Katie Bircher and Elissa Gershowitz bring you our annual list of summer reading recommendations for kids. Strictly recreational, of course, and librarians are welcome to place a “COMMON-CORE FREE!” sticker on the PDF.

What about your own reading? I’m juggling audio editions of The Woman Upstairs and Inferno on my phone; The Oracle Glass and A Savage War of Peace on my Kindle, and Lonely Planet’s guide to Morocco on my bedside. We shall see which ones I finish. Claire Messud (The Woman Upstairs) is my current hero simply by virtue of the little digs she gets in at Burdick’s, a fashionable Cambridge dessert place whose legendary hot chocolate goes down like a big ol’ cup of infected mucus (my observation, not Messud’s).

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Contemplating the Common Core State Standards, California-style

I had a great time at the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California Spring Workshop last Saturday in South Pasadena. Kristin Fontichiaro and I each spoke about the Common Core State Standards, she offering a great perspective on the ways school and public librarians can support CCSS curriculums while I pondered what effects and implications the Core might have for trade publishing. Many thanks to the Council and conference organizer Laurie Reese for such a terrific morning.

My old friend Marc Aronson will disagree with me, but, I gotta say, every time I read the CCSS standards I like them less. As I said in my talk on Saturday, I approach any new twist or trend in educational thinking with one question–and my self-interested bias–foremost: does this mean more books in the classroom? While you might think the CCSS, with their emphasis on close reading and multiple sources, would mean that yes, classrooms will be clamoring for trade books, I see more of a market for curricular packagers: why buy five different books about Abe Lincoln when WeSlapItTogether Publishers will extract meaty (or not) passages (or “texts,” as the CCSS prefer) from those same books and razzle-dazzle ‘em with hyperlinks to even more sources, reading-level calculators, quizzes, and other tools? Make no mistake, the CCSS are big on reading, but books? Not so much. I hope to God to be proven wrong.

My other old friend Ron Koertge joined us for lunch and chat about horseracing and poets (apparently they can be a nasty bunch) and then LAPL librarian Barbara Metzenbaum graciously drove me to Eugene Yelchin‘s house, which was so far back in Topanga Canyon I thought I was in Nevada. Coyotes AND rattlesnakes, but the gracious Eugene showed me his studio and lovely family before Richard picked me up to drive to Santa Barbara, where we talked books and movies with Andy and Adrianne Davis who practically forced me into the contraption pictured above. Then back to LA and a quick visit with the kids and the red-eye home to Brownie (and thank you, Katrina Hedeen, for your loving and expert care of the strange little beast).

And we just stay busy here–the Boston Globe-Horn Book judges will be meeting this weekend; I’ll be announcing the winners at BEA in New York at 1:00PM on June 1st. Stay tuned . . . .

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Kitty Flynn, Lolly Robinson, and Martha Parravano discuss what works–and what doesn’t–in picture books for preschoolers.

From Dr. Robert Needlman explaining the difference between babies falling asleep and learning how to go to asleep, through Cambridge librarians Julie Roach and Beth McIntyre coaching us through selecting books for preschool story time to Anna Dewdney using photographs to demonstrate how to transform unpleasant expressions on family members faces into picture book gold, our Fostering Lifelong Learners event yesterday with Reach Out and Read and the Cambridge Public Library was a great success. The day was a little long but I learned a ton, and several attendees told us they got lots of good, practical ideas to use in their libraries and classrooms right away. We’ll be sharing some of the day with you next week, including Anna Dewdney’s inspirational speech, which she is graciously allowing us to publish on hbook.com. Julie Roach and I are already talking about what to do next year.

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I met Elaine several times, first when she gave a dynamite speech about censorship at the University of Chicago when I was a student, and last when she gave another dynamite speech upon receiving the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion in 1998. An acute critic, she was one of the few writers for children  who I thought could do an equally good job on our side of the fence. She had a big Carol Burnett smile and was always the most stylishly dressed person in the room. That goes for her prose, too.

Elissa has collected some of Konigsburg’s Horn Book moments.

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I’ve been getting emails from people wondering if our Fostering Lifelong Learners conference is still happening this Thursday. Of course it is; hasn’t the media been telling you over and over what a hardy city we are? And transportation is unimpeded: the Cambridge Public Library is a five-minute walk from Harvard Square, miles from the still-roped-off  Copley Square. If you’re coming via train or inter-city bus, you can catch the Red Line subway from South Station right to Harvard Square. Locals, travel as usual; here’s the Library’s map of its location. See you soon!

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Copley Square, the heart of Boston’s Back Bay, is still off-limits (as is Boston Public Library’s Central Library). I think it’s the most beautiful spot in the city and I hope it can reopen soon. The picture to the left is of Marathon Sports, the running store near the finish line whose employees went to the rescue after the first blast. I’ve been buying my running shoes there since 1996 and while the employees have always been exceptionally helpful, now they’re my heroes.

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Llama Llama…

1.What did your own children teach you about creating books for preschoolers?

My own children taught me several things about the reality of picture books.  First, that a book has to have compelling relevance to a child’s inner world to get picked up more than once or twice.  Second, that a picture book should be fun for everyone in the room (if it isn’t fun for the parent, then it is likely not fun for the child).  And third, that sometimes kids like seemingly unappealing books simply because those kinds of books address some developmental need; in other words, sometimes a parent will have to read Disney’s version of Cinderella every night for weeks…no matter how painful that is.  Most importantly, reading with my children taught me that “reading time” is often the most intimate moment of the day, and that its power in a child’s (or caregiver’s) world cannot be underestimated.

2.I enjoyed playing the Llama Llama game on your website. What are your thoughts about toddlers and iPhones?

I think that iPhones, iPads, Nooks, Droids, and all those gizmos are simply toys.  Whether or not a caregiver chooses to give that type of toy to a child is a personal decision.  As a parent, I can understand the use of a toy that has educational and entertainment value…after all, there are only so many car games a person can play on a six hour trip to Grandma’s house, and sometimes everyone (including a parent) needs down time.  I can also see value in a child learning some autonomous play skills, if they have a toy that teaches manual dexterity and/or reading.  However, if the toy is constantly being used as a substitute for the important stuff (creative play, interpersonal relationships, reading, and a sense of living on the real planet with living, breathing creatures), then I think it is no longer a toy for a child – it is a crutch for a parent, much like driving through McDonald’s instead of cooking real food.  I like a Big Mac as much as the next person, but I know it isn’t giving me real nourishment.

3.Why do you think young children accept the concept of animals dressed in clothing so easily?

What?  Are you implying that animals DON’T wear clothes? You haven’t met my bulldog!  (Just kidding.)

That’s a great question.  I think the answer may be that children can relate to animals.  Children know that animals are “people” too…they live, breathe, and exist on the planet, just as we do.  I don’t think children give a hoot about clothes until they start to see clothes as costumes that define them, and those costumes tend to be just that: costumes.  Why can’t dogs and cats (and llamas) wear costumes, too?  To children, animals aren’t the “other.”  After all, it is easier for a toddler to look right into the face of a lab than an adult; they can be eye to eye.

I think children are far more like animals than they are like adults.  In other words, I think that what differentiates an adult from a child is that an adult is often motivated from and controlled by things outside themselves, or by what Freud would call a strong ego and super-ego.  Small children are “unadulterated” beings.  They experience and recognize feelings in themselves and others much like animals do, without all that other stuff on top.

4.How does a picture book keep the reader-aloud and the read-to equally engaged?

A good picture book has to be engaging to the reader as well as the read-to, as I mentioned before.   It should allow the reader to become part of the action, to make the book a performance piece.   The reading of a picture book should be a special moment of mutual understanding that the reader, readee, and author all share.

5.Do kids ever ask you why llama has two ls?

Never.

Join us on Thursday, April 25, 2013, for a big day focused on the littlest people.

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 Linda Sue Park is delivering the 2013 Zena Sutherland Lecture on May 3rd at the Harold Washington Center, Chicago Public Library. Admission is free but reservations are required; go to zenasutherland.eventbrite.com to sign up. I’ll be there and hope you will be too!

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LIES. My profile page indicates that I have submitted 45 corrections since last June, and not a single one has had its status move beyond “submitted.” I’m guessing “report content error” is just one of those feel-good buttons. I did find a funny mistake, though, and thought I would share it with you since Amazon is ignoring my calls. From the Kindle edition of Paul Theroux’s Ghost Train to the Eastern Star:

“all [Zarathustra] taught was understanding the earthly elements, the turn of the year, the one God. And three simples rules to live by: good thoughts, good words, good deeds. Also a belief in the purifying nature of ire, which was central to the faith and a symbol of the Almighty.”

FIRE, you heathens.

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