From: Eliza T. Dresang <edresang>
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 11:21:09 -0500

Hello All,

I'm "listened" to the discussion of *Bat 6" with interest. It seems from reading the various reactions of readers that not only are there multiple points of view but that readers "hear" those multiple points of view from different points of view themselves. One quality that makes this book so remarkable is its ability to convey the message of both community and individuality to different readers through their own most comfortable approach. It is written in such a way that it opens the reading experience to many approaches -- none of which is the "one best way."

Another remarkable POV book of the season for me is one we discussed a little earlier, *Go and Come Back.* Perry Nodelman reviewed this book in
*The Riverbank Review* -- and he expresses what I appreciate about this books's points of view so well that I'll just quote:

"North American readers [are placed] in the intriguing position of viewing themselves from the outside. What distresses Alicia about the anthropologists is surprising, often hilarious, and always revealing of how much we all tend to take our assumptions about ourselves and others for granted. There is a delicious ambivalence here. While Alicia's alien values foreground the foolishness of some common North American assumptions, a Reader's knowledge of what Alicia gets wrong often makes her assumptions seem foolish also. It's Abelove's ability to preserve this precarious balance, to allow her representatives of two different cultures to equally reveal each other's blindnesses, that makes *Go and Come Back* such a highly moral book."

I can't think of another book right off that creates exactly this same kind of "delicate balance" in this way. Can anyone else?

 I'd like to throw some other types of books into the mix for discussion of POV, starting with *Voices in the Park,* a picture book by Anthony Browne. It seems somewhat unusual to have a picture book that is told from various points of view (if Stinky Cheeseman is counted as a picture book, it does. And the pb's with borders that tell parallel stories do. And Buringham's Shirley stories from way back do. Any others?) I can't think of another picture book exactly like this.

For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to see this book yet, in
*Voices in the Park,* Anthony Browne employs four voices to tell and retell the story of a trip to the park. While the mother (all the characters, not surprisingly, are apes turned human) sees a "rough-looking child" from whom to protect her son, her son thinks this "child" a fascinating creature. His gentle, sad (apparently unemployed) father contributes the other voice. Form and content merge as Browne employs a different type-style for each voice, a type that exemplifies the personality of the speaker. The son's type is light-colored and tentative. The "rough child's" is casual and friendly. The mother's is large and demanding. Contrasting colors, forms, and perspectives interpret and reinterpret an event. The many, many ways that Browne conveys the contrasting points of view captures and holds my attention.

This is a book about which I would like to hear reactions of young readers
(or listeners). Has anyone any experience with it? I wonder how children interpret this same story told four times in different voices?

I have some other "types of books" in mind, but will sign off for now.

Eliza Dresang Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, FSU
Received on Sun 15 Nov 1998 10:21:09 AM CST