In the book business, an often unspoken truth is bookstores sell children's books to adults, not children. Mothers and fathers browse through the children's section, see a gloriously illustrated picture book and buy it for themselves.
Sometimes the kids hardly get to touch it.But now, more and more authors are coming out of the closet and actually doing illustrated picture books for adults themselves. "The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss, for instance, was a blockbuster best-seller.
Last week I heard a television evangelist recite the entire text from the pulpit.
"Something to Remember Me By" hopes to mine the same vein.
It's a kids' book for the kid in all of us.
Filled with striking illustrations and written in the simple cadences of everyday speech (about 10 lines to the page), the book tells of a grandmother who bonds with her grandchild by giving her small gifts "to remember me by." As the grandmother ages and begins to lose her memory, the young woman begins returning the favor. She offers the grandmother "something to remember me by."
The final page adds a nice poetic twist to a gentle tale.
In short, this is sentiment with universal appeal, a story you can read in 10 minutes. And when you close the cover, you can feel good about yourself, about the world and about the world of book publishing.
Literature majors and savvy readers will fret. In some circles "Something to Remember Me By" will look like the dumbing down of the American reader - much the way the Army has conceded to publish its manuals in comic book form.
But it may also represent the future of popular publishing in America.
Naysayers will just have to deal with it.
As for those who applaud this new era of picture books for grown-ups, "Something to Remember Me By" could serve as "exhibit A" in the debate.
- Author Susan V. Bosak will be signing copies of her book at Media Play in Riverdale from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13; at Deseret Book in the ZCMI Center from 11:30-1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, at the Orem Media Play from 7:30-9:30 p.m; at Deseret Book in the Cottonwood Mall at 11:30 on Friday, Aug. 15; and Waldenbooks in Crossroads from 4-6 p.m., then at Barnes & Noble in Orem from 7-9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16.