CCBC-Net Archives
Classics
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Kimberly M. King <cc496>
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 15:23:20 -0400 (EDT)
Greetings...This notion of a classic is one that I consider regularly. Many times this consideration begins when a child comes in and dutifully reports the assignment given by her or his teacher. "I need to read a classic." Upon discovering that, more often than not, the child has no further criteria, I think to myself, "O.K., let's go look and here's hoping my ideas come close to those of your teacher!"
To me as to many on this list, a classic is a work that continues to have appeal over the course of time. That appeal might be the setting (the upside down house of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle in the Betty MacDonald books), the unique characters (Mary Norton's Borrowers) or even the 'fright factor'
(Poe's tales). The writing *might* be marvelous in a classic, but it is my experience that the appeal over time lies in what the writing creates--the ideas, the images, the possibilities, the adventure, the unmeasurable delights distilled by each reader.
An idea that keeps coming to mind as I type this is that the longevity of a book's appeal (the potential for becoming a classic) depends on the effectiveness of the book's invitation to the reader to enter a space where nothing is battery operated, nothing plugs in, there is no map, and the potential for a grand journey is limited only by the reader's imagination.
A bit romantic, perhaps, but this from someone who considers both The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss) and Are All the Giants Dead? (Norton) to be a part of her personal canon of classics.
M. King-Senior Children's Librarian Port Richmond Branch New York Public Library cc496 at freenet.buffalo.edu
Received on Mon 07 Jul 1997 02:23:20 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 15:23:20 -0400 (EDT)
Greetings...This notion of a classic is one that I consider regularly. Many times this consideration begins when a child comes in and dutifully reports the assignment given by her or his teacher. "I need to read a classic." Upon discovering that, more often than not, the child has no further criteria, I think to myself, "O.K., let's go look and here's hoping my ideas come close to those of your teacher!"
To me as to many on this list, a classic is a work that continues to have appeal over the course of time. That appeal might be the setting (the upside down house of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle in the Betty MacDonald books), the unique characters (Mary Norton's Borrowers) or even the 'fright factor'
(Poe's tales). The writing *might* be marvelous in a classic, but it is my experience that the appeal over time lies in what the writing creates--the ideas, the images, the possibilities, the adventure, the unmeasurable delights distilled by each reader.
An idea that keeps coming to mind as I type this is that the longevity of a book's appeal (the potential for becoming a classic) depends on the effectiveness of the book's invitation to the reader to enter a space where nothing is battery operated, nothing plugs in, there is no map, and the potential for a grand journey is limited only by the reader's imagination.
A bit romantic, perhaps, but this from someone who considers both The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss) and Are All the Giants Dead? (Norton) to be a part of her personal canon of classics.
M. King-Senior Children's Librarian Port Richmond Branch New York Public Library cc496 at freenet.buffalo.edu
Received on Mon 07 Jul 1997 02:23:20 PM CDT
