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A Paucity of Picture Books
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From: Binawill_at_aol.com
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:29:27 -0400 (EDT)
A third option is to go to an independent bookstore, especially a children's only bookstore, where staff members can help find the right book for the right kid at the right time. Just as the local library is a part of the community, an independent store is locally based and answers only to its
owners and customers, not some corporate headquarters. (I was an independen t bookseller for 20 years before becoming a librarian.) Or ask a children's librarian for suggestions of great books which can be
"test driven" before purchasing. Bina Williams to find local bookstores, go to _http://www.indiebound.org/_ (http://www.indiebound.org/)
In a message dated 11/5/2010 8:59:58 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, leonardsma_at_aol.com writes:
Of course the thing about really good picture books is that you DON'T read
them just once. You read them again and again, GOODNIGHT MOON being the ultimate example. If you "amortize" a picture book purchase on that basis, it turns out to be quite a bargain. The real problem for adult shoppers is not having enough guidance as they make their selections in stores. The default options are (1) to buy a remembered and loved book, and there is
certainly nothing wrong with that--except it does nothing to encourage the chains to stock a wide variety of newer books and thus ultimately results in more
limited stock selections and to more muddled articles like the one in the
Times; and (2) to reach for a celebrity book (because it's "author" is fun ny on television or whatever). The latter is unfortunate only because those
books are rarely good and do make the person who paid the $17 wonder wheth er it was worth the price, which in fact it was not.
Leonard
Leonard S. Marcus 54 Willow Street, #2A Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
T 718 596-1897 E leonardsma_at_aol.com W www.leonardmarcus.com
Message-----
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com To: dipesh@navsaria.com; ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Sent: Fri, Nov 5, 2010 7:02 am Subject: Re:
A Paucity of Picture Books
I share the sense that the NYT article was limited and that the picture book is magnificent as both an artistic platform and a way of bringing children in to books and reading. However I also think there is a specific
problem the picture book faces which is not just a function of the cycle o f trends and the ups and downs of demographic curves (YA boomed when teenage rs as a cohort formed an ever larger % of the population, a bulge that has passed). Because new picture books are of necessity hardcover (paperback p icture books are so slim they disappear), a parent faces a relatively high cost
(say $16) for a relatively short immersion experience (32, 40, 48 pages pl us the effort the parent puts into engaging the child spread by spread). That
is a tough purchase one, by one, by one. It becomes much more appealing to
buy a new picture book when you already have shelves full of others -- as
libraries and some fortunate parents do. Then you are not just spending $1 6 for 32 pages, you are adding one more choice to a rich set of options. The
new 3 Billy Goats Gruff is a fun pair with an older one, a nonfiction book
on goats (or bridges for that matter), a silly rhymes book on trolls. I wonder if publishers, and bookstores, might need to offer new picture book s in something like a subscription model -- where the buyer gets, say, 5 -- two
classic paperbacks, one new hardcover, one book of poetry, one nonfiction
-- for some lower set price. While the parent is spending more than $16,
she is now populating shelves of a home library with great choices that ca n be used in many ways. She gets over the "can I spend so much for so little " barrier.
Marc Aronson
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:29:27 -0400 (EDT)
A third option is to go to an independent bookstore, especially a children's only bookstore, where staff members can help find the right book for the right kid at the right time. Just as the local library is a part of the community, an independent store is locally based and answers only to its
owners and customers, not some corporate headquarters. (I was an independen t bookseller for 20 years before becoming a librarian.) Or ask a children's librarian for suggestions of great books which can be
"test driven" before purchasing. Bina Williams to find local bookstores, go to _http://www.indiebound.org/_ (http://www.indiebound.org/)
In a message dated 11/5/2010 8:59:58 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, leonardsma_at_aol.com writes:
Of course the thing about really good picture books is that you DON'T read
them just once. You read them again and again, GOODNIGHT MOON being the ultimate example. If you "amortize" a picture book purchase on that basis, it turns out to be quite a bargain. The real problem for adult shoppers is not having enough guidance as they make their selections in stores. The default options are (1) to buy a remembered and loved book, and there is
certainly nothing wrong with that--except it does nothing to encourage the chains to stock a wide variety of newer books and thus ultimately results in more
limited stock selections and to more muddled articles like the one in the
Times; and (2) to reach for a celebrity book (because it's "author" is fun ny on television or whatever). The latter is unfortunate only because those
books are rarely good and do make the person who paid the $17 wonder wheth er it was worth the price, which in fact it was not.
Leonard
Leonard S. Marcus 54 Willow Street, #2A Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
T 718 596-1897 E leonardsma_at_aol.com W www.leonardmarcus.com
Message-----
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com To: dipesh@navsaria.com; ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Sent: Fri, Nov 5, 2010 7:02 am Subject: Re:
A Paucity of Picture Books
I share the sense that the NYT article was limited and that the picture book is magnificent as both an artistic platform and a way of bringing children in to books and reading. However I also think there is a specific
problem the picture book faces which is not just a function of the cycle o f trends and the ups and downs of demographic curves (YA boomed when teenage rs as a cohort formed an ever larger % of the population, a bulge that has passed). Because new picture books are of necessity hardcover (paperback p icture books are so slim they disappear), a parent faces a relatively high cost
(say $16) for a relatively short immersion experience (32, 40, 48 pages pl us the effort the parent puts into engaging the child spread by spread). That
is a tough purchase one, by one, by one. It becomes much more appealing to
buy a new picture book when you already have shelves full of others -- as
libraries and some fortunate parents do. Then you are not just spending $1 6 for 32 pages, you are adding one more choice to a rich set of options. The
new 3 Billy Goats Gruff is a fun pair with an older one, a nonfiction book
on goats (or bridges for that matter), a silly rhymes book on trolls. I wonder if publishers, and bookstores, might need to offer new picture book s in something like a subscription model -- where the buyer gets, say, 5 -- two
classic paperbacks, one new hardcover, one book of poetry, one nonfiction
-- for some lower set price. While the parent is spending more than $16,
she is now populating shelves of a home library with great choices that ca n be used in many ways. She gets over the "can I spend so much for so little " barrier.
Marc Aronson
---Received on Fri 05 Nov 2010 09:29:27 AM CDT
