Optimism on the literacy front

There is, hope, after all, for literacy -- if you can believe this account of excited young readers at the National Book Festival, hosted recently by First Lady Laura Bush and held on the National Mall, in Washington. Plenty of authors of books for adults make appearances at the festival -- this year Paul Theroux, Salman Rushdie, and Rick Atkinson, for example -- but it's the writers of childrens' and young-adult books who seem to generate the most excitement, their tents crammed with adoring fans, the authors mobbed at signings:

You expect this sort of adoration for movie stars, so it is especially gratifying -- no, thrilling -- to see it directed at children's book authors. I introduced several kids' authors at the festival, and watched an awkward boy -- glasses, a little overweight, bag laden with books -- screw up his courage to ask each author to autograph the festival poster. Each time, he was clearly terrified, and each time he managed to pull it off. His mother was in the background just beaming with pride. …

And then came R.L. Stine, author of more than 300 books, all of them creepy. Stine, who looks like he's lived for far too long in a haunted house, got the kids in the audience to write a ghost story with him. For instance, he asked them whether the fearless hero, a boy named Joel, should start paddling when he saw a boatful of zombies coming toward him or jump in the water? Should he use his guitar pick to get a monster out of his canoe or consult a book he has just discovered at the bottom of the canoe called, conveniently, "How to Get a Monster Out of Your Canoe"? The kids yelled check the book; Stine claimed the book told the boy to use the guitar pick … [author's ellipsis]

Stine had asked me to tell the audience that he couldn't sign autographs after his talk because he had to catch a plane. I told them, twice, but Stine's young fans swarmed him anyway.

The editor of the Washington Post Book World, meanwhile, notes that politics made an appearance at the festival:

Back in the VIP tent, where authors could retreat for food and coffee, Francine Prose confessed that even with all the magic, she hadn't been able to hold her tongue. At the White House breakfast early that morning, under the dark ring of clouds that had threatened the city, she had put it to Laura Bush directly: "Mrs. Bush, I'm deeply impressed by all you do for American children. I only wish you cared as much for the children of Iraq."

Disclosure: I'm married to the author of the first item I quote here.