Monday, September 1, 2008
Decatur Book Festival
I took a trip to Atlanta yesterday (Sunday) for the Labor Day Weekend Decatur Book Festival. It was too darn hot to really enjoy the day, but I got a few things out of it. Actually it was so hot that I spent a lot of time in the shade of the "tent" listening to different authors and illustrators, some of whom I wouldn't ordinarily have listened to. I'd specifically targeted the "children's" tent because children are, of course, my own target audience when writing; plus, we had Lily with us, and many of the speakers were for younger children, which suited her fine.
It was certainly a big event, and there were a LOT of authors present. I scanned the list of names and, to my shame, didn't recognize any of them at a glance. But I found that some had written books I was very familiar with, so it was just a case of the author's name not being quite "big" enough to recognize. A very popular author among younger kids was Doreen Cronin, best known for her Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type picture books. She was a good speaker, and afterwards we got her to sign a copy of Diary of a Worm (which, by the way, is hilarious — not that I read it or anything... ahem).
I also picked up a signed copy of Kenny and the Dragon, a new book by Tony DiTerlizzi. The author's name sadly didn't mean anything to me until I realized he's the guy who wrote The Spiderwick Chronicles. [edit] Whoops! I should have said he illustrated them; Holly Black wrote them! My bad. With that in mind, I would have bought the entire set of signed books but that would have set me back quite a bit of wonga, so I limited myself to Kenny and the Dragon. Now, this book is a little "young" for me, but the illustrations are amazing! What's really amazing is that the author, Tony, wrote AND illustrated it. Now that's an achievement, and I'm full of envy. Take a look at Tony's work in this blog post.
I've gotta tell you, skimming through a book like this — especially when it's created by one man — is a huge inspiration to me. It's why I loiter in the children's book section at our local Barnes & Noble Bookstore. As Tony DiTerlizzi said:
"I get so excited because I really like to draw, and I really like to spin a yarn, but I LOVE making books. I love the size of them in your hand, the paper texture, the printing effects on the cover, and the smell of the ink..."
Moving on — I knew the temperature was supposed to be in the mid-90s on Sunday, but it was clear to everyone that the raised paved section in the middle of the festival was giving off a lot more heat than that. I swear it was around 100 F all afternoon! If you walked down the steps to the street, you could feel a sudden drop in temperature. Anyway, this heat made it difficult to stand in line waiting for autographs and book-signings, or even browse books on empty stalls. So that's a shame. Still, the talks went on all day, one speaker after another, and I sat and listened to a discussion between three children's authors about their books and the sci-fi/fantasy genre in general.
The authors, Adam Rex, Brandon Sanderson, and Laurel Snyder, each read a passage from their latest offering, and gave opinions about various things such as "should children's books be illustrated?" Opinions were mixed. One said that illustrations might persuade a 9-year-old to pick up a book aimed at 12-year-olds and find that it's a bit above his head. (Or, on the flip-side, a 12-year-old might not buy it because it looks too immature for him.) Another suggested that illustrations should be in ALL children's books. I tend to agree with the latter, with the caveat that the illustration style should match the tone and content of the book.
This is where Enid Blyton fans will probably agree. In the 40s, 50s and 60s, Enid's major series were illustrated with realistic, "serious" illustrations. Today the same books, if illustrated at all, will feature cartoonified drawings. Maybe this is a reflection of the way kids have advanced over the years; what was geared towards 12-year-olds forty years ago might be more suitable for 9-year-olds now, hence the "younger" style illustrations. But in any case, for my own novel, I would be appalled if it ended up with cartoon illustrations! I'd much rather have no illustrations at all. Otherwise 12-year-olds might pick it up and scornfully put it down again, thinking it's for younger kids.
The authors also talked about book covers. Are they important? These authors thought so. Brandon Sanderson said that he likes only about 50% of the cover designs for his previous books — and by "coincidence" those are the ones that have done well. He believes he knows what sells and what doesn't, and perhaps he's right. He is, after all, a reader of books too, and he browses shelves like the rest of us. It all comes down to opinions and tastes though. His latest book, Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians, has a cover that he kind of likes although, he says, the boy is wearing special round glasses that makes him look a bit Harry Potter-ish. But on the other hand, he added that perhaps that's not such a bad thing!
(Speaking of Harry Potter, are you reminded of Harry when you see the Charlie Bone books? Not a coincidence, I'm sure. And if you read the summaries for Charlie Bone, it seems the storyline isn't far off either!)
All in all, worth a visit. This kind of festival certainly "gets you interested." Putting a face to a name, and especially seeing the author in real life and hearing him or her speak, undoubtedly helps to promote books. But, dreaming for a moment here, if I ever got published and was asked to speak at one of these things... I'd quake with fear and would make a mess of it. I don't like public speaking at all. :-(
This post has 3 comments
On the subject of Harry Potter and Charlie Bone there really isn't much similarity. I have read the six Charlie Bone books (the seventh has just been published), but I wonder if the person who wrote that comment on the Amazon.com site has. They both involve slightly strange boarding schools (though Bloor's Academy is weekly boarding), but beyond that they don't have much in common. It is rather like comparing Jennings with Billy Bunter! Interestingly Warner also have (or had) the film rights to Charlie Bone, but unlike the Harry Potter books which go up one year at a time, Charlie Bone has only aged by one year in the first six books, so it won't be easy to film if they want to use the same actors. Even the Harry Potter films are having problems with some of the 'child' actors already in their 20s! Jenny Nimmo, who writes the Charlie Bone books, also wrote the Snow Spider trilogy, so she was already well established in this genre.
I haven't read Charlie Bone; the "likeness" to Harry Potter was just a passing observation. I noticed it ages ago in the bookshop and thought, "Golly, talk about capitalizing on success!" That may be unfair... or it may not! Whether the books are Potter-ish or not, the bookshop placed these books right next to Harry Potter and they fit right in. ;-)
I am sure that you are right in as much as American bookshops and publishers were trying to cash in on the Harry Potter success, but it wasn't quite the same over here. The link you give is to Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy, but this is the American title. Over here the title was simply The Blue Boa. The point I was trying to make was that Jenny Nimmo was an established author in this genre long before Harry Potter came on the scene.
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