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[CCBC-Net] the real celebrity books
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From: Beth Wright <bethlibrarian>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 09:49:23 -0700 (PDT)
In response to the question of what librarians do about celebrity books:
I'm a youth services librarian at at small urban public library. I order books by authors who are famous for things other than their writing skills the same way I order books by anyone else. This means I order them either because of good reviews (Jamie Lee Curtis' most recent effort got a starred review in SLJ) or because of patron requests (Madonna, Jerry Seinfield, etc.). Part of my library's mission is to provide popular materials and if patrons ask for this kind of celebrity books I will provide them. I must add here that I have never had a child ask for one of these books, only adults.
However...
There is another type of celebrity book, and that's the book that deserves celebrity status because it's so good. When these books come out I give them the reception that real celebrity books deserve. In this celebrity-crazed culture kids recognize the star treatment when they see it, so I do my best to establish this with multiple copies, posters of the artwork, handselling, and everything else I can do to counteract chain store endcap promotions of insipid messagey fables by famous people. I hope that other librarians and independent booksellers do the same because much of the time we ARE the marketing departments for less-heralded books that will mean far more to young people.
A final thought: if it keeps paying less and less to write an excellent book for children, the only people left who will be able to afford to write children's books at all will be, urgh, celebrities.
Beth Wright
Beth Wright Youth Services Librarian Fletcher Free Library Burlington, Vermont
(802) 865-7216 bethlibrarian at yahoo.com
____________________________________________________________________________________ Got a little couch potato? Check out fun summer activities for kids. http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz
Received on Fri 08 Jun 2007 11:49:23 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 09:49:23 -0700 (PDT)
In response to the question of what librarians do about celebrity books:
I'm a youth services librarian at at small urban public library. I order books by authors who are famous for things other than their writing skills the same way I order books by anyone else. This means I order them either because of good reviews (Jamie Lee Curtis' most recent effort got a starred review in SLJ) or because of patron requests (Madonna, Jerry Seinfield, etc.). Part of my library's mission is to provide popular materials and if patrons ask for this kind of celebrity books I will provide them. I must add here that I have never had a child ask for one of these books, only adults.
However...
There is another type of celebrity book, and that's the book that deserves celebrity status because it's so good. When these books come out I give them the reception that real celebrity books deserve. In this celebrity-crazed culture kids recognize the star treatment when they see it, so I do my best to establish this with multiple copies, posters of the artwork, handselling, and everything else I can do to counteract chain store endcap promotions of insipid messagey fables by famous people. I hope that other librarians and independent booksellers do the same because much of the time we ARE the marketing departments for less-heralded books that will mean far more to young people.
A final thought: if it keeps paying less and less to write an excellent book for children, the only people left who will be able to afford to write children's books at all will be, urgh, celebrities.
Beth Wright
Beth Wright Youth Services Librarian Fletcher Free Library Burlington, Vermont
(802) 865-7216 bethlibrarian at yahoo.com
____________________________________________________________________________________ Got a little couch potato? Check out fun summer activities for kids. http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz
Received on Fri 08 Jun 2007 11:49:23 AM CDT
