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From: Perry Nodelman <perry_nodelman>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:54:12 -0500
On 24-Jul-09, at 12:50 PM, Queeline at aol.com wrote:
> It may be cliche, but I think that for whatever purpose we write a
> book (to
> entertain, to inform, to get in touch with, or respond to our inner
> child--whatever), a child (or anyone for that matter--child or
> adult) is going
> to take from it what they need/want and leave the rest.
I like to believe this. But I also worry that, in assuming readers will take only what they need from books, writers, editors, publishers, librarians and the rest of us are downplaying the power of texts to reveal and persuade, and therefore not thinking seriously enough about it, or about our own power over what and how young readers read and the burden that responsibility imposes. It's nice for a writer, for instance, to think that he or she can write anything he wants because readers will only take what they need from it. It's easy--too easy, i think. An awareness of how your words might actually effect people in ways they weren't aware they needed and maybe didn't even really want would, I hope, lead to a keener perception of one's real power and an exercising of it with greater responsibility.
> I think I took to books as a kid because I was looking for people
> (or at least characters) who I related to in a way
> that I could not fully articulate to friends and family . . . . Did
> I get out of these
> books and stories what their creator intended? I didn't know and
> didn't really
> care. I got out of them--the ones I liked most--what I was looking
> for. And
> I guess that was good enough for me!
What might have missing here is the possibility that the books and stories conveyed meanings and values that their creators didn't consciously intend, and effects on yourself that you weren't consciously aware of?
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 11:54:12 AM CDT
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:54:12 -0500
On 24-Jul-09, at 12:50 PM, Queeline at aol.com wrote:
> It may be cliche, but I think that for whatever purpose we write a
> book (to
> entertain, to inform, to get in touch with, or respond to our inner
> child--whatever), a child (or anyone for that matter--child or
> adult) is going
> to take from it what they need/want and leave the rest.
I like to believe this. But I also worry that, in assuming readers will take only what they need from books, writers, editors, publishers, librarians and the rest of us are downplaying the power of texts to reveal and persuade, and therefore not thinking seriously enough about it, or about our own power over what and how young readers read and the burden that responsibility imposes. It's nice for a writer, for instance, to think that he or she can write anything he wants because readers will only take what they need from it. It's easy--too easy, i think. An awareness of how your words might actually effect people in ways they weren't aware they needed and maybe didn't even really want would, I hope, lead to a keener perception of one's real power and an exercising of it with greater responsibility.
> I think I took to books as a kid because I was looking for people
> (or at least characters) who I related to in a way
> that I could not fully articulate to friends and family . . . . Did
> I get out of these
> books and stories what their creator intended? I didn't know and
> didn't really
> care. I got out of them--the ones I liked most--what I was looking
> for. And
> I guess that was good enough for me!
What might have missing here is the possibility that the books and stories conveyed meanings and values that their creators didn't consciously intend, and effects on yourself that you weren't consciously aware of?
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 11:54:12 AM CDT
