FROM CHILDHOOD TO CHILDHOOD

by Jean Karl ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1970

Ostensibly addressing ""the heretic"" who shrugs off children's books is a ""true believer""; she is also a working editor whose know-how (juveniles are assessed, edited and produced) is a greater attractant than the surrounding reflections on what they should be and have been, what they are today and why they are important. Actually the skeptic is soon forsaken for the aspiring author, who'd better be committed: the prospect of repeated revisions before and after the contract is signed is daunting, and the picture book illustrator must tussle with preseparation: in the U.S. photographic separation is usually uneconomic. Miss Karl makes a good case for the legitimacy of such determinants as cost of production and economics of marketing; she is also frank on publishers' specialties and the need to balance a list. As artistic mentor, she is incontrovertible on general desiderata and criteria in specific categories but she shares few experiences--no dicta can substitute for being present at the creation of Nothing Ever Happens On My Block and The Mixed-Up Files. . . to cite but two of her signal successes. At the last, after roughing in the history of children's literature, she directs herself to the adult who reads children's books for pleasure, a potential true believer. The proselytizing is less impressive, however, than the evidence of what goes into each published book.

Pub Date: June 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION