The Horn Book editor's rants and raves
Labels: Authors, Being a grown-up can be fun, Great Ladies, Horn-blowing, Writing for the Horn Book
posted by Roger Sutton at 9:17 AM
I've been the editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc, since 1996; previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. Received my M.A. in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a B.A. from Pitzer College in 1978.
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24 Comments:
Barthe DeClements! Beverly Cleary! VC Andrews! haha just kidding on VC, as she is no longer with us.
I exchanged several letters with Marguerite Henry when I was a child, and I wish I'd had the chance to meet her...fortunately, I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of the other authors that would be on my list!
Margaret Mahy, mostly because of The Changeover, and John Crowley, author of Little, Big...
Jenny, if V.C . Andrews can so prodigiously WRITE from the grave, surely she can talk, too!
Am I alone in not particularly wanting to meet the people who wrote the books I loved? Ever since I became a writer and met people who thought I was worth meeting I've become anxious that all my favorite writers might be as ordinary as I am. I'd like to hang onto my illusions, thank you.
Oh, I'm right there with you, Anon! I've always found it awkward all around. Plus, the writers I really admire are the notoriously grumpy ones.
I've certainly found no correlation between how much I like an author's work, and how much I like an author personally.
Oh, Barbara Park. Someone who writes such funny books has to be fun person.
I would like to meet the creators of gurle's parenting and pregnancy books - they were a god send for my last baby!!!
I wish I had never met Eric Carle. He was very cranky at a book-signing and that's hard to forget. It's not like I asked him to sign a cocktail napkin or something. Now I'm sorry I ever went out of my way to get him to sign a book for my daughter who remains a big fan because I've never told her what a old crank he is.
Well, if we're dishing . . . I'm still trying to figure out what I did to piss off Allen Say.
Well, I've been lucky. All the authors I've met have been really super folks. Down to earth and fun to talk to. I've heard some stories, though...apparently, there are some difficult ones out there.
I have to admit ... sometimes I like it when I hear of a cranky children's book author, And especially picture book authors/illustrators. It dispels the notion that we're walking around smiling all the time with bluebirds circling 'round our heads or something.
Yet I always feel like male authors and illustrators can get away with being cranks in a way women can't. First they get all the Caldecotts, now they take the complex emotions ...
Maybe men get the Caldecotts _because_ men have the complex emotions.
Joke! Joke!
Anyway, I think Anon 2:57 is being hard on Eric Carle. Maybe the guy was having a bad day? Or a bad week? How long have you resented him for his being in a bad mood when you deigned to meet him?
Allen Say is not a very outgoing person. Perhaps ypu were too exuberant for him?
Would love to read Maurice Sendak -- kinda wonder what goes on in that guy's head.
You know, I've never been disappointed by the behavior of my favorite writers when I got to meet them. But I once made a total fool of myself trying to talk intelligently to Connie Willis, and that makes me a little more reluctant to introduce myself to my heroes.
I'm in this business for 25 years. I've been on the roller coaster a few times and have a steadfast rule: Be nice on the way up coz you'll see them on the way down.
what an ORIGINAL thought expressed by "Melanie" - "Be nice n the way up ..." One wonders why no one has ever thought of this before! Was it original with her? One awaits other gems!
Say, this is getting nasty! You must be on the way up, Anon.
Aww gee Second Anonymous,
I took it as a compliment :)
ps if Anonymous One was being sarcastic, next time they use my name, please link it up to my blog. Thanks.
Maybe anon 12:10 is Joan Walsh Anglund, letting her inner b.i. out for an anonymous stroll.
Children! Children! If you can't play nice . . .
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