Leonard Marcus
Children's Book Historian, Author, Critic
You are a highly respected writer, historian, and critic, in the children's book world. Obviously, you value the art and craft of children's books. We live in a technologically sophisticated environment and are bombarded by "story" everywhere we turn. With an abundance of electronic entertainment media available to them, do children still need books in their lives?
Each medium has its own special qualities and advantages. Books, to start with, are highly portable and relatively inexpensive. Even better, with a book each reader can set his or her own pace. Without even having to press button, a reader can pause to reflect, or to take a closer look at an illustration, or to reread an especially striking or difficult passage, or just to daydream. In the case of picture books, there is something so lovely and intimate about the experience of a parent and child snuggling up and enjoying a story together. It's hard to do that with a computer or video game or TV.
In many of your own books you explore the artistic process with the people who create books for children. Is creativity a gift? Can it be taught? Or nurtured? Is there any way parents can create an atmosphere in their own homes that nurtures creativity?
My guess is that creativity is a gift that just about everyone receives in some measure. In some of us, the gift is so strong that nothing ‚ not even the cruel criticisms of an insensitive teacher, for example ‚ can snuff it out. But more often, encouragement helps. Parents who enjoy reading encourage their children simply by showing them that reading is a valued part of their own lives. Parents who enjoy listening to or playing music or going to museums, or doodling, or telling stories, or getting up to dance, and who let their children in on that part of their lives, are giving their children something wonderful: a model for their own creative development and an awareness that grown-up life isn't just a matter of dull routine. Of course, if a child shows signs of special talent ‚ for playing an instrument, for instance ‚ that's something to honor and to follow up on however possible.
Many parents, and teachers for that matter, walk into a children's library or bookstore and are overwhelmed; there are so many books! They want to find that magical book that is just right for their child. Where do they start? Can you judge a book by its cover? If a parent has limited funds and can only purchase a few books for a home library, what books would you recommend?
No book, however widely acclaimed or popular, is right for every child. Not even a book that is covered with gold medals. The goal should simply be to find books that your child will enjoy, which is the best way to encourage a love of reading. There are a variety of ready resources. In every monthly issue of PARENTING magazine, for instance, I recommend seven new books for children ranging in age from baby to preteen. By far the best one-stop source both for suggestions and for books is your local public library. At the library, you are likely to find trained specialists who, with just a little input from you about your child's interests and readiness level, will have many specific books to recommend.
Was there any one adult responsible for connecting you to books as a child or teen, or did you find your way to books on your own? Do you have one favorite book from your childhood?
You might be surprised to hear that I started out as a remedial reader. I was very slow and, despite the fact that I was an extremely verbal child, found reading painfully difficult. Then, in second grade, the reading specialist got me started writing poems that I would read to her during our weekly sessions. Reading what I myself had written was, of course, easy! And I think it made me feel proud, which was a lot better than feeling ashamed of being in the Barn Swallow reading group when most of friends were in the Bob Cats or Tigers. So I sort of snuck up on reading, by becoming a writer first, mostly thanks to that reading teacher.
What was the very first book you purchased with your own money?
The first book I bought for myself was the young readers' edition of President Kennedy's PROFILES IN COURAGE, which came out right around the time of his inauguration. I was ten, and a history buff, and had delivered leaflets in my neighborhood for his campaign, and the book jacket had been designed by a man who lived around the corner. So having my own copy of that book meant a lot.
Did you have a special place where you liked to read?
I didn't have a favorite place to read, but I did have a favorite place to look for books to read: the bookmobile that parked a few blocks from my house, in the suburban New York town of Mount Vernon, every Friday afternoon. The bookmobile had a very particular paper-and-binding-glue smell. And because the motor was always left running, it hummed and vibrated cozily under foot. It was a galley-like marvel of compression with the narrowest of walkways leading between floor-to-ceiling stacks of books. You entered at one end and exited at the other. Fifteen minutes spent inside was a total immersion experience in a world where nothing besides stories and pictures and the daydreams they inspired much mattered ‚ and I felt right at home there.
It is Wednesday night. It's been a "horrible, terrible, very bad day" for the whole family running around and you are all exhausted. Bedtime comes and your son wants a story. What will you read to him?
Very possibly a book he already knows and loves. Familiarity can be the best comforter and calmer-downer. It's the opposite of that bad-day feeling of things-coming-apart. When my son was three and four, we had a few book-and-tape packets ‚ a favorite was Bill Peet's CHESTER THE WORLDLY PIG ‚ and would read him the book just before bedtime. Then, once Jacob was tucked in, we put on the tape and listened along with him. Invariably, the familiar sounds of the storyteller's voice would ease him off to sleep.
If you would like to know more about Leonard Marcus and his work visit his website at: www.leonardmarcus.com.
© 2004 Mary Brigid Barrett
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