From: Judith Ridge <Judith.Ridge>
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 10:02:50 +1000

On 1/10/04 5:20 AM, "Jennifer Ann Donelan" wrote:


Perhaps the long-standing popularity of the school book has something to do with the large cast of characters and various relationships available to the author, in a setting familiar to many readers. This may account for the many books that more or less present a recognisable school experience, but it also offers the author an opportunity to play with the conventions. I've recently read the first of Louis Sachar's Wayside School books, and in this, the recognisable school milieu allows Sachar to really play with the
"typical" day-to?y school experience to great (whacky!) comic effect. You might even say David Levithan does something similar in Boy Meets Boy, in service of his pro-tolerance vision (actually, it goes way beyond mere
"tolerance", which I think is part of the delight this book offers).

I certainly appreciate the need for books to represent the experience of home schooling and alternative education; sadly, the only one I can think of is "Alice, I Think", which I found irritating from beginning to finish and a TERRIBLE advertisement for the benefits of homeschooling!

Judith



Judith Ridge Editorial Staff The School Magazine PO Box 1928 Macquarie Centre NSW 2113 AUSTRALIA
+61 2 9889 0044 (ph)
+61 2 9889 0040 (fax)
 


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Received on Thu 30 Sep 2004 07:02:50 PM CDT