the future.”

It sounds like someone–the author, the agent, one of the publishers–really dropped the ball on this one, and I don’t think this will be a rare lawsuit in the years to come. Publishing contracts can be hard enough to understand without trying to update each one with regard to new technology. I’m curious to see how this will pan out.

The Ghost of Tween Series Past

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By this point, you’ve heard White Christmas and Jingle Bell Rock. You’ve trimmed trees and lit menorahs and baked cookies. You’ve shed a tear for Bedford Falls. So what’s left to get you feeling the holiday spirit?

The Retro “Christmas Chiller” Throwdown: Baby-Sitters Club vs. Sweet Valley Twins, of course.

Both 80s/90s tween series have a Christmas/mystery book, of course. (I can see the meeting on that one. “We have the Christmas special, and we have these mystery specials. What if we combined them and ohmygodguys kids will buy the hell out of this!”) Each book competes in fashion, boys, drama, and more.

I loved the BSC back in the day, and had a few copies of Sweet Valley Twins as well, so this throwdown touches my heart. Merry Christmas, one and all!

(No) Spoiler Alert

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John Green is one of the biggest YA authors currently writing. So the fact that Barnes & Noble accidentally shipped pre-ordered copies of his upcoming book, The Fault in Our Stars, is a pretty big deal. But I appreciated John’s response:

“I’m disappointed about this, but as my brother reminded me this morning, I am very, very lucky. I have the best readers in the world, readers who care not only about my books but also about each other. So thank you, in advance, for not sharing spoilers—whether you read The Fault in Our Stars before or after January 10th.”

Nerdfighters are a very cool group, and I’m confident the majority of early receivers would not think of spoiling the book for the others. There will always be some obnoxious people who want to take advantage of a situation like this, but I think most readers would enjoy getting the early copy and let others experience the joy of getting theirs. I know I’m looking forward to picking up this one!