From: Bowen, Brenda <Brenda.Bowen>
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 14:29:30 -0400

This is probably a question for later on in the month, but I'll ask it now so that we can keep it in mind as the month goes by:

Are chapter books -- so short, so simple, so child-friendly -- sometimes overlooked by reviewers? by end-of-year honor lists? by awards committees? As a publisher, I feel it's very difficult to have a good chapter book singled out as outstanding on its own. The genre is not overlooked, but I feel the individual books sometimes are. There are exceptions, of course -SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL, Tomie de Paola's recent Newbery Honor for 26 FAIRMONT AVENUE. In general, though, chapter books do a yeoman's job of getting children excited about reading, but then do not get the attention awarded to picture books or denser novels.

Or is it that we're not publishing chapter books that are of as high quality as our picture books and older novels?

Would anyone who has served as a reviewer or on awards committees be willing to comment?

Brenda Bowen Simon & Schuster
Received on Tue 02 Oct 2001 01:29:30 PM CDT