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Jim Murphy responds to Concerns about Blizzard!
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From: Hess, Dianne <DLHess>
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 17:31:19 -0500
As the editor of Blizzard! by Jim Murphy, I've been following the conversation regarding the Sibert Award and honor books with great interest. Blizzard! has been a very exciting book for our list. It has received 5 starred reviews, was an ALA Notable Book, and also, as you know, was named a Sibert Honor Book this year. We were all thrilled to learn of all of these great honors. And we've been equally thrilled by the enthusiastic responses of readers - both young and old. When I read about the concerns some of you were having, I passed them along to Jim. He dictated the following response to me over the phone:
"I wish I had e-mail, as I would love to chat personally with you. But since I don't, I'm sending my thoughts to you through my editor, Dianne Hess at Scholastic Press. I share your concerns regarding accuracy about attributing emotions to subjects of my nonfiction books - in particular, to Sara Wilson. I just want to assure you that I didn't invent anything -this was all based on records. I apologize if the bibliography isn't specific enough, as I tried to include all sources. This information comes from Albany and Buffalo newspaper accounts of her death, obituaries, and death notices. There were many witnesses - relatives who saw her off at the station, train passengers, and railroad personnel -- who observed Sara and were later interviewed. Before she left home, she had expressed anxiety about the trip to her family. After the accident, the railroad company did an inquiry in order to figure out why she was left behind to die. In doing so, there were records with material from which this section was culled. I hope this answers some of your questions."
Dianne Hess Executive Editor Scholastic Press 555 Broadway New York, NY 10012 Phone 21243D68 Fax 21243G13
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2001 08:26:01 00
From: "Megan Schliesman" <Schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Subject: Sibert and Documentation
Susan Faust, chair of the first Sibert Award Committee, is again having technical difficulties and asked me to post this message:
Faith raises an important issue regarding documentation in the passage in BLIZZARD that describes Sara Wilson's tragic train journey. How do we know that she was "a bundle of emotions" or that she tried to read but couldn't concentrate? Murphy's notes make it a federal project to track down the source(s), as Nina points out. We might engage in some conjecture about conjecture: What if there is no source, and Murphy is simply trying to put himself in Sara's place. We can't quite tell. If that is the case, then it is necessary to clearly delineate between fact and conjecture, something that Joan Dash does with ease and devotion in THE LONGITUDE PRIZE. At many points, where the historical record is nonexistent, she moves to conjecture to fill out the picture. When speaking of Harrison's education, she writes, "Perhaps the visiting clergyman gave him occasional lessons,"
(p. 14) or when writing of Harrison at sea, she writes, "We cannot suppose that the novelties of shipboard life were likely to make much of an impression" on him (p. 60).
She is always clear in the text about the source of facts (pamphlets of the day, manuscripts, local records, etc) and about what constitutes analytical leaps. She uses words like "perhaps" and "suppose" to tip us off.
Thus,
Dash provides both lessons in historiography and in critical
thinking-how
to evaluate sources, how to delineate fact from conjecture, and how
to make
lively and intelligent guesses about what might have been when the
record is
dry.
Faith's concern about how the Wilson episode is sourced serves as a
reminder
that no book is perfect and that it is important to weigh concerns in
the
context of an overall book. What is a small lapse versus what is a
pivotal
problem? There's no one right answer, but lots of well-grounded
(and
sometimes not so well-grounded) opinions. So Faith, thanks for posing a tough question. And please, more opinions.......
Susan Faust
Chair, 2001 Sibert Award
~ ~ ~
To send a reply to the entire CCBC-Net community,click on...
mailto:ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
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Received on Fri 09 Mar 2001 04:31:19 PM CST
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 17:31:19 -0500
As the editor of Blizzard! by Jim Murphy, I've been following the conversation regarding the Sibert Award and honor books with great interest. Blizzard! has been a very exciting book for our list. It has received 5 starred reviews, was an ALA Notable Book, and also, as you know, was named a Sibert Honor Book this year. We were all thrilled to learn of all of these great honors. And we've been equally thrilled by the enthusiastic responses of readers - both young and old. When I read about the concerns some of you were having, I passed them along to Jim. He dictated the following response to me over the phone:
"I wish I had e-mail, as I would love to chat personally with you. But since I don't, I'm sending my thoughts to you through my editor, Dianne Hess at Scholastic Press. I share your concerns regarding accuracy about attributing emotions to subjects of my nonfiction books - in particular, to Sara Wilson. I just want to assure you that I didn't invent anything -this was all based on records. I apologize if the bibliography isn't specific enough, as I tried to include all sources. This information comes from Albany and Buffalo newspaper accounts of her death, obituaries, and death notices. There were many witnesses - relatives who saw her off at the station, train passengers, and railroad personnel -- who observed Sara and were later interviewed. Before she left home, she had expressed anxiety about the trip to her family. After the accident, the railroad company did an inquiry in order to figure out why she was left behind to die. In doing so, there were records with material from which this section was culled. I hope this answers some of your questions."
Dianne Hess Executive Editor Scholastic Press 555 Broadway New York, NY 10012 Phone 21243D68 Fax 21243G13
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2001 08:26:01 00
From: "Megan Schliesman" <Schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Subject: Sibert and Documentation
Susan Faust, chair of the first Sibert Award Committee, is again having technical difficulties and asked me to post this message:
Faith raises an important issue regarding documentation in the passage in BLIZZARD that describes Sara Wilson's tragic train journey. How do we know that she was "a bundle of emotions" or that she tried to read but couldn't concentrate? Murphy's notes make it a federal project to track down the source(s), as Nina points out. We might engage in some conjecture about conjecture: What if there is no source, and Murphy is simply trying to put himself in Sara's place. We can't quite tell. If that is the case, then it is necessary to clearly delineate between fact and conjecture, something that Joan Dash does with ease and devotion in THE LONGITUDE PRIZE. At many points, where the historical record is nonexistent, she moves to conjecture to fill out the picture. When speaking of Harrison's education, she writes, "Perhaps the visiting clergyman gave him occasional lessons,"
(p. 14) or when writing of Harrison at sea, she writes, "We cannot suppose that the novelties of shipboard life were likely to make much of an impression" on him (p. 60).
She is always clear in the text about the source of facts (pamphlets of the day, manuscripts, local records, etc) and about what constitutes analytical leaps. She uses words like "perhaps" and "suppose" to tip us off.
Thus,
Dash provides both lessons in historiography and in critical
thinking-how
to evaluate sources, how to delineate fact from conjecture, and how
to make
lively and intelligent guesses about what might have been when the
record is
dry.
Faith's concern about how the Wilson episode is sourced serves as a
reminder
that no book is perfect and that it is important to weigh concerns in
the
context of an overall book. What is a small lapse versus what is a
pivotal
problem? There's no one right answer, but lots of well-grounded
(and
sometimes not so well-grounded) opinions. So Faith, thanks for posing a tough question. And please, more opinions.......
Susan Faust
Chair, 2001 Sibert Award
~ ~ ~
To send a reply to the entire CCBC-Net community,click on...
mailto:ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
To send a request to remove your address from the mailing list, click on...
mailto:ccbc-net-unsub at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 09 Mar 2001 04:31:19 PM CST
