June Cotner
June Cotner and I met at BookExpo in New York and almost miss connecting up. That really would have been unfortunate. June has developed a fascinating collection of books that began with inspirational works for adults and have now crossed over into the young adult world. She is a person who is strongly committed to what she is doing and believes in her work. She feels that teens face a lot of confusion on many issues--issues that earlier generations did not have to face such as school violence, drugs, terrorist attacks, etc.
In order to develop her book for teens she had two teams look at 3,000 submissions. What makes her really happy is that about one-third of the selections in Teen Sunshine Reflections are the voices of teens. The themes in her books are forgiveness, tolerance, a focus on individuality and the importance of accepting and appreciating oneself. Her books lend themselves to quite contemplation or as ways for teens to start a dialogue. They have had good success in parent and teen clubs.
June's early publishing career was purely nonfiction--architecture was her field and her book is stil in print after a decade. When she was home with young children, she began to collect pages of prayers and poems. She had see too many homes where saying grace was a mechanical process. She felt it was important to have a freshness in expressing ones gratitude to God and that these new poems and prayers could also lead to interesting dinner conversations. Her books Graces is aimed at adults while Amazing Graces is for children. It has broad appeal to both Christians and Jews and she has had the book vetted by a priest, a rabbi and a minister.
What motivated June to start collection these poems and words for her latest book? She told me that it was due to tragic circumstances--the suicide of a kid who was clinically depressed. Parents are often confused and don't understand their chidren or the actions they sometimes take. It was the need to fill this void that drove June to seek submissions for a book that might offer some comfort. She received and receives submissions from around the world. Again, she had a group of teens preview the submissions and also had them look at more than 200 inspirational books to flag those parts that held real meaning. The initial team was paid while the teen panel that made the final submissions chose to be participants and received no payment.
Once the material was assembled and the book published , then another type of work had to take place--publicizing the books. June does this through personal appearances, books signings, consulting, and from her website . Her background in marketing has helped and now June has a real business going with two assistants . Permissions must be obtained to publish much of the material and then there is the office management, database management, media appearances and requests, accounting, etc.
What is coming out next? Bless the Beasts for SeaStar a North South imprint. June wants to emphasize the special relationship people and especially kids have with animals. Also Baby Blessings has just been released by Random House and still to come are Christmas Blessings from Warner and Wedding Blessings from Broadway Books. As you an see June and her agent are very busy and have built quite a business. For June the "work comes as easy as breathing."
One day every week June takes a day to go hiking. She and her husband garden together and enjoy dinning alone and with their kids. June feels blessed to have a son in Los Angeles who is an accomplished musician and a daughter who she claims is an incredible writer. I is June's dream to bring her onboard as part of the writing team.
Contributor: Marilyn Courtot
For more information visit June Cotner at her own site.
Reviews
Amazing Graces: Prayers and Poems for Children
Compiled by June Cotner
Illustrated by Jan Palmer
Prayers and poems from authors of yesteryear and today are included in this lovely book. Beautifully illustrated with old fashioned (1950s) colored drawings of children at work and play, there are poems for mealtime, bedtime, morning and anytime. The poems are short and just right for memorizing as parents begin to establish family traditions. As the nation looks for comfort in reassuring words, this is the perfect beginning. 2001, Harper Collins, $12.95. Ages 2 to 5. Reviewer: Meredith Kiger
ISBN: 0-688-15566-9
Mothers and Daughters : A Poetry Celebration
Selected by] June Cotner
This is a book written for a specific audience--women. It is filled with poetry written by many poets, but it is all about the special bond between a mother and her daughters. It is organized into 14 sections beginning with one entitled "pregnancy." The poems in that section are about being pregnant and the emotional roller coaster a woman is on while pregnant. There are additional sections on illness, adolescence, toddlerhood, etc. This would be a wonderful gift book for a mother or daughter. But it might also prove to be popular in libraries when a reader is looking for thematic poems. Nonfiction (811). 2001, Harmony Books, 200p, $19.00. Grades High school and up. Reviewer: Monica Irwin (Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 14, No. 1))
ISBN: 0-60960689-1
Added 2002
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If you’re interested in reviewing children's and young adult books, then send a resume and writing sample to marilyn@childrenslit.com.