Hot Men of Children’s Literature, Last in a Series
It began with Philip Nel.
It ends with a man no less worthy.
Not long ago Roger Sutton’s blog Read Roger featured a long elaborate conversation. And inexplicably, in the course of it, the topic turned to The Hot Men of Children’s Literature. Roger attracts an illustrious crowd. The kind of people for whom this series is deeply offensive and not one little bit funny, nuh-uh, no how, no way. Roger spends, I have calculated, 5% of his working day defending me against such rants and he was just a stellar guy in doing so again here. However, he pointed out that I tend to go for weedy hipster types o’ fellas. I could cite my Christopher Paul Curtis credentials on the matter, but essentially he’s right. My ideal fella doesn’t look a whole lot different from Topher Grace with glasses (god help my soul). So it is that hearing such charges, I shall end with the greatest of them all.
Introducing the one . . . . .
the only . . . . .
Here he is, as ripped untimely from the remarkable Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast interview conducted not long ago.
Some of you may chose to believe that this is not Roger Sutton due to the lack of the usually evident bow tie. I say to you, eh. Bow ties are a dime a dozen. Roger is a one and only. One of the few people to have appeared in an issue of Tales from the Slush Pile.
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A little background. Roger is currently the editor of Horn Book Magazine (did you know that all the editors are listed on Wikipedia?). He wrote Hearing Us Out: Voices from the Gay and Lesbian Community amongst other titles, though a search of books By Roger Sutton on Amazon yields such delightful headscratchers as Hellgate – Awakening a Runner’s Soul and Secure Communications: Application and Management. In the world of Amazon, all human beings have only one name. According to his bio on Hachette, "He is a well-known critic and teacher in the field of children’s books and formerly worked as a children’s and young adult librarian."
You can read his Cynsations interview here. Or you might prefer this one from 2001.
Oh. And he is hot. Hot and tall. Tall is good.
This shall be the last Hot Man of Children’s Literature entry I ever write. I’m going out with a bang. They have served their purpose. Ran their run. Now if anyone wants to pick up the mantle and continue them, you have my blessing. I know y’all have just been ITCHING to create your own Hot Men of Children’s Literature postings. I say, go wild.
Merry Christmas, Roger.
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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This is the best Christmas present I have ever received.
P.S.: Richard points out that Topher Grace + glasses = M.T. Anderson. Hubba hubba!
Excellent choice.
R.I.P. HMOCL…I for one shall miss you!
Hold on–how are we supposed to know which writer hunks to drool over anymore? It’s so unfair of you to leave us hanging like this. You’re providing a valuable public service. Please rethink.
Fantastic send-off! Thanks for the laughs and controversy, Fuse.
Excellent choice!
I’m sad to see the series end before I got a chance to see Greg Foley take off as a writer. He’s gor-gee-ous! (I can’t find a picture online, but look at the back of the book “Thank You, Bear.”)
Happy Holidays, Fusie!
The last one ever?! Say it ain’t so!
A suitably tweedy sendoff. Nice! (Incidentally, has anyone else noticed how much Mr. McBee in Michelle Knudsen’s LIBRARY LION seems to be modeled on Roger? Is it just me?)
You realize this decision gives approximately half the writing population one fewer thing to strive for.
But of course. Hopefully their personal grooming will not suffer as a result.
NO! Tell me it’s not the demise of this series. We librarians and readers need our thrills also. PC has gone wild and sometimes we just need to have fun. Don’t abandon the series, how about planning for a major Valentine’s Day special? You could take nominations…. Arggh! What will I dream of next?
Say it isn’t so! I went on vacation for a couple of weeks after Christmas and, finally getting caught up on my reading, I find this.
“This shall be the last Hot Man of Children’s Literature entry I ever write.”
All the dumbells curled for naught. All the miles on the treadmill, wasted. All the risky “supplements” from BALCO—useless.
First to find that the until recently unclear selection criterion was “weedy hipster,” then to see that the list is ended, just months before I am finally published.
I guess I’ll go ahead and cancel the pec implants.
Jim, for pec implants I’d put some jumper cables on the old HMOCL series and get it going again. I am also going to write a book called “All the Dumbells Curled for Naught”, which will be a stirring testament to your shining example. Failing that, send me your book.