From: Kathleen T. Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:40:58 -0500

Actually, Jim, I think that, with those early books, Julie Andrews purposely used her married name, Julie Edwards, so as not to be identified as Julie Andrews. I've met many adults who read her books as children, not knowing they were reading a book by "Mary Poppins" or
"Maria von Trapp."

That's quite different from today, where celebrity authors (or, at least, their publishers) WANT to call attention to their celebrity status.

KT

Kathleen T. Horning Director Cooperative Children's Book Center 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 N. Park St Madison, WI 53706

Phone: 608-263-3721 FAX: 608-262-4933

horning at education.wisc.edu http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/



James Elliott wrote:
> So many celebrities are coming out with Childrens books! Everyone from Jamie Lee Curtis to John Lithgow to Madonna to Dolly Parton! The surprising thing is how many of them are actually GOOD -- ok, maybe not great, but good. I do think that if a child sees a book written by someone they admire, it may be just that one push into the world of reading. (or, more likely, if a parent sees a book by a celebrity they like, they just MIGHT be more prone to check the book out to read to their child.) We really cannot ignore that push.
>
> Here is a link to a biting article on the subject:
>
> http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04308/405539.stm
>
> I really liked this quote:
>
> Jane Yolen, a prize-winning children's book author, contends that "celebrity children's books eat up all the available oxygen ... I have over 250 books out, have won a great number of awards within the field, have been given four honorary doctorates for my body of work, but have never been on 'Oprah' or spoken to Katie Couric or gotten a $100,000 advance for my work.
>
> "I am not complaining. I do very well by the ordinary parameters of the field. But I have been thinking about getting out my pointy bra and brushing up on my singing and dancing because there's no good pop music out there. And because -- you know -- if it's celebrity they want ...''
>
>
> me again:
> One of the first celebrity books I became aware of was Julie Andrews (Edwards) with her book "Mandy" a good story similar to "Secret Garden". It wasn't as good as "Secret Garden" but it was pretty darn good. Because it was written by "Julie Andrews Edwards" I didn't recognize it as the actress at first. It actually had to be pointed out to me! (insert 'roll eyes' emoticon here!)
>
> Jim Elliott
> North Florida
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman at education.wisc.edu>
> To: Subscribers of ccbc-net <ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu>
> Sent: Tue, 5 Jun 2007 17:02:04 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: [CCBC-Net] Celebrity Books
>
> Today we begin our discussion for the first part of June:
>
> I Can Do That! Celebrity Publishing
>
> From political figures to rock stars to movie stars, many of us have
> our ?favorites? in the realm of celebrity publishing.
>
> Do you think celebrity publishing does or should matter to librarians,
> teachers, and others committed to making the best literature possible
> available to young readers? If so, why?
>
> Megan
>
>
Received on Tue 05 Jun 2007 04:40:58 PM CDT