From: Nina A Lindsay <NALINDSA>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 98 12:53 CST

Well, I'm surprised no one has come out more stongly against the Dear America series, so I will. I appreciate the editors' desire to "hook" kids on history, and their seeking out of outstanding authors to do it. But, these books are
"duping", and not just "luring" readers. "Out of the Dust," "Catherine Called Birdy," and other examples of historical fiction are, from dust jacket to title page to author's notes, presented as historical fiction. The Dear America books are powerfully misleading -- aside from the title page issues, why must there be false Epilogues? Why are there no author's notes explicitly stating that these stories are works of fiction? Give child readers a little more credit please -- you don't need to pull the wool over their eyes to make them enjoy something. They have a good enough imagination to see that characters in historical fiction "could be real" -- you don't have to mislead them into thinking that they are. Editor's intentions aside; literary value aside; -the
"physical appeal" of these books is marketing ploy, and this librarian, for one, will neither be "duped" nor even "lured".
  Sorry Pat, Joyce, Kathryn, Jim ...
  Nina Lindsay nalindsa at macc.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 20 Feb 1998 12:53:00 PM CST