Archive for Current Events

LOCALS: Come See Me This Saturday, 10/21, at the Open Door Bookstore!

I’ll be signing a range of books, I imagine, but mostly we’ll be celebrating 50 years of the fabulous Open Door bookstore. What an accomplishment, what a service to our community. 

For this visit, we’ll be focusing on some of my spookier titles — Exit 13 and the “Scary Tales” series — but there’s also just a big, wonderful, glorious store to visit and support. Put your money where your values are. 

Please stop by and say hello.

TRANSCRIPT: Remarks from “Let Freedom Read” Banned Books Event, Saratoga Springs Library, 10/5/23

Avid followers of this blog surely realize that I was recently invited to participate at a Banned Books event at Saratoga Springs Public Library. I was allotted seven entire minutes to speak, including the book excerpt which I selected to read. 

So, yeah, short and quick. Keep the line moving. I was glad to lend my voice and the whole night was a huge success, provocative and informative. One of those nights when I felt like I was in the right place at the right time. 

What follows is a relatively faithful transcript of the remarks I made, minus a few embellishments that occurred on the spot, in the event anyone is interested . . . 

 

I’d like to begin by putting in a word for story, that distinctly human activity with ancient roots, the gathering around a fire. 

The building of community.

The sharing of our hopes and dreams and experiences. 

The stories we tell.

In Robert McKee’s book on screenwriting, also called Story, he wrote that “Stories are equipment for living.”

In 1990, Rudine Sims Bishop wrote a remarkable essay in which she introduced the “Windows and Mirrors” concept of reading. In it, she outlined some of the functions of story. It is significant enough that I’d like to share some of it with you, as sort of preamble to my banned book selection.

Bishop opened her essay:

Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. 

When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. 

Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.

And a little farther along in the same essay:

When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part. 

In Bishop’s call for Diverse Books — we called them “Multicultural Books” at the time — she made a subtle but important point that has been somewhat overshadowed. Maybe because it’s less obvious, but I think it’s worth underscoring here today. Because yes, sure, many of us can easily accept the life-changing value of, say, nonwhites or Trans kids seeing themselves reflected positively in books. 

But in the absence of those diverse stories —- an absence that has long haunted American culture —- an absence dangerously reinforced by today’s spate of book banning —-  the damage is also felt by the dominant social groups who have always found their mirrors in books.

Bishop, again:

They, too, have suffered from the lack of availability of books about others. They need the books as windows onto reality, not just on imaginary worlds. They need books that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world they live in, and their place as a member of just one group, as well as their connections to all other humans.

When we ban books, when we eliminate certain stories —- for whatever reasons —- fear or discomfort —- prejudice or closed-mindedness —- we lose our ability to step into someone else’s shoes. 

We surrender our ability to build empathy, compassion, and understanding. 

Those attributes are the foundation, the heart, of story. 

It is why stories have persisted through all of human history. 

It is why we read and how we learn. 

Here’s half a page from To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, first published in 1960.

 

“It was summer-time, and two children scampered down the sidewalk towards a man approaching in the distance. The man waved, and the children raced each other to him. 

It was still summer-time, and the children’ came closer. A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summer-time, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.

It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose’s. The boy helped his sister to her feet, and they made their way home. Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day’s woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive. 

Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog. 

Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn, again, and Boo’s children needed him. 

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley bench was enough. 

Banned Books Event, Saratoga Public Library: Tonight (10/5/23)

I’ll be participating in tonight’s banned books-themed event at the Saratoga Public Library, running from 6:00 – 8:00. 

It’s a 45-minute drive from my house that I’ve made many times, since my daughter rowed for Saratoga Rowing Club. I’d pick her up from HS, drive her to practice, then go off to the library to work for a couple of hours. Then I’d pick her up and we’d drive home together. Often she’d be so tired, Maggie would pass out in the front seat. I usually did this about 3-4 times a week for a couple of years. 

The things parents do. 

Anyway, I was invited to participate and I hate to say no. It’s a good cause, something I care about. So, yeah, the drive up there, the event, the return home: probably four hours in total. I get seven minutes to say a few words and read an excerpt from To Kill a Mockingbird. But of course, it’s not about me. 

Come if you’re not too busy.

 

A Few Dates on the Calendar

There’s this in Chappaqua, NY . . .

Okay, I know, it looks a little weird — but roll with it, people. 180 children’s book authors & illustrators, but it’s the readers who make it all possible. They are the ones who excite me. 

I’m doing another Festival in Maplewood, NJ, on the following day — Sunday the 31st — but can’t locate any promotional materials. Concerning!

And there’s this . . . 

It’s amusing, this flyers that schools and event organizers whip up. I mean, the photo of me that they select. This one must be 10 years old. I imagine a graphic artist googling images for “James Preller” and looking through them, shaking a head, thinking, “No, no, ack, not this! No, no . . . hmmm, I guess maybe we could go with this one.”

Anyway, swing by. It’s Halloween season. Maybe something scary will inspire some page-turning. The Open Door is an amazing store and 50 years is an incredible accomplishment. Talk about a survivor. 

Welcome Back to School: Reach Out If You Are Interested In An Author Visit

Well, that flew fast.

Summer’s gone again. 

I began this blog in 2008 and the world of the interwebs has changed a lot since those days. People don’t read blogs as much as they used to, if they ever really did. I learned to take summers off when reading was especially light. But now we’re shifting again, turning the page, facing a new school year. 

Here’s one thing about writing that I’ve learned over the years. 

I’d do it anyway. 

Readers or not.

I’ve decided to reinvest my energies in this blog. Mumble to myself. Talk about things, and books, and writing, and life. Just get back to the core practice of keeping an open log, or journal. 

Here’s something I came across today: an old drawing of yours truly from a few years back, made by a student after a school visit.

A scary resemblance. Those are exactly my crazy eyes.

Anyway, yeah, school visits. I love them and I need them to survive. 

My books range from grades K-8 and I have at least four upcoming books in the publishing pipeline, ranging from easy readers, to picture books, to a middle-grade novel. 

As they say, I’m dancing as fast as I can. 

I’m also teaching another class for Gotham Writers, which I enjoy immensely, despite all the work & awful pay. There’s not quite so inspiring to me as an aspiring writing, full of heart and hope and dedication. If I can help those folks, even just a little bit, it feels good. 

So: If you are a PTA/PTO parent, or a teacher, or a librarian or school administrator, I invite you to send a query directly to me at  jamespreller@aol.com. I’ll respond personally, and we can even set up a phone call if you’d prefer. We can discuss your needs, your wildest hopes, and we can see if I’m the right fit for your school. 

As for now, I’m sitting in the Bethlehem Public Library in Delmar, NY. I often work here, hungry for the buzz of humankind. So much of my life is spent in solitude. I just grabbed 10 new picture books off the shelves, semi-randomly. Books by John Schu, Audrey Vernick, Ame Dyckman, Carson Ellis, Kevin Henkes, Kevin Lewis, Jeff Newman, and more. 

Maybe I’ll talk about one of ’em sometime down the line. I’m here to learn from the best. 

More, later. 

Tonight I’m excited to see David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” at my local movie theater. Just $7 on Tuesdays for classic oldies. I originally saw Blue when it came out in 1986. I was 25 and that movie shook me. I remember walking out of that NYC theater wondering what I’d just seen. It felt new and disturbing and edgy and wildly unforgettable. I’m excited to see it again tonight on the big screen. 

Thanks for stopping by.