Today in History

Our services you can’t express,
The good we do you hardly guess;
There’s not a want of human kind,
But we a remedy can find.
-- The Virginia Gazette on the utility of the newspaper, January 22nd, 1770

On January 13^th, 1785, the first issue of The London Times was published. 

Prior to the late seventeen hundreds, news (when it was in print) had been conveyed via broadsides, or broadsheets, single-page sheets that told of some specific event (usually a sensational one), or in news books, bound books that performed the function of newspapers, except that you had to take the time to print and bind the book before it could convey the news to anyone.  (The advent of the cast iron press in the 1800s bumped up the production speed to 250 sheets/hour, but before that, setting a single page of type took half a day.  That means a 200 page news book would take around a third of a year to print.  And that’s not even counting the time it took for someone to write it and then for distribution after it was printed.  By the time people got to read news books, any news in them wasn’t exactly new anymore.)

So newspapers, when people got around to inventing them, were a really cool innovation!  Instead of consisting solely of an account of an execution in rhyming couplets (as broadsheets tended to), they were a timely vehicle of varied general information – from executions to this season’s fashions and the state of affairs of the nation. 

The fact that news was publicly available inexpensively was the cause for social change: rather than having to depend on the church or the town government to know what was going on in their country, people could just purchase a newspaper.  This shift changed the focus of many peoples’ lives from church to state.  As well as the communities that they already belonged to based on their religion and geographical location, people began to identify and form communities with other readers of the newspapers.  Newspapers produced by religions or created for audiences within geographical locations helped tie those already-existing communities together. 

Here’s what’s fascinating about this: circulation of newspapers within the United States peaked in 1971.  For the past thirty-eight years, the socio-political binding agent that was the newspaper has not been a force in that many peoples’ lives.  (In 2000, about two out of every ten people were reading newspapers.)

What binds the United States together culturally if not the newspaper?  And, perhaps more thought-provokingly: if newspapers contain information that reflects the lives and interests of the people who read them, what are they lacking that the other 80% of people (the vast majority of the country’s population) is living? 

Many of the opinions contained in this piece were formed after reading The Function of Newspapers in Society, a collection of essays curated by Shannon E. Martin and David A. Copeland, published by Praeger. 

What's On My Desk? An Editor's Perspective

So here’s my beautiful desk.

Made more beautiful by the photo of my kitten on my computer and the art samples on my walls.

Made less beautiful but far more interesting by the piles of paper on it. Editing is largely about managing those piles of paper. And about managing schedules. The four projects on my desk today are for books that are coming out on four different publication lists ranging from next winter (which is actually the first quarter of 2010, not the holiday months) to spring 2011.

Today I have to look at a set of blues and two manuscripts for novels that I’ve signed up.

Blues—which are no longer printed in blue ink—are the final stage of a novel before it goes to press. It’s our last chance to make sure that there aren’t any errors such as missing chunks of text, typos, etc. The thin manuscript is waiting for me to write out my initial editorial thoughts for the author so she can see what I feel is working really well and what could use some revising. The thicker manuscript is a nearly final draft that just need one last line-edit to make sure it’s absolutely perfect. I won’t be able to get through all of this work in one day, but hopefully I can make a dent. 

Over here

is a book that has moved past the editing stage and is in the process of being designed. These are samples of different design possibilities for a young adult novel by Clare Dunkle called The House of Dead Maids. It’s a ghost story that blends Yorkshire lore and Brontë family history—essentially a chilling prelude to Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights—and we want the design to reflect that mood. Do we go with a classic typeface that feels right for the time period, or a desperate, blotchy font that is rather modern but captures the mood of the book more fully? Desperate and blotchy feels right to me.

One part of my job that no longer involves piles of paper is reading new submissions from authors and agents. Not long ago the company gave us ereaders, which makes it much easier to carry a dozen manuscripts home without hurting your back. It also makes it possible for me to read more of a manuscript in the subway rides to and from home or over my morning coffee than I was able to before. That’s a blessing, since these are pretty much the only times I can read new manuscripts to see if I’d like to acquire them. Editors generally can’t do that at the office—we’re too busy working on the books that we’ve already signed up.

From the Desk of Reka Simonsen, Senior Editor, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

The Hows and Whys of Cover Design

From the desk of Anne Diebel, Senior Creative Director of FSG and Roaring Brook

After more than twenty years designing books, you would think that I would be able to recognize a truly challenging project at first glance—and avoid it—but I did not see this one coming.

Nancy Mercado phoned me this past summer while I was still freelancing for Roaring Brook to tell me about a book she wanted me to design. She said it was called The Baby Quota. I accepted without hesitation, not so much because I needed the money, but because of the letterforms. A capital Q is a real treat for designer and the proximity of the lower case y to that Q was almost too much to hope for. Happily, happily, I took the assignment.

Now, in the first pages of this book a mother gives birth, the midwife drugs her, then takes the baby to hand it over to The Enclave, a privileged portion of this future world that lives within a walled section of the city. This scene and others like it describe what the baby quota is.

In very short order I sent Nancy a comp that I thought was pretty nifty. It showed the graphic profile of a pregnant woman with the title curved into the shape of a womb. The whole cover was flat black and red to convey the harrowing tone of the book. Seemed like a winner.

I was mistaken. "We've changed the title," Nancy said. "It is now The Baby Code".

I stifled a little gasp thinking of my capital Q.

"Not a problem," I tell her and start kicking around new ideas.

Shortly thereafter I sent some solutions utilizing black and white photography and the title The Baby Code. They were interesting, but not resoundingly received. So I did another round of comps, but we decided the word "Baby" was working against this cover. A list of new possibilities goes back and forth and then the author provides the title, The Orion Tattoo.

Hmmmmmm. . . .

The tattoo refers to a mark that this midwife and her predecessors put on the ankles of babies that are turned over to The Enclave, a series of four tiny pin pricks. The depiction of this tattoo may sound like a solution, but in point of fact it was kind of a dead end.

More titles, more images. Suffice it to say that over the course of weeks and months I created dozens and dozens of options for this cover. That is not a proud admission for a designer. It is so much more satisfying to say that you dashed off one design on a Post-it that sent everyone into an ecstasy, but that was not the case for this one.

At a certain point we decided that showing a baby in any form was as bad as saying baby. So I focused my attention on the books heroine, Gaia, who is the young midwife. Gaia bears a scar across one side of her face. I suggested the title Birthmarked with the taglines "The Scars You Bear Set You apart, And The Circumstances of Your Birth Chart Your Future", referring to both Gaia and the babies. With modified copy, this seemed like a terrific idea—until one of our major accounts saw the cover.

So, to make a long story short, and as cheerful as it can be, I re-assigned this title. (I could do that now because in the midst of this project I was hired on as the Senior Creative Director for RBP and FSG). I assigned it to one of our cracker-jack freelancers, who was gallant enough not to resolve the whole thing in one round, but resolve it he did. It is a beautiful thing too.

Some of the dozens of covers created are shown here. No blood, sweat, or tear stains  remain, just the memory of a hard-fought fight.

Birthmarked is a terrific book, by the way. My hope is that you and 75,000 others will want to give it a look, cover notwithstanding.

ALA Midwinter

We’ll be at ALA Midwinter this weekend.  If you’re going to be around, come visit us!

The Macmillan Children’s publishers are all in an ultra-convenient block, so if you find one of us, you find us all.  Here are our numbers:

FSG: Booth 1424

Feiwel/Square Fish: Booth 1421

Holt BYR: Booth 1423

Roaring Brook/First Second: Booth 1422

We’ll be featuring some of our forthcoming Spring 10 titles – and if you’re lucky, you might even get a glimpse of Fall 2010.  Look out especially for galleys of Jessica Brody’s The Karma Club (FSG), Caragh O’Brien’s Birthmarked (Roaring Brook), Steve Feasey’s Wereling (Feiwel), and Leslie Hauge’s Nomansland (Holt). 

If you have a few hours away from the convention floor, here are two of the best adventures you can have in Boston. 

The New England Aquarium

Aquariums are super-awesome!  This is one of the most excellent in the United States, and definitely worth a stop while you’re in town.  How can you resist the Giant Ocean Tank – 23 feet deep, 40 feet wide, it holds 200,000 gallons of salt water, and there’s a ramp that spirals up the side so you can view all the aquatic life in it.  Says the NEAQ website: “this tank is so big that it was built first, and then the rest of the Aquarium was built around it.”

The Boston Children’s Museum

This kids museum has a special emphasis on being green – it even has a green roof that’s 75% sedum and 25% flowering plants.  The Recycle Shop was always one of my favorite stops when I was a kid. 

The Classics of the Macmillan Children's List

 This is our version of a down-and-dirty introduction to the Macmillan Children’s backlist.  We’re highlighting classic titles from each of our imprints (see the header above for the logos together; their names are too long to list them all!) in the hopes that you’ll be wowed by the breadth of our history – and by the excellent books we publish.

And now: the books themselves!

ABC3D by Marian Bataille

Really, the video says it all so much better than I can.

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang

This Printz Award-winning, Eisner Award-winning, National Book Award-finalist graphic novel has won the hearts of hundreds of thousands with its powerful message about adolescence. Also, there are monkeys!

B is for Bear, by Roger Priddy

Alphabetical and also huggable!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

Who doesn’t love Eric Carle’s art?  Also: bears!  Aren’t they the new owls this season?

The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden and Garth Williams

Continuing with our adorable animal theme, this book features charming art by Garth Williams.  I still remember watching the animated movie of this as a young child – especially the scene where Chester the Cricket starts chirping in Times Square and everything and everyone goes silent around him.

Doctor De Soto, by William Steig

For once, the small cute animal manages to outwit the fox and not get eaten.  Huzzah for that! 

Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate

A book about immigrating, told in verse.  

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, by Mordecai Gerstein

Who doesn’t love unsanctioned performance art?  Especially when the penalty is . . . sanctioned performance art!

 

Moomins, by Tove Jansson

FSG and Square Fish are re-launching this series this spring, and there’s new, completely excellent cover art.  Who can resist the power of the Moomins?  Not I.

My Friend Rabbit, by Eric Rohmann

Featuring gorgeous artwork and a hilarious lesson about cooperation (and not flying your toy airplanes into trees, always important).  

On the Night You Were Born, by Nancy Tillman

On the night you were born, you brought so much wonder and magic to the world that polar bears began dancing (and looked good doing it). 

The Prydain Books, by Lloyd Alexander

Just about every single person I know read these books when they were eleven.  If you haven’t read them yourself, you’re missing out on a great story about everyone’s favorite assistant pig keeper.

Robot Dreams, by Sara Varon

The only way this book would not be able to knock your socks off is if you did not have socks on. 

It’s that good. 

Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt

The language in this book is just gorgeous.  It’s got everything anyone could ever want in a book – a magical fountain of youth, people in peril, murder, etc. – and then Natalie Babbitt’s writing just makes you fall into the Tucks’ world. 

Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

I wanted to be Betsy when I was little. 

I just re-read this book recently, and I am stunned by its continual power to make me feel guilty about not knowing how paving a road works. 

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle

“It was a dark and stormy night.” 

Best first line ever!