From: Itsillustration_at_aol.com <Itsillustration>
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 14:45:48 EDT

I'm surprised by how many people are bothered by "potty humor." A book like CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS is full of it. The book is hugely popular. No, it isn't one of the world's greatest pieces of literature, but it gets reluctant kids to read! Isn't that important? I didn't like reading at all when I was a child but I gravitated toward the Roald Dahl books. They excited me. They were different. And yes, they contained some nastiness. Shouldn't we as authors/booksellers/librarians /publishers be making reading fun? Isn't that the main objective--to foster a literate society? My younger sister works as a tutor in DC with eight and nine year olds. You'd be surprised by the number of kids who can't read!!!

Meghan Mccarthy
(info as requested) children's book author/illustrator and bookseller www.meghan-mccarthy.com GEORGE UPSIDE DOWN (Viking) SHOW DOG (Viking - IRA?C Children's Choice 2005) THE ADVENTURES OF PATTY AND THE BIG RED BUS (Knopf) ALIENS ARE COMING! - THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE 1938 WAR OF THE WORLDS BROADCAST
(Knopf - coming Feb 2006) STEAL BACK THE MONA LISA (Harcourt - fall 2006)
Received on Fri 24 Jun 2005 01:45:48 PM CDT