Posted on Apr 11, 2003

The story of Chinaberry, a quality children's-book catalog, and its owners' new tome, Under the Chinaberry Tree, centers, not surprisingly, on books. But the story is also about two moms who became long-distance best friends, bonding over the joys and trials of parenthood and the deaths of their mothers. Considered by many to be the premier children's-book catalog, the 21-year-old Chinaberry is known for its chatty, enthusiastic book descriptions and the homey, personal style exemplified by a parent-to-parent "Dear Friends" letter at the beginning of each catalog. Going to a bookstore, parents face rows and rows of "so many children's books," said Sherry Chiger, editorial director for the trade magazine Catalog Age. "Chinaberry tells you the recommended age group and why they selected a book. They do a lot of the work for you." Even parents unfamiliar with the catalog can benefit from owners Ann Ruethling's and Patti Pitcher's knowledge in Under the Chinaberry Tree, published last month by Broadway Books. It's a hodgepodge of descriptions of young children's books, parenting tips, essays on their experiences as mothers and even a few comfort-food recipes. While the book descriptions — all positive, some nearly ecstatic — are helpful for any parent looking for a treasured book, the musings will appeal more to those who ascribe to the authors' view that "parenting is nothing short of a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage to the very depths of your soul." The Chinaberry catalog includes young-adult books but the emphasis in Under the Chinaberry Tree is young children, with the highest age range topping out at 8. Readers will find classics such as "Goodnight Moon" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," but many are lesser-known selections that will widen a family's library. Chinaberry started when Ruethling lived in a small town on the Oregon coast. Stir-crazy during the rainy winter with her then-2-year-old daughter, she spent a lot of time reading. Appalled by the violence and sexism in a Mother Goose book, she began a quest to find positive, uplifting children's books. "It matters what stories we tell, for it makes a difference in how they will live their lives if they see from the start people being respectful of one another, people being tolerant, people being honest," Ruethling writes in the Under the Chinaberry Tree introduction. "It matters that we show them beauty from early on, that they meet in the pages of a book the majestic moon in a breathtaking indigo sky, and the turning of the seasons. That they see people being brave, even if their courage is the quiet kind, the kind about simply being true to what they believe." She subscribed to children's-literature publications and visited libraries, keeping notes on index cards about books she liked. She realized other parents might benefit from her efforts, and started selling some of the books she was writing about. At first, she mailed orders from her kitchen table, including personal notes with each one. Pitcher, a Snoqualmie resident then living in Michigan, wrote a note back when she sent in a new order. Longer and longer letters were exchanged until "we became the best of friends," Ruethling said. They finally met in person when Pitcher traveled to California (where Ruethling had moved) to visit her father. Ruethling asked her to be her children's guardian should anything happen to her. Pitcher, a mom of four (ages 7 to 21), also started writing reviews of older children's books, later becoming a partner in Chinaberry. In the meantime, Chinaberry Inc. grew out of Ruethling's kitchen into a California-based company with a second catalog (Isabella, a women's gift catalog), 50 employees and $9.5 million in sales in 2001. The catalog is mailed three times a year to more than 3.5 million people worldwide, with a million books sold annually. That's a small part of the $762 million that consumers spent on books for readers under age 14 in 2001, according to Ipsos Children's BookTrends, a market-research tracking service. Twenty years ago, Ruethling figures she sorted through 100 books to pick one for the catalog. Now, with the proliferation and popularity of kids books, reviewers go through 200 to find one. Publishers put out some 8,000 children's books a year, said Ruethling, who estimates that Chinaberry has featured 300,000 books over 21 years. "A lot of books, I honestly don't understand why they were published," she said. "They're a waste of a tree." Chinaberry's featured books aren't necessarily "educational" in the traditional sense and indeed, Ruethling notes that "as a rule, I avoid books whose sole purpose is to teach. Not that I mind the teaching; it is just that a book needs to do more than teach a few facts to hold my interest." Instead, they look for books that parents and children can enjoy together, that offer inspiration through text or beautiful illustrations. "We always look for books that leave kids with something in their hearts," Pitcher noted. Katie Conrad, a Vashon Island mom of an 8-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter, says her children have found some of their favorite books through Chinaberry. "They've got really wonderful choices of books for different ages," said Conrad, who shops by catalog because she doesn't get into Seattle often. "They have some classics and some books I've never heard of — a lot of things you don't see in big book shops." Like many independent bookstores, Chinaberry has suffered from discounting by bookstore chains and online book sites. "It's hard to stay around," Ruethling said. Parents could read through Chinaberry, pick out the books they like and then order them more cheaply on Amazon.com, for example. "The reason they don't is because the catalog is so well-written and has created such a community," said Chiger of Catalog Age. "Parents want to keep receiving the catalog, so they're willing to pay that extra two bucks. The catalog really has loyal customers." The catalog diversified by adding educational toys, art projects, and parenting and adult books. "We're not ever going to become huge," Ruethling said. "Our hearts are with books. That's the way we change lives." Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company Some tips for reading with young children, from the authors of Under the Chinaberry Tree • Encourage your child to participate in the story, either while reading or after the fact, by pointing out real-life objects you've seen illustrated on a page. • Don't expect to read an entire book to very young children. Just talk about the pictures and move quickly through pages. • Start with simple, bright picture books. Save the beautiful, elaborate artwork for later. • Make up your own stories. Ann Ruethling would ask her son for three things he wanted in his story (a common suggestion: a boy, a police officer and a robot) and then create a tale from there. • "Read" wordless books. Though many adults shy away from them, these picture books let parents customize the book for a child with familiar words. When kids are older, they allow children to tell their own stories. Wordless books "tend to span a greater period of a child's life simply because they are so versatile." • Don't be afraid of poetry. "My guess is there is some leftover resistance from having to do poetry in school, where there was a right way and a wrong way to understand it. Now is your chance to try it again without your English teacher nearby. When gently exposed, without expectation, children are natural lovers of poetry; perhaps because, like children, it distills moments to their very essence and speaks the truth of things." • Shake up a reading of a well-loved tale by substituting silly words. For example, instead of "the moon rose over the mountain," try "the moon rose over a refrigerator." "When I did this with my young children, it always elicited howls of delight and then their own ridiculous contributions, shouted out." • A special "story time" chair helps create a predictable, soothing experience right before nap and bedtime. • Introduce chapter books as children get older (age 4 to 6, depending on the child) but alternate them with picture books. Young children often love funny books about animals and books with short chapters. Some suggestions for introductory chapter books: "Babe, The Gallant Pig," "Little House in the Big Woods" or "Ralph and the Motorcycle."