hot men of childrens literature part_06

Hot Men of Children's Literature: Part 25 In a Series

You know, I bitched about it for a while, but if GalleyCat wants to go

on and take over the whole Hot Men of Children's Literature thing from

the publishing side, they are more than welcome to do so. Why this

sudden jolt of diplomacy? I think it may have something to do with the

fact that they have pretty good taste in the matter. For example, we

all remember when the site came up with their own Hottie of

Publishing, Men's Division, right? They had some smokin' blokes, no

question. Unfortunately, the voters of that particular site had little

to no taste. The win went to a Mr. Stephen Barbara, who looks in his

picture as if he's afraid that someone is going to shoot him once the

photo-taking process is complete. I am sure Mr. Barbara is a very nice

guy and who calls his mother regularly, yadda yadda yadda. When you

consider, however, the competition, there was really only one choice,

and he's today's hot man. I bring unto you now:

Michael Stearns

Here is how MediaBistro chose to describe him:

Michael Stearns got the nod for being "one of the few single,

straight men in children's publishing"--a rare feat, indeed. An

editorial director with HarperCollins' children's division, Stearns

got props for his "Paul Bettany-esque" looks--with "blue eyes,

perfectly sculpted nose, high cheekbones, and long lean body"--but

the extra points stem from his wit--and his

"martini-glass-through-the-nose" stories...

Most important of all, this is the man that brought America my beloved

Best Book of 2006 novel Fly By Night. Those of you who have still yet

to read this book, I know who you are. You have 24 hours to correct

this anomaly before I start parceling out the cans of whoop ass. READ

IT.

Back to the Stearns man. He has yet to come up with a blog of his own,

but should you happen to run into him in NYC he's just (according to

all known sources) the nicest guy. I had a chance to meet with him at

a book signing not too long ago and I totally chickened out of the

whole "talking" thing. Hopefully I'll be able to gather my guts