Celebrities join rush of authors writing children’s books

Most kids can probably name by heart the authors of the books they love most: Sendak, Snicket and Silverstein, Steig and Seuss, Leno, Lithgow and Richards …

Huh?

Yep, as in Jay Leno, the comedian; John Lithgow, the actor; and Keith Richards, the Rolling Stones guitarist, all of whom have spread their creative wings beyond their usual gigs by also writing children’s books.

If that’s news to you, you probably haven’t read a children’s or young adult book for a while. But the truth is the roster of celebrities who aren’t technically authors but who have dipped a pen into the world of children’s and young adult literature is long and getting longer all the time.

Among the newest members of this somewhat curious literary fraternity is Richards, author of “Gus &Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar,” published last month, with art by Richards’ daughter, Theodora Richards, about Richards’ grandfather, whom Richards says inspired him to play the guitar.

What’s behind the trend? Maybe, Kathy DiGeorge says, it’s simply a desire on the part of already creative people to employ their creativity in another medium.

Or, says DiGeorge, young people’s collection development librarian for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, “it may be something they dabbled in before they were famous. Maybe they now have children in their lives that they’re telling stories to.”

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis pioneered the trend during the early ’90s with a still-continuing streak of well-received children’s books, a few of which were certified best-sellers. The leap may not be as long as it appears. After all, musicians like Richards and comedians like Leno (2004’s “If Roast Beef Could Fly”) and Jerry Seinfeld (2002’s “Halloween”) are used to telling stories, DiGeorge says, and augmenting sharp comedic stories with illustrations isn’t, perhaps, that much of a stretch.

Finally, DiGeorge notes, children’s books written by nonauthors have “become more of an accepted thing. And it’s also become a very profitable thing.”

Even such adult authors as James Patterson and Jodi Picoult have written children’s or young adult books, she says. “Neil Gaiman, who does a lot of adult stuff, has won awards for his children’s writing.

“So the whole area of children’s (books) has grown. Teen publishing has grown. Everything is more visible now than it was.”

Not that writing a children’s book is easy. In fact, writing a book that a child will love is difficult, DiGeorge says, “because there is so much to consider when writing for children.

“If it’s an older picture book it has to be of interest to first through third grades. It can’t be too babyish. Everything has to work together,” she says.

“You have to be careful how you phrase things to have a picture book,” because picture books in particular are read aloud to kids, “you have to have that rhythm,” she adds.

So it’s not surprising that many celebrity-written kids’ books are “ephemeral,” DiGeorge says, appearing on bookstore shelves with fanfare attendant the celebrity and then becoming pretty much forgotten.

Not all are, though. Lithgow, for example, has written several well-received children’s books. Julie Andrews — writing as Julie Edwards or Julie Andrews Edwards — has written several children’s books, some of them with her daughter.

DiGeorge counts as among the better books of the genre actress Julianne Moore’s “Freckleface Strawberry,” which Moore followed up with three more books.

Latoiya Bonaby, who recently attended a Friday afternoon story and activity session at Spring Valley Library with her daughter, says she would have no problem checking out a celebrity-written book if it might be one that her daughter would like. At the same time, she suspects Jazmin Gregory, 7, probably wouldn’t be swayed much by a celebrity’s name on a book cover.

“My daughter loves to read, but I don’t see it would make a difference,” she says. “It depends on the subject and what it’s about. I don’t think she really cares about who wrote it.”

What is her daughter into? “My daughter’s a mad scientist,” she answers, smiling. “She loves science books. And animals.”

Bonaby admits that she’s not up on celebrity-written books but, hearing about Leno’s entry, she was intrigued. Still, she suspects she’d be more apt to check it out at the library first — the Spring Valley Library just happened to have a copy on the shelves — before buying it herself.

Amalia Silva hasn’t read any celebrity-written books, and also suspects daughter Jalia Bullock, 8, wouldn’t be impressed by a famous name. So, are there any celebrities who might entice Jalia to read one of their books?

“Ariana Grande,” she answers.

Why? “Because I like her,” Jalia says. “And One Direction.”

Nancy Williams has read actor Jason Alexander’s “Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy?” and enjoyed it.

“I thought it was a cute book,” she says, adding that it “makes you understand he has kids himself, and I think that’s very interesting.”

It’s reassuring, Williams says, to get the sense that celebrity parents “have the same questions” other parents do.

The particular celebrity author also might have a bearing on whether a parent — or a child — opts for a particular book. Julie De Jesus and her daughter, Jolie Calvo, 8, enjoyed TV host Nick Cannon’s previous kids’ books — he has written a Christmas book and a children’s poetry book — and De Jesus says they’d be apt to check out others he may write, too.

The same goes for Julie Andrews. “I mean, Julie Andrews, she’s Mary Poppins,” De Jesus says. “All generations know her. And because it’s a mother-and-daughter-written book, we can relate to her.”

Ultimately, of course, it’s children who will decide whether a celebrity author’s labors are in vain. Ultimately, DiGeorge says, parents will offer to their children the books that keep their children enthralled, and that will vary from child to child.

“I think if parents are going to spend money on something, they don’t want something their kid is going read once then put down,” she says.

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@review journal.com or 702-383-0280.