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[CCBC-Net] Why Fantasy Now? (My Two Word Answer and then a ve
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From: Lyn Jones <ljones>
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 07:16:01 -0500
As a junior high English teacher, I scoffed at fantasy before HP. I think it's something we were taught - like it wasn't valued literature. Sad.
I have since picked up on the fantasy "fascination." My Gifted and Talented 8th graders come to me having read HP or are still reading HP. Building/bridging on that excitement, I have created a Medieval Literary Unit using many fantasy and historical medieval fiction, eventually leading my students into reading Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. It is an amazing adventure we take and one of my kids favorite literary studies all year.
Lyn Jones Fishers Junior High School, Fishers, Indiana
-----Original Message---- From: Monica R. Edinger
[mailto:edinger at dalton.org]
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2001 4:11 PM
To: ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu
Subject: [CCBC-Net] Why Fantasy Now? (My Two Word Answer and then a very long Explanation for It)
Ginny writes, "There's a resurgence of interest in fantasy literature.
Why?"
Hope you don't mind my jumping in, but this is my favorite genre and I've
been using it with kids as long as I've been teaching. And here is my two
word answer: Harry Potter.
Now for my very long explanation.
BH (Before Harry), I observed a very negative attitude towards fantasy
literature among those involved in elementary education. The 1980s were a
very exciting time to be a teacher as we dropped basal readers and
lockstep writing programs and replaced them with literature?sed reading
instruction and process writing. However, the leaders of this movement did
not embrace all literature equally and the preferred genres were poetry,
realistic fiction and personal narrative. I went to many conferences and
workshops run by headliners in this movement and there was never, NEVER
anything on fantasy. I remember discovering one workshop on fiction among
over one hundred on other topics at a Teachers College Writing Project
conference and then being incredibly disappointed when it was only about
writing realistic fiction. At that time, the experts seems to feel there
was nothing worse than kids writing fantasy. When I tried to find out why
this was, I usually discovered that the leaders disliked fantasy
themselves so they did not promote it in their own professional talks and
writing. One fabulous fifth grade teacher told me that she did not allow
her students to write fantasy within the writing workshop because they
"couldn't control it." A second grade teacher friend of mine who did a
lot of wonderful work with fairy tales was told by a literacy guru that
she should NEVER EVER use fairy tales with kids that age; only realistic
literature. (Frustrated at this marginalization of fantasy
, BH I wrote a
book for Scholastic called Fantasy Literature in the Elementary Classroom.
It went out of print, but AH, I was invited to do a new edition which has
just come out under a the title, Using Beloved Classics to Deepen Reading
Comprehension. Evidently they felt it would sell better without fantasy
in the title. So it seems that the BH skittishness about fantasy is not
gone completely, even with Harry's own publisher!)
The other problem, BH, was that many were either personally uncomfortable
with fantasy for religious reasons or concerned about not offending those
in their community who were. In 1994 I began working with Scholastic
Network. I led many projects for teachers and their classes including
several involving fantasy literature. I recollect several teachers
telling me that they could not participate in one on The Wizard of Oz
because they could not use the book for fear of alienating some members of
their communities. I also recollect Jane Yolen, who was involved with
Scholastic Network at the time, telling of the banning of her books by
religious groups. Teachers (and publishers for that matter) who wanted to
avoid controversy steered clear of fantasy.
And then along came Harry. I first learned of Harry Potter by way of a
brief reference to it shortly before its pub date in New York Magazine.
That adult writer's comment was that it probably wouldn't succeed here
because it was too British. But, guess what? Surprise, surprise:
American kids liked it. Quite a lot as we know now. And that is one of
my favorite things about Harry Potter. All those adults who so disliked
fantasy, who had avoided from writing fantasy, who avoided it as much as
possible had to give in to a bunch of kids! (Of course, the grownups then
saw a good thing and tried to take it over, but that is another story.)
And once Harry took off, there was an interest in what else there was for
kids who loved Harry. Great to see the new Christomansi editions as well
as Enchantress from the Stars, but would they be around without Harry? I
wonder.
Monica
Monica Edinger
The Dalton School
New York NY
edinger at dalton.org
monicaedinger at yahoo.com
~ ~ ~
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...
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Received on Mon 05 Nov 2001 06:16:01 AM CST
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 07:16:01 -0500
As a junior high English teacher, I scoffed at fantasy before HP. I think it's something we were taught - like it wasn't valued literature. Sad.
I have since picked up on the fantasy "fascination." My Gifted and Talented 8th graders come to me having read HP or are still reading HP. Building/bridging on that excitement, I have created a Medieval Literary Unit using many fantasy and historical medieval fiction, eventually leading my students into reading Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. It is an amazing adventure we take and one of my kids favorite literary studies all year.
Lyn Jones Fishers Junior High School, Fishers, Indiana
-----Original Message---- From: Monica R. Edinger
[mailto:edinger at dalton.org]
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2001 4:11 PM
To: ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu
Subject: [CCBC-Net] Why Fantasy Now? (My Two Word Answer and then a very long Explanation for It)
Ginny writes, "There's a resurgence of interest in fantasy literature.
Why?"
Hope you don't mind my jumping in, but this is my favorite genre and I've
been using it with kids as long as I've been teaching. And here is my two
word answer: Harry Potter.
Now for my very long explanation.
BH (Before Harry), I observed a very negative attitude towards fantasy
literature among those involved in elementary education. The 1980s were a
very exciting time to be a teacher as we dropped basal readers and
lockstep writing programs and replaced them with literature?sed reading
instruction and process writing. However, the leaders of this movement did
not embrace all literature equally and the preferred genres were poetry,
realistic fiction and personal narrative. I went to many conferences and
workshops run by headliners in this movement and there was never, NEVER
anything on fantasy. I remember discovering one workshop on fiction among
over one hundred on other topics at a Teachers College Writing Project
conference and then being incredibly disappointed when it was only about
writing realistic fiction. At that time, the experts seems to feel there
was nothing worse than kids writing fantasy. When I tried to find out why
this was, I usually discovered that the leaders disliked fantasy
themselves so they did not promote it in their own professional talks and
writing. One fabulous fifth grade teacher told me that she did not allow
her students to write fantasy within the writing workshop because they
"couldn't control it." A second grade teacher friend of mine who did a
lot of wonderful work with fairy tales was told by a literacy guru that
she should NEVER EVER use fairy tales with kids that age; only realistic
literature. (Frustrated at this marginalization of fantasy
, BH I wrote a
book for Scholastic called Fantasy Literature in the Elementary Classroom.
It went out of print, but AH, I was invited to do a new edition which has
just come out under a the title, Using Beloved Classics to Deepen Reading
Comprehension. Evidently they felt it would sell better without fantasy
in the title. So it seems that the BH skittishness about fantasy is not
gone completely, even with Harry's own publisher!)
The other problem, BH, was that many were either personally uncomfortable
with fantasy for religious reasons or concerned about not offending those
in their community who were. In 1994 I began working with Scholastic
Network. I led many projects for teachers and their classes including
several involving fantasy literature. I recollect several teachers
telling me that they could not participate in one on The Wizard of Oz
because they could not use the book for fear of alienating some members of
their communities. I also recollect Jane Yolen, who was involved with
Scholastic Network at the time, telling of the banning of her books by
religious groups. Teachers (and publishers for that matter) who wanted to
avoid controversy steered clear of fantasy.
And then along came Harry. I first learned of Harry Potter by way of a
brief reference to it shortly before its pub date in New York Magazine.
That adult writer's comment was that it probably wouldn't succeed here
because it was too British. But, guess what? Surprise, surprise:
American kids liked it. Quite a lot as we know now. And that is one of
my favorite things about Harry Potter. All those adults who so disliked
fantasy, who had avoided from writing fantasy, who avoided it as much as
possible had to give in to a bunch of kids! (Of course, the grownups then
saw a good thing and tried to take it over, but that is another story.)
And once Harry took off, there was an interest in what else there was for
kids who loved Harry. Great to see the new Christomansi editions as well
as Enchantress from the Stars, but would they be around without Harry? I
wonder.
Monica
Monica Edinger
The Dalton School
New York NY
edinger at dalton.org
monicaedinger at yahoo.com
~ ~ ~
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 Mon 05 Nov 2001 06:16:01 AM CST
