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[CCBC-Net] Winding Down LOL
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:17:27 -0600
First, thanks to everyone who has shared some of their favorite funny young adult novels. And thanks to Angie Miles, who has offered to compile everyone's suggestions and share the resulting list with the CCBC-Net community.
If you have any additions to our discussion of humorous young adult literature, please share them in the next day or so.
We will begin our discussion of M.T. Anderson's "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing" on Thursday of this week.
Regarding funny books, I especially appreciated Lynn Rutan's post that digs a little deeper into the responses of children and teens with whom she works, and her own reading. I find the subjectivity of humor so intriguing--often I find myself feeling like I don't quite "get it" when I don't find a book nearly as funny as the person next to me (say, another CCBC librarian :) I was not a huge fan of the humor in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" for example, and what really sold me on that book was not the humor as much as it was the gradually development of Greg Heffley as an unreliable narrator as his perception of reality is gradually countered by small facts that emerge in the narrative.
Sometimes I feel like I need to lighten up, but none of us can change how we respond, at lest initially, to books, although it is always insightful to talk about how we respond differently to any book, bit it funny or not.
Last week CCBC librarian Tessa Michaelson and I did a presentation on new books that will be featured in the CCBC's next best-of-the-year list, and when we got to young adult novels, we seemed to be going from one incredible, intense offering to another. That made me appreciate all the more the lighthearted relief provided by new YA books such as Justine Larbalestier's "How To Ditch Your Fairy" and Paula Yoo's "Good Enough" (so fun even as it takes a look at a very real struggle for self-determination).
Many of the funny books already mentioned are among those I also like. In fact, my adult book club is periodically revisiting "classics" and in December we are doing "Catcher in the Rye," but have added Frank Portman's "King Dork" as extra credit.
Here are a few others that I don't think have been mentioned--some of these are books that I sometimes have to remember are really funny, because they offer so much more than humor, as have so many that have already been shared:
Feed by M. T. Anderson Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going Peeps by Scott Westerfeld Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
Megan
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:17:27 -0600
First, thanks to everyone who has shared some of their favorite funny young adult novels. And thanks to Angie Miles, who has offered to compile everyone's suggestions and share the resulting list with the CCBC-Net community.
If you have any additions to our discussion of humorous young adult literature, please share them in the next day or so.
We will begin our discussion of M.T. Anderson's "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing" on Thursday of this week.
Regarding funny books, I especially appreciated Lynn Rutan's post that digs a little deeper into the responses of children and teens with whom she works, and her own reading. I find the subjectivity of humor so intriguing--often I find myself feeling like I don't quite "get it" when I don't find a book nearly as funny as the person next to me (say, another CCBC librarian :) I was not a huge fan of the humor in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" for example, and what really sold me on that book was not the humor as much as it was the gradually development of Greg Heffley as an unreliable narrator as his perception of reality is gradually countered by small facts that emerge in the narrative.
Sometimes I feel like I need to lighten up, but none of us can change how we respond, at lest initially, to books, although it is always insightful to talk about how we respond differently to any book, bit it funny or not.
Last week CCBC librarian Tessa Michaelson and I did a presentation on new books that will be featured in the CCBC's next best-of-the-year list, and when we got to young adult novels, we seemed to be going from one incredible, intense offering to another. That made me appreciate all the more the lighthearted relief provided by new YA books such as Justine Larbalestier's "How To Ditch Your Fairy" and Paula Yoo's "Good Enough" (so fun even as it takes a look at a very real struggle for self-determination).
Many of the funny books already mentioned are among those I also like. In fact, my adult book club is periodically revisiting "classics" and in December we are doing "Catcher in the Rye," but have added Frank Portman's "King Dork" as extra credit.
Here are a few others that I don't think have been mentioned--some of these are books that I sometimes have to remember are really funny, because they offer so much more than humor, as have so many that have already been shared:
Feed by M. T. Anderson Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going Peeps by Scott Westerfeld Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
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 Tue 18 Nov 2008 12:17:27 PM CST
