20 Questions Asked by the Acquisitions Team
One way to answer “What Makes a Blue Apple Book?” is by listing the questions I ask myself before deciding to acquire a manuscript:
1. What age child is this for? Is the topic right on for the age? Developmentally appropriate? Is it really for kids?
2. Will it result in a child thinking? And feeling? And doing?
3. Will it generate dialogue between adult and child? Will each be better off having read it?
4. Is this original? Smart? Interesting? Funny? Fun for adults, as well as kids?
5. Can it be read on several levels? Does it add up to more than its words?
6. What else exists on this topic? A lot? A little? Nothing? (If nothing, beware!)
7. Is it different and better than something else that’s like it?
8. Do I hear a voice? Is the sound good?
9. Is it about a theme I care about: separation and reunion, loss, growth and change, rivalry, envy, jealousy, delaying gratifcation, fear, mastery, independence-dependence…
10. Would a child like it? Is it worth a kid’s time? Will it also resonate with an adult?
11. Do visual images come to mind—what’s in the text for an illustrator? Can I see the images in my head?
12. Will BA earn back its investment in time . . . and in money?
13. Will I learn something new? What can I add to it? Does it recall something I recognize from my childhood or the childhoods of other children I know well?
14. Is there potential for a collaborative relationship with the author? Will the author be open to the changes that come after input from the illustrator?
15. Do I really want my staff to expend the energy it will take to get this into print?
16. Has the author done his/her homework . . . e., is the book well-researched, with an appropriate amount of text for a 32-page picture book?
17. Has the author done his/her homework in relation to Blue Apple . . . is it really just the right thing for us?
18. Does the author have the ability to tolerate the discomfort of ambiguity that is part and parcel of our uniquely Blue Apple collaborative process?
19. Will the book backlist and withstand the test of time?
20. What will linger after the last page is read and the book is closed?
Many of these questions are those that we ask ourselves, intuitively, when we choose our friends or mates. Books are often some of our best companions—our good friends. Who hasn’t read something that provided a jolt of self-recognition, or an emotional connection with a character, an idea, or a circumstance?
Books have the capacity for personal chemistry with their readers. So I ask these twenty questions, plus a few others that are not articulated, in the hope of offering kids a chance to discover something always on target, absolutely worthwhile, and occasionally extraordinary.
Harriet Ziefert, Publisher