Starting at the top . . . with M&M's®

My 1994 The M & M’s® Counting Book started as a lesson plan. I certainly wasn’t the only teacher with a sweet-tooth and a little creativity. Teachers everywhere were embracing hands-on math activities with everything from Goldfish crackers to peanuts…because it made learning fun. Little, colorful candies that every student from ages 3 on up instantly recognized as yummy engaged them instantly in any math task at hand...in hand...and maybe as a special treat...in mouth.

I would like to say I acted on a good idea. I didn’t. I only did the creative part. The creative part is not a big deal in publishing. Millions of people have great ideas for children’s stories and picture books. If you think you have had an original idea the odds are overwhelming that someone somewhere has had that same idea. But, if you have the patience, persistence, or perhaps a husband on a mission, a friend of a friend, right place, right time...you can get it done. It’s not easy.

As most good ideas often do, it spawned from boredom. One evening I brought a package of M & M’s® to our basement. I was hiding from my mother-in-law who was living with us at the time. I settled on the couch to try to think of a different lesson to teach “colors” to my class of 4 and 5 year olds. Nothing. So, while thinking of nothing I spilled the candy out on the coffee table and started playing with them. I counted the colors and paired them up. Suddenly I saw. I wrote. I ate. Then, being a teacher, I laminated. Large construction paper M & M’s®. I brought the poem and my home-made manipulatives to class.

Suddenly 3 and four year olds could sit long enough to get the concept of colors, graphing, greater than, less then, addition, subtraction, etc. The amazing thing--no chocolate needed. Even back in the 80’s teachers knew that you couldn’t feed any amount of sweets to children without wiggly repercussions. It wasn’t and still isn’t necessary. Paper images of the candies were just fine--as long as they had the white “M’s” on them. Children chose their “favorite” color. When they chose the giant plastic image the question followed, “What color is that?” The questions and comparisons were endless. The learning was exciting and contemporary.

As far as me going on to find a publisher and really believing that this idea would become a piece of children’s literature--no. I did nothing. It involved licensing - permission to use a world-wide product and their famous brand icon. There were phone calls and contracts. I had a baby and a toddler, and I was very happy teaching.

It was my husband who read the poem and said, “This would make a great book”. It became his hobby. On first approach to M & M Mars (now Masterfoods, Inc.), the answer was “no.” They liked the book very much, since it promoted their product for education, but the company did not have an “avenue - licensing division” in place. In fact, the same year we applied for permission was the same year Steven Spielberg applied to use M & M’s® in the movie, ET. They said “no” to him, too! So that was my claim to fame...Steven Spielberg and I got refused by Masterfoods. And that was fine with me. Mr. Spielberg went on to use Reece’s Pieces and my husband simply waited. Eight years later...Masterfoods opened their licensing division and he got permission to publish. He then set out to find a publisher who also believed the book was a great idea. Thirty-five rejection letters and two years later...he found one! Many publishers were scared off, ironically, by the licensing contracts--they had never seen a book of this type before. There weren’t any. The M &M’s® Counting Book started a new genre of children’s books: Snack Food Books. The year it was finally released it made the Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller List and won The Teacher’s Choice Award from Learning Magazine. Math programs embraced it and college professors used it to teach perspective teachers how to teach. The first review was horrible, to which my husband said, “Well, they spelled your name right.”

The manuscript spent 2 years in production at Charlesbridge. From the time I wrote the poem to publication...twelve years had passed. And in those early years we were dealing with a major corporation who knew as little about publishing as we did about licensing. It was a learning experience in itself.
I felt appreciative that the book was the first “licensed product” from this huge family-owned company. It was a humbling opportunity. But I must confess I never felt the love. I never had a problem paying for use to their trademark. The book would not be the same without the “M.” And children love those M & M’s® TV characters with attitude. It’s what sells their product and mine. As licensing fees and royalty percentages increased, we tried to explain that this was children’s literature, not a mug or a t-shirt. It didn’t matter--corporate policy. Yet, I was bringing their product brand name in to places where they couldn’t get it--to schools. I ask Masterfoods to sponsor my school visits to inner city schools that could not afford to bring in an author as a literacy enrichment program. “No. We are giving to breast cancer this year,” which is of course, commendable. My response: “I’m sure you can do both.” But that corporate policy plagued me. It was frustrating for all involved.


For years, during the talk of “advertising to children” controversy, The M & M’s® Book remained “under the radar” because it’s merit seemed to outweighed the controversy. To learn to love to read, you need to get children to turn the page. Maybe people were just being polite, but when I visited schools, I never heard a negative comment, and teachers usually don’t hold anything back. One special education teacher in South Carolina told me because of The M&M’s® Book, her class had reached their goal of counting to ten, 6 months early. I choked back tears. While signing books at a reading conference, a recently retired teacher told me her colleague had died the month before and requested to be buried with my book. I had no words. One middle school student in New Jersey told me she wanted to become a math teacher because of the book. She said she slept with it when she was little.

I am blessed to have countless boxes of fan mail about this book. I traveled nation-wide to show the writing process, to inspire children to read and write, and to tell them that when they have to correct or change something they aren’t making “mistakes,” they are making a “change” which is part of the process...and though I have many books in fiction and non-fiction I still show The M & M’s® Counting Book. It’s fun.

Over the years The M & M’s® Book went on to sell over a million copies. I heard it saved the trade division of Charlesbridge Publishing, which made me happy and proud. It opened doors for them in sales in places like Walmart and Target. Not bad for a smaller publishing house. They took a chance and won big. As far as the writer,I will answer the question: I didn’t build an empire and make a million dollars. Not even close. The formula is that a children’s author would need 12 books on the market at the same time--all selling briskly to make a living off royalties. Dr. Seuss made a living from sales. The shelf life of a children’s picture book is maybe 2 years before it’s out-of-print.

My M & M’s® Book had a great run of ten years. Because it’s “off the shelf,” I can’t afford the price it now sells for on Amazon!

The key to every problem our country needs to solve is education. When an issue such as nutrition and obesity in children was being legitimately addressed, we saw the problem, raised awareness, then did what we always do: take the extreme--stop everything. No cupcakes for birthdays, no soda in high schools, no trail mix. I fear we might be creating “forbidden fruit” hoping for a quick fix. It is destined to be a failed solution. Eventually, the pendulum swings to the middle and we get the correct solution. We teach. We educate children to make good choices. It’s a lasting solution. That’s where we are now.

But it wasn’t the nutrition issue that made Masterfoods decide to revoke the license to use their product. It was the “advertising to children” issue. All food companies did. No more books that advertise any food products, including my Cheerios Book. And what have we gained? Nothing. What have we lost? Certainly not weight. We lost a fun teaching tool that tied math to literature. Do children still know what M & M’s® are? “Yes.” Do they know the characters? “Yes.” Does it matter? “No.” It’s like School Snack Prohibition.

As far as the “advertising to children” issue. We ask these large food companies to give to education--and they do, millions of dollars--yet we ask them to do it quietly and specifically. They can’t give the donation of bookmarks or book covers or rulers with their brand on it or hang a banner at a book fair they have sponsored. I don’t know how I even feel about that. Maybe schools shouldn’t ask them for money. I do know these American snack foods and their brand icons are not going away. Thank goodness. I need a few M & M’s around mid afternoon. And, I confess that I even love those M & M® characters on TV. They are a riot--throwing the bread at the man’s head when he says, “Get in the bowl!” How funny is that?!

Regarding obesity and nutrition: I feel in actuality, M & M’s® and similar snack food products, in pieces, are the perfect tool to teach children good nutrition. Why? Because they are little. You don’t have to eat the whole bag. You set a good example by eating a few--another good example by sharing a few. I dare say, in my opinion, a childhood without a few M & M’s® is a little sad. School lessons can not be fun all the time. Those multiplication facts have to be memorized. But, once in a while it needs to be fun. Those fun lessons are remembered for a lifetime. This gives children a general good feeling about school and education and in turn they pass that down to their children. It’s an important process. I don’t remember specifically learning how to read. But I do remember how much fun Friday Spelling Bees were--the winner got a Hershey Bar (I never won). I remember a very hot June day, when my kindergarten teacher took the whole class on a walk to the little market down the street and bought us all popsicles. I remember how special I felt when I passed out my birthday cupcakes. What are we losing?

The M & M’s® Counting Book opened doors for me as well--allowed me to travel and teach, which I love. I have been so fortunate in a very tough, competitive industry. People ask me about publishing all the time. I still don’t understand it and I’ve been in it for over 30 titles and 18 years. And I still get “rejected” manuscripts! Recently I’ve worked with Charlesbridge editors to rewrite the M & M’s® series: McGrath Math: Teddy Bear Counting Book is a new release. I used another popular class manipulative: little plastic teddy bears. The books are adorable. Illustrated by Tim Nihoff. I hope children don’t try to eat those bears.

When I become a grandparent I want you all to know I will be armed with M & M’s® - and the first edition copy of The M & M’s® Counting Book!

Happy trails and trail mixes to all! Thank you for your continued interest in my work.





Posted by Barbara Barbeiri McGrath, author of several books for children, including Teddy Bear Counting and The Little Red Elf.

Magic Trash Slide Show

In That Enchanted Place

I have no memory of my parents reading to me. But when I was sick the aunt who lived downstairs would arrive at my bedside, noisily jolly with a kitchen chair in tow, to read a Dr. Seuss story. She favored the tongue-twisty types and feigned consternation and frustration over saying the right words in the right way and the right order. Her comical performance was generally limited to one read-through, though, and I was always left wanting more. How quiet the sickroom seemed when she was gone!

My first sustained experience of being read to didn't arrive until I was eight. In that long ago time, before parents thought to question a child's placement in school, the name of the next year's teacher was written in cursive at the bottom of the June report.

Grade 3 Miss Flynn Room 10

Quiet in school, eager to be good and do well, I didn't feel my future classmates' glee at our assignment when we left second grade for summer. Miss Flynn, you see, was known in Smith Street Elementary as the teacher who didn't believe in homework. That's the way the kids said it too. They didn't boast that she didn't give homework. The woman didn't believe in it!

In September Mildred Flynn proved to be mild and gray-haired with two routines that endeared her to me, neither of them concerning homework. The first was Oscar, the invisible flee she claimed lived in her hair. The second was circle time at the back of the room, when she read to us.

Oscar "appeared" whenever Miss Flynn held one hand out in front, palm to the ceiling. She talked to him and coaxed him to perform for us, her eyes following his movement as he jumped from one hand to the other with backflips and loop-the-loops. When occasionally he escaped during lessons, Miss Flynn walked up and down the aisles calling for him. Me, me! I'd think. Find Oscar in my hair! But no. Always somewhere else. Now a teacher myself, it suddenly occurs to me that Miss Flynn might have been recapturing straying attention. Clever lady! Perhaps it was a compliment to my attentiveness that Oscar never chose my head for his holidays, perhaps not. Back then, insecure child that I was, I could only wish for proof that she liked me.

I'm standing in the back row, the third from the left.

The stories Miss Flynn read were about A.A. Milne's Pooh. She affected voices for each character--excitable Roo, timid Piglet, depressed Eeyore, pompous Owl and slow-thinking Pooh. (This was before their Disney-fication and, besides Miss Flynn's, the cartoon versions pale.)

"Christopher Robin was going away," began Chapter X of The House At Pooh Corner, IN WHICH Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There. The last Pooh story. Little by little it became clear that Christopher Robin was leaving the forest and his childhood for school. Before she could reach the last lines, Miss Flynn was overcome with emotion. As she brushed past me on her way out of the circle, she pushed the book into my hands and told me to read the end out loud.

"So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."

The magic of these words! The rapt attention of the room!--despite Miss Flynn's theatrical sobbing into a handkerchief in front of the chalkboard. I was hooked. I successfully begged the hearty aunt for my own copy of The World of Pooh (I have it still), and read out loud at home to anyone who would listen. The stories I began writing were, I suppose, gifts to Miss Flynn, Miss Flynn who loved stories, Miss Flynn who collected mine in a desk drawer and told me I might be published some day.

Others in the class began writing stories too, an assignment I don't remember being part of my education at that time or for years afterward. We did it for fun. Room 10 positively sparked with creative energy during free time. We bragged to each other: My story is three pages long! Mine is ten! Those with other inclinations created different gifts. I remember that Ronnie L. wrote pages and pages of numbers. He claimed to have reached incredibly high figures, happily ignorant of the fact that 1,099 is not followed by 2,000.

I went on to imagine my own Oscars too--like the elf in our living room cuckoo clock, who wrote letters to my younger sisters that my aunt allowed me to post with real stamps--and began to wonder if I actually could become a writer.

My first two books were published the same year that my son was born, and some of my favorite memories of raising Peter and, later, my daughter, Gemma, include sharing books out loud. I'm convinced it reinforced for them how to be still and listen, how to focus their attention and use imagination. I feel sure they absorbed sentence structure and vocabulary as well as a love for words. It was after hearing Rikki-Tikki-Tavi that Peter, at four, said with passion, "You have to teach me how to read!"

He soon became a narrator himself, reading books like Brian Jacques's Redwall to his sister. And today I am delighted to read to his daughter, Riley, when she comes to visit. At two, she will sit and listen for as along as I will read. "The end," she announces upon reaching the final page. "Read more, p'ease?"

I wonder how many other flames were lit by the sparks in room 10, torches to be passed along generations.

Ready, Riley? "Once upon a time..."




Posted by Patricia Baehr, author of Boo Cow.

Justice for All: Some Thoughts on Character Education

The start of the school year is the perfect time to think Grand Thoughts, and few thoughts are grander than those in our pledge of allegiance. Just for fun, you might try to write a variation that emphasizes what is most important to you. Here is mine:

Liberty
by Janet Wong

I pledge acceptance
of the views,
so different,
that make us America

To listen, to look,
to think, and to learn

One people
sharing the earth
responsible
for liberty
and justice
for all.

Justice for all: this is a hot topic among children as young as two, as any parent or teacher who has heard "but that's not fair" knows well. What can we, as parents and teachers, do to make this world as just as possible for our children?

When my son was in second grade, his school experimented with "character beads." Children who were spotted doing something good during lunch or recess were given little beads that could be strung together to make a bracelet or backpack decoration. These beads were quite a hit. My son was so proud each time he received one. Even though you could buy similar beads at the store for a quarter each, buying them was clearly something only a child (or parent) of bad character would do.

There was an immediate school-wide spike in genuinely good behavior: sharing, holding doors open, cooperative play. But the savviest of students soon figured out clever and not-so-honorable ways to rack up the beads. For instance, my son complained that he saw a child drop trash on the playground about twenty yards in front of a friend who slowly picked up this trash in such a dramatic fashion that she managed to catch the attention of the recess teacher and earn a bead. He then saw the littering friend join the bead-receiving friend to celebrate. These girls will undoubtedly be billionaire junk bond brokers by the time they are thirty, having received an early and practical education in "how to succeed."

Children hear news reports every week that show the amazing and rotten things our leaders and celebrities manage to get away with. The message clearly is: do what you want, just don't get caught. Or, if you do get caught, say you're sorry, cry in public, and get on with your life. Bad deeds might cost you a job or a TV show, but people will forgive and forget sooner than you can spell
N-i-k-e.

What can we, as teachers and parents, do? How can we teach character education?

By setting aside time for children to think about it, talk about it, read about it, and write about it. "It's not fair" invites an experienced adult to respond "that's life," but we need to restrain ourselves and let our little victims of injustice have their say. As parents, we need to encourage our children to talk about the bully who got away with bullying, the cheat who got away with cheating, the liar who told a ridiculous lie and yet went unpunished.

As teachers, we are under constant pressure with all that we are supposed to teach during our time-constrained day. But let me ask you: did you become a teacher because you wanted to prepare someone to get high test scores and make a lot of money, or did you become a teacher because it is the best way that you can make this world a better place? Will you be proud to have educated a famous mathematician, if she turns out to be an unethical person?

This new year: how about setting aside some time each day for grousing? For talking about fairness and for teaching ethics through discussion or (real or fictional) unethical situations?

Three minutes at the end of the day: can you ask your children to jot down a list of the good or bad, fair or unfair, honest or dishonest things that happened? Would they be more eager to participate if you promised total privacy by allowing children to tear their paper into 100 pieces after writing this list of complaints?

Just a thought, a starting point for discussion. Ideas, anyone?




Posted by Janet Wong, author of Me and Rolly Maloo, a "hybrid graphic novel" ideal for grades 3-5 about a cheating incident--and the justice that follows.

Mitali Perkins launches Bamboo People at Porter Square Books

On August 19th Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hosted the launch party for Mitali Perkins' new book Bamboo People.

Here is video of Mitali reading from Bamboo People:



A huge thank you to everyone at Porter Square Books, especially Nathan who took such good care of us and made this event so great.

If you went and enjoyed the delicious appetizers, please note that this came from YoMa restaurant on North Beacon Street in Allston. They specialize in traditional Burmese recipes. Awesome.

Here are some pictures from the event:


Mitali discusses the background of Bamboo People.















Mitali and some young fans.















Mitali signs a copy of Bamboo People for a young fan.











Sharing a story with a young reader.













Mitali and a few Charlesbridgians.
From left to right: Sarah, Gina, Lili, and Mitali.












Mitali and Deborah Sloane.













Mitali shares a copy of Bamboo People with Nathan, of Porter Square Books.

Charlesbridge Makes TV Debut with Imagine

A Puppy Named Pickle

The following post is by Stuart J. Murphy, author of the new series, I SEE I LEARN™.

What would you name your puppy if he happened to be green? This was Emma's dilemma. She was in a pickle! She thought about "Jelly Bean." Green jellybeans were Emma's favorites. She considered just "Bean." Beans are a nice shade of green. She made a long list of all the names that she could think of but none of them seemed right. Then one day she was eating a pickle. Her daddy said, "You know what, Emma? That pickle looks just like your puppy." And it did!

Emma knew at that moment that they had found the perfect name for her pup--"Pickle!"

Pickle kept Emma company when she moved to a new house in See-and-Learn City and hadn't yet made any new friends (Emma's Friendwich). After a while, Emma made lots of friends. Pickle did, too. Pickle was even invited to a picnic (Freda Plans a Picnic)! There was a special treat at the picnic--just for Pickle.




Children love to read about pets. And they love to make up stories about pets. Our two granddaughters, Maddie (9) and Camille (5), have been staying with us for a number of weeks this summer. They would very much like to have a dog. They have already named her. She's going to be called Clementine!

One day, Maddie and Camille saw me unpack a large dehumidifier. Maddie immediately asked, "Can I have the box, Grandpa? It would make a nice house for Clementine." A few days later, the house had windows with a window box for flowers, a door, and a sign over the door that read "Clementine." The walls were painted beautiful colors and there was a mailbox on the side.

Over the next few weeks, Clementine received mail almost every day. She had letters from neighborhood dogs telling her how they couldn't wait to meet her. She even received a postcard from a dog on vacation. There was also an invitation to a doggy birthday party! I hope that Clementine arrives in time to be there.


Perhaps the story of Clementine will turn into a children's book some day. I get most of my story ideas from children. I was watching one of my grandson Jack's (11) baseball games when I saw some younger children nearby trying to learn how to throw a ball. That gave me the idea to write a story about someone who is trying to build up the confidence to throw a ball well (Good Job, Ajay!). I know that children like to read about sports. (Click here to read a review of Good Job, Ajay!)

Children also like to read about playing at the beach, at school, and at the park. It is really important that they learn how to play safely. Otherwise, they might get hurt. They could even hurt someone else. That's what caused me to write a book about playground safety (Percy Plays It Safe).

The books that I have mentioned are the first four titles in my new series, I SEE I LEARN™. The characters all live in See-and-Learn City. In addition to Freda, Percy, Ajay, and Emma, there are Carlos and Camille.

You may remember that Camille is the name of one of my granddaughters. Yes, this Camille is named after her! When I began working on I SEE I LEARN™, my other two grandchildren already had books named after them in my other series, MathStart (Jack the Builder and Mighty Maddie). Then along came Camille. At first, she didn't have a book. Now she not only has one book, she is part of a whole series. Lucky Camille!

The main characters in the series attend Ready Set Pre-K, they love to visit Readalot Library, and they have fun at Stay and Play Park. They take field trips to Duck Duck Goose Pond, and they build sandcastles at Friendly Waves Beach.

A few months ago, I had the chance to spend a day at the Snyder-Girotti Elementary School in Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania. The new books had just been published and I couldn't wait to read them to the Pre-K students. They loved hearing about the adventures of Freda, Percy, and Pickle and all their friends. I was pleased to see that, after I read the stories, the students were able to answer the questions that appear at the end of every book.

The books are organized around four domains: Social Skills, such as making friends and cooperation; Emotional Skills, like building confidence and dealing with frustration; Health and Safety Skills, such as playground safety and getting help when lost; and Cognitive Skills like sequencing and writing your name.



I SEE I LEARN™ stories employ a variety of visual learning strategies to get their messages across. The young children for whom the books are intended may not yet be readers, but they are all visual learners.

I have spent my entire career working in the field of visual learning--how information is conveyed and received through visual stimuli, such as charts, graphs, models, and pictures. The visual learning strategies used in I SEE I LEARN™ include symbolic icons, picture diagrams, visual sequences, and graphic models. These are all designed to help children learn. It is my hope that my books will succeed in doing what it says on the covers--that they will help to build "happier, healthier, more confident children!"

Now--back to Pickle! I was thinking that maybe Pickle should send a note to Clementine. What do you think he should write?



Stuart J. Murphy, author of the award-winning MathStart books, has developed I SEE I LEARN™, a new series for Charlesbridge. The I SEE I LEARN™ books feature simple stories and visual learning strategies to help young children learn important social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills.

Stuart, a visual learning specialist, has also served on the authorship teams of a number of major educational programs. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Stuart and his wife, Nancy, live in Boston, Massachusetts, near their children and three grandchildren, Jack, Madeleine, and Camille.

Walden Then & Now

Charlesbridge acquires Imagine Publishing

Watertown, MA, July 7, 2010—Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Imagine Publishing of New York, a publisher of unique and eclectic books for children and adults.

Imagine was founded in 2009 by the father/son team of Charles and Jeremy Nurnberg. The co-founders will both join Charlesbridge, effective immediately. Charles, a 40 year industry veteran and former CEO of Sterling Publishing, will become Vice President & Publisher of the Imagine imprint. Jeremy, former Vice President Trade & Institutional Sales at Sterling, brings his 15 years of publishing experience to Charlesbridge as Vice President of Sales.

Imagine’s list includes the Peter Yarrow Books imprint in partnership with legendary singer/songwriter and bestselling author Peter Yarrow of the iconic trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Books in this imprint include the current New York Times picture book bestseller Over the Rainbow, with a CD performance by Judy Collins, and the upcoming October 2010 release of The Night Before Christmas, with a CD by Peter, Paul and Mary.

“Our growing success motivated us to seek a publisher that could handle the needs of our expanding list,” said Charles Nurnberg. “Charlesbridge has the full range of promotional and distribution capabilities that Imagine needs. Their publishing strategy reinforces our own philosophy to publish books that stand the test of time.”

Charlesbridge—an independent publisher of children’s fiction and nonfiction—has grown steadily over its twenty-year history. It currently enjoys critical and commercial successes with books such as Sibert Award Honor The Day-Glo Brothers, by Chris Barton; ALA Notable Global Babies, one of many books published in partnership with The Global Fund for Children; and the newly released Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins, named to the Indie Next List.

“Imagine adds an exciting new dimension to our list,” said Charlesbridge Vice President and Associate Publisher Mary Ann Sabia, “while also leading us in a new strategic direction with our first general trade books, including Delicious Diabetic Recipes, the important new Curiosity Guides series, with titles on the human genome and global climate change, and for kids, Neil Sedaka’s Waking Up Is Hard To Do.”

Charlesbridge President Brent Farmer stated, “With the addition of Imagine we significantly increase our list and range. We look forward to enhancing the enduring relationships established over the years with children’s booksellers, wholesalers, librarians, and teachers, and creating new relationships in the general trade arena.”

Charlesbridge begins shipping Imagine Publishing titles immediately from their Massachusetts warehouse. Imagine customers may call Charlesbridge at (800) 225-3214 for questions pertaining to their orders.

A Red Thread

I was born and grew up in a very small town in the west of Ireland. We were lucky to have a good library. I can't remember joining but I can't remember ever not being a member--so I guess I joined early!

I certainly remember using the library a lot--we didn't have a bookshop in town (though I think I remember the toyshop did stock some Enid Blytons--my mother used to buy me one if I was good at the dentist!) so, even though my parents were teachers and readers, we didn't have that many books.

By the time I was about 10, I had read every children's book in the library, some many times over, and the wonderful librarian, Mrs. Downey, suggested that if my mother approved, she would allow me to have an adult card. Surprisingly my mother said yes--probably knowing that Mrs. Downey would monitor everything I borrowed, which she did. But, in those days before teen and young adult publishing, the adult ticket provided an essential bridge to adult literature--and I did discover some wonderful adult writers like Liam O Flathairte who were perfectly accessible to a young reader. I also borrowed lots of craft books--I don't remember ever making anything, I just looked at the images and fantasised!

Reading was such a joy for me--an escape, an inspiration, educational and challenging, mind-blowing and thought-provoking. It was no surprise that I went on to study English at university and to specialise in Children's Literature as part of my post-graduate teaching studies.

After spending a few years teaching, like so many of my peers in the 1980s, I left Ireland to find work and spent the next 14 years working in children's publishing--starting out as a desk editor, working up to being a publisher, and eventually starting my own small publishing list in 1998. After a very painful takeover and redundancy, I found myself working freelance doing a mix of consulting, writing, editing and project managing.

I have a friend in Amsterdam who uses the expression 'red thread.' She says that a red thread connects all the little parts of your life--things that seem oddities while you're experiencing them often end up later to be significant steps on the way to somewhere else. Well, one of the things I did while I worked in publishing was some voluntary work for a group called the Working Group Against Racism in Children's Resources--how's that for a snappy title! It was made up of three groups--a book group, a toy group and a child development group (which looked at training materials for childcare workers and teachers). We met on Saturdays, developed training courses and materials we could offer to publishers, librarians and teachers; did training; reviewed books and published booklists and sets of criteria so professionals had guidelines pointing out things to look out for in order to both avoid selecting books which could offend or damage self esteem and to confidently select books which positively represented children from a range of backgrounds.

The Book Group was made up of a wonderful range of librarians, writers, illustrators, photographers, reviewers, editors, publishers, teachers and parents from a huge range of backgrounds. I made some fabulous friends during the seven years I worked with the Group and, even after I'd left, often consulted with them when issues arose on books I was developing.

Not long after I was made redundant, I was telling an old friend from this group (herself a librarian) about some work I was doing at a local school. She was surprised to hear I was working directly with children again after so long and asked if I would be interested in a position which had come up in her library.

The position was that of Community Librarian with the government's Sure Start programme (which is similar to the US Head Start). The job would involve doing a lot of outreach work with disadvantaged families and encouraging them to come to the local library--where I was to set up rhyme times and family reading groups. I applied, went for an interview, and in April 2003 became Sure Start Acton's Community Librarian.

Writing this, I can't believe how all the little bits of my life have come to connect--I think the red thread is one big knot now! I work three mornings a week for Sure Start--I don't need to do as much outreach now, so much of the time is spent running various groups in the library and other venues in the community. I read stories (many from books I've developed in the past), do crafts (all those ideas from my childhood must have been filed away somewhere) and sing nursery rhymes and songs. I find working directly with children in turn inspires my publishing work and I've been doing more and more writing, culminating last year with the publication of Lola at the Library--a pre-school picture book that is both inspired and made necessary by my library work.

I've learned so much from my work--learned to appreciate the opportunities I had as a child and especially the easy access I had to free books in my local library. I realise how much that easy access shaped who I am and enabled what I've managed to achieve. I've become evangelical about helping others to access this same wonderland. I will go anywhere there are mothers and babies or toddlers to sell my message--the local medical centre, the baby clinic, the free milk office...

I come across mothers who've fled warzones or catastrophies or poverty and who have no experience of books being freely available for small children. I have to work hard to persuade them that first of all, books are relevant to small children who don't yet read; then, to encourage them to take young children into the library and reassure them that they will be welcome. On the other side, I've had to work hard with my colleagues to identify and remove the barriers that parents face.

It's not enough to put the multi-lingual 'welcome' poster on the wall and think that does the job. We've had to review our forms and expectations of what kind of ID it's reasonable to expect people to provide.

For example, I recently heard a co-worker explain that she hadn't allowed a woman and her child to join the library on the grounds that "she couldn't be the child's mother--what mother doesn't even know her child's brithday?" Obviously, this worker did not understand that some mothers have children in situations where they don't know what day it is (they quickly learn to invent a birthday to suit the demands of bureaucracy). My experiences have taught me that some mothers don't know when they themselves were born. This is to say nothing of cultures that use a different calendar, making it difficult for people to work out a date of birth that fits our calendar.

We've also learned to be sensitive to signs that a mother can't write. Faced with a complex form, some parents suddenly find they have to rush away with reassurances that they'll bring the form back tomorrow, never to be seen again. However, we've also learned not to assume that providing materials in community languages is the answer--some women learn to read and write in English only, and handing them a picture book in their own language "to read with their children" can be less helpful than we believe...

I could go on, but that would be boring--we all have individual stories and anecdotes we could share. All we can do is try to be alert and sensitive and do our best. What I did decide to do was to write a story about a little girl who loves going to her local library. A picture is worth a thousand words, and this could not be more true in this instance--Rosalind Beardshaw has done THE most gorgeous illustrations and perfectly captures the little girl's enthusiasm. Now I use this book to do some of my work for me--it seems appropriate to have come full circle--everything for me begins and ends with a good book!



Posted by Anna McQuinn, author of Lola at the Library and Lola Loves Stories