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From: Aptimber at aol.com <Aptimber>
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 09:41:47 EST
Hi everyone - I thought I'd make a few comments. This is so interesting!
First -- It's often true that history, nonfiction (as opposed to "creative nonfiction" -- might as well toss that term in), and biographies are often presented as "the truth." But anything that is written comes through a person -- it is filtered and changed. One of my mentors, a history professor, kept a big poster on his office wall that quoted Oscar Wilde (I believe): "History is merely gossip." I try to keep this in mind when I'm working on historical information for children.
Another professor of mine asked us if we kept journals, and then asked us if we ever read our old journal entries and wondered what that old entry was about. We all nodded. And then he asked the next question -- if we are unable to interpret our own journal entries, how could a biographer understand what we were thinking when we wrote the entry? Anyway, there's an exercise in this somewhere that could probably be adapted for kids. (This is also interesting because even when writing their own autobiography, a writer is still filtering their story through memory, or their old journal. The past is pretty slippery.)
One of my pet peeves in historical writing for children is when the historian
makes a big assumption from primary material and does not clearly show the child reader that this is an assumption. The historian writes the assumption like fact. This is fine for adults -- and historians do it all the time -- but it is not fine for children. One series I really like is A HISTORY OF US by Joy Hakim because she asks questions where there are questions, instead of assuming. And she also shows the process of putting together the history itself by making herself, the historian, a sort of character in her histories. She's a narrator, a guide and a funny person. (You can also see this in adult histories. See Natalie Zemon Davis, THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE and Carlo Ginzburg, THE CHEESE AND THE WORMS.)
Second -- about biographies of unknown people: Drawing from my experience as a childrens bookseller, and my own experience as a reader, it is definitely possible to get children and adults to read biographies of unknowns. It's an issue of communication. I can't tell you how often as a childrens bookseller, parents would sit on the floor in the biography section and help their child pick a book. They'd pick the book up. Look at the cover. And give their child a synopsis. And that was it. So, I honestly think that the jacket design (intriguing photo, great art) and the title are extremely important. I think the title should communicate the crux of the story if possible.
As a reader myself, the story is very important to me. (I also pick up books because of cover art -- I admit it). And when I'm at a book store, it's usually at the end of a long day. So I want to know, without a lot of effort, why this person is interesting. (I will read an opening paragraph, the front and back flaps too.) And if I think, "Wow, I've never heard of something like this," or "Could that really have happened?" or "She lived like that?" -- I'm hooked. It doesn't matter that I'm not a science person and the biography is about a scientist. I will read almost anything. For me, it's all about story.
Enough! Thanks for your time!
Amy Timberlake
Received on Fri 03 Nov 2000 08:41:47 AM CST
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 09:41:47 EST
Hi everyone - I thought I'd make a few comments. This is so interesting!
First -- It's often true that history, nonfiction (as opposed to "creative nonfiction" -- might as well toss that term in), and biographies are often presented as "the truth." But anything that is written comes through a person -- it is filtered and changed. One of my mentors, a history professor, kept a big poster on his office wall that quoted Oscar Wilde (I believe): "History is merely gossip." I try to keep this in mind when I'm working on historical information for children.
Another professor of mine asked us if we kept journals, and then asked us if we ever read our old journal entries and wondered what that old entry was about. We all nodded. And then he asked the next question -- if we are unable to interpret our own journal entries, how could a biographer understand what we were thinking when we wrote the entry? Anyway, there's an exercise in this somewhere that could probably be adapted for kids. (This is also interesting because even when writing their own autobiography, a writer is still filtering their story through memory, or their old journal. The past is pretty slippery.)
One of my pet peeves in historical writing for children is when the historian
makes a big assumption from primary material and does not clearly show the child reader that this is an assumption. The historian writes the assumption like fact. This is fine for adults -- and historians do it all the time -- but it is not fine for children. One series I really like is A HISTORY OF US by Joy Hakim because she asks questions where there are questions, instead of assuming. And she also shows the process of putting together the history itself by making herself, the historian, a sort of character in her histories. She's a narrator, a guide and a funny person. (You can also see this in adult histories. See Natalie Zemon Davis, THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE and Carlo Ginzburg, THE CHEESE AND THE WORMS.)
Second -- about biographies of unknown people: Drawing from my experience as a childrens bookseller, and my own experience as a reader, it is definitely possible to get children and adults to read biographies of unknowns. It's an issue of communication. I can't tell you how often as a childrens bookseller, parents would sit on the floor in the biography section and help their child pick a book. They'd pick the book up. Look at the cover. And give their child a synopsis. And that was it. So, I honestly think that the jacket design (intriguing photo, great art) and the title are extremely important. I think the title should communicate the crux of the story if possible.
As a reader myself, the story is very important to me. (I also pick up books because of cover art -- I admit it). And when I'm at a book store, it's usually at the end of a long day. So I want to know, without a lot of effort, why this person is interesting. (I will read an opening paragraph, the front and back flaps too.) And if I think, "Wow, I've never heard of something like this," or "Could that really have happened?" or "She lived like that?" -- I'm hooked. It doesn't matter that I'm not a science person and the biography is about a scientist. I will read almost anything. For me, it's all about story.
Enough! Thanks for your time!
Amy Timberlake
Received on Fri 03 Nov 2000 08:41:47 AM CST
