Monica Edinger's Blog, page 106

Thoughts on Newbery: True Popularity

Everyone, myself included, wants the Newbery winner to be popular.  That is, we all want to see kids, lots of kids everywhere, making a run for the book when they see it, to rave about it to each other, to return to it again and again. Even more than classics like Newbery Honor Charlotte's Web we all yearn for the winner to be popular NOW, sort of like Harry Potter or Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Twilight, right?

Yet not only is that not the charge of the committee, but it turns out that previous winners that have been dubbed "not popular" or "popular" are not necessarily so.  Here's what children's librarian Betsy Bird, in a recent interview, had to say about two of these:

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz is sometimes considered one of these books that don't speak to young people. That's the theory anyway, and I reckon it comes from adults who didn't want to read it themselves. However the book has been amazingly popular in my library, in part because it's found a great deal of life with kids trying out for plays and needing to give monologues in auditions. My aunt's forensic team in California won some huge awards because they used the speeches in this book. On top of that if a kid has to do something on a medieval village it's the funniest, drollest, most amusing book you'll ever find on the subject.

Now let's look at The Graveyard Book, a title that supposedly was more kid friendly. I can tell you honestly that I have never had a kid ask for that book. Never. It's by Neil Gaiman, and I've had plenty of children ask for his other title Coraline. But The Graveyard Book is, surprisingly enough (and unlike Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!), a bit of a shelf sitter. It gets assigned in school, so kids check it out for that reason, but so is that old Newbery winner Secret of the Andes, for crying out loud.

Reading that Schlitz's book is attractive to kids, is being checked-out from a public library, is being read and used makes me understandably happy. I'm especially delighted to learn from Betsy that it is being used for its theatrical aspect as it is first and foremost a collection of monologues that are absolutely marvelous for kids to perform.  As for The Graveyard Book I too am not seeing kids snapping it up.  While I personally adore it and was thrilled when it won, I've always felt that its apparent popularity was and is because of Gaiman's adult fans rather than kid readers who don't know him from…er..Rick Riordan.

The moral of this is — popularity is very much in the eye of the beholder. What may appear unpopular in one situation may be surprisingly popular in another.

Harry Potter: Now and Forever or Never More?

With the seventh movie of the first part of the seventh book about to open in the US and the second part to follow this summer — wither Harry Potter?  His creator J. K. Rowling excited her fans by hinting that she  wasn't ruling out the possiblity of writing more about that world, dismaying Daniel Radcliff who told Sky News:

"Oh God, she promised me categorically that there wouldn't be another book involving Harry," said Radcliffe, who has been playing the wizard since he was 11.

Asked whether he wanted to be a part of any future film, he said it was "very doubtful", adding: "I think 10 years is a long time to spend with one character."

Ten years is a long time indeed and while Radcliffe may be done what about his character and his story? When the final book came out Rowling, who spent way more than ten years with the character, seemed pretty set that she was done with Harry and his world.  But now she seems to be having second thoughts telling Oprah that "I could definitely write an eighth, ninth, tenth… I'm not going to say I won't. I don't think I will … I feel I am done, but you never know."  At the U.K. film premier she clarified that any further books were unlikely to have Harry as the central character.

If there is another book it, with or without Harry, it certainly won't be out for quite a while and so once the last movie is out it will be interesting to see what happens to our boy wizard.  Will he fade into obscurity or stay in the public consciousness for some time to come?  Will future generations of young readers latch on to his story as enthusiastically as those who grew up with him?  I'm guessing yes. After all there is that theme park,  Muggle Quidditch on campuses,  fan fiction, conventions, and a huge online fan base.  Most of all,  the books are still very popular among younger kids; my fourth graders, for instance, are reading them with great enjoyment and agree with me that they will never go out of style.

So whether or not Rowling ever writes another book (ignoring those debating whether she should or not), I think the series will endure. Harry will hang around because he is one of the great characters of children's literature and because his stories are good.  Really good.  The sort that will become classics of children's literature.

Supercalifragilistic Surfer

Porpoises rescue Dick Van Dyke.

Really!

In the Classroom: Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grimm

At Dalton we do a major study of Cinderella that culminates with the children writing their own stories. This year, after meeting him last summer, I invited Adam Gidwitz, author of A Tale Dark and Grimm (a book I've already raved about here and elsewhere) to come and work with the classes on these stories in January.  I began reading the book aloud in September and last week when I introduced the unit by asking  "What is a fairy tale?" the children's answers (in the comments) made it evident that it had made a very strong impression.  On Monday instead of my reading the last chapter to my class Adam did.  You can see a video of Adam reading and interacting with the kids (and he learned all their names in about two seconds!) here.   Not only does it show what a charismatic individual Adam is, but it also shows how strongly the book resonates with this age group.   I can't wait for him to return to work with my students on their stories!

Three Amazing Writers

Yesterday afternoon we were so fortunate to have Lynne Jonell, Laura Amy Schlitz, and Adam Gidwitz at Dalton.

First was a very special assembly for our fourth graders with Lynne and Laura.  Because I was on the committee that honored Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! with its shiny gold Newbery medal I have met Laura and we've become friends.  However, I only knew Lynne by way of her terrific books.  Laura began with a glorious telling of The Bearskinner.  Anyone who saw her tell her speech at the 2008 Newbery Banquet will know that she is an extraordinary storyteller and as she did everyone in that Anaheim ballroom a few years ago she had our fourth graders absolutely riveted.  She was followed by Lynne who did an absolutely delightful drawing activity –  leading the kids through ways to draw a myriad of emotional facial expressions, telling a story as she went.  It was wonderful — if you get a chance to see either of these ladies go!

But the day wasn't over yet.  After school, our great middle school librarian Roxanne Feldman had arranged for our faculty/staff book club to meet with Adam Gidwitz and his editor Julie Strauss-Gabel to discuss his marvelous debut novel,  A Tale Dark and Grimm.  And Laura, who knew Adam way back as a student at her school, sat in.  Adam is also a wonderfully engaging person and I can't wait till he comes back to work with our fourth graders this January.  He's another I recommend you go see given the chance.

Here I am, in our school lobby, with the two wonder ladies on either side of me.

On behalf of all of us at Dalton, our great thanks to Lynne, Laura, Adam, Julie, and Candlewick for making this day possible.

A Book About Children's Books for Book Loving Adults

For grown-ups who want to know more about the books kids read there's a great new resource —  A Family of Readers: The Book Lover's Guide to Children's and Young Adult Literature.  Edited by Martha Parravano and Roger Sutton of the venerable Horn Book Magazine, this book is filled with smart and opinionated essays, reviews, and information by smart and opinionated children's book experts on a wide variety of genres, books, and ideas about books. Sensibly starting with books for the youngest in "Reading to Them" they move on to "Reading With Them," " Reading on Their Own," and finally for teens, "Leaving Them Alone."  From Mother Goose and Elmo to The Catcher in the Rye, the range is far-flung and far-ranging. For avid adult readers eager to communicate their love of books and reading to the children in their lives this book is an excellent bet.

Wanting to know more about the book and its genesis I checked in with co-editor Roger Sutton.

I know this book was in the works for many years.  What gave you the idea initially to do it and did that initial idea change as you worked on it? If so, how?

The Horn Book had been trying for years to reach a parent audience, but the Magazine is simply TMI for most parents' needs. When Marc Aronson and Candlewick asked us to do this book, it seemed like the perfect vehicle.

I love the way each section focuses on a developmental reading stage and shows how children move out as they grow up.  As you sifted through the Horn Book archives, as you looked through them for seminal essays to include, did you notice changes in societal notions regarding these different reading stages?  That is, are there certain assumptions about reading, development, and books for children that have changed drastically over the years the magazine has existed?  Or are some more cyclical than we realize when in the midst of it?

The Horn Book has always responded to the times–it was founded just as publishing houses were starting juvenile book departments, so our early years have the spirit of a new adventure. Later we would see editor Ruth Viguers responding to a post- and cold- war world, Paul and Ethel Heins advocating for the richness brought to children's books by greater artistic freedom (and federal money) in the late 60s and 70s, and Anita Silvey holding steady while the children's book market became more oriented toward retail sales. Most of the material reprinted from the Magazine in The Family of Readers is from the last fifteen years (my tenure as editor), which I think have been greatly affected by my own reading childhood: get out of the way and let me read what I want!

What about boundaries? Say the recent discussion about kids moving on to chapter books too soon and thus missing out on picture books. Or tweens eagerly wanting to read books like Twilight. What are your thoughts and recommendations to parents on these dilemmas?

See answer above–I'm horrified by the idea of a child being kept away from a book because the adult sees it as too easy or too sophisticated. Every reader, adult or child, needs both. The parent's job is to make sure that the kid gets to find out about all the riches that are out there.

The YA market seems to be booming at a time when other genres are not.  What about high-end teen readers?  I know there has been some debate about books that might have been published as adult ending up being published as YA, say The Book Thief.  Where do adult books fit in the continuum for teen readers?

From the age of about nine, I read both adult books and children's books, the great (Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Henry Huggins) and trashy (Valley of the Dolls, The Happy Hollisters) alike. Voracious readers like I was read everything, putting stuff that was (or is) over our heads in the mental box  the British writer Francis Spurling called "Don't Get It." I hope that today's teen readers aren't pushed away from adult books. While it is true that YA literature is wider and richer than ever before, it is largely restricted to coming-of-age themes, and sometimes you want to read about someone who has been there, done that, and moved on. I like spy stories, and even as a kid would have dismissed the Alex Rider books as silly. On the other hand, I still find John Le Carre too grownup for me.

And finally, what is happening to the whole concept of the book?  In this time of e-books, Ipad apps, dwindling sales of traditional books, and fear that we are going to hell in a handbasket where do you think things will be by the time you are ready for a second edition of your book, say ten years from now?

I believe that a lot of what we say about books and reading will remain true regardless of where and how a book is read. Is, say, The Hunger Games that different when read on a Kindle? But I think there will always be books that need to be printed and bound, relying on physical features (the die-cuts in First the Egg, for instance), page turns (any picture book worth reading), or collectibility (any beloved series) for their appeal. Plus, people are going to have to do something when the power runs out.

Also at the Huffington Post.

Where I'll be on Saturday

The Lewis Carroll Society of North America

Fall Meeting: Saturday, November 6, 2010

New York Institute of Technology

11th floor Auditorium 16 W. 61st St. between Broadway and Columbus Ave. New York City

The meeting is free, and open to the public.

12:00 Andrew Sellon "Welcoming Remarks"

12:05–12:20 Edward Guiliano "Greetings, and A Few Wise Words About Martin Gardner"

12:20 –12:40 Oleg Lipchenko "Butcher in the Ruff: Rendering the Snark (A Work in Progress)"

12:40 – 1:30
1:30–2:00 Break and Book signing: Messrs. Gopnik & Lipchenko

2:00–3:15 Jenny Woolf "Viewing Lewis Carroll as a Real Person"

3:15–3:55 Cathy Rubin in conversation with Andrew Sellon "The Real Alice Liddell: A Conversation with Pictures"

3:55–4:25 Break and Book signing: Mmes. Rubin & Woolf

4:25–4:35 August Imholtz, Janet Jurist Election of New LCSNA Officers

4:35–5:15 Andrew Sellon "Meeting Mr. Dodgson: One Carrollian's Journey"

Lisa Brown's 3 Panel Book Reviews

She's evidently been doing these 3 panel cartoon reviews for years, but I just now came across them.   Tons I like including those for Little Women, Sunnyside (natch, given my Chaplin obsession), Sag Harbor, Little House on the Prairie, The Magicians (yes to that last panel, yessss!), The Scarlet Letter, To the Lighthouse, Oliver Twist, and The Metamorphosis.

Telling the Reality Behind Fiction

How much (or any) of their research should writers of fiction for children provide?  That interesting question, posed by blogger Betsy Bird yesterday, provoked a fascinating conversation.  The prevailing sentiment seemed to be that the text should speak for itself and that author notes are not necessary — ever.  Yet I have to wonder, is all fiction the same in this regard?  Or nonfiction for that matter?   In fact, as a reader, critic, teacher of children, and author of a forthcoming work of fiction I find that line between fiction and nonfiction to be very porous, one that writers move between all the time.  It happened to me.  Feeling it was important that child readers know that it really happened, I tried to tell the true story of a child on the Amistad as straight nonfiction, but it turned out there wasn't enough material to do that. And so I fictionalized the story using all the carefully researched facts from my nonfiction version.  So now, although it is a fictionalized true story, I still plan on the same sort of author note I'd had in mind when it was nonfiction.

As I wrote to someone who commented on my post of yesterday on this topic, I've learned through many years in the classroom that kids want to know what is real and what isn't.  Heck, I want to know that too in fiction about real people and events.  So to ease my frustration here's a chart that roughly shows the continuum between nonfiction and fiction.  It by no means is a comprehensive list of all the types of fiction or nonfiction, just a handful to show what seems to me the somewhat arbitrariness of insisting all fiction doesn't need back matter while all nonfiction does.

Whadya (Need to) Know?

Perhaps nothing.

Betsy Bird asks, "How Much is an Author Obligated to Say?" after wondering in a review of a book involving Aspergers why the writer, in her author's note, hadn't mentioned her personal connection to the condition.  Kate Messener and quite a few others feel the answer is, "nothing" as everything we readers need to know should be in the story itself.

This then makes me wonder about my response to fictionalized books about real people and unfamiliar cultures.  Generally I do want to know more.  For example, I've just read Linda Sue Park's forthcoming  A Long Walk To Water. This fine book is a fictionalized telling of Sudanese Salva Dut's true story and I did very much wanted to know what was real, what made-up, how she researched it, and so forth. And so as excellent as the text was I definitely appreciated the author's note and probably would have been frustrated if it hadn't been there.  In a couple of years I will have a book out that is both about a culture that is not my own  — Sierra Leone — and a real person in history — Sarah Margru Kinson who was a child on the Amistad.  Like Linda Sue Park I've fictionalized a true story. And so I plan on an author note because I do want readers to know what personal experiences cause me to write the book and what sort of research I did. I want them to know more.