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RE: Dystopias, Disasters and Other Futurescapes
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From: Sarah Abercrombie <Sabercrombie_at_gcds.net>
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:57:18 -0400
I Brought "Ship Breaker" to the Young Critics book club at Perrot library in Old Greenwich, CT a few months ago (The publisher was nice enough to provide it in galley to our group), because I too thought it was a "stand out". I did have some reservations because my group is probably a little younger on average than the target reader would be. There were plenty of very positive comments about plot, characters, setting, writing, etc. but the consistent negative was that it was depressing! When I read Exile, a few months later, I thought.... I can't bring this one.. also too depressing. My readers are mostly 12-14 years old, and tend to read avidly and broadly, but I could say that in general, dystopian doesn't seem to be their favorite genre.
Sarah Abercrombie Librarian Greenwich Country Day School & Young Critics Club, Perrot Library
Message-----
From: Merri Lindgren
Sent: Wed 8/4/2010 10:33 AM Cc: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject: Re:
Dystopias, Disasters and Other Futurescapes
"Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi stands out among recent speculative fiction for me, both for its credible near-future setting and the strong
theme of an ever-increasing gap between those with economic resources and those without. I also appreciated the character of Tool, the engineered half-man, half-dog. While the idea isn't new, Tool's defiance of behavioral expectations and his demonstration of free will seemed to pick up the torch from Arthur C. Clarke's HAL, raising questions about people's ability to control everything they create.
I'm curious to hear if anyone has heard from teens who have read "Ship Breaker" or any of the other titles mentioned in Megan's email. Has the
popularity of The Hunger Games triggered an interest in other new books imagining a difficult future?
Merri
Merri Lindgren, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) School of Education, UW-Madison 608-263-3930 mlindgren_at_education.wisc.edu
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:57:18 -0400
I Brought "Ship Breaker" to the Young Critics book club at Perrot library in Old Greenwich, CT a few months ago (The publisher was nice enough to provide it in galley to our group), because I too thought it was a "stand out". I did have some reservations because my group is probably a little younger on average than the target reader would be. There were plenty of very positive comments about plot, characters, setting, writing, etc. but the consistent negative was that it was depressing! When I read Exile, a few months later, I thought.... I can't bring this one.. also too depressing. My readers are mostly 12-14 years old, and tend to read avidly and broadly, but I could say that in general, dystopian doesn't seem to be their favorite genre.
Sarah Abercrombie Librarian Greenwich Country Day School & Young Critics Club, Perrot Library
Message-----
From: Merri Lindgren
Sent: Wed 8/4/2010 10:33 AM Cc: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject: Re:
Dystopias, Disasters and Other Futurescapes
"Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi stands out among recent speculative fiction for me, both for its credible near-future setting and the strong
theme of an ever-increasing gap between those with economic resources and those without. I also appreciated the character of Tool, the engineered half-man, half-dog. While the idea isn't new, Tool's defiance of behavioral expectations and his demonstration of free will seemed to pick up the torch from Arthur C. Clarke's HAL, raising questions about people's ability to control everything they create.
I'm curious to hear if anyone has heard from teens who have read "Ship Breaker" or any of the other titles mentioned in Megan's email. Has the
popularity of The Hunger Games triggered an interest in other new books imagining a difficult future?
Merri
Merri Lindgren, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) School of Education, UW-Madison 608-263-3930 mlindgren_at_education.wisc.edu
---Received on Wed 04 Aug 2010 02:57:18 PM CDT
