CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] Children on Their Own
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:04:30 -0500
>From Norma Jean Sawicki:
As a middle grade kid, I devoured The Boxcar Children. Read all of them over and over; loved them. I have not read them since but I remember too their black and white silhouettes. Suspect I would pick the books apart now and I prefer to keep them under the heading of fond memories. I may not remember them well but I think of them as a series about kids who live on their own and are running from an abusive relative. There was concrete detail about how they found things (dishes, etc.) to furnish a home, how they found that home, how they found food, etc. As a kid, their actions were plausible/convincing.
Without teenage rebellion, there cannot be a healthy separation between parent and child...part of the rebellion is exactly that...a teenager in the process of becoming his own person, and on the road to adulthood. There is, I believe, comfort in books that show kids as powerful, resourceful, and capable of living independently. The lives of kids/teenagers are rule oriented...rules at home, in school...how to dress, kind of haircut, deadlines for this and that, their religion, constant tests; that is wrong, this is right, etc. And unlike my growing up years, there is little for kids to hold onto...the media overall has covered news about corruption in religious orders, among school teachers and principles, politicians, public figures, corporate America, etc. I am not suggesting the culture is worse but rather sins of omission and commission among adults is public. Kids grow up faster and become savvier, if not cynical, at an earlier age about the world of adulthood. In speaking to kids' greatest fears writers also inspire confidence in the future. Norma Jean
Received on Fri 19 Aug 2005 09:04:30 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:04:30 -0500
>From Norma Jean Sawicki:
As a middle grade kid, I devoured The Boxcar Children. Read all of them over and over; loved them. I have not read them since but I remember too their black and white silhouettes. Suspect I would pick the books apart now and I prefer to keep them under the heading of fond memories. I may not remember them well but I think of them as a series about kids who live on their own and are running from an abusive relative. There was concrete detail about how they found things (dishes, etc.) to furnish a home, how they found that home, how they found food, etc. As a kid, their actions were plausible/convincing.
Without teenage rebellion, there cannot be a healthy separation between parent and child...part of the rebellion is exactly that...a teenager in the process of becoming his own person, and on the road to adulthood. There is, I believe, comfort in books that show kids as powerful, resourceful, and capable of living independently. The lives of kids/teenagers are rule oriented...rules at home, in school...how to dress, kind of haircut, deadlines for this and that, their religion, constant tests; that is wrong, this is right, etc. And unlike my growing up years, there is little for kids to hold onto...the media overall has covered news about corruption in religious orders, among school teachers and principles, politicians, public figures, corporate America, etc. I am not suggesting the culture is worse but rather sins of omission and commission among adults is public. Kids grow up faster and become savvier, if not cynical, at an earlier age about the world of adulthood. In speaking to kids' greatest fears writers also inspire confidence in the future. Norma Jean
Received on Fri 19 Aug 2005 09:04:30 AM CDT
