Today, I've been reviewing children's books most of the morning trying to decide which ones I want to purchase for the library. Generally speaking, when I do this, I go to our supplier's website, perhaps also a catalog or three, check out all the new releases, skim over the descriptions and reviews and go from there. However, I've recently noticed that even after doing this, once I have the actual book in my hand, some of them have not been *quite* what I was thinking they were.
For example, a title I recently weeded. It was a lovely old book about a little immigrant girl from Sweden and all her adventures in America. It reminded me a bit of "Heidi" combined with "Pippi Longstocking". Alas, our original copy was in very poor condition and hadn't been checked out in a long while, so I decided to give it another try by replacing it with a new copy.
We all know that the whole "Don't judge a book by it's cover" might hold water with adults, but it doesn't work that way with kids. If it doesn't look like a fun or interesting book, it's going to stay on the shelf. Even though this old book was faded and torn and featured cover art that was long past relevant to this generation's kids, I still felt compelled to keep this story around. I found the book in our supplier's list and ordered a new copy. The description didn't contain a photo of the book, but, wisely or not, I selected it. Once it came in, I was immensely disappointed by it.
Yes, it was the same book, the same characters and the same plot, but they had managed to take a charming storybook and make it look like a high school text book. The cover was as boring as dry toast, and had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I blame this particular blunder not on the author but on the publisher/distributor. Really, it was just about as unattractive a child's book as it could be. That in itself is kind of an achievement when you think about it, but certainly not one I'd recommend repeating.
I know this book isn't exactly classic children's literature, but since I have a soft spot for children's stories of yesteryear, I will continue to be disappointed by publishers who don't value them in the same way. One would hope that the publishers would notice what they've done and change it, but I suspect they are assuming that no one will want this title any longer, so they aren't going to put much effort into making it attractive to potential buyers. In my mind's eye, I see a huge, smoky boardroom filled with graying, 60-something men wearing pinstriped suits and chomping on stogies. Books are strewn all around them and they pick them, one by one, and announce that it is no longer useful to the modern child and it should be discarded. This action is followed by fists pounding loudly on the table and exuberant "huzzahs" as they toss the book into the incinerator. In case you're wondering, yes, my imagination runs away with me quite often.
Anyway, I know this isn't going to be a short-term problem as we have hundreds of books from years and years ago. So, I began to debate with myself. Should I keep those old books and think of new ways to present them or should I just give up the ghost and let them be weeded and sold at our used book store? I'm still not sure! What would you do?
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