Notes from Slushpile Readers

So Lindsey from Puffin read my post on the DFC people's comic book workshops and said if my nine year old liked comics, she would probably like Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.

This really interests me - the previous time I blogged about the connect between comic books/graphic novels and traditional children's publishing, I had a spike - from my daily readership of 300-500 a day, almost FOUR THOUSAND people read Comic Books Are Not Just For Klingon Speakers - about the rising interest in comic books for kids in the US! What does that mean? Should UK publishers (notoriously resistant to comics) pay attention?

Here's a sample page from Diary of a Wimpy Kid (blurb: "a novel in cartoons":

Lindsey was right! My nine-year-old devoured it like a bag of sweets! And slushpilers should note that Jeff Kinney himself has had an interesting journey to publishing - working on the book for six years before publishing it in daily instalments at Pearson's educational website FunBrain.com (bite-sized blogs targeted at various ages and differentiated between boys and girls are another interesting feature). Thanks for that, Lindsey!

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Speaking of Puffin - Puffin is one of the few children's publishers who actually maintain a readable blog (in the UK, in the US they all blog). Visit the Puffin Blog here ... but do try to avoid any stalker, publish-me-now-or-else behaviour.

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People who've attended one of my talks on authors online may have heard me talk about the potential ofgroup blogs for overworked authors - this way, authors can share the burden, expand their audiences ... you get what I mean. Well, my author pal Fiona Dunbar (Pink Chameleon, The Truth Cookie) kindly forwarded this link over the weekend to the Awfully Big Adventure blog recently started by a group of children's authors.

Do visit, leave comments etc etc. I think it's an awfully terrific thing to do! Way to go!

Fiona also pointed out Sally Nichols' (Ways to Live Forever) post featuring this cartoon from Tales from the Slush Pile over at the Children's Boookshelf at Publisher's Weekly. (Thanks, Fiona).

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And speaking of Fiona, she's just rather hilariously blogged (on her brand spanking new blog) that some big powerful telly people are thinking of basing a sitcom on her Truth Cookie series!

These things usually take tiiiiiiiiiiime. So let's all cross our legs and fingers and wish upon stars that it will happen. Soon!

Children's Books: Dissed through the Years

I was discussing writing with a good friend the other day, how I felt every novel I completed was practice towards the next one. His well-meaning response was:

And then when you're ready, you can write an adult novel.

Sigh. An adult novel is always a possibility (maybe when I'm 80 and thinking about oldie stuff) but writing for children is as tough and as deserving of regard as writing for adults and no way is it a little league trial before moving on to the big league. I think.

Which leads me to this great article from the New Yorker which I found signposted on the Achuka blog (thanks, Achuka!) - a must read for all who love books for children.

It is the story of the clash between EB White (Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web) and the legendary librarian/critic Anne Carol Moore (1871 to 1961), to whom the world owes the elevation of children's books to a status that deserved bespoke libraries and book reviews. And yet she subscribed to children's books as twee, cute, sentimental and worthy objects.

EB White described their quarrel thus:

Children can sail easily over the fence that separates reality from make-believe. They go over it like little springboks. A fence that can throw a librarian is as nothing to a child.

It was a tough business then, it's an even tougher business now - speaking of which, I have just been asked to do more work on one of my manuscripts. Argh!

All ye who are near despair over their manuscripts can take heed of this poster I've just put up on my study wall:

Keep Calm and Carry On.

Amen.

The Cool Company of Comics People

The DFC comic book had me worried at first.

First of all, the name - if the C in DFC means comic, then we all have to stop and think before saying DFC comic. DF Comic? DFC Book?

Second, the first few issues were met with a resounding silence in my household. The kids didn't seem to notice, merely grunting when I pointed out my friend Sarah McIntyre's strip, Vern and Lettuce (pictured).

And then, slowly, slowly, the copies piling up next to my bed began to appear in unexpected places. Under the sofa. On the trampoline. In the magazine rack next to the bread flour.

I caught my 17 year old reading it the other day.

"Do you like it?" I asked hopefully.

"I don't know," was his reply. "What is it?"

Which makes me think the DFC is probably plugging a very large gap. I grew up in a country where the daily newspapers each had an entire page devoted to the 'funnies' - comic strips - targetted at kids. It was the first page I read in the paper and I spent a lot of time cutting out my favourites. It seems there is no such culture here in England.

Nine-year-olds I prepared earlier reading the DFC

DFC content is probably most age-appropriate to my nine-year-old - which is great because she has become a big fan, snatching every issue from me before I'd even had time to caress the stamp. So last weekend, when London's Cartoon Museum hosted a DFC afternoon, we went for it!

Sarah McIntyre posted great photos of the event on her blog - I was rather embarrassingly one of the more enthusiastic participants, shoving five-year-olds out of the way to get my share of the paper.

I'd been working on an early reader series called 'Evil Baby' so I had a go at drawing the character:

He looks a bit like my nephew, Matthew:

Cartoonist Adam Murphy helped workshoppers create expressions for their characters:

I did my best, but I couldn't quite get Adam's face:

Sarah McIntyre told the kids how she had stumbled upon making comics at art school when she discovered that a lot of her friends were into them. She showed us some exquisite mini comics that she had made and then we made our own. Really cool.

The best thing though was seeing all the awesome kids and their incredible imaginations just whirring away. I sat opposite this fantastically talented boy (right) and two other kids. They just churned out the most wonderful (if rather violent and gory) stuff.

My nine year old invented two characters. Knowman -

And Larry the Pot Guy (a Lemon who lives in a pot):

She said Larry the Pot Guy had a strawberry sidekick.

I couldn't have thought all that up.

Just goes to show what comics can do. Bring it on, DFC!