While reading
this blog yesterday, I found an entry about Beverly Cleary based on
a 2006 Newsweek article that I'd read -- but I thought the salient detail was worth mentioning this week, when the last book in The Series That Must Not Be Named (hereafter to be referred to as TSTMNBN) will be released (and if you haven't already seen the spoilers proliferating on the 'Net, well, don't expect me to share them with you. That's what
Gawker is for. I may be a curmudgeon, but I'm not a killjoy.)
Back to Beverly Cleary. Did you know that the Newbery-winning author has sold nearly 100 million copies f her books?
Without peeking at that article from Newsweek, guess how many books have been sold in TSTMNBN?
As of March 2006 (when the Newsweek piece ran), 120 million (all bets are off as to what that number will be after midnight on Friday).
If that isn't food for thought, I don't know what is. Yes, yes, yes -- Cleary has been selling books for decades longer than J. K. Rowling. There's no disputing that TSTMNBN is a phenomenon.
But during a week in which it's being covered to death, I appreciated a gentle reminder that there are other children's book authors out there worth celebrating.
I love Beverly Cleary, but she had April 12, 2006, the HarperCollins "Drop Everything and Read" day. So if I had my druthers, I'd throw a big bash for
Norton Juster. If you could make a huge fuss over an author (doesn't have to be a children's author) and create events around that author's latest release, who would it be?