Anne's back, with a super funny vent on the state of children's literature, and its most lauded authors.
"i hate gary paulsen. i hate him for his crappily smug autobiography, “pilgrimage on a steel ride”, first because i have no empathy whatsoever for middle-aged men who think they are in crisis when they have enough money to buy harley davidsons, second because author photos featuring said harleys do not endear me, and third because it is a badly written piece of crap."
It's shameful of me, but I stop giving books to children when they're about six and don't resume until they're pre-teens. I say it's because I'm disgusted with the kid-lit I thumb through at my local bookseller, how the novels that receive mountains of accolades seem to have the most mediocre content, but that's only half of it. It's that after six or so kids can make their overwhelming disappointment at receiving a book quite clear. At that age my nieces and nephews didn't even need to unwrap the books before their face would fall--just the shiny tell-tale rectangle would set the frown off. Once, hoping the problem was the lack of the element of surprise, I got the idea to wrap a book in a large, square-shaped box and fill it with paper and ribbon so the child had to dig all the way to the bottom for it...
Lesson: If you are trying to get a child excited about their gift of a book, do not bury it at the bottom of a box exactly the size of a Playstation.
Posted by Antigeist at July 11, 2005 03:20 PMbooks that are about to be made into movies (not all of which suck! see: charlie and the chocolate factory, the chronicles of narnia...) are sometimes hits with the non-readers, especially if you are able to subtly convince them of how their book, which does not have the movie poster as the cover, is cooler than the book that will come out presently.
it is this sort of thinking that leads people to dump bands once they start getting radio play, even when the music is THE SAME. which is to say, it is dumb thinking, but it is somehow easier to take than "i like this band because everybody else does".
Posted by: anne at July 11, 2005 11:54 PMif you ever get brave enough to give books again, i might suggest the book itself & a recording of the book. books on CD has been a big hit here, because he can play while he listens and he can listen over and over again AND he can read along, if he wants. eric idle reading roald dahl is pretty damn fantastic. also, the guy who reads "the tale of despereaux" (a book which recently nearly restored my faith in children's lit, it is THAT GOOD) is awesome.
p.s. also, you are nice to me!
Thanks for the suggestions. I, too, love books on CD for the very same reason as your fella. Except around here "playing" means painting the kitchen for the fifth time this year.
Luckily (or not, depending on your feelings toward kids) all the children in my life are teens now, or on the cusp of teendom, so I'm back to gifting books again. But now I give adult literature, usually books I have read and enjoyed, like a peer. I steer clear of those riddled with swear words, violence, and five page descriptions of anal intercourse, obviously.
Kids have to learn about anal intercourse sometime, Anti. I say there's no time like the present. :)
Posted by: z at July 12, 2005 10:48 AMMiz Z speaks truth. Do not hide the butt play from curious teens! They should wake up on Christmas morning wee shavers and go to bed that night as eductade men and women!
I'm leaving that typo in on purpose, goddamnit!
Posted by: Chico at July 12, 2005 12:05 PMyou know what's bad about books on tape? eighteen hours of "the little friend". ah, donna tartt, when we were playing leopold and loeb, those were the days. but now i am 12 hours into an 18 hour southern gothic and i keep falling asleep while the hot hot mississippi sun pounds down and i've got that thing where i've invested so much that i'm going to finish but lord, i am tired.
Posted by: anne at July 13, 2005 01:46 AMZ: I'm going to cut and paste your remark, and remind you of it when I hand a copy of "The finer points of salad tossing" to you and L's first wee one. Not until he/she is at least five of course.
anne, re: the little friend.
I got as far as the 'trying to catch a snake' bit, and the hot hot sun burned away my hot hot patience.
12 hours would be like...jeesh.
Posted by: antigeist at July 13, 2005 04:13 PM