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From: Dr. Ruth Gordon <druthgo>
Date: Sun, 5 May 1996 15:02:21 -0700
I am not trying to play the "Devil's Librarian," but have a general question I'd like to put before the collective genius of those who respond to CCBC's discussions.
Is it really necessary for very young children to have overly simplified biographies of the famous and not-so?mous? So many of them meet only the endless curriculum needs of "let's celebrate major (and minor) holidays." Little children, by and large, are so busy finding their own time and place in the world so that historical figures mean little. Little children spend endless questioning time trying to figure out their familial relationships, e.g., the aunt is a what? the cousin is whose what? These "baby" biographies, often illustrated in dubious "art", are so stripped down to bare bareness that the personalities of "the great" don't come through.
Just asking--but obviously my bias is clear.
In a later message I'd like to chat about some biographies I've edited and what the roughest task was/is when working with authors--their idealization of people who are very human and thus with faults the authors prefer not to mention.
Gordon (a.k.a., Big Grandma, a.k.as., Dr. Ruth)
Received on Sun 05 May 1996 05:02:21 PM CDT
Date: Sun, 5 May 1996 15:02:21 -0700
I am not trying to play the "Devil's Librarian," but have a general question I'd like to put before the collective genius of those who respond to CCBC's discussions.
Is it really necessary for very young children to have overly simplified biographies of the famous and not-so?mous? So many of them meet only the endless curriculum needs of "let's celebrate major (and minor) holidays." Little children, by and large, are so busy finding their own time and place in the world so that historical figures mean little. Little children spend endless questioning time trying to figure out their familial relationships, e.g., the aunt is a what? the cousin is whose what? These "baby" biographies, often illustrated in dubious "art", are so stripped down to bare bareness that the personalities of "the great" don't come through.
Just asking--but obviously my bias is clear.
In a later message I'd like to chat about some biographies I've edited and what the roughest task was/is when working with authors--their idealization of people who are very human and thus with faults the authors prefer not to mention.
Gordon (a.k.a., Big Grandma, a.k.as., Dr. Ruth)
Received on Sun 05 May 1996 05:02:21 PM CDT
