From: Meghan McCarthy <meghanmccarthy007_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:06:28 -0700 (PDT)

This is frustrating for me to read because I don't think non publishing people have any idea how little room there is in the back of a picture book for ANYTHING. You can't just add a page or two. That's not how it works. Picture books are in 8's. So most picture books are 32 pages. If an author is lucky he or she will get 40 pages but that is including that ends and they take up 3 pages on the front and 3 on the back. If you see a picture book that is longer then the author probably had some pull/money behind it (take Brian Selznick for example)

As for as my own experience: I've had some parts of my backmatter removed from my books because there wasn't enough room. There's nothing an author can do when stuff just doesn't fit! For little children, especially, pacing is extremely important. So I'm never willing to compromise on the pacing of a story so that I can fit in every book and article I used for a book. I've asked that the designer try making the font smaller and different tactics like that but it's difficult and sometimes impossible. I must also keep my audience in mind. Parents aren't going to care about this stuff. Kids aren't going to care about this stuff. Bookstores aren't going to care about this stuff. Libraries and schools are. So an author must decide where he or she wants the books to sell best. If an author focuses too much on the library side then a bookstore or worse bookstore chain might not even cary the book at all.

There's a lot that goes into this and decisions aren't made lightly! I just want people to know that. I don't know about other authors but I use a lot of articles that are almost impossible for children to get a hold of so that's another reason I don't feel the need to list them all. I must always ask myself: Who is my target audience? I also write for the young end of the spectrum so I don't want to overdo it with back matter stuff. I think it actually wouldn't be fitting or appropriate.

If/when (?) I publish my longer work of nonfiction I hope to have plenty of room to list all of my sources. I understand when discussing longer works that there's no reason why everything shouldn't be included and done right. But again, I just want people to know how hard it is to fit in information when working with a picture book. Even ONE extra line might be one line too many! I'm really not kidding. And there are also very tight deadlines. The whole process can be extremely stressful.

Meghan McCarthy


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From: Allison Angell To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu Sent: Wed, October 20, 2010 8:29:50 PM Subject: Re:
 Source Notes and Nonfiction

I think children's nonfiction should be held to the same standard as good adult nonfiction. So if there's a quotation in the text, I want a citation for it. I'm frustrated when authors include a list of books or websites used, but no specific source notes about each quotation.

I understand that it's expensive to take a page or two of the text for source notes or an annotated bibliography. But regardless, I think that if their books don't provide a good example, we can't expect good citations in children's research papers.

Allison Angell, Benicia (Calif.) Public Library allison_angell_at_yahoo.com
Received on Wed 20 Oct 2010 06:06:28 PM CDT