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flb books
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From: Steward, Celeste <csteward>
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 08:45:48 -0700
Amen, Benita...great post!
Message----From: Benita Strnad [mailto:bstrnad at bama.ua.edu] Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 7:33 AM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: [ccbc-net] flb books
I work in a university library in the curriculum materials center. I have not read a single one of Block's books, and am not likely to do so. I do have the books in our young adult collection. I have university age students (18 - 24) who work for me. There is no way I can read all the books I want to read in my lifetime so about five years ago I asked two of the students who work in our library to read Weetzie Bat. To be utterly frank, the book and its cover (thanks for mentioning the cover design in a previous e-mail) did not really appeal to me, but thought the books would have more appeal to younger people. Both students read the book and it turned out that they like it. One more than the other, but the reviews by these students was thumbs up. Here is the reason why.
One of the girls is a computer geek. Her reaction to the book was that at last there was a book about her world. I assumed that she meant the world in which she lived with her other computer geek friends. They play computer games, about which fantasy baseball was the most socially acceptable game. She had more than a few friends who smoked a little MJ and some of these friends were affluent. She went on to say that the characters in the book were characters to who she could relate. That seemed like an endorsement to me, and from time-to-time since then I have recommended this book to student teachers (of all ages) looking for things to read that might put them in touch with students in their classrooms. Both students told me that they thought the book had elements of fantasy in them, but that most readers would be able to pick those out. Neither student said anything about self?sorption or unrealistic expectations of the characters. As an aside, both students warned me that this book had potential to be controversial.
Frankly, I read many young adult books that I find trite, uninteresting, and unrealistic and yet young adults like these books. They may not be literature that I like and do not choose to read, but there is an audience for these books. Block's books have been on many award lists, so somebody out there thinks they have some literary value. (Being liked by the public at large is not a ringing endorsement for anything, but it is some kind of validation.) They may not be describing a culture to which I can relate, but again somebody is buying these books. People generally don't buy things that they don't like. I realize that quality literature is not judged on the number of books that are sold, but then sometimes the literary critics get things wrong. Didn't you ever wonder why "Little House on the Prairie" never won a Newbery Medal? My point is that sometimes we have to let the buying public decide if some literary works have value. If that is a transient value - so?-it. Time will tell if the books have transcendent value.
For now I know that a certain sub-set of teens like these books because they can relate to them. That is enough reason for me to put them on my shelf. Much the same as my reasoning why libraries should have "Sweet Valley High" and those (in my opinion) trite and over-rated "Traveling Pants" books.
Benita Strnad
Curriculum Materials Librarian
McLure Education Library
The University of Alabama
A can of paint always has
more in it than you need,
and it lives with you for
the rest of your life.
James Stevenson
poet
Received on Fri 10 Jun 2005 10:45:48 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 08:45:48 -0700
Amen, Benita...great post!
Message----From: Benita Strnad [mailto:bstrnad at bama.ua.edu] Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 7:33 AM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: [ccbc-net] flb books
I work in a university library in the curriculum materials center. I have not read a single one of Block's books, and am not likely to do so. I do have the books in our young adult collection. I have university age students (18 - 24) who work for me. There is no way I can read all the books I want to read in my lifetime so about five years ago I asked two of the students who work in our library to read Weetzie Bat. To be utterly frank, the book and its cover (thanks for mentioning the cover design in a previous e-mail) did not really appeal to me, but thought the books would have more appeal to younger people. Both students read the book and it turned out that they like it. One more than the other, but the reviews by these students was thumbs up. Here is the reason why.
One of the girls is a computer geek. Her reaction to the book was that at last there was a book about her world. I assumed that she meant the world in which she lived with her other computer geek friends. They play computer games, about which fantasy baseball was the most socially acceptable game. She had more than a few friends who smoked a little MJ and some of these friends were affluent. She went on to say that the characters in the book were characters to who she could relate. That seemed like an endorsement to me, and from time-to-time since then I have recommended this book to student teachers (of all ages) looking for things to read that might put them in touch with students in their classrooms. Both students told me that they thought the book had elements of fantasy in them, but that most readers would be able to pick those out. Neither student said anything about self?sorption or unrealistic expectations of the characters. As an aside, both students warned me that this book had potential to be controversial.
Frankly, I read many young adult books that I find trite, uninteresting, and unrealistic and yet young adults like these books. They may not be literature that I like and do not choose to read, but there is an audience for these books. Block's books have been on many award lists, so somebody out there thinks they have some literary value. (Being liked by the public at large is not a ringing endorsement for anything, but it is some kind of validation.) They may not be describing a culture to which I can relate, but again somebody is buying these books. People generally don't buy things that they don't like. I realize that quality literature is not judged on the number of books that are sold, but then sometimes the literary critics get things wrong. Didn't you ever wonder why "Little House on the Prairie" never won a Newbery Medal? My point is that sometimes we have to let the buying public decide if some literary works have value. If that is a transient value - so?-it. Time will tell if the books have transcendent value.
For now I know that a certain sub-set of teens like these books because they can relate to them. That is enough reason for me to put them on my shelf. Much the same as my reasoning why libraries should have "Sweet Valley High" and those (in my opinion) trite and over-rated "Traveling Pants" books.
Benita Strnad
Curriculum Materials Librarian
McLure Education Library
The University of Alabama
A can of paint always has
more in it than you need,
and it lives with you for
the rest of your life.
James Stevenson
poet
Received on Fri 10 Jun 2005 10:45:48 AM CDT
