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[CCBC-Net] CCBC-Net Digest, Vol 20, Issue 23
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From: Hunt, Jonathan <Hunt.Jo>
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:43:20 -0700
Lelac Almagor wrote:
"I'm actually really disappointed in Copper Sun as the CSK winner. I'm only halfway through, but the writing seems sloppy and cliched and there's not much depth to Draper's characters -- not surprising given her other young-adult novels, which I would characterize as high-interest but low-quality.
I'd much rather kids read Octavia Butler or, hey, Frederick Douglass or Harriet Jacobs -- though off the top of my head I can't think of any great narratives of enslavement and liberation for readers who would find those texts too difficult."
I have not read COPPER SUN so I am not defending or criticizing it.
I would have no problem with this post if "as the CSK winner" had been struck from it, but in order to find fault with the CSK committee's choice, I think one needs to have read widely in the field of contenders. Clearly, COPPER SUN did not meet your own personal standard of excellence, Lelac, but it would be hard to argue that it was not the best book published by an African American author this past year unless you could provide some alternatives. Butler, Douglass, and Jacobs are great alternatives, of course, but ineligible as they did not have a book published this past year.
Hoping this post doesn't come across as snarky as it reads from my end .
. .
Jonathan
P.S. May I suggest DAY OF TEARS and THE OLD AFRICAN both by Julius Lester and 47 by Walter Mosley as possible readalikes for COPPER SUN?
Received on Fri 30 Mar 2007 12:43:20 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:43:20 -0700
Lelac Almagor wrote:
"I'm actually really disappointed in Copper Sun as the CSK winner. I'm only halfway through, but the writing seems sloppy and cliched and there's not much depth to Draper's characters -- not surprising given her other young-adult novels, which I would characterize as high-interest but low-quality.
I'd much rather kids read Octavia Butler or, hey, Frederick Douglass or Harriet Jacobs -- though off the top of my head I can't think of any great narratives of enslavement and liberation for readers who would find those texts too difficult."
I have not read COPPER SUN so I am not defending or criticizing it.
I would have no problem with this post if "as the CSK winner" had been struck from it, but in order to find fault with the CSK committee's choice, I think one needs to have read widely in the field of contenders. Clearly, COPPER SUN did not meet your own personal standard of excellence, Lelac, but it would be hard to argue that it was not the best book published by an African American author this past year unless you could provide some alternatives. Butler, Douglass, and Jacobs are great alternatives, of course, but ineligible as they did not have a book published this past year.
Hoping this post doesn't come across as snarky as it reads from my end .
. .
Jonathan
P.S. May I suggest DAY OF TEARS and THE OLD AFRICAN both by Julius Lester and 47 by Walter Mosley as possible readalikes for COPPER SUN?
Received on Fri 30 Mar 2007 12:43:20 PM CDT
