Cruel Critics

I've written several modest books for children, high-school kids, and "reluctant learners," which is the nomenclature for teenage boys (they are usually boys, apparently) who read at about a fourth-grade level (among topics for that market were monster trucks and predators such as sharks and other fierce animals presumably of special interest to these lads). People get excited when I tell them this, but in truth there's not a lot of art involved in these little projects. My editor contacts me every few years, assigns a topic for a nonfiction book that will be marketed to school libraries, tells me how many chapters and pages and that it has to include a final chapter about what kids can do and other stuff, I research it and go nuts trying to figure out how to cram information - often newsworthy information, meaning it gets old rather fast, much faster than the production time for writing and printing a book - into the formulaic outline I've been given ("no sentences over 13 words, no words of more than 3 syllables," that sort of thing), I write the damn thing and swear never to do this again, and then, a few years later... rinse and repeat. I'm not proud of some of my past efforts, but others, well, I'm glad to have them on a few library shelves.

Every now and then my publisher sends along a review. Most are quite cursory and rarely even mention the writing. So it is with mixed feelings that I share this one, which actually does, albeit mercifully briefly. Ah, well, there's always next time. P.S. Somebody is paying 30 bucks for this book?!

Booklist – December 1, 2008
Earth-Friendly Design.
Welsbacher, Anne (Author)
Oct 2008. 72 p. Lerner, library edition, $30.60. (9780822575641). 745.2.

"This slim title in the Saving Our Living Earth series examines “how we make things, move them, use them, reuse them, and dispose of them affects us all.” Each brief chapter introduces green innovations in categories such as vehicles and community planning. The dry language and short sentences often feel stilted, but the fascinating examples of technology, illustrated with numerous color photos, will draw readers into the facts. Additional text boxes and diagrams on subjects such as “the life cycle of a product” add to the lively layouts. — Gillian Engberg"