CCBC-Net Archives
His Dark Materials
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 09:41:04 -0500
Kathy Isaacs wrote:
"At least in the words on the page, Lyra and Will are as chaste as we could wish any 14-year-old couple to be, though realistically aware of the sexual attraction. Besides all its other attractions, this is a moving first-love story, describing another important part of growing up."
Pullman's handling of Lyra and Will's maturing relationship is one of the many many things I admired about the Pullman series. one can read as much or as little as experience dictates into what Lyra and Will's relationship has developed into, but it is wholly chaste and powerful and moving on the page--any young teen who has fallen "in love" will believe they are seeing what they know personally in Lyra and Will. A younger reader will take everything at literal value and it works that way.
These are books that have a wide age range of readers. Not just young adults, but children as young as 8 or 9, have been captured by them. I doubt Pullman was thinking of this consciously as he wrote (it seems to me that would be paralyzing for an author) and yet the stories work for readers across these ages. These are books that many young readers will no doubt return to over and over again, gaining new insights as they gain greater understanding and experience in life. One parent I know of said he appreciated that fact that these books offered his child (who is, I believe, 8) the opportunity to stretch as a reader/listener. And if the books are too far out of a child's comfort zone-?manding that she or he stretch too far,, whether because of complexity of plot, theme, language, or content--we know such a child will most likely choose to put them down, perhaps to pick up some other time. For those who find the stretch a comfortable one, they have the opportunity to engage with complex characters and situations that will challenge them to think more deeply even as they enjoy the rousing adventure aspects of the plot.
I find Pullman's comment that he is surprised when he sees the books classified as "fantasy" of interest, because for all that he is writing of parallel worlds and events that seem to belong in the realm of the imagination, his narrative is rooted in the joy and tragedy of our humanness, which is not necessarily easily drawn or understood in real life or in the books, and I think many children realize this early on. I imagine young readers are fascinated by daemons--which seem to belong to the realm of fantasy in their literal manifestation if not their symbolic one, yet I also imagine many children innately understand daemons as manifestations of self the same way an imaginary fried might have been when they were younger, or in the same way they feel attachment to another person or thing. There is more going on with daemons in Pullman's world that older children and teen readers also undetrstand, but for any reader there is a point of connection and entry enabling them to understand the heartwrenching tragedy and cruelty that is almost beyond belief in separating a child from her or his daemon.
I appreciated hearing from Sharon Grover how the teen readers in her library responded to the books. I'd love to hear from others about the responses of both children and teens to the complex and challening content of these stories. How do readers engage with the themes of these books? How do young readers perceive daemons? What of people like Mrs. Coulter who seem so bad and yet do something good in the end?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education UW-Madison 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 04 May 2001 09:41:04 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 09:41:04 -0500
Kathy Isaacs wrote:
"At least in the words on the page, Lyra and Will are as chaste as we could wish any 14-year-old couple to be, though realistically aware of the sexual attraction. Besides all its other attractions, this is a moving first-love story, describing another important part of growing up."
Pullman's handling of Lyra and Will's maturing relationship is one of the many many things I admired about the Pullman series. one can read as much or as little as experience dictates into what Lyra and Will's relationship has developed into, but it is wholly chaste and powerful and moving on the page--any young teen who has fallen "in love" will believe they are seeing what they know personally in Lyra and Will. A younger reader will take everything at literal value and it works that way.
These are books that have a wide age range of readers. Not just young adults, but children as young as 8 or 9, have been captured by them. I doubt Pullman was thinking of this consciously as he wrote (it seems to me that would be paralyzing for an author) and yet the stories work for readers across these ages. These are books that many young readers will no doubt return to over and over again, gaining new insights as they gain greater understanding and experience in life. One parent I know of said he appreciated that fact that these books offered his child (who is, I believe, 8) the opportunity to stretch as a reader/listener. And if the books are too far out of a child's comfort zone-?manding that she or he stretch too far,, whether because of complexity of plot, theme, language, or content--we know such a child will most likely choose to put them down, perhaps to pick up some other time. For those who find the stretch a comfortable one, they have the opportunity to engage with complex characters and situations that will challenge them to think more deeply even as they enjoy the rousing adventure aspects of the plot.
I find Pullman's comment that he is surprised when he sees the books classified as "fantasy" of interest, because for all that he is writing of parallel worlds and events that seem to belong in the realm of the imagination, his narrative is rooted in the joy and tragedy of our humanness, which is not necessarily easily drawn or understood in real life or in the books, and I think many children realize this early on. I imagine young readers are fascinated by daemons--which seem to belong to the realm of fantasy in their literal manifestation if not their symbolic one, yet I also imagine many children innately understand daemons as manifestations of self the same way an imaginary fried might have been when they were younger, or in the same way they feel attachment to another person or thing. There is more going on with daemons in Pullman's world that older children and teen readers also undetrstand, but for any reader there is a point of connection and entry enabling them to understand the heartwrenching tragedy and cruelty that is almost beyond belief in separating a child from her or his daemon.
I appreciated hearing from Sharon Grover how the teen readers in her library responded to the books. I'd love to hear from others about the responses of both children and teens to the complex and challening content of these stories. How do readers engage with the themes of these books? How do young readers perceive daemons? What of people like Mrs. Coulter who seem so bad and yet do something good in the end?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education UW-Madison 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 04 May 2001 09:41:04 AM CDT
