From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston>
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:52:24 -0500

I agree, a relevant and interesting discussion, which has inspired me to question whether my own picture books are at all "manipulative." I don't think so.... but sometimes "manipulation" is in the eye of the beholder. Is a story *(Cynthia and the Runaway Gazebo) *about a shy little girl who deals with a gazebo full of garden-party guests that has floated out to sea and been captured by pirates, a manipulative message? i.e. does it hammer home adult values and codes of proper behavior? I think I'm just saying, amidst the nonsense, simply this: you will know when you have to do the right thing--and you'll probably have the inner strength to rise to the occasion and succeed in some fashion.

But here's an example of how we tend to see what we want to see. A reviewer summarized my YA novel *the Cliffs of Cairo *(a mystery involving an American teenager in modern Cairo), as follows: The heroine learns that it is much better to stay close to home and stay out of trouble. Aaaargh. Just the opposite of what I wanted the reader to get from my book! (Which I guess would be something similar to what Cynthia finds: inner resources that you might not have known were there. Besides, even though getting involved in an Adventure may produce some tense, scarey moments, boy--it's exciting!)

Elsa www.elsamarston.com
Received on Mon 20 Jul 2009 01:52:24 PM CDT