Omnivoracious

New Children's Poet Laureate Announced: Mary Ann Hoberman

The Poetry Foundation has just announced that Mary Ann Hoberman will be the new U.S. Children's Poet Laureate.  The beloved and prolific author of more than 45 children's books, will succeed Jack Prelutsky--the nation's first Children's Poet laureate. The prestigious two-year post comes with a purse of $25,000.   Hoberman, who hails from New England and has lived there all her life, has been writing verses that embody many of the very best qualities of that region's poetic traditions: simplicity, economy, directness, and honesty.  Her poems continue to resonate for young readers even as the country has undergone great cultural changes from the fifties--when Hoberman first began writing--until today.  Like a stalwart New Englander she's remained true to her core approach to children's poetry, never getting thrown off-course by short-lived trends in kids lit.  Some of Hoberman's best known titles include The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems (1998), You Read to Me, I'll Read to You (2004), and A House is a House for Me (1978), for which she won a National Book Award.   But Hoberman isn't one to rest on her laurels, she's got a new book of poetry, All Kinds of Families, coming out in 2009.  --Lauren

Celebrating Maurice Sendak

Yesterday's article on Maurice Sendak in the New York Times was something of a downer at first read.  Written just days ahead of next Monday's gala celebration in honor of the great author and artist at the 92nd Street Y, Patricia Cohen's article described the extent to which even the most creative, accomplished, and cherished heroes are haunted by the perceived inadequacy of their legacies.  When asked what he thought of all his awards, honors and celebrations, Sendak replied: "They made me happy, but at a certain point in your life, you see through them."  Spoken like a true arhat--one of those tough, wizened, but enlightened Buddhist ascetics who managed to free himself from desire and ambition to see the bigger picture.  But, Sendak is human like the rest of us, and admits a yearning to be like his own heroes.  In the article, he expressed the hope that "I will do something yet that is purely for me but will create for someone in the future that passion that Blake and Keats did in me." 

Surely, he's already got that covered, and not just from the vantage point of multiple generations of children across the globe who have immersed themselves in his artistic vision.  His work has even prompted some altercations among the kiddies.  I can distinctly recall duking it out with my twin sister at our third birthday party when we were given a single copy of Little Bear.  To this day, we still argue over who is the rightful owner of this beloved book.  It seems unlikely that his legacy will have an expiration date, given the intense response that his work provokes.  What was your first response to a Sendak book?  Think back, it won't take that long to come to you. 

Might we also persuade Sendak to consider those countless authors and artists (working in obscurity) who look to him as their guiding light--inspiring them to approach their art with diligence, honesty, and passion?  So, here's to you Maurice Sendak on the occasion of your upcoming celebration!  Please, eat some cake, drink some bubbly, and celebrate your enduring legacy--one for which you'll never, ever be able to glimpse its limits.    --Lauren

The Passing of a True Texas Trailblazer: Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)

The New York Times has reported that Robert Rauschenberg, one of the true heros of contemporary art and culture, died yesterday at the age of 82. We're indebted to Rauschenberg for many forms of expression that we now take for granted.  Consider him a kind of grandaddy of mixed and multi-media installations, performance art, and even eco-art.  From his humble beginnings in Port Arthur, Texas (as the son of his German immigrant father and Cherokee nation mother), this preternaturally brilliant and productive artist shook up the very notion of art-making.  He used the physical stuff of daily life and experimented (like a possessed scientist) with new techniques and technologies that mixed the fine arts like painting, sculpture and printmaking with photography, music, and dance. Out with Abstract Expressionism and in with complex, multi-media installations that dealt with everything from space technology and pop culture to ecological destruction. In conjunction with other postwar greats like Jasper Johns, Merce Cunningham and Cy Twombly (to name just a few), Rauschenberg literally reshaped the cultural horizon of the twentieth century.

While this Texan trailblazer will be missed, his art will provoke us to think hard and marvel for a long time to come.  Rauschenberg's life story is just as astonishing as his work. I'm taking some time this weekend to savor Mary Lynn Kotz's classic and gorgeously illustrated biography,  Rauschenberg: Art and Life and insider Calvin Tomkin's  Off the Wall: A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg .

Our Second Guest Blogger: Lisa Lutz

The first installment of Lisa Lutz's bestselling debut novel, The Spellman Files was a hot read around the office last spring.  Described as "the love child of Dirty Harry and Harriet the Spy," Lutz's irresistible heroine Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, P.I.is a young-ish San Francisco investigator with a flair for zingers, ex-boyfriends, and screw-ups. Izzy--like any independent and privacy seeking gal--just wants out of the family biz (and home!), but just can't seem to break free from her nosy family of fellow spies, including her hilarious teenage sister, a matchmaker of yenta-like proportions.  With the lightning-fast pace of a Federer v. Nadal Wimbledon final, the zingers fly back and forth between mom and daughter, brother and sister,  P.I. and suspect. The banter is priceless.  Yet, Lutz--an aspiring screenwriter for more than a decade--makes it look easy, way too easy.

Lucky for the growing legion of "nutz for Lutz" fans, the second installment, Curse of the Spellmans, has arrived on the scene, just in time for spring reading. Warning: Lutz's dialogue is so damn funny, you just might need to read the second book outdoors, where you're less likely to disturb housemates or apartment neighbors (hey, sorry Chris and Lisa) with outbursts of uncontrolled laughter while reading these page-turners late into the night.    

We're looking forward to seeing Lutz's prodigious talent for snappy and smart storytelling on the silver screen in the near future. I'm already creating my dream cast for the film (which is said to be in development). Wondering who Lutz would cast as Izzy?  Maybe the author, who's currently on the book tour circuit for Curse of the Spellmans, might be able to drop some hints about her casting picks. Hey, we've gotten her to divulge her secret Spellman list of essential sleuthing items for us.   (Thanks for that 6-Way Fake Mustache tip--it has been a lifesaver for undercover work, and not at all itchy.) In between meeting readers across the country, she's joining Omnivoracious as our second guest blogger. We couldn't be more pleased to have this rising star contribute to the blog each week this month, cuz we've been hot on the Lutz trail for quite some time now, and can always use some comic relief. Welcome to Omni, Lisa Lutz.  --Lauren

Big Cheese Indeed: Congratulations Ambassador Scieszka

Jon Scieszka, author of more than two dozen superbly sly children's books, including the Caldecott Honor book The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales is now an especially big cheese. The New York Times reports that the Library of Congress (LOC) has just named Scieszka the first national ambassador for young children's literature.  During his tenure as ambassador, the dynamic and charismatic author will travel across the country to inspire kids to read. Scieszka will also be working hard to motivate parents, teachers, librarians--and the average American for that matter--to take up the cause of children's literacy. 

As the kids of this new millennium devote more and more of their free time to playing video games, the challenge to capture some of their attention (and keep it) is certainly daunting. But, if anyone has the chops to do it, Scieszka does. This former grade school teacher-turned author not only has the institutional support of the LOC, but, perhaps more importantly--he truly knows what makes young readers tick.  The proof lies in his wickedly funny books that manage to win over even the most reading-reluctant boys and girls.  --Lauren