Have you ever been involved in the purchase of a car? I’m sure most of us can answer yes to that question. Recently I too had the opportunity to partake in such a purchase. Despite the uncertainty, I was excited to go through the process and end up with a new car, yet something was nagging at the back of my mind. The process of buying a car is known for being tortuous, filled with hoops you have to jump through. On top of that I’m a woman in her 60s trying to go up against the boys club of car salesmen, chomping at the bit to get me to part with as much money as possible. The fact remains, that the automotive industry is male dominated with men holding down about 71% of all sales jobs, as of 2019. For someone who dreads confrontation, this whole process was getting a bit daunting.  But, I told myself, this is the time of Covid when we are all going out of our comfort zone and trying new experiences. So, I got this. By that, I mean I got my negotiating savvy male family member to help me on this journey. Okay, so I did opt for reinforcements but I knew my limitations. Now we’re ready to tackle this beast!

As a veteran deal seeker, I always start my journey off with some thorough research. At the library we have numerous online guides when it comes time to choosing what type of automobile to buy, including Chilton Library and Consumer Reports.  They are easy to access from our homepage by selecting Digital Resources and then Databases in the dropdown menu.

Once I settled on the car make, I found a small dealership in a neighboring town. Ok, let the games begin. We went in with high hopes. Regrettably, their inventory was low and they were not flexible on price. Bruised but not beaten, we opted to bow out and take our fight to a new dealership. I was disappointed that we were unable to finalize a deal, but my companion reminded me that this experience was productive, as we now had a point of reference for pricing, which would give us confidence for future negotiations.

The next dealership had a vast inventory and a large staff of salespeople. Things were starting to look up! After test driving the vehicle I liked, we were prepared to take the ultimate plunge – we were ready to enter into negotiations! I sat back and began to observe the proceedings. We started out asking for the most equipped model for the least expensive cost. Start big – room for concessions. We proceeded from there. Each new figure was dutifully brought to the “manager” for so-called approval. Back and forth we went. Silence from us, bluster by them. The salesperson at one point even resorted to minor personal attacks on the sincerity of our offers – a tactic to  disarm us and make us more vulnerable. Every move is well rehearsed and honed to perfection. These and other sales tactics can be found in Beyond Winning: Negotiating to Create Value in Deals and Disputes, by Robert H. Mnookin, Scott R. Peppet, and Andres S. Tulumello. For a specific offering on buying a car, access our online service Hoopla, which you can download on our website under Digital Resources or directly at www.hoopladigital.com, and connect to The Secrets of Power Negotiating for Your Dream Car, by Roger Dawson. For a more general digital title, check out The One Minute Negotiator: Simple Steps to Reach Better Agreements : More $uccess with Less Stress, by Don Hutson and George Lucas.

Finally, in what seemed like hours, but in reality was only about 30 grueling minutes, an offer that was to my liking was presented. I responded to it eagerly, with great relief to be done, but my enthusiasm was short lived. My male negotiator went off script and tried to bargain down the price even further! This request was not met with amusement. We then asked for the manager!  The manager emerged from an undisclosed cubicle and was brought over; he would not budge on the price. I understood. I got way more than I expected for the price, and we walked away victorious.

In the days since this purchase, I have been reflecting on this situation. Although I did not trust my negotiating skills, I did have the astuteness to level the playing field by bringing in a man to fight a traditionally man’s fight. Unfortunately, a woman in her 60s is still perceived as timid and uninformed about cars. I am not proud to admit that I perpetuated the myth of male dominance by bringing a male, but if it served to get me the best deal, then I swallowed my pride and played the game. This was only for a car deal and I shudder to think of what women have had to endure in order to “close the deal” in the past. Hopefully, though, now we are rewriting societal wrongs with political and social movements that address these issues, as well as instilling strength and confidence in our children. But when the salesman did mention his mother, I thought “uh-oh now he’s appealing to my maternal side.” Yet another tactic in his arsenal of weapons!

Robin Kessler is a Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the March 18, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

Oh the places you’ll go! Just one line instantly delves us into the world of Dr. Seuss, a world often synonymous with children’s literature. When doing a basic search for “popular picture books” in a search engine, titles like The Cat in the Hat and The Lorax immediately pop up alongside other classic titles such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Harold and the Purple Crayon. It can’t be denied the cultural impact that Theodore Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, has had on the world of children’s literature. While he has reigned supreme in the world of children’s books for over 75 years, some of his works have recently come under fire for portraying racist images of people of different ethnicities. This controversy has led to the Geisel estate deciding to pull six of his titles from further publication. This decision, alongside Read Across America Week’s decision to distance itself from the works of Dr. Seuss, has librarians, readers, and educators now wondering: what do we do with Dr. Seuss?

The works of Dr. Seuss have had a long-standing tradition in children’s literature. Books like The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham have delighted readers for generations, and Geisel was unique in creating an early literacy text that was both suitable for beginner readers, while also being entertaining (unlike the monotony of early literacy primers like Fun With Dick and Jane). The majority of his works have stood the test of time, with copies still being sold today, along with some of his works being turned into movies, stage musicals, and a TV series. While works such as The Sneetches and Other Stories, Horton Hears a Who, and The Lorax do contain very positive messages of acceptance and kindness, the same unfortunately cannot be said of works like And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street and If I Ran the Zoo, which are two of the six titles that will no longer be published. These titles, along with four others, contain illustrations which depict people of color in ways that are not kind or acceptable by modern standards. These illustrations unfortunately reflect Dr. Seuss as a product of his time (which becomes even more apparent if we examine his career as a political cartoonist), which can cause problems when we try to read them to children today. One book that I highly recommend when thinking about Seuss’s controversial role in children’s literature is Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books by Philip Nel.

This controversy surrounding Seuss, and whether or not to continue to keep certain works in a library collection, does have a positive, in that we are working to become more aware of the prejudices that may exist in children’s classics, and how we approach them in a classroom or storytime. I believe that this reexamination of Seuss’s works also gives us the ability to rewrite the “canon” of children’s classics, by choosing to retire some problematic books that simply don’t have as much of a draw anymore. While Seuss has undeniably contributed a great deal to the world of children’s literature and easy readers, we should also highlight the amazing work that other authors have contributed to that field as well. One such author is Mo Willems, who has both won and received honors multiple times for the Geisel Award, which awards exemplary easy readers. I am constantly receiving requests from children for more Elephant and Piggy books, and his Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus series has now achieved the same cultural status as The Cat in the Hat or The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

Arnold Lobel is another classic children’s author whose Frog and Toad series still has appeal for an easy reader audience, and his works contain both hilarity and the importance of friendship in them. The Amelia Bedelia series by Herman Parish is another classic series that still entertains readers today, and more diverse easy readers series such as Ling and Ting by Grace Lin, the Katie Fry series by Katherine Cox, Don’t Throw It to Mo by David A. Adler, the Sofia Martinez series by Jacqueline Jules, and Katie Woo by Fran Manushkin add diverse representations of characters to a traditionally white literary canon.

Amidst all of this discussion surrounding the problematic works of Dr. Seuss, I do see a bright side for the future of children’s literature. Just as you would weed a garden to make room for new growth, or clean out the clutter to make space for a new room, I think it’s healthy to reexamine the works of literature that have made up the children’s literature canon of classics to see what kinds of ideas and stories we want to continue to pass on to future generations of readers. I love seeing the world of children’s literature evolving into a much more diverse field, with children of all backgrounds and cultures having the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the books they read. Instead of bemoaning the fact that children might not be able to read If I Ran the Zoo, I see new spaces being made on the shelf and in the canon for kinder, more inclusive books that show characters of different ethnicities exploring the world around them. To hearken back to the start of this article, the future of children’s literature truly is a great time to think of “the places you’ll go!”

Dina Delic is the Assistant Children’s Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the March 11, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

Reading aloud never gets old. Neither does being read to. This works out well for me since I’m a children’s librarian and a large part of my job involves storytimes for kids of all ages. It also has served me well as a mom, where I am the chief bedtime story reader. My daughter has often rejected my poor husband’s attempts to read to her in favor of mine. I try to console him by saying that I am a professional with years of experience reading aloud. Somehow that never seems comforting!

I naively assumed that once my daughter learned to read independently, these nightly read alouds would taper off and be replaced with her own stack of short chapter books that she would read alone. This is ironic, given that in my professional life, I often tell parents to keep reading aloud to children after they learn to read. Children of all ages really do enjoy being read to and I am still not sure why I didn’t follow my own advice. Nevertheless, my daughter had no intention of letting me stop reading to her. She is a morning lark and often reads alone to entertain herself while my husband and I sleep in. But at night, she is not ready to let go of our cozy bedtime reading ritual.

Another piece of professional advice that I often give but avoided following is allowing the child to choose the books rather than the parent. I thought since I work at the library, I would just bring home this mountain of amazing literary choices and my child would be thrilled. Reader, she was not thrilled. In fact, my daughter rejects nearly every book I suggest. Thankfully, her teacher has come to our rescue and does a great job of introducing kids to wonderful stories by reading every day in the afternoons.

As my daughter gets older and we continue to read together, I’ve noticed the books she loves all have one unifying characteristic: a unique ability to capture a child’s true voice and inner emotional life. Many children’s books portray main characters who never express complicated emotions, seem to learn all the right lessons and are just too perfect. Like adults, children are looking for realistic, flawed protagonists who are more than just an amalgamation of stereotypes that only make minor mistakes and immediately learn the right lesson from every situation. Parents and other adults may not always like it, but kids want to read about children like themselves.

Abby Hanlon really nails a child’s true voice with her creation of Dory, the main character in the Dory Fantasmagory series. Dory, the youngest in her family, has a big imagination and a big personality to match. In her tireless efforts to keep up with her older siblings, she often misunderstands their games, gets teased, and misses the lessons her parents and teacher try to impress upon her. Dory’s imaginary friends are just as rambunctious as she is and their games often have Dory mixing reality and fantasy, much to the dismay of the adults in her life. The voice Hanlon creates for Dory really reflects the tug children in early elementary school feel between meeting the expectations of the world around them and the rich, inner life they create to cope.

Ramona Quimby, star of Beverly Cleary’s classic eponymous series, is another mischievous character who is both anxious about growing up but yearns to be more mature like her big sister Beezus. Filled with insatiable curiosity, she unintentionally annoys others around her as she tries to make sense of her world. In Ramona the Brave, Ramona tries to act the part of the mature first grader while still longing for the simpler days of kindergarten. She manages to control her urge to “boing” the curls of Susan, her classmate and nemesis, but can’t quite squash the desire to ruin Susan’s art project when she discovers Susan is a copycat. These school struggles are just as relatable to kids now as they were when Cleary published the title back in 1965.

Horrible Harry in Room 2B by Suzy Kline portrays life in a second grade classroom from a boy’s perspective. While the series narrator Doug, is pretty nondescript, his focus on the antics of his best friend, Harry, provides insight into the inner workings of a child’s mind. Harry is smart, loyal, and eager to help but his infectious energy and ideas often land him in hot water. He’s also more than a little mischievous and is not above taking revenge against classmates who make fun of him. Some of the references in this series are a little dated from the 1980s and 1990s but kids can definitely relate to Harry and Doug’s desire for adventure to spice things up during an ordinary school day.

Attractive book covers and action packed plots can draw kids into a book but relatable, complex main characters keep them interested. Children in stories need to express the same confusion, outrage, jealousy, and all other emotions that real children experience during the growing up process. When you are searching for a good book for a child in your life, instead of asking, “What lessons does this book teach?” it might be more relevant to examine, “How relevant and relatable are these characters to real children?” If this book would appeal to your inner child, it is sure to be a winner.

Kate Tigue is Head of Youth Services at the Morrill Memorial Library. Look for her article in the February 18, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.