P try: A Risky Business
Cindi Di Marzo -- 3/23/98
Publishing in this genre requires courage, imagination and patienceNo one would deny that p try is a staple within children's literature, but awareness and sales of children's p try have been subject to a cycle of ups and downs over the years, perhaps more so than any other genre. Now, with so much attention focused on p try, particularly during the month of April because of its designation as National P try Month, publishers and booksellers are stepping up their p try-related activities, but there is still widespread doubt about the marketing potential of p try and p ts without strong track records.
Over the past 30 years, two p ts -- Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky -- have proven that p try can sell in big numbers. Others, such as David McCord, Eve Merriam and Karla Kuskin, have accumulated respected backlists. Books by these authors continue to sell, while classics, anthologies and collections are slow but steady movers. According to Chauni Haslet, owner of All for Kids in Seattle, Wash., p try collections sell because adults appreciate their breadth and variety. Classics are also attractive to parents and grandparents as gifts.
Nostalgia is another reason adults gravitate toward the classics. Charles Nurnberg, executive v-p of Sterling Publishing, said that fond memories of certain p ms and p ts have certainly contributed to the success of Sterling's P try for Young People series, which was launched in 1994. There are five titles in print, with net sales of 1.4 million.
Nurnberg said he believes that parents in the baby-boom generation want their children to read the p ts they grew up with -- such as Carl Sandburg, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, who are all collected in Sterling's series -- but they also want a fresh look. As a result, the company gave the series a contemporary design with full-color art, and selected a different artist for each volume.
Hearing from New Voices
Introducing p ts to the marketplace can be tough. Taking a long-range view, Margaret K. McElderry, head of her own imprint at Simon &Schuster, said that she has always been cautious about taking on new p ts because their sales are generally low. Over the years, McElderry has worked with such noted p ts as X.J. Kennedy and Myra Cohn Livingston, who, McElderry said, was a galvanizing force in the p try world.
In fact, McElderry credits Livingston with opening the doors for other p ts who write for children. "Once Myra started taking classes in p try and, later, teaching it," McElderry said, "she acquired a scope and assurance few p ts in this century have achieved. She was admired and very influential."
One new p t McElderry has taken on recently is Janet Wong, a former student of Livingston's at UCLA. She published Wong's first book, Good Luck Gold and Other P ms, in 1994. New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has selected a p m from Wong's second collection, A Suitcase of Seaweed and Other P ms, for its P try in Motion project; it will be featured on 5000 posters on buses and subways this spring.
Exposing children to good p try at a very young age is something that many feel is critical to developing a love of language. Author Jane Yolen, whose work spans many genres, said that toddlers and preschoolers respond eagerly to nursery rhymes and Mother Goose, even when they aren't able to perceive any meaning behind the words. And by the time kids are in first and second grade, "they can handle more complex p ms with internal rhymes and deeper content."
However, Yolen said, there are a number of barriers to this process. "Teachers are still afraid that kids won't understand p try and doubt their own ability to read it well." In stores, she noted, "p try is right down at the bottom," with few shelves earmarked for it and most of the volumes, regardless of age or type of p try, lumped together with Mother Goose.
With 19 collections, anthologies and many p m-based picture books to her credit, Yolen said that promoting p try for children continues to be a constant battle: "We've gone through a number of cycles, fueled by the bestselling status of p ts like Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. I think right now we are coming out of a down period and will see an upswing." Yolen is convinced that young people need p try. "Children love it. Songs, stories and p ms all open a world of wonder to children and the beauties of language, and they respond to it," she said.
Bernice Cullinan, a professor of reading education at New York University and editor-in-chief of the Wordsong p try imprint at Boyds Mills Press, agreed with Yolen that p try is an essential part of childhood education but noted that some teachers still find p try intimidating: "They remember how p try was taught to them and try to analyze it, and maybe they don't remember how to do that." However, Cullinan said that many teachers use p try to teach reading. "It is also ideal for memorization because of the strong images and succinct ways of saying things," she added.
One of Yolen's editors, Patricia Lee Gauch, editorial director of Philomel Books, agreed that publishing p try can seem like a struggle, but said, "I've always bought p try because I've always been inclined to the p tic experience in language and books." Gauch edited Yolen's Caldecott Medal-winning Owl Moon, which stretched what some might think of as p try, because it d sn't rhyme and is in the form of a traditional picture book.Gauch said that when considering p try, she looks for dissonant concepts, interesting word juxtapositions and powerful images. A recent book on her list, Music and Drum: Voices of War and Peace, Hope and Dreams, a collection of antiwar p ms by well-known and unknown p ts, including children, selected by Laura Robb, is an example that Gauch holds up as innovative and risky. "For any unusual book or ones that take courage to write and publish, you need advocates on the outside -- reviewers, librarians, booksellers. Otherwise, those books get lost," she said.
Community Support Is Key
Local interest is a key element in promoting p try. Haslet of All for Kids said that p try is an easy sell in her store because people in Seattle, where many well-known p ts reside, are committed to it. In April Haslet plans to have George Shannon, Nikki Grimes and Janet Wong in for programs, and Prelutsky in June.
P try events are also effective at Barnes &Noble. P try buyer Rosemary Marotta pointed to B&N's open microphone events for kids, at which young p ts can preview their work for their peers, and said, "Events work best if we have the kids do something. We get them involved in writing and they really enjoy it."
At Edward T. Rabbit &Co. in Richmond, Va., owner Kay Remick has instituted an ongoing Mother Goose program that she said is extremely popular. Remick said she sees much more variety in the new, attractively designed volumes of p try being released today, but added that much of the verse is less memorable than the classics.
Hands-on experience with p try is popular with young people in Brookline, Mass., where Terri Schmitz has established an annual p try contest at her store. Last year's inaugural event drew 700 submissions. Winners can select a p try title featured in the store's newsletter, and everyone who enters will receive a coupon for 20% off their next purchase.
Schmitz reported that p try for older children is doing well in her store, perhaps because of community awareness and because the books are separated from p try for young children. Strong sellers include This Same Sky: A Collection of P ms from Around the World, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye (S&S), Room Enough for Love by Ralph Fletcher (Aladdin) and The Invisible Ladder: A Young Readers' Anthology of Contemporary P try, edited by Liz Rosenberg (Holt).
"P try for older kids is an odd area," according to Joanna Cotler, who heads her own imprint at HarperCollins. Cotler has two books of p try on her spring list, a bilingual collection for older readers, Laughing Out Loud, I Fly: P ms in English and Spanish by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Karen Barbour, and I Have Heard of a Land, a picture book by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper.
Although Cotler said she believes Herrera's p ms have appeal for a wide audience, they are especially appropriate for the 10 and up age group because they speak to the adolescent condition and express a sense of rootlessness. Herrera grew up in a family of migrant workers in California, and his p ms have a profound, searching quality.
At Pooh Corner in Madison, Wis., buyer Anne Irish said a strong title for older girls is Mother Gave a Shout: P ms by Women and Girls, edited by Susanna Steele and Morag Styles, illustrated by Jane Ray (Volcano). Other strong-selling backlist titles at the store are Valerie Worth's All the Small P ms and Fourteen More, illustrated by Natalie Babbitt (FSG), one of Irish's personal favorites, and Ten-Second Rainshowers: P ms by Young People, edited by Sandford Lyne, illustrated by Virginia Halstead (S&S). These titles are successful handsells, according to Irish, but they need to be introduced and displayed effectively. Anthologies work well, too, she said, "because you get the standards as well as some new voices."
Bestselling p t Jack Prelutsky (The New Kid on the Block; A Pizza the Size of the Sun) is now in the process of compiling p ms for a new comprehensive anthology for Knopf. Slated for fall 1999, it will include a number of fresh voices that have emerged since Prelutsky's previous anthology, The Random House Book of P try for Children, appeared in 1983.
Owner of an extensive collection of children's p try dating back to the 19th century, Prelutsky said he believes that the best p try for children has been written in the last 30 years and is "specifically written for children, not preachy, with subject matter that is interesting to children and reflects their lives and concerns. And it is fun."
Prelutsky's first book of p ms, edited by his longtime editor, Greenwillow's Susan Hirshman, appeared in 1967. "When I first started, Susan advised me to keep my day job," Prelutsky recalled. "She said that children's books were not big sellers, and that p try was an even bigger gamble."
Along with Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic, Prelutsky's books are ones that kids themselves ask for. Irish said they come in having read these authors in school. Their books are popular, Irish explained, "because the p ms are short and fun."
Although it seems clear that publishing p try remains a risky sales proposition, many parents, educators and booksellers are discovering the unique way p try can affect children's lives. The annual national spotlight on p try during April should only add to this appreciation, as kids take the stage to recite their own p try, meet their favorite p ts in schools and bookstores and incorporate p try into their everyday lives.
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