View and Review--Salt to the Sea
Lots of keystrokes and ink spent lately on the recent influx of writers of adult books into the kidlit world.
My attitude is, more power to 'em. If they can do a good job of reaching young readers (or even if they can't), they have every right to make the attempt. What bothers me is when some of the columnists/panelists/bloggers/experts who note this trend imply that the influx is going to upgrade the field of writing for kids, that all of those well-meaning (but not quite accomplished) writers currently doing business in the kidlit realm need to be propped up by writers who really know how to tell a story (and they've proven it by selling lots of books to big people).
Here's my belief, columnists/panelists/bloggers/experts: The "help" isn't needed. The books are welcome, but before we anoint any saviors, let's see how their books actually stack up against the books being written by authors who've been active in kids' literature for a while and have no intention of leaving it. Let's see how well their books compare to books by writers like Elizabeth Wein, Nancy Farmer, Walter Dean Myers, Franny Billingsley, Karen Cushman, Andrew Smith, Neil Schusterman, Laurie Halse Anderson, Rebecca Stead, Christopher Paul Curtis, Martha Brockenbrough, Kirby Larson, Louis Sachar, E.L. Konigsburg, Brian Selznick, Ryan Graudin, Kate DiCamillo, Grace Lin, Gary Schmidt...
...Ruta Sepetys. A marvelously talented writer. And this review is supposed to be about one of her books, SALT TO THE SEA. So let's get on with it.
The waning days of World War Two. A familiar setting but not. Not battlefields. Not roundups. Not death camps. This story is told from the viewpoints of four young people in the dying days of the Nazi regime. Three of them are fleeing the invading Russian army and their pasts and seeking something better. One is a tool of the Nazi government, blindly and foolishly going along.
The author does a masterful job of portraying their distinctive personalities and letting their stories unfold and intertwine. This is an historical novel, of course, but its humanity is timeless. And there's something--loss, cruelty, sadness, cowardice, bravery, kindness, treachery, tragedy, heroics, love, death--for everyone. A story well told. Read it.
My attitude is, more power to 'em. If they can do a good job of reaching young readers (or even if they can't), they have every right to make the attempt. What bothers me is when some of the columnists/panelists/bloggers/experts who note this trend imply that the influx is going to upgrade the field of writing for kids, that all of those well-meaning (but not quite accomplished) writers currently doing business in the kidlit realm need to be propped up by writers who really know how to tell a story (and they've proven it by selling lots of books to big people).
Here's my belief, columnists/panelists/bloggers/experts: The "help" isn't needed. The books are welcome, but before we anoint any saviors, let's see how their books actually stack up against the books being written by authors who've been active in kids' literature for a while and have no intention of leaving it. Let's see how well their books compare to books by writers like Elizabeth Wein, Nancy Farmer, Walter Dean Myers, Franny Billingsley, Karen Cushman, Andrew Smith, Neil Schusterman, Laurie Halse Anderson, Rebecca Stead, Christopher Paul Curtis, Martha Brockenbrough, Kirby Larson, Louis Sachar, E.L. Konigsburg, Brian Selznick, Ryan Graudin, Kate DiCamillo, Grace Lin, Gary Schmidt...
...Ruta Sepetys. A marvelously talented writer. And this review is supposed to be about one of her books, SALT TO THE SEA. So let's get on with it.
The waning days of World War Two. A familiar setting but not. Not battlefields. Not roundups. Not death camps. This story is told from the viewpoints of four young people in the dying days of the Nazi regime. Three of them are fleeing the invading Russian army and their pasts and seeking something better. One is a tool of the Nazi government, blindly and foolishly going along.
The author does a masterful job of portraying their distinctive personalities and letting their stories unfold and intertwine. This is an historical novel, of course, but its humanity is timeless. And there's something--loss, cruelty, sadness, cowardice, bravery, kindness, treachery, tragedy, heroics, love, death--for everyone. A story well told. Read it.
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Dennis
(new)
Jun 11, 2016 02:16PM
This sounds like a good read for Joanne! Why don't you send her the info on it.
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