CCBC-Net Archives

Bat 6

From: Kate McClelland <mcclelland>
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 14:22:13 -0500

In answer to Sue McGowen's point about multiple perspectives, I immediately envisioned the article with picture that appeared in the New York Times last week. It had to do with the explosion (hundreds of thousands daily) of IMs (Instant Messages) that has occurred among today's online teens. I have experienced some IMs from teens myself and find it a tad disorienting to be in the middle of my work and suddenly have a jazzy greeting pop up without warning or context. The photo accompanying the NYT article showed a girl at her computer IM'ing (is there such a verb?) while *simultaneously* on the phone to another teen. My point is that today's young people are *living* a life of multiple perspectives. They are not in the slightest put off by 21 perspectives in a book. Of the 20 readers who have read _Bat 6_ in my review group, not one has been put off by the format. They immediately catch on to who the main characters are to watch. *I* needed the Roster. The young readers did not.

And on the subject of depth, I cannot imagine anyone getting to the scene in in which Shazam visits Aki (in her head brace) and feel they do not know these characters "in depth." This scene is masterful in that it seems to speed up the the change of perspectives while slowing down the
"action". The reader is not only inside the room but inside the heads of these two characters. The author creates unbearable tension towards the two words, "I'm sorry." And readers know what those words mean... to their very core. So yes, I felt _Bat 6_ was a profound and *deep* reading experience. Kate McClelland Perrot Library Old Greenwich, CT
Received on Mon 09 Nov 1998 01:22:13 PM CST