From: Patrick Jones <thingschangenovel>
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 14:37:26 -0700 (PDT)

I had once had a political science professor who said that "where you stand depends upon where you sit" - if I was a teacher in the classroom, I might see the value of The Teacher's Funeral, but I'm not.
  And while it might be the purpose of great literature (and again, that's not my area of interest) to transport people, but if they don't get past page one, they ain't going nowhere.
  Yes, historical fiction is a vehicle that does that, but every reading interest survey of teens I've seen (or conducted) show this genre low, lower, and lowest on the list of what teens will select to read on their own.
  Thus, we are back to the question: can a book be "great" if no one reads it? unless they are I also don't put a lot of faith in this line of thinking: " solid reviews certainly indicate that adults like it and think young readers will too" since too often those who review materials for the youth audience really don't consider the intended audience. Just because adults love a teen novel rarely has anything to do with if teens will love it, or think it is a good book. Of if they hate it, that teens won't flock to it because for them it is relevant.
  I haven't read Mr Cart's column, so I won't comment on it. I will say, however, that the key to teen reading, IMO, is relevance to inner life. That doesn't mean just realistic fiction: speculative fiction can do that, historical fiction can do that; my point was The Teacher's Funeral doesn't do that, so while it is nicely written, it isn't great and my subjective opinion is that teens won't find it the least bit funny. But because it is Richard Peck we'll buy it, award it, star review it, and call it great. That's where I stand.
  pj
 
 

Robin Smith wrote: Dean Schneider writing from Robin Smith's e-mail address:
  Patrick Jones questions the humor and relevance of The Teacher's Funeral for today's
"hip hop infused teen culture." I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Like Patrick, I'm a book reviewer, and I reviewed The Teacher's Funeral and found it
, as I said before, to be funny, nicely written, and a great book. It's really for a middle school audience, though I'm sure the author would hope it would "cross over" for YA and adults. Its solid reviews certainly indicate that adults like it and think young readers will too.
  I'm not quite sure what to make of your "hip hop infused teen culture," Patrick. It seems to me that the point of all great literature is to take readers out of their own world into other worlds, and as Michael Cart said in this month's Booklist magazine,
 "And that, of course, is why it's so important for those citizens called
'adolescents,' 'teenagers,' and 'young adults' to read. Because they are the quintessential solipsists; they, more than anybody else, need to be transported outside of themselves." I'd be horrified to see young adults reading only books that reflect their own world back at them. Historical fiction, fantasy, and other genres offer transportation to other worlds, other points of view necessary for growing up, and if they're written we ll, they offer fun along the way.
  Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee schneiderd at some.place



Patrick Jones Things Change: A teen novel (Walker, 2004) http://www.connectingya.com/thingschange.html

                
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Received on Wed 29 Sep 2004 04:37:26 PM CDT