...Work in Progress

I'm sure y'all have heard: Madonna is an author. Bono is an author, as is Whoopi Goldberg, Carly Simon, Ll Cool J, Billy Crystal, LeAnn Rimes and Jerry Seinfeld. After a failed marraige and much-publicized weight loss, Sarah "The Duchess of York" Ferguson is also an author.

The connecting thread? They all write children's books. What is with this trend? True, Bill Cosby and Jimmy Carter are known for being family men, but Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead)? Not unexpectedly, Garcia wrote about bears.

A listing of others: Roma Downey (Touched By an Angel), Prince Charles, Spike Lee, John Travolta, John Lithgow, Jane Seymour, Jamie Lee Curtis, Maria Shriver, Larry King, Katie Couric, former New York Mayor Ed Koch, Julie Andrews, NFL players Tiki and Ronde Barber, Mia Hamm, James Carville, Ally Sheedy, Will Smith, Jay Leno, Jimmy Buffett, Mario Cuomo, Bette Midler, Della Reese, Ricky Gervais, Dolly Parton, Pete Seeger, Naomi Judd, Deborah Norville and Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

This isn't a new trend, however. As far back as the 30s and 40s, Shirley Temple, practically a child herself, wrote a series of childrens storybooks. Elizabeth Taylor even gave it a try, as did Frank Sinatra and Roy Rogers.

For the most part, celebrity authors have been criticized, as much for their off-page antics as on (do they really need to add "author" to an actor-singer-dancer-athlete profile?). But in an age of cult celebrity worship, perhaps this is the only way to get children to read? Should writers be taking a cue and adopting famous-sounding pseudonyms? If so, call me Lucy Liu.