This morning, my favorite radio station devoted more than 30 minutes to the question, "what are you reading this summer?" You can see (and hear) the answers here.
Guests and callers spoke about several genres, including memoir, but didn't mention one of my favorites, Stephen King's On Writing, which is at least as much memoir as it is writing advice. I loved the book, even though I'm not a fan of his scarier stuff.
Old Stuff & Mysteries
I'm reading the (almost) current issue of National Geographic now, enjoying a (typically) lengthy article about Stonehenge. It references several recent digs near the enigmatic structures, but oddly, it doesn't doesn't mention (nor does NGS's own website include links to) the magazine's recent articles about those digs. Did you know that one in 2006 investigated the site that probably housed the builders of the famous monument?! Gee, that sounds kinda' relevant to me.
I wonder what folks are learning in library science these days...will we ever have a system of reference for information on the web as cut-and-dried (and comprehensive) as the dear old Dewey decimal/card catalog system in old-fashioned libraries?
Will our kids learn how to cite at least three credible sources and create footnotes for their research papers? Am I just getting old and crabby?
Maybe, maybe, and probably.
So what are you reading this summer?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Slim Book for Wide Audience
OK, now that my review of The Willoughbys has published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, I'll dish: Lois Lowry's latest book is good. Really good.
Of course, it's not meant to be. It's meant to poke fun at everything that's just a tad too cut-and-dried about those old-fashioned classic tales. And for the most part, the book's characters are bad, bad people.
Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby, you see, don't like children. Especially their own. By the end of the first chapter, they've hatched a plan to get rid of the children (Frankly, it's not that good of a plan: packing up for an extended vacation and engaging a real estate agent to sell the house with the kids in it doesn't sound exactly foolproof to me. And that's part of the fun; it's a spoof, after all.)
For their part, the kids - 12-year-old Timothy, 10-year-old twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and poor little one-syllable Jane - aren't much better than their folks. In fact, before the 'rents have packed a suitcase, the little rug rats have decided they'd like to be orphans. And they have a plan, too...
From page one, The Willoughbys is a send-up of every "classic" convention you can probably remember - it's got your basic baby-left-on-the-doorstep, the gruff, grimy, very rich benefactor, and an extremely resourceful nanny.
Kids will enjoy the story, sure, but adults will catch many a joke that will escape the kids. More than a few young readers, I suspect, will miss the elaborate tongue-in-cheek near references to Baby Ruth (the candy bar) and many of the slyly borrowed conventions (from Mary Poppins, James and the Giant Peach, and other weighty but not-so-often-assigned reading).
Even so, the book will be a hit with middle school readers, and just about any fan of Lemony Snicket. I just hope some of their parents pick it up, too. The glossary alone is worth a read. Giggles are free, but unfortunately not nearly plentiful enough. This book packs a bunch of 'em. Enjoy.
Of course, it's not meant to be. It's meant to poke fun at everything that's just a tad too cut-and-dried about those old-fashioned classic tales. And for the most part, the book's characters are bad, bad people.
Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby, you see, don't like children. Especially their own. By the end of the first chapter, they've hatched a plan to get rid of the children (Frankly, it's not that good of a plan: packing up for an extended vacation and engaging a real estate agent to sell the house with the kids in it doesn't sound exactly foolproof to me. And that's part of the fun; it's a spoof, after all.)
For their part, the kids - 12-year-old Timothy, 10-year-old twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and poor little one-syllable Jane - aren't much better than their folks. In fact, before the 'rents have packed a suitcase, the little rug rats have decided they'd like to be orphans. And they have a plan, too...
From page one, The Willoughbys is a send-up of every "classic" convention you can probably remember - it's got your basic baby-left-on-the-doorstep, the gruff, grimy, very rich benefactor, and an extremely resourceful nanny.
Kids will enjoy the story, sure, but adults will catch many a joke that will escape the kids. More than a few young readers, I suspect, will miss the elaborate tongue-in-cheek near references to Baby Ruth (the candy bar) and many of the slyly borrowed conventions (from Mary Poppins, James and the Giant Peach, and other weighty but not-so-often-assigned reading).
Even so, the book will be a hit with middle school readers, and just about any fan of Lemony Snicket. I just hope some of their parents pick it up, too. The glossary alone is worth a read. Giggles are free, but unfortunately not nearly plentiful enough. This book packs a bunch of 'em. Enjoy.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Why I love MG and YA books
I've just finished reviewing Lowis Lowry' latest book, a parody of classic children's literature. To prepare for the review, I checked out Number the Stars, Find a Stranger Say Goodbye, and *ahem* the Cliff Notes for The Giver. The Giver is just too intense, folks. Not that her other books are lightweights.
Actually, a few are. I also read Stay! Keeper's Story, a bit of light fiction narrated by a dog, and perused the Anastasia series, which is very popular with younger readers.
But in really considering The Giver and a few of Lowry's other heavy-hitting titles, I got to thinking...the vast majority of "acclaimed" titles for the Young Adult market are really, really heavy. Friends, mothers, sisters die. The Holocaust disrupts lives. The Book Thief is narrated by Death, for heaven's sake.
And I think I know why.
Do you remember being a teenager? It probably wasn't a take-it-or-leave-it time in your life. Everything about being an adolescent seems intense. The right (or wrong) girlfriend/boyfriend could talk you into sneaking a cigarette, cheating on a test, running away, stealing a car, having sex, killing yourself, or a combination of those things.
YA literature has to speak to those intense readers. And - I'm not making this up, research has proven the point - teens' attention spans get shorter, thanks to all the chemical changes in their bodies and especially their brains. So YA authors can't waste words. Every sentence must be worth reading. Nothing is mundane.
Well written books for the age group (YA/MG is a bit of blurred demographic these days) include all the important stuff, but no more...character descriptions move the story forward, the setting matters to the plot, there are no throw-away scenes.
I guess that's one of my top two reasons for reading YA and MG lit.
The other reason is I hope - hope, hope, hope - that reading YA and MG books will help me understand and appreciate those tumultuous teenage years...especially as my own kids approach those years, at an alarming pace.
Sigh.
Actually, a few are. I also read Stay! Keeper's Story, a bit of light fiction narrated by a dog, and perused the Anastasia series, which is very popular with younger readers.
But in really considering The Giver and a few of Lowry's other heavy-hitting titles, I got to thinking...the vast majority of "acclaimed" titles for the Young Adult market are really, really heavy. Friends, mothers, sisters die. The Holocaust disrupts lives. The Book Thief is narrated by Death, for heaven's sake.
And I think I know why.
Do you remember being a teenager? It probably wasn't a take-it-or-leave-it time in your life. Everything about being an adolescent seems intense. The right (or wrong) girlfriend/boyfriend could talk you into sneaking a cigarette, cheating on a test, running away, stealing a car, having sex, killing yourself, or a combination of those things.
YA literature has to speak to those intense readers. And - I'm not making this up, research has proven the point - teens' attention spans get shorter, thanks to all the chemical changes in their bodies and especially their brains. So YA authors can't waste words. Every sentence must be worth reading. Nothing is mundane.
Well written books for the age group (YA/MG is a bit of blurred demographic these days) include all the important stuff, but no more...character descriptions move the story forward, the setting matters to the plot, there are no throw-away scenes.
I guess that's one of my top two reasons for reading YA and MG lit.
The other reason is I hope - hope, hope, hope - that reading YA and MG books will help me understand and appreciate those tumultuous teenage years...especially as my own kids approach those years, at an alarming pace.
Sigh.
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