CCBC-Net Archives
Dicey to Alfie, Titch & Martha
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 11:30:41 -0500
It's clear from the comments made during the past week that the Tillermans grew and changed as their fictional lives progressed. You seem to agree that even though Voigt's Tillerman books are inconsistent in literary quality and young reader appeal, she has created something singular. She's created portraits of human frailty, and she's done this from several character's perpectives.
No one stepped forward to applaud Voigt's attempts to write about and in the voices of non-white characters. I assume you agree that this an aspect of her writing where she failed most noticeably. Interesting that no one asked a similar question about Mildred Taylor's success in creating non-black characters.
Voigt developed unique characters in three generations of one family throughout more than two decades in a specific geographic and cultural environment. Quite a feat for any writer. Perhaps "Dicey's Song" will never enjoy the "classic" status of "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" even though each was a Newbery Award winner in its year. This does not mean that "Dicey's Song" and other novels in the Tillerman saga are not fascinating, highly original fictions - definitely not written to a formula or even to a particular youth market. I applaud the editor(s) who gave Cynthia Voigt the green light to work with such dicey ideas.
Hats off to everyone who spelled "Voigt" correctly, thus avoiding one of the more common spelling errors in the children's literature world!
Many thanks to Eliza Dresang for taking the time to summarize and offer provocative questions about the Tillerman books based on her multiple experiences with "Dicey's Song" and her thoughts about varying perspectives.
It's fine to respond to anything I've written here and to make comments either the Logan saga or the Tillerman books.
At this point we particularly invite you to shift gears and share observations about the Alfie (Shirley Hughes), Titch (Pat Hutchins), or Martha (Susan Meddaugh) books for very young children. Each series is quite different from each other in quite obvious visual ways. We're especially welcome your thoughts as to how the same book creator handles the same character(s) within a sequence of books, rather than hoping for forced comparisons between any two or the three series. Ask yourself: does the protagonist grow or change from book to book? If yes, how does the author/artist reinforce expectations and yet invite preschoolers to a new experience with each story? ...Ginny
********************************************* Ginny Moore Kruse, Director (gmkruse at ccbc.education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A noncirculating children's and young adult literature library for adults (www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/) School of Education, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA
Received on Thu 20 May 1999 11:30:41 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 11:30:41 -0500
It's clear from the comments made during the past week that the Tillermans grew and changed as their fictional lives progressed. You seem to agree that even though Voigt's Tillerman books are inconsistent in literary quality and young reader appeal, she has created something singular. She's created portraits of human frailty, and she's done this from several character's perpectives.
No one stepped forward to applaud Voigt's attempts to write about and in the voices of non-white characters. I assume you agree that this an aspect of her writing where she failed most noticeably. Interesting that no one asked a similar question about Mildred Taylor's success in creating non-black characters.
Voigt developed unique characters in three generations of one family throughout more than two decades in a specific geographic and cultural environment. Quite a feat for any writer. Perhaps "Dicey's Song" will never enjoy the "classic" status of "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" even though each was a Newbery Award winner in its year. This does not mean that "Dicey's Song" and other novels in the Tillerman saga are not fascinating, highly original fictions - definitely not written to a formula or even to a particular youth market. I applaud the editor(s) who gave Cynthia Voigt the green light to work with such dicey ideas.
Hats off to everyone who spelled "Voigt" correctly, thus avoiding one of the more common spelling errors in the children's literature world!
Many thanks to Eliza Dresang for taking the time to summarize and offer provocative questions about the Tillerman books based on her multiple experiences with "Dicey's Song" and her thoughts about varying perspectives.
It's fine to respond to anything I've written here and to make comments either the Logan saga or the Tillerman books.
At this point we particularly invite you to shift gears and share observations about the Alfie (Shirley Hughes), Titch (Pat Hutchins), or Martha (Susan Meddaugh) books for very young children. Each series is quite different from each other in quite obvious visual ways. We're especially welcome your thoughts as to how the same book creator handles the same character(s) within a sequence of books, rather than hoping for forced comparisons between any two or the three series. Ask yourself: does the protagonist grow or change from book to book? If yes, how does the author/artist reinforce expectations and yet invite preschoolers to a new experience with each story? ...Ginny
********************************************* Ginny Moore Kruse, Director (gmkruse at ccbc.education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A noncirculating children's and young adult literature library for adults (www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/) School of Education, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA
Received on Thu 20 May 1999 11:30:41 AM CDT
