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From: kathleen duey <kathleen>
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 20:44:38 -0700
Walter wrote,
"So, are these books more of a function of marketing than art? Focusing the package, the text, and the subject matter to fit a particular narrow focus? Don't some publishers have guidelines for writers in this category? I know they do for Early Readers. Does anyone think that this is a rather limiting approach? Or is it a necessity of the age we are trying to reach? "
Walter,
Glad to hear your voice here. And everyone else's. I have been skimming this discussion as I traveled. I hope I don't repeat what anyone else has said and apologize if I do.
I am drawn to this discussion because I am writing a quartet of fantasy books aimed at 2-3rd graders for Aladdin's Ready-For-Chapters line. They are packaged (oh! so beautifully) with gorgeous cover paintings and interior line art by the wonderful Omar Rayyan. Much of my work is middle grade historicals so I am delighted to be writing younger, and writing fantasy, for this project. It is a challenge to tell a simpler story in fewer words.
But, how few? And, really, how simple? And about that story---does anyone---*die*? Does the birth scene mention actual....unicorn....body parts?? Will the transformation at the end be seen as spiritual? Physical? Will children this age be able to really understand it?
Oh, these are the questions that keep authors confused.
And this one... Speaking at writers' conferences, I am nearly always cornered by some version of this: "Can you please define the reading levels that publishers use? Just the basic page length and reading and age levels and appropriate topics, vocabulary, and so on for each one?"
Well, I can recite the list of categories I have heard used over the years: Picture Book (Read Aloud and/or Read Alone); Board Book; Emergent Reader; First Reader; Easy Reader; Early Reader; Bridge Book; Early Chapter Book; Chapter Book; Middle Grade Chapter Book, Middle Grade Novel, Young YA, YA, Upper-YA, and recently, Teen.
But they don't want a list. They want *definitions*. Yack! I fidget at the podium and wish fervently that I had a satisfying answer--or even a useful one. Then I admit that I have learned these category names are used differently by different people or even by the same people at different times. And I don't know at what point/length/complexity/thematic juncture/vocab leap one category becomes the next. I don't know anyone who *does* know. I have never met anyone who has a prayer of knowing, not really, and I implore them-- if any of them ever does meet anyone who really seems to know--to email me instantly.
Then I try to give some quasi-helpful and very broad guidelines. Length, content and reading level all contribute, certainly, to the appeal of any book to any person. And YA is usually not appealing to emergent readers and vice versa. But travel even one inch past that so-general-as-to?-meaningless statement, and the lines begin to blur. Sounder is short. Harry Potter tends toward astounding length. At the beginning of my writing days, Patricia Giff's Polk Street School books were awakening publishers' awareness of the early chapterbook. Many are still modeled after them. Others vary hugely and are still marketed to the same audience.
Everyone here knows you can't really slot books, that kids read at very different levels of comprehension and decode print at very different rates and are interested in a range of things as diverse as can be imagined. Everyone knows every reader has moods and cravings, attractions and aversions that are entirely personal and that can change in seconds.
Everyone also knows that definitions of the subcategories of children's books are needed by publishers, marketers, teachers, librarians, school librarians, bookstore owners and parents... in order to make available to kids the books they are most likely to read and like.
But I think the blurring is unavoidable and *lovely*. And I think that one of the most important reading skills--along with all the usual skills--that ought to be taught to a child is...
Book-Gathering:
Pick up book or remove from shelf, selecting by any method that suits purpose, mood, whim, the collection at hand and available time. Open book. Smell book if so inclined. Focus eyes on first paragraph; read with attention. Pause if needed. Check internal gauges. Using data gathered, read second, then, maybe, the third paragraph. Maybe more. Maybe less. Your call. Study cover. Flip pages. Read at random if interested enough to do so. Check whole?ing response again. Read back cover copy if inclined. Pause whenever needed. Eventually and at own speed, decide to hold onto book for later reading or replace book on shelf. Glance back at available selections. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. etc.
Love and courage to all in these strange times. Kathleen
http://www.kathleenduey.com http://www.timesoldiers.com
Received on Tue 09 Oct 2001 10:44:38 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 20:44:38 -0700
Walter wrote,
"So, are these books more of a function of marketing than art? Focusing the package, the text, and the subject matter to fit a particular narrow focus? Don't some publishers have guidelines for writers in this category? I know they do for Early Readers. Does anyone think that this is a rather limiting approach? Or is it a necessity of the age we are trying to reach? "
Walter,
Glad to hear your voice here. And everyone else's. I have been skimming this discussion as I traveled. I hope I don't repeat what anyone else has said and apologize if I do.
I am drawn to this discussion because I am writing a quartet of fantasy books aimed at 2-3rd graders for Aladdin's Ready-For-Chapters line. They are packaged (oh! so beautifully) with gorgeous cover paintings and interior line art by the wonderful Omar Rayyan. Much of my work is middle grade historicals so I am delighted to be writing younger, and writing fantasy, for this project. It is a challenge to tell a simpler story in fewer words.
But, how few? And, really, how simple? And about that story---does anyone---*die*? Does the birth scene mention actual....unicorn....body parts?? Will the transformation at the end be seen as spiritual? Physical? Will children this age be able to really understand it?
Oh, these are the questions that keep authors confused.
And this one... Speaking at writers' conferences, I am nearly always cornered by some version of this: "Can you please define the reading levels that publishers use? Just the basic page length and reading and age levels and appropriate topics, vocabulary, and so on for each one?"
Well, I can recite the list of categories I have heard used over the years: Picture Book (Read Aloud and/or Read Alone); Board Book; Emergent Reader; First Reader; Easy Reader; Early Reader; Bridge Book; Early Chapter Book; Chapter Book; Middle Grade Chapter Book, Middle Grade Novel, Young YA, YA, Upper-YA, and recently, Teen.
But they don't want a list. They want *definitions*. Yack! I fidget at the podium and wish fervently that I had a satisfying answer--or even a useful one. Then I admit that I have learned these category names are used differently by different people or even by the same people at different times. And I don't know at what point/length/complexity/thematic juncture/vocab leap one category becomes the next. I don't know anyone who *does* know. I have never met anyone who has a prayer of knowing, not really, and I implore them-- if any of them ever does meet anyone who really seems to know--to email me instantly.
Then I try to give some quasi-helpful and very broad guidelines. Length, content and reading level all contribute, certainly, to the appeal of any book to any person. And YA is usually not appealing to emergent readers and vice versa. But travel even one inch past that so-general-as-to?-meaningless statement, and the lines begin to blur. Sounder is short. Harry Potter tends toward astounding length. At the beginning of my writing days, Patricia Giff's Polk Street School books were awakening publishers' awareness of the early chapterbook. Many are still modeled after them. Others vary hugely and are still marketed to the same audience.
Everyone here knows you can't really slot books, that kids read at very different levels of comprehension and decode print at very different rates and are interested in a range of things as diverse as can be imagined. Everyone knows every reader has moods and cravings, attractions and aversions that are entirely personal and that can change in seconds.
Everyone also knows that definitions of the subcategories of children's books are needed by publishers, marketers, teachers, librarians, school librarians, bookstore owners and parents... in order to make available to kids the books they are most likely to read and like.
But I think the blurring is unavoidable and *lovely*. And I think that one of the most important reading skills--along with all the usual skills--that ought to be taught to a child is...
Book-Gathering:
Pick up book or remove from shelf, selecting by any method that suits purpose, mood, whim, the collection at hand and available time. Open book. Smell book if so inclined. Focus eyes on first paragraph; read with attention. Pause if needed. Check internal gauges. Using data gathered, read second, then, maybe, the third paragraph. Maybe more. Maybe less. Your call. Study cover. Flip pages. Read at random if interested enough to do so. Check whole?ing response again. Read back cover copy if inclined. Pause whenever needed. Eventually and at own speed, decide to hold onto book for later reading or replace book on shelf. Glance back at available selections. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. etc.
Love and courage to all in these strange times. Kathleen
http://www.kathleenduey.com http://www.timesoldiers.com
Received on Tue 09 Oct 2001 10:44:38 PM CDT
