squeetus

Two case studies

Whew! That last post sure caused a stir in the comment area, and rightly so. So lovely to hear such passionate opinions (reminder: please watch your spoilers!). In a similar vein, let me present the following:

Case study #1

Situation: Young boy reads only comic books for the first 16 years of his life. Many (helpful) adults warn him, "Those will rot your brain." Boy is unusually self-confident and stubborn and withstands the criticism, continuing to read the books of his choice.

Result: Boy graduates high school with 3.8, receives scholarship offers to various colleges, and continues as a life long reader of all kinds of genres. As an adult, he proves himself an upstanding citizen in all regards, and showed enough brains to woo and marry a certain (brilliant) young adult author.

In Conclusion: Comic books don't actually rot your brain.

Cast study #2

Situation: Young girl loves to read. Loves it. Reads passionately through elementary school and junior high. High school comes. She learns that the only acceptable kinds of books are "classics" which mean, "books that are usually amazing in some regard but were written at least 100 years ago, end badly, are most likley depressing, have long sentences, and 9 times out of 10 take place in England. No genres allowed, especially anything with humor, pictures, or fantasy."

Result: Girl isn't as stubborn and self-confident as boy from case study #2. She believes the propaganda, and determined to be a good adult and intellect, she shuns the books of her youth and begins to read only classics. Her reading and verbal score percentages are higher in elementary school than high school. She falls out of love with reading, and even as an English major in college, only picks up books out of duty. She doesn't realize her error in buying into the warped ideology for many years, until she finally cracks, desperate to lose herself in the wonder of a Story again, and rebels against the establishment by writing the goose girl.

In Conclusion: So, um, why is it again that most high school English classes only read the classics?

The older the better?

I just read this Wall Street Journal article and I feel myself getting uppity and opinionated, so be warned...

I do take their point, in part. I think diversity in literature is of the utmost importance (to sound snooty for the moment), so it wouldn't hurt a list of recommended reading to include some classics in with the contemporary stuff (I truly, completely adored The Secret Garden as a child and as an adult). But here's what irks me--why assert that 20,000 Leagues or Wind in the Willows is a superior book to the lighter, fun fare? I mean, isn't that up to each reader to decide? Isn't that the whole point of books, that we're all different, that in the process of reading the individual reader creates the book uniquely in her imagination, that her experience of it is totally different from anyone else's, and that she decides which books, in her mind, are the greatest? Ergh. I haven't read the books that the WSJ condemned (though I have read another by Janette Rallison and find her funny and insightful), but even if I hated them and thought them absolute fluff, I still think it's wrong to claim that they're a waste just because they're light and fun. And what's with the irritating belief among the academic that the older a book, the better it is? Does an author have to be dead to be considered worthwhile? Does a book have to be 100 years old to be good for a kid's brain?

Wind in the Willows and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea are truly inaccessible to many young readers. They're written in a completely different style than literature today, and would be a real trial for many kids to get through. Besides, television is completely frothy. If you only give kids books that are laborious to read, particularly in the summer, then why wouldn’t they turn to television instead? Reading any book is using your imagination, even if it isn't a classic.

I've had so many parents and book business people tell me that they had a girl who would only read fluffy princess books, so they gave her princess academy to help transition her to a similar theme with more substance, and it worked. But if that girl hadn't been reading for fun in the first place then it would've been pointless. It makes me sad when adults in authority tell kids which books are good or bad for them. That's the surest way to discourage them from reading at all. It certainly did for me. Let them have fun, for pity's sake.

And it's SUMMER!

"What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult." --Sigmund Freud

Movings and a chapter

We're in the process of selling our condo, buying a house, and preparing to move. And since I've been sick as well, it's been a crazy summer with little free time, hence the fact that you haven't received The Squeeter Pig yet or seen a river secrets section up on the site. This will happen soon, we hope, but in the meantime, I thought I'd post the first chapter for you.

Be warned! There are goose girl and enna burning spoilers in this chapter, so don't read it if you want to read the other books first! (I hate spoilers, I won't even read book jackets, so I'm always sure to caution.) If you're still interested in going further, intrepid traveler, follow this handy link to Chapter 1.

musings

Just spent my last two writing days reading the first half of book of a thousand days in my dark closet by the light of a candle. Dean, of course, gave me funny looks, trying to silently assert how absurd I am, but I found the exercise very helpful. Given what the book is about. Which I'm not going to tell you.

Max has napped the past two days! Hallelujah. And I was able to go grocery shopping yesterday and not throw up, so certainly something to celebrate around here. He's so unbelievably cute. Lately he likes to share yogurt with me. I must sit on the floor as part of the ritual and alternate spoonfuls between my mouth and his, while he wiggles around, climbs on and off my lap, turns in circles, stands on his head, and flops on the ground.

Someone just sent me a link to a librarian's review of river secrets on her blog. So exciting! This is the first official feedback I've received on the book from someone I don't know, so it's highly encouraging. And clearly she's become my new favorite librarian. (be warned if you follow the link - some very minor enna burning spoilers) I'm excessively fond of the book in a way that doesn't feel as self-indulgent as it probably sounds. I just like that Razo so much.

Joss's take

Re: our "girl power" discussion, someone just sent me this link to a video of Joss Whedon making a speech for Equality Now. I'm a Mr. Whedon fan so I took interest. It's clear that he would agree with our own disgust with that term and what it implies. Go Joss.

new titling

In answer to Lauren's question/comment from the last entry...yes, YA #5 is growing in the rewrites. Even as I cut (I always cut, like a maniac), the story continues to grow. It's about 65,000 words right now, though I'm hoping to cut some more. I liked the idea of it being a bit leaner, especially considering the diary format. We'll see. I only need as many words as it takes to tell the story.

Right now, the new working title is book of a thousand days, cleverly come up with by Dean. I'm liking it, but we still have time to think about it, so it may not be final. Dean's reading it right now (his second time through, though last time he read it, it was 20,000 words shorter). Yes, I perch near him and watch him read, sometimes biting a fingernail to keep myself from asking aloud, "So, what do you think?"

I'll be doing a two day conference at BYU later this week and hoping I feel better then than I do today. The half of a taco I had for dinner is asking me, "Why did you bother? I'm coming back up any minute." But in good news, I conned my friends at aforementioned Marcus's birthday party to be in a short video, reenacting the funny reactions I get about my profession from people who don't read young adult books. My friend Laura edited it together for me, and I think it's hysterical, so of course I'm anticipating crickets when I play it at the conference. I'll let you know how it goes.

Girl power?

There's nothing wrong with that phrase, I don't think. It didn't use to bother me when I heard it used...until, that is, I heard reviewers refer to my books as a "tribute to girl-power." Now it bothers me, and I'm trying to reason out why. My reaction doesn't really make sense, I think, because the phrase is meant to be complimentary, and yet it feels insulting--not to me or my books necessarily, but to girls in general.

First, I'm not setting out to write girl-power books, I think I simply have books where the main characters are usually girls. Just because they succeed, it's girl power? Just because they're not wimpy? Though sometimes they are wimpy and scared and fail and mess up, and they don't do everything on their own, they need family and friends around them to help. Is every book that has a main boy character who does stuff instantly a boy power book? I do not set out to make feminist statements (though there's nothing wrong with that). I never started a book and had a thought like, "I want to show the world that girls can be active and interesting, too!" That would be ludicrious. In my mind, I'm just writing about girl characters who are realistic. Is that so unusual? It was last century, but there are plenty of books now where realistic girls take active roles.

I don't know, am I off base here? Or has anyone else twinged at the phrase?

Hummingbird heart

At my last OB appointment, I heard the heartbeat of our little baby. It was a miracle moment, a teary moment. Oh my word, I have a tiny person in my tummy! Until now, it's really felt like an illness with the nebulous hope of something good coming of it, but now I'm starting to get excited. Around 4 months, when you can feel the baby kick and the nausea is passed, that's when it gets fun.

Max is a letter nut. He loves finding letters everywhere, and it's frankly shocking how he has started to read. These are the words he's read for me so far: Ca (his aunt's nickname), Isi (his aunt's dog), no, Max, Mama, Papa, ball, moon, and cat. He loves it. While we eat breakfast, he wants me to write words on paper and he'll say all the letters. When we're done, he likes to go back and read the words on his own. This is particularly amazing to me because he's 2 1/2 and is almost reading more words than he's speaking. He's been very slow to talk, and yet he'll spell most any word. The little nut.

austenland is finished! I did one last primping draft and it's gone to production. Now I'm back working on YA 5 (soon to be titled, we're trying one out that we like). I've had a lot of interruptions on this draft, so I'll be doing a couple more before sending it back to my editor. Right now I'm most worried about pacing and establishing the setting. I really love the main character. I'm always excited to work on it and spend more time with her.

Max woke us up three times in the night, calling out for Mama or Papa. When we went in there, he made adament pig noises. This was to tell us that he couldn't find Mr. Fuzzy Pig, his favorite snuggle toy, though it was right beside or behind him. Though I could've done without the sleep interruption, there's something marvelous about being called into your son's room in the middle of the night to hear him do pig noises. And they're very good pig noises--none of your average "oink, oink"--these are heartful grunts and snorts. He's so clever.