From: Brenda_Bowen at prenhall.com <Brenda_Bowen>
Date: 03 Oct 1998 22:03:40 -0400

A belated response to Big Grandma, and some comments on the commentary
     thus far.
     
     Ruth, this is one case where I must respectfully disagree with your
     assessment of MAKING UP MEGABOY. I read the book early this year and
     I felt right away it would find a permanent place on the bookshelves
     of schools and libraries all over the country. It is an endlessly
     discussable book, as others have pointed out, because it provides no
     answers. And that's a brave choice for an author to make in any
     story, especially an author who's writing for children.
     
     Ruth says that MEGABOY's design takes away from an otherwise
     outstanding text (I'm paraphrasing) -- but I think otherwise. Dick --
     did you ever see this manuscript without the design? Or was it
     delivered as a piece? (I haven't yet read the Book Links interview.)
     If you did see just the manuscript alone, how did it read without the
     graphics? To me, MEGABOY is like a picture book, in the best sense:
     its text and "pictures" are inextricably linked, and one cannot exist
     without the other. What better way to stretch the boundaries of
     fiction for young readers?
     
     I know we're going to discuss BAT 6 next month, but I do see
     astounding similarities between it and MEGABOY. Both troubled
     protagonists take the name of a superhero; both books examine
     seemingly inexplicable acts of violence; both are firm in their
     conviction that it is the responsibility of the community to listen to
     its children. I'll hold those thoughts for next month, but I hope
     others will consider them as they look at the two books together. I
     do want to bring up another book, though, with a non-linear narrative,
     and that's THE BUFFALO TREE, by Adam Rapp (Front Street, 1997). In
     the case of BUFFALO TREE, what fractures the narrative is not
     graphics, but language itself. And it's another book about community,
     but a community of children who are all like Robbie.
     
     To start some debate on Eliza's question:
     
                Incidentally, I've noticed that although nonlinear texts
     don't go from "here to there" in a straight line, most seem,
     ultimately, still to go from "here to there" in an overall linear way
     (or ways, as there are often several choices). That is, are the
     deviations along the way and the end may not be conclusive, but the
     overall progression seems linear to me. Do you agree? Is linearity
     inevitable even when the reader chooses different nonlinear ways to
     travel from beginning to some kind of end? That is, even though there
     is seemingly chaos (or choice) along the way there is still order?
     
     Eliza -- I think that what you've hit on is the idea of narrative arc.
     It's not only inevitable that the reader will follow the arc one way
     or another -- it's the only possible progression, given that the
     author is ultimately "in charge." I think any fiction writer wants to
     keep a sense of narrative, no matter how "non-linear" the facade of
     the book might be. All the books under discussion here compell their
     readers through a plot, however untraditionally they do it (I'm
     reminded of SMACK, here, too).
     
     Brenda Bowen
     Simon & Schuster
Received on Sat 03 Oct 1998 09:03:40 PM CDT