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Lloyd Alexander was Old Cricket? No way!!! I read him for years and didn't know it!

Man, now I'm sad all over again.

Though I must say I like that little martini trick.

Happy Birthday Big Brother!!

I am delighted to be first to say Hurrah!

Megan Whalen Turner

What a great week for celebrating some of my favorite writers. Sarah Ellis, Tim Wynne-Jones, and Tobin Anderson all receiving major recognition for their contributions: very jolly indeed.

The HB Awards ceremony was terrific. Brilliant speeches. Thanks to all!

Not any more, it isn't. The loonie has been steadily gaining on the U.S. dollar and is now at about .99. It's a shame Sarah didn't win back when she started writing for the Horn Book in Grade 6 -- she'd have been a lot wealthier.

Anyway, congratulations, Sarah! It couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

Sorry, kt, but this was the point of Roger's joke, of course... With the value of the loonie going up against the US dollar, Sarah's winnings are now worth *more* here in the US, not less...

All the more reason to say, Huzzah!

Whatever the ultimate value, that 20,000 clams should help Sarah with her ongoing recovery from librarianship. (where did I read her describing herself as a recovering librarian?) -- Betty in Minneapolis

p.s. what a delightful grin in that photo.

Congratulations, Sarah!!!

Thanks pals. I'm just as happy as I look in the photo. I think I was actually 32 when I started N. from the N. but 32's the new 12, right? And the Canadian dollar is currently worth $1.03 U.S.
-- missgotbucks aka Sarah.

The memorial service at Mr. Todd's church was great. Several Horn Bookers were there, as well as formers Anita Silvey, Karen Walsh and Blanche Egersheim, who was Mr. Todd's assistant for years and, amazingly, has worked with every single HB editor. Kitty is going to try to lure her into a podcast . . .

I interned at the Horn Book Guide when I was just out of college and I have a fond memory of meeting Mr. Todd. My sympathies to his family and to the Horn Book.

I like the fact that your summer reading list includes selections of all ages, including the picture book crowd. 'Cause you just know there are some precocious kindergartners out there ready to sink their teeth into HP on Saturday. I often hear about them at work: "I need a recommendation for my six year old. S/he loved Harry Potter!"

I'm proud to say that I discovered Harry Potter from Horn Book Magazine--way before the hoopla. I love fantasy, and the review made the first book sound like a good fantasy novel, so I ordered the book for my son's 11th birthday.
My son read it quickly, and then insisted that we use it as our next bedtime book. At the time we were reading aloud to both our 11-year-old and our 5-year-old sons at bedtime, and my older son was sure that this was a book everyone would like. How right he was!
We have read all of the books aloud (which makes it take much longer), and they have given us some wonderful shared family times.
Sadly, now my husband has left me and my older son is off to college--but I'm reading Book 7 aloud to my now-13-year-old younger son and enjoying it thoroughly.

You could write about and debate this subject in perpetuity.

What do you do? Retail prices aside, I don't think this is any worse than Bratz or Harry Potter. For all of these brands (and brand is the word here), books are just one of the channels. IP owners of these brands are mega rich. So who is next? Philip Pullman. His first movie 'The Golden Compass' is released in December. Merchandise will be everywhere and it won't be cheap.

The one thing that unites them all is sleek marketing that puts enormous pressure on parents.

I'll stop here. But I will say it is not black and white. Should a writer exploit their IP's value to the last dime it can pull in? Or should writers be content with publishing good books?

You will see more convergence of medias over the next five years. What I means is, many adapted films will be developed for multi-platforms. For example, the recent movie '300' was filmed almost exclusively on blank lime-green backgrounds. The whole setting/background was digitally inserted, which is also used for the computer game and the basis of merchandising. The point being, it will become increasingly difficult to sell movie and other rights separately. The upcoming Harry Potter book looks awfully expensive for a children's title doesn't it?

I get RS's point; voyeurism plus unattainable equals porn. But that makes lots of things porn: that diamond jewelry in a shop window, that showroom full of Cadillacs, those McMansions on your local tour of homes.

Let's talk about unattainable. Go look in your local toy department. Toys are expensive! How hard is it to find some throwaway piece of plastic that costs, $30, $40, $50, more? Buy two of them, and you've already afforded an AG doll. The parents and grandparents who buy AGs are thinking these dolls are potential heirlooms rather than splintered pieces of junk with lost parts that they're going to throw out in a few years. They figure they can buy some accessories over time. They figure it's no more expensive or commercial than the latest game system and video games, and they are right.

Multimedia, over-the-top marketing, and kids who beg for it all, barring the Great Depression II, are here to stay. Ancillary products rake in money for book publishers, and income potential is what they want in order to publish us, right? Why blame American Girl, particularly?

Well, enough. Maybe this belongs on Roger's blog more than it does here. But very interesting discussion.

Say you come up with a really commercial idea. Then you get an attack of conscience and tell your agent not to negotiate ancillary rights - they'd drop you like an anvil. Everyone out there wants to line their pockets.

If your concept has the potential to snowball in the marketplace, I think it is incredibly difficult for authors in this situation to strike a moral balance.

Same anon from comment #2. About ten years ago, pre-Harry, I "sold" a series concept to a publisher who had already published me. I use the quotes because we never reached the contract stage. To my complete surprise, the publisher wanted to do dolls, gifts, the whole schmear, and of course this was exciting. Then came the monkey wrench -- for some reason they decided that the gifts/products division of their company wasn't able to do justice to the accessories at this time, therefore they didn't want books either! I'd have been perfectly happy with books alone, never dreamt of anything more, but once the company seized on the merchandise idea, it was all or nothing. So we got nothing.

Roger Sutton may as well accuse the entire industry.

"Roger Sutton may as well accuse the entire industry."

Exactly.
I don't understand the singling out, either.
The Marketing Departments of all the big publishers, in my experience, have the biggest say in what gets published, and how.
Welcome to America!

It has also bothered me, though more when my daughter was young, that there are no Jewish American Girls. I queried the author once about this at a signing and she said she didn't feel qualified to write as she was not Jewish. I asked about the Kaya books she wrote, but got no clear answer.

The AG books are written by different authors; each author has a character. A writer I know auditioned for one of the characters but was not chosen. None of the authors on their own would be able to create a new character, or write about one other than the one they've been assigned.

Sorry ANON 5:26, the authors do not necessarily work on just one of the series. As they were published, our libraries tried putting them alphabetically by author in the J fiction section, only to discover that the girl's books were being separated. (Book 1 and 2 by one author, book 3 by another, books 4 and 5 by another, etc.) The first four books had several authors working on them. Gradually Valerie Tripp took over writing most of them, but that left many of the earlier books spread throughout the J fiction collection.

We finally gave up and put the AG in a separate section and grouped them by the name of the girl.

-librarian, writer, mom

That chicken-chasing queen is my new hero -- I covered her here. LOVE that book.

At our Sunday 7-Kicks list, we are now featuring a new illustration/illustrator at the top of each list (Jeremy Tankard contributed a Grumpy Bird illusration last week -- a piece he did for the cover of a French children's book catalog), and look for a Sean Qualls-approved illustration this weekend (perhaps from Dizzy). Anyway, so maybe I can track down Shelley Jackson and ask her for an illustration for one Sunday. I love her work in this book. One of the best picture books of the year thus far.

I got Beach from the library this week on your recommendation, to read today on our way to the beach! And after my quick glance through it, I'm betting the kiddo and I will both love it.

And I'm dying to read Larklight. I'm going to try it out on my nephew who will probably adore the space spiders.

The space spiders were one of the things that even got my son (eleven) to try reading it! That and the house with all the rooms every-which way.

Unfortunately, the language was, I think, the put off. He didn't stay with it. I loved the language, but then I studied Victorian Lit in school & love anything that shows me the author knows what was going on then!

I think we had similarly different reactions to Kenneth Oppel's Skybreaker and Airborne. The language and the Victoriana made it for me; for him, it slowed things down too much--I think!

Don't know as I count as a "kid", but I read LARKLIGHT last year at age 15 and really enjoyed it. :)

My son (age 9) LOVED Larklight! I read it to him, though--in my very best English accent. Otherwise, the language might have been a deal killer. Would be awesome 4th or 5th grade read aloud.

alma-pater.

That's the stuff.

...and in the comments of which Fuse is attacked again by a rabid gutless anonymouse! What is up with that? Why are people afraid of a wide range of voices and choices when it comes to literary commentary? Me no gets it.

Hee hee. Aw, you're very sweet to defend me, Mitali. However, in this particular case that was my mother pseudo-correcting my choice of terms. I assure you, she feels the exact same way that you do regarding anonymous peeps.

Mitali meant the gutless anon comment on Roger's blog, to which I respond: I think the Horn Book should have a regular column called "What Fuse Ate" in which you can blather on about dinners, lunches, breakfasts, brunches, cocktail parties, etc.

*sigh*

Well let's go see what all the fuss is about then.

Jeez. Well, whatever. That's the problem with writing an article that has your name on it. People know exactly who to attack. Ironically, the primary way a person may remain anonymous these days is via blogs. Nice of Roger to defend me there. After all, I don't know how much anyone would want to read something along the lines of, "A Comprehensive Interpretation of Didactical Insights and Snubs As Related to the Work of Children's Literary Blogs." *yawn*

Exactly. Poor jealous mice. Go find a private corner and gnaw on yourself. I would never hinder maternal correction, Mrs. Fuse Senior, as that is one of my major daily tasks.

Sorry, Mitali. This is one of those cases where I've forgotten that I linked to an article after reading my comments.

And for the record, I think we should go with the Anonymous person's suggestion and have a What John Green Ate feature in Horn Book instead. I love your style, Megan. My food tends to run very dull, though. Brownies make up 95% of the delectables I digest.

Me, I'd rather read a print magazine than an online version. The internet, for me, is Procrastination City. And I don't have to turn on the computer to peruse back issues.

I'd definitely go for more book reviews. It's the reason I signed up for the Horn (hee!) in the first place.

Naturally I like the articles on the writer's craft, too.

$100 bills tucked into the pages would be a nice touch.

And maybe print it every month. I always perk up when I see my HB in the mailbox, but there's such a big gap between these perks.

Wow, I love the concept of "default anxiety"! Sadly, I suffer from that malady, too.

Regarding physical changes to the magazine, I think pop-ups would be a cool feature. Or maybe specially-printed bonus reviews that could only be seen with 3-D glasses.

OK, I'm kidding. BUT I am a big fan of the paper medium just because for a lot of us, there's just an innate physical satisfaction to holding a book in one's hands.

By the way, I just read a huge piece in the NY Times which talked, in part, about how publishers don't do nearly enough market research, and I think it's great that you are engaging your readers in honest dialogue about your product.

No color, no glossy please! I love the black and white. And please keep the slightly snarky tone. And don't ever change the name of the "Hunt Breakfast" section.

I'd love to see more chatty literary articles, such as the one about Harriet the Spy's gay subtext, or the one about Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.

I live and work online, mostly. I was once called a militant cyberfeminist (in print). But I so love the print version of The Horn Book.

I love its paper and its font. I love how it feels in the hand. I could live with a change in its size, if that made it cheaper for you, so long as the nonglossy paper and legible fonts remain. I wish it came out monthly.

Sigh. I sound so of a certain age, don't I?

As for the dentist, I just had a decades-old cap replaced. The new cap is actually the right size and shape, so I am not aware of it any more. After twenty-odd years of tiny annoyance, this is bliss. I wish it for you.

Oh, and Roger? I absolutely love this blog. I love being able to chat with you as if we were having tea, or something stronger, any time you are trying out the shape of a thought.

Thank you.

I'm with GraceAnne on loving both the print versions of the Horn Book and the blog here. And I also loved Katy Horning's "Harriet the Spy" article, which was so fascinating and eye-opening. . . . Thinking about that, and about other HB articles that have stuck in my mind, I always love those kinds of critical pieces in the Horn Book, investigating or revisiting one classic work of children's literature by a contemporary writer who has recently investigated the same themes; or a writer's whole body of work, if it's time for that kind of appraisal. Jameela Lares said once on child_lit, "The pleasure of good criticism is someone telling you exactly what it is you like," and I adore those kinds of articles -- someone directing the critical conversation about a writer, in a way we don't have time or depth to do online.

Or you could go in a more journalistic, New Yorker-y direction and talk more about process (which always hooks in writers). Do profiles of contemporary children's writers and illustrators, their development, careers, and working methods. Or ask great writers to list their ten rules for writing.
Or go to a publisher's office and wade through the slush one month and see what that says about modern children's writing and publishing. Or you hook up with an author and editor and trace the life of a book from ms. to contract to editorial letter to bound book, printing all the original documents you can (an excerpt of the ms., the editorial letter, an excerpt of the revision, etc.) issue by issue until the book comes out (culminating, of course, with your review).

Finally, the Onion A.V. Club has two consistently interesting, funny features that might be amusingly adapted to children's books: "Commentary Tracks of the Damned," which could be applied to bad writing you hate (http://www.avclub.com/content/node/61318); and "Random Rules" (http://www.avclub.com/content/randomrules), where you could go to someone's bookshelves and pick off every sixteenth book from the right, in place of using the Shuffle . . .

Sorry for the long post, and good luck!

I'd focus on asking the under-thirty crowd who are your future readership. We fogeys like to read the Horn Book while swinging in a hammock and sipping an icy lemonade.

While I much prefer the printed word, as opposed to reading on a screen, I can still enjoy both. And I do. Often. In fact, too damn much.

But the one thing that you just can't enjoy as much on line is seeing the illustrations. Yes, you can get an idea, but 72 dpi just doesn't capture the art like hard copies. Nor, I hate to say it, like coated stock.

So the Horn Book could think about actually showing some more of the art in the books, and in larger, clearer images. And a format not unlike the New Yorker, would work very well.

I like the size and would hate to see it change. The Horn Book stands alone! Which means I can put it on a bookshelf and it doesn't flop. I'm sorry it costs more, but anyone can tell you what a pain in the neck stacks of old New Yorkers are.

How about audiofiles? I know this goes back to digital content but... I love listening to a good essay or editorial. The magazine sits on my desk like a delicious treat I have to work up to (the size and paper quality add to the treat-like quality) ... but at work I just rarely find the time to sit concentrately enough to read an entire article through. I'm good at listening and multi-tasking. I can just picture playing your monthly editorial, or one of the longer articles, while I plow through my staff expenditures spreadsheet, sign timesheets, delete spam... I think in fact that it would encourage me to make the time to dip into the silky-lovely print magazine to relish the words again.

Roger,

I read blog reviews--but I still subscribe to The Horn Book Magazine, Horn Book Guide, Booklist, and School Library Journal. I can't imagine reading only online reviews. I sometimes like to sit down, relax with a cup of coffee or some other libation, and read through review journals. I check the books I'd like to buy and cross off the books I've already purchased.

I can't imagine living without my "print" journals. I think the journals review many more books than bloggers and other online review venues. In addition, I can return to a specific issue easily.

One more thing: I really appreciate the way The Horn Book Magazine organizes its reviews into different categories--including poetry and folklore. I found that very helpful when I was working on collection development when I was an elementary school librarian.

I'm a "sixty-something"--not a "thirty-something"...so maybe my opinion doesn't count for much.

What print always has going for it is the curling-up factor; I can take the magazine to bed, to the beach, to the bathroom, and access the physical pleasures of reading familiar since childhood.

So the Horn Book's got to have lots of stuff that one reads at length and for pleasure -- quirky articles, letters from readers, maybe short stories. Actually short stories would be my first choice. I can't think of any other publication that prints only really quality short literature for young people.

Oh, and a bigger, more comfortable font.

Please! The Horn Book does not need self-improvement advice from The New Yorker.

It's already:

1) the perfect size: i.e. you can read it and eat lunch at the same time. It tucks into your purse, or backpack. And it copies two pages at a time, which is marvelously efficient when you want to save great articles to your files.

Which brings me to:
2) Articles that impress you long after the first read. Example: "Blood From a Stone" by Jennifer Armstrong (which is online, too...thank you!) Or more recently, "The Pottymouth Paradox," which begins with the compelling first line: "Yesterday, I googled the f-word."

3) Themed issues. "What Makes a Great Book?" Religion. Poetry. History. MORE of this, please. Have you done a music issue? Or one on book evangelism? (I'd call it promotion, but that's way too narrow...I'm thinking about all the interesting ways a book virus spreads.)

4) Best covers anywhere. Line drawings throughout. If you had to spend money, this is where I'd want it: splurge on a few color illustrations inside. Not all, a few.

5) MORE from booksellers, librarians, and editors. Profile an unsung hero. Or villain.

6) I repeat: Do not mess with the size. Don't you realize the Horn Book can even be read ONE-HANDED?? On a bus??

Wow, the Horn Book as a one-hander. When I was a boy . . .

Okay, now seriously, you guys are GREAT and helpful. I wish we could introduce color into the inside pages, which would really help with discussion of picture books, obviously. As it is, we try to use illustrations that are useful to an article or review, conveying some aspect of a book that is hard to get into words.

I'm thinking we could do more for writers, articles that would be useful and/or inspirational but also of interest to our audience of mostly readers. We do have a column called "The Writer's Page": submit, submit! We have also been tossing around the idea of publishing short fiction, but I'm still trying to figure out the parameters so we don't get deluged with misguided submissions.

And, Nina, we have several audio-only features currently in production that will be available from the website (for free). Last week, for example, I recorded an interview with avid movie-goer Lois Lowry about the differences and similarities between movies and books, both in their production and consumption. Kitty Flynn and Lolly Robinson are busily engineering those files into what will be the Horn Book podcast, coming later this summer.

More, more, more!

Roger, you know I only read The Horn Book for the articles.

OK, OK, I look at the letters too. You got me there.

And I was going to suggest a full-color center insert, but now I see that would be folly. Utter folly.

Let's just talk about that short fiction...

This is mean, and thus you might dismiss it. I wish I could say it inoffensively and more persuasively. Perhaps someone else can. The Horn Book is a thinking person's window on Children's books. It is not populist. It is highbrow. But it is not exclusive, or exclusionary. You do not publish acadamic-ese that is self-referential and impossible to read. You publish articles by really smart people who really write well. Elizabeth Bird's friendly, chatty, informal blather about blogs is a notable exception. Not because it was about blogs, but because, well, because there was no thinking going on there. I do not wish to be unkind to Ms. Bird, but I have to say, since you asked, that I don't want you to go in the direction of chatty informal clubby insider chit chat, for example --about authors and illustrators and how they work, or what their studios look like, as someone above suggested. I want you to publish more articles that are thoughtful considerations of the product of their work. The article on Harriet the Spy is what I want to read. Not what John Green has for lunch.

very anonymously yours,
Anon.

Book reviews, good ones, like those in Horn Book, are so helpful for anyone picking books. Follett prints some of them, and perhaps Baker & Taylor does too. Ideally Amazon would. Is there a way to get these people to support the Horn Book?

Faith

I think Betsy Bird (Fuse #8) has one of the best children's-book blogs out there, and, in her Horn Book article, gave us a good idea of what such blogs are like. That was the plan, man. One reason we started a blog here at Horn Book was to have a place for observations and idea-try-outs that didn't have the heft for print.

I prefer breakfast alone, so you'll get no news from me about what authors eat. I DO know a male children's bookseller who keeps threatening to submit his masterpiece, "Famous Children's Book Authors I Have Peed Next To," but you probably won't see that in the Magazine either. Or here.

As an author, I'd love to see more editor/author type articles about a book's journey to publication. I also enjoy interviews with editors.

Monthly Horn Book would be heaven. I love the day I open my mailbox and there it is.

I love surprise articles like the one in the current issue written by Daniell J. Ford- What Makes a Good Dinosaur Book? Beyond Barney. I just sent the article to a certain author/illustrator mentioned in the article who has been in Greece all spring and just recently returned to home to London.

I also love the "Themed Issues" and would like to see an entire Issue dedicated to Non Fiction or Biographies!!!

I laughed at the post about Famous Auhors I have peed next-Too! I can go one more- How about Famous Caldecott Medalists I have peed next-Too?! Ha!!!

Please don't change the size of the Horn Book!!! I have always heard that size matters!!!!

MORE reviews please!!!!

The funny thing is that novelty feels like its going the other way now. Since I get so much information from online sources a magazine not only seems like even more of a treat then before, but its standard features can seem like brilliant innovations compared to what now has become typical information getting. If I want to save something, I don't need to copy, paste, open a file or print it out. Like, wow, its ALREADY printed! And...stapled too! And it fits on my bookshelf!

In terms of content, I too would agree with more articles like the Harriet the Spy one, and an issue that I loved in particular recently was the special issue when you had many different people write about what makes a good book. I'd like to add that while I skim most internet content these days, I never fail to read the Horn Book from cover to cover. I get publishing news from online sources, but from your magazine I appreciate the reflective coverage of bigger issues. I don't at all mind the b&w and the non glossy stock, I think the logo is great as is, and am sorry to hear you'd actually save money by printing bigger. I too like it small!

p.s. - Another thing that is great about your way-out small non-electric format is that I can even read in the tub without mortal fear. And speaking of danger, big glossy magazines on the floor can be like stepping on banana peels.

Literary magazine editors talk about this a lot too, the print issue. I'm scared (as someone who loves the feel of paper) of the answer... but in any case I'm glad to find your blog!

xoLaurel Snyder
http://kidliterary.blogspot.com/

After a bit more thought, here's what I get in a one-hand-on magazine that I can't get on-line:

I like perusing the ads in the print issue. Is that strange or what? I want to see publishers buying full pages touting books with starred reviews, noting which titles they feel deserve the expenditure, etc.

I like the tasteful beauty of the whole package -- the cover art, the illustrations, the fonts, the feel of the pages, the design, and the words. Can't get that via PDF.

As for content, I like that the prose I get in print in a monthly or quarterly magazine has taken some time before coming my way. It can be thoughtfully edited and fine-tuned, pass through several drafts, and receive input from many eyes/ears before going to press. As readers, we get time to respond equally thoughtfully.

I like what I see emerging -- a partnership between a trustworthy, beautifully-designed, thoughtful, well-written magazine and a timely, trendy, accessible, on-line blog/site that supports instead of displaces what's happening in print. You're breaking new ground in the writer/reader dialectic, at least in the world of children's literature, so please keep going.

I agree that Betsy Bird's blog is one of the best out there and that she showed us just what blogs are like in her article.

Mitali summed it up beautifully! AND - I love the ads, too - so maybe we're both strange. (Except I drink something harder than lemonade while in my hammock.)

I love the size also. The Hornbook fits in the outside pocket of my "healthy back bag," so I can take it along just in case: I don't take my laptop along just in case I have some down time. And Hornbook is a magazine I want to read, not one that I feel I ought to read (or ought to want to read) so I do take it along, and I do read it. The articles are just the right length.

I'd like to see articles that think about the career arcs of some authors who've been around for some time (longer than 10 years?) and that discuss how their work has grown and changed (or not) over time. What's different about the new Chris Crutcher -- what has he learned since RUNNING LOOSE? Like that. Some authors do grow and change, but others don't seem to... why or why not? That kind of thing.

Hey publishers: listen to your readers! Keep them happy! Support the Horn Book! BUY ADS.

I bet J.D. will give a discount to anyone who places an ad after reading my groveling here.

Does anybody *really* like the paperback reissue column or lists?

Speaking as one of the "under 30" crowd. I love Horn Book online and in print.

Specific to Horn Book, I like the size and feel of the magazine (and ooo... real paper...) and the font. I love the articles. I like the non-news stuff. I can get "this is the next big trend" in the other publications but "The Casson Family really isn't that dysfunctional" is something that you really only get in Horn Book.

As one who reads a lot of online content, "next big trend" is old news by the time it hits the newsstands. Casson Family is timeless.

As far as print vs. online in general, I like the browsing factor in print-- when I read online, I tend to only click on the stuff that looks interesting. When I read print, I'll start reading almost everything-- thus finding things that I would not have clicked on had it been online.

The "recommended paperbacks" column went website-only a couple of years ago, so pick up a newer issue, Anon! ;-)

We're just proofreading the designed pages for the July/August (Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder) issue and I must say it makes my heart glad. There's an article about Venezuela's Banco del Libro (winner of the megabucks Astrid Lindgren Prize this year) illustrated with lots of photos, and Lolly's done such a great design for it that it makes you think this internets stuff is just a passing fad.

Hi Roger,

Er... I believe the proper title for the article was "Six Degrees of Urination." (!)

You know I had to post as anonymous for this one... and apologies for bringing bringing your discussion down to this level!

Just let go and let fly, Anon.!

To answer the question "Who can we reach?" I'd like to second Mitali's suggestion of hitting the up-and-coming younger generations, but also add that you might want to look at parents. Recognition of the Horn Book by adults I talk to is next to nothing, but all of these adults have children and are constantly looking for good, solid information about children's books.

I don't suggest aiming the magazine at a more general readership but some awareness wouldn't hurt. People I've met know the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award but don't know what Horn Book Magazine is.

I don't think the internet will replace print any more than movies replaced theatre (though television did replace radio). Maybe it would be interesting to speculate what you might do if Horn Book suddenly received the same kind of grant that Poetry Foundation did a while back and ask "What would we do with all that money?" and then use that as a guide.

perhaps it's a mistake to be linked with the GLOBE? People tend to think HORNBOOK is a local New England publication. Maybe you WANT to limit your readership to the Boston brahmin audience? (It's classier!)

I like the Hornbook printed just as it is whenever I can get my greedy paws on any printed copy in any condition...though I will read online, on the computer system when necessary to get at what I need.

I wish it came out every month, too.

A tad few more articles in each issue would be the extra cherries on top of the banana splits.

I secretly wish for colored stars in glittery colors but since words have colors for me anyway I imagine that I can manage without.

I like best the issues articles, the hotter the better, and the articles about how writers and illustrators work in their creative spaces. I like it when new facts and research pressure articles with new insights on nonfiction books and historical fiction, for example, too.

I know this last suggestion is way, WAY, way out in outer space, but...have you ever, ever considered letting in an article or review now and again by an articulate, well-read CHILD? Or young adult? Perhaps this might be a way too to attract and entrap a younger-age readership.

I like bimonthly - more is NOT better. The Horn book is one of the few publications that I receive that I actually read from cover to cover.

I like the size but could live with bigger if it would help the mag.

I subscribe. I like the small size when I'm reading the Horn Book, but then I dislike it when I'm shelving it. So I could live with a larger format easily.

I read the Horn Book for the reviews. I'd like them to be longer, more detailed. I'd like more of them.

I, too, like the ads. They have a spark of fun and that greedy push of enterprise, which is a nice counterpoint to the cerebral quality of the rest of the publication. I would not want the ads to overtake the magazine, though.

I think teachers are a natural audience for the Horn Book. Many don't have money to spare on subscriptions, but EVERY school in America should be receiving your publication. (Do you give discounts to schools? If so you should promote it more.)

And I like a few pictures thrown in. You mention THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, which is wonderful proof that black and white can be very visually attractive.

A big thanks for all you do at Horn Book and on this blog.

I'd like to echo the "thinking person's window on children's books" comment. The length of the articles allows for a more in depth consideration of the topic but I appreciate the lack of academic language and trappings.
The size is, indeed, perfect for carrying about and for shelving at home. I look forward to every issue, read it as soon as I can (in the hammock if possible) and keep each one for years.
I don't mind having the illustrations in black and white although I wonder if you could have them in color on the web?
I really like having a selection of articles and reviews available on the web where I can send other readers including my children's lit students.
Finally, I think the mix of more-or-less traditional magazine and more modern website (with the blog but without bells and whistles and scripts I have to give permission to run) works well. I appreciate the openness of your website.

I'm so sorry to hear about Lloyd Alexander's death. He was one of my favorites as a young reader, and an author I'm always recommending to my patrons. I learned from him that a book can still be enjoyed even if it doesn't end as I wanted it to ("The First Two Lives of Lukas Kasha" comes to mind.)

Aw, damn. I just heard a few minutes ago and came here to see if it was true. Hell's bells, I wish it wasn't. He was awesome. One of the bosses.

It's always the pits when a good writer dies.

omg, i've read all of prydain and started reading the series over today when i was online and found out! how could this happen?

DISCLAIMER: Let me say up front, I love Lloyd Alexander's work with a passion, and the Prydain books were an important part of my childhood. So I'm probably biased in Mr. Alexander's favor on nearly any issue.

However, I find it interesting that Mr. Alexander wrote such a chummy letter to a reviewer, in light of various recent online arguments over how collusive authors and reviewers should be. I have, in the past, thanked reviewers after a particularly nice review, but several people on this and other blogs have spoken out against such practices.

I found it fascinating that authors were being so friendly with reviewers over 40 years ago, but that the relationship is coming into question NOW because of the new technology of the Internet in general, and blogs in particular. I wonder whether authors ALWAYS had such connections, but it just wasn't so obvious until blogs made the connections more transparent.

Personally, I always feel it's a kind of common courtesy for me to acknowledge a positive review.

The old days were definitely chummier, but even now there are fora for author/reviewer friendships (conferences, publishers dinners, etc.) that encourage a let's-be-friends kind of relationship. For example, I have to keep reviewers involved in Children's Literature New England far, far away from authors (Katherine Paterson, Gregory Maguire, Susan Cooper, etc.) who are also. Back in the 60s, nobody would think twice about that, though. Back then, children's writers, librarians and reviewers were all underappreciated together, so tended to stick up for each other, thus resulting in "kind" reviewing. It was cozy (and an amazing time of artistic growth for children's books) but kind of in-bred.

I don't expect or want letters of thanks from an author for a good review. They aren't the audience I'm reviewing for. I would feel that such a letter would require a social obligation on my part (thanking the author in return) that would conflict with my professional obligation to ignore that same author's feelings when I go to review his or her next book.

I see nothing wrong with Lloyd's gentle note expressing gratitude and enthusiasm. It is perfectly possible to send such a note, and later to discuss the nitty-gritty of disagreements on future publications with the editors. He and I didn't always agree on his works, but we had a warm relationship.

Some of the comments on this blog lose sight of the compassion and warmth that were Lloyd, and that formed a significant part of the wisdom in his books.

"my reviews are backing up like a public toilet at RFK Stadium"
TOO FUNNY!!!!

Wow. I guess I take for granted the fact that I live in a community that is very open-minded. The idea of segregated anything these days just blows my mind. A field trip out of Southern Georgia might open their eyes a bit but sadly, most will probably never venture outside state lines...

Good luck on the 48 Hour film project. Sounds absolutely crazy but totally, totally fun. Can't wait to hear about it.

Groovy--
And cool name right back at you, MotherReader. I'm laying in my supply of books right now for my "oh, well, as many as I can in my half-assed way" contribution to your 48-hour challenge: Just ordered copies of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing and Bermudez Triangle. This is gonna be awesome!

Ah. Now. I wonder if I might suggest that commentators in this tiny box discuss what they did and did not like about the article. I want to know what you felt I left out in the piece. Or what I could have talked more about. If you would be so kind.

Congratulations! Reads very well and it was especially nice to see your very distinctive voice very much there (if a bit toned down;)

As for what you left out --- that feels like aiming at a moving target. What seems hot now may be ice cold by the time an article is published. Especially hard when dealing with blogs, social networking, Web 2.0 and so on and as they are causing such changes. It will be interesting to read your article in ten years given all this.

Congratulations on the article.

What was left out? I don't see anything so much as being "left out", as this type of article is an intro to blogs for readers, especially the "why"; so now there is room for articles with more depth, etc. I mean, with the wordcount issues it's not like one can write a book on kidlit blogging. (hhmmm.....)

Absolutely true on both counts. Writing anything on blogs can possibly outdate itself in a week, let alone a year. Even after I handed in a potential blogroll, people kept halting their blogging activities or cranking them up willy-nilly. You'll note that in the actual article itself I tried to keep blog names to a minimum. At the same time, we can't keep ourselves from writing on the subject just because it may age poorly. It's a pickle.

Fortunately, I don't think there's ever been a book on a form of blogging that's ever made more than a wooden nickel. I mean, would YOU spend good money on something you do for free? Not bloody likely.

I am reminded of years ago when the only books on the Web you could buy at the store were the ones that were "300 Cool Links!" Imagine that today?

Good article, and I love blogonatrix. You have always been one, I think, just unnamed. I agree that asking what's missing is probably not so helpful. It was good. It sounded like you. Success! (And congrats!)

everytime I see books on how to blog and flickr I think, "why? Isn't it out of date the moment it's printed?" That said, to (dis)prove my point, I've taken one out of the library to read so I can mock or be humbled, accordingly.

I thought it was great - you stuck to the basics of "here's what they are and where we are now" and didn't try too hard to predict what they'll become. And like Gregory K said, it sounded like you, which means it was also highly readable and entertaining. Well done!

Love the new site. The William Steig letters made my day.

The virtual exhibit for Bookshop For Boys And Girls is just stupendous!

Yes, and the interesting thing is that anonymous got clobbered by a lot of self righteous people who said on principle one couldn't say such things, none of whom showed up for the dissing of Dr. Ruth by you, Roger, who called her an ass, or the taking down of Atwood. Ha, just as I thought, thought anonymous. Not the moral imperative. Just the attack of the sacred cow. All in all a very interesting exercise.

Now I'm glad I got in the mix, though late, and got in the use of Tulaning as a verb.

Roger: Since you are using these threads for a meeting, I'd point out that most participants in the Tulane thread were not children's book bloggers. Unless you count anon, which wouldn't be fair.

Is the blogosphere just the bloggers? One thing I like about it--as opposed to "the media" is that writers and readers are in it together.

Ok, MR. Now use it in a sentence!

No, of course you're correct, Roger. I just wanted to mention that two different groups from the blogosphere responded to those two threads.

Oh Roger, of course, you are useful.

Thanks for that, Roger. Very interesting to those of us who know little about the real people in the review world. I confess that for many years I just associated a review with the journal that published it. I didn't really put a person behind that review. I was shaken from that la-la-land when my book, Moonpie and Ivy, won the Mass. Book Award in 2002. Susan Bloom gave an introductory speech about the book that knocked my sox off. It made me want to run out and read my own book. Afterwards, we were chatting (I had never met nor heard of her) and I told her she should be a reviewer. I know, I know - DUH. She very humbly and politely responded, "Actually, I am." When I later did my homework, well, [insert red face here.] Since then, I pay more attention to the real live people behind those reviews. It brings the whole process to life and makes it more meaningful, I think. (and we know whose house to TP, if need be.)

When did you read the books you reviewed? Silly question, except that as a librarian I can't read books on the job; so all my reading plus reviewing takes place after hours. As I was reading the ten reviews bit, I couldn't help but wonder when you read the books for the reviews. For the various publications, is it all reading on your own time?

Roger,

Are you saying you are NOT on a mission from God to improve children's books for the children of the world?

Would you jump ship for more money and go be editor of Kirkus, if Kirkus were as uber-cool for adults as Horn Book is for children?

h

Nonsense. you review books because one short misstep kept you away from the Rhode Island School of Design.

While I appreciate the professionalism and unstickiness of Kirkus reviews, I'd go nuts just editing book reviews at this time in my life.

Liz, I did and still do most of my book review reading at home. But I get to work at home, too, so there's that. But I was working as a librarian when I started reviewing and writing, and did at after work and on the weekends.

The RISD joke is completely eluding me. But it's a good thing that I write reviews rather than draw them.

no no, not RISD, Parsons. We meant Parsons.

Oh. Well, Tim and I felt it would be best to keep a certain professional distance, you know?

Again with the Tim thing, Roger. When, oh when, will you realize he's mine?

Oh, and Roger, I have a TV recommendation for you. "Shear Genius" is nearly as good as PR. After the disaster of mediocrity that was "Top Design," I'm in heaven.

Hey Roger this is a very interesting post but looking at your career it has prompted a question which I hope you will address (maybe in another post!)

In some of the comments at your bloggers/reviewers post the other day and at other posts that came out of it several people brought up the issue of professional vs amateur reviewers. Can you explain what you think the difference is? I'm not talking extremes (Editor of NYTBR vs teenager blogging at My Space about a book), but everyone in the middle. It can't just be academic background because many bloggers have degrees in lit, library science, writing, etc. And it can't just be money because many bloggers freelance as book reviewers for print publications. And then there are writers who guest review at major newspapers - where do they fall in the mix? (or maybe they are really professional reviewers who happen to blog?)

I understand your point that you are representing the institution and not just your own opinion. I have reviewed several books that I personally don't love, but know that members of my audience would. (See my current column at Bookslut on books for boys.) So I understand that and I do try to adhere to it wherever I review and I think many other bloggers (Betsy for example) do also.

Can you please shed some light on what (you think) makes a professional reviewer? (And if you're someone like me, who reviews for Booklist and elsewhere - do I shift back and forth from professional to amatuer? Or is it just confusion based on where reviews appear?)

Thanks so much.......

Colleen aka Chasing Ray

(I really need to fix my blogger account so I'm not always anonymous!)

I'm glad you shared your journey to stardom. Well, stardom in the tiny little world of kids lit, but still, very interesting.

I think I could do the ten reviews a week of under two hundred words each, but probably not if they all had to be, you know, good. I can see where some oversight is necessary.

Thanks for the last paragraph about the differences between blog and print reviews. It explains a lot, and most importantly, shows that you've learned something. ;^)

Here I was thinking, hey there is a job out there that lets you read the books during work! Oh well!

That's a good question, Colleen, and here's a provisional answer (I'm still thinking). I think the difference between a professional review and an amateur one is the degree to which it's about the reviewer and the reviewed. A lot of the blog reviews I read tell me a lot about the blogger--his or her likes and dislikes and personal circumstances. It's hard for that review to be clipped away from that blog and stand alone, apart from the blogger. Professional reviews are designed to stand alone--apart from their reviewers and even from their original context--this is one reason electronic products like Booklist Online and Horn Book Guide Online can work, the individual reviews can be sorted into all kinds of order and still make sense. A professional review is more firmly tethered to the subject book than anything else. But the blog reviews (not all, certainly, although I still maintain that most are too long for their own damned good ;-) are part of a larger narrative, and work best within that narrative, which is really an evolving portrait of a person. Again, this is just a provisional thought, and I'm curious to know what others think.

Here's the answer, colleen, while Roger thinks some more, professionals get paid for it.

I found the discussion of blog vs. journal reviewing of interest. I often review for SLJ and work from the premise that I am writing as accurate a description of the book as possible. I find that it is almost a technical skill rather than something lofty and intellectual. And in the end, if the description is true, there is no need for personal opinion. The book will flourish or not based on its own merits. Do you feel Horn Book Reviews are Descriptive?

Well, Ms. P., once you've started "describing a book," you've already ventured into subjective territory, because you're deciding which details about a book are worth sharing. I don't think any book intrinsically has merit or not, because merit is an external determination, a judgment.

That said, there is a lot of technical skill involved in writing a review, and I agree that the reviewer's opinion of its merit is not necessarily the most important thing about the review. It might be more important to get the ISBN right, in fact!

Colleen-

I also think that the amateur vs. professional review also has something to do with editing. Roger pointed out the amounts of editing and polish that go into what everyone would consider a "professional" review. So even those who review professionally, their blog reviews usually don't have that same amount of oversight.

I also agree about the larger narrative. When I'm posting reviews I originally wrote on my blog in another forum, they often need tweaking in order to make any sense outside the greater context I've placed them in on my blog.

But that's just my two cents. What do I know? :)

I just need reviews that HELP ME to find truly interesting, exciting, well-written new books to satisfy my book hunger....I did not care personally so much for the Book Thief for example, (I like old-fashioned narrative formats better) but it was a MOST interesting and provocative new read...and I was glad to have been pointed in its direction...I just don't think I would have gotten POINTED in that direction so much had it not been for reliable, trusted rewiers pointing me there...it's hardly the latest YA chick litty sort of stuff now is it?

Best book reviews

The latest books reviewed here for you! We review books in all genres: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Young Adult, Children's Books and Memoirs.

Another fascinating discussion! Thanks, Roger, for sharing a bit of your professional history (as a writer/general freelance monkey I find it interesting to read about how people get into various publishing-related careers).

Another, albeit less exciting, difference between the reviews you write and the ones bloggers write has to do with rights, and who "owns" the reviews--as you said, you're working on behalf of a corporation, who presumably has general jurisdiction as well as editorial authority over anything you write for them. A nice thing about being a blogger is that I can feel like I'm maintaining ownership over what I've written. Then again, I'm not the one getting paid!!

A. Fortis, is correct, that independent bloggers have more freedom in what they get to say. While I do get the last editorial word here at the HB, I'm still reviewing on behalf of the company, which owns the copyright to everything I publish in our pages.

Let me hasten to add that we regularly publish reviews with which I do not wholeheartedly agree but nevertheless make their cases convincingly.

Hi Roger. I'm coming in very late with a question that occurred to me this morning. What do you do when you change your mind about a book after your review has already been written, published, and duly noted?

Case in point: when I read Born Confused for the first time, I hated it, and thought the prose was so sloppy and meandering that I couldn't believe it had even found a publisher. Now, almost a year later, I find that I can't get it out of my head, and that despite the sloppy writing, it had some of the more genuine characters I've come across in YA lit lately. If I had written a bad review of that book, I'd be feeling kind of guilty right now.

So, does that ever happen to you? If so, do you make any public acknowledgement?

Rachael, a review is meant to convey an initial impression and, sure, I sometimes change my mind later. But as I said someplace else on the blog, I don't always change my mind to the book's benefit. So I don't see the point in publishing mea culpas (unless we've actually made a factual error, in which case we do run a correction).

As a former intern, I have to give a plug for what a great time it is to work with you guys (and take home free books from the no shelf). Definitely one of the points on my resume that looked good to publishing employers, as well.

Thanks for the link. It's here (your link actually takes readers to my review of I'd Really Like to Eat a Child, which is a profoundly riveting review and all, but they'd probably rather read about Alvina).

Here's to Horn Book interns . . .

Thanks, Jules--Lolly Robinson pointed this out and I think fixed it behind my back because it seems fine now.

Stacy, we remember you fondly, and now we know where all the Princess Sparklepony (tm) bridle-and-ballet-slippers sets went.

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Hey! That's my book on the 3rd shelf from the bottom!

Oh, God. It reminds me of the sign that hung, years ago, over the Dial Books slush pile: "Here today, here tomorrow."

Oh, I feel much better about the sate of things around here now.

Well it certainly is satiating!

But do not overworry--remember, these particular heaps are of books that fall out of Horn Book review scope--adult books, vanity press titles, book-and merchandise, etc--or extra copies sent by publishers who couldn't restrain themselves to the requested two. We review hardcover children's books comprehensively, covering more than 6000 titles a year, with board books, novelty books, and paperbacks reviewed selectively.

I'd take a couple of those off your hands if I didn't live 600 miles away.

Aaaaccchh!

At work? Never!

with pain in my heart,
and sadness at the sight,

Barbarian the librarian

Kind of removes the "romance" from book reviewing, doesn't it? Poor, sad, little books.

I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that you review hardcover children's books comprehensively. Your submission guidelines clearly state that books from publishers not listed in Literary Market Place aren't considered. Since Literary Market Place only lists publishers that publish three or more titles per year and have a total of ten titles in print, your reviews effectively exclude many micro-publishers, some of whom are producing quality work one or two books at a time.

Sheila is correct, and that is why I chose the word "comprehensively" rather than "completely." In the Horn Book Guide, we wanted to review a definable universe of books, and the LMP rule is what we came up with. I admit that there are good books being published by companies not in LMP, just as there is obviously garbage being published by companies that are. As publishing changes (increasing sophistication of small-press and self published books, more interesting original paperback publishing, electronic publishing, etc.) we know we will have to change too. We just haven't figured out exactly how and to what change yet. In the meantime, ALL children's books published for and available in some form in the U.S. are eligible and considered for review in the Horn Book Magazine, including small presses, foreign titles distributed here, and paperbacks.

it makes one flinch (well, it makes THIS one flinch) to see any books treated so cavalierly - even books which are not worthy of the sainted HB.

I know what you mean, Anonymous--it's bad enough that we even dare to evaluate them. It's like trying to review, well, magic.

Thank you for responding to my comment. I do understand the dilemma of how to define a manageable universe of books in a time when we are approaching 200,000 new books published each year. I'll watch with interest to see how Horn Book and other review journals adapt to a changing world. I hope that you can find a way to include those books that deserve to be included.

While we're on the topic, perhaps you could address a question that has been under discussion among small publishers. LMP has a small press section in which presses too small to be otherwise included in LMP can pay for a listing. Does inclusion in the small press section of LMP qualify a publisher's books for review in the Horn Book Guide?

Wow! All I could think of was the wealth of books you'all did read and review!

Have crayons, markers, colored pencils, pastels....paints...and inkjet printer ready to go with lots and lots of paper....

Hooray for the Perkins star! Is it possible that she could win the Newbery and Caldecott with back to back books? I notice Kirkus has also starred PICTURES FROM OUR VACATION.

Hooray, too, for the Clarke star! ONE WHOLE AND PERFECT DAY is one of the most delightfully enchanting books of the spring season.

Stars, stars, stars...LOVE seeing new books with stars...

Hooray for the Seeger star! Love her books!

At least they didn't add a "said Rog" tag line to the quote.

Yo yo yo! Me an my peeps are gettin down wit some books at the Horn!

I must say that was oddly liberating. Though I've never actually heard anyone talk like that.

What's more likely is that the writer typed an abbreviation while he was getting a quote, then forgot to unabbreviate it. I'm sure it's happened to me a million times!

Ok, Melinda, I take your point about the quote, but I did actually hear someone say (or type) "The Horn" once. Eons ago,before blogs, AOL had a Tuesday night children's book chat. Writers and others interested would log on and there was a guest. One week the guest was Roger, and a young man got on and complained that he couldn't get a job in Boston publishing because he couldn't get an internship at "The Horn." Roger replied "First of all, we don't call it 'The Horn...'" and I thought to myself "This guy's toast." I also remember a different man asking why Roger hadn't reviewed his self-published work, "Rooker the Manatee."
By the way, does anyone know, are those chats archived somewhere in AOL land? They used to be...

I still say it should be called "HoBo". If we're going to be completely ridiculous, that is.

I'm just sorry they deleted your line about the ALSC Dragon Ladies (women librarians 50 and older), which was my favorite part of the original online version of the story, especially as it was positioned to make me look like the Chief Dragon Lady.

I'm still working on my fire-breathing routine for Annual Conference, in any case. Hope you like your Newbery Banquet steak well-done.

KT--the online version itself omitted my own inclusion among the ranks of dragon ladies, so the dais is going to be positively aflame! Heh.

Roger, you're always welcome in the Dragon Ladies club. Just don't forget to wear your white gloves.

Visiter?

Read your Daisy Ashford and get back to me.

Sorry for the tangent, but re Mr. Salteena and Co...

at this very moment, it is lunchtime in my classroom and I'm warming up the DVD so the kids can continue watching the BBC's version with Jim Broadbent as the sad sack Alf, aka Mr. Salteena. (BTW, Philip Pullman and others are dubious that it was really written by an eight-year old.) z

Roger,

where oh where did Stanley come from? Is he visiting from the classroom of some enterprising, dedicated and clever teacher?

hope

I believe Mr. Stanley was visiting from the classroom of just such a teacher, in San Diego. Sources tell me he arrived in London this morning.

I took Flat Stanley to the fair and a Tim McGraw & Faith Hill concert last summer. If the photos are to believed, he enjoyed himself.

It's not London, but you do the best you can! ;-)

Students here are happy with the "new" Flat Stanley in picture book format.

Yikes, don't tell that to Horn Book new-editions reviewer (and bookseller extraordinaire) Terri Schmitz! In the March/April issue she writes: "the hilarious, deadpan prose has been abridged into a text as flat as Stanley himself. Whole episodes have disappeared in order to showcase the art and squeeze the action into thirty-two pages."

Flat Stanley visited us this year too. He sure does get around!

FS came to Oberlin, OH a couple of years ago. He stayed about two weeks and went back to Phoenix with a photo album of his visit. He was a very quiet guest but we had a great time.

My kid just got Flat Stanley too. Now I'm trying to figure out where to send him. Any cool ideas?

Send him to Terri at the Children's Book Shop in Brookline so he can administer a spanking to his latest edition. (If it's even in there.)

Um ... don't know if my kindergartener's teacher would go for that.

Thought I would be amused.