On Children's Literature

 
I began my publishing career as an intern at Lee & Low, an independent multicultural children's book publisher. I was beyond ecstatic when I'd received the call letting me know the summer internship was mine. You see, I was in the midst of a career change. I'd been a teacher (having taught the gamut from preschool to college) for several years and had decided to leave the classroom behind and brave the wilds of publishing. Children's books seemed the perfect place to start given my teaching background, and having been in the classroom as an English teacher, I was always fascinated by the discrepancy in what my kids were reading for school assignments and what they were reading for pleasure or if not big readers, what would motivate them to read. I really loved the idea of publishing books my kids would want to read.

But as I learned about the sometimes arbitrary and definitely mysterious rules of publishing, I learned that if I at all had any adult book aspirations, I needed to get out of children's books and get out fast. The thinking being that one could sort of go from adult books to children's books in rare cases, but it would be exceptionally hard, if not impossible to go from children's books to adults. So I needed to figure out ASAP where my heart really was. And at that point, I honestly didn't know. How could I?

So I followed the advice I was given by someone who'd been doing this a lot longer than I had and who had actually started as an adult editor and made the leap to children's. I figured who better to take advice from.

I was lucky enough to get an Editorial Assistant position at storied FSG. I then moved on to HarperCollins. I worked on and acquired many books that I am so proud of, but five years into my life as an adult editor, children's books was still calling. Not only because I really wanted to work on books that my former students would enjoy, but also because some of the most dynamic writing happening was happening in children's books. Even the uninitiated have heard of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, but at the time I crossed over to the children's market, people were still surprised to know that Harry Potter was in fact a children's book and The Hunger Games hadn't happened yet.

But books that had happened were A Step from Heaven by An Na, a book about immigrating to the US from Korea, Cut by Patricia McCormick, a book about a teen cutter, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a book on teen rape, A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, a novel about a 13-year-old potter's apprentice, set in 12th century Korea, and Looking For Alaska, the coming-of-age story of a teen obsessed with the last words of famous people, John Green's debut--the same John Green whose The Fault in Our Stars was last year's Time Book of the Year. The Fault in Our Stars is also a children's book by the way.

The writing happening in children's books, specifically Middle Grade and Young Adult was literary, original, affecting, brave, relevant, memorable, classic and hopeful. All the things I love about good literature and I wanted to be part of it.

When I told a writing mentor about my decision to move over to the children's world, he remarked that this was a good decision because children's books would be easy to edit and I wouldn't have to work so hard...

I know he didn't mean any harm, but this perception isn't his alone and even all these years later after The Fault in Our Stars won the publishing game last year and Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian has spent years on the bestseller lists and Hollywood has taken note of how fresh and original the stories coming out of the children's arena really are, people still perceive children's books as a bit of a stepchild of the industry, even in the face of all the money children's books make.That writing children's books or the business of children's books is somehow a lesser endeavor.

And that is what accounts for articles like this one that appeared in The Guardian this week: http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/dec/03/childrens-books-great-literature-university-of-kent-sf-said

I applaud the outrage sparked by The University of Kent's very public, condescending and limited view on literature:

"We are excited by writing that changes the reader, and ultimately – even if it is in a very small way – the world. We love writing that is full of ideas, but that is also playful, funny and affecting. You won't write mass-market thrillers or children's fiction on our programmes. You'll be encouraged to look deep inside yourself for your own truth and your own experiences, and also outside yourself at the contemporary world around you. Then you'll work out how to turn what you find into writing that has depth, risk and originality but is always compelling and readable."

Some of the best writing out there is still being done in the children's books arena. More writing programs are realizing this and instituting wonderful degree programs specifically for children's book authors. Hamline University is one such place worth looking into if you're at all interested in pursuing the craft of writing for children. Here at Editing Genius, children's books are not taken for granted and not seen as a lesser endeavor. Every Wednesday do check in for posts specifically related to children's publishing.

Stacey