CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] Character Driven
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: James Elliott <libraryjim>
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:42:08 -0400 (EDT)
Since our last discussion, I decided to go back and re-read "Girl of the Limberlost" and "Freckles" (which takes place years before "Girl") by Gene Stratton Porter. While neither was as 'eco-friendly' as I remembered, and both are written in a style long abandoned by modern YA writers, the characters DO stand out as being the strong point of both novels.
In "GotL", Elnora has such as strong optimism, much like "Anne of Green Gables" that it is impossible not to be taken with her and annoyed with her at the same time. She drives the story, though, since it is all about her life.
In Freckles, the title character is a resourceful orphan, who suffered the loss of his right hand as an infant, possibly from child abuse. Yet his character is so strong that this is a minor inconvenience to him and his dream of self-reliance that in reading the story one forgets this fact from time to time, and has to be reminded of it in the text.
Both characters are strong role models of overcoming adversary and rising above circumstances. Sometimes the writing causes one to throw down the book saying "Oh, come on! That is sooo contrived!" but you want to find out what happens to them, so you pick it up again.
I would nominate Freckles and Elnora in this category.
Jim Elliott Florida
----- Original Message ----- From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman at education.wisc.edu> To: Subscribers of ccbc-net <ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu> Sent: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:24:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [CCBC-Net] Character Driven
I'ts time to start our discussion for the second part of June:
*
* Character-Driven: Favorite Characters in Children's and Young Adult Literature.
You know who they are. The characters that stand out because of, or sometimes in spite of, the story of which they are a part. Characters that live on in your imagination long after the story ends. Do you have old friends from childhood whom you met in the pages of a book? Who are the welcome new acquaintances in your life?
Megan
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:42:08 -0400 (EDT)
Since our last discussion, I decided to go back and re-read "Girl of the Limberlost" and "Freckles" (which takes place years before "Girl") by Gene Stratton Porter. While neither was as 'eco-friendly' as I remembered, and both are written in a style long abandoned by modern YA writers, the characters DO stand out as being the strong point of both novels.
In "GotL", Elnora has such as strong optimism, much like "Anne of Green Gables" that it is impossible not to be taken with her and annoyed with her at the same time. She drives the story, though, since it is all about her life.
In Freckles, the title character is a resourceful orphan, who suffered the loss of his right hand as an infant, possibly from child abuse. Yet his character is so strong that this is a minor inconvenience to him and his dream of self-reliance that in reading the story one forgets this fact from time to time, and has to be reminded of it in the text.
Both characters are strong role models of overcoming adversary and rising above circumstances. Sometimes the writing causes one to throw down the book saying "Oh, come on! That is sooo contrived!" but you want to find out what happens to them, so you pick it up again.
I would nominate Freckles and Elnora in this category.
Jim Elliott Florida
----- Original Message ----- From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman at education.wisc.edu> To: Subscribers of ccbc-net <ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu> Sent: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:24:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [CCBC-Net] Character Driven
I'ts time to start our discussion for the second part of June:
*
* Character-Driven: Favorite Characters in Children's and Young Adult Literature.
You know who they are. The characters that stand out because of, or sometimes in spite of, the story of which they are a part. Characters that live on in your imagination long after the story ends. Do you have old friends from childhood whom you met in the pages of a book? Who are the welcome new acquaintances in your life?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706 608/262-9503 schliesman at education.wisc.edu www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ _______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at lists.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://lists.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-netReceived on Wed 17 Jun 2009 12:42:08 PM CDT
