The great bloggist Benjamin Rosenbaum fell into that “interview me” meme, and as I was waiting for some sort of inspiration to go back to blogging, and as Benjamin Rosenbaum is capable of thought-provoking-ositiage on a scale unparalleled in the modern era, I fell with him. The meme, which I have seen kicking around lj before, goes something like this: Person A offers to interview her readers. Person B, one of her readers, expresses willingness to be so interviewed. Person A, then, chooses five questions for Person B, which Person B then answers over at PersonBBlog.com, along with an offer to interview his readers. Person V, then, takes Person B up on the aforesaid offer, receives five of the best, and posts them. Person G (that is, you yourself, Gentle Reader) is then welcome to ask me for five questions about you, which you then promise to post on your own journal, or as a guest post here, or tacked to a nearby telephone pole, along with a repeated offer to interview such readers as you may have or want. Simple, no?
Of course, when it comes to answering questions posed by Mr. Rosenbaum, nothing is quite as simple as it seems. So I'll do this gently, so I don't get the bends, starting at the end and working my way up.
5. What's the best children's book I may not have heard of?
The Short answer is 17 Kings and 42 Elephants by Margaret Mahy. The long answer is, well, long. I’ll begin with the disclaimer that I don’t know what you have or haven’t heard of, so I’ll include a few books that you probably have heard of, just in case, because I’d hate for you to miss something just because I assume you know it.
Let’s break this down by group, shall we? For picture books, by which I mean books that have only a little text, and which are aimed at an non-reading audience via an interpretive reader, I think the best is Mickey in the Night Kitchen, which I’m sure you know, but I really like Peggy Rathmann’s Ten Minutes to Bedtime, Romanelli’s Little Bobo, Molly Bang’s Ten, Nine, Eight, David Small’s Imogene’s Antlers (and his other wonderful works), and of course Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom. I’ll add Kate Duke’s Guinea Pig ABC for lagniappe, since I feel quite confident you have read most of the above.
The next category is what are sometimes called beginner books, that is, books that are for new readers, often with very limited vocabulary and liberal illustrations, but that are more text-oriented than picture books. I don’t think these get much better than the Frog and Toad series, but I recommend Cynthia Rylant’s Mr. Putter series (she also writes the Poppleton books, the Henry and Mudge books, the Cobble Street Cousins, and about a billion other books, but I think the books about Mr. Putter and his fine cat Tabby and his neighbor Mrs. Teabury and her good dog Zeke are particularly good), John J. Muth’s version of Stone Soup, Kin Platt’s Big Max, and the poetry of Jack Prelutsky, particularly The Gargoyle on the Roof. Very little here, actually, that is good but obscure. At least that seems obscure to me.
For somewhat older children, say, 7 to 9, something like that, I recommend the Wayside School school books, less well-known that Mr. Sachar’s Holes but more fun. Oh, are you familiar with Alice for the Very Young? It’s also (having now done TSOR) evidently called The Nursery Alice, and our Perfect Non-Reader quite liked, having read it after having proper Alice read to her. It’s echt Lewis Carroll, not some Disnified machine-translation. I don’t know where your little ones are for reading and whatnot, but it is actually nice to have a little Alice for those who like her but aren’t really up for reading the full book.
Oh, and in this category is the answer to a different question, that is, not the best children’s book you may not have heard of, where I interpret the criteria as being (1) quality and (b) moderate obscurity, but the most obscure children’s book that you might like, where the critera are (A) obscurity and only then (2) quality, and that book is Ten and a Kid.
And that’s quite enough.
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.
I have to add a couple:
I wouldn’t normally consider But Not the Hippopotamus to be obscure, but some friends of mine with kids recently told me that they had never heard of it. This is probably my favorite picture book. Highly recommended.
Much more obscure, to the point that I’ve only ever seen one copy of it: Futility the Tapir, by Roberta Moynihan.
Also obscure and good: kids’-book renditions of Frank R. Stockton’s lesser-known works, such as The Griffin and the Minor Canon and The Bee-Man of Orn.
Semi-obscure, I think, and fun and feminist: Reckless Ruby, by Hiawyn Oram and Tony Ross, about a girl who hates to be called “precious.”
Semi-obscure and a bit didactic but nicely queer-friendly: The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans and other stories, by Johnny Valentine, published by Alyson Wonderland.
Possibly the best obscure children’s books ever, though, are How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen and A Near Thing for Captain Najork, by Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake. Last I checked (some time ago), these were available from Amazon UK but not Amazon US. They were worth every penny of the Transatlantic shipping fees.
And finally, I have to mention Norton Juster’s book of illustrated puns, Otter Nonsense, although it’s not really a kids’ book per se.
…Oh, wait, I also want to mention a couple of semi-obscure authors of primarily-text books (older than beginner books, but probably not quite YAs): Sesyle Joslin (The Night They Stole the Alphabet, The Spy Lady and the Muffin Man, and Last Summer’s Smugglers) and Ellen Raskin (every primarily-text book she wrote is brilliant, but Figgs & Phantoms is probably best saved ’til the kids are older).
Ask me! Ask me! (I may regret this when struggling to come up with lists of questions later, but hey.)
I have to second those of Jed’s recommendations with which I am familiar:
The Sesyle Joslin books (which Jed introduced us to).
The Captain Najork books (which I believe that Stephen introduced to both me and Jed)
But not the Hippopotamus, which Jed gave to us when we were still living in Swarthmore, and which Theo thoroughly enjoys.
A Bucket of Five for Nao:
1. You are visited by Theo, aged 25 and temporarily Chrono-Displaced. He tells you he is well, happy, healthy, and that he works as a … what? What answer would make you concerned enough to attempt to alter the future to prevent it? What answer would give you the most nachas?
2. In a small-town library, how extensive should the reference section be? Does the answer change if there are (say) half-a-dozen computers with internet access available? Would you, as the librarian, be able to bring yourself to toss out old Magills and Europas and the like? Would you spend money (scarce, of course) to keep the print reference section up-to-date?
3. Would you be willing to accept the Democratic party nomination for local office? Would the likelihood of winning that office make much of a difference in your answer? What else would you need to know before you could answer?
4. Do you think you would enjoy being a full-time seamstress? If the money were good? If your boss/patron/customers were rich enough to allow you to work with really good fabrics? What would be the best part about crafting for money? The worst?
5. If a magic genie gave you the power to start a fad, what would it be? It has to be a real fad, that is, crazy popular for no more than a year or two, so no going with the altruistic answers like book-larnin’ or politeness or civic participation. Well, you can if you want, but keep in mind, it’s a fad, not a major cultural shift.
Thanks,
-V.
Nancy and I have lately discovered Canadian storyteller Robert Munsch, whose whimsy and style I quite admire. His “Love You Forever” is what he’s most well known for, but it’s emotionally affecting and kind of disturbing at the same time, so I recommend screening it before sharing it. However, his FUNNY stuff is great – like “Alligator Baby” for instance. I particularly like the books where he teams up with illustrator Martschenko, but that’s not a necessary qualification. Also, wordy – Luke typically sits through the telling of a story the first time, but on subsequent demanded readings, he generally insists that we start at a specific picture and read from there.
For older kids (old enough to sit through a real book, but young enough to have it read to them…), I recommend 13 Clocks, by Thurber. Brilliant in every way. Possibly the best book ever written. A fairy tale: young hero, beautiful princess, evil duke, wise… old…? guy? I don’t even know what to call the Gollux, but he’s the best plot device ever conceived. Seriously, you owe it to yourself to read this one, even if you’re an adult.
I also liked Homeward Bounders – young adult SF by Diana Wynne Jones. But probably not book for the under-tweens.
peace
Matt
Answered!