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Pinkwater, etc.
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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 12:33:14 -0500
Reading Daniel Pinkwater's comments jogged a memory:
I'd have to say one of the big, early literary influences on my daughter's life was Daniel Pinkwater's Fat Men from Space. She is heading off to art school this fall, but ever since she was old enough to stand up, she had an art table full of watercolor paints, colored pencils, blank books, and bookmaking supplies. And the first real book she made was "Fat Men Come to Eaglebrook." I had read aloud Fat Men from Space, and she adapted the story for the boarding school where we were living and working. She must have been about four years old, so her drawings naturally had an alien quality anyway, perfectly suiting her subject, and she dictated the story to me. We still have that book in a box in the attic, and since Daniel Pinkwater seems to be lurking out there, I can say, "Thanks for your book and it's place in my daughter's life."
Since we seem to be moving on from humor & satire to other types of humorous writing, I'll say two of my favorite writers who use humor well in telling stories with some serious themes are Jack Gantos and Joan Bauer. The Joey Pigza books have so many funny scenes that they beg to be read aloud. If you're going on a long car trip, you've got to listen to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. My wife laughed so hard during the Amish scene she was in tears. Fortunately, I was the one driving. And yet, as Daniel Pinkwater says, it's not humor put there just to make you laugh; it's part and parcel of the whole fabric of the story, one way that character and story are being drawn. The humor, ironically, adds poignancy to the stories. And Gantos' new book, Hole in My Life, is a must read for older YA and adult readers. It's a quite serious story, but again told with the author's sure humorous touch. Joan Bauer's books work similarly. Hope Was Here is my favorite of hers, but I like them all, including Stand Tall, coming out in September.
Looking around my office here, I spot Deborah Hopkinson's Fannie in the Kitchen, my favorite picture book from last year (with a good pancake recipe, too). The story itself is a fictional biography of Fannie Farmer, the Boston Cooking School cook and author of the classic cookbooks. Nancy Carpenter's great illustrations humorously complement and extend the text. Look closely and you see young Marcia Shaw's scowls reflected in the water glasses, Mama licking her plate, the baby carriage rolling out of control down the hill, the cat with a pancake flipped onto its head. Kids love hearing the story and looking for the funny things happening in the illustrations.
My 15-year-old son came in, so I asked him about books he can think of that are humorous. (He's a big reader.) He said, "Dunno." There you have it.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Sat 04 May 2002 12:33:14 PM CDT
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 12:33:14 -0500
Reading Daniel Pinkwater's comments jogged a memory:
I'd have to say one of the big, early literary influences on my daughter's life was Daniel Pinkwater's Fat Men from Space. She is heading off to art school this fall, but ever since she was old enough to stand up, she had an art table full of watercolor paints, colored pencils, blank books, and bookmaking supplies. And the first real book she made was "Fat Men Come to Eaglebrook." I had read aloud Fat Men from Space, and she adapted the story for the boarding school where we were living and working. She must have been about four years old, so her drawings naturally had an alien quality anyway, perfectly suiting her subject, and she dictated the story to me. We still have that book in a box in the attic, and since Daniel Pinkwater seems to be lurking out there, I can say, "Thanks for your book and it's place in my daughter's life."
Since we seem to be moving on from humor & satire to other types of humorous writing, I'll say two of my favorite writers who use humor well in telling stories with some serious themes are Jack Gantos and Joan Bauer. The Joey Pigza books have so many funny scenes that they beg to be read aloud. If you're going on a long car trip, you've got to listen to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. My wife laughed so hard during the Amish scene she was in tears. Fortunately, I was the one driving. And yet, as Daniel Pinkwater says, it's not humor put there just to make you laugh; it's part and parcel of the whole fabric of the story, one way that character and story are being drawn. The humor, ironically, adds poignancy to the stories. And Gantos' new book, Hole in My Life, is a must read for older YA and adult readers. It's a quite serious story, but again told with the author's sure humorous touch. Joan Bauer's books work similarly. Hope Was Here is my favorite of hers, but I like them all, including Stand Tall, coming out in September.
Looking around my office here, I spot Deborah Hopkinson's Fannie in the Kitchen, my favorite picture book from last year (with a good pancake recipe, too). The story itself is a fictional biography of Fannie Farmer, the Boston Cooking School cook and author of the classic cookbooks. Nancy Carpenter's great illustrations humorously complement and extend the text. Look closely and you see young Marcia Shaw's scowls reflected in the water glasses, Mama licking her plate, the baby carriage rolling out of control down the hill, the cat with a pancake flipped onto its head. Kids love hearing the story and looking for the funny things happening in the illustrations.
My 15-year-old son came in, so I asked him about books he can think of that are humorous. (He's a big reader.) He said, "Dunno." There you have it.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Sat 04 May 2002 12:33:14 PM CDT