Marston+-+Trends+2011

=JLG's Susan Marston: The Best of the Best 2011=

By Betsy Bird July 26, 2011
For a glimpse into the future of children's publishing one need only talk with Susan Marston, the editorial director of Junior Library Guild (JLG). She and her compatriots have the supreme pleasure of reading all the advanced readers' copies they can get their hands on so that you only hear about the best of the best. This month JLG is finishing up its fall 2011 list, and //SLJ// blogger Betsy Bird talks to Marston to get a preview of what to expect. Founded in 1929, JLG provides collection development services to more than 20,000 school and public libraries nationwide. This unique service reviews and selects children's and young adult hardcover trade books //prior to their publication//. JLG selections are placed into one of 41 reading levels ranging from Pre-K to YA and are then shipped to member libraries on a monthly basis. JLG is owned by //SLJ//'s parent company, Media Source Inc.

One exciting trend I see is illustrations in books for older readers. Not just Brian Selznick's //Wonderstruck// (Scholastic), in which the illustrations tell one of the stories, but also in other novels far beyond chapter books, such as //A Monster Calls// (Candlewick) by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd; //Ghetto Cowboy// (Candlewick) by G. Neri, illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson; //The Apothecary// (Putnam) by Maile Meloy, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr; and //Why We Broke Up// (Little, Brown) by Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kalman. Allen Say's memoir //Drawing from Memory// (Scholastic) includes photographs, drawings from his youth, traditional illustrations, and comic panels to tell his amazing story. And of course graphic novels-there are so many more to choose from than in the past. //That's// an exciting development.
 * After all you've read, what strikes you as a distinctive 2011 trend?**

A trend that began several years ago, but seems to be growing, is a change in the look and feel of books for beginning readers. The standard easy-reader trim size/format is becoming rare, and some picture books seem to have been easy-readers in a previous life, such as Mo Willems's //Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator!// (Balzer + Bray), which was on our spring list. //See Me Run// (Holiday House) by Paul Meisel is a picture book leveled for emerging readers, and //Frog and Fly: Six Slurpy Stories// (Philomel) by Jeff Mack, is an early-reader picture book that uses comic book elements, speech bubbles, and comic panels. This too is a trend in easy-readers as evidenced by //Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking// by Philippe Coudray and other Toon easy-to-read comics.
 * What's trending for younger kids?**

//I Want My Hat Back// (Candlewick) by Jon Klassen is a sophisticated-looking picture book with a surprising ending, but it also employs repetition, lots of white space, and color-coded text to help readers identify the character speaking. Of course, for all the trends there are exceptions. //Monkey and Elephant// (Candlewick) by Carole Lexa Schaefer, illustrated by Galia Bernstein, is more traditional, and I just saw that Kevin Henkes has a new reader coming out this spring from Greenwillow.

I'm not sure it's weird exactly, but we've seen a lot of mouse stories and a lot of elephant books. Ancient Egypt appears in a few novels, and books about the //Titanic//, of course, though perhaps not as many as I would have expected with the 100th anniversary approaching. In YA, pregnancy seems to be cropping up more than in other seasons.
 * Are there any weird trends that just strike you as goofy? A proliferation of middle grade fantasy books containing ravens, for example?**

Lane Smith's new book, //Grandpa Green// (Roaring Brook), is certainly a departure from his previous work. The style is striking in a whole new way. //I Want My Hat Back// (Candlewick) by Jon Klassen is surprising in text, story, and illustrations. He also did a stunning cover for Allan Wolf's //The Watch That Ends the Night// (Candlewick).
 * Are there any authors or illustrators that have surprised you?**

I try not to engage in award predictions, but //Swirl// //by Swirl// (Houghton) by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beth Krommes and //Never Forgotten// (Schwartz & Wade) by Patricia McKissack, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon are both remarkable in text and illustrations. //Jefferson////'s Sons// (Dial) by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is rich and thought-provoking. I appreciate that the latter two books are being published in the fall rather than in January or February, when so many books are slotted to coincide with Black History Month.
 * Have you seen a book or two that screams, "AWARD WINNER!!!?"**

I can't pick one. Some funny picture books are //Mustache!// (Hyperion) by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell, //The Princess and the Pig// (Walker) by Jonathan Emmet, illustrated by Poly Bernatene, and //The Money We'll Save// (Farrar) by Brock Cole. There's a touching middle-grade novel called //Aftershock// (Frances Lincoln) by Bernard Ashley. Also, //The Tanglewood Terror// (Knopf) by Kurtis Scaletta, and //The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman// (Dutton) are both fresh and engaging for middle grade. I'm in love with a bunch of YA titles: //Everybody Sees the Ants// (Little, Brown) by A.S. King, //Tilt// (Groundwood), by Alan Cumyn, and //Daughter of Smoke and Bone// (Little, Brown) by Laini Taylor—I cannot gush enough about them. Some fascinating nonfiction includes //Trapped// (Atheneum) by Marc Aronson about the Chilean miners who were rescued, and Rosalyn Schanzer has written and illustrated //Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem// (National Geographic). In younger nonfiction, //Coral Reefs// by Jason Chin (Roaring Brook/Flash Point) is gorgeous and //America Is Under Attack: September 11, 2001: The Day the Towers Fell// (Roaring Brook/Flash Point) is heart-stopping.
 * On the flip side, if you had to pick a personal favorite from this year, maybe something that wouldn't attract the attention of the award committees, what would that be?**

For my part of JLG, I would like to encourage even more publishers to send us books. Graphic novel publishers in particular—we've just added a high school level for graphic novels, which opens up the upper age limit a bit. Our submission periods are longer than they used to be, which makes it easier for small publishers to work with us, and we have a paperback level for teens, so we are open to books we couldn't consider in the past. I am greedy and would love to see all the books we can. I guess a similar message to librarians is that we have lots of different types of books across all age levels and sales and customer service people who work hard to make JLG easy. //This article originally appeared in the newsletter// Extra Helping.
 * Finally, is there anything in particular you'd like folks to know about JLG that they may not have been aware of until now?**