Big names bring in big bucks because they attract attention, unlike most of the writers who generate the 5,000 new children’s titles each year. Star authors get prime spots on talk shows and, even more important, on a bookstore chain’s shelves. “John Lithgow is going to get interviewed, whereas Joe Schmo writing the exact same book would not have access to the same media opportunities,” says Paula Quint, president of the Children’s Book Council.
What do the celebrities get out of the deal? It’s partly an ego thing, says Roger Sutton, editor of The Horn Book Magazine, which reviews children’s books. “This is a different kind of recognition, a recognition that you have some kind of intellectual gift.” Celebrity authors are often parents, like Couric, who have a message they want to get across. A picture book, usually only about 32 pages, doesn’t require a lot of writing, and the celebs can share the burden with award-winning illustrators. “Marry a popular name to excellent illustration and an upbeat theme, and a lot of adults just aren’t going to notice textual deficiencies, even severe ones,” says Deborah Stevenson, an editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books at the University of Illinois.
The downside, say children’s book critics, is that mediocre offerings can shut out quality works and could even turn kids off the magic of reading. Experts advise parents to look for the best stories, not the biggest names. But if you really want a little star wattage at bedtime, check out two works by the late Fred Gwynne (a.k.a. Herman Munster): “A Chocolate Moose for Dinner” and “The King Who Rained.” Many critics also praise Curtis’s four children’s books (which have sold 1.5 million copies since 1993). Curtis, a mother of two herself, understands the power of story time. “If you can sit with your child and read a book and talk about it, that alone is an amazing connection,” she says. “The idea that my books are a catalyst for that interaction makes me actually feel like I’ve done something.”
