Written by three librarian-bloggers, the book is a collection of "the stories behind the stories of your favorite children's books," including "some of the feuds and fights of the children's book world."
And yet... the authors found there were too many stories.
"Truth be told we didn't really notice this until we turned in our preliminary manuscript to our editor. The page count? 700+
"Pick up the book now and you'll find it a svelte 272 pages. That meant cutting out content. A LOT of content. Great stories that will intrigue and entice you but just didn't quite fit in with the book as a whole."
So to promote the book, Betsy Bird (of Fuse #8) and Julie Danielson (of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast)* have put together the WILD THINGS website/blog, where they are "repurposing" the stories that otherwise would have just sat there on the cutting room floor.
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| A screen shot of the WILD THINGS site |
So now, we can:
Find out about the horse that was an honorary member of the American Library Association.
Hear the kind, the snippy, and the consistent of Maurice Sendak's advice to other illustrators and aspiring children's book creators.
And see both sides of Hans Christian Andersen's visit with Charles Dickens.
It's a very clever use for all that material the authors worked so hard on, and it certainly whets our appetite for the stories that did make the cut and are included in the final book!
Illustrate and Write ...and Market On,
Lee
*The book's third author, Peter D. Sieruta, passed away in 2012, with "all his contributions to Wild Things completed."
Can't WAIT for this!!
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