Children S Literature

She's like Pippi Longstocking, Mary Poppins and Mrs. Claus all rolled into one -- an amiable woman of mysterious origin who's hoping to do for reading what "Sesame Street" has done for learning. Her name is Mrs. P. Sitting in an oversized chair, reading children's classics aloud in an Irish brogue near the ambient light of a gas-log fireplace, Mrs. P is the title character of a new children's storytelling website (at www .mrsp.com) that makes its debut today.

After he's finished his homework and his chores for the day, 8-year-old Skye Vaughn-Perling likes to read Dr. Seuss. He's a particular fan of the hijinks that ensue when the elephant Horton hears strange voices emanating from a dust speck in "Horton Hears a Who." He doesn't read from a dog-eared copy of the children's classic, though. Skye, who lives in Agoura Hills, often reads on his computer, pressing the arrow button when he wants to turn a page.

A book by Pete Seeger about a young musician who loses his hearing and a wordless story about an underwater camera were among the winners of children's book prizes announced Monday by the American Library Assn. The John Newbery Medal for outstanding contribution was awarded to Susan Patron's "The Higher Power of Lucky," the adventures of a 10-year-old girl and her search for a higher power.

Susan Patron is the kind of reader who really \o7lives \f7books: She jokes that years before she came to work in the Los Angeles Public Library system she spent virtually all her free time in its branches. When she met the man who would become her husband, some of their early dates were at Chatterton's, the now shuttered Los Feliz bookstore.

The series of "Unfortunate Events" began all over again Tuesday. For the first time, HarperCollins began releasing the adventures of the three ill-fated Baudelaire orphans in paperback -- hoping to reach a new generation of children (and their parents) who weren't old enough to read the books when they began appearing in 1997.

PUBLISHING executive Eric Jackson's first foray into children's books was a cartoon tale of two brothers and a lemonade stand. Hoping to earn money for a swing set, young Tommy and Lou squeeze lemons until their little hands ache. But they are thwarted by broccoli-pushing, camera-hogging, Jesus-hating liberals who pile on taxes and regulations and drive the boys out of business. The book, "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!," came out two years ago.

The trend seems as plain as the nose on your child's face, or an arrow through your head. There's Madonna, Billy Crystal and Jamie Lee Curtis. And Jerry Seinfeld. And John Lithgow. And Katie Couric. All celebrities. All parents. All authors of children's books. Now Steve Martin has written one. But he doesn't have any children. "I'm not sure why I did this.

J.K. Rowling has completed her first book after her wildly popular series on teen wizard Harry Potter -- an illustrated collection of magical fairy stories titled "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Only seven copies of the handwritten book have been made, Rowling said Thursday. One will be auctioned next month to raise money for a children's charity, while the others have been given away as gifts.

The playbill that landed on my desk touting an East Los Angeles Christmas production featured a familiar drawing -- a clutch of brown-skinned children staring wide-eyed at a plate piled high with tamales. It brought back memories from 10 years ago, when the book "Too Many Tamales" -- a gift to my family from a Mexican American friend -- briefly joined "The Night Before Christmas" as a favorite holiday book with my then-young daughters.

A self-published book by children's author Harriet Ziefert has been pulled after a reviewer noted close similarities between her work "A Snake Is Totally Tail" and a 1983 children's release of the same name by Judi Barrett. "Since I am both the author and the publisher of this book, I must, of course, take full responsibility for the text," Ziefert said in a statement Tuesday.