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RE: Interview with 'Rebecca Stead
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From: Russell Barrett <rbarrett_at_blinn.edu>
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:38:47 -0600
And yet, on the same day (January 19), the Today Show spent six minutes int erviewing Whoopi Goldberg about her new children's novel (including an open ing question about the last time Whoopi had sex) while devoting just two mi nutes talking with Rebecca Stead and Jerry Pinkney. Was Whoopi's Sugar Pl um Ballerinas three times more significant than Stead's When You Reach Me a nd Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse?
But I don't want to get off on celebrity-authored children's books, which seem to display an attitude that children's books are easy to write because they're short and use limited vocabulary. (Does anybody remember Terrell Owens' Little T Learns to Share?) As Daniel Smith notes, "Anyone who thin ks that writing a good book for a 2-year-old is easier than writing a good book for a 32-year-old is deluded. The children's author has a monumental t ask. First, he must entertain, educate, stimulate the imagination of, etc., the child. That's primary. But he must also entertain, educate, stimulate the imagination of, etc., the parent. This is secondary but, for the contin ued sanity of the reader-parent, of great importance. Great children's writ ers never forget their dual audience. "
Russell rbarrett_at_blinn.edu
From: Norma Jean Sawicki
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 10:20 PM To: Miriam Lang Budin Cc: Margaret Tice; ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re:
Interview with 'Rebecca Stead
Frankly, I have always thought it terrific of the Today Show to treat the N /C Awards as breaking news and to invite the recipients on the show asap. T he intent being breaking news...as in important. Given their full plate, an d the speed, I doubt the key players on The Today show have the time to rea d the books cover to cover, let alone think about them. Thousands of people hear "the news" for the first time that morning, and I have never meet a w riter or illustrator who was not delighted to appear. It's a different venu e with a different purpose. And frankly, the few experts of children's lite rature who have appeared on The Today Show to talk about children's books i n general have been disasters...one, in particular, embarrassingly so; the reason I think it best for the staff to interview the recipients, and too, Al Roker's children's book recommendations have sales clout. It is to every one's advantage for the awards to receive wide ranging publicity.
On Jan 30, 2010, at 9:37 PM, Miriam Lang Budin wrote:
Wonderful interview, Margaret! Thank you for sharing. (Isn't it amazing h ow much better this interview--by Kurt Anderson, who had obviously read and admired the book--is compared to those dimwits on the Today show?)
Cheers! Miriam On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Margaret Tice wrote:
Good interview with Rebecca Stead on Studio 360 this afternoon.
Margaret Tice
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:38:47 -0600
And yet, on the same day (January 19), the Today Show spent six minutes int erviewing Whoopi Goldberg about her new children's novel (including an open ing question about the last time Whoopi had sex) while devoting just two mi nutes talking with Rebecca Stead and Jerry Pinkney. Was Whoopi's Sugar Pl um Ballerinas three times more significant than Stead's When You Reach Me a nd Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse?
But I don't want to get off on celebrity-authored children's books, which seem to display an attitude that children's books are easy to write because they're short and use limited vocabulary. (Does anybody remember Terrell Owens' Little T Learns to Share?) As Daniel Smith notes, "Anyone who thin ks that writing a good book for a 2-year-old is easier than writing a good book for a 32-year-old is deluded. The children's author has a monumental t ask. First, he must entertain, educate, stimulate the imagination of, etc., the child. That's primary. But he must also entertain, educate, stimulate the imagination of, etc., the parent. This is secondary but, for the contin ued sanity of the reader-parent, of great importance. Great children's writ ers never forget their dual audience. "
Russell rbarrett_at_blinn.edu
From: Norma Jean Sawicki
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 10:20 PM To: Miriam Lang Budin Cc: Margaret Tice; ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re:
Interview with 'Rebecca Stead
Frankly, I have always thought it terrific of the Today Show to treat the N /C Awards as breaking news and to invite the recipients on the show asap. T he intent being breaking news...as in important. Given their full plate, an d the speed, I doubt the key players on The Today show have the time to rea d the books cover to cover, let alone think about them. Thousands of people hear "the news" for the first time that morning, and I have never meet a w riter or illustrator who was not delighted to appear. It's a different venu e with a different purpose. And frankly, the few experts of children's lite rature who have appeared on The Today Show to talk about children's books i n general have been disasters...one, in particular, embarrassingly so; the reason I think it best for the staff to interview the recipients, and too, Al Roker's children's book recommendations have sales clout. It is to every one's advantage for the awards to receive wide ranging publicity.
On Jan 30, 2010, at 9:37 PM, Miriam Lang Budin wrote:
Wonderful interview, Margaret! Thank you for sharing. (Isn't it amazing h ow much better this interview--by Kurt Anderson, who had obviously read and admired the book--is compared to those dimwits on the Today show?)
Cheers! Miriam On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Margaret Tice wrote:
Good interview with Rebecca Stead on Studio 360 this afternoon.
Margaret Tice
---Received on Mon 01 Feb 2010 11:38:47 AM CST
