Celebrity Book Critique

"Celebrity books are one of the great negative features of children's publishing in the 21st century. If I were still a publisher, as I used to be, none of these manuscripts would make it past my slush pile."-Anita Silvey

While web surfing at work I came across an interesting article by Ed Pilkington. The article is a rather harsh critique on celebrity authors of childrens' books. The cocky attitudes that celebs have about their ability to write are almost laughable. Madonna is heavily targeted for this flaw. An introduction to one of her more recent books alludes to this attitude; the book begins with "If you haven't heard of the English Roses by now...then you are either: a) living under a rock, b) living on the moon, c) away with the fairies. If you fit the description of a, b, or c, then I am happy to clue you in to what the rest of the world already knows." Seriously? Although her English Roses series has done well, is it really necessary to flaunt it like that?
Pilkington describes Madonna's introduction as "self serving, self satisfied, and downright smug." He's right though isn't he? I kind of feel like an introduction like that in a children's book can have negative effects on a child's self-esteem. It basically screams "Where have YOU been...this is what all the COOL kids are doing!" Although Madonna's books are best sellers on two continents, I feel that she could learn a lesson in humility.
As we all know Celebrity Authors are climbing up the best sellers list; but how much credit do they actually deserve? Various editors are appalled with the celebrity attempt to get into the literature field.
"'I don't hang out at celebrity haunts that much,' says Julie Just, the children's book editor of the New York Times, 'but if I did I would love to ask these famous people what they think they are doing.'"
They are accused of doing this for reasons like needing extra cash (HA!), or wanting to widen their fan base, or simply because they think that the bedtime stories they have told their kids over the years are something fabulous. Apparently in the widening fan base idea celebs are not helping their case due to certain people such as Gloria Estefan who provides a copy of her new single inside her published work...really Gloria?
These are children; children deserve the best that we can offer them! Beefing up your bank accounts and searching for new fans are not the way to open the eyes of children to the reality and wonder of the world around them. Why do these hidden agendas have to be existant. There are people who do this for a living because they enjoy it, they love their audience, and THEY KNOW HOW TO DO WHAT THEY DO!!!
There are certain aspects to children's books that are written by celebs that note the literatures low quality nature. There are lots of rediculous character names, because celebs just can't seem to keep it simple (simple also meaning sticking to a single profession!). The English Roses books are a huge target again for this reason (Come ON Madonna!). Don't rediculous distracting names take away from the underlying meaning of the story...maybe that's a good thing in the case of celebrity authors.
Celebrities are also known to grasp onto a moral point and basically just cram it down the young reader's throats. Whatever happened to discussion? What happened to coming to different meanings of a book based on the brilliant minds of the young readers? They also tend to go "eco" when they can't think of a reasonable outcome or lesson in their stories.
This article really opened my eyes to what children's literature should include. Children are not stupid. If you give them a well written piece of literature with an abstract, underlying meaning, I'm sure that group discussion and brainstorming can get them to the right conclusion(s) the book is trying to get across. Also, children don't know celeb names past the ones they come in contact with through Disney. If widening your fanbase is what you want I think you should look elsewhere. Children do not need to be subjected to bad literature just because your music career is winding down.
Now, not all celebrity books are bad; Jamie Lee Curtis has been praised for some of her work. However, I can't ignore the fact that some bestseller celebrity books are such simply because of the name on the by-line. Some of them are funny, colorful, and well illustrated but they are "also in large part, unforgetable." The beginning is forgotten before the ending has arrived.

Ed Pilkington's full article can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/nov/03/booksforchildrenandteenagers.familyandrelationships

Literacy Follow Up

So today in my TE 401 lecture something interesting happened. We've been focusing on a particular author who writes a lot of multicultural books for children. According to the definition, she would be considered an outsider to many of the books that she writes. The author is Eve Bunting and today I got to discuss Going Home, A Day's Work, and Smokey Night. Anyways, while we were discussing the girl that reviewed my project that I recently blogged about said that she thinks about me when she reads books like this because my project taught her so much about the Insider/Outsider debate. I thought it was really cool that she actually remembered something about it. So AGAIN; I just want to thank you for giving me so much to reference through blogging and class discussion:) You guys are great!!!

The books we're focusing on are pretty good in terms of multicultural literature. The school I'm placed in actually did a school wide unit on Bunting books last year and she's gotten several awards for her work. The author herself doesn't have a website but I'm pretty sure you can find some good info if you Google: Eve Bunting.

Some of them include:

A Day's Work

Smoky Night

Cheyenne Again

Fly Away Home

Going Home