Lisa Von Drasek, Children’s Librarian at the Bank Street Library of Education in New York, has written a great rebuttal to the sadly misinformed It Was, Like, All Dark and Stormy. I especially appreciate the correction about librarians who “want to keep the book off the shelves.” That certainly shows a misunderstanding of the role of librarians in selecting materials for teens!
Why should I be surprised, really? Isn’t it just the norm to have a look at teen literature that is shallow, dismissive and uninformed? This time it is the Wall Street Journal that has an article like this. The title alone should have warned me away: It Was, Like, All Dark and Stormy.
The author of the article, Katie Roiphe, manages to minimize The Hunger Games, Thirteen Reasons Why, Wintergirls, and If I Stay in a single article. Quite the accomplishment! All of them are lumped together into proof that the pink and purple world of teen books (when was that?!) has morphed into a frightening rollercoaster ride straight to doom.
She shows a remarkable confusion about why teens read darker fiction:
Unsettling as it is, there is a certain amount of comfort to be gleaned from the new disaster fiction; it makes its readers feel less alone. What is striking in the response to these books is how many teenagers seem to identify with their characters, even though their experiences (suicide, car crashes, starvation, murder) would seem to place them on the outer fringes of normal life.
The one redeeming feature is that by the end of the article she seems to start to get it. She calls these books “more uplifting” than light teen books. And she concludes her article with:
As alarming as these books are, there is in all of this bleakness a wholesome and old-fashioned redemption that involves principles like triumph over adversity and affirmations of integrity.
Too bad she didn’t go back and use that insight to fix the beginning of the article!
Booklist has listed its top picks for science fiction and fantasy in 2009. There are two lists. The first is for youth and the second for adults, but as we know teens love to read adult science fiction/fantasy titles.
The youth list is a great one! Books I had yet to read mixed with my favorites of the year.
Top 10 Science Fiction/Fantasy for Youth
Attica by Garry Kilworth
The Carbon Diaries.2015. by Saci Lloyd
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The Ant King and Other Stories by Benjamin Rosenbaum
The Best of Lucius Shepard by Lucius Shepard
The Caryatids by Bruce Sterling
Crazy Love by Leslie What
Crusade by Taylor Anderson
Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey
The Man with the Iron Heart by Harry Turtledove
We Never Talk about My Brother by Peter S. Beagle
MotherReader has announced the dates for the 4th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge. The selected weekend is June 5-7, 2009. To participate, you select 48 hours in that weekend to read books. There are some small rules about the books you can read, just to keep things on the same level.
There are winners for most hours committed, most books read, and an honor list for those who read 20 hours or more.
So how many hours can you read in 48 hours? And how many reviews will you post? There will be prizes to win!
Booklights is a new blog from three incredible bloggers: Jen Robinson, Pam Coughlan (Mother Reader), and Susan Kusel (Wizard’s Wireless). They have partnered with PBS Parents to create a blog that will “inspire a love of reading in your child.” Huzzah!
This is definitely a blog to keep an eye on and already has some great posts worth reading. I love that they introduced themselves with lists of their favorite picture books. Great stuff!
Professor Maria Nikolajeva gave a lecture at Cambridge University about the importance of children’s books. She is featured in two online articles that pull from that speech.
One Press Association article focuses on books being important for child development.
The creative employment of language in children’s books give the child the power of expression… By challenging the arbitrary rules of language, especially written language, children learnt to be critically thinking individuals.
I’d take that one step further and say that books also lead to connections between diverse people and a level of understanding simply from seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.
A Telegraph article focuses on the professor’s appreciation of puns, nonsense and made-up words.
A lot of people presume that writing children’s literature is relatively simple, but in fact it demands great sophistication.
She uses many books to make her case, including Winnie-the-Pooh and its Heffalumps, Harry Potter and the magical language, Dr. Seuss, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Those of us who enjoy classic children’s lit will cheer when we see the list put together by the 5 British Children’s Laureates. Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen were asked to select seven great works of children’s literature.
Great reads are timeless as this list shows. Just reading the list brings back flashes of memories. Lovely.
Here is the list that happily contains two of my all-time favorite reads: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. I have read both at least 20 times.
The ones I have read are bolded (not as many as I would like):
Chosen by Quentin Blake:
1. Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone (published 1936)
2. Queenie the Bantam by Bob Graham (1997)
3. The Box of Delights by John Masefield (1935)
4. Rose Blanche by Ian McEwan and Roberto Innocenti (1985)
5. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1902)
6. Snow White by Josephine Poole (1991)
7. Stuart Little by E.B. White (1945)
Chosen by Anne Fine:
8. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1963)
9. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell (1978)
10. Just William by Richmal Crompton (1922)
11. Journey to the River Sea by Iva Ibbotson (2001)
12. Lavender’s Blue by Kathleen Lines (1954)
13. A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)
14. Sword in the Stone by T.H. White (1938)
Chosen by Michael Morpurgo:
15. Five Go to Smuggler’s Top by Enid Blyton (1945)
16. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (1939)
17. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1838)
18. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (1902)
19. A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear (1846)
20. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
21. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (1888)
Chosen by Jacqueline Wilson:
22. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868-9)
23. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)
24. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge (1872)
25. The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett (1937)
26. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (1906)
27. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (1936)
28. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (1934)
Chosen by Michael Rosen:
29. Clown by Quentin Blake (1995)
30. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)
31. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner (1928)
32. Not Now, Bernard by David McKee (1980)
33. Fairy Tales by Terry Jones (1981)
34. Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton (2008)
35. Daz 4 Zoe by Robert Swindells (1990)
Teaching Authors is contributed to by six children’s book authors who are all working teachers. They are April Halprin Wayland, Carmela Martino, Esther Hershenhorn, Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford, JoAnn Early Macken and Mary Ann Rodman. Whew!
They have a planned schedule of blogging, which I’m sure is very important for group blogs. I look forward to hearing their unique perspective on using children’s literature in classrooms and being children’s book authors.
This is definitely a new blog to keep an eager eye on!
The incredible Sheila Ruth of Wands and Worlds has posted a thought-provoking piece on the influence of best sellers and marketing on what we read, what gets reviewed and what gets our attention.
As I say in my comment on her post, the incredible CCBC Choices list is a great place to go and find some of the hidden gems in literature for children and teens. They emphasize great writing and multiculturalism. And to get a feel for what Wisconsin librarians get to see each year, check out their webinar presentations! They know how to really get you fired up about books you have never heard of.
I do think that as bloggers we are in the perfect place to highlight books that are hidden gems. I’m wondering if we could do a special event each month where we all provide a great find to gain it attention? A Have You Heard Of… kind of deal.
Personally, I get caught up in the hype of books myself, especially the PR for teen novels. Boy do they know how to sell a book to a librarian! So after reading Sheila’s post, I look forward to digging through some of the lesser-known titles waiting in my stacks and seeing what I find.
What about you? Are you willing to take a risk and dig for jewels too?
Waking Brain Cells 