stories told around
amazon’s campfire

For years, Amazon hosted writers and other artists at the Campfire, a fall-weekend get-together in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’d been invited to the Campfire a few times but declined because I didn’t feel Amazon always wielded its tremendous power for the good of readers, writers, or publishers. Just my opinion.

Finally, though, I got talked into attending by Larry Kirshbaum, my former publisher at Little, Brown, who had gone to work for Amazon. So Sue and I traveled west to the Campfire.

It was tremendous, actually.

Not once during the three days did the Amazon people talk about their company. I found that impressive as hell. Every day, every hour, was beautifully organized and orchestrated. The mornings consisted of fascinating presentations, possibly modeled on the TED Talks. Every one of them was a hit. Forty-five minutes of nonstop entertainment and information. One example: A British army vet who was the first and only person known to have walked the entire length of the Amazon River. It took him nearly a year—and he was brilliant at describing the nearly impenetrable jungle, the mammal, reptile, and bird life, the creepy insects, and the indigenous people he encountered.

At lunches and dinners, Sue and I were paired with two to four of the other artists. That’s how we met actor and bestselling children’s author Jamie Lee Curtis—our personal favorite at the Campfire. And the late Sue Grafton, a wonderful Southern charmer. Also Callie Khouri, the gifted screenwriter and producer responsible for the movie Thelma and Louise and the TV drama Nashville. One night we sat with Lawrence Kasdan, who’d written The Big Chill and written and directed Body Heat. Unfortunately, Kasdan had attended Michigan, so Sue—a Wisconsin grad—refused to even say hello to him.

Just kidding. They got along great. Everybody gets along with Sue.

I met Jeff Bezos’s wife (at the time), MacKenzie Scott. She had gone to prep school at Hotchkiss (just like our son, Jack), had assisted Toni Morrison in researching her novel Jazz, and had written two acclaimed novels of her own. She and her kids were charming, very grounded, and nice to talk to. I even met Jeff Bezos and talked to him briefly. I humbly suggested that Amazon could do a great job getting kids reading—which I told him was a lifesaving exercise. He said he was “on it.”

With all due respect to Jeff Bezos, I don’t think Amazon has been “on it” when it comes to getting kids reading. Amazon has done many good things, but getting kids reading and loving what they read isn’t one of them. There’s still time. But maybe not a lot of time. You may have noticed that our country is on fire again. At least part of the reason for that is that so many of our kids can’t read.

Think about it for a second. Over half of our country’s kids aren’t reading at grade level. Amazon could help solve that problem. Why the heck won’t they?