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A publisher is like a delicate cheese. Each one has their own flavor. Their own specific style and substance. After years of watching one publisher or another, you get a sense of what they do and do not like. In some big publishers like Candlewick or Chronicle you detect a kind of personality. Slightly smaller pubs, however, are generally better known for cultivating their lists with a closer hand. Blue Apple Books, for example, displays this in various ways. If you get your paws on their Fall 2011 catalog you will find a nifty section at the start that discusses how author and publisher and Blue Apple President Harriet Ziefert started the company in 2005. It then highlights various titles on the Blue Apple list for each of the intervening years. Using one’s own catalog as a more than just the usual meet n’ great is unusual. I like it. I wish I saw it more.
I sat down with Harriet and Elliot Kreloff (the Associate Publisher and Art Director) for lunch the other day in the Bryant Park Grill, where I remain convinced that Julie & Julia filmed the “Cobb salad” scene. In this far more intimate setting than the usual librarian previews I attend, I got a firsthand look at what 2011 has been offered, is offering, and is about to offer.
Let’s talk spring first.
Spring 2011
When graphic designers are allowed to make children’s books, the hair on the back of my neck starts to rise. A well-designed picture book can either be over the moon gorgeous or so self-involved that no self-respecting child will give it so much as a second glance. Back in 2009 the duo of Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss hedged far further into the former rather than the latter category with Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types. Now they have returned. In Bugs by the Numbers we see an array of insects represented by numbers. These numbers, however, aren’t arbitrary. Each one corresponds to some kind of fascinating fact about the insect in question. For example, images of leaping fleas are composed of the number 150. That’s how many times a flea can jump its own height. These facts have also been vetted by someone in the Harvard University Museum, so no worries there. Boy, it would have come in awfully handy yesterday when fifty first graders descended on my library, desperately seeking any and all bug/insect books we had on hand. Awfully handy.
My sudden interest in board books has felt strange to me. To go from .003% interest to 110% is enough to give a gal whiplash. New as I am to the world of board books, I take what I am given with great interest, and not a little trepidation. That’s when I sort of met the DwellStudio line. Producing books like Good Morning, Toucan and Goodnight, Owl, the books are these strange, beautiful, somewhat iconic but very simple looks at saying good morning and saying goodnight. There are flaps to be lifted and monkeys to find. I shall have to test these out thoroughly when the ti
Whew! Boy, am I getting this last one in right under the gun or what? Which is to say, before the end of January has passed. The new round of previews begin in February so I didn’t want to have any loose stragglers waiting about when I saw the new crop of 2011 titles.
A month ago Michelle Bayuk did me the very great favor of sitting down and showing me a couple of the offerings Albert Whitman & Company have on their roster. AW & Co. is a smaller publishing company than most of the folks I cover. Located in what I assume to be the lovely but currently freezing Park Ridge, Illinois (though who am I to talk?) the company is able to indulge in smaller more personal titles that the biggies out there. That’s why I like ‘em. This season? No exception.
First up, their logical catalog begins with board books. There’s the usual cluster of previous titles turned into board books, like Alison Formento’s This Tree, 1,2,3 or Rebecca O’Connell’s Done With Diapers!: A Potty ABC. My eyes, however, were fixed on the new batch of books from one Martine Perrin. Already a hit in her native France, Perrin’s board books are entirely splendid from a visual standpoint. AW&Co. is translating and bringing to our shores two of her books for starters. The first is Look Who’s There, with a snazzy die-cut board book cover. The other book, What Do You See?, is reminiscent of the work of Laura Vaccaro Seeger with its visual cut-out puzzles. Very cool. Put ‘em on your board book wish list then.
Next up, British author/illustrator Sarah Gibb also makes an appearance on our shores. Her version of Rapunzel should be out in March and it’s perfectly situated to appeal to those . . . fine. Those girls (I’m sure there are boys that like princesses too sometimes, y’know) who incline towards Disney-esque figures. This Rapunzel does bear some similarities, at least on the cover, to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty right off the bat. The title itself tells some of the tale in a series of silhouettes. They’re gorgeous silhouettes, though, showing things I’ve never seen before. Things like a perfect layout of at least four of the floors in Rapunzel’s tower (love the spinning wheel in one of the rooms). We all love our Zelinsky Rapunzel, but this one has some points to recommend it as well. I found some of the interior spreads online. Here’s a taste:
10 Comments on Librarian Preview: Albert Whitman & Company (Spring 2011), last added: 1/27/2011
It’s a bit late in the season for me to keep typing up these librarian previews, but due to the fact that the “Spring” has only just begun, I think I have a little leeway for my two remaining previews before I start hearing about the Summer 2011 books that are right around the corner.
If I’ve not done HMH before it isn’t because I don’t like their books and more because they are based out of Boston whilst I languish here in New York (languish means to carry on and have a fine old time, right?). Fortunately all that ended with a delightful lunch and a peek at what the future has in store.
First off, an ode to catalogs. Soon they shall go the way of the dinosaur, which is a pity since as of right now it is still much easier to write notes and stick Post-Its in catalogs than it is to do the same to a website. The HMH Spring 2011 catalog had a couple distinguishing characteristics that I would like to point out to you now. Mainly:
- They split their books up by genre rather than imprint, which is a far more manageable form for librarian types when ordering.
- They list their bookstore representatives in the back.
- They also list their authors and illustrators by state and include those people’s websites. This is a very good idea. Just the other day in my library I had a parent who informed me that she needed a book by either an author from South Carolina or a chapter book that took place in South Carolina. A search of the South Carolina SCBWI chapter didn’t yield much and in the end I sent her home happy with a copy of The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis (which takes place there) instead. Would that I had known about this catalog! Why, we could have rustled up books by Gene Fehler instead. But I digress.
The board book section of the catalog comes first, as is right. We didn’t talk much about it, though. I mean, it’s kind of cool to see the new BB version of Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers (illustrated by Marla Frazee) or Margaret Mahy and Polly Dunbar’s Bubble Trouble, but picture book to board book transformations must be viewed firsthand in order to determine if they’ve successfully edited down the unnecessary. Fortunately I have a test subject in the works that will help me to determine these facts with me soon.
From there we go on to picture books, and here we find the first surprise of the day. 2010 was the year that folks couldn’t help but get excited about The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska. It won the Gold at the Society of Illustrators event, but was ineligible for a Caldecott since the illustrator, for all her charms, lives in Canada. And thus a nation weeps. But dry your eyes, folks! This spring we’re going to see The Loud Book come our way! Yup. Everything from “Aunt Tillie’s banjo band loud&r
“I’m feeling very refreshed because I just washed my hands with the mouthwash in the bathroom.”
When one finds oneself invited to a librarian preview at the Yale Club for the Little Brown Spring/Summer 2011 season, it is useful to remember the following:
- Do not appear in jeans. I know it is your day off. They make you feel more relaxed, sure. But you will find that you are, in fact, quite scruffy when the fellow at the front desk calls you on them and you have to explain that you are a guest of Little Brown, thereby possibly casting aspersions on that venerable institution. I confess, I got a small thrill out of it anyway. Jeans in the Yale Club! Woo-hoo!
- Do not mistake the mouthwash in the ladies room (yes, it really is mouthwash) for the hand soap. Fortunately, the Yale Club does not outfit that room with an attendant. Otherwise you might have some ’splaining to do.
Instead, Megan Tingley, the Senior Vice President and Publisher of Little Brown Books explained how she had herself mistaken one item for another, thereby allowing her guests the opportunity to avoid the same mistake (which, in the past, I too have made). And as we were feted with brie/ham/apple sandwiches and coffee baked desserts, we got to hear about a new season with a real twist on the expected.
By the way, rather than end this round-up with the usual info, I’m going to play with fire and tell you right off the bat that if you would like a galley of anything you see here today, you need only contact Victoria Stapleton at [email protected] with the title(s) you desire. Be sure to include your full contact info. Sadly, if you have a P.O. Box you are out of the running. Little Brown isn’t allowed to ship to them.
Now the first, and maybe most unexpected, book of the day comes to us via Patrick McDonnell. See, I’ve always like McDonnell’s look. I like how his artistic style (the one he uses to make that Mutts comic strip) mimics that of Krazy Kat. However, I’ve never taken to his picture books. They tend to be pet-centric, or the kinds of books that go for the warm fuzzy feeling crowd. I am not a member of the fuzzy feeling crowd. That said, McDonnell has made a recent departure with his book Me…Jane that will interest non-Mutts reading folks like myself as well as his stalwart fans. The book is based on the childhood of Jane Goodall, and adapts rather beautifully to the old 40-page picture book format. As a child, Jane was given a stuffed chimpanzee (not a real one) as a toy. She kept extensive notes about the great outdoors (which are reproduced in the book). Mostly, though, the story just shows Jane climbing trees and hanging out in nature. The fact that she read Tarzan as a child is almost too perfect for words. And when you get to the end . . . I’m not a member of the fuzzy feeling crowd at all, but even just looking at the galley for this book for the first time, I admit . . . I welled up a little. I won’t spoil it for you. You’ll just have to find this little biography for yourself. And apparently a significant portion of the proceeds of this book goes to Jane’s foundation. Nicely done.
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10 Comments on Librarian Preview: Little Brown and Company (Spring 2011), last added: 12/1/2010
A publisher is like a delicate cheese. Each one has their own flavor. Their own specific style and substance. After years of watching one publisher or another, you get a sense of what they do and do not like. In some big publishers like Candlewick or Chronicle you detect a kind of personality. Slightly smaller pubs, however, are generally better known for cultivating their lists with a closer hand. Blue Apple Books, for example, displays this in various ways. If you get your paws on their Fall 2011 catalog you will find a nifty section at the start that discusses how author and publisher and Blue Apple President Harriet Ziefert started the company in 2005. It then highlights various titles on the Blue Apple list for each of the intervening years. Using one’s own catalog as a more than just the usual meet n’ great is unusual. I like it. I wish I saw it more.
When graphic designers are allowed to make children’s books, the hair on the back of my neck starts to rise. A well-designed picture book can either be over the moon gorgeous or so self-involved that no self-respecting child will give it so much as a second glance. Back in 2009 the duo of Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss hedged far further into the former rather than the latter category with Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types. Now they have returned. In Bugs by the Numbers we see an array of insects represented by numbers. These numbers, however, aren’t arbitrary. Each one corresponds to some kind of fascinating fact about the insect in question. For example, images of leaping fleas are composed of the number 150. That’s how many times a flea can jump its own height. These facts have also been vetted by someone in the Harvard University Museum, so no worries there. Boy, it would have come in awfully handy yesterday when fifty first graders descended on my library, desperately seeking any and all bug/insect books we had on hand. Awfully handy.
My sudden interest in board books has felt strange to me. To go from .003% interest to 110% is enough to give a gal whiplash. New as I am to the world of board books, I take what I am given with great interest, and not a little trepidation. That’s when I sort of met the DwellStudio line. Producing books like Good Morning, Toucan and Goodnight, Owl, the books are these strange, beautiful, somewhat iconic but very simple looks at saying good morning and saying goodnight. There are flaps to be lifted and monkeys to find. I shall have to test these out thoroughly when the ti
10 Comments on Librarian Preview: Albert Whitman & Company (Spring 2011), last added: 1/27/2011
10 Comments on Librarian Preview: Little Brown and Company (Spring 2011), last added: 12/1/2010
10 Comments on Librarian Preview: Harper Collins (Spring 2011), last added: 11/19/2010
8 Comments on Librarian Preview: Lerner Publishing (Spring 2011), last added: 10/27/2010
I love Ross Collins!
Betsy, You have missed “Princess: A Glittering Guide for Young Ladies” by Stella Gurney from Candlewick’s Genuine and Moste Authentic Guides series.
I knew there was one out there I missed. I bet the other hypothetical manners books exist as well, don’t they? If they don’t, dibs on the robot one.
I’m the Will Terry you speak of and I know you not either but I’d like to know you – I keep hearing great things about this Fuse8 blog. In fact I was speaking in Rick Walton’s picturebook class last night at BYU and he mentioned Fuse8. “If you don’t read Fuse8 you need to start.” – was the advice he gave to his students.
I’ve been hiding out here in Utah – probably a state the east coasters don’t even know about. I grew up just north of Washington D.C. in Beltsville Md. Survived three sisters trying to get me to play barbie dolls with them – played cello in H.S. – mom forced me to get my eagle scout award – Lived in the shadow of my academic over achieving older sister – struggled to get D’s instead of F’s on my report cards – lost self esteem – WAS BULLIED – snuck in the backdoor at BYU – worked hard in art – built an illustration career in 1992 – happy ever since! Now working with great authors like Leslie Kimmelman – Helen Ketteman – Gail Krause – Joan Holub – Marcia Vaughan – coming soon Lee Bennett Hopkins and hopefully soon Rick Walton!
I’ve successfully avoided a real job for the past 19 years – shhhh – don’t tell my wife.
Will Terry, who illustrated THE THREE BULLY GOATS, lives in my neck of the woods.
In fact, we were just hanging out last night. He’s got a lot of great material on his blog:
http://www.willterry.blogspot.com/
Gibb’s Rapunzel looks fabulous! Colorful and quaint illustrations that might possibly emphasize each page’s action with a faded background. Do you know how these were created/designed?
Thanks, Betsy! and Thanks Will for introducing yourself.
Mary — I don’t have info on the art method. I’ll see what I can find out – but in the meantime, her website sarahgibb.com does have some info about her style, etc.
Hi- Thank you for including my book “Princess Kim And Too Much Truth” in your Albert Whitman Highlight.
Albert Whitman puts out some great books and they are fantastic to work with…and that’s the TRUTH.
Visit http://www.maryanncoccaleffler.com
Thanks Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Thanks for including THE GOODBYE CANCER GARDEN. I was honored to illustrate it and hope that it inspires many families having to deal with the hard fact of cancer. It’s wonderful that you’ll add it to your other lists too!
Yes! Frieda Wishinsky is my aunt! She is so much fun to hang out with. When we get together we talk and talk and talk and talk and talk about books. The humor and insight you see in her stories is hers in real life, too. I love her!