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For Parents
As a parent, I'm probably as baffled as you are by the world our children have been born into. It's a big, competitive world out there - a world in which everybody wants your money and if that means going through your children to get it, fair enough. The world of publishing isn't immune to the same kinds of forces that brought us MTV or GameBoy. But, more than most worlds out there, it is filled with people who care deeply about children - from writers and illustrators, to editors and publishers, to booksellers (especially those who work in independent bookstores). We Are Not Alone (Thank Goodness) And let's not forget the librarians and teachers who sometimes put their jobs on the line to get good books into the hands of children who need them. Some of my books have been challenged by parents who wanted them removed from libraries and classrooms. Thankfully, in each case, there was a teacher or librarian (often several) who successfully defended my books and kept kids reading them. If you are a parent reading this, I'm already pretty impressed with you. You care enough to listen to a writer who also is a parent. So, how would I describe myself as a parent? What, How, and Why? Well, I'm a parent who cares about WHAT my two daughters ready, HOW they read, and WHY they read. What my daughters read is important to me. I have high standards. Many of our family friends are writers and/or illustrators. My daughters are lucky. They can read great books AND get to know some of the people who created them. Rosemary Wells, Margaret Mahy, Katherine Paterson, Richard Peck (aka Uncle Richard), Graham Salisbury, Will Hobbs, Jack Gantos, Patricia (Sweet-Cakes) MacLachlan, Lois Duncan, Steven Kellogg, Gary Paulsen, Betsy James, Avi, Brinton Turkle, Jennifer Dewey -- and more (so many more!) -- have become treasured parts of our lives. You may never meet them, but they can become part of your lives and the lives of your children through reading and sharing their books! How my daughters read is also important. I want them to read with their hearts and their guts as well as their brains. I want them to read not for escape but to engage in life and to embrace the many ways life may be celebrated. Why should my daughters read? I want my them to read for the same reason I write: to celebrate the grandeur of the human experience, especially their small part of it.
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