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Editor's Corner June 2009 Want to know what excites an RHCB editor? Tune in to the Editor’s Corner each month to get the inside scoop on a different editor’s latest and greatest project, from tomorrow’s bestseller to a literary masterpiece!
As the line
manager of Step
into Reading, 1984 has been my mind for quite awhile now. I’ve
spent a lot of time thinking about what transpired twenty-five years
ago when the series launched into the children’s publishing universe.
But like any significant anniversary, chances are you have to go
back a little further to get a sense of what forces were at play.
So that’s where I went looking—to the early 1980s around the time
when editor Janet Schulman arrived at Random House with an idea
to (and this is a direct quote) “make a learning-to-read format
so affordable that parents would buy the books like popcorn.” She
learned from and worked with Ted Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) and adapted
into this new series that same Seussian sensibility of illustrating
every action and objects mentioned in the text. She also took a
close look at what was out in the easy-to-read marketplace—hard
covers that actually weren’t all that easy to read because they
were filled with talking heads, high page and word counts, and ranged
between first and fifth grade reading levels. So she established
steps and guidelines that focused on what new readers could handle.
And she launched this original paperback series with 6 titles. In those
twenty-five years, over 123 million copies of Step
into Reading titles have been sold! That’s a whole lot of riffs
and rhymes; princesses and presidents; and sports stories and sophisticated
scientific concepts told in the simplest terms. It’s also a lot
of little blue trains…lots and lots of little blue trains. And not
so surprisingly the landscape has changed a bit for Step
into Reading during this time. The guidelines have been updated
to include a wider audience—there are now five steps and we have
line extensions that include math, phonics, writing, and stickers.
We’ve responded to marketplace trends like the popularity of licensed
characters and the shift from slice-of-life fiction to books with
curriculum or seasonal hooks. Yet with
all these changes there is a constant: the audience. Sure, six-year
olds today may be light-years ahead of six-year olds circa 1984
when it comes to iPods, text messages, and navigating the web. But
I guarantee that they’re still learning to read on their own
the same way. Some will look to the art first for visual cues
before tackling the words. And some will puzzle out words by segmenting
them, sounding out the syllables, or using the patterns of language
to anticipate what’s next before they look at the art. But either
way they rely on uncomplicated illustrative vocabulary, simple sentence
structure, and engaging, relatable narratives to help guide them
through their first, empowering independent reading experience.
Kids will
laugh along with and learn from the simple silly art in Big
Egg.
They rely on the breezy riffs of the Dancing
Dinos. They see themselves in Sleepy
Dog or Little
Witch.
And when they’re ready to look a bit beyond their own immediate
world and point of view, there are the high concept, content-rich
Step 4 and Step 5 titles, where they can learn about dinosaurs,
uncover history through first foodie Thomas
Jefferson, and discover a real American idol like Jackie
Robinson. I have to
say—looking back at the past quarter of a century’s worth of Step
into Reading titles has provided me with a pretty unique perspective.
So on days when I’m grappling with a few too many passive verbs
or dialogue heavy tales, I just remember how great it feels to read,
and then I multiply it by 123,000,000. I figure that’s a pretty
close approximation to what it’s like to read a book…on your own…for
the very first time. Happy 25th Anniversary Step into Reading and here’s to many, many more!
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