Christmas listening

I think I missed most of this, so thank you Di - will try to listen!

Thanks, Di. I still have my Pooh books on the shelf!

Several years ago, I wrote and illustrated a book of children's stories that were broadly influenced by Winnie the Pooh (not the Disneyfied version!) I sent them out - and back they came, time after time. One agent did, though, take the time to tell me why they were rejecting. Basically, she said, the characters were too 'young' for the dialogue... or the dialogue was too 'sophisticated' for the characters. So I either had to 'dumb down' or to 'grow up'. We had a few email exchanges about this, and she gave me the standard marketing pitch about 'categories' of children in terms of reading: early readers, 3-5s, 5-7s, 7-9s, early teens, etc, blah blah. I tried to explain that children can't be put into boxes in that way, and that they all learn and develop differently: some can read sophisticated material at an early age, others who are older like easier stuff, and so on. But she said that's not how the market works! So I said 'From what you're telling me, if Winnie the Pooh was written now, it wouldn't be published.' 'That's right,' she said. 'It wouldn't.'

What can you say?