Mary Ann Hoberman, being appointed Children's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation's John Barr. Photo: Gerber+Scarpelli.

Hoberman received the honor at an awards ceremony earlier this week in Chicago. “Generations of readers who first discovered poetry in the books of Mary Ann Hoberman remember it not as a dry textbook encounter but as a moment of joyous play,” said John Barr, president of the Poetry Foundation, in announcing Hoberman’s appointment. “Her poems tease young minds even as they please young ears with rhythm and rhyme.”

In a pilot study of 81 girls between the ages of nine and 13, reading resulted in a lower Body Mass Index, which measures weight in relation to height. One group of young people were given copies of Annie Bryant’s Lake Rescue (Aladdin, Nov.), the sixth book in the Beacon Street Girls series; a second group was given a different BSG title, Charlotte in Paris. A third control group wasn’t given a book.

The girls who read Lake Rescue, a novel about an overweight 12-year-old at risk for Type-2 diabetes who, with the help of camp counselors, makes positive changes in her life, saw their BMI scores drop (-.71) after two months. The book echoes many of the themes promoted at Duke’s weight-loss program, like eating breakfast every day, getting plenty of sleep and avoiding juice. The girls who read Charlotte in Paris also saw a dip in their BMI scores, but not as much as those who read Lake Rescue. Those who didn’t read either book actually increased their BMI by .05%.  

It all began, as many books do, with a casual remark that resonated with a writer—in this case, two writers. “Twelve or thirteen years ago, Laura and I were talking with our mutual friend Lisa Holton, who was then at Hyperion, and she expressed interest in a picture book about dolls and dollhouses,” Martin recalls.

“We talked about how it would be fun if Ann and I did something together,” Godwin adds. “That was the spark. We never would have thought about writing a novel, but the story got more and more carried away and soon we had more than we could ever fit into a picture book.”  

(From l.) Jerry Pinkney, Suzanne Collins and Laurie Halse Anderson, after GLIBA's children's book and author breakfast.

GLIBA Booksellers Dispense Advice 

(From l.) panelists Kristen McLean, Cynthia Compton and Rose Joseph.

It’s no surprise, in a region whose economy has been particularly hard-hit in recent years, that Rust Belt booksellers would do whatever it takes to attract new customers and to increase sales. With children’s books the only growth category in book publishing right now, a number of general bookstores are considering ramping up their stock of children’s books, and, of course, adding children’s sections to their stores.

It was these kinds of general booksellers—about 50 of them—who gathered this past Sunday morning to hear Kristen McLean, executive director of the Association of Booksellers for Children, along with booksellers Cynthia Compton of 4 Kids Books in Indianapolis and Rose Joseph of Magic Tree Bookstore in Oak Park, Ill., discuss the nuts and bolts of setting up a children’s section in a general-interest bookstore.

Robin Preiss Glasser, visiting Storyopolis for its re-opening weekend.

Storyopolis, Southern California’s premier children’s art gallery and bookshop, moved from Studio City to Sherman Oaks three weeks ago and has changed its name to The Gallery at Storyopolis.

“There are three components to our company now,” said owner Matthew Abramowitz, who bought the business in 2003 from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. “We represent over 100 artists and illustrators who specialize in children’s art. We sell the finest illustrated books for kids. And we’re a content provider for production companies looking for innovative ideas for the children’s film and television markets.”