Today meet Pam Coughlan, a.k.a MotherReader! Pam writes great reviews and essays about kids books, making us laugh along the way. She’s serving as a judge for the Picture Book category, a genre she knows extremely well. Let’s find out more about MotherReader:
Q: How long have you been blogging, Pam?
A: Since January 23, 2006
Q: Why do you blog?
A: It started as an outlet for writing and because I wanted to share something that was important to me, reading. I’m still doing it for those reasons, but I also enjoy the community aspect of blogging — the commenting, the dialogue, and the sharing among like-minded people.
Q: What is it about kidlit that you love most?
A: The books are short, so I can finish a lot of them. Honestly, I love the generally happy endings. Too much weight has been given to despair as a necessary component of "good" literature. Reading doesn’t need to hurt.
Q: Which is your favorite book that didn’t make the shortlist?
A: Duck and Goose, by Tad Hills
Q: Do you and your kids ever disagree on reading choices? Tell us about it.
A: Not really. I bring home a lot of books from my job at the public library, and they pick what they want to read. They also go to the school library, and that’s where they can choose their own books.
Q: If you could have a fictional character visit you for a day, who would it be and how would you spend the time together?
A: Could Mary Poppins come over and watch the kids for a couple of days so I could get caught up on my work?
Check out Pamela’s smart, witty style in this post about negative reviews:
- "I write about books for my own records. I write about books to share with other readers. I even could say that I write about books to let librarians know what to purchase. But it is interesting to think of the review in context of a writers’ group … In a writing group, I’d be tempted to ask the author of The Day the Dinosaur Died if perhaps the book was a little … much for young readers. If the violence of the book is any indication, she would throw me into a flaming volcano. (Make sure you pay attention to where you hold your writing group sessions.)"