From: Elliott BatTzedek <ebattzedek>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:17:31 -0400

I used to work for the organization Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Festival, which helped kids in fifth through twelfth grades create scripts, and then chose the best for varying levels of production, including full productions by a local professional theater for a few scripts. (Every writer got a full page of thoughtful, encouraging critical feedback). I oversaw the middle-school plays, which means I read hundreds and hundreds of plays, and the most popular topic was always Dead Parents. Sometimes the parents died during the play (car crash, airplane crash, cancer), and some started just after the parents had died. I know this was partly fueled by the then-popularity of the orphan show "Party of Five," but clearly the whole idea touched something very deep for these kids, just on the brink between childhood and young adulthood. One thing I noticed in most of them was how one sibling always had the "adult voice" role, reminding the kids of how much the parents loved them, or reigning in questionable beha vior by asking, "What would Dad say about that?"

Small wonder, then, that these books remain so popular. At that age, I was clearly Claudia, wanting to run away to somewhere, although, in my tiny midwestern town, I wasn't sure how I'd get there with no train tickets or trains available...

Elliott batTzedek Curriculum and Collections Development Children's Literacy Initiative
Received on Fri 26 Aug 2005 09:17:31 AM CDT