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From: LThompson at Scholastic.com <LThompson>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 14:40:25 -0400
and toss is about the whole book: overall writing, illustrating, theme, content, appropriateness to audience, etc., etc. All librarians and teachers are sifting and winnowing constantly as they improve their collections. Have you read the Wilder books? I just reread the first page of LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS to a teacher ... and I got chills because it was so beautifully written. "< -- Susan Daugherty
I am so glad to see this aspect of evaluating books come up in this discussion. 'What' a book says, and what kind of world it conjures, is of course extremely important in evaluating the worthiness of a book. But just as important must be 'how' the book says what it says. The Little House books are indeed beautifully written. As an editor and writer, I'm awed by the simplicity and emotional depth and perfect age-appropriateness of the language. And I have to admit that I did not find quite the same degree of sensitivity to a child's experience of the world, or the same consistency of language in The Birchbark House that I like to see in top-notch literature for children. Erdich's book is very good, and important, and enjoyable, and the whole discussion that his arisen around it is important. But there is a whole other side to the question of what is literature that has been neglected here.
I want to stress, though, that though I admire the writing in Little House books, as a parent I am in a quandary about whether or how to share them with my son or other children. The beautiful words say some ugly things. I imagine we will read them together and talk about them. Even now when he is very young, we talk about how the "beautiful" words of advertizing say some ugly, untrue things. It's all a part of learning to live in a society, learning to understand the power of language to charm and hurt and communicate, all at the same time.
Lauren Thompson Senior Editor Scholastic Press New York, NY
Received on Thu 21 Oct 1999 01:40:25 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 14:40:25 -0400
and toss is about the whole book: overall writing, illustrating, theme, content, appropriateness to audience, etc., etc. All librarians and teachers are sifting and winnowing constantly as they improve their collections. Have you read the Wilder books? I just reread the first page of LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS to a teacher ... and I got chills because it was so beautifully written. "< -- Susan Daugherty
I am so glad to see this aspect of evaluating books come up in this discussion. 'What' a book says, and what kind of world it conjures, is of course extremely important in evaluating the worthiness of a book. But just as important must be 'how' the book says what it says. The Little House books are indeed beautifully written. As an editor and writer, I'm awed by the simplicity and emotional depth and perfect age-appropriateness of the language. And I have to admit that I did not find quite the same degree of sensitivity to a child's experience of the world, or the same consistency of language in The Birchbark House that I like to see in top-notch literature for children. Erdich's book is very good, and important, and enjoyable, and the whole discussion that his arisen around it is important. But there is a whole other side to the question of what is literature that has been neglected here.
I want to stress, though, that though I admire the writing in Little House books, as a parent I am in a quandary about whether or how to share them with my son or other children. The beautiful words say some ugly things. I imagine we will read them together and talk about them. Even now when he is very young, we talk about how the "beautiful" words of advertizing say some ugly, untrue things. It's all a part of learning to live in a society, learning to understand the power of language to charm and hurt and communicate, all at the same time.
Lauren Thompson Senior Editor Scholastic Press New York, NY
Received on Thu 21 Oct 1999 01:40:25 PM CDT
