PSU Magazine Winter 2001

hildren's literature is alive and well and better tJ1an ever. By John Kirkland arry Potter and the Goblet of Fire shook up the publishing world last July when it became the fastest-selling book in his– tory. It tested the limits of Amazon .corn 's sh ipping and deliv– ery system, made the cover of Newsweek, and caused the New York Times Book Rev iew to fo rm an entirely new cate– gory of best seller list: one for children's books alone. Before the new category appeared in the Rev iew on July 23, three of the four books in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series occupied the second, th ird, and fourth slots of the standard New York Times fic– tion be tseller Ii t. "We were fac ing the possi– bility that four or even five books on the list would be children's books. That seemed to me to be excessive," says New York Times Book Review editor Chip McGrath. Disgruntled authors though t o too, coining the term "Pot– tered," meaning to be edged off the list because of that damned wizard kid . T he fact that a chi ldren's book has become the most spectacular British import since The Beatles is a cause of celebration among advocates for children's literacy. But to those living and working in GERSHON' dren's author and professor emeritus of education. While the genre-always a relatively mall slice of the publishing pie– u ed to be driven primari ly by teachers and librarians, budget cut in libraries and schools have shifted the marketing emphasis to bookstores where it has become more visible, he says. There, books are likely to share the same shelf space as toys, because the entertainment conglomerates that publish the books spin off related products to pull in more revenue. And who can blame them, considering that kids wield immense commercial power from clothing, to toys, to music, to breakfast cerea l? While some authors worry that dollars are driving too much of the publishing world, others marvel that books like the Harry Potter series can fly off the shelves with little market– ing at all. They've old, Kim– mel says, because of one child telling another. alem children 's author Ellen Howard, a PSU alum and recent winner of the Ore– gon Book Award , reca lled la t Easter when her 13-year-old grandson-a non-reader for most of his childhood- had to be called several times to the dinner table because he was so the genre, it's merely a pleasant blip on the radar screen- an affirmation perhap of what they've known all along. Chil– engrossed in Harry Potter. - AStory for the Jewi hNew Vear - Retold by ERIC A. KIMMEL · lllll~ted by JON J MUT "It's the only time in my memory that for a fifth grader to be considered cool, he has to have read a certain book," she says. dren's literature has been thriving, enj oy– ing a renais ance that can be traced back to the 1960s, and no one knows that bet– ter than authors and educators from Portland State. "Children's literature has always been here, but publishing has changed tremen– dously" says Eric Kimmel, prolific chi!- Author Roland Smith, who attended PSU in the early '70s, says children really want to read as long as they are pre ented with books that will capture their interest. "A lot more kids are reading these day ; statistics show it. Video games are WINTER 2001 PSU MAGAZINE 9