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SALLY FLOYER

Sally Floyer is about to retire as m.d. of Penguin's brands and licensing division (Ladybird, Warne and BBC Children's Books) after 40 years in publishing.

Licence to thrill

21.12.07

Recently at Penguin we had a meeting about a project to bring books to underprivileged children. One of the external literacy advisors noticed a shelf of "Doctor Who" and Harry Potter tie-in titles. Could we possibly spare any for a 12-year-old boy who struggles with reading? As I gave him an armful of books he said: "Of course, I never see this kind of thing in bookshops—I'm always looking at proper books."

This comment exemplifies a real issue in children's publishing—one which particularly frustrates everyone who works in what is loosely called "character publishing".

I have published both "literary" books and licensed programmes, and have also managed some of the world's most famous classic book "brands". Is one better than the others? It's like trying to decide between soup and pudding when both have a place on the menu.

Children need a balanced diet, and above all they need books that they will enjoy, which match their interests and which encourage them to read. For long-term health they need plenty of the rich, nutritious soup of a great novel or picture book. They also need the comfort, stimulation and energy source of pudding—books that reflect what they meet every day. Both must be prepared with integrity and the best ingredients.

Take "In the Night Garden", the BBC's latest preschool sensation. The show's creators Anne Wood and Andy Davenport of Ragdoll passionately believe that to categorise television-related books as mere tie-ins is to ignore the authorial voice and creativity of programme developers, who research their communication to the child and who understand more than anyone how children react to a story. As publishers we draw out and articulate in book form the core meaning of the programming, and bring illustrative and textual beauty to complement their vision.

One of animation's commercial visionaries, HIT founder Peter Orton, didn't go to university himself and valued books and education enormously. Peter, who died last week after a battle with cancer, was awarded a CVO this year for his services to children's literacy.

For children who have difficulty with reading or just aren't interested, books based on familiar programming can be the vital hook that turns them into readers.

As publishers, retailers and reviewers we owe our children, exposed to an unprecedented barrage from all kinds of media, a very catholic offering which admits the worth of good books of all kinds. We are all making readers.

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By Anne Wood and Andy Davenport, Ragdoll

It was a pleasure to read Sally Floyer’s piece in this week’s Bookseller. The downgrading of television tie-ins within our respective industries is a matter for our serious concern. We have never understood the thinking that automatically puts television writing for children into some kind of cultural second division. In our experience, this thinking is not confined to the book world. We find the same assumptions infecting the process when we come to adapt young children’s television content for the theatre – the expectations for television character properties rarely rise above what can only be described as the ‘skip and wave’ experience, no matter how high the aspirations of the original. Even the current crisis in Children’s TV is in part due to the widespread perception that the medium as a whole is somehow less important than other cultural forms. At the heart of quality children’s media - be it good books, theatre or television - are stories. Compelling and relevant characters in worlds that reflect and amplify children’s own experience, communicating values and ideas that children remember and can refer to. The best work in any medium widens outlooks and ignites imaginations for generations. The character licence industry has given us a peculiar hybrid – the TV tie-in. In publishing, this is manifest as something part book but mostly ‘product’ – in which typically the content is generic - effectively immaterial - and in which all too often any original authorial intention has been obliterated. If this is because of television’s popularity and accessibility, then an important point is being missed. The sharing of a loved programme is frequently a first cultural experience for parents and children, and a highly valued one. There is a huge and important opportunity to carry this over from the everyday experience of the TV screen into the very different structural medium of a book. Moving between - and understanding the strengths of - different media is an important component of modern literacy. We wholeheartedly support Sally Floyer’s appeal for a meritocracy in children’s publishing that judges individual properties by their quality, rather than by their originating medium. After all, any distinction between classic stories originated in books or on television has no place in a child’s mind. What is important is that to a child, what looks like a good book on the outside is a good book on the inside.

21 Dec 07 15:36

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