Take that self publishers!

So I kind of love children's literature. Scratch that, I wholeheartedly adore children's literature. I've devoted the past four years, and more time and money than I like to admit in the dedicated study of books for young people. While working on a Masters Degree in Children's Literature, we treated each text - be it a thirty-two page picturebook or a 300 page young adult novel - as seriously as any play by Shakespeare or novel by Hemingway. Along with this literary criticism, I learned so much more. Whether we were determining what qualities make certain books successful, analyzing their artistic techniques and images, thinking about book design, or learning what these books tell both adults and child readers, I came to an even stronger conclusion that children's books are a subject well worth my time, effort and respect.

So when I see you, bad books, I get pissy. After all, you bring down all good authors with you. So I'm going after bad books. I'm primarily going to be looking at books advertised on Amazon.com, generally books that have been self published. Full disclosure - I won't be reading most of the books. I can't afford to buy them, plus, I don't want to encourage the authors with sales. Instead I'll be using Amazon samples, inside views and product descriptions. I know it's a little unfair to call these books out based on that, but frankly I think I can pick them out based on that much info. I feel especially justified in going after Amazon, since the self-publishing world has been spamming the heck out of the literary community there for a while. Looking for book recommendations on hamsters? Try my self published book on fairies. They're both... small. This irks me, people.

So what will I be looking for in this blog? Bad art. I get it that you love your grandkids drawings. They really are so sweet, but honey¸ there are some images that should stay in the family.  I'll be calling authors out on grammar and syntax. After all, writing is a craft that needs to be finely honed to be successful, and if you can't get it together to write a decent catalog copy, well, I'll notice that. I'll also be exploring common themes that show up in bad books. Must there always be a good Christian girl character? Do picture books need to rhyme?

I've been told that going after self published books is like shooting fish in a barrel, but well, I've never liked fishing anyway. Just the eating part. So bring it on, let's shame us some books!