A Plea for Picture Books

-

This article comes from Publisher's Weekly (in America). Very interesting plea for the promotion of picture books by independent booksellers. Ken Geist (VP and editorial director of Orchard Books and Cartwheel Books...and author of the picture book 'The Three Little Fish') made this empassioned plea at the New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council, held at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass. Admitting that pictures books are not truly 'endangered', there is clear evidence, as we know, that the demand for picture books is in decline, making their production very problematic for publishers. One of the biggest difficulties seems to be that many customers don't understand what picture books are (!) and when they do, they still want more text.
Geist has made some great suggestions for a grassroots movement for the promotion of picture books as a genre, such as making next year the 'Year of the Picture Book' or creating instore mailboxes for children to write to their favourite picture book authors.
While this was presented to the conference in the US and dealt, therefore, with some very specific issues to that market, I think we obviously have understanding in the Irish/UK market of this very same problem. Perhaps, we, too, should get behind the picture book in a very active and supportive way!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/43542-an-impassioned-plea-for-picture-books.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+Children%27s+Bookshelf&utm_campaign=aa98276b4c-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email

Comments

  1. Mary Esther JudyJune 18, 2010 at 5:02 AM

    I'm posting this from Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, as it's an extremely important comment and she couldn't get it posted on the blog for some reason and posted it to my facebook page.

    "Thanks for posting this, Mary. 'Getting' picture books seems to be a real problem. Visual literacy isn't valued or understood by so many people until someone opens their eyes to the layers of story they are missing by trying to 'read' a picture book with words only. The problem isn't ... See Morethat children don't understand good picture books, it's that they are not being put in their hands in the first place because the adults who buy for them don't speak picturebook! I gritted my teeth the other day listening to RTE radio when the presenter moaned about how few words you get per euro in a picture book...
    My hubby (Michael Emberley) will be very interested in this article as he has worked with Ken on several books."

    Thank you, Marie-Louise.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rights of the Reader

-
Image
The Rights of the Reader; Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake Summer is here and we do encourage summer reading with numerous incentives and programmes. It is important for children (of all ages) to 'keep their reading up' outside of school time. This is the time when kids develop their own taste in books and can be free to read books of their own choosing. And this is the single most important factor in young people developing a lifelong reading habit. But how do we, as the 'gatekeepers' of kids reading, encourage them properly without running the risk of thrusting pressure and our own ideas on them? Do that and you'll run the risk of pushing them away from reading, and there are already so many distractions for the young reader to contend with that can tempt them elsewhere. Published by Walker Books; 9781406300918 In 1992, French writer Daniel Pennac originally published this little gem of a book; The Rights of the Reader. I highly recommend
Read more

The Summer of Lily and Esme by John Quinn....25 years

-
Image
This year marks the anniversary of the publication of an extraordinary book. In 1991, Poolbeg published The Summer of Lily & Esme by John Quinn and in the 25 years since, it has never been out of print. The Summer of Lily & Esme tells a quiet story, filled with compassion, friendship, memory and heart. It is the story of Alan, an 11-year-old boy who has moved from the city into a house in the countryside; in the middle of nowhere.The house is old and extremely large and immaculate; and there is a locked, boarded over attic room that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young boy who died tragically. Alan is not too pleased with this move and becomes even less thrilled when he discovers his closest neighbours, in fact his only neighbours, are a pair of elderly sisters, Esme and Lily, who seem to be suffering from dementia.  When Alan falls down a hill of brambles and weeds, the sisters, who believe they themselves to be children, mistake Alan for their
Read more

Launch of Genesis by Eilis Barrett

-
Image
A week ago, I played a small part of the launch of Genesis , the much-anticipated sequel to Oasis by Eilis Barrett; this time at Charlie Byrnes Bookshop in Galway. Vinny Brown introduces Eilis Eilis is a remarkable young woman, as you might imagine since she is 18 years old and this is her second book. ( Oasis was published when she was 16.) Articulate and accomplished, it is a real privilege to know her, to hear her speak and to read her writing. Genesis author: Eilis Barrett publisher: Gill Books (8 September 2017 ISBN: 9780717174355 Genesis picks up the story of Quincy Emerson. She now finds herself a captive once again, in the maximum-security prison, the Colosseum as a security risk. Held in deplorable and brutal conditions in the prison, where anarchy rules and rival gangs wage a 'street war' of sorts, Quincy takes care to not make an enemy of either gang boss, while holding allegiance to no one but herself and her comrades on the outside. Food is scarce an
Read more