Like most industries, the children's book field seems to controlled more and more by economics. One of the saddest outcomes is that children's books are safer. I admire an author who's willing and able to take risks in books. An author like Julius Lester.
Lester, one of the most prominent African-American authors in the children's book field, is well-known for his retellings of Uncle Remus storie. His twenty-five book track record shows him, adept at writing picture books or novels, and he rarely brings out a book that doesn't win an award. I've watched his work for years and have always been impressed with his wise approaches to retellings and the careful considering you can read between the lines.
This year he published a picture book for older children, The Man Who Knew Too Much. This retelling from Zambia begins with a woman, who returns to work in the feilds with her infant. The baby's cries are calmed by a huge eagle and this miracle is repeated several times. The woman finally tells her husband who doesn't believe her, goes to witness the miracle for himself and fearing for his baby's life fires an arrow to kill the eagle. The arrow kills his child. This is a book's complexity demands discussions about everything from the book's themes of trust, miracles and secrets to its literary techniques of irony and surprise ending.
Lester's also written a novelized version of Othello, providing a warm introduction to young adult readers by the very thoughtful writing choices he's made. He uses direct quotations in some places and in others gives powerful new images with contemporary context. He answers questions Shakespeare didn't consider, like: Did he miss Othello miss his homeland? Did he think of himself as European or African or both?" Lester goes for maximum meaning for himself and for his readers. In his version, for example, Iago is Black, not white, so that his jealousy can not be attributed to racism, but rather his humanness.
Lester is a writer in touch his own humanness and devoted to finding characters who will reach out and remind readers to own those very human parts of themselves. Thank goodness children's books still have an author who is more controlled by wondering than marketing.