Books and the Stinky Economy: Invest in yourself! Read!

Are you sitting down? Yes? Okay. Here it is: the economy is simply yarkful right now. Okay, that's not a word, granted, but I can't really think of a fitting adjective. Pardon the cliché, but words escape me.

It's hard to sell manuscripts right now. An editor of mine was recently let go. Bookstores are reporting a drop off in sales. And I keep hearing it's going to get worse—just in time for my two releases in the spring! Agh! Is it me, or is it even getting hard to keep spirits from spiraling?

Well, at least there are books. Books, I hear, do well in a down economy. Although this recent item from the LA Times informs me that it's actually TV use that tends to rocket when people can't afford to go out to Sizzler for dinner. In fact, it says that the average US household now watches 8 hours and 18 minutes of TV a day, the highest numbers they've gotten since they started tracking usage back in the 1950s. Holy slackers, Batman!

So...please read. Buy books; they're a cheap thrill. Go to the library; that's a free thrill. Buy books for Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. Tell people about a great book you read recently. Read an old classic; I happen to be reading "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens right now and it's a hoot. I've ordered the 1951 move with Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge from Netflix (arriving tomorrow, so I gotta finish that slim tome, because I think this is that great old black and white movie I remember watching as a kid on rainy Saturday afternoons on our old black and white TV, the one with the broken knob, which required a pliers to change the station, which resulted in me getting my tube socks shocked off on more than 11 occasions—which may explain a lot!).

Anyhoo, I still say there's nothing quite like a good book, a warm blanket, and crackling fire—as long a there's sufficient distance between all three, of course.

Here are a few Dave's Book Bits-worthy links that I've come across:

• Here's a Newseek story about how watching lots of the idiot box can be unhealthy for kids—conjure up in your mind the characters on the spaceship in Wall*E.
• Here's a fun audio interview from NPR with Jon Scieszka, who doesn't seem to need my help in getting publicity; he's everywhere. But when you're the Library of Congress' first national ambassador to children's literature, you've got a bully pulpit, so why not use it?!
• Lastly, if you want more information on the detrimental health effects of media exposure on kids mentioned above, you can get the fully story and download the actual study here.

So as you can see, my thinking is a bit scatter shot these days, not that that's at all unusual. Hope your holiday has more yee-haw and less humbug! Merry Holidays!

Finally, An Ambassador for Young People's Literature!

Jon Scieszka, author of The Stinky Cheese Man and Science Verse among many other titles, was recently crowned the USA's first "ambassador of young people's literature." This honor was bestowed on him by the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council. Huzzah!

Mr. Scieszka has been appearing everywhere—and it's just great, because there's no one better to point out that reading for kids should be fun, and that it's okay if children read stuff that's "funny." (Sounds obvious, I know, but you'd be surprised by how many people I encounter who think children's reading should be serious business.)

You can read a good article on his ambassadorship in USA Today here.

If you want to read more, they also have a cool online interview available here.

Mr. Scieszka's also done amazing stuff with Guys Read, his effort to encourage boys to read more through an online site and a collection of essays he organized and edited about "guys" you can check out here.

Now, more importantly, I need to get in this dude's wheelhouse! Seriously. He's my people, he just doesn't know it yet! Anybody have an address for this guy, so I can send him some Joe Sherlock books?

Let me know what you know, and I'll leave your name out of it. Promise.

For Your Listening Pleasure

Most people have never heard of Horn Book magazine. But for those of us interested in the world of children's books, it's a biggee. One thing the magazaine has started recently is posting podcasts (easy-to-use online audio content) on their website. It a great example of how an online site can offer much richer, in-depth content than a magazine or newspaper. And it's really cool.

Check out the interview with author Jon Scieszka at their new podcast page. Best of all there's more content coming!

Now if I can get some of this kind of content on my website...