As a child, maybe you dreamed of being a princess or an astronaut who specifically does the flips off the ladder, or maybe you dreamed of fantastical jobs only to find out that those jobs don’t quite exist on job boards. Why should that change as an adult? Other than the fact that I now know that one can become a “consultant” for just about anything, I find myself in these moments of fantasy imagining opening up LinkedIn or Indeed and seeing the perfect job to blend my love of children’s literature with some other facet of my life: theatre, museums, story time, et cetera.
Read more: 3 Dream Jobs I Wish Existed for Kid Lit LoversHere are three jobs I wish really, truly existed for us kid lit lovers out there:
Story Time Educator for Professional Sports Teams
In this dream job, I would travel around to professional sports team—basketball, football, hockey, baseball, etc—and teach them how to properly do story times and group read-alouds. As a school librarian, I saw a lot of sports teams eager to connect with schools and student groups. But then the reading element kind of faltered. They don’t always know the best way to hold the book, which is awkward. The teams aren’t always making the best selection of a read aloud story. Some of them are not doing the voices right! The readers are not using it as a chance to build vocabulary. Sometimes it’s simply their confidence that lacks. In this job, should it exist, I would right all these wrongs and ensure that these famous athletes were also famously great readers and made the story time experience a glorious one for everyone involved.
Children’s Book Adaptation Dramaturg
A dramaturg helps bring authenticity, research, and background to a theatrical production. They create packets—-packets, that’s a librarian’s dream! This dream job would serve that dramaturgy role specifically, and exclusively, on adaptations of children’s books. Ideally, children’s chapter books into full-length film, television, or stage plays. This role is making packets about the cultural cache behind The Westing Game, or the unicorn lore in Skander and the Unicorn Thief. Maybe this role would be putting together reading lists for the crew of stage adaptations of Caldecott picture books. Ideally, this role is booked and busy because that means there are even more adaptations of children’s books!
Museum Gift Shop Book Curator
Now, hear me out. I know that running retail for a museum gift shop is a real job, but I don’t want that job. I just want to pick the books. This job idea came to me after I visited a Holocaust Museum that had a temporary exhibit on the kindertransport, but no copies of Nicky & Vera to be bought in the gift shop. Here, I would be the liaison between the retail element and the curatorial side, ensuring that great books for kids, and adults, would be ready for people who come in excited from a great museum day to learn more. For example, an art museum where a heist once took place absolutely needs a copy of A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall. Perhaps this role also oversees a book club. A dream world, right?
Maybe all of these jobs are being done by someone right now in the world, but wouldn’t it be great to see the importance of children’s literature expertise celebrated on job jobs outside of libraries and schools?
What is your DREAM Kid Lit job, even if it doesn’t exist quite yet?
Kathy Smargiassi
I went on vacation to the Grand Canyon shortly after reading “The Healer of the Water Monster” by Brian Young, and was shocked that none of the gift shops had it – not even the Navajo nation one! I recommended they all purchase it, since it is by a Navajo author and set in the area