Who wrote that?

As Christmas nears, books are pouring out from publishing companies in the hopes of increased sales for the holidays. Who are the authors of these books? Well, many of them are not writers; they are celebrities known for success in media, the arts, or just because of a fluke of publicity. An op-ed piece in today's New York Times points out how insulting this is to the hard-working writers who labor to produce worthwhile books. The examples used in the column are from adult publishing, but librarians know the situation is the same for children's books. No one who has been featured in a news story seems exempt from the temptation to produce a book that some publisher will seize upon. Adults must fend for themselves, but it is librarians, teachers, and parents who usually are responsible for what children read. Do we really want to feed our children a diet of mass-produced word packages (with lots of pictures) just because they can recognize the name of the so-called author? What about the hundreds of skilled writers and illustrators who are giving children a truly literary experience with carefully wrought words and imaginative pictures? Surely it is up to us as adults to let children read these books and come to know the names of authors who may never appear on TV or YouTube (although some of them do). Writing and illustrating are hard work and we should honor those who do it well.