From: Alixwrites at aol.com <Alixwrites>
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:29:05 EST

 
  In a message dated 2/20/2007 10:07:13 AM Eastern Standard Time, bobr at vtlink.net writes:

Every bit of her heart is in that book (I don't know her and have never met her, so I'm guessing, but it's surely a heartfelt book), and I believe that instead of the joy she should be experiencing, she must be in despair.


I wonder . . . I do believe there is a certain satisfaction in standing up for what one believes in, despite adversity. There is always a risk of allowing art to become gummed up in politics, until the literature we read is so diluted and denatured that it's hard to tell one book for another. So it is wonderful when that doesn't happen. Ms. Patron had to have guessed that her use of The Word would raise some conservative eyebrows, yet it was the word she wanted in her heart and her mind, so she used it. She knew it was necessary to serve her characters and her story, and I am sure she wrote it knowingly.
 She took a stand. There is joy in that, as there certainly must be in the knowledge that the Newbery committee agreed with her.

  Best, Alexandra Flinn

Diva (HarperTempest, October 1, 2006) _www.alexflinn.com_
(http://www.alexflinn.com/)
"Captivating . . . " - Publisher's Weekly
Received on Tue 20 Feb 2007 09:29:05 AM CST