September - October 2004

EVENTS of INTEREST
by Connie C. Epstein

The annual program presented by the PEN American Center Children’s Book Committee took place on June 8th at the new location of the Donnell Library in New York City. Entitled "Fresh Thinking: Exciting New Ideas in Children's and Young Adult Books," it drew an audience of around 160 to hear the five-person panel, each an award winner in a different specific genre. Panelists were Vicki Cobb (Nonfiction, 2004 Sibert Honor Book), K.L. Going (YA Fiction, 2004 Printz Honor Book), Gail Carson Levine (Fantasy, 1998 Newbery Honor Book), Katherine Arnoldi (Graphic Novels, ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers), and Brian Selznick (Picture Books, 2002 Caldecott Honor Book).

To begin, moderator Ellen Loughran sketched the changes she has seen take place in children's books since 1966, when she joined the staff of the Brooklyn Public Library. Literary styles were straightforward at that time, she observed. There were few easy readers or YA books, and illustrations were color separated, using only three or so colors. The panelists then described their approach to their work, demonstrating the diversity that has developed over these last 40 years. First Cobb recalled how she gradually was able to insert her own voice into her nonfiction texts in order to enliven the strict business style common in factual books. Next Going analyzed her writing by dividing it into the two levels of conscious and unconscious, saying that her best-laid plans always get demolished by her unconscious so she never outlines or makes notes in advance.

For Levine, her prime concern is "staying fresh" and not repeating herself. One example that she gave was that she tries to look at the world through the eyes of a Martian anthropologist. What would he be thinking, she speculated, as he watched some people being saved from a natural catastrophe while elsewhere they are killing each other? Would he conclude that he was witnessing a new form of population control? Arnoldi then followed by explaining that she had chosen the format of the graphic book because her subject of a teenage single mom, based on her own painful experiences, was too difficult for her to verbalize. Moved by her personal story, Selznick told her that he related to all she had said because she was telling the truth, and for him truth was the essential ingredient in both writing and illustrating. So he thanked Arnoldi for sharing her background and never did speak about his own work at all.

All were equally moved by this exchange, which clearly showed the fresh thinking taking place in children's books today.