Kid lit You don't need to be an expert to write it BY TANYA WHITON

Something I’d always assumed about children’s and young-adult literature was that the writers who wrote it had to be experts — not simply writers. They would have to be schooled in the developmental stages associated with reading, attuned to what kids can absorb at different ages. Turns out, this is not so. My own childhood reading experiences being in the distant (the very distant) past, I forgot that kids are far less interested in these sorts of delineations than adults are. Kids read beyond their developmental "boundaries" all the time — as local writer Lisa Jahn-Clough put it, "kids read to find out what happens."

I spoke with Kirsten Cappy, whose innovative business, Curious City, works to connect kids with books in as many ways as possible. She works with public-school teachers to refresh their curriculums, helping select texts that represent a more diverse population and "the whole universe of kid’s books" — since most schools deal with only one publisher, Scholastic. She’s involved with Raising Readers, an organization funded by the Libra Foundation that helps parents introduce their children to literacy habits from the earliest ages. In May, she’s collaborating with the Junior League to plan a 40-author signing of kids’-book authors. And she plans events throughout the state, including the wildly popular Lunch Box series at SPACE, in Portland, a monthly happening in which author/illustrators from the Northeast read and then talk with kids about their process.

"They bring sketch books, mockups, and materials," Cappy says, "and show how it all comes together." Then, the kids (the event is targeted at 3-to-7-year olds) do a hands-on art project. "Everyone thinks they should be using construction paper and glue sticks," Cappy says. "We’ve got them using oils — whatever medium the author used."

Cappy says the reason a lot of writers are intimidated by kid’s books is the very reason I cited above: The notion that you have to be some sort of developmental expert in order to make a kid’s book is apparently a common misconception. She also says that Maine in general, and Portland in particular, is a sort of haven for children’s authors and illustrators. "I’ve hardly had to go outside of Maine to look for people," she says. "And the quality of people working on kid’s literature here is astounding."

She cites as examples a series of local authors and author/illustrators who have received national and sometimes international recognition: Philip Nash, who left a high-profile career in the big city to move to Peaks Island and illustrate kids books like Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp and Bugliest Bug; Maria Testa, whose chapter books for young adults (or "tweens") include the critically acclaimed poetic novels Almost Forever and Becoming Joe DiMaggio; Frederick Lipp; Lisa Jahn-Clough; and Philip Hoose, among others.

Hoose, whose most recent book, The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, is, in Kirsten Cappy’s words, "the entire social history of the United States surrounding the extinction of a Southern woodpecker," has this to say about the question of expertise: "I don’t think about it much. I think about what I want to accomplish, what interests me. Books are like marriages or long-term relationships; I’ll have a lot of great ideas, but am I still gonna be in love in two years?" A long-time conservationist, Hoose’s books are research-heavy nonfiction — he’s got to stay engaged to succeed. With The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, he wanted to write a book that convinced readers extinction was both tragic and preventable, and he’s found that young-adult readers, especially 12-to-14-year olds, have "an acute moral sense. They can be persuaded."

Jahn-Clough, whose publications include My Friend and I, Alicia Has a Bad Day, and the recent young-adult novel, Country Girl, City Girl, echoes this sentiment: "The more you know, [the more it can] kind of hurt. When I’m doing my books I try not to pay too much attention to that — the story needs to be the central focus." Clough says she never considered the question of whether she would write for kids or for adults, "but now that I [write kid’s books] I can’t imagine not. I love the way they react to my books. And I remember that the books I read as a kid were very meaningful to me — they could remember my books for the rest of their lives!"

Which is ultimately, I guess, what we’re all hoping for as writers: to take root in a reader’s imagination, to have some permanent residence in the memory, where narrative trumps knowledge almost every time.

Tanya Whiton can be reached at theinkslinger@yahoo.com