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[CCBC-Net] Old Is New Again
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:19:37 -0600
We recently put up a display at the CCBC to highlight the "retro" themes and style appearing in a number of new books for children and teens.
A photo of part of the display is available on the CCBC-Net "Topics" page on our web site at:
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/topics.asp
(For those of you who click on the link to look, I know you won't be able to decipher the captions. In brief, three of the five books pictured were published in 2006 or 2007. The far right book on each shelf --including interior shown on the bottom--was published in the 1930s.)
Browsing "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Preskowitz (published in the U.S. by HarperCollins in 2007) I can't deny the fascination at the compendium of information compiled. There is seemingly no rhyme or reason to it, which makes it downright funny. Whether or not that is tne intent, it's what I take away as an adult reader. Browsing the table of contents my librarian heart shudders as the text jumps from "How to change a tire" (p.244) to "Make Your Own Quill Pen" (p. 245). (My favorite is the ever-logical leap from "Making a Willow Whistle" on p. 86 to "The Periodic Table of Elements" on p. 87). Also as an adult reader, I find the nostalgic look and feel takes me back to old books passed down to me in childhood, not to mention my old girl scout manual (how o make a "Sit-Upon," p. 119). There are even
"Daring Book" badges at the back of the volume; ironically available for printing on their web site.
Often when evaluating books for children and teens the issue of nostalgia or adult sensibility will come up--is something true to a child's sense of the world or is an author projecting adult understanding or nostalgia on characters or readers? Here are books that are overtly nostalgic in look and feel--what do today's children and teens make of them?
Megan
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:19:37 -0600
We recently put up a display at the CCBC to highlight the "retro" themes and style appearing in a number of new books for children and teens.
A photo of part of the display is available on the CCBC-Net "Topics" page on our web site at:
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/topics.asp
(For those of you who click on the link to look, I know you won't be able to decipher the captions. In brief, three of the five books pictured were published in 2006 or 2007. The far right book on each shelf --including interior shown on the bottom--was published in the 1930s.)
Browsing "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Preskowitz (published in the U.S. by HarperCollins in 2007) I can't deny the fascination at the compendium of information compiled. There is seemingly no rhyme or reason to it, which makes it downright funny. Whether or not that is tne intent, it's what I take away as an adult reader. Browsing the table of contents my librarian heart shudders as the text jumps from "How to change a tire" (p.244) to "Make Your Own Quill Pen" (p. 245). (My favorite is the ever-logical leap from "Making a Willow Whistle" on p. 86 to "The Periodic Table of Elements" on p. 87). Also as an adult reader, I find the nostalgic look and feel takes me back to old books passed down to me in childhood, not to mention my old girl scout manual (how o make a "Sit-Upon," p. 119). There are even
"Daring Book" badges at the back of the volume; ironically available for printing on their web site.
Often when evaluating books for children and teens the issue of nostalgia or adult sensibility will come up--is something true to a child's sense of the world or is an author projecting adult understanding or nostalgia on characters or readers? Here are books that are overtly nostalgic in look and feel--what do today's children and teens make of them?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 608/262-9503 schliesman at education.wisc.edu www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/Received on Fri 22 Feb 2008 02:19:37 PM CST
