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[CCBC-Net] "Manipulative"
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From: Perry Nodelman <perry_nodelman>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:41:01 -0500
On 24-Jul-09, at 10:45 AM, Mary Ann Gilpatrick wrote:
>
>
> What about *On my Honor"? There is certainly a message, it is not
> overt,
> yet I doubt anyone would call it sneaky.
>
I'm not familiar with this book, I'm afraid, so I can't comment on it. i did look at the preview available on Google Books, though-- assuming its the book of this title by Bauer? The first few chapters seem to be set up in a way readers familiar with the conventions of children's literature would easily understand, as a boy thinks about and then chooses to act against what he knows his parents and other adults would want and gets into trouble because of it. It seems to be heading in the direction of being a parable--a story with no clearly asserted moral but obviously inviting readers to find one and providing all the clues they need to find the right one? So like many similarly parable-like children's books, it's message is not overt, but certainly not absent, and maybe not terribly sneaky either. On the other hand, I was catching in those first few pages I was able to read a range of taken-for-granted assumptions about parenting and
"normal" families and masculinity and and what boys are and how they do and should behave--and some of this did seem kind of sneaky to me, just because the text seemed to take it for granted I'd just see all this as the way things always are and not think too much about it. In inviting readers to think about some things, it also conveys a lot of other to-be-taken--for-granted things?
Perry
_____________ Perry Nodelman http://pernodel.wordpress.com/
Book Trailers: The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7JAfPQeA The Ghosthunters2: The Curse of the Evening Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapDE1Kwnis The Ghosthunters I: The Proof that Ghosts Exist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0ow7oQV7k
Received on Sat 25 Jul 2009 11:41:01 AM CDT
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:41:01 -0500
On 24-Jul-09, at 10:45 AM, Mary Ann Gilpatrick wrote:
>
>
> What about *On my Honor"? There is certainly a message, it is not
> overt,
> yet I doubt anyone would call it sneaky.
>
I'm not familiar with this book, I'm afraid, so I can't comment on it. i did look at the preview available on Google Books, though-- assuming its the book of this title by Bauer? The first few chapters seem to be set up in a way readers familiar with the conventions of children's literature would easily understand, as a boy thinks about and then chooses to act against what he knows his parents and other adults would want and gets into trouble because of it. It seems to be heading in the direction of being a parable--a story with no clearly asserted moral but obviously inviting readers to find one and providing all the clues they need to find the right one? So like many similarly parable-like children's books, it's message is not overt, but certainly not absent, and maybe not terribly sneaky either. On the other hand, I was catching in those first few pages I was able to read a range of taken-for-granted assumptions about parenting and
"normal" families and masculinity and and what boys are and how they do and should behave--and some of this did seem kind of sneaky to me, just because the text seemed to take it for granted I'd just see all this as the way things always are and not think too much about it. In inviting readers to think about some things, it also conveys a lot of other to-be-taken--for-granted things?
Perry
_____________ Perry Nodelman http://pernodel.wordpress.com/
Book Trailers: The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7JAfPQeA The Ghosthunters2: The Curse of the Evening Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapDE1Kwnis The Ghosthunters I: The Proof that Ghosts Exist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0ow7oQV7k
Received on Sat 25 Jul 2009 11:41:01 AM CDT
