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Popular Culture and Literature for Children and
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From: Hollis Rudiger <hmrudiger>
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 10:35:01 -0500
I am looking forward to this month's discussion, and for me, the questions on this topic have more to do with my personal values and how I see myself as an educator and my responsibilities to kids and learning.
One part of me loathes the materialism and consumer madness that book tie ins create, and and another part of me recognizes that with kids and reading, "Whatever it Takes" is a useful motto. My question is, to what extent I should be trying to overcome or thwart the monster, and to what extent should I figure out ways to appropriate the frenzy for stuff to subvert the money scheme and promote the mind scheme.
I think I'm less bothered by stuff inspired by books than I am books inspired by stuff. For example, characters like Arthur, Olivia, Harry Potter... the lunch boxes and pajamas bother me less because at the root, there is good writing. Whether kids read because they have seen the action figures, or they buy action figures to reinforce the relationships they have with characters is unimportant.
But when books are written badly, quickly, thoughtlessly to promote the purchasing of existing product (whether it's a toy or Madonna...) and they, as Megan wrote, take up space on the shelves in bookstores, I am highly bothered.
Ultimately, I think it is my job to find, read, promote the best books, but be up on pop culture, at least enough to know what kids are into. Being able to tell a kid that the plot of a novel is a lot like Dragonball Z is very handy! Ancd being able to have an intelligent discussion about the differences bewteen the HP books and movies is also valuable. (And as an aside, I have yet to meet a HP reader who is satisfied by the movies-- That should be the goal, to write so well, that movies seem BOOOOOO-RING!
Hollis Margaret Rudiger, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706
hmrudiger at education.wisc.edu Voice: 608&3930 Fax: 608&2I33 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
This month on CCBC-Net, we are looking at popular culture and children's and young adult literature. From TV Tie-Ins to plush toys, instant messaging to emoticons, literature for children and young adults is connected in numerous ways to popular culture. We'll explore way book and publishing today reflect popular culture, and sometimes play a part in defining it.
How have you seen popular culture affect or influcence children's and young adult literature? How have you seen it influence the reading, or reading habits, of children and young adults?
For me, one obvious answer to the first question is visible every time I walk into the children's department of a large bookstore and am overwhemed by the tv-ties, celebrity books, and books related to the whatever holiday is coming up next. Popular culture is highly visible, rendering so many more substantial books invisible, and often unavailable, on the shelves.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
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Received on Thu 08 Jul 2004 10:35:01 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 10:35:01 -0500
I am looking forward to this month's discussion, and for me, the questions on this topic have more to do with my personal values and how I see myself as an educator and my responsibilities to kids and learning.
One part of me loathes the materialism and consumer madness that book tie ins create, and and another part of me recognizes that with kids and reading, "Whatever it Takes" is a useful motto. My question is, to what extent I should be trying to overcome or thwart the monster, and to what extent should I figure out ways to appropriate the frenzy for stuff to subvert the money scheme and promote the mind scheme.
I think I'm less bothered by stuff inspired by books than I am books inspired by stuff. For example, characters like Arthur, Olivia, Harry Potter... the lunch boxes and pajamas bother me less because at the root, there is good writing. Whether kids read because they have seen the action figures, or they buy action figures to reinforce the relationships they have with characters is unimportant.
But when books are written badly, quickly, thoughtlessly to promote the purchasing of existing product (whether it's a toy or Madonna...) and they, as Megan wrote, take up space on the shelves in bookstores, I am highly bothered.
Ultimately, I think it is my job to find, read, promote the best books, but be up on pop culture, at least enough to know what kids are into. Being able to tell a kid that the plot of a novel is a lot like Dragonball Z is very handy! Ancd being able to have an intelligent discussion about the differences bewteen the HP books and movies is also valuable. (And as an aside, I have yet to meet a HP reader who is satisfied by the movies-- That should be the goal, to write so well, that movies seem BOOOOOO-RING!
Hollis Margaret Rudiger, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706
hmrudiger at education.wisc.edu Voice: 608&3930 Fax: 608&2I33 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
This month on CCBC-Net, we are looking at popular culture and children's and young adult literature. From TV Tie-Ins to plush toys, instant messaging to emoticons, literature for children and young adults is connected in numerous ways to popular culture. We'll explore way book and publishing today reflect popular culture, and sometimes play a part in defining it.
How have you seen popular culture affect or influcence children's and young adult literature? How have you seen it influence the reading, or reading habits, of children and young adults?
For me, one obvious answer to the first question is visible every time I walk into the children's department of a large bookstore and am overwhemed by the tv-ties, celebrity books, and books related to the whatever holiday is coming up next. Popular culture is highly visible, rendering so many more substantial books invisible, and often unavailable, on the shelves.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
~ ~ ~ To reply to the entire CCBC-Net community, send a message to...
ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
To remove your address from the mailing list, send a message to...
listserv at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
...and type the following command in the body...
unsub ccbc-net
Received on Thu 08 Jul 2004 10:35:01 AM CDT
