From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 19:17:07 -0500

There's still time to get in on the July discussion of Classics. First, a word from your sponsor, so to speak. But don't let me stop you if you want to suggest a personal favorite to us all or comment for the first time on what makes a classic for you. Maybe you want to respond to any of the 12 who have commented during the past twelve days (Jean, Violet, Betty, Sheila, Shelby, Holly, Walter, Nina, Debby, Beverly, Dorian, or Susan) or to anyone else who earlier stimulated so much conversation both on- and off-line so far this month. July isn't over - yet!

It's OK to continue with Classics during the coming weekend, if you wish. I'll provide announcements on Friday, and you may provide announcements, too, if you have them.

Megan, K.T. and I are pleased that so many more of you found a way to participate directly during July, so we can all benefit from your thoughts and suggestions. We're delighted to find out - all over again that some of you are finding each other through CCBC-NET, having side conversations about Classics (and other things, too!) with new, former, continuing colleagues. That can be just one of the marvelous possible outcomes of the CCBC-NET Community of Interest.

We've largely been mixing our comments between discussing personal classics (books we hope today's and even tomorrow's children/teens will enjoy and/or books we personally remember and value for various reasons); the "canon" whatever that means to each of us but it has special meaning for secondary level teachers and teachers in higher education, in particular; and library selection and programming perspectives. Here at your CCBC home base, it seemed best to have the discussion move in any direction you wanted, because the above and yet other aspects of the subject are so intermingled, anyway. Before we begin a very different kind of discussion, i.e. two (or more) of the newest books for adolescents: Tenderness by Robert Cormier (Delacorte) and Buffalo Tree by Adam Rapp (Front Street), let's briefly reflect upon yet other aspect of Classics.

As we examine all of the newly published books all year long at the CCBC, we pay attention to new editions of classics. We look for visually interesting presentations of familiar titles. (remember the question: familiar to whom?) We wonder if young readers (or their advocates: teachers, librarians, parents, relatives bearing gifts, etc) will be interested in knowing about new editions of books that might have stood the test of recent time or of a long time. I'm not referring here to reprinted "classics" such as the Books of Wonder published by Morrow or the almost annual thick book illus by N.C. Wyeth reissued looking exactly as it did when it was first published. I'm talking about n-e-w editions. Typically the "canon" type of classic or familiar book takes one of three forms: 1) full, original text with a fresh page layout & design, new typography, sometimes even with illustrations; 2) excerpts of the original text in a fresh appearance, usually illustrated; and 3) rewritten, greatly abbreviated "classics" (the 32-page edition of Little Women with a plastic cameo necklace comes to mind, as does the 32-page edition of Moby Dick). There are other versions of classics or "familiar" books, as well.

CCBC Choices typically has a final section titled "New Editions of Classic Literature." In looking at CCBC Choices 1996, I see we recommend seven new editions of "classics," and I'll list them after a disclaimer: these books appear next to each other on the same list o-n-l-y because they were published in the U.S.A. during the same year, and we decided we could go out on a limb and suggest that others take a close look at them: 1) a new translation from the German of E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker illus by Genady Spirin (Stewart, Tabori & Chang); 2) Harald the Ruthless (greatly abbreviated, almost graphic novel edition of brief length of the Icelandic saga published in the U.S. by Henry Holt); 3) Eve Merriam's Inner City Mother Goose with illus by David Diaz third edition of this book, we recommend it for age 14 through adult based especially on the illus of these poems and also on Nikki Giovanni's introduction on Mother Goose rhymes (Simon & Schuster); 4) Robin of Sherwood as written by Michael Morpurgo, illus by Michael Foreman (U.S edition: Harcourt Brace); 5) Edgar Allen Poe's [3] Tales of Mystery & Imagination illus by Gary Kelley (Creative Editions / Harcourt Brace); and 6) Hanna's Sabbath Dress, a newly translated [from the Hebrew] picture book text, illus by Ora Eitan (U.S. ed: Simon & Schuster).
  Quite a wide variety there. Probably several surprises for you as you read the list. Should all readers read all of them? No! Should all families buy all of them? Certainly not! Should all teachers teach each of them. Silly question, you know what I will say - of course not! But, yes, we do hope most public librarians and many school media specialists will consider purchasing each of them, depending on the other editions of these "classics" their libraries can already offer to families, depending on their budgets, depending on many other factors. We hope most booksellers will consider stocking them.

So there's another aspect of our subject: the edition. We would not all agree about that, either, and our discussion would have to be book by book, edition by edition. However, the edition is an important consideration regarding a book that once was published looking quite and maybe even being quite different in its text.

P.S. for information on securing a copy of CCBC Choices 1996, see the CCBC website (www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/) ... Ginny
 ************************************ Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison
Received on Wed 30 Jul 1997 07:17:07 PM CDT