Finding Comfort in Books

Linda Sue Park, Brian Selznick, and about 60 other authors and illustrators will spend April 11 visiting schools in New York City and Washington, D.C., areas hit by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Andrea Pinkney, editorial director at Hyperion Books for Children, spearheaded the pro bono "Find Comfort in Books" campaign. Its purpose isn't to discuss the attacks, but to give children in schools that normally can't afford such visits a chance to meet with children's book creators, Pinkney says. Some authors and publishers also plan to donate books to the schools.

Park, the recipient of this year's Newbery Medal for A Single Shard (Clarion) and Selznick, who received a Caldecott Honor for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins (Scholastic), will visit schools in New York City. Other participants include illustrator James Ransome, winner of the 1995 Coretta Scott King Award for The Creation (Holiday House), and illustrators Ted and Betsy Lewin, who have each received Caldecott Honors: Ted in 1994 for Peppe the Lamplighter (Lothrop), and Betsy in 2001 for Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (S & S).

The idea behind the day, also known as "411 Call to Action," emerged when Brenda Bowen, vice president and publisher at Simon & Schuster's Children's Division, gathered a group of children's book publishers—including representatives of Scholastic, Harcourt, HarperCollins, Random House, and Houghton Mifflin—to help children cope with the disaster. "In these turbulent times, it's important to embrace and comfort children," says Pinkney. "Literacy is a perfect way to do that."