In lieu of a gift

I'm guessing they're too busy to read this but maybe you're not.

Double-dipping

It's not just George.

Opera Chic led me to Gramophone's (my second-favorite magazine in the world) plan to sell CDs and downloads on their site. Gramophone is primarily in the business of reviewing classical music CDs; if they (to employ the British usage!) are also selling them, it raises the question of editorial independence--presumably, a glowing review in the magazine could lead someone to buy the CD under review, which Gramophone will also sell to you for its own profit. See the problem?

I understand the temptation, though--we could probably pick up some change if our online reviews linked to, say, Amazon, but the perception that we were trying to profit from two contradictory impulses wouldn't be worth it. Plus, I really wouldn't want to piss off the Children's Book Shop's Terri Schmitz. (Neither would you.) The fact that the Horn Book, like all the review journals, solicits ads from publishers is already tricky enough.

New and new

The new Notes from the Horn Book should be in your inbox.

And Claire's latest list--Summer Reading--is up on our site. I think I should confess that I am hooked on Beach Blondes, wherein Summer has three hot dudes vying for her attention and a possible fourth who may be her long lost big brother. For me, it's the kind of book that goes great with a sandwich but is completely stultifying if I'm not simultaneously chewing.

More overheard passersby

On my way to the subway this morning, I pass a man and a woman walking, smiling, hand in hand. Man to woman: "I just think you're playing with fire, this close to the wedding."

Reading disobedience

If you are attending the Massachusetts Library Association conference in Falmouth this Thursday, come hear Simmons College library school professor Maggie Bush and me talk about the intersection of parents, children and libraries in the question of equal access to library materials.

Let's say Janie wants to read the Harry Potter books. Let's say Janie's parents think the books are Satanic how-to manuals. Whose interests should the library serve? The standard professional answer is that if Janie's parents wish to restrict her reading they should accompany her to the library and put the kibosh on her reading or checking out any material they don't want her to have. But should we encourage them to do so? What about our obligation to provide Janie with the information and reading materials of her choice? How can we best help Janie exercise her right to read what she wants? That's what we will be talking about.

Expensively back from Chicago

Pay very, very close attention to your dates when you get a paperless ticket, he says $350.00 dollars later. I mistakenly booked myself to return from Chicago TODAY instead of YESTERDAY. Apparently you can't fly standby when it's the day before, either. But I had to get back to you. (Now that Cyndi Lauper/Celine Dion song is going to be in my head all day. Is that all right?)

Mordicai Gerstein delivered a fine Sutherland Lecture, which will see its way into the Horn Book early next year. I believe it is the first time we had to eject a drunk from the event--Chicago had some kind of celebration going on, and a couple of revelers found their way into the library. But at least they went quietly. Otherwise, I got to spend time with my old CPL friend Ellen and college friend Ruth, who, God bless her, helped me find some shoes I can wear to Richard's son's wedding in June. Hammer toes are hard to fit. But lest I be accused of stealth marketing again, I won't tell you where I bought them.

Holding Out for a Hero?

Claire's got a whole bunch of them for you.

And speaking of which, was that show (Heroes) canceled or what?

Join the Cool Kids!

We're on Facebook now. Really, I have no idea what this means. But come play with us!

May/June 08 Horn Book Magazine

should be winging its way to you; in the meantime, we have posted some appetizers on our site.

Tugging on the leash

Unless there's an abandoned chicken bone at stake, Buster has never been one for much straining at the leash. But where he used to not mind being thus tethered, I'm finding that he, at sixteen or so (we'll never know for sure), seems to welcome the security. He now blinks and stumbles in the morning sun, for example, and walks with more confidence when he's leashed. He trusts me and he likes being with me.

Why the dog story? Because I'm experimenting with my new Kindle, where Amazon.com is very much at the other end of the leash. The stuff I thought I wouldn't like--the design, the digital ink and lack of a backlight--is in fact fine, although all the plastic-button-pushing is noisy and feels very last century. What's bugging me instead is the feeling of an ever-present tether to Amazon.com, a master I neither like nor completely trust. I don't like browsing the Amazon site, and I don't trust the company's effect on the American character. Amazon is all over the Kindle. The Kindle is designed to get you to visit and spend more money at Amazon, pushing you to the same high-volume bestsellers that the main website does. (Kindle Store selections seem split among popular titles, copyright-free classics and scary e-book originals, the same mix which has long been available from such sites as ereader.com.) And with the Kindle so pricey in the first place ($399), I guess I might resent throwing yet more money at Amazon for the privilege of using it.

But I'll take it with me to Chicago (don't forget, Sutherland Lecture Friday night) and see if it has the potential to become habit-forming. If not--well, I've kept the packaging.