On the one hand, you have to hand it to James Patterson. He wants to give back to the reading community by giving money to those who find "original and effective ways to spread the excitement of books and reading." I believe this was even written with a straight face.
And I managed to keep mine while reading through all the salient points of the "Patterson Page Turner Awards" including the following:
The first $25,000--the PageTurner Award--will go to any person, group, company, or institution that spreads the excitement of books in an effective and original way. For instance
- A librarian, educator or bookseller who's promoted the joy of reading
- Anyone who's publicly highlighted the entertainment value of books
- A philanthropic group that orchestrated a unique event that drew attention to books and reading
- A book group leader, web site operator, or other person that singles out books in an exciting or unusual way.
- The second $25,000 award--the PageTurner School Award--goes to the elementary school, middle school, high school, or college that inculcates the joy of reading for pleasure in its students. The winning school will also win a visit from James Patterson for reading, signing, and talking about books.
- There will also be twenty-five $1,000 awards of merit to individuals and organizations who have made notable contributions to promoting the excitement of books and reading.
- In honor of the two $25,000 winners, First Book will donate 1,000 books to programs serving disadvantaged children in cities of the winners' choosing.
OK, all well and good. But then I got to this:
The Award Council is composed of executives at Little, Brown and Company and the Time Warner Book Group as well as appointed delegates (ed. bolding mine) of James Patterson.
Well, can't say the man isn't consistent...
Will any cub journalists from Entertainment Weekly be attacked during the award ceremonies?
Posted by: ed | June 30, 2005 at 04:57 PM
The same James Patterson whose book I just returned to the library unread -- except for the first 5 pages or so? Not what I would call a "page turner."
Posted by: Ingrid | June 30, 2005 at 05:10 PM
Are his factory minions eligible?
Posted by: Guyot | June 30, 2005 at 05:27 PM
I wholeheartedly applaud the idea behind it.
The snarky little child within me is sniggering at the thought of any judging panel including half a dozen of his monkeys with typewriters shelling peanuts with their toes and whooping at publishing people. But that's because I don't believe in letting a running joke die.
Posted by: John Rickards | July 01, 2005 at 06:02 AM
While I'm totally fascinated by your post, as usual, I'm mostly coming on here to quickly tell you that I will call yer lovely ass probably Sunday if not sooner. I shall not leave you hanging. Hoboken or bust. Christin Tours the East Coast 2005...
Posted by: christin | July 01, 2005 at 08:11 AM
More seriously....
"The second $25,000 award--the PageTurner School Award--goes to the elementary school, middle school, high school, or college that inculcates the joy of reading for pleasure in its students......The Award Council is composed of executives at Little, Brown and Company and the Time Warner Book Group"
What are the criteria for "inculcating the joy of reading?" (As opposed to all the crappy schools that try to make reading unpleasant???) Would it have anything to do with which publishing house books are bought from? Monkeys with typewriters is a hell of a lot less troubling to me than the Little Brown and Co part of that sentence. Can we say "kick back" children?
Posted by: Rebecca | July 01, 2005 at 12:16 PM
How do I start campaigning? I can do it. I can promote the excitement of reading. Really I can. I can pubically highligh the entertainment value of books (whatever the HELL that means". I'll I'll start a book group! (I don't DO book groups) just gimme a sec. Is there a first runner up? Miss Congeniality (that's Cornelia).
The part I especially love is how Patterson will visit the winning school and he'll SIGN books while he's there. So um, does he know how to sign "Dav Pilkey" and "J.K. Rowling" and "Madeleine L'Engle"?
Too bad I don't know anyone who promotes the joy of reading. Anything about how they accept nominations?
Posted by: Andi | July 01, 2005 at 01:14 PM