How Does $17 000 sound?

You don’t even have to write the book. You just have to own it. Abe Books reports that a first edition copy of The Cat in the Hat in mint condition could be worth up to $US 17 000. This year sees the 50th anniversary of the Dr Seuss classic written by Theodore Geisel. I hope the book celebrations do something to dampen the debacle of The Cat in the Hat movie, which I found very disappointing.

Reclaiming the Book - The Cat in the Hat

I owned a bookstore at the time of the movie’s release. The movie was great for trade in a quite unexpected way. A stream of parents told me when they saw how bad the movie was, it reminded them how good the book was, and wanted to share the original with their children. Marketing works in mysterious ways.

Geisel’s wife was devastated when she saw the movie. She was not happy with the movie version of The Grinch either, and vowed that The Cat in the Hat would be the last Dr Seuss book to ever see the silver screen.

Where the Wild Things Are

One of my favourite children’s picture book classics, Where the Wild Things Are is due to be released as a movie in 2008, so I’m a bit nervous about that too. Hopefully, Maurice Sendak, who is both a master storyteller and marketer, will have more creative control. He is the co-producer along with Tom Hanks. Translating a 32 page picture book to an hour plus movie is an interesting challenge.

Want to Write a Children’s Book?

It’s easy to write a picture book, right? Wrong. Geisel took 9 months to write The Cat in the Hat. It took Sendak 2 years to perfect Where the Wild Things Are. It was worth the wait in both cases.

Would you like to try your hand at writing for children? Check my article pages in the coloured section at the very bottom of the screen. I need to organise these, but there’s a lot of information there from my personal experience in a career immersed in books, words and writing, which may be useful.

Keep the Conversation Going

Which movies or television versions of books, children’s or adult, do you think translated well to the screen? Do you prefer to read the book first or see the movie first? Is it okay if the movie strays from the original, but still retains the essence of the story? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

Writing for Kids & Teens