Monday, March 26, 2012

Who Are You Writing For?

by Susan Berger
As a child, I loved to read, but I rarely wanted to read award winning books. They were books grownups thought I should enjoy.   They didn’t feel like they were written for me. 

Now I am a grownup and a writer and I still love to read kids’ books.  Sometimes I don’t know whether it’s the grown up in me that likes the book or my inner self which never did grow up.
For example: In January I checked out a book from The Kailua library – that’s right, I was in Hawaii -  called The Cheshire Cheese Cat, A Dickens of a Tale   It was on the 2011 Cybil’s finalist list for midgrade Fantasy/ sciencefiction.

I loved it.  But I couldn’t figure out whether it was my grownup self who love it or my kid self.  I checked the front of the book. (Kailua library still stamps due dates on the inside cover.) I was the second person to have read the book.  My grownup self loved that book.  So did the Cybil judges.  It was a winner.
 Then I picked up two picture books highly recommended by the Librarian: 
ThirteenWords, by Lemony Snicket
Oh migosh, you have to read this book!

Ten Birds by Michelle Young 
Really clever.

I loved them both, but I wasn’t sure whether kids would love them as much as I did.  I took them out and read them to five year old Livy and eight year Ka’ula.  Neither girl asked to have them read a second time.  I asked if they thought they were funny.  They each said, "Yes."  Neither of them looked amused. Both immediately reached for another book.
Then there was Lane Smith’s It’s a Book.
I thought it was hilarious, but I couldn’t get any of the kids I read to interested in it.  They nodded and said, "Next."






On the other hand, when I read them Rhyming Dust Bunnies  They wanted to read it again....and again.

The question which surfaced in my mind, was who are the authors writing for?  Who am I writing for?  I am sure we are all trying to keep our audience in mind, but are we managing it? 
I think the minds of the children I know and the minds of those voting on the prestigious awards don’t seem to have a lot in common.

Here is the list of the Newbery Award Winners 2012-1922
I don’t see Judy Blume on there. I see one Beverly Cleary. I see Gary Pausen’s Hatchet. That was one of my son’s favorites. How many of these books did you read as a child?

Here is the list of Caldecott Winners from 1938 -2012
I own a few of these. How many of these have stood the test of time in your house? I notice Dr Seuss and Margaret Wise Brown are not listed, nor do I see Mo Willems.

Then I looked through the books nominated for the 2012 Nene Awards

I don't think many of these titles are on any prestigious award list.  But kids are reading these books.
Here are  the NY times best seller lists from March 25, 2012:


Here is this year’s Cybil finalist list .   I've read a few of these:


Just Grace and the Double Surprise.


Clementine and Just Grace are very popular with the 6-8 set and deservedly so. My inner kid and my grownup self loved these.


I think the grown up in me liked this one. I don’t think it will be a favorite with kids.  It seemed "teachy."

Warp Speed satisfied my inner geek and I will reread this. 
Finally here are the Cybil Winners for 2011 
I plan to read a few more on the Cybil list. I may or may not dip into the NY Times list. The NY Times and I rarely like the same things.
So my questions to you are:
As a parent, how do you choose your children’s books?
As a writer, who are you writing for?  When we labor over our wondrous first paragraph, whom are we trying to impress?  The editor? The agent?  Our target audience??
Tell me what do you think?
Disclaimer: I used Amazon links because I can find the pictures and titles in the same place which makes it easier to do the linking.  All of these books are available at your Independent book stores  or at your local library.

29 comments:

  1. Very interesting! I found about 10 books on the Newbery list that I remember reading and enjoying as a child--most notably Rabbit Hill, which I discovered after Ben & Me and Mr. Revere & I and definitely not because it was an award winner. (In fact, the fact that it was a Newbery book made it less accessible, because it was stored on a special shelf in the library where I never looked because it was full of boring books.)

    I was assigned probably 20 other Newbery books in school that I didn't like, usually because they were assigned. That seemed to be the rule; if I was assigned a book in school, I loathed it, but if I was allowed to pick it out myself or a friend recommended it, I was more likely to enjoy it. (I read Johnny Tremain on my own first, and liked it, and then read it in school and hated it.) I do think you have a point here, at least for very self-motivated readers like I was. Even now, I have trouble getting students to read books with medals on the cover; they know that those books have usually been chosen by committees of adults as "character building" or "educational"--i.e., not fun.

    All that said, though, I have had students begging me to let them read The Graveyard Book, and every class I've led through it has enjoyed it. I suspect I'd have loved it just as much as a kid as I do as an adult. That's the only book I can say that about, though.

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    1. Thank you for your very thoughtful reply to the post. I'm with you, If they wanted me to read it, I was "agin it" You put it so well. Medals mean a committee of adults.
      I know we all have a child inside us, but our grownup part wins a lot.

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  2. What an interesting and (for me) timely post. I used to choose many of the books my children read but they seemed to enjoy them too, then they chose their own from the library, which better reflected their interests.

    My first tween book, Summer of the Eagles, just released as an ebook the other day from MuseItUp and I'm waiting on it appearing on Amazon. But it's a question I have to ask myself - who am I writing for? Partly the young teen still inside me (many, many years on!), and partly for other adults who like this kind of book (like I do). But what I really want is to reach the target audience of 10-14 year olds because that's who it's really for - and that might prove more difficult.

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    1. I read the blurb on your book and it sounds fascinating. I believe you will have to work extra hard to get on online audience of 10 to 14 year olds, though. That age brackets doesn't seem to be looking online for reading material. It seems to me I read a number of posts about that. I wish you all the luck in the world with this

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    2. That was so kind of you to reply, Susan - thank you, and for confirming my own suspicions. I'm hoping to arrange to have it printed, so hopefully that will help!

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  3. Excellent post, Sue. It's a question I've wondered about many times, and just as many times I have a conflicting answer.

    This post is so thoughtfully done, and I loved reading it, even though it brings up that all-important question, worthy of an honest answer.

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    1. I'm still not sure what my answer is. I'm going back to my chapter book and trying again.

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  4. A very timely and thought-provoking post, Sue. I've suspected for quite a while that editors and agents aren't looking at writing from the same window as children. I vividly remember reading Make Way for Ducklings, a Caldecott winner, over and over as a child. But I wonder if that book would pass through the editor/agent filter now? I know I'm very conscious of writing to please my editor/agent/parent readers as much as the children I'm trying to reach.

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    1. Me, too, Maggie! Thank you for commenting. I will go re read Make Way For Ducklings

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  5. Sue,

    I'd like to echo everyone's sentiment. What a thought provoking and timely post. I use my children, nieces and nephews as sounding points on topics/situations they liked to read about.

    Best regards,
    Donna
    Award-winning Children’s Author
    The Golden Pathway story book Blog
    Write What Inspires You Blog

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    1. Thanks, Donna. I too use sounding boards of child friends. I have to keep in mind though that because they know me, they are biased towards loving my writing. I think I need to try again and tell them I am reading something I found online.

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  6. Probably to get a "real" sense of what makes award winning books they would need to be judged by children- not adults. JMHO.
    I do think that children make the best judges.
    In other genres often the audience readers are the judges.

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    1. Many states have awards that are judged by schoolchildren. The NENE awards are only one example.
      I looked up a lot of them, but the post was already quite long.
      http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/winners/pastwinners

      http://www.dcfaward.org/lists/dcfmasterlist11-12.pdf
      http://www.reading.org/resources/booklists/childrenschoices.aspx

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  7. As so many others have already admitted, I've wondered this myself. Am I writing for the intended audience or the editor first? Because really, the editor has to like it before the intended audience can ever see it. And what exactly do the judges of these awards look for when judging? A book THEY like or a book they think the intended audience will like?

    Awards are good to shine a spotlight on the book and broaden the reach, but the best indicator that your book has hit its mark is readership. Do the kids ask for it, recommend it? Are the edges of the pages smudged from frequent use?

    Great post, Sue!

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    1. That would be a fun exercise. Go to the library and look for the most well worn books.
      I always try to ask the librarians what the kids like best.

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  8. Great post. I just read the 2012 Newberry Winner Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. I loved it! But would my teenage son, or younger kids? I don't think so. My husband? Definitely. I will now check out a few more of the winners and see how they read.

    thanks again for the post.

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    1. For grownups they read well. I adored Belle Praters Boy and Ella Enchanted, The View From Saturday, and The Higher Power of Lucky, to name a few. I Know I would have loved Ella Enchanted as a child. I am not so sure about some of the others.

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  9. Great post Sue. I remember thinking the same thing. It's hard to draw a line between the editor and the reader since we need to get thru one to get to the other.

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  10. Great post Sue. I remember thinking the same thing. It's hard to draw a line between the editor and the reader since we need to get thru one to get to the other.

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  11. Great post Sue. I remember thinking the same thing. It's hard to draw a line between the editor and the reader since we need to get thru one to get to the other.

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    1. Thanks, Kris. It is a fine line, indeed. Now I;m going back to revision where I will try to walk it.

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  12. You make a really good point. This is something I really need to think about because I think I write for kids, but I will read a book like, IT'S A BOOK and think--that is so clever; I wish I would have written that. But who is it clever for? Me or my kids? :)

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    1. Thanks for your comment, Margo. Try that Lemony Snickett one. I loved it even more than IT'S A BOOK.
      When writing for kids, I find it too easy to write like a parent and that;s not what a child id looking for.

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  13. Great post Susan. The solution of course is to have kids on the editorial boards of publishing houses. And make authors visit schools and get a passing grade, or better, on all their manuscripts.

    The problem is that all editors, and those on award committees, are adults. That's fine if the adults making life and death decisions about our books are familiar with kids of various ages, and what HOOKS them on reading a book. Unfortunately, some of the editors I have met have no kids or are unmarried. How close are they to their nieces and nephews and friend's kids? Who knows. Their decisions about slush pile masterpieces offers a clue.

    On second thought, I think publishers should mandate that their editors and sales people visit schools regularly and take Kid Reading 101. They need to dive in and discover what kids REALLY enjoy reading, what they think is funny, and the titles of the books kids read over-and-over. Take the "kid at heart" test, to make sure all editors know a kid friendly book when it jumps out of the slush pile or wherever, and bites them in the butt!!

    As for me, I write what is inside my head. My husband says, "Our kids are fully grown, and well into their thirties and beyond, yet you are still a kid at heart. Isn't it time you moved into at least the thirties?"

    "No way, mate." I tell him. "The kid in me still has a lot of books to write."

    Books for Kids - Manuscript Critiques
    http://www.margotfinke.com

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    1. Thanks for the great comment, Margot. I agree there should be a kid test for authors and agents.
      There are many Children's book awards voteed on by Kids. The NENE Awards are simply one example.
      http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/ That one is British
      Here's another
      http://www.dcfaward.org/lists/dcfmasterlist11-12.pdf

      http://www.bcbookaward.info/winners.htm

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  14. Wow! This struck a chord with lots of folks. I'm not sure I have spent much time thinking about it, although usually as soon as I see a medal on the cover I tend to make a curious mental note of the book as being one I may not get to.

    That said, as a kid I read several historical biographies, some of which are on the list. At the time I didn't recognize them as award winners---just good books. I was also given Johnny Tremain to read in the 5th grade by a teacher who wanted to challenge me. I was scared to death by how long it was (256 pages as I recall). But I couldn't put it down. I didn't know at the time it was an award winner, not that would have mattered to me.

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    1. I read Johnny Tremaine as a kid too. Thanks Bill, for commenting

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  15. Such an insightful post. As a mother of 5 kids (ages 4 to 18 years) I am very in tune with what my kids love to read and what turns them off. And you're right, some of the "children's" books that I love now don't do anything for them. When I write, I always write for them. I only write stuff that they love reading. I run it by them first and if they love it then I know it's good.

    http://www.laurisawhitereyes.com
    http://1000wrongs.blogspot.com

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    1. The only problem with running your own stuff by them is... There is a certain predisposition to love anything written by someone you know, especially your mother or grandmother. But is also applies to Child friends. My children and grandchildren and friends love everything I write and they think it all should be published.
      I need to nab a stranger child and ask their opinion of "this story someone sent me. I am not sure whether you will like it or not. Please read it (or) Please let me read it to you and tell me what you think?"
      Now see agents or editors could do that with their kids.

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