From: Kathleen T. Horning <horning>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:25:46 -0500

One subset of celebrity publishing is adult authors who try their hand at writing for children. Some writers of excellent adult books are far less successful when it comes to writing for children and teens. Others are quite good. One of the best, I think, is Louise Erdrich, who excels at both children's fiction (eg "Birchbark House") and picture books (eg
"Grandmother's Pigeon"). Another adult author who writes well for children is Joy Harjo, author of the outstanding picture book, "The Good Luck Cat." I'd love to see more children's books from both of them..

I remember coming across an article in an early 1960s Horn Book which complained about celebrities writing for children. In this case, all of the celebrities in question were adult authors. The writer of the article was especially critical of John Ciardi's poetry for children, as I recall.

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/
Received on Wed 13 Jun 2007 02:25:46 PM CDT