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"IT'S IN THE WIND"
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From: Bowen, Brenda <BBowen>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 11:52:49 -0500
Thanks, Ginny, for inviting a response about how it is that books with similar texts/themes/ideas appear at once. Ginny is right to say that it can be a publishing nightmare to find out that a competitor is issuing the exact same folktale on the exact same list, and we often say that an idea is "in the wind," for lack of a more scientific explanation. But one of the joys of working with children's books is that writers and artists interpret stories differently, which is why we continue to believe there is always something new to say -- either visually or in a retelling -- about an old text.
Cetainly, we don't know what others are publishing until our catalogues are made public, and when we do have "competitive" books we know we'll be looking at reviews that compare and contrast. So we try to emphasize what is unique about our own book, the "why" of its creation, so as to give some context to why we're presenting "another" ABC or "another" OLD LADY.
These folktales are our "canon," and their interpretation, in the best of examples, is a comment on the zeitgeist of the times.
Regarding THE HUNTERMAN AND THE CROCODILES, which we published here: You'll see that Wague's retelling has a more optimistic ending than most tales. When I questioned the book's editor, Dianne Hess, about this, she pointed out that Wague had a "right" to deviate from the standard ending (where everyone is just right back where they started). His retelling takes the standard text and refracts it through his own experience and beliefs. Which is what it's all about!
Brenda Bowen Scholastic Press
Received on Mon 26 Jan 1998 10:52:49 AM CST
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 11:52:49 -0500
Thanks, Ginny, for inviting a response about how it is that books with similar texts/themes/ideas appear at once. Ginny is right to say that it can be a publishing nightmare to find out that a competitor is issuing the exact same folktale on the exact same list, and we often say that an idea is "in the wind," for lack of a more scientific explanation. But one of the joys of working with children's books is that writers and artists interpret stories differently, which is why we continue to believe there is always something new to say -- either visually or in a retelling -- about an old text.
Cetainly, we don't know what others are publishing until our catalogues are made public, and when we do have "competitive" books we know we'll be looking at reviews that compare and contrast. So we try to emphasize what is unique about our own book, the "why" of its creation, so as to give some context to why we're presenting "another" ABC or "another" OLD LADY.
These folktales are our "canon," and their interpretation, in the best of examples, is a comment on the zeitgeist of the times.
Regarding THE HUNTERMAN AND THE CROCODILES, which we published here: You'll see that Wague's retelling has a more optimistic ending than most tales. When I questioned the book's editor, Dianne Hess, about this, she pointed out that Wague had a "right" to deviate from the standard ending (where everyone is just right back where they started). His retelling takes the standard text and refracts it through his own experience and beliefs. Which is what it's all about!
Brenda Bowen Scholastic Press
Received on Mon 26 Jan 1998 10:52:49 AM CST
