Beany and His New Recorder by Carol Panter, illustrated by Imero Gobbato (1972, Four Winds Press). I stumbled across this book online, I believe through another children's lit blog. I decided I had to have it because I took recorder lessons from the ages of 8-18. A lot of people don't realize recorder is a classical instrument, not just a kid's practice instrument in music class. Anyway, I ordered a used copy from Amazon and it's a really nice book. However, what was intriguing to me was what I found in the book. There was a note written on stationary from Russell and Volkening Literary Agents, signed by "Harriet." Well, interestingly enough, the book is dedicated to a Harriet Wasserman. I wondered if it was the same person and who she might be. A Google search led me to find quite a lot of information about Harriet Wasserman. I found that she was an assistant at Russell and Volkening before going on to start her own literary agency. One of her most famous clients was Saul Bellow, whom she was in love with. She represented Bellow for 25 years, during which time he called her his "coach, manager, and trainer" and a close friend. So she felt betrayed when he switched agents. In 1997 she actually wrote a memoir about the experience called Handsome Is. Now this is where things get even MORE interesting... she was involved in a huge scandal when she disappeared in 2007 after allegations of not paying clients their royalties. You can read a whole article about it here. Some of the clients who sued her were children's authors Walter Dean Myers and Emily Arnold McCully. (Myers claimed she owed him $120,000, McCully "only" $60,000.) Apparently she had suffered several strokes and it was her declining mental state that led to her not paying back her clients. She was 69 year old in 2007. I couldn't find anymore information after that year, so it seems she is still missing. I never thought I would find all this in a cheap used book from Amazon! Now, here is the book... I am assuming she was the agent for it.
12/3/2019 Update: I decided to search for Harriet Wasserman again now five years later, and found an obituary. She died on September 24, 2018 at the age of 81.
Yesterday I attended Book Con in New York. This was actually my third year attending. Despite the sometimes craziness with crowds and poor organization, I had a really good time and was able to see some great panels on YA and children's books.
The first panel I attended was called BFFs Forever with YA superstars Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Gayle Forman, moderated by Sarah Petrie, founder of Forever Young Adult. I have been reading Dessen's books since I was a young teen in the 00's so it was great to see her. I also love Jenny Han. They all spoke about teen girls' friendships, with funny personal stories. They also pointed out how friend break-ups can be so hurtful and have a long-lasting impact yet there is no real language for it like there is for relationship break-ups. It's a topic that hasn't been explored a lot in literature. The three are all friends and supportive of each other as well. You can read a more detailed recap of the panel at Publisher's Weekly here. Before going to the next panel, I took a walk around the show floor where tons of publishing companies set up booths. I happened to come across Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth. I'll admit, no matter how often my mom tried to get me to read that book as a kid, I always thought it was boring. But it definitely a classic of children's lit.
Next I went to see Taye Diggs and Shane Evans talk about their new picture book, Mixed Me. As you may know, Taye Diggs is a famous actor and actually was just announced as the new star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway. He is divorced from Broadway and Frozen star Idina Menzel and they have a son together. Their son was the inspiration for this book. They talked about race and diversity in children's books. I didn't get a good photo of them, so I'll share this great illustration from the book.
To end the day, I went to Rainbow Rowell's panel. She writes both YA and adult books, her most well-known being Eleanor & Park. My favorite book of hers is actually Fangirl, followed by Landline. She has a sharp, witty sense of humor which was showcased at the panel. We got some insight into her books and writing process, as well as her fangirl obsessions.
All in all, I had a great day! I didn't get any autographs... due to the way the convention is set up, you really have to choose whether you want to get autographs or go to panels, it's very hard to do both. I prefer listening to the panels so that was my choice, and I was happy with it. I bought a cool Book Con t-shirt and got a free tote bag and promotional postcards from two of my favorite up and coming illustrators, Phoebe Wahl and Emma Block. I'm looking forward to next year!
I love this blog, The Brown Bookshelf. For their project 28 Days Later, they highlight some of the best African American children's authors and illustrators, one for each day in February. It's a great resource for learning more about some wonderful children's book creators, some well-known and some not as much.
I believe it's so important for kids to read about all different diverse experiences and see all different types of people in illustrations. What is equally important, I think, is to have stories coming directly from people of color, and show kids that anyone can be a writer/artist.
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has spoken about the danger of a single story. She says that when she was young, she used to write stories about white people, because that's what she was used to reading. And she's not the only one. I've heard stories from teachers whose students, no matter what their color, only write or draw white people. This is indicative of what we are reading to our kids, both at home and in school. It's not a realistic view of the world and makes some people feel excluded from literature, which is a real shame. We should be exposing our kids to diversity at an early age.
