Bob Books for Beginning Readers

Next week I’ll be heading down to Portland for the 13^th National PLA (Public Library Association) Conference at the Oregon Convention Center. Of course, I’ll see the folks as well (Bobby and John Maslen), Bob Books’ original author-illustrator team.

Librarians have been wonderful supporters of Bob Books over the years. You can find the series widely available in libraries all over the country. Perhaps due to our Portland roots, Bob Books has been the highest circulated children’s book at the Multnomah County library in years past.

Every time I visit Portland I’m reminded of the origins of Bob Books, when Mom was teaching at the Catlin Gabel School and I was a teenager. After several years of developing the books in the classroom, Mom spent one intense summer creating the structure and adding polish to the stories. She shut herself away in her room to write, and even retreated to a hotel for a few weekends.

I got in on the act when it was time to paste up the artwork for the printer. I learned about using a blue pencil to mark up the art boards and was meticulous about pasting the type and illustrations so that they were lined up straight and perfect on the pages.

After high school and college I moved on to my own career. Visits home often included taking a turn collating books into the Bob Books boxes, designing a brochure or helping out with the business in some way. Now I am working for and with Bob Books again and it has been an honor and a true pleasure. It’s hard to believe it’s been over 30 years since the original Bob Books were created.

Watching my own daughter learn to read has given me a new appreciation of the power of Bob Books. I never cease to be delighted upon receiving an email from another proud parent detailing the story of their child making that magic first step into reading.

Oh, and by the way, if you plan on attending the PLA conference, please drop me a line! I’d love to connect with you.

Tags: Bob Books, Bob Books history, Bobby Lynn Maslen, John Maslen, libraries, Lynn Maslen Kertell, PLA conference

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Bob Books history, From the Author. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.