Photo montage: Background from the first Clifford book;
Norman Bridwell by Rich White.

Imagine walking down a street. Exhausted after a workout. Heading toward your car. A dog suddenly appears a quarter of a block ahead. But not just any dog. This one is 66 feet long and 44 feet high.

That’s what happened to me.

That briefest flash of time between seeing Clifford and realizing that I was looking at a parade balloon was magical and delicious. As editor of the Clifford books from 1984 to 2009, I’ve had many magical moments with the big red dog.

I’ve read most of the Clifford books dozens of times. I’ve read some of them hundreds of times. I’ve read them as an editor to prepare them for publication, as a mother to entertain my daughter, and as a Sunday school teacher to spark conversations about pro-social behavior.

The Clifford books are about kindness and good works. They are about making mistakes and being forgiven for them. They are about unconditional love. And they are funny. I still crack up whenever I turn to the page in Clifford the Big Red Dog where a sheepish Clifford holds a car in his mouth, and the text reads: “He runs after cars. He catches some of them.” The artwork is expressive, poignant, and endearing.

So how big is Clifford? Very big. More than 126 million Clifford books are in print in 13 languages. And an animated Clifford TV series is in its 12th season on PBS Kids. This month marks the 50th anniversary of the first Clifford book, Clifford the Big Red Dog.

And February 15 is the 85th birthday of Clifford’s creator, Norman Bridwell. Kind, modest, and easy-going, Norman, both author and illustrator, is as lovable as his pup. He lives with his wife of 54 years, Norma—that’s right, Norma—in Massachusetts, on Martha’s Vineyard, in a 120-year-old farmhouse. The doors and shutters are painted red in honor of Clifford. Norman and Norma have two grown children (Emily Elizabeth, who appears in the Clifford books, and Tim, who appears in The Witch Next Door) and three grandchildren.

Earlier this year, I spoke to Norman about his remarkable career, his knack for creating pitch-perfect humor for young children, and what makes Clifford (and his creator) tick.

Dog days: Bridwell and his daughter,
Emily Elizabeth, circa 1964.

How would you describe Clifford?
He’s a loving dog. He’s very loyal to Emily. And she’s loyal to him. He tries to do the right thing. He has good intentions, but his size makes him clumsy, so he causes damage. And then he’s forgiven. All children would like that—to be forgiven for the mistakes they make.

Do you see any of your own characteristics in him?
You know, people have said, “Clifford is a lot like you,” but I’m not really that good. I’m not really that nice.

Well, I would disagree with you, Norman. I worked with you for, like, 25 years and I think you are that nice!
That’s kind of you to say. I don’t like to hurt people. I do my best to avoid that. No matter which side you’re on, I’m on it. I really feel I don’t really deserve this. If there’s such a thing as success being handed out to people because they are good and deserving, I don’t really deserve it. I’ve just been very fortunate.

Do you identify with Clifford’s awkwardness when he gets into trouble for being too big?
Well, I was… I am pretty clumsy. I’m constantly bumping into things. Or I toss something, and I think it’s going to land on a chair, but it slides off the other side.

I think I’m going to do something clever, and it winds up a disaster. I guess I am like Clifford that way. I was terrible at sports. I was the last one chosen to be on any team. I have many unfond memories of being forced to go out on the basketball court during gym class and trying to shoot a basket and embarrassing everybody.

How did you come to create Clifford?
Clifford began as an art sample to show editors. I was hoping I could get a job as an illustrator. I did about 10 paintings. One was of a little girl standing under the chin of a big red dog and holding out her hand to see if it was still raining. I was rejected everywhere I went. One editor, Susan Hirschman, said that my work was too plain. She said, “You may have to write a story, and then if they buy the story, you could do the art. She pointed to the sample of the girl and the dog and said, “Maybe that’s a story.”

In about three days, I tried to think of all the things that would happen if you had a giant dog. I made him a little bigger than in the sample, and my wife, Norma, named him Clifford after an imaginary playmate she had when she was a child.

I made a dummy, and Norma made a cover for it. I took it to a publisher, where it went into a slush pile. Lilian Moore saw it and knew it wouldn’t be taken by that publisher, but she also knew that Scholastic was starting to publish original paperbacks for its book clubs. Beatrice de Regniers accepted it.

What did you get paid for the book?
I got $1,000 for the book and I think $750 to do the art.

The original price of the book was 35 cents. How long did it take you to earn out your advance?
Two years.

Three days is a very short time to write a book. Is it easy for you to write?
The first one was easy. The others got more difficult. The second Pbook I did was called Zany Zoo. It wasn’t a Clifford book.

How did the second Clifford book come about?
I said to Beatrice, “Would you like to see another one?” And she said, “Yes, if you have an idea, bring it to me, but I’m not going to just take anything.”

I wrote Clifford Gets a Job, and it did well, so I said to Beatrice, “Maybe I should try another one.”

And she said, “Well, you know, we’re not running a Norman Bridwell book club.” She said, “You can try some more, but don’t count on my taking them.”

The Clifford books did surprisingly well. One day Beatrice called me up and said, “You know, we’ve changed our minds. We do want to do a Norman Bridwell book club.”

She said again, “Don’t expect everything to be accepted,” and she stuck to that.

Do you remember any titles that she rejected?
You know, it’s been a long time now. They weren’t very memorable… Clifford trying to clean up, trying to protect the environment. That was too preachy. She didn’t like that.

I said to her one time, “Maybe I should be putting a message in these books,” and she said, “You’re not a message person. You just entertain them.” So I did as I was told and just tried to make kids laugh.

What’s your process?
When I have an idea, I sketch it out in thumbnail sketches—just the action from page to page. When I have the drawings done, I think of the words that go with them. As you know, the words don’t exactly match the picture, which, I think, is funny to the children. The words don’t just describe what is going on, but the kids can figure it out.

What is your studio like?
Cluttered. It’s filled with Clifford products Scholastic has given me [such as plush toys, puzzles, games, clothing, and stationery]. I have a desk and a telephone. With an 11-by-14-inch pad and a pencil, I’m in business. I had a studio built kind of late in life, around 12 years ago. I thought I’d jinx myself if I built one before.

How did your kids respond to Clifford while they were growing up?
It was just something that Dad did. It wasn’t anything really special. They had other books that they liked much more than Clifford. In fact, on the Internet, my son says his favorite children’s books were by Dr. Seuss. My daughter didn’t realize Clifford was popular until she went to college. I’d given her a Clifford reading rug that she put in her dorm room. The other girls saw it and said, “Oh! Clifford!” When my daughter asked, “How do you know about him?” they said, “Everybody reads Clifford!”

The original Clifford books were black and red, measured eight-by-six inches, and had a landscape orientation. In the ’80s, the books were reformatted to a full-color, eight-by-eight format. Would you talk about that?
I guess the original books didn’t show up well in bookstores. When Dick Krinsley joined Scholastic, he converted the books to eight by eight so they could be displayed on a rack.

It amazes me that some people have said, “You know, I liked the early art better.”

Some artists object to changes in a book’s original design or format. But you were very cooperative.
If I thought my work was beautiful or very artistic, I might feel differently, but I feel that the purpose of my drawings is to get the point of the story across. So I am perfectly willing to have somebody else’s advice on color and format.

What was it like to grow up in Kokomo, Indiana?
It was quiet. It gave me plenty of time to think. I walked to school in the morning, I walked home from school at night, and, all that time, I was making up stories in my mind. Imaginary people. Imaginary places. And then in the evening I’d sit down and draw pictures to go with the stories I thought of during those walks.

I was a very gangly, skinny kid. My nicknames were Muscles because I had none—I was just a skeleton with skin—and Ovaltine, which is a chocolate drink that kids were supposed to drink to make them gain weight.

So you have always been a visual storyteller, even as a child.
Drawing was the only thing I was really interested in. My father would bring paper home from the factory. They were order forms that were plain on the back. I would draw all kinds of characters and adventures. I wasn’t really good at anything else. My high school shop teacher took the tools away from me after about three weeks. He said, “You’re going to hurt yourself! Go get some paper and sit over there and draw.” I did, and I was very grateful for the chance to do that.

Did you go to art school in Indiana?
Yes, I did. I went to art school for four years, but it didn’t prepare me for the real world of commercial art. I had to learn that when I got to New York.

Why did you move to New York CIty right after you graduated?
I couldn’t find any work in Indiana, but I had friends who were going to Cooper Union. They said, “Better to be out of work in New York than out of work here. Come along.” So I went along and wrapped packages at Macy’s for a while. I worked for a lettering studio and then for a necktie fabric-designing firm. And then finally, I got work making cartoons for filmstrips and slides.

What kinds of cartoons were they?
They were for sales meetings and promotions. A writer would write a script and the cartoonists would try to add humorous situations. We did work for Arrow Shirts, American Standard Plumbing, and Maxwell House Coffee—all sorts of products. The hardest part was convincing the salesmen that what we were drawing was going to be funny. They usually didn’t get the jokes.

Working on those cartoons must have been good training for a future picture book author and illustrator.
I had a lot of fun trying to inject humor into a very dry script. It was good practice.

Nobody ever said, “Hey, that’s good,” or “Thank you.” You just did it. It went out the door. You never heard anything about it. But when I did the books, children began writing to me. I thought, “This is great. Somebody noticed.” Kids let you know if they like something.

The Clifford books have humor young children can enjoy and can understand. It’s very hard to write humor for that age group. What’s the secret of your success?
I read one time about a silent film comedian whose name I can’t recall now, but he was very popular. He was a very funny guy, and then somebody told him how good he was, and he got to thinking about it. And when he started thinking about what he was doing, he ruined it. Instead of acting upon his natural instincts, he began planning, and things fell apart.

Do you have a favorite Clifford book?
I always liked Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors. A lot of children have neighbors who complain, “Don’t come into on my yard! Don’t step on my lawn!”

I thought that could happen to Clifford. The characters look like my mother’s neighbors back in Indiana, but the fact is, they were very nice, considerate neighbors. I hope they never noticed that the grouchy neighbors look like them.

Grace Maccarone is Holiday House’s executive editor.

Kagawa is the author of two previous series—the best-selling “Iron Fey” and “Blood of Eden” series, which are in development for release as a film. The “Iron Fey” series has been published in more than 20 countries, and in 2011, it was a Teens Top Ten selection. The Immortal Rules is the first title in the dystopian “Blood of Eden” series and will be followed by the release of The Eternity Cure in May 2013. Movie rights to the “Blood of Eden” series have been optioned by Joni Sighvatsson of Palomar Pictures. Harlequin Teen plans to publish the first book in Kagawa’s new series in 2015.

See more on Kagawa in her SummerTeen 2012 interview at SLJ.com.

Photo: Stockbyte

Fans of baseball, football, and basketball, you all have something in common: it’s easy for you to tell what team is on the field, which one is off of it, and when players are changing their roles from offense to defense. In baseball, of course, three outs and the team at-bat retreats into the dugout, picks up its mitts, and trots back onto the field. In football, there are many variations and tricks of the trade. For example, a “hurry-up” offense is designed to move so quickly that the defense doesn’t have time to substitute fresh players onto the field. But in general, the exchange of players in our nation’s major sports is a slow and stately process that’s based on principles that kids learn when they first begin playing a particular game. There’s one sport, though, that’s totally different from the others—and I suspect it has a lesson to teach those of us in library land.

Unlike other sports, in hockey, players “change on the fly.” That is, a coach signals a group of players to jump onto the ice even as the others are whizzing off—the exchange happens in the middle of a play, as the puck is speeding down the ice. Hockey is such an exhausting sport that players only last a few minutes playing at full tilt, so a coach is constantly deliberating over whom to put in while trying to outguess the other coach’s moves. It’s a speeded-up, live chess match on ice.

I’m put in mind of hockey because of some recent developments in digital publishing. We’ve long known that Overdrive offers libraries subscriptions, rather than full ownership of books. Now Amazon has gotten into the act, offering its Prime members (who pay an annual fee) an ebook subscription. It strikes me that collection development is similar to the easy ebb and flow of offense and defense that I first described. A librarian knows her collection, sees where she needs to add titles, and from time to time, weeds those titles that have outlived their usefulness. But subscriptions are more like hockey.

In the digital subscription world, a librarian isn’t expecting her collection to remain the same for any length of time. She subscribes according to her current needs, knowing that the materials she has made available to today’s patrons may significantly change in the near future. For instance, she wants the latest and greatest of, say, news and financial databases. But in a subscription model, the constant churning and turnover isn’t just a matter of adhering to the latest dateline. A librarian may gain, or lose, an entire chunk of her collection as her subscription funding comes and goes, or as publishers’ digital policies change, or as patrons’ favorite digital devices shift.

What if we embrace a library model that’s part baseball and part hockey? What would such an arrangement look like? Print books, and some databases, would move in and out of the library at a leisurely pace, similar to ballplayers taking and leaving the field between innings. But digital subscriptions would constantly change on the fly: with new materials in, the old out, and the librarian playing the role of a highly tactical hockey coach, constantly matching ever-changing needs to ever-evolving resources. If that’s the case, the question isn’t “What do you own?” it’s “What do you need this very second?”

I can imagine a two-sport library, but there’s one caution. As you hockey fans well know, there’s one thing that can stop the rapid change of lines: when the game itself stops. The NHL and its players spent much of 2012 embroiled in a battle over money, and as a result, the players lost more than half of the current season. The one real danger in a subscription model is that it could break down totally and publishers could turn to some completely different plan. Well, if that happens, then librarian-coaches will just have to change partners and dance—on the fly.

Photograph by Tallulah Photography.

In The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen, his older brother brings a hunting rifle to school to kill his merciless tormentor—and then takes his own life. Where’d that idea come from?

There were two books of Wally Lamb’s that I pulled little things from. But in The Hour I First Believed, the protagonist’s wife is at Columbine when the boys open fire. There was a line in that book about the fact that one of these boys had an older brother and for some reason it just kind of punched me in the gut, and I thought, “Oh, my god, I never thought about the fact that these people—and in that case, one of them actually was a monster—but these people have their own families. They have siblings. What would it be like for the surviving brother?

Why is there so much humor in such a troubling story?

I can’t write a book without humor, and this was certainly as dark as I have gone in any of my books. What really worked for me is that the story is told in first person. When you’re dealing with a 13-year-old boy and his perspective on life, at that age, we tend to be very self-centered, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. There are going to be things that make readers laugh in terms of his interactions with other people, his impressions of other people, because they’re his private thoughts. So when Henry is first meeting his neighbors and Farley and Alberta, that’s a very natural way to bring humor into the story, even though Henry never thinks he’s being funny, of course.

Did you use humor to deal with the world while growing up with a single parent in Ontario, Canada?

Oh, my God, that’s such a great question! Nobody’s ever asked me that before. Yeah, I did. I was a performer from a very early age. We would try to get parents to sit down and watch a play that I had made the neighborhood kids rehearse and memorize. I think I actually had a little book of kids’ plays that my mom had given me. And so I would force all the other kids into participating, and we would put on performances, and they would involve really bad jokes.

Henry’s family and his friend Farley are huge pro wrestling fans. How’d you write so sympathetically about a sport that you’re not really into?

I was having lunch with a writer friend, and he said—and I think Alberta says this in the book—that wrestling is “like a soap opera for guys.” Suddenly, the penny dropped for me. I thought, OK, that makes a certain amount of sense. Now I understand why people might enjoy watching this.

You got your first break writing TV screenplays after serving snacks to the cast of Degrassi Junior High. Were your muffins any good, or were you a lousy baker like Henry’s sassy girlfriend, Alberta?

That’s really weird that you asked me that, because I don’t think I’ve ever made that connection before. I didn’t make the muffins, I bought them. But the kids on Degrassi wrote a poem to me at the end of the first season. It goes like this: “An ode to Susin, the Brand Muffin Queen, we eat them, we die, then we turn green.”

Sadly enough, after we first spoke, there was another school shooting.

I was devastated by the news. I got a message from a woman who lives in Connecticut that moved me beyond words. Here’s what she wrote: The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen has really had me thinking after these recent horrific events at Sandy Hook Elementary. One big problem I had prior to reading this book was that I was ignorant of the feelings of a shooter’s family members. It has helped me to pray for the members of the Lanza family who are also suffering at this terrible time.

Applications for the 2013 Innovations in Reading Prize must be postmarked or emailed by February 20, 2013. All U.S. citizens and American companies are eligible, including nonprofit groups, technology companies, or those in the military. In addition to the prize money, winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to New York City to attend a luncheon in their honor and invitations to NBA events, such as the National Book Awards dinner and ceremony.

Photo by Claudio Marinesco

Best-selling author Harlan Coben is the only mystery writer to have won the Edgar Award, the Shamus Award, and the Anthony Award. Last year, Coben dove into the world of YA with Shelter, the first novel in his “Mickey Bolitar” series (Putnam).

SLJ spoke with the Newark, New Jersey-born author about his new teen protagonist and his Jersey roots.

With 50 million books in print worldwide, you are definitely considered prolific. So why enter the YA market with Mickey Bolitar?

Several reasons. First, I’d seen a lot of popular young adult books dealing with vampires or wizards or dystopia, but I hadn’t seen any do what I do–stay-up-all-night thrillers based in the real world.

Second, I have four children, ages 11 to 18, and I wanted to write something that would appeal to them.

Third, I had a great idea for a story in which the hero was in high school. That’s the biggest difference between my adult novels and my young adult novels–the age of the protagonist. It would be a mistake to simplify or talk down to this audience. They’re simply too smart.

Tell us about Mickey and the second book in the series, Seconds Away, released in September.

High-school sophomore Mickey’s life is a mess. His father died before his eyes, his mother is in rehab, and he is forced to live with an uncle he doesn’t much like. When one of Mickey’s closest friends is shot, Mickey and the rest of his team need to solve the case–because the next victim may be one of them.

Mickey also learns more about the scary old lady who lives down the street and about the death of his father–if indeed his father is dead at all.

Myron Bolitar, the main character in your books for adults, happens to be Mickey’s uncle. How would you describe their relationship?

Tense, at best. Mickey blames Uncle Myron for what happened to his parents.  Plus, while adults may think Myron’s sentimentality is nice, his nephew finds it cloying. But in the end, these two need each other, so the interaction between them gets pretty interesting.

Many teens read your adult books.  Have you found that many adults read your novels written for teens?

Yes! I think that’s the best–when the parents and the teens can share and love the same book. It leads to some great family moments.

Have your own children given you any assistance in creating the teenage characters in this series?

A ton. The incident where Mickey first meets his buddy Spoon is word-for-word what happened to my son Ben on his first day of school. Here’s a good writing and parenting tip: Drive the carpool. It is amazing what you will overhear.

I see that you are active on social media, especially Twitter (@HarlanCoben). Do you consider tweeting a form of creative writing?  What was your most creative tweet?

Oh, I don’t know. I have a love-hate relationship with all social media.

You are from New Jersey. Tell us about your friendship with other “Jersey Boys,” such as Governor Christie and others?

I grew up with Chris. We played on the same Little League team, coached by Chris’s dad, when we were 11. During our senior year of high school, he was president of the senior class and I was president of the student council. You’d have been able to guess which one of us would end up as governor and which one would make up stories for living.

You attended Amherst College during the same period as other notable writers, graduating in 1984. Was there anyone at the school whom you consider a mentor?

Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code (Doubleday, 2003) fame was my fraternity brother. We still see each other often. He is really a terrific, funny, engaging guy. I lived on the same floor freshman year as David Foster Wallace, whom I miss in many ways, and Mark Costello, who wrote The Big If (Norton, 2002). Christopher Bohjalian (Midwives, Harmony Bks., 1997) was two years ahead of us. The Screenwriter Suzannah Grant was in my class, as was Bill Amend, author of the Foxtrot comics.

These are all great people, and I’m proud to be a part of this group.

Over the past few months, the American Library Association (ALA) and its president, Maureen Sullivan, have taken a hard stance with major publishers on the issue of ebooks in libraries. ALA’s attention has been directed at the so-called “big six,” some of whom still refuse to sell ebooks to libraries. While there isn’t much call for a hardline approach with small, independent publishers of K–12 ebooks, there’s one issue I’d like to address.

Author Christopher Harris has created a PDF detailing the digital content pricing challenges faced by small, rural schools like the districts he serves in the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership in Western New York.

Under the building- or site-based pricing terms that many K–12 publishers use, the small, rural school districts that I serve are being overcharged for digital content. So these districts—with an average size of 1,100 students and less than half the budget of the average New York school district—are, in effect, subsidizing the state’s large, wealthy, suburban systems, which are purchasing the same content at the same cost per building.

We aren’t the only ones who are paying more than our fair share. According to the United States Census Bureau, about half of our nation’s school districts have fewer than 5,000 students; but our collective voice is small and our individual impact on the market is even smaller.

Publishers are being challenged as well. In the days before ebooks exploded onto the scene, publishers expected to sell lots of print books to lots of schools. Big schools and small ones, wealthy and poor, if they wanted the content, they bought the book. And it didn’t matter if the shelf the book sat on was faded plywood or gleaming mahogany; only one student at a time could read a print title. In the digital world, this has changed. Our publisher partners have been forward thinking enough to sell us content with unlimited, simultaneous access. This deserves a huge thank-you—and a second look at the economics of this model.

Digital content is being sold at the building level, but often without consideration for the size of that building. For example, my region has 22 small districts with a total of 54 schools. When content is priced by building, our region ends up being charged as much as neighboring systems with almost twice as many students, but a comparable number of buildings. We need a new way to look at pricing content that considers not buildings, but the student population therein.

One solution might be to consider the average school building size for each state. The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) publishes lists of average elementary and secondary school sizes that can easily be incorporated into a pricing formula. My region, for instance, has 27 elementary school buildings, but according to NCES, that’s equivalent to 19 elementary schools, according to the New York average. Under an average-school pricing model, we would be charged for 19 elementary schools when looking at a regional purchase.

In the print era, we probably would have bought 37 copies of a book, but they would have been limited to 37 users. With digital content, when the potential use is expanded to an entire school, it’s only fair that the population be considered in pricing. By using a formula based on average-school pricing, we can help ensure equity of access to schools and students in small, rural districts.

Moderator Jen Hubert-Swan, a blogger at ReadingRants and middle school librarian at New York’s Little Red School House, began the conversation by bringing up a recent Slate.com article, “Against Enthusiasm: The Epidemic of Niceness in Online Book Culture, ” which took aim at online book culture for creating an atmosphere in which “retweets, likes, favorites…make any critique stick out sorely” and which has resulted in bloggers who are reluctant to negatively review novels.

Although the panelists agreed that reviewers should honestly critique novels, Betsy Bird, a youth materials specialist at New York Public Library, pointed to a few who would rather limit themselves to writing about titles they enjoyed. Bird, who blogs for SLJ at Fuse #8, says she considers them cheerleaders rather than reviewers. However, Bird cautioned against writing nasty or mean-spirited reviews.

Similarly, Liz Burns, a librarian at New Jersey’s National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and who blogs for SLJ at A Chair, A Fireplace & a Tea Cozy, advised that a critical review should be supported by quotes or references to the text. She also stated that a reviewer can apply critical analysis to books they appreciate as well as to those they dislike.

Monica Edinger, fourth grade teacher at the Dalton School, a private school in New York, and who blogs at Educating Alice, put the conversation into historical context. She brought up past authors and literary critics, such as E.B. White and Dorothy Parker, who regularly reviewed each other’s work—and often resulted in feuds and arguments. Edinger believes that the world of social media is simply making the relationships between authors and reviewers more public.

Hubert-Swan questioned whether a blogger can have a friendship with a writer and still review their work. Freelance writer Marjorie Ingall, who also writes at her self-titled blog, doesn’t “friend” or follow any authors because her journalism background makes her more sensitive to potential conflicts of interest.

On the other hand, Burns distinguished between knowing an author personally and following them on Twitter, stressing that a relationship based only on social media wouldn’t affect reviews. Above all, she emphasized the importance of transparency and stated that if she’s reviewing a book written by a friend, she always discloses their relationship in the blog-post.

Bird said she often receives responses from authors or editors who take issue with her negative reviews of their work. Similarly, Hubert-Swan talked about her experience writing critical commentary of books on Goodreads. She said she removes her negative comments if contacted by authors because she would rather not start a debate in a public forum.

The panelists concluded that many authors dealing with Internet commentary need more guidance from publishers. Sheila Barry, blogger at Making Books for Children and co-publisher of Groundwood, said that as an editor, she’s often had to reassure authors who were unhappy at receiving negative reviews. As both a blogger and a young adult author, Maureen Johnson finds herself in a unique position. She drew upon her personal experience, stating that confronting the world of online reviews is incredibly daunting for a first-time author. However, she emphasized that authors must refrain from replying to negative responses to their work to ensure that reviewers feel comfortable voicing their opinions.

“Too many teachers and librarians don’t market and advocate for themselves and what their library programs are all about,” says the teacher librarian at McLain Community High School. “So communities haven’t been hearing all the good things happening and that gives the impression they’re not needed.”

McQueen hopes to change that in his town and get his community rallying behind issue 3A and 3B. Issue 3A is a mill levy that would raise $39 million a year to add more teachers, reduce class sizes, and ensure teacher librarians stay in schools. The latter, 3B, would raise $99 million to help repair and maintain school sites. The goal is to prevent proposed budget cuts that could include the removal of all middle school librarians and the reduction of elementary school librarians to half time, says McQueen.

“I think this is a national issue,” he says. “But it’s a problem that can be prevented. Too often I have seen school librarians cave in.”

It’s an unusual move for a school librarian who once thought he didn’t like to read—not counting the manuals on Photoshop and four-wheel-drive cars that he would devour.

“When I started my career as a librarian, I secretly thought I didn’t like to read,” he says. “But then I found a lot of boys like to read nonfiction—and a light bulb went off and I realized I do love to read.”

McQueen wants to ensure that other kids have access to books, libraries, and librarians who can help them overcome any resistance to reading as well. Working with other school librarians in his district, McQueen has launched a Facebook page, mobilized walks, recruited colleagues to march in parades—and even borrowed $7,000 to buy stickers and a printer to cover his RV as a moving billboard. He parks daily at a local restaurant, where more than 16,000 cars catch his message to vote yes on 3A and 3B every day. (He’s done the math.)

McQueen plans to continue his campaign to save school libraries until Jefferson County’s November vote— and ensure children have a place where they can discover the joy of reading.

“If libraries don’t brag about the good things they do, then communities don’t think it’s a big deal to cut there,” he says. “So I am very feisty, and so are a handful of my colleagues.”

Kathy Dawson
Photo: Belathée Photography

Dawson, the editor of award-winning authors Kristin Cashore, Gennifer Choldenko, and K. L. Going, says she’s drawn to books “that matter” rather than those that just entertain.

“Life is complicated and humans have many levels, and I want books that express that,” explains Dawson, who plans to bring big-name authors along with her, as well as search for new talent.

Kathy Dawson Books will launch in the winter of 2014, with the release of nine titles in the first year. “We’re going for quality versus quantity,” says Dawson, adding that it will include a novel by Cashore  that takes place in a boarding school and a middle grade book by Going called Pieces of the Puzzle Why, which is about a gospel singer in New Orleans who goes through emotional trauma and loses her voice. Others include a still unnamed fourth-grade series by Julie Bowe that focuses on a group of kids who do good for their community, a high school murder mystery by debut author Elle Cosimano, and a middle grade novel about a girl who can literally enter books by Django Wexler, who wrote it while his adult novel, The Book of A Thousand Names, was being edited. Wexler has already signed on for three or more additional novels.

Dawson says editing books with controversial subjects is important. “I really don’t worry about censorship,” says Dawson, who edited Going’s Fat Kid Rule the World, a 2004 Printz Honor Award book about an overweight teen, which was challenged in several school districts around the country for its profanity. “Kids need to find books that mirror the real world and help them navigate life.” Dawson added that although attempts to ban a book can lead to more book sales, other times it means kids just don’t gain access to the book. “It’s hard on the authors, and it breaks my heart when it happens,” she says.

That’s why librarians mean so much to Dawson, who calls them her “favorite” people because they don’t just follow trends, “they make sure that that right books get into the hands of the right kids.”

Dawson’s attraction to “honest and true books that kids can relate to” may be partly rooted in her upbringing; she grew up in a family with four children, one of whom has albinism and is legally blind. Her mother, who worked with children “who would otherwise never read” made tactile books for her sister out of felt and other materials. Dawson’s older sister is a psychologist who works with kids. So, she says, she and her family are “no strangers to psychological distress.”

The idea for Dawson’s own imprint came about when Don Weisberg, the president of Penguin Young Readers Group, approached her. Although she says it was a difficult decision to leave Dial because she “totally loved” working there, the “dream of editing and being able to focus on determining my own list was really exciting.”

Speaking at a September 15 New York Public Library Children’s Literary Salon session called, “Acts of Mischief,” Gauch described how books that introduce chaos into a controlled environment and that are characterized by fun and playfulness tend to resonate with young readers.

Gauch showed the audience a display of moments from classic and modern works, such as the overflowing pasta pot in Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona (Prentice Hall, 1975), Pigeon’s explosive temper tantrum in Mo Willems’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Hyperion, 2003), and the dramatic, whirlwind of a catfight in Wanda Gág’s Millions of Cats (McCann & Geoghegan, 1928).

She also peppered her lecture with anecdotes about working with well-known picture book authors and illustrators, explaining, for example, the origins of Jane Yolen’s Caldecott-winning Owl Moon (Philomel, 1987). Gauch said that as a first-time editor, she knew few illustrators. So when she received Yolen’s manuscript about a father and daughter’s moonlit journey tracking an owl through the woods, Gauch sent it to a 19- year-old former student whose father, John Schoenherr, came across the book and decided to illustrate it.

Touching upon what she perceives to be an omission in the Caldecott criteria selection, Gauch says she believes a book’s art shouldn’t simply mirror the text but should also enhance the story. As an example, she cited the Caldecott winning book that she edited, So You Want to be President? (2000, Philomel), whose whimsical drawings echoed illustrator David Small’s past as a political cartoonist.

Gauch tackled picture book critics, in particular addressing a 2010 New York Times article, “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children” which claimed that picture books were no longer relevant, with many parents preferring their children to read advanced books at an earlier age. Gauch defended picture books as vital to children’s development, stating that they are a “child’s first introduction not only to art but to narrative form.”

Gauch also addressed digital picture books, acknowledging that electronic versions do have their place. Gauch, however, stressed that a physical book is in and of itself an art form, describing the amount of effort that goes into designing a book’s endpapers or binding and concluded that children should have access to both formats.

One big announcement came just before the con: Marvel is shaking up its line (much as DC did last year with its New 52), with new titles debuting in October and a series of relaunches that will run through February 2013.

Dark Horse announced a new Star Wars monthly comic that’ll be written by Brian Wood (The New York Four, Conan the Barbarian) and will be set between two Star Wars films, Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

Bloody Chester

Graphic novel publisher First Second books debuted Bloody Chester, a horror story set in the Old West, and hosted signings by Nate Powell, Faith Erin Hicks, and others. Hicks is illustrating a new book for First Second, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, about a high school robotics team.

The Bolt City booth was home base for a number of YA graphic novel creators, including Raina Telgemeier (Smile), who had advance copies of her latest book, Drama, and Dave Roman and John Green (Teen Boat).

The Deep

Creator Tom Taylor came all the way from Australia to promote The Deep, an adventure story about a family of underwater explorers who live in a submarine. The first volume won an Aurealis Award, Australia’s literary award for speculative fiction, for Best Illustrated Book.

And standing a little aloof from the Babymouse and Lunch Lady graphic novels at the Random House booth was one lone copy of the graphic adaptation of Jeanne DuPrau’s City of Ember, due out in September.

Namco Bandai turned a nearby hotel pavilion into an arcade featuring classic video games to promote its new webcomics site, ShiftyLook, which publishes game-based webcomics by a number of creators, including Jimmy Palmiotti, Ben McCool, Dean Haspiel, and Jim Zubkavich.

In the manga department, Kodansha was promoting the sixth volume of its best-seller Sailor Moon with giveaway posters; the other featured book was its new series, Attack on Titan.

Interview with a Vampire

Yen Press announced several new titles, including graphic-novel adaptations of James Patterson’s Zoo, Ransom Riggs’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and Brent Weeks’s The Way of Shadows. At its booth, Yen was promoting its adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire as well as the Japanese title Alice in the Country of Hearts, a series that was left unfinished by the demise of Tokyopop. Yen has published the complete series in three omnibus volumes. Seven Seas featured several related Alice in the Country of Clover manga at its booth alongside its homegrown graphic novels, Amazing Agent Luna and Vampire Cheerleaders.

Viz Media announced two additions to Shonen Jump Alpha, its digital magazine: Blue Exorcist, which Viz is already publishing in print, and a new series, Takama-ga-hara, which only recently launched in Japan. And the digital manga site JManga revealed plans for an unlimited-access manga site featuring single manga chapters that can be read for free.

Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand

Comic-Con is the setting for the Eisner Awards, and this year’s award in the young adult category went to Vera Brosgol’s Anya, published by First Second. The graphic novel adaptation of Jim Henson’s screenplay Tale of Sand won three awards, as did the Marvel series Daredevil.

Oh, and budding comics creator Shia LaBeouf, whose day job has something to do with movies, made a surprise appearance at the con, sharing a booth with Keith Knight. This is the second time LaBeouf has done that; he had a table in Artists Alley at C2E2 last April as well.